Dante rushed into his home and quickly opened his laptop.
As the screen lit up, he spotted a Readme.txt file sitting among a bunch of unfamiliar files and strange-looking applications—most of which he had no idea what they did. Naturally, he clicked on the Readme first.
He skimmed through it quickly, trying to make sense of the dense block of text.
''Okay, so... this is basically a tutorial. The Roomborn platform only has one gigabyte of data capacity, which means I've gotta be smart about what components I install. Not all of that memory is usable though—some has to be saved for RAM and system overhead.''
The document talked about how the brain acted as the CPU during roomborn and framework period, and the foundation was like a tiny data storage. More processing power—like engines, circuits, or cores—could be added in later stages. Most basic components like shield, router, energy release, etc... didn't take up much space.
But one section made his eyes widen.
''Mindstep. That's the one tied to my Akashic Architect talent. It lets me predict people's movements using info I pick up from them. Kind of like upgrading my intent-reading into full-on battle precognition. Insane. But it takes up 800 megabytes—80% of the foundation's entire memory. And 600 of that is just for RAM.''
Wow i can't belive it.
''This thing only works for someone with my talent. Anyone else tries to use it, it's just dead code.''
Normally, installing something that complex would take months—maybe a year for a Roomborn. But there is a device he got from that vault would speed it up into a few hours.
''That's great. Gives me time to tweak and upgrade it later.''
Another powerful component called the Thread Accessor was mentioned: use for connect to Sea of Threads can download and upload data on their own, but it required 5GB—way beyond what his foundation could handle now. He made a mental note to come back to it later.
''Okay, focus. Goal of the Artificer Battle Academy is to help build a proper foundation and framework. Everything else is optional... but if I want to explore the world out there, I've gotta get stronger.''
Most Roomborn ended up as Engineers, Farmers, or Explorers. But his laptop hinted at something else—another possible role.
''A Hacker. Someone who manipulates systems, solves problems, breaks into places they're not supposed to. Dangerous... but perfect for someone with curiosity like me.''
Once the Mindstep was installed, he began the next step—framework construction. Slowly, he guided part of the gear bar into his core foundation. It was a delicate, careful process. He have to place the gear in exact positions, wait for it to cooldown to form the framework.
''Ultimate goal is 128 gigabytes. But that's framework-level stuff take too long. For now, I just focus on expanding the foundation fist.''
He hadn't yet learned the official method from his professors, but the laptop already had one pre-loaded—one designed specifically for someone with the Akashic Architect talent.
''I'm not ready to use that yet. I need to understand how it works first.''
So, he kept things simple. He used the gear pieces to manually expand his foundation, slowly increasing his data capacity bit by bit.
According to what he read, the foundation could grow freely until it hit the core's limit: 10 GB.
After a week of focused work, he managed to expand it by more than 1 GB.
With a quiet exhale, he clenched his hand.
''Time to test this out at the sparring ground.''
Dante had been at the academy for a month and a half but rarely visited the sparring ground. Fighting wasn't exactly his strength.
But today was different.
He stepped onto the training grounds and scanned the area for a suitable test subject.
Nearby, two men were engaged in a heated fistfight. He stopped to watch them, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated.
Tiny bits of information started to filter into his mind—movement patterns, posture shifts, breathing rhythms. Then it clicked.
''Afterimages...? No, predictions. I'm seeing where they're going to move next. Their attacks are so easy to read.''
His pulse quickened with excitement.
''This is how it works. I can see it now. Time for real practice.''
"Hey, Dante! You there?"
He turned and saw Solène approaching with a bounce in her step. Her long, snow-white hair spilled down her shoulders like moonlight. Right behind her was Kaela, light brown, sun-kissed and slightly flushed skin. With her brown-red tied lion's tail hair standing there, a walking juggernaut of a girl.
Dante had seen her fight before. She was a monster in human form.
'She must be physically gifted. Probably that talent is not for an Artificer. Yeah… she's from the Kingdom of Varkaal, right? That place is under the rule of The Faith of Kael'Zar. They train in martial arts and channel the power of mythical beasts. No wonder her punches can send people flying-um I saw that several times in the past.'
He'd watched her effortlessly knock opponents off their feet. She didn't just fight—she dominated.
'If I spar with her… am I going to get launched across the courtyard?'
Solène waved a hand in front of his face like she was trying to clear fog from his eyes.
"Yoo-hoo! Earth to Dante~!" She narrowed her golden shimmering eyes playfully, leaning forward with a mischievous smile. "You okay? You were just staring off like… whoooosh—" She spun her hand in a dramatic swirl. "Like your soul left your body and went on vacation or something."
Dante blinked and snapped out of it. "Ah—sorry. I was just… testing something."
'This girl's as funky as always,' he thought with a small smirk.
"Oooooh!" she gasped. "Was it the mind-reading super-eye-laser thingy you told me about last week?! Wait, no! The movement-predicting one! You said you'd be able to dodge punches like a kung fu movie hero! Are you gonna do it now? Right here? Pleeease say yes!"
She clasped her hands together, practically vibrating with excitement. Then, lowering her voice, she leaned in conspiratorially.
"Also, are you really gonna fight Kaela? 'Cause, like—I love you and all—but she might fold you like laundry."
Dante gave her a flat look. "That's… exactly what I'm worried about."
"Pfffft, don't worry!" Solène beamed, throwing him a thumbs-up. "I'll cheer for you! And if you go flying, I promise I'll catch your body! …Probably. Unless it's really fast. Then I'll just, like, draw a chalk outline or something."