There it was, the buzz. That pulse of excitement. Like a loot drop after a boss fight you weren't sure you'd survive.
"System," I said, stretching my hand forward, "summon {Fn+1}."
[Fn+1 {Epic Grade}:> Multipurpose High-Tech PC. It's very reactive to System users. It can also access all your files from your old PC on Earth. No other description needed.]
A gleam of silver and blue formed in front of me. Then an impossibly thin laptop appeared in my hands. Smooth, seamless, and cooler than anything Earth had ever invented. Matte black, glowing trim, no ports, the logo was a quill and a sword crossed together.
I cracked it open, and then it showed up.
[User is not familiar with this type of PC… Download information?]
"Yes, Download." Once I said that, a migraine that felt like hell hit me, continuing for around 20 minutes, and then it stopped. Holding my head, I held {Fn+1} and pulled it open
No boot-up screen. No delays. It was already waiting.
I ran my fingers across the touchpad. No lag. No heat. No startup noise. Just silence and raw power.
No Wi-Fi? No problem. I typed a random web address, and the page loaded faster than I could blink.
This thing wasn't "connected." This thing was the network.
"…Alright," I muttered. "I take back every insult I ever gave the system. This is art."
"Yeah, well, one outta two ain't bad."
Fn+1 snapped into a folded black tile, sliding into my palm like it had always belonged there.
I smiled.
"Okay. Now, the weapon."
'System. Summon {Two Of A Kind}.'
[Two Of A Kind {Force Grade}:> Consists of a sword and a gun.
The sword is a lightweight, curved blade made of adaptive metal that sharpens itself in combat and dulls when not in use, eliminating the need for a sheath.
The gun is a pulse-based firearm that charges through the user's kinetic movement, eliminating the need for ammo.
When wielded together, they unlock the synergy skill {Mirrored Rhythm}:> Grants +50% reaction speed and increased motion sync for 10 seconds. (Cooldown: 2 minutes)]
Two flashes. One red, one silver.
The blade floated to my right, long, curved, and thin with a faint black shimmer across its surface, along with a crimson-red scabbard. The damn thing looked like it'd slice through arrogance and bone in equal measure.
The gun hovered to my left, sleek and silent, its crystalline core glowing like it had its own pulse.
[---All items received by the system can be returned to skin as compact tiles to be used again---]
"Great, now you tell me."
I took the gun in one hand and the sword in the other, then I tried to use it, and boy, did I fail woefully. I fired once into the air. The gun hummed in response.
[Mirrored Rhythm Activated – Duration: 10 seconds]
Everything clicked.
The world didn't slow down, I sped up. My limbs moved like I'd already practiced this routine a hundred times. Sword in, slash right, pivot, gun up, pulse shot left, spin again. I could feel Akai's silence in my head, not disapproval.
Respect. Well, it's easy to get the respect of a kid.
When it ended, both weapons collapsed into compact tiles and returned to my arms.
"Damn right."
I was still admiring the blade when Rael's voice echoed through the woods.
"You done posing?"
I turned, eyes half-lidded, not even surprised.
Smoke trailed between trees as Rael formed, arms crossed, expression unreadable as always.
"You get your little weapons. You gonna test them properly or what?"
"It's still evening, it ain't even morning yet," I grinned, "and I'm not done testing out these babies."
Rael raised an eyebrow.
"Cute."
I shrugged. "You're lucky I'm still in tutorial mode."
But I wasn't done.
"System," I said, pulling Fn+1 out of the tile in my hand it folded into, and plopping it into my hands, "run diagnostic sweep of the surrounding zone. Pull up surveillance feeds. I'm gonna attempt to hack the security systems covering this forest."
[Request confirmed. Scanning forest surveillance nodes…]
[Node access found: 129]
[Encryption Status: Moderate]
[Bypass… SUCCESSFUL.]
"Wait... you're hacking the forest's eyes?" Rael asked.
"Of course I am. You think I got this laptop just to play Minesweeper?"
I typed a few fast strokes. Data bled into the screen. All types of data. Camera feeds, heat signatures, mana tracking logs, movement records.
Most of it was junk.
Except one blip. The West Sector of the forest. Heat level above standard. No life signature other than that of normal beasts. No mana output. No movement for two hours. Yet the area was flagged for "internal surveillance lockdown."
Bingo.
"Found someone."
[System User #005 located.]
[Warning: User is currently active.]
"Yeah," I nodded, "and they're either hiding or sleeping."
I typed fast. Fingers flew across Fn+1's interface like muscle memory I'd never learned. One click here. Data re-routed. Trace logs deleted. Forest surveillance? Blind in a three-kilometer radius. No sound. No signal.
I erased every trace of my access.
[All footprints removed. You are invisible to system logs.]
<...You've done this before.>
Akai's voice was lower now. Not curious.
Knowing.
I paused.
Then I smiled, just a little.
"Back on Earth," I said, eyes still on the screen, "I was one of the top-tier hackers. Ghost class. No trace. No name. Governments couldn't find me. Not even AI-backed trackers."
I smiled.
"Then I died."
I tapped Fn+1's surface and whispered, "Initiate deep scan. Full code-level breakdown."
[Warning: Trace barrier detected. Tracing will alert the source.]
[Proceed?]
"Yes."
I didn't even hesitate.
Instantly, the screen flickered.
Code flared. Blocks twisted. The entire forest feed stuttered for a split second.
I dove deeper.
One layer peeled.
Then another.
I found a looped data signal, the kind of thing only I and her used back on Earth. Dang. I wrote #005 to be a master hacker, but I never imagined that she would be this good. I'll find you.
Then the world shivered.
Fn+1's screen glitched once, then…
[Alert: You are being traced.]
[Incoming Counter Hack – UNKNOWN SYSTEM SIGNAL DETECTED]
"Oh?" I grinned. "You saw me."
"She's responding. You stirred a damn hornet's nest."
Rael sounded equally impressed and alarmed.
On the screen, a red glyph appeared. It was sharp, stylized, hand-drawn in digital ink.
['You shouldn't have come here.']
Beneath it, raw data surged. Something slammed into Fn+1's outer shell, a firewall breach attempt.
I spun the device on its axis, let the auto-stabilizer reset the interface, and opened up the GodLock shell, a personal barrier I'd coded in my spare time, while I was still on Earth, of course.
"You wanna play, #005?" I whispered. "Let's play."
Streams of code lit the screen. A pure flood of signal disruptions and decoys slammed into me like a hailstorm of blades.
I blocked every one of them. Deflected another. Rerouted a third through a forest surveillance node and fed it back to them with a tiny note:
:)
The screen pulsed.
A new message appeared, this time bolder:
[You're good.]
I cracked my knuckles and typed back with zero hesitation:
[You're not.]
Then I launched a hard trace.
No subtlety now. I ripped apart the logs, stabbed at the code trail, and forced Fn+1 to mirror the enemy's loop structure.
For a moment, I saw her.
A silhouette.
All I could make out was her long, white hair before she noticed.
Boom.
They pulled every plug.
[Trace Connection Severed]
[ALL SYSTEM FEEDS SCRAMBLED TEMPORARILY]
The forest went silent.
No more camera feeds. No motion trackers. Even the air around me felt heavier, like she'd somehow bent the world slightly out of sync to erase herself again.
I looked at Fn+1.
Even without signal, it was still glowing.
I hadn't won.
But I hadn't lost either.
This wasn't over.
"She'll be back," I said quietly.
"You know, you still have to work on your training."
"Now?"
I smiled.
"I'm going to train, then I'll get strong enough to find her."
"Why are you so desperate to even meet this person?" Rael asked, his voice both strict and caring, the smoke that signified his presence shimmering ever so slightly.
"Because she is one of them."