Rain tapped gently against the windows as the clock ticked past midnight. The Ahn apartment was small—a single room with a foldable study desk, a bed pressed against the wall, and shelves filled with borrowed textbooks and medical diagrams.
Lior sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by open notebooks and glowing system projections only he could see.
> [Progress: Brain Anatomy - 78% Memorized]
[Focus: Prefrontal Cortex Subregions - ETA: 14 minutes]
His fingers hovered over a 3D cortical rendering that rotated slowly, as if alive.
"…Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: decision-making, working memory…" he whispered, his voice soft but steady.
The system rewarded every correct whisper with a subtle chime, reinforcing his retention rate. The more precise his recall, the more upgrades he unlocked.
Lior wasn't just studying anymore.
He was evolving.
But even genius needs rest. His vision blurred. His limbs trembled faintly from caffeine and strain.
> [Caution: User Fatigue Detected]
[Recommendation: Sleep Mode Activation for Optimal Neural Recovery]
"I can't yet," he murmured. "Just a bit more…"
He wasn't just learning to pass tests.
He was building a future from nothing. One diagram at a time.
---
Across the city, inside a sleek penthouse lined with glass and chrome, Renji Vale reviewed reports on cortical interface chips. The screens reflected in his cold grey eyes. Data streams, funding rounds, beta results—all flawless.
Yet… his mind kept drifting.
To a boy with midnight eyes.
To that flash of a system projection he wasn't supposed to see.
"…Neural interface, hm?" he muttered, tilting his glass of scotch.
He pulled up Lior's name. No official files. No affiliations. Just a photo—school ID, poorly lit, but stunningly ethereal.
A kid with no background, yet walking around with a Class-A cortical system.
"That shouldn't be possible," Renji whispered.
His AI assistant beeped.
> "Sir, the prototype neural stabilizer for adolescents has shown cortical reactivity at Level IV—unmatched in your tests."
Renji's eyes narrowed.
"And the test subject?"
> "Still classified, sir."
Renji stared into the city skyline.
"I think I just found him."
---
The Next Morning
Lior walked into class with his hood up. His classmates barely noticed him. As always.
Except for one—Eva, the overly observant biology club president.
"You've been skipping lunch," she said, poking his side. "And your pupils are dilated. Are you on some kind of nootropic?"
Lior blinked. "Wh-What? No! Just… studying."
Eva narrowed her eyes. "You've memorized Gray's Anatomy in two days, Lior. Either you're hiding alien brain implants or you've ascended."
He chuckled nervously.
But in truth, the system had upgraded his visual memory with "Synaptic Flash Tagging Lv.1," allowing him to retain anatomical images near-perfectly.
> [New Quest Unlocked: Dissect a Virtual Brain Model with <95% Accuracy]
[Bonus Reward: Early Access to Neurological Disorder Simulations]
During class, Lior dove into his system quietly, fingers twitching on his desk, while his real body sat perfectly still.
To everyone else, he was zoning out.
But in the virtual interface, he was performing a micro-dissection of the hippocampus.
---
That Afternoon
Outside the school gate, a sleek, matte-black car waited.
Lior noticed it again—the same one from yesterday.
His chest tightened.
As he walked past, the tinted window slid down.
Renji was inside, dressed in charcoal black, a subtle silver ring on his index finger.
"You've been busy," he said casually, voice laced with calm power.
Lior's steps froze. "I—I don't know what you mean."
Renji raised an eyebrow. "Don't insult my intelligence. You activated a cortex system yesterday. That tech is supposed to be government-classified."
Lior stiffened. "I didn't… I didn't choose it. It chose me."
There was a pause.
Then Renji said something that sent a chill down Lior's spine:
"I've been looking for a prototype like yours."
He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a thin silver card with an embedded neural scanner.
"Come by ValeTech. No strings. I'll give you access to any medical data you want. Brain maps, clinical trials, neural anomaly scans."
Lior hesitated.
"…Why?"
Renji's expression didn't change, but something in his tone softened.
"Because I think you're going to change the world."
Their eyes locked.
Renji's gaze wasn't romantic—not yet.
But it was intense. Focused. Intrigued.
Like a chess master discovering a new rival.
Or a lonely man seeing light for the first time in years.
And in that moment, Lior realized something:
This wasn't just a system anymore.
It was war.
And Renji Vale had just entered the arena.