Rage woke up to a narrower bed. It felt smaller than he remembered, tighter, the space was pressing in around him. His right arm was dangling off the edge. A foreign arm rested across his chest.
"...Not again," he muttered, already guessing whose it was.
Turning his head, he found Mariselle asleep beside him, her hair was scattered across the pillow. The thin silk nightdress she wore clung dangerously close to being transparent.
"What's with these royals lately?"
He carefully lifted her arm, sliding out from under it with surgical precision. The blanket slipped from his body. No shirt. No pants. Just skin.
The four bunny-eared maids were lined up in front of him, perfectly still.
"You've been here the whole time?"
Vivianne smiled faintly. "We've just woken up."
"Figures."
Rage looked for his coat and boots.
"Where are my... stuff?"
Seloria bowed slightly. "Taken to the washhouse."
Before he could reply, Renelle draped a fresh black robe over his shoulders. Soft fabric. Warm. Loafers placed neatly by his feet.
Rage sighed. "Thanks. Don't wanna walk around naked."
He walked toward the doorway, the four maids bowed as he passed.
Waiting there was a butler, his posture was sharp and his expression was unreadable.
"Morning, Sebastian," Rage greeted with dry voice.
"An honor, sir, but my name is Walter."
"Right. Sebastian." Rage rubbed his neck. "Can you tell the queen she's on the wrong bed?"
"That was Her Majesty's special request, sir."
"Of course it was." Rage sighed. "Where can I find something I can actually wear outside?"
"For something formal, the royal wardrobe. Functional, the armory."
"Armory."
Walter inclined his head and pointed toward the corridor leading to the castle's entrance.
"Thanks."
"Will you dine first, my lord? The hall has been prepared."
"No need."
Walter bowed.
As Rage walked off, the butler gestured to one of the maids. She hurried toward the kitchen.
The armory held rows of polished steel and neatly arranged gear, all too clean for real battle. He found a fur-lined coat and a pair of leather boots. They were simple yet comfortable.
He slipped them on, then stepped outside. Renelle waited by the doorway with a basket of bread in her hands.
"You should eat something before going out"
Rage took one without looking and gave a brief nod. "Later."
At the castle doors, two guards straightened as Rage approached.
"Good morning, sir," they greeted in unison.
The heavy gates opened.
The morning air outside was cool and misty. A guard officer waited near the steps.
"You're up early, sir."
"Seems that way."
"Where to, sir?"
"Academy."
"I'll have a carriage prepared, sir."
"I'll take the scenic route."
The officer nodded and stepped aside. "As you wish, sir."
Rage adjusted the collar of his coat and started down the stone path, biting into the bread he'd taken earlier. The chill wind brushed against his skin as the great doors closed behind him
He made his way down the cobbled path from the castle gates. The port came into view beyond the mist. It was already alive with shouts, clattering crates, and the creak of mooring ropes.
He passed through the waking streets. Some townsfolk greeted him with nods, others kept their eyes low, occupied with sweeping or unlocking their stalls. The scent of fresh bread and salt filled the air.
By the time he reached the academy the sun had passed the rooftops. The main hall buzzed with quiet movement. Scholars shuffled papers, some half-asleep from an all-nighter. Others, clearly just arrived, still smelled of morning dew.
Rage made his way straight to the archive. The door was already open.
Inside, Yuri sat at a long oak table surrounded by towers of books. The faint scent of ink and candle wax hung in the air. A few elderly scholars worked quietly nearby, the ones she had mentioned the day before.
"You're early," Yuri said without looking up.
"Fashionably. Thought I'd get here first."
"I haven't slept. I stayed here all night."
"Don't you need sleep?"
"I've rested long enough."
"Sleep is for the weak, right?" He crossed his arms. "So, tell me, what else should I know aside from stuff you said yesterday?"
"It isn't about what you should know. Everything is already written in here. You only need to look. What matters is what you cannot understand, then I will answer."
Rage tilted his head. "So, probably elements. Feels like the root of it all."
An elder scholar rose silently and motioned for him to follow. They disappeared into the maze of bookshelves.
That day, Rage spent all his time in the archives. The writings were archaic and cryptic, but he figured them out by connecting them to gaming.
According to the books, each living creature has an elemental core containing at least one element. There were seven in total: Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Shadow, Dark, and Light. A few beings carried two, and some, considered gifted, had three. Heroes, born in this world or brought from another, could possess up to seven.
Each element functioned according to its type. For mages, it determined the form of their spells. For those who did not know magic, it shaped the body instead. Fire increased strength. Wind improved agility. Water enhanced vitality and stamina. Earth strengthened endurance and defense. Shadow heightened avoidance and stealth. Dark amplified critical power. Light sharpened concentration and accuracy.
Those with more could shift between them or merge them. Fire and Wind made lightning. Water and Air froze into ice, among many other forms.
By the time he closed the last tome the candles were nearly out. He leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes were heavy with fatigue.
The diagrams and formation charts reminded him of old elemental tower defense games, patterns of strategy he already knew by instinct.
***
The next day, Rage returned to the archive with Seloria trailing behind, a book was already in her hands.
Three new scholars occupied the hall, older and quiet, their voices blended with the soft turn of pages. Each one showed Loyalty in his interface, nothing to worry about. Rage approached one of them and asked for the section on Kingdom Cores. The elder nodded and led him through narrow aisles lined with shelves covered in dust until they reached the back, where the oldest books were kept.
He carried the books to a nearby table. Seloria sat across from him, still reading the storybook she had brought earlier, while Rage arranged several old volumes in front of him.
Kingdom Cores were crystalline clusters that served as sources of elemental energy. They could be found in different places, underground, in caves, or beneath bodies of water. Their size ranged from small to massive. Two could not exist close to each other, as the stronger would absorb the weaker and leave behind a colorless, lifeless shell.
Each active Kingdom Core emitted a color that matched its element. A Red Ruby represented Fire. A Blue Sapphire represented Water. A Yellow Amber represented Earth. A Green Topaz represented Wind. A Purple Amethyst represented Shadow. A Black Onyx represented Dark. A pure white Diamond represented Light.
Because of their power, kingdoms built their castles directly above them. Firekeep rose over a Red Ruby Core, and Abyssal Tides stood above a Blue Sapphire Core. Other kingdoms followed the same pattern, establishing their strongholds near Kingdom Cores aligned with their own elements.
While people of every element could live within the same kingdom, those whose affinity matched the Kingdom Core held privilege and power above the rest.
Fragments of these Kingdom Cores, shards taken carefully from the source, never lost their energy. Even when cut and polished, they remained alive, connected to their Kingdom Core. Some texts called this network the leylines, though no one had proven its existence.
***
On the third day, two new scholars arrived at the Archive. They were a boy and a girl, both younger than the others who usually worked there.
The girl had messy hair and round spectacles that often slipped down her nose, her robe oversized for her height. The boy beside her held a stack of books tightly, standing straight and looking around with quick, nervous glances.
[SYSTEM] Lienne Lv.26
[SYSTEM] class : Alchemist
[SYSTEM] loyalty : 96%
"G-Good morning, sir," the girl said, bowing her head quickly. "We're... um, grateful to be allowed here. I... I'm Lienne, and this is Tavin."
[SYSTEM] Tavin Lv.32
[SYSTEM] class : Stone Alchemist
[SYSTEM] loyalty : 71%
Rage nodded. "No problem."
They smiled anyway and hurried off to a far table, whispering in awe at every shelf they passed.
Seloria and Renelle joined him that day. Both carried thick novels, but the same gentle kind. They sat across from him, composed and quiet, their soft laughter and polite conversation a contrast to the heavy tomes spread before him.
Rage flipped open a heavy tome titled Schools of Arcana. The first few chapters read like blueprints for the world's logic.
Magic was divided into three main disciplines. These were Destruction, Protection, and Creation.
Under Destruction were the schools of Evocation, which controlled direct energy such as fire, lightning, and frost, and Necromancy, which manipulated death and decay.
Protection included Restoration, used for healing and bodily restoration, and Enchantment, which applied magical influence to minds, objects, or even the caster's own body for defense or control.
Creation covered Conjuration, which produced material or creatures through mana, Transmutation, which altered the form or property of existing matter, and Illusion, which wove spells of deception to create false realities or hide the truth from senses.
Rage closed the book. "Tabletop on weekends."
Yuri glanced up. "Did you say anything?"
"Nope." Rage stood, stretching slightly. "You know what, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"I haven't seen any magic users yet. I wonder if they are rare."
"You mean this?" Yuri held up her hand. Fire, Wind, and Water magic floated above her palm. "This is Conjuration. What you probably meant is Evocation magic. The school focused on defeating enemies with magic."
She continued, "Most schools of magic are nearly forgotten. They are too slow in battle. By the time a magic user chants a spell, archers and swordsmen have already struck. Some practitioners still exist, but most turned to Enchantment to enhance their bodies. Others use Conjuration to put flames on the tips of arrows."
"So you're telling me that nobody uses other schools of magic nowadays?"
"Not quite," Yuri said. "There are still those who do, like me. But they are rare, and most work as councilmen of kingdoms."
"How about healing magic?"
"Being the first targets and casualties of war, healing magic has been nearly forgotten as well. They either work hidden within kingdoms or are killed out of fear enemies capturing them."
"How about sacrificial magic?"
"What about it?"
"I once saw a woman stab herself and transfer something using her lips toward another person," Rage said, recalling his days in Ebonwake, where several bunny maids had sacrificed for him, though he did not want to mention himself as the example.
Yuri's expression darkened slightly. "Sacrificial magic is a forbidden art. Only used in the lands of demons. Knowing you've been in Ebonwake, surely you've seen one."
"Don't want to see it again."
Yuri looked at him quietly, letting the weight of the words settle between them.
***
The following days passed with little change.
Rage arrived every morning without delay, sometimes with one maid, sometimes two, and occasionally with Queen Mariselle, who stayed silent while she read. The same scholars filled the Archive, reading or writing as usual.
Rage followed the same schedule each day, sitting at the same table and reading for hours. He reviewed the books on elements, Kingdom Cores, and the schools of magic. Then he moved on to studies of races and creatures, elves, vampires, orcs, and demons. Each entry detailed their structure, traits, and kingdoms.
To the others, he looked like an ordinary researcher. But as he read, he began analyzing the contents differently. He compared them to logic, code, and systems from his own world, breaking each concept down into consistent rules and functions.
By the end of the week, one realization anchored itself in his mind. Everything was connected, a vast system tied to a single denominator, a hidden nexus at the other end of the leylines. If he could reach it, he might uncover the world's secrets, learn how to erase the angels, and avenge Asarhu, if that even counted as vengeance. And maybe, through the same path, find a way to bring him back or cross between worlds himself.
But he was not ready, not yet. There were still gaps in his understanding. A few more books and a little more time, and the missing pieces might finally fall into place.
***
The following week, Rage returned to the archive with Seloria following him, carrying a book of her own. He spent the day buried in volumes about elemental theories.
He finally closed the last book, the candle on his desk flickered before steadying. To him, the seven elements were not mystical forces but shared assets, used by many, each with functions that shifted between magical and physical use.
The elemental soul cores were likened to mobile devices, able to function offline yet far stronger when near a Kingdom Core, which worked like a modem-router. The Kingdom Core itself drew power through the leylines, connected to a deeper source just as a routers would feed on signals from the interwebs.
What he needed now was a computer, and nothing would build a computer better than building it from scratch.
***
The following morning, a sudden thought flickered through Rage's mind.
Silicon. Computer chips. Glass. Crystals.
The words aligned like running a dual for-loop to make a pyramid of asterisks fall into place. The Kingdom Cores were nothing more than large crystal growths that emitted energy. If that was true, then even a dead one would keep its structure. And if the crystal contained silicon, it could store data.
He was not about to risk tampering with a live Kingdom Core. Breaking one would be like running a beta version of an app on a large scale database. But a dead Kingdom Core was just hardware without a signal. If he could somehow reactivate it, he might tap the leylines themselves.
Ding.
He stood abruptly and looked toward Yuri. "Where can I find a dead Kingdom Core?"
"There's one south of this territory," Yuri replied. "In the deep forest. The entrance is a cave filled with monsters. It's dangerous to go alone."
"What I need is just a fragment," Rage said. "For academic purposes."
Yuri closed her book. "Then there's no need to go that far. Follow me."
She led him to a tall, dusty cabinet filled with old relics. Reaching to the back, she pulled out a clear glass orb, lifeless and without glow.
"This is a fragment of a dead Kingdom Core," she said.
Rage took it carefully and inspected its smooth surface. "Perfect," he said, a flicker of anticipation cut through his usual tone. "Now for the fun part."
Yuri tilted her head. "And what exactly do you intend to do with it?"
"Academic stuff?"
A week of intense and frustrating work followed. The orb showed no response, not even the basic interface that appeared when he checked equipment or people. Every attempt returned only errors, regardless of the code he used. He decided to start from nothing, constructing the system from the ground up, not in Python, C, or assembly, but in direct binary.
First, he programmed the orb at the molecular level to respond in either on or off, the basics of binary. Then, using binary language, he formed a simple assembler within the crystal orb.
Seloria, was sitting nearby with her novel, glanced over the top of her book. "You've been staring at that glass for hours. Is it... doing anything?"
"It's doing something," he grunted, not looking away.
He began building a basic input-output process. Then he coded a minimal library so the crystal could interpret his commands, small, limited, but functional. The response appeared as flickering lights across the surface of the crystal.
Next, he shaped the structure into a command-line system. It worked. From there, he expanded it into a simple operating program, something basic like a clock. He set it to display time, though it returned all zeroes as he expected.
Satisfied with stability, he added arithmetic functions. Simple addition. Subtraction. Multiplication. Each test returned correct values.
He continued expanding piece by piece until the crystal housed a compact operating system. Nothing appeared visibly on it, no display, no interface, not yet, but through his interface he saw active processes running.
Rage leaned back, rubbing his temples. Time to test if it could run independently. He placed his hand on the crystal and activated his ability.
"Glow," Rage said.
The orb pulsed faintly.
When he lifted his hand, the light vanished.
Still dead.
He exhaled sharply, irritation was cutting across his face.
"Why am I even enjoying hurting my brain."
Tavin approached from the side, carrying a small provisions box, the same kind others occasionally left during Rage's long hours in the archive.
"Sir," Tavin said, cautious but steady. "We've noticed you hardly eat or drink while you're here. Everyone's worried. This one's from Lienne."
Rage glanced up. Behind a nearby bookshelf, Lienne peeked out, half-hidden, clearly too shy to speak.
He sighed, brushing aside the frustration. Then he lifted the lid and raised his voice just enough to carry past the shelves, casual as if talking only to Tavin. "These smell delicious. Tell her I said thanks."
Rage's gaze flicked toward the corner where Lienne hid. She was already turning red, vanishing behind the bookshelf in a flustered retreat.
Tavin smiled faintly. "Will do." He left as Rage started eating.
After finishing, Rage looked back at his scattered notes, lines of formulas, diagrams, and rough sketches spilling across the table. At the center stood a small diorama he had built from scraps, drawings, wires, and bits of parchment pinned together with thin threads. Each string connected fragments of theory drawn in desperation.
He studied them in silence, trying to pinpoint the flaw, the missing link between his logic and the world's structure.
Then, something shifted.
The crystal's clear surface turned cloudy, a faint haze forming inside the glass.
"What's going on..." Rage muttered.
The fog cleared. The sphere flickered once and twice, then steadied.
A faint boot sequence appeared on the surface of the orb.
"Interesting," he whispered. "It's powering itself..."
On the surface of the orb, a small lime-colored cursor was blinking.
Rage stared, eyes narrowing. "It's alive, but how does it work?" he muttered, leaning closer. "Cursor means it needs input. Don't tell me I have to invent a keyboard now."
He paused, then shrugged. "Or maybe voice recog."
He cleared his throat slightly. "Hello, world."
The cursor flickered once, and then the words appeared, faint but clear across the orb's surface.
[SYSTEM] HELLO, WORLD.
Rage's lips curved into a grin. "Now we're talking."
He stretched his arms until his shoulders popped, then cracked his fingers one by one.
He leaned forward again, the grin was still ghosting his face. "Perform system diagnostics."
The cursor blinked twice, then lines of glowing text scrolled across the orb's surface.
[SYSTEM] SYSTEM CHECK... COMPLETE
[SYSTEM] MEMORY CAPACITY: 1024 YB
[SYSTEM] PROCESSING CORE: ACTIVE
[SYSTEM] LINK STATUS: CONNECTED
He stared at the text, realization flickering in his eyes. "Wait... YB? Must be a problem with the pixels. Probably TB... Should be."
Rage exhaled, leaning back in his chair. His eyes drifted back to the glow within the crystal. "Question is... how many days would it take to build a real Operating System from scratch? Then make a library so you can actually recognize tokens..."
He shifted his thoughts. Before anything else, he needed to know if the orb could at least record speech-to-text input.
"Step one, learning skills," he muttered.
Rage turned and spotted Yuri across the room, still surrounded by books. He walked over, hands in his pockets.
"Yuri," he called. "What do parents do to teach a child?"
She looked up slowly. "That is a very broad question."
She blinked once, tilting her head slightly. "They speak to them. Repeatedly. Until the child learns to imitate the words and meaning."
Rage nodded faintly. "Got it."
He'd already done that.
He lingered a moment longer. "What happens after that?" he asked.
Yuri set her quill down, eyes drifting toward the candle beside her. "At the right age, if the parents can afford to send them to school, they begin reading, memorizing, and expanding vocabulary through repetition and correction."
Rage nodded slowly with distant gaze.
"Memorizing is data storage. From speech to text input."
He turned slightly, eyes flicking back toward the orb on his table. "So, it's not about teaching commands. It's about raising comprehension."
Rage turned back to Yuri. "Hey, you got a room here that's totally silent?"
"Silent? What for?"
"Academic purposes."
She gestured toward the far end of the archive. "There is a chamber further back. It should be silent enough."
"Perfect."
He returned to his table and scooped up the orb. The cursor was still blinking, lines of earlier text glowing faintly across its surface. Without another thought, he turned and hurried toward the silent room Yuri had mentioned.
As he passed, Yuri looked up from her book, her gaze followed the pulsing light in his hand.
"That thing you're holding," she said slowly. "You did that?"
"Yes?"
"It's supposed to be dead."
"It's alive now."
"What did you do? Is that Null magic?"
"Not quite,"
"Then what do you call it?"
He paused mid-step, searching for the right words. "Digital magic, maybe?"
"That's new."
"Indeed."
"What does it do?"
"Listens to people."
"I don't understand. Should we write that in a book?"
"Not at the moment," Rage said, already turning away. "If you'll excuse me, I've got stuff to do."
Yuri watched him go, the faint glow of the orb faded into the dark corridor. For a long moment, she simply stood there, quiet and thoughtful, her eyes showed a spark of something rare for her, genuine curiosity. Then she exhaled softly and returned to her work, though her focus never quite recovered.
Inside the silent chamber, Rage set the orb on a small pedestal.
He muttered under his breath, "What do I even teach this thing...?"
Then he paused. "Maybe I should name it first. Yeah. A name."
He stared at the blinking cursor. "But before that..." His brow furrowed. "I need to establish proper storage. Ten twenty-four terabytes should be more than enough to hold every text in this archive."
He pressed his palm on the orb again. He performed small corrections, added a few new protocols and a full storage driver.
Then he activated Glow.
The update pushed through.
His interface flickered in front of him.
[SYSTEM] Corruption threshold reached : 50%
His breathing hitched. He remembered he had triggered his abilities several times already during the creation of the orb, each activation stacked the corruption further.
Rage froze. "Wait, what? How come? Not now."
Pain seized his chest. He staggered, gasping. Veins lit beneath his skin, snaking up his neck, glowing bright through his face.
He dropped to his knees, choking.
A muffled scream tore from his throat as his body arched.
Outside the chamber, the scholars heard the sound and rushed in.
Rage lay on the floor, clutching his neck, voice was breaking through ragged breaths.
[SYSTEM] System upgrade initiated...
"What's going on?!" one scholar shouted.
"We don't know!" another answered, panic was cutting through the air.
Yuri appeared behind them, calm but sharp-eyed. Her expression gave nothing but her eyes said otherwise.
Lienne pushed through the group, kneeling beside him. "Sir!" she cried, cradling his head on her lap.
His eyes were pitch black now, bleeding from the corners, his body was convulsing violently.
"Hold him!" someone yelled. Two scholars grabbed his arms, another his legs, struggling against the unnatural strength that jolted through his frame.
Lienne could only hold him tighter, whispering without sound, eyes shut, praying for it to stop.
The room filled with light, blinding, gold-white veins were spreading across his body. Then suddenly, silence.
The glow receded, veins faded into still skin. His body slackened.
[SYSTEM] Initiating system restart...
His eyes convulsed once... then closed.
[SYSTEM] Boot sequence...
[SYSTEM] Loading core drivers...
[SYSTEM] Validating memory index...
[SYSTEM] Updating parameters... Complete
[SYSTEM] System response update successful
[SYSTEM] New parameters added
[SYSTEM] Optimizing internal framework...
[SYSTEM] Synchronizing user data...
[SYSTEM] Repairing damaged sectors... 72%... 94%... Complete
[SYSTEM] Linking host neural interface...
[SYSTEM] Signal connection: Active
[SYSTEM] Initializing full system check...
[SYSTEM] Verifying integrity... Complete
[SYSTEM] System startup...
[SYSTEM] Boot successful
[SYSTEM] Welcome back, user: Rage
[SYSTEM] Corruption: 50%