'Maybe I need to be more careful about my casual thought process in the future.'
Iseul lamented quietly, startled at how such an abrupt reaction had come from a single, idle thought.
The floating room around her hummed faintly, its walls stitched together by threads of shifting light.
The outlines and workings of a workshop formed—tables and tools appearing into place.
Large cabinets lined both sides, each filled with massive rolls of paper stacked in their columns.
In the center floated a broad table, illuminated by a brilliant light connected to nothing, shining directly upon its surface.
When Iseul approached, her eyes caught on words etched into the table in fine engraving:
Radiacrafter Workshop
She reached out, brushing the table gently, and the threads shimmered as if waiting for her input.
The realization hit harder than before—this domain wasn't just reacting to her. It was tied to her Gift itself.
Is this… my Gift's true form?
A workshop?
Her heart pounded as her mind pieced things together.
She thought back to the week she finally awoke to her power.
She had just run out of suppressors, and she didn't have enough money to get more.
She had lied and told her brothers she would get treatment at her campus, but she never did.
The next morning, she woke up—and she had awakened.
At first, she didn't think much of it, swept away by the excitement of finally being able to awaken.
But then it started to make sense—why it wouldn't absorb comostia energy.
The radiation, the suppressants, the sudden surge of strength—everything pointed back to this.
Iseul remembered Yong-woo's dream, how she had accidentally stepped into it, bending it in ways she didn't understand.
But here?
Here, the rules bent to her tune effortlessly.
She thought of the word create, and the floor beneath her pulsed.
A tiny, glowing cube floated into existence, fragile as glass yet heavy with meaning.
"…I didn't even try that hard," she whispered, eyes wide.
Iseul didn't sense any radiation in this magical place.
It wasn't comostia energy either. The energy felt limitless.
Her Gift wasn't just absorbing radiation—it was converting it into this energy inside of her.
It carried the aura of something that anyone could shape—refine—into something new.
The name formed in her mind: Infinita Force.
A name that felt right. A name that was hers.
She could now support herself and her siblings with this Gift of hers.
But when she tried again—this time imagining something more complex.
It was a little wind chime like the one that used to hang by her mother's window—the result warped.
THUD!
"Holy—huh?!" Iseul jumped, frightened.
A twisted hunk of metal clattered to the floor.
"What happened?!" she asked out loud, scratching her head.
"Why did it give me metal?!" She was always lost when it came to her Gift.
Iseul sighed.
She was confused.
Still, she tried again.
This time she held the clear intent to create the wind chimes from memory.
Something changed.
The more she focused, the more her Dreamscape obeyed. The less she focused, the more it misfired.
Iseul felt the energy swell inside of her and move to her hands.
Empty blueprints appeared, unrolling themselves from a cabinet in the room, sketching out her memory of the wind chime design.
They lit up when finished, and Iseul suddenly received all the knowledge of how to form and make it.
She opened her eyes to see the scrap of metal that had fallen, its pieces beginning to rise up.
That wondrous, drunken-like feeling came over her again, pulling her into a dazed state.
The metal flew into her palms and slowly—surely—formed the wind chimes from her memory.
She didn't stop focusing until they were completely finished, before finally snapping out of her daze.
"Eek!" Iseul leapt back. She dropped the wind chimes and they clattered to the floor.
"They're real!?"
The wind chimes were beautiful.
Iseul pick them up Filling the material and texture. She was in complete awe.
They looked exactly like the ones her mother had owned.
The floating room seemed to laugh at her, lights rippling as though mocking her.
Still, despite the clumsy results, she felt the energy inside her—Infinita Force, the radiant current born from absorbed radiation—thrumming stronger, begging to be shaped.
It was only then that Iseul truly took the time to realize—
She looked over the blueprint in amazement.
She still remembered the knowledge, the workings, and the way to craft it.
This was only the beginning.
Iseul explored her Gift some more, testing the lengths she could go.
She used the rest of the leftover scrap metal for practice.
She formed small little trinkets—rings, earrings, even piercing studs for bellies, noses, and ears.
Starting small, she made about a hundred of them before realizing she didn't feel any strain from her Gift.
Blueprints also formed for these things, and she received the knowledge instantly.
She learned, while exploring, that if she wanted to craft something, she either needed the knowledge herself.
Or the Infinita Force could absorb the thoughts, feelings, and information from materials as it absorbed radiation, converting it into energy she could use to craft.
In doing so, it allowed her to retain the knowledge, to craft, to understand, and even to change things at will—to make them altogether different.
She marveled at the uniqueness of her Gift.
She decided to continue.
Next, Iseul went for something a little bit larger.
She began crafting watches, necklaces, bracelets. Still, she felt no strain, even after making quite a few.
Wow… my power has grown so much. Why is it more draining when I'm in reality, but easier here?
Could it be this domain?
Possibly… very likely.
She didn't know how long she had been in there, but then remembered that she was still buried under scrap in reality—and needed to figure out a way to get out.
Since Jang Isuel felt no strain, she decided to try something bolder: to craft a large mecha, the kind she had once studied for a class project.
The loader mecha was a machine specifically designed for moving large pieces of heavy materials and loads.
It was one of the simplest types of mecha to build and repair, often made from scrap or recycled metal.
It would come in handy regardless—whether she kept it or sold it.
She could use it to help clear debris in the scrapyard, making her trips faster and more profitable since she wouldn't have to hand-dig through trash every time.
Or, if she sold it, she could earn quite a few credits from it. That was tempting too.
But honestly, she didn't have much room at home to keep such a large mecha.
Still… it would be a shame to give up such a helper—one that didn't need to be fed or paid.
It would be perfect.
Not just to clear out an opening for her escape from under the junk, but also to help her finish organizing and clearing the area.
She had already spent so much time dividing everything into sections and stuffing them into different bags.
There was no way she was leaving all that behind.
She refused to walk away without finishing—not when she needed to get her credits' worth.
She still had mouths to feed.
Iseul urged her Gift to absorb more radiation from the surrounding area.
She hoped it would allow her to gain knowledge from the nearby scraps so that when she built her mecha and she could complete it in one go.
She began to picture the loader mecha as vividly as she could remember.
Iseul envisioned every part of its design, every property, every function.
How it was made, how it moved, how it was meant to carry heavy loads and clear away mountains of debris.
She poured that intent into her Gift.
As she focused, she didn't realize she was subtly mutating the design—granting it extra programming beyond what she intended.
The blueprint manifested fully, glowing as the outline of the mecha was etched into reality.
She crafted it from her own knowledge, with the Infinita Force fueling her every step.
Minutes passed. Piece by piece, the mecha took shape.
By the time she finished, Iseul was completely drained, her body trembling from exhaustion.
Iseul collapsed, dizzy and nauseated. She vomited, her body feeling as though it had been struck by radiation poisoning.
The pain dragged on until, slowly, she felt the Infinita Force return to her, filling her body once again.
Okay… for future reference, never let yourself run out of Infinita Force, Iseul warned herself after experiencing it firsthand.
She only felt truly better when her body had refilled halfway.
Now she knew the consequences of overusing her Gift until empty.
It was horrible—instant, and utterly unbearable.
It took her a long while just to catch her breath.
But when she finally looked up—
The mecha had already powered itself on. Its eyes flickered to life, glowing softly, and it stood there in the dreamscape… ready to work.
"Holy scraps! It really works!!"
Iseul jumped in excitement, tears spilling down her cheeks.
When she moved, the mecha turned to her and zoomed in on her face, recognizing her instantly as its creator.
It spoke:
[Hello, Creator. I am Loader Mecha 001. I am called Loadon. Would you like me to assist you with picking up a load or collecting trash?]
"Huh?!" Iseul froze. Has it always had this type of setting?
She didn't remember it saying any of this when she created it in class, nor did it ever give itself a name.
She probably did the programming wrong the first time, Iseul assumed.
Still—she could finally get out from under the scrap.
"Follow me," Iseul commanded.
[Yes, Creator.] Loadon followed.
The workshop dissolved and she appeared back in the main domain. She willed herself to return to the scrapyard.
A door reappeared, and she walked through it, the mecha following close behind.
She was back under the scrap in the scrapyard.