Subtitle: From shattered runes to the first vision—this is how the future began.
First Month
It had been one full month since Ray, Diana, and Selene began their daily routine of gathering together—sharing ideas, frustrations, and determination in a tireless pursuit to create a magical screen. Each day they met without fail, hunched over scrolls, fragments, and scraps of crystal—designing, debating, revising.
They had failed more times than they could count.
Their humble workroom was often littered with shattered runes, burned talismans, flickering light formations, and half-fused crystals. A thin layer of magical residue hung in the air, glowing faintly in the dim light of ever-burning lamps. The scent of heated quartz and inked parchment clung to their robes.
In those early days, they experimented with every conceivable method of projection using runes and magic—each one hopeful, each one ultimately flawed. But slowly, steadily, they began to forge a rhythm.
Diana lent her profound understanding of formation runes, carving intricate patterns onto enchanted glass with steady hands. Selene contributed her talisman craft, layering enchantments with precision and grace. Ray, standing between their disciplines, became the bridge—linking their unique magical languages into one unified system. He wielded both with instinctive fluency, the key that held their collaboration together.
Second Month
As the second month began, Ray's cultivation made a notable leap. He had managed to grasp the principles of light runes, enhancing his affinity with imagery and data manipulation. Now standing at the peak of the Second Iron Stage of Soul Cultivation, he could feel the Third Stage approaching—just within reach.
The light runes proved essential. They enabled subtle manipulation of visual patterns—bending and refracting light to create images through a crystalline medium. Ray carefully embedded them into a crystal ball, now tuned to receive signals from a magical frequency—one that linked back to his custom-built network tower, crafted using matrix formations.
That tower was a marvel in itself, though kept hidden. He had used every scrap of knowledge from ancient relics and his own intuition to design it.
Ray's attempts to create a television screen progressed. With careful etching of a rectangular rune formation—what he referred to as a "magic monitor"—he was able to form a rudimentary projection surface.
The screen could be controlled by simple touch or spoken command, and Ray began experimenting with ways to introduce voice command or remote devices. Yet, another idea soon consumed him: the keyboard and mouse—tools vital for operating what would become a magical computer.
Diana, ever clever, proposed the creation of a floating rune keyboard, where users could type in the air, the glyphs responding to their gestures. Voice commands would come later, she mused, once the screen was perfected.
It was all still theory. But now, theory felt within reach of reality.
Third Month
The third month brought personal breakthroughs. Ray advanced to the third stage of soul cultivation and also entered the apprentice stage of sword force. He had been isolating himself from distractions—his days filled with cultivation, training, and invention. And in that silence, he found a strange peace.
Despite the long hours and repeated failures, Ray was growing—not just in strength, but in spirit. Every error was a lesson. Every setback is a chance to improve. He saw each flawed design not as defeat but as another step toward success. His eyes gleamed with quiet fire.
Then, one day—it happened.
A spark of insight struck him like lightning. He remembered every blueprint, every rune, every failed model. They had been using formation as the screen and talisman as the power source—but something had always been missing. The heart. The processor. The bridge.
That was the answer.
Ray realized he could use the matrix to serve as the core processor—linking all systems, controlling all functions, and pulsing as the beating heart of the device.
That same evening, he approached Diana and Selene, his eyes shining with restrained excitement. "I have a brilliant idea," he said simply. "This time, it will work."
They exchanged glances, soft smiles tugging at their lips. They'd heard those words before—many, many times. And yet, there was something in Ray's voice that made them pause.
He was always passionate, always hopeful. But this time... there was conviction.
As they laid out the blueprints once again, Diana and Selene watched curiously. It looked nearly identical to previous attempts. But still, they followed him, trusting his lead.
What they didn't see—what Ray carefully concealed—was the matrix rune he had been quietly embedding in the core. A thread of soul-infused magic unlike anything they had worked with before. The matrix didn't just power the screen; it connected everything—like a mind connecting to its limbs.
Hours passed in tense, silent work. Then, finally, they had it: a complete crystal ball unlike any they had made before.
Diana and Selene stared at it, blinking in confusion. It looked the same. Same materials. Same shape. Same design. Nothing to indicate it wouldn't simply explode again, like all the others.
Ray smiled mysteriously.
"Turn off all the lamps," he said. "Wait for the surprise."
Diana raised a brow but complied, stepping away to extinguish the glowing lights. Shadows fell across the room. The air grew still.
Then—Ray activated the crystal ball.
A soft hum filled the space. Lines of light shimmered inside the crystal, and suddenly—a rectangular shape of glowing light emerged in the air before them.
A screen.
An actual screen.
Diana gasped audibly. Selene leaned forward, her mouth slightly open. Neither of them had ever seen such a thing. It floated with a soft pulse, like a window into another world.
"How... how is this working?" Diana whispered.
Ray chuckled softly, scratching the back of his neck. "Let's just say... it's thanks to the relics I got from the King's Palace."
Not a lie. But not the whole truth either.
The matrix embedded within his soul—that was the real key. A secret too valuable to share.
As they stared, the joy began to dim. The screen showed nothing. Just a blank light.
Ray laughed again. "It's empty because we haven't made any videos yet. Or used a camera."
He then spent the next hour patiently explaining how video capture, storage, and servers would work. How a network could connect users. How recorded footage could be played again and again.
Their heads spun.
To bring it all together, Ray offered a demonstration. With a snap of his fingers, the room filled with light once more. He whispered to the system within him.
A moment later—the screen flickered, then shifted.
Selene and Diana appeared on the screen. Every movement, every expression—mirrored in real time.
They turned back to Ray, wide-eyed.
"How are you doing this?"
Ray just smiled. "Only I can—for now. Thanks to the relics."
He said nothing about the living matrix, the soul-bound processor quietly relaying his vision to the screen.
Diana and Selene leaned in, awe-struck.
But Ray was already thinking ahead.
"We still need to create proper cameras and a way to record sound. That'll be our next step."
They nodded slowly, still watching their reflections on the screen. There was much to do. But for the first time, they knew:
They were no longer chasing an impossible dream.
They were building it.