Spring of 346, A.D.

  “Alex, you’re stuck in an infinite loop again.” Alex hurled the pen across the room. “I hate programming. Why do we even need to learn this junk? It’s not like we have access to anything we can actually program. Daisy keeps all her babies to herself.”

  “If you understand how Daisy thinks, you can anticipate her moves. Gosh. Weren’t you listening to Sunny?”

  Alex shrugged. “Not really, no.”

  Kai’s nostrils flared. The pen in his hand nearly snapped in two. “I don’t know why I bother. You always act like you know better than everyone.”

  “Well, not to sound immodest...”

  “Shut it. Your arrogance is going to be your downfall in the exams one day.”

  “Relax, Kai. Cassie told me that in her sector, they don’t waste time on this programming nonsense. And look at them—they’re doing just fine. Better than us.”

  Kai gritted his teeth. “How do you know she’s not lying? There are stories, Alex. People misleading each other. Mind games across the wall. There’s a reason we don’t talk to the other sectors!”

  Before he could react, Alex had grabbed him by the collar. “Don’t you dare call Cassie a liar!” The fury in his friend’s eyes sent a chill down Kai’s spine.

  “Alright, alright. Let me go, Alex!”

  Alex shoved him away and turned his back.

  Kai had rehearsed what he wanted to say countless times. This wasn’t the right moment—but the words slipped out anyway.

  “Alex, you’re like a brother to me. I get it. You feel alone. And yeah, you like this girl. But think it through. You can’t build a life with someone across a wall. And neither of you is ever crossing it.”

  “You don’t know that.” Alex’s voice had gone soft. Wounded.

  “Listen... we don’t know what tomorrow holds. What if we ace the exams one day and get the right to host exiles? Maybe one of them will be your age. Maybe she’ll be the one.”

  Alex shot him a glare sharp enough to make Kai gulp. He knew the words had cut deep—but they needed saying.

  Then, to his surprise, Alex’s expression softened.

  “Maybe you’re right, Kai.”

  “Huh?”

  “I said—maybe you’re right.”

  *

  353rd Daisy Trials, Round of 64.

  Kai was back at the ground level offices, looking for the fire axe and the rusty steel door he’d spotted earlier. Once he found them, he grabbed the last piece of the puzzle he needed.

  Capture successful!

  Tries left: 1 of 20.

  Rusty Steel Door ?? (Uncommon)

  A door made of steel that has fallen into a deplorable condition.

  3 of 3

  HP: 1

  VP: 3

  He stretched his neck and shoulders, trying to purge some of the tension from his body. With all the ingredients he needed to replicate the recipes from the manager’s office blueprints, Kai felt confident about the upcoming round. On top of that, he’d secured rare cards, a mystery box, and even one legendary.

  Is there anything else I should try to capture?

  Nothing came to mind. With only one shot left, he decided to save it in case inspiration struck later. He still had twenty minutes on the clock, so he stopped worrying about snapping and turned his focus to planning.

  Kai kept his inventory open, reviewing each recipe he wanted to try. He mentally simulated combinations, trying to figure out how to get the most points.

  Unfortunately, he ran out of ideas after just a few minutes. Truth was, he didn’t have that many ingredients to work with this time. When he’d panicked last round and burned through several cards to squeeze out a higher point score, he also torched a lot of potential recipes. In hindsight, he should’ve stayed calm and kept more paths open—but that was water under the bridge.

  A bridge you’ve burned, you idiot, he thought to himself.

  After a few rounds of internal beratement, he managed to steady his thoughts. Ten minutes left.

  He thought back to what he’d learned in this stage. The [Dimensional Gloves] had opened up an entirely new section of the map. If he’d had them in the earlier arenas, he could’ve climbed pine trees, scaled the quarry walls, or tunneled through the night desert sands. Getting that mystery box had been, without a doubt, the biggest win of this stage.

  His biggest disappointment, on the other hand, had been [Hunter’s Eyes]. Knowing where the opponent was hadn’t given him much of an edge. He should’ve thought it through more before buying it. The real issue with the skill was that it forced him to run the trial one step behind. Sure, he could trace where the other player stopped, but that didn’t help his score.

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  Kai’s thoughts drifted to the console and what kind of upgrades might unlock next. They might seem like small decisions, but upgrades were the key to doing well in the exams. If not for the gaslamp—or his shadow—he wouldn’t have made it this far.

  That made him pause.

  Am I being too passive about the upgrades?

  Kai was flying blind, like everyone else. He’d figured out that legendary cards unlocked new console upgrades. Some random cards also triggered cheaper upgrades, though the connection wasn’t always obvious. But maybe there was a more active role he could take in the process.

  As a thought experiment, Kai forced himself to forget the current upgrade list in the white room console. What did he really need? What was missing?

  Flying would’ve been cool—but he waved that off. Too ambitious. He needed something practical. He recalled the lone flower on the quarry cliffs and the massive engine outside the factory—both had screamed with potential, but they’d been too far to capture. If only he had an upgrade that amplified his camera’s view.

  With that result in mind, he started thinking backwards. What kind of card could unlock such an upgrade?

  He only had one shot left, but a new idea sparked in his mind.

  Kai sprinted toward the cargo bay.

  He found the rusty pipe he’d snapped earlier, lying near one of the trash piles. Then he located the long metal beams that had once supported the heavy factory cranes. With his camera in one hand and the pipe in the other, he positioned the pipe close—very close—to the lens. So close it dominated half the frame in the viewfinder.

  Next, he adjusted the angle to catch one of the distant beams in the background. Holding his breath, he pulled the pipe back and forth, lining it up until it appeared to match the width of the distant beam.

  Once both objects seemed aligned in scale, he pressed the button.

  Capture successful!

  Tries left: 0 of 20.

  Perspective ?? (Rare)

  An object’s depth and scale can alter depending on an observer’s position and point of view.

  HP: 1

  VP: 3

  Kai smiled. He hoped this more proactive approach would earn him the upgrade he needed. Moments after he took his final shot, the bell rang, and the world around him shimmered.

  He was back in the white room.

  After spending two hours in a run-down factory, the return to the clean, sterile brightness of the crafting room was a welcome change. Everything felt orderly again. Predictable.

  And there was something new. Next to the table stood a machine he hadn’t seen before. A boxy structure with a flat surface and blinking lights.

  The photocopier upgrade!

  Kai’s heart sped up. He couldn’t wait to see what it could do. But first things first—he grabbed all his cards and laid them out across the crafting table, spreading them into neat categories.

  He started with the ones he had snapped during the factory arena.

  Dried Drive Belt ?? (Common)

  HP: 2 | VP: 0

  Rusty Gear ?? (Common)

  HP: 2 | VP: 0

  Rusty Pipe (Common)

  HP: 2 | VP: 0

  Broken Console ??? (Uncommon)

  HP: 2 | VP: 1

  Copper Wire ?? (Uncommon) ×2

  HP: 2 | VP: 2

  Fire Axe ?? (Uncommon) ×2

  HP: 4 | VP: 0

  Radioactive Waste ?? (Uncommon)

  HP: 2 | VP: 2

  Rusty Steel Door ?? (Uncommon)

  HP: 1 | VP: 3

  Solder ???? (Uncommon) ×2

  HP: 2 | VP: 2

  Spider ??? (Uncommon) ×2

  HP: 1 | VP: 3

  Water ?? (Uncommon)

  HP: 3 | VP: 1

  Perspective ?? (Rare)

  HP: 1 | VP: 3

  Spider Web ??? (Rare) ×2

  HP: 3 | VP: 4

  Neglect ????? (Legendary)

  HP: 0 | VP: 10

  The assortment of cards he’d gathered was similar to previous rounds, though the ratio of uncommon to common cards was better than usual. He’d also secured three rares and one legendary! Altogether, thesecards were worth 42 points.

  Next, he reached for the cards left over from earlier rounds.

  Ash ????? (Common) ×2

  HP: 0 | VP: 2

  Sand ??? (Common)

  HP: 1 | VP: 1

  Small Flint ???? (Common)

  HP: 0 | VP: 1

  Thorn ????? (Common)

  HP: 0 | VP: 2

  Acacia Leaf ???? (Uncommon) ×3

  HP: 0 | VP: 2

  Big Flint ???? (Uncommon)

  HP: 0 | VP: 0

  Flint Arrow ???? (Uncommon) ×2

  HP: 0 | VP: 3

  Flintstone ???? (Uncommon)

  HP: 1 | VP: 1

  Gaslamp ?? (Uncommon)

  HP: 0 | VP: 2

  Granite Shed ?????? (Uncommon)

  HP: 0 | VP: 0

  Pond ?? (Uncommon)

  HP: 0 | VP: 2

  Arabian Oryx ????? (Rare)

  HP: 5 | VP: 2

  Arabian Oryx ????? (Rare)

  HP: 4 | VP: 2

  Fire ?? (Rare)

  HP: 9 | VP: 9

  Light ? (Legendary) ×3

  HP: +∞ | VP: 2

  Unicorn ?? (Legendary)

  HP: 4 | VP: 15

  He checked his scoreboard.

  He was winning 101 points to 92.

  I shouldn’t get too excited. My opponent can still turn this around.

  Who knew what kind of upgrades the other runner had? He himself had clawed back from bigger deficits in earlier rounds. Nothing was guaranteed.

  He cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. Before merging any cards, he needed to figure out how the new photocopier upgrade worked.

  The white box sat flush against the table, its surface marked with an engraving similar to the one used for crafting. He ran his fingers across it, noting the fine lines and patterns.

  Kai grabbed his most valuable card.

  Unicorn ?? (Legendary)

  HP: 4

  VP: 15

  If he could copy this, the round would be his.

  He laid it onto the photocopier’s engraving. The pattern drew the card in, just like the crafting table did.

  Lines of light burst from the card, forming two additional rectangles made of glowing lines—two empty spaces. The machine wanted more. It seemed copying a card came at a cost.

  Kai reached for two worthless cards.

  Big Flint ???? (Uncommon)

  HP: 0

  VP: 0

  Granite Shed ??????] (Uncommon)

  HP: 0

  VP: 0

  Perfect candidates. No value, no future use.

  He placed [Big Flint] onto the first slot.

  The table buzzed—then coughed. The light blinked out like a sputtering engine.

  Kai twitched his nose. “Not that easy, huh?”

  He removed [Unicorn] from the central slot, waited a moment, then set it down again.

  The table reactivated.

  He pulled a [Light] card from his stash and placed it on the other rectangle. The hum returned, steady now.

  Finally, he placed [Big Flint] into the last slot. The light died instantly.

  He nodded, thoughtful. That confirmed it: to copy a card, he had to match the card’s rarity. The machine required two other cards of equal grade to fuel the duplication.

  To test the theory, he picked a card he wouldn’t mind duplicating:

  Water ?? (Uncommon)

  HP: 3

  VP: 1

  He placed it in the center slot. The lines of light returned, opening two more rectangles.

  Next, he added [Granite Shed], also uncommon. For the final card, he used:

  Acacia Leaf ???? (Uncommon)

  HP: 0

  VP: 2

  The machine accepted flashed brightly.

  Kai blinked away the dazzle, and when his vision cleared, a fresh copy of [Water] rested on the table.

  The other two cards were gone.

  Copy successful! You’ve exchanged [Acacia Leaf ????] and [Granite Shed ??????] for [Water ??].

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