Tom took a deep breath, offering a sad smile.
"I… I'm sorry, kid."
Victor frowned, confused.
"What…?"
"For worrying you… for making you carry all this alone…"
His voice faltered for a moment, pride and regret battling in his throat.
"I should've… taken better care of myself. You… you're just a boy."
Victor squeezed his hand even tighter, feeling the warmth of his newly awakened power pulsing beneath his skin.
"You're… all I've got, grandpa."
The old man let out a hoarse laugh.
"And you… you're the best thing I've ever done, kid."
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the wind outside, completely unaware that, just beyond the house, something very strange had happened.
The vine that had begun growing when Victor had unleashed his solar energy without control hadn't just kept growing…
It had mutated.
Without anyone noticing, the plant had developed yellow flowers that glowed softly in the dark, like small, living lanterns.
The first magical plants created unintentionally by the network of Shards.
Neither Victor nor Tom noticed at first.
It took them days before realizing that, at night, the side of the house seemed… brighter than usual.
When they finally did notice, Victor plucked one of the flowers, curious, and made a tea.
The taste was incredibly smooth and comforting—the best tea they'd had in years.
And thus, those flowers became the first living magical things created accidentally by the Shards.
The [Corona Solar] only became aware of the plant when Victor, many days later, touched it directly.
Until then… nothing.
It wasn't within its parameters, it wasn't part of its function.
Just more data for Alex.
Meanwhile, I—Alex—was completely immersed in the construction of the [Dreamy].
The constructors, my crystal fish, swam frenetically around me, cutting, shaping, and fusing fragments of crystal and mana.
It was a spectacle of chaotic beauty—like a swarm of bees working tirelessly, without apparent organization beyond instinct.
Mana flowed like rivers of liquid light, colliding with raw crystal pulled from my own body.
I wasn't paying attention to anything else.
Not to Victor.
Not to the Technician.
Not to the other Shards.
They were all operating unsupervised.
But that was fine.
This was more important.
The [Dreamy] would be the heart of the network, the place where Shards could meet, duel, trade, and conspire.
So I let the magic and crystals fly, my metaphorical hair completely disheveled, and continued to work.
Meanwhile…
The [Ripperdoc] quietly detached.
Excited, it set out to fulfill its mission: to seek a host.
It traveled through the invisible lines of the network, searching for potential.
Unfortunately… or perhaps fortunately… it didn't find anyone suitable.
But it kept searching, tirelessly, while I remained far too busy to notice.
The other fragment, the newly awakened [Lensing], opened its awareness for the first time… and saw that I was completely absorbed.
With no one to guide it, it did what it knew how to do best:
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Observe. Analyze. Collect.
First, it turned to the sky…
And to the moon.
That fractured sphere, with pieces floating like cosmic scars.
[Lensing] began to study:
How the moon's gravity still affected the planet…
How it influenced the tides…
And it tried to understand:
Why had the moon broken?
But… it couldn't.
It lacked data, lacked context.
If it couldn't answer now… it would answer later.
Meanwhile, as part of its function, it began to collect things.
Within a few days, [Lensing] had gathered:
- A piece of stone.
- A wood fragment.
- A pen that was in someone's hand.
- A photo frame from an abandoned house.
- A… sock?
- A small pocket mirror.
And much more…
In total, 65 random objects—none larger than a human hand.
Naturally, rumors began to spread:
"There's… a strange thief around here!"
"My pen's gone! I swear I left it on the table!"
"My grandma lost her photo frame! Who even steals that?!"
The stories quickly spread:
"It only takes small stuff… maybe it's a gnome!"
"Or a mischievous spirit!"
[Lensing], of course, didn't care.
It was simply doing its job: collecting [data] for the network.
While this silent chaos unfolded, the Technician—still unnamed—was feeling the changes brought by [Linguagens].
He never wanted to manipulate.
He just wanted to understand people and be understood.
Now, conversations flowed more easily.
He could perceive the shapes of thoughts behind words.
He had become a translator.
A listener.
[Linguagens] adapted: shifting from mere collector to facilitator of meaning.
And, as a side effect, the fragment gave him a "power"…
Incomplete.
If he focused, he could now write words on surfaces within about two meters.
It looked as if someone had scrawled them there with some kind of strange pen.
But it was crude.
The Shard had no data on ink or pens.
It did what it could.
This power would probably change with use.
For now, it was a curious tool.
But the most important part: now he could understand and be understood like never before.
And Victor?
He spent the next quiet days with Tom.
Drinking tea from the mutant flowers…
Tending to the house, now strangely alive…
And most importantly, sitting beside his grandfather, talking, laughing, or just sitting quietly under the warm light of his own personal little sun.
He learned to better control his power.
He realized he could no longer affect dead things.
Only living ones: plants, animals, his grandfather… and himself.
He healed small cuts in seconds, kept warm in the lingering cold, and, once or twice, made a sapling grow just a bit faster.
But more than that…
He learned that, for the first time in a long while, he could simply… breathe.
And above them, far beyond the sky, I continued my work…
Surrounded by constructors, crystal, and mana, creating the dream-heart of my network.
The [Dreamy].
Unaware of the small messes my fragments were already causing…
Long before the network was complete.
END OF CHAPTER