Ava
worked fast, scanning each failed enhancement with ruthless focus.
Every piece of tech told
the same story.
Lucas’s system could
improve anything—
Until it couldn’t.
[SCANNING DATASET...]
[FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFIED]
[ENHANCEMENT FAILURE OCCURS WHEN BASE STRUCTURE IS TOO WEAK]
[CONCLUSION: SYSTEM REQUIRES HIGH-STRENGTH MATERIALS TO SUSTAIN UPGRADES]
Ava
exhaled sharply.
There it was.
Lucas’s system didn’t just
push things forward.
It
demanded
a foundation strong enough to handle the change.
If the material
wasn’t good enough?
It collapsed.
Ava’s turned back to the wreckage,
sorting through what little could be salvaged.
But her
Blueprint System pulsed, flickering with a notification.
[NEW DESIGN PATH AVAILABLE]
[QUERY: REINFORCED BASE MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT]
[OBJECTIVE: CREATE A FOUNDATION THAT CAN WITHSTAND FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS]
Ava’s breath
hitched.
She hadn’t been
looking
for a solution.
But maybe—
just maybe—
She’d
found one.
Ava
cracked her knuckles, staring at the blueprint flickering in her mind.
[NEW DESIGN PATH SELECTED]
[PROJECT: REINFORCED BASE MATERIAL]
[OBJECTIVE: CREATE A FOUNDATION THAT CAN WITHSTAND FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS]
[ESTIMATED SUCCESS RATE: 42%]
42%.
Not great.
But not
impossible.
Ava’s
pulse quickened.
She wasn’t just working with broken tech anymore—
she was rewriting the rules.
Lucas’s system
demanded a perfect foundation.
So if
one didn’t exist—
She would build it.
Ava scanned the wreckage again,
pulling components, filtering materials.
Too weak. Too unstable. Too reactive.
Then—
she found something.
A fragment of a
high-grade power casing, military spec, designed to handle extreme pressure.
Her
Blueprint System pulsed.
[COMPATIBLE MATERIAL IDENTIFIED]
[REINFORCEMENT POTENTIAL: 67%]
[ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS REQUIRED]
Ava’s
fingers twitched.
She was close.
Damn close.
She grabbed her tools,
hands moving instinctively, shaping, refining, testing.
The hours blurred.
[ALLOY BONDING SUCCESSFUL]
[STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT APPLIED]
[STABILITY INCREASED: 83%]
Ava
grinned.
That’s more like it.
It took six more hours before the reinforced material
sat on the table in front of her, gleaming under the dim light.
Tested. Stable. Ready.
Her
Blueprint System flickered, confirming the results.
[PROJECT COMPLETE][REINFORCED BASE MATERIAL SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPED][STRENGTH LIMIT: UNKNOWN—FURTHER TESTING REQUIRED]
Ava didn’t feel tire. She was excited so
moved fast, hands flying over the scattered components, finding her next piece.
Her
Blueprint System pulsed, processing her schematics in real time.
[NEW DESIGN PATH SELECTED]
[PROJECT: CUSTOM POWER CORE—SELF-SUSTAINING ENERGY SOURCE]
[ESTIMATED SUCCESS RATE: 72%]
72%.
Not bad.
She had the
materials.
The
tools.
The
knowledge.
And yet—
Nothing worked.
Ava’s
jaw locked as the system flashed red.
[ERROR: COMPONENT INSTABILITY]
[ENERGY OUTPUT UNSUSTAINABLE]
[FAILURE RATE: 100%]
Ava
exhaled sharply, pushing away from the table.
That didn’t make sense.
Her calculations were
solid.
The reinforced materials were
holding.
The power matrix was
stable—
So why wasn’t it working?
She ran the numbers again.
Rechecked her schematics.
Nothing was wrong.
And that was the problem.
Ava stared at the unfinished prototype,
fingers curling into fists.
Ava
dragged a hand through her hair, exhaling sharply.
This wasn’t just a
setback.
This was
a wall.
Her
Blueprint System was flawless.
The calculations were
perfect.
Every component was
accounted for.
And yet—
[ERROR: COMPONENT INSTABILITY]
[ENERGY OUTPUT UNSUSTAINABLE]
[FAILURE RATE: 100%]
Something was missing.
Ava
scowled, running through every possible solution.
More stabilizers?
Already factored in.
Alternate power sources?
Tried them. No change.
Structural modifications?
Wouldn’t fix the energy problem.
She needed—
something else.
Something
outside the standard calculations.
Ava tapped her fingers against the table,
eyes narrowing.
Lucas Bai’s
system failed when it pushed past a limit.
Her
system failed when there wasn’t enough data.
And right now?
She was
missing a variable.
Ava
leaned back in her chair, arms crossed.
She hated this.
Being stuck. Being forced to wait.
Lucas was still gone.
Her project was at a standstill.
She had
nothing else to do.
Her
Blueprint System hummed quietly in the back of her mind, waiting.
Ava’s fingers
drummed against the table.
She had never really
pushed
the system before.
Sure, she had used it—
optimized, repaired, designed.
But had she
ever tested its limits?
She rolled her shoulders.
"
Might as well see how deep this goes.
"
Her system pulsed in response.
[BLUEPRINT SYSTEM – ONLINE]
[AVAILABLE FUNCTIONS: SCANNING, REPAIR, DESIGN, CUSTOMIZATION]
[UNEXPLORED PATHWAYS DETECTED]
[QUERY: WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPAND SYSTEM PARAMETERS?]
Ava’s
eyes narrowed.
Unexplored pathways?
That was new.
Her
pulse quickened.
"Yes. Expand."
The system
flared, text flooding her vision.
[INITIATING SYSTEM EXPANSION...]
[WARNING: DATA OVERLOAD POSSIBLE]
[ACCESSING RESTRICTED FUNCTIONS]
Ava
gritted her teeth as a rush of information hit her all at once.
Schematic overlays.
New design paths. Structural modifications beyond anything she had worked on before.
And then—
Ava
froze.
Because buried in the data, in the depths of her system where she had never looked before—
There was something
locked.
[RESTRICTED BLUEPRINT DETECTED]
[ACCESS DENIED – AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED]
Ava’s breath
hitched.
"
What the hell?
"
Her
Blueprint System had never locked her out of anything before.
She had
always been able to scan, modify, and rebuild without limits.
But now?
Now she was staring at
a blueprint buried so deep in her system that she hadn’t even known it existed.
And worse—
it was locked.
Ava’s
fingers twitched, instinctively trying to push deeper.
[ACCESS DENIED]
[SECURITY OVERRIDE REQUIRED]
Ava
exhaled sharply, narrowing her eyes.
"
Override.
"
[REQUIRES AUTHORIZATION]
Ava gritted her teeth.
"I am the damn authorization."
The system didn’t respond.
Ava
leaned back, mind racing.
This wasn’t a
glitch.
This wasn’t
a normal restriction.
Something—someone—had put this here.
Which meant that whatever was locked inside
wasn’t meant to be accessed.
Had the system
always been like this?
Or—
Ava’s mind
flashed back to Lucas.
To his system.
To the
connection he had built between them.
Had he triggered this? Had she?
Ava clenched her fists.
There was
only one way to find out.
She inhaled sharply, focusing.
"
Find the key.
"
Her system
hesitated—then pulsed.
[SEARCHING...]
[QUERY: UNLOCKING CONDITIONS UNKNOWN]
[REQUIREMENTS: UNMET]
Ava
scowled.
She didn’t have the
requirements?
Ava
sat up straighter, jaw tight.
She wasn’t about to let her own system keep secrets from her.
Her
Blueprint System pulsed, waiting for input.
Ava inhaled sharply.
"
Full-body scan. No restrictions.
"
Her vision
flared with data.
[INITIATING FULL BODY SCAN...]
[USER: AVA ZHANG]
[AGE: 18]
[SYSTEM TYPE: BLUEPRINT SYSTEM]
[STATUS: OPTIMAL]
[KNOWN MODIFICATIONS: NONE]
Ava’s
stomach twisted.
None?
That was
wrong.
She had
injected Lucas’s blood. Their systems had connected.
She had felt the shift—
the pull.
And now?
Her system was
acting like nothing had changed.
Ava’s
fingers twitched.
"
Run it again. Deeper.
"
[SECONDARY SCAN IN PROGRESS...]
[SCANNING NEURAL NETWORK...]
[SCANNING CELLULAR STRUCTURE...]
[SCANNING SYSTEM INTEGRATION...]
Ava held her breath.
Then—
Her pulse jumped.
[UNIDENTIFIED CONNECTION DETECTED]
[EXTERNAL SYSTEM TRACE PRESENT]
[DATA FLOW: ACTIVE]
Ava’s
stomach dropped.
Data flow?
Her
system wasn’t just connected to Lucas’s—it was still processing something.
Something
new.
Ava clenched her fists.
She had been right.
Her
system had changed.
And now?
She needed to figure out
exactly how.