The morning warning sirens of the Lower Military Academy did not sound like the standard wake-up call. They were sharp, rhythmic, and laced with a heavy, pulsating bass that vibrated through the reinforced ferrocrete walls. It was the perimeter breach alarm.
Chen Xi sat at his greasy workbench, calmly sipping a cup of bitter synthetic coffee. His workshop was spotless, completely devoid of the blood, rare ores, or the millions of credits he had looted the night before. Everything was safely tucked away inside Sylphe’s newly formed Spatial Matrix.
"The Academy network is in absolute chaos," Sylphe reported. Her holographic avatar was sitting on the rim of his coffee cup, kicking her tiny legs. Since maintaining her Solid-State physical shell drained her reserves, she had opted for her miniature photonic form for the morning, though she promised to "demand cuddles" later when she recharged. "Peacekeeper patrols found the left arm of Zhao Ming near the Old Sector 4 boundary wall. The forensic drones are currently attributing the massive trauma and missing torso to a pack of mutated Steel-Scaled Hounds. The Ironfang Syndicate is demanding the Academy level the entire wasteland sector."
"Let them," Chen Xi replied softly, taking a sip of coffee right through her hologram. She huffed, floating up to his shoulder to glare at his cheek. "They'll burn millions of credits fighting wild beasts, and the Academy will tighten security, which means less oversight on the logistics division. We are perfectly clear."
Before Sylphe could gloat further, a heavy, authoritative pounding echoed against the blast doors of Workshop Unit 73.
It wasn't the frantic, arrogant knocking of a syndicate lackey. It was precise. Three sharp strikes.
"It’s her," Sylphe’s voice instantly dropped an octave, turning delightfully venomous. "Lin Yuxuan. Her heart rate is elevated, and she is wearing a new uniform. I am already annoyed. Tell her you are closed."
"Play nice, Sylphe," Chen Xi thought, setting his coffee down and wiping his hands on a rag to complete his mechanic facade. "She's our ticket into the Elite supply depots."
He hit the door release. The heavy metal hissed open.
Lin Yuxuan stood in the corridor, looking even more imposing than yesterday. Her pristine white and silver Elite uniform was flawless, her raven-black hair pulled tightly back. She didn't look like a student; she looked like a corporate aristocrat ready for war. She held the Level-3 Kinetic Gauntlets Chen Xi had repaired under her arm.
She didn't wait for an invitation. She stepped into the workshop, her crimson eyes sweeping the cramped, greasy room before locking onto him.
"You're an anomaly, Chen Xi," she stated bluntly, dropping the heavy gauntlets onto his workbench with a loud clatter.
"I'm a Rank-C mechanic who hasn't had breakfast yet," Chen Xi replied, leaning against the doorframe, projecting an aura of bored mediocrity. "If the gauntlets broke, I don't offer refunds. You crossed the energy streams, not me."
"They didn't break," Yuxuan said, stepping closer. The haughty arrogance from yesterday was gone, replaced by a sharp, calculating intensity. "I pushed them to 120% capacity in the sparring ring against a Rank-A Gravity Esper. They didn't just hold; the energy routing was twenty percent more efficient than the original corporate specs. You didn't just patch them. You completely re-engineered the kinetic flow using scrap copper."
"Tell her she is stating the obvious and ask her to leave," Sylphe hissed in his mind. "She keeps leaning over your workbench. That is my workbench."
Chen Xi ignored the AI's territorial complaining. He kept his expression blank. "I read Old Era circuit schematics when I was in the slums. Corporate tech is lazy. They mass-produce. I don't. Is that why you're here? To compliment my reading habits?"
Yuxuan narrowed her eyes, studying him. "Zhao Ming is dead. Did you hear?"
Chen Xi didn't flinch. His micro-expressions remained perfectly, effortlessly calm. "The sirens woke me up. I heard the chatter in the halls. Mutated hounds in the dead zone, right? Shame. He promised me a job fixing his rifles."
"He mocked you in front of a thousand people, and today he's hound-food. You don't seem particularly surprised or relieved," she probed, looking for a crack in his armor.
"I grew up in Sector 4, Lin Yuxuan. People die every day. Sometimes it's radiation, sometimes it's hunger, sometimes it's a beast in the dark," Chen Xi said, his voice dropping into a cold, flat monotone that wasn't entirely an act. "I don't waste energy being surprised when the wastelands act like the wastelands. I just fix machines."
Yuxuan stared at him for a long moment. She was an Elite. She was used to people cowering, groveling, or trying to impress her. Chen Xi did none of those things. He looked at her like she was just another variable in an equation. It was infuriatingly intriguing.
"Fine. Keep your secrets, slum rat," Yuxuan said, crossing her arms. "I'm not the Peacekeepers. I don't care about the Ironfangs. I care about the Elite Combat Qualifiers next month. The Lin Family has rivals, and if I don't secure a top-three finish, my resource stipend goes to my useless cousin."
She tapped the gauntlets on the table. "I need a dedicated mechanic. The corporate engineers in the Spire take days to file the paperwork for a simple modification, and I can't trust them not to leak my combat data to other families. I want to hire you exclusively."
"Absolutely not," Sylphe declared instantly. "We are not playing lapdog to a spoiled aristocrat. Reject her. I will manifest my physical form right now and throw her out."
Quiet, Sylphe. Watch how the game is played, Chen Xi thought back.
"Exclusive contracts are expensive," Chen Xi said aloud, walking over to his workbench and picking up his coffee. "And an Elite student hiring a Rank-C logistics cadet from the slums? Your family will think you've lost your mind."
"Let me worry about my family," Yuxuan countered. "I will pay you two thousand Pan-Asian Credits a week. I will cover all raw materials for my gear. In exchange, you prioritize my equipment, you optimize my loadout, and you keep your mouth shut about my combat metrics."
It was a staggering amount of money for a normal cadet. But Chen Xi had half a million credits sitting in Sylphe’s void pocket. Money was no longer the primary objective. Access was.
"No," Chen Xi said simply.
Yuxuan blinked, genuinely taken aback. "No? Chen Xi, that is more money than you've seen in your entire life. Are you trying to extort me again?"
"Credits are just numbers on a screen," Chen Xi said, setting his cup down. He looked at her, dropping the lazy facade and letting a sliver of his true, sharp ambition bleed through. "If I'm going to build weapons capable of pushing you into the top three against Rank-S prodigies, I can't use Grade-F iron scrap. I want access."
"Access to what?" Yuxuan asked cautiously.
"Your Elite-tier supply depots. I want you to sponsor my requisition forms. I want military-grade tungsten, localized gravity-coils, and raw Aether-infused ores," Chen Xi demanded. "You supply the high-tier materials. I will build you a weapon that makes those kinetic gauntlets look like children's toys. Whatever scrap or extra materials are left over from the build, I keep."
Yuxuan’s breath hitched. "Aether-infused ores? Those are strictly regulated. If the Academy finds out I'm funneling them to a lower-tier workshop..."
"Then don't get caught," Chen Xi interrupted smoothly. "You want to win, Lin Yuxuan? Corporate tech will only make you equal to everyone else who buys corporate tech. You need a mechanic who builds outside the rules. Do we have a deal?"
He held out his hand. His knuckles were perfectly smooth, entirely healed by his Stellar Furnace Art.
Yuxuan looked at his hand, then up at his impossibly calm eyes. She was taking a massive risk. But the memory of how perfectly the kinetic energy had flowed through her gauntlets yesterday made the decision for her.
She reached out and gripped his hand firmly. "Deal. I will send the first batch of materials by encrypted courier tonight. Do not disappoint me, Chen Xi."
"I never do," Chen Xi said, letting go of her hand. "Close the door on your way out."
Yuxuan gave him one last, lingering look before turning on her heel and marching out of the workshop. The blast doors sealed shut behind her.
The moment the locking mechanism clicked, the air in the workshop shimmered violently.
Sylphe didn't just appear as a hologram. She burned through her energy reserves to manifest her Solid-State Projection. Her stunning, physical form materialized right next to the workbench. She immediately grabbed the rag Chen Xi had used and aggressively wiped the spot on the table where Yuxuan had placed her gauntlets.
"I am sanitizing the area," Sylphe announced haughtily, tossing the rag away and turning to glare at him, her golden eyes blazing. "Sponsoring your requisitions? Shaking hands? You are playing a very dangerous game with my patience, Chen Xi."
Chen Xi laughed, a deep, genuine sound, and stepped closer to her. He reached out and gently flicked her forehead.
"It's purely transactional, Sylphe," he said, his voice softening. "She’s going to bring us military-grade tungsten and gravity-coils. Do you know what we can build with that?"
Sylphe rubbed her forehead, her glare melting away, though she desperately tried to maintain her pout. She looked up at him, her Origin core humming with anticipation.
"I have over four thousand primordial blueprints stored in my active memory," she whispered, leaning into his space. "If she brings us gravity-coils... we don't just have to build her a weapon. We can build your first autonomous Mecha-Hound. Something with teeth."
Chen Xi smiled, his eyes gleaming with the reflection of the workshop lights. The elite students were preparing for a tournament. Chen Xi and Sylphe were preparing for a war.
"Send me the blueprint," Chen Xi commanded. "Let's put the Elite's money to good use."