Ryan was awakened by a strange sensation of weightlessness and pervasive, brilliant light.
Groggily, he thought: “Did the lab ceiling get new LED lights? Has Herta’s aesthetic gotten this flashy?”
But the next second, he was fully awake.
Because he realized he wasn’t lying on the laboratory floor, nor floating in mid-air.
He was…
surrounded by a boundless ocean of flowing green radiance.
Above, below, in every direction—soft, shifting bands of light stretched endlessly, like walking on a path of starlight.
“What the hell?!”
Ryan jolted, instinctively trying to rub his eyes, only to find he couldn’t raise his hand.
In fact, he couldn’t feel his hands at all.
He looked down at himself and saw a semi-transparent outline—a humanoid form of light, as if condensed from the aurora itself.
“Seriously? Too much grinding causes hallucinations now? Or did I count octopus circuits until my brain died?”
Ryan’s thoughts were chaos, his internal commentary running wild.
“What is this—my consciousness uploaded to an aurora server? Did Aha do this? It has to be Aha. Only that clown god would pull something this incomprehensible!”
He tried to move, and the translucent light-form glided forward, slipping through the green luminescence without resistance—like a fish in water.
He discovered his range of movement was confined within the massive aurora.
He couldn’t leave the boundaries of the light bands.
But what shocked him even more was his vision.
When he calmed down and directed his “gaze” downward, the entire planet of Canglan Star unfolded before him like a living map.
Mountains, rivers, cities, streets—everything was visible.
He could even see the faint electromagnetic disturbances from vehicles moving on the ground, the electric currents surging through city power grids, and countless communication signals flowing through the air like colored points of light, weaving and interconnecting.
It was a god’s-eye view—an unprecedented sense of information mastery.
“This perspective… I’ve unlocked the full map hack, bro.” Ryan was shaken.
“Is this an advanced form of my ability? The ultimate expression of electromagnetic perception? My consciousness fused with planetary-scale electromagnetic phenomena?”
He tried focusing his attention on Herta’s laboratory.
His intent alone zoomed the view inward.
The lab’s external structure and the faint fluctuations of its energy barrier became clearly visible.
He could even vaguely sense the electromagnetic signature of his own body, sleeping peacefully inside.
“So I’m astral projecting? My body’s down there while my consciousness is up here playing satellite?”
This was getting more absurd by the moment.
“What kind of scientific phenomenon is this? Budget psychic ascension?”
Just as he was staring at his own transparent hand in bewilderment, a familiar “voice”—carrying obvious impatience and investigative curiosity—resonated directly in the depths of his consciousness.
[Hey? Can you hear me? Little one.]
It was Herta.
But the voice wasn’t transmitted through air.
It was more like electromagnetic waves at a specific frequency, decoded directly into language at the level of his consciousness.
Ryan jumped, his light-form flickering.
He instinctively tried to respond, focusing his thoughts:
[Madam Herta? How are you—]
[So it is you.] Herta’s “voice” carried a hint of satisfaction at catching him red-handed.
[The lab’s energy monitors detected your bioelectric signal strength spiking abnormally during sleep, resonating with the aurora energy beyond the atmosphere. I adjusted the detector frequency slightly and captured this modulated signal carrying your thought patterns. What exactly is your current state?]
Ryan: “…”
Classic Herta.
Her reaction speed and adaptability were inhuman.
[I honestly don’t know if you’d believe me. I woke up like this. I feel like I’ve become part of the aurora—I can see electromagnetic activity across the entire planet’s surface through it.]
[Planetary-scale perception? Describe in detail! Range? Precision? Information dimensions? Any latency? Can you interfere with reality?]
The barrage of questions made Ryan dizzy.
He quickly called for a stop:
[Wait wait wait! Madam Herta, the range seems to be the area covered by the aurora. Precision… I can see city power grids and communication signal flows. Individual people aren’t clear yet. Interfere with reality? I can’t even get back to my own body right now—how would I interfere?]
[Temporary fusion of consciousness with macroscopic electromagnetic phenomena… possessing remote perception but lacking effective means of physical intervention…]
Herta’s end produced what sounded like typing, clearly recording at high speed.
[Fascinating! Truly fascinating! This goes beyond ordinary electromagnetic manipulation—it’s closer to… a ‘field-life’ form based on electromagnetic principles. Or perhaps your consciousness ‘projecting’ onto the manifestation of the planetary magnetic field under specific conditions.]
Ryan didn’t fully follow, but he grasped the key point: [So how do I get back? I can’t just stay here being scenery forever…]
[Try contracting your perception.] Herta instructed, her tone like she was commanding a lab instrument.
[Narrow your ‘field of view’ from global to the laboratory, then to your body. The aurora is the carrier, but your consciousness core should still be anchored in your body. Find that connection. Pull yourself back like reeling in a line.]
Ryan followed her instructions.
He tried to ignore the flood of global information filling his perception, concentrating all his mental energy on finding that most familiar connection to his own body among countless chaotic electromagnetic signals.
The process wasn’t easy—like searching for one specific drop of water in Niagara Falls.
Global electromagnetic activity was deafeningly loud.
Radio broadcasts, satellite communications, energy transmissions…
signals interwove into a chaotic background noise.
“Calm down… find the way home…”
Ryan muttered silently, his light-form flickering as his concentration deepened.
He recalled the sensation of his body—the weight, the constraint—things that now felt incredibly dear.
A sensation of being pulled at high speed overwhelmed him.
The aurora bands around him blurred and stretched into ribbons of color.
Then came brief darkness and weightlessness.
…
Inside the laboratory, Ryan’s eyes snapped open.
He gasped for air, chest heaving, feeling like he’d just surfaced from the deep ocean.
The familiar ceiling was above him.
Real touch and weight returned to his body.
He raised his hand, staring at the solid, no-longer-transparent palm, and let out a long breath.
“I’m back… being a physical human is definitely better…”
At that moment, the door opened, and Herta walked in, tablet in hand.
“Awake? How do you feel?”
She walked to his side, purple eyes studying him up and down.
“Like I had a bizarre dream where I was working overtime doing global surveillance.”
Ryan sat up, rubbing his still-throbbing temples.
“What exactly happened?”
“Preliminary conclusion: during deep sleep, your consciousness entered a deeper resonance with the electromagnetic fields you emit and the surrounding environment.”
Herta pointed to the waveform on her tablet.
“Look here. Your brainwave activity peaked in synchronization with the aurora’s energy frequency. Your ability might not be limited to ‘manipulating’ electromagnetic fields.”
She lowered the tablet and crossed her arms, her eyes burning with intensity.
“This means you may be an extremely rare individual with innate affinity for one of the universe’s fundamental forces. The nuclear explosion didn’t grant you your abilities—it acted as a switch, activating something dormant within you.”
Ryan blinked, processing.
“So… I’m basically… a human antenna?”
“Crude analogy, but not inaccurate.” Herta actually nodded.
“Your body may be a living node for sensing and interacting with cosmic electromagnetic fields. The value of that… tsk.”
Seeing the gleam in her eyes—like she’d found a priceless treasure—Ryan felt a chill run down his spine.
His future lab life was about to get even more “colorful.”
“So, Mr.
Human Antenna,” Herta’s lips curved into a playful smile, “ready to record your first active ‘signal transmission’ experiment?
Let’s see if you can send a ‘hello’ through the aurora to a specific target on the other side of the planet—without launching your consciousness out of your body.”
Ryan: “…”
Could he pretend to have bad reception now?
Aha above, wasn’t this research direction getting a bit too dangerous?
He could already see his future—wanted by the IPC for unauthorized intrusion into interstellar communications networks…
Ryan looked at the familiar research fervor in Herta’s eyes and felt his heart skip.
Send a message to the other side of the planet?
That sounded like shouting into the interstellar communication network with a megaphone, practically begging the IPC’s cybersecurity division to notice him.
No, absolutely not. The source of this chapter is g.com.
He needed to prove his value wasn’t just as a super signal tower or potential interstellar hacker.
Wait…
signal…
An inspiration flashed through his mind.
Ryan’s head snapped up, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
He extended his fingers, and invisible electromagnetic fields converged at his fingertips.
Several metal components and energy conduits in the corner of the lab floated up unsteadily.
The essence of information transmission is encoding and decoding.
Electromagnetic waves are carriers—but the carrier itself can also become information.
The metal components and conduits nested and connected under his precise electromagnetic manipulation.
Energy conduits glowed faintly, forming basic circuits.
Herta crossed her arms, saying nothing, but her purple eyes narrowed—clearly drawn in by this impromptu demonstration.
She didn’t interrupt, curious to see what the little one would produce.
Soon, a simple—even crude—device floated in mid-air.
Its body was a metal skeleton with glowing energy circuits embedded within, and several flexible metal arms extended from its exterior.
What is this?
Herta finally spoke, curiosity in her voice.
“A flying metal crab? Very distinctive design.”
“Well, if we’re naming it, I’d prefer ‘Herta’s Crab.'”
“No—it’s a weaver.” Ryan replied.
Before he’d even finished speaking, the device’s metal arms began moving at high speed but with surprising gentleness, capturing the invisible electromagnetic radiation in the air.
Seconds later, before the device, a palm-sized sheet of green light—like woven silk—slowly materialized.
Its texture and energy signature were identical to the aurora in the sky, just smaller.
Ryan controlled the device, and the tiny artificial aurora drifted toward Herta, hovering silently before her, radiating a soft glow.
“I can capture disordered electromagnetic energy from the environment,” Ryan explained, “and reconstruct it into this… stable aurora structure. It’s small, but the principle is the same.”
He looked at Herta.
“It might not have any offensive power or transmit complex information, but…”
Herta extended a finger and gently touched the artificial aurora.
A faint tingling and coolness met her fingertip.
Her eyes lit up.
“But it’s very beautiful.” Herta finished his sentence.
“And it’s pure energy-form creation. You bypassed the energy-to-matter conversion entirely, directly using ambient background radiation to generate a structure with specific aesthetic and energetic properties.”
She circled the small green light screen, observing it closely.
“This means your talent in direct energy manipulation and form-shaping far exceeds my expectations. This isn’t just perception and communication—this is… creation.”
Herta stopped and looked at Ryan, the scrutiny in her gaze softening into appreciation.
Though it currently seemed like just a pretty toy, the principles it revealed were immensely valuable.
Efficient, environmentally-friendly direct energy utilization and form generation…
the IPC’s energy and materials science divisions would go to war over this.
A doll came over and carefully collected the artificial aurora into a specially-made energy field container.
“Excellent.” Herta nodded with satisfaction.
“It seems letting you experiment freely does yield surprises.”
She walked to the control console and swept her hand across it.
“We can schedule tests on energy weaving efficiency and structural stability. Perhaps we can attempt larger-scale energy structures—a temporary energy barrier, or a super-efficient energy collection net.”
“That could solve quite a few problems.”
Herta disassembled the device in moments, examining it from the inside out.
“Power, purpose, ideals…”
No wait, wrong genre.
These woven auroras could be woven like fabric—meaning he could literally wear the aurora as clothing.
Though that was assuming Madam Herta didn’t ask him to weave an aurora evening gown for a fashion show.
That mental image was too beautiful.
He didn’t dare imagine it.