Rain fell persistently over the stone towers of the Arcane Academy of Lunerion. Droplets slid down the old windows, as if the world itself were mourning those who, like Eiden Vellar, lived in the shadows of the great.
Thin, hunched, pale-skinned, with thick glasses clouding his tired eyes, Eiden was a footnote in a book of legends. Sitting at the edge of a broken fountain in the courtyard of the forgotten, he flipped through a notebook no one else would value: a compilation of rejected theories on arcane manipulation through flow algorithms.
"The problem isn't mana... it's the code behind it," he murmured to himself, like someone clinging to a dream the world had already abandoned.
The words fell like a silent prayer, drowned by the sound of raindrops hitting the stone ledge. Around him, the academy lived on, indifferent. Laughter echoed in the distance—from a tower, probably students celebrating yet another magical achievement. Achievements that, for Eiden, were just unreachable myths.
That morning, during the lecture on Etheric Emotional Theory, Eiden was once again mocked. He had tried to argue that human emotions could be mapped as a matrix of magical intentionality.
Laughter. Derision. Pitying looks. As always.
The professor didn't even respond. She just raised an eyebrow and continued the class, as if his words were air. His classmates, of course, didn't miss the chance. Cael, the arrogant heir of House Virelan, whispered loud enough for everyone to hear:
"Vellar still thinks he can become a mage by reading old books... maybe if we ask nicely, the council will let him be a librarian."
The class laughed. Eiden didn't.
It was night when Eiden found the artifact.
Driven by frustration and an invisible hunger for meaning, he wandered through the forgotten corridors of the academy's southern wing. Rain fell outside, but he barely noticed. Every step echoed as if fate itself whispered through the old stones.
He descended into the lower levels. An ancient storage room of forbidden items, sealed by faded runes, neglected by time. Runes that to others were impenetrable barriers. To him, puzzles.
With calm yet intense movements, he deciphered the seal. Arcane letters rearranged under his touch, as if recognizing a mind that thought in their logic.
There, among relics covered in dust and broken seals, was something different: a sphere of black glass, pulsing with floating code. Not runes. Code.
[Device: CODEHEART — Version 0.7 Unstable]
[Error: Incompatible user. Forcing integration...]
Before he could react, the sphere burst into beams of bluish light, enveloping his body. Eiden screamed—not in pain, but in understanding. It wasn't magic. It was language. A system.
His mind was pulled into a digital void, where spells danced like lines of code. He saw commands. Variables. Emotions linked to parameters.
[System Integrated Successfully]
[User Parameters:]
— Mana: Near zero
— Raw Potential: 4%
— Technical Potential: 99.9%
[Debug Mode Activated]
When he awoke, Eiden was no longer the same.
The world looked unchanged. The rain, the walls, the stares. But something had shifted deep within. As if he had finally received the right tools for a blueprint he had already been drafting alone for years.
The next morning, one of his classmates, Cael, intentionally bumped into him in the hallway.
"Get out of the way, human trash."
A notification appeared, glowing before Eiden's eyes, invisible to everyone else:
[Hostile Event Detected]
Intervention Suggestions:
□ Empathy +2
□ Temporary Confusion
□ Redirect Aggression
His finger trembled. He clicked "Empathy +2."
Cael froze. Blinked. Then looked at him with a mix of confusion and regret.
"Eiden... I... I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."
And walked away.
Eiden stood still. His heart pounded. He hadn't cast a spell. He had reprogrammed Cael's reaction.
The interface now glowed with new options:
[Personality: Editable (Ethical Restriction: Emotional Equilibrium Mandatory)]
[Emotional Bonds: Initializing...]
[Profile: Lyria Valden - Emotional Analysis in Progress...]
The name made his heart race. Lyria, the prodigy mage. The untouchable. The queen of arcane halls. His impossible variable.
And for the first time, Eiden felt afraid of what he could do. Not of magic. Not of the world.
But of himself.