Bzzzzzt.
Riven smacked the side of his third-hand monitor. The screen flickered, then stabilized. Barely.
Around him: towers of salvaged circuit boards, half-assembled drones, tangled wires. His bed was a pile of worn blankets in the corner of a room smaller than a prison cell.
He took a breath. Typed.
---Initialize NeuralNet V.4
The fan groaned. The screen stuttered.
---Error: Insufficient GPU Power
He leaned back, rubbing his eyes. "Of course."
It didn't matter how smart he was if he didn't have the parts. He'd watched thousands of lectures. Read medical journals, AI theory, machine-learning algorithms. But knowledge didn't mean much when you couldn't test it.
Still, he kept trying. Because one day… one breakthrough… and everything could change.
Ping.
A notification blinked on his cracked screen. From the underground scrap forum:
"Old Magnus Corp site still hot. AI core prototype rumored intact. Sector 12, Block 3. No one's made it back yet."
His heart jumped.
AI core? Magnus Corp tech?
Everyone else would see danger. Riven saw opportunity.
He grabbed his satchel, checked his scanner, and slipped on his reinforced gloves.
No one ever got far in those ruins.
But then again… no one else was Riven Kade.