Asharub_Pervez

Raen Solis has never known comfort—only rejection, debt, and failure. Trapped in a crumbling apartment in the lower districts of Velden, he survives by doing shady game-boosting gigs and digital scraps, praying each day won’t be his last.

Then one night, a sudden power surge from his worn-down rig knocks him out cold. When he comes to, a glowing interface hovers before him:

[SYSTEM LINKED: SKILL SHOP INTERFACE]
Any skill. Any mastery. For a price.

The Skill Shop System Runs on Cash

The air inside the Grand Tech Expo buzzed with tension as NEAR-02 stood front and center under the blue expo lights—its sleek, skeletal frame gleaming with polished alloy. Silent. Proud. Alive.

Nyra stood beside it, the face of Arkbound Robotics, calm under a thousand watchful eyes. With the bot's towering presence behind her, she addressed the world:

"This isn't just another robot. It was not made in a factory… it was made by another robot."

A wave of whispers spread across the auditorium.

"We call it NEAR V2. It's fully autonomous, fully capable of manufacturing another unit without human interference. Today, we offer a rare opportunity. This unit will be sold to the highest bidder."

On the screen behind her, glowing text lit up:

Auction Open – Starting Bid: 5,000,000 Lux

"10 million.""22 million.""35 million Lux from Veskar Dynamics!""50 million Lux!" shouted a voice from the rear.

The bid froze at 50,000,000 Lux. No more numbers climbed. No more names shouted. Every investor waited, hesitant. The tension snapped when Nyra raised her hand, smiling.

No one objected. No higher offer came.The screen locked:

The crowd burst into a mixture of applause and stunned disbelief.

"Now, let me tell you why that's the greatest deal in history."

She stepped forward as NEAR-02 took a silent step back.

"What if I told you this robot runs on no standard battery? No daily charge. No swapping. What if I told you it can operate for an entire year… without recharging?"

Gasps filled the room. Investors leaned in. Engineers blinked. Whispers turned frantic.

"Arkbound Robotics has developed a next-generation power system—a reactor so efficient, it powers the entire NEAR unit without any external charge for twelve months. No downtime. No compromise."

Even the buyers who didn't win the bid were now glued to her words. The value of what they'd just witnessed multiplied tenfold.

Saelyn turned to Raen behind the curtain. "You're insane. That battery tech alone could be a trillion-Lux empire."

Raen smirked. "That's why we're not just Arkbound Robotics anymore."

Reverberation