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 structure was nearly complete.

NEAR-03 and NEAR-04 moved like instruments of rhythm—no wasted motion, no error. The building stood proud now: four full stories of precision, born in silence and secrecy. No fanfare. No headlines with Raen's name.

From a high-rise window a few blocks away, Nyra watched the construction through digital binoculars. Lira sat nearby, tapping through diagnostics with Korin feeding her live metrics.

"Still on schedule," Korin said. "By tonight, we'll finish the rooftop railing and internal wiring. Then… full handover."

Lira nodded. "And not a single glitch since that last firmware sync."

Raen's voice came through the encrypted line. "Good. Let's keep it that way."

Nyra leaned forward. "You're sure we don't want to let people know who's behind this? Vrax is already turning this into a global spectacle."

Raen replied firmly, "The bots are the face. Not me. We're building a legacy, not celebrity."

Silence followed. They all understood. Raen didn't want to become the product. He wanted Arkbound to be bigger than any one person.

Outside, NEAR-03 paused. It scanned its surroundings with a quiet hum, then continued moving. The software learning layer had adapted to the environment better than expected. Raen watched with a mix of pride and unease.

"These two," Raen said, "they're just the beginning. After the Expo, we activate full-scale manufacturing."

"Ten," Raen replied. "I want ten operational within the first month. Not just copies—upgrades. They'll do more than build."

Nyra's voice was quiet but firm. "Then we need more than power and code. We need control. Real autonomy checks. Neural chains. Precision override."

"We'll get it done," Raen said. "One step at a time."

As night fell, the bots shifted into a lower mode—welding with near-silent arcs, sealing the upper floors. Lights from the nearby buildings reflected off the metallic sheen of their frames.

Lira spoke up again, eyes on the glowing data. "We've done a month of work in less than a week. This is no longer theory."

Korin grinned. "This is revolution."

Raen simply whispered over the comms, "And no one's even seen our best work yet."

The Fifth Layer