The silence of the armory clung to Zarc's ears long after he stepped out. The stale air pressed down on him as if the whole underground complex was holding its breath, waiting. His flashlight beam swayed ahead — a thin, nervous slice of light cutting through the dark.
He passed the rows of doors he'd checked earlier, then stopped at a sealed checkpoint marked "L-2 Maintenance Hub." The sign below was half-buried in rust, but one word caught his attention — "Power Grid."
Zarc exhaled slowly.If he wanted this place to be his base, power was his first priority.
The room beyond was large and circular, walls lined with panels and conduit pipes that crawled upward into the ceiling. A half-broken reactor display sat in the center, its screen flickering faintly with dying light. Beneath it, the faint outline of warning tape read:
CAUTION: Micro-Fusion Core – Level 3 Restricted Access
"Micro-fusion," he whispered. "Figures."
He crouched beside a cracked terminal and ran his hand along its edge. It was still warm, faintly humming. The core was stable but almost out of charge.
That's when he remembered the Cube.
Zarc lifted his wrist, the dark metallic band shimmering faintly as it pulsed. "Unknown Origin… let's see what you can do."
The Cube responded instantly — light unfolded across his palm like liquid glass, expanding into a faint holographic interface. Dozens of unreadable glyphs danced across his vision before snapping into shape:
[Module Active: Reconstruction / Consumption / Power Conversion][Instruction: Define Target → Define Intent → Execute Process]
He aimed the Cube toward the broken power terminal."I want the system restored," he murmured. "Same structure, stable power."
The air shimmered. A soft hum filled the room.Metallic fragments, dust, even loose bolts lifted gently off the ground and streamed into the Cube's core — like dust drawn into a miniature storm. The reactor's outer shell began to reform, seams melting and resealing with surgical precision.
Zarc stepped back, eyes wide. "Holy…"
[Consumption Complete — Blueprint: Power Terminal Restored][Stored Energy: 7% → 39%]
The lights flickered. For the first time since he arrived, the emergency strips lining the hallway flared to life, bathing everything in dim orange light.
He grinned. "You've got to be kidding me. You actually work."
He moved from console to console, letting the Cube consume broken components — fuses, shattered conduits, old terminals. It didn't repair; it absorbed each piece, breaking it down and learning. Each time, the interface displayed a new tag:
[Blueprint Added: Structural Support Beam][Blueprint Added: Auxiliary Power Coupler][Blueprint Added: Reactor Control Console]
Soon, the hum of the reactor deepened, and the facility's ventilation kicked in for the first time in years. Dust clouds swirled through the light beams like ghosts.
Zarc leaned against the nearest panel, catching his breath. "So that's how you work… consume to learn. Rebuild to survive."
Hours passed as he scavenged through corridors, letting the Cube take in debris, broken turrets, scrap plating, even shattered glass. The inventory grew, stored somewhere beyond physical space. The Cube whispered back data, showing him a virtual list of raw materials — steel, titanium alloy, polymer composites — all neatly categorized and awaiting his command.
When the storage meter neared full, Zarc thought aloud, "Let's convert the excess… raw form, ingots maybe."
[Confirm: Convert surplus material to base ingots?]"Yeah. Do it."
The Cube pulsed. The air rippled, and small metallic bars formed midair — clean, dense, shimmering with faint blue light before vanishing into a digital projection of a storage grid.
[Raw Material Generated: 78 Units — Stored within internal space.]
He smiled faintly. "That's better. Feels… efficient."
The more he restored, the more the facility responded.Doors began unlocking. Hall lights flickered on in sequence, stretching far into the darkness like a glowing spine. Zarc followed them to Sublevel 3 (L-3) — Research & Containment — the place that had drawn him deeper from the start.
Down there, the lights were dimmer. Signs of a hurried evacuation marked the hall — half-open containment pods, shattered glass, toppled carts. But no movement. No sound of life or undeath. Just the stale air of a place that had died quietly.
He found the generator bay first — massive, circular, surrounded by containment glass. Inside stood a compact nuclear rod assembly, the heart of the facility's power source. It had been dormant for years.
He crouched near a damaged console. "Not touching that yet," he muttered. "One wrong move, and this place goes dark for good."
Still, the Cube pulsed faintly as if it understood.
[Blueprint Detected: Micro-Fusion Energy Core] — Access Restricted. Insufficient Data.]
"Yeah," Zarc said, standing. "You'll have to wait for that one."
He scanned the walls — faint writing, smeared blood, and an arrow pointing toward the lower service lift: "L-4 — Research Priority: Unknown Origin."
The elevator shaft was collapsed, twisted metal blocking the way down. Even the Cube scanned it and displayed:
[Access Denied — Pathway unstable / Unreachable]
Zarc stared into the darkness for a long moment. Then he sighed. "So that's where you came from."
He turned away from the ruined shaft and looked back toward the flickering lights, the restored rooms, and the faint hum of power now flowing through the base.
"This could work," he murmured. "This could actually be home."
He slung the M4 tighter on his shoulder, the Cube still glowing faintly like a living heartbeat on his arm. As he began mapping the facility's layout in his head, he caught himself smiling — for the first time since the world had gone to hell.