Morning at AIISA carried its own rhythm—a mixture of caffeine, ambition, and the faint electricity of thousands of prodigies thinking faster than the sun could rise.
Rumors from last night's auction—Steven humiliating Lucas Vandenhall, outplaying the elite heir like a puppeteer, and buying a company for $10 million without blinking—had spread through the campus like wildfire dipped in gasoline.
Whispers followed Steven everywhere now.
"Did you see how he destroyed Lucas?""He played him like a child.""That isn't how a 'Soft Rice King' behaves…""Who exactly is Steven Blake?"
Respect had not formed yet—no, that took time. But curiosity?
Curiosity burned.
Steven walked across the quad with a coffee in hand, backpack over his shoulder. Solaris Tower's shadow stretched long behind him as the early breeze carried murmurs, light footsteps, and then—
Hey! Give it back!"
A sharp voice cracked through the air.
Steven turned.
Near the steps of the Engineering Complex, three bulky seniors stood in a semicircle around a slim boy clutching his glasses and a laptop hugged protectively to his chest like a shield.
Noah Vale.
One of the rumoured "quiet monsters" of the engineering department.Circuit prodigy. Self-taught coder. IQ off the charts.
But right now, he was cornered.
Three seniors blocked him, smirking like wolves around a rabbit.
"Come on, Noah. Fix our drone code. Again.""You're the nerd, aren't you?""Do it, and we won't embarrass you in front of the freshmen."
Noah's voice was soft, but firm."I already told you—I'm not your personal technician. Please step aside."
They stepped closer.
Steven exhaled.
He walked forward.
"What's going on?" he asked calmly.
One senior turned, sneering."Oh, look. The Soft Rice Ki—"
The boy never finished.
Steven didn't raise his voice, but his eyes chilled the air.
"I'll give you three seconds to move," he said slowly."Before you regret staying."
The senior scoffed."You think you can—"
Steven took one step closer.
Something shifted.
A pressure.A presence.A weight that made the senior's throat lock up.
The boy's bravado cracked instantly.
"We—we were just leaving."
The three scattered like startled birds.
Noah blinked, stunned."You… didn't need to interfere. They weren't dangerous."
Steven smiled faintly."No. But they were annoying."
Noah snorted despite himself.
Steven nodded at the laptop clutched in his hands."What are you working on?"
Noah hesitated, but something about Steven—perhaps the calm, the intelligence in his eyes—made him open the laptop slightly.
Inside was a chaotic brilliance of code and circuitry schematics.
And Steven recognized something in it.
A mind that could build empires if given the right tools.
Steven pulled out a folded sheet from his bag—the SoC architecture for the invisible smartphone.
He handed it to Noah.
The boy's hands trembled as he unfolded it.
Five seconds.Ten.Thirty.
Noah's eyes widened.Breath hitching.
"This… this shouldn't exist," he whispered."This level of processing efficiency… integrated NPU routing… quantum-light layering on a consumer-grade SoC—this is impossible. Impossible."
Steven's voice was soft.
"Do you want to work with me?"
Noah's head jerked up.
Steven continued:
"I'll pay you what your talent deserves.And more importantly—I'll help you pursue your own research.
No restrictions.No chains."
Noah looked at him for a long moment.
Then—
"…I'm in."But his voice was steady, resolute."But I also get full access to your research notes."
Steven smiled. "Done."
[System Quest: Rise of the Titan]
Enter AIISA. Gather 10 exceptional talents. Found your first elite division.
Progress: 1 / 10
Reward: Cybersecurity Mastery (Expert)
His mind was instantly inundated with new knowledge — cybersecurity architecture, adaptive firewalls, firmware security, anti-intrusion heuristics, and digital defense protocols.
Ideas began crystallizing, forming complete pathways on how to fortify Eva OS, raising its security to levels no modern system could breach.
Steven inhaled sharply as ideas clicked into place.
Eva Mobile OS… could now evolve.
Noah watched him curiously. "You okay?"
Steven stood smoothly. "Better than okay."
Night draped AIISA in velvet shadows and soft lights.Solaris Tower glowed in the distance like a blade in moonlight.
Steven was making his way toward the tower, after the tiring day of classes, when he noticed someone.
A girl stood there—silver hair in a sleek ponytail, glasses resting lightly on a delicate nose, and a face too calm, too sharp.
"Steven Blake?" she said.
"Yes."
"I'm Lila Rowan. Artificial Intelligence major. Robotics minor." She folded her arms. "And I know you're not who the rumours make you out as."
Steven raised a brow. "Oh?"
She held out a tablet displaying a data tree.
"You own majority shares in Griffin Tech, and two other other companies too."
Steven's eyes narrowed.
"And", she continued, "you're the creator of Eva OS. And I know you are not stopping there."
Steven was silent.
She stepped closer, voice low.
"Eva OS is too advanced. Current machines can run only 3–4% of its real power. Even the supercomputers would only reach 40%. If you want a smartphone version…" She paused. "You need new hardware. Better manufacturing. Better materials."
A smile slowly formed on Steven's lips.
"You're not just good with AI," he said softly.
Lila raised a brow. "I'm also a pretty decent hacker."
Steven leaned back in his chair.
"Why approach me?"
"Because you're building something big," Lila replied without hesitation. "And I want a seat in it. I want to build something the world remembers."
He studied her for a long moment.
"You need a salary?" He asked.
"I won't deny the goodwill," she said with a playful smile on his face.
"…Welcome aboard," Steven said finally.
The system responded instantly.
[System Quest: Rise of the Titan]
Enter AIISA. Gather 10 exceptional talents. Found your first elite division.
Progress: 2 / 10
Reward: Advanced Material Synthesis (Expert)
Another wave of knowledge struck him—meta-material blueprints, light-bending surface principles, nano-cell battery structures, self-healing alloys, and much more.
Suddenly, the transparent phone wasn't a dream.
It was a blueprint waiting to breathe.
Lila watched him calmly. "So? Do we begin tomorrow?"
Steven smiled and nodded.
With that Steven made his way to Solaris Tower and entered his room. He gazed through the glass window at the immense AIISA campus glowing beneath the stars. His mind was already making plans about how to approach the goal.
Two talents found. Eight more to go.
An empire waiting to be built.
And finally—finally—he felt the first spark of something bigger than ambition. Destiny.
"AIISA," Steven murmured with a faint smile, "you're not ready for what's coming."
He went back to his workbench, opened his laptop and started working, creating detaile plans—OS's optimised modules, enhanced security and encryption, to how to bring forth the smartphone into real life with the five manufacturing belts he has received but not yet even seen. They are still at one of DeltaElectro's factories.