Raen stood outside the gates of the warehouse, unsure whether to laugh or gasp.
It wasn't quite the pristine high-tech facility he had imagined.
The gate creaked open after he punched in the code Saelyn had sent. Inside, the structure loomed — solid steel walls, tall roller doors, and faded paint clinging to the edges of corrugated panels. The building sat tucked away in a quieter sector of the city — still urban, but leagues better than his old apartment above the smog-drenched alleyways.
No sirens. No leaking ceilings.No half-collapsed neighbors fighting over hot water.
Just... peace. And space.
The interior of the warehouse told a similar story.It was large — no doubt. High ceilings, a wide main floor, even a basic crane rig suspended overhead.
But equipment? Tools? Machines?
Nothing.
The lab was empty. A skeleton waiting for organs.
The floor was dusty. Some wall panels hung half-detached. One of the corner workbenches had a loose leg, and there were open cables poking from conduits like forgotten wires from a dead robot.
He exhaled.
"Guess this is what you call a foundation," he muttered.
The stairs leading to the attached living quarters groaned as he stepped up. This part, thankfully, looked a lot better. The walls were freshly painted, the windows weren't cracked, and the insulation was new. It had a real kitchen, two small rooms, and a bathroom that didn't look like a public crime scene.
But it was empty. No furniture. No appliances.No food. No bed.
Still, compared to the roach-ridden furnace box he used to live in?
This was a palace.
He walked back downstairs and stood in the middle of the warehouse's dusty floor, sunlight from the skylights cutting long beams through the air.
With one deep breath, he called up the system screen.
[ Skill Shop System Active ]
Skills Available:▸ Programming Mastery – [Owned]▸ Language Mastery – 10,000 Lux▸ Mechanical Systems Mastery – 20,000 Lux
Current Balance: 600,000 Lux
He stared at that second skill.
"Twenty thousand Lux… just to know how to use machines I don't even own yet."
Raen crouched down, wiping dust from a cracked tile. This place had potential — bones of something powerful — but it would need time, money, and vision.
A place like this didn't transform itself overnight.
Still…
He smirked.
"You gave me a broken lab, Saelyn.Fine. I'll build it from the ground up."
He didn't press the Purchase button. Not yet.
Instead, he grabbed his old notepad from his pack, sat on a bench near the wall, and began sketching.
A design. A goal. A machine worth 20,000 Lux.
He'd earn it. And when the time came…
He wouldn't just unlock Mechanical Mastery.He'd own it.