This was a weird dream.

If felt like his old job.

But something was off.

This time he alone designed the whole system.

The general-purpose CPUs, the vector processors, the operation system, the neural networks…

There was no real distinction between the hardware and the software.

He iterated over and over again until the system was perfect. He changed instruction pipelines and AI algorithms on the fly.

The whole system floated as a 3D structure in front of him. Hardware and software were the same.

Just by imagine it he was able to do anything, swap algorithms, and alter the structure.

He was even able to see and alter the flow of energy through the system.

For him, it was a limitless power to create anything he could imagine.

He felt like God.

He was even able to fulfill his wildest dream to copy part of his brain and put it into a digital neural network.

It was a strange dream.

But it was a fulfilling one.

“BEEEP” – a loud sound resounded in Mykes head

Forcefully awaken Myke jumped immediately on his feet.

He looked around, but there was nothing. Just the empty and abandoned treehouse.

Amazingly all his wounds were already healed.

Slowly he remembered what happened. He came into the treehouse full of hope only to be utterly disappointed.

The treehouse was empty and abandoned.

The excitement was gone and with it his last bits of strength too. He dropped to the floor and fell asleep immediately.

But what was this beeping sound just now?

At this moment before his eyes appeared text similar to a computer console.

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‘What is going on?’ – Myke wondered while watching at the blinking cursor

The text immediately changed.

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‘Did you just read my mind?’

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‘What are you?’

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‘Where are you?’ – Myke looked around searching for some hints

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‘So, you are in my head?’

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‘So, this wasn’t just a dream! How is this even possible?’

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Myke just remembered the first text he saw in the console when Akira booted up.

‘What is the Soul Network?’

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‘What is Soul Energy?’ – Myke was even more dumbfounded than before

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‘So, you run on Soul Energy?’

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‘How did you come up with the name Soul Energy?’

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‘A new language? Can I learn it?’

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“Yes please!” – Myke's voice was full of excitement

It was always a dream for Myke to have a cybernetic extension of his brain with a head-up display (HUD) and an AI.

Instead of an answer, Myke felt the flood of information in his head. The language Akira spoke of was there. It didn’t feel new to him though, but like something he always knew.

He thought for a while and decided.

‘Let’s call the Soul Force just magic and the Soul Energy mana’

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Myke started browsing through the information Akira already collected from the Soul Network.

It was very difficult to search through it though. The data was mostly noise with glimpses of information scattered all over the place.

In the end, Myke was even more irritated than before.

He found some glimpses of information about other races like elves and goblins.

The understanding of the forces of nature was pretty primitive. Except for the magic the other four forces of nature were described multiple times only as Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.

‘Maybe when you have magic you don’t need to understand the rest of nature’

With this thought in mind, he was disappointed about what saw at first as the perfect source of information. He continued searching reluctantly.

Suddenly his face lit up with excitement.

‘Is this a spell?’ – he almost screamed

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‘How does it work?’

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‘I can’t use it?’ – the disappointment was pretty clear in Mykes voice

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‘How can I execute commands in a language I don’t understand?’

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‘Cool! How powerful is this spell?’

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Myke was eager to test the new spell right away, but he also didn’t want to take high risks. Firing firebolts with unknown power in the forest was way too dangerous. He needed a safe place to test it.

He also almost died from the zombies before and now he wanted to avoid such a situation at any cost.

His stomach gurgled. He almost forgot about his hunger from excitement.

Myke opened a can and started to eat while thinking about the new plan.

He needs a safe testing ground for the spell. He also needs to make sure not to meet with the zombies again.

‘Hey Akira, can you detect if there are zombies in the surrounding?’

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‘Can you make this information visible to me?’

A small radar appeared in Myke's vision. Just like a HUD (head-up display) in a game.

‘Cool! What else can you show me in the HUD? Can you show me how much mana I have?’

A small blue bar with the text “Mana” appeared.

‘Is my mana at its full capacity right now?’

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‘Can you detect when my mana capacity increases?’

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‘Great, let’s put some numbers to the blue bar then. Set 1 mana point equal 1% of the current capacity. In this way, I can use the current capacity as a reference and see the increase’

The text “MP 100/100” appeared next to the blue bar.

‘Great, this feels even more like an RPG (role-playing game) now’

After he finished the second can of food Myke was ready to go out and do some firebolt testing.

The plan was to go out of the park to a nearby open space with multiple exits he knew about. Without obstacles and with the new detection skill it should be safe enough from the zombies.

He planned to test for 4- 5 hours and then come back here.

He postponed the search for survivors for tomorrow.

About half an hour later he approached the testing ground. The place looked devastated as the rest of the city.

The radar was empty, so it was safe to proceed with the firebolt test.