The evening after the duel, Arthur was summoned to the Headmaster's office.
He expected a reprimand for electrocuting a high-ranking noble in front of the student body. Instead, Headmaster Alaric (the king's older brother, a powerful mage with a beard like a storm cloud) sat behind his desk, looking amused.
"You have a unique definition of 'Dueling,' Mr. Pendelton," Alaric said, steepling his fingers.
"I adhered to the rules, Headmaster." Arthur stood at ease. "Incapacitation was achieved. No permanent injury. Though his ego may require a healing potion."
Alaric chuckled. "Indeed. Julian is... recovering. He is also demanding a rematch, which I have denied."
The Headmaster opened a drawer and pulled out a heavy object. It was a rusted iron key, larger than Arthur's hand, pulsing with a faint, cold light.
"The King promised you access," Alaric said, sliding the key across the desk. "The Royal Archives. Specifically, the Sub-Basement."
Arthur grabbed the key. It felt heavy—dense with history.
"A warning, Arthur," Alaric's voice dropped. "The Archives are not just books. They contain remnants of the Pre-Calamity Era. The Atherian Empire. Many scholars have gone down there and returned... confused. Mad. Or not at all."
"I am not a scholar, Headmaster," Arthur said, pocketing the key. "I am an engineer. Madness is just data I haven't parsed yet."
...
Arthur collected Zack (who was shaking) and went to the heavy iron door at the back of the library.
"Why am I here?" Zack whispered as the door creaked open, revealing a spiral staircase descending into darkness.
"I need a calculator," Arthur said, clicking on his mana-flashlight. "And you are the best human CPU I know."
They descended. The air grew cold and stale. The stone walls changed from the rough-hewn medieval blocks of the castle to something smoother—seamless grey panels that felt like concrete.
They reached the bottom.
It wasn't a library. It was a data center.
Rows of stone pillars lined the room. But instead of books, the pillars held thin sheets of metal and crystal, etched with thousands of microscopic glowing lines.
"What is this?" Zack asked, staring at a wall covered in glowing blue runes. "It looks like... a maze."
Arthur walked up to a pedestal. He wiped away dust, revealing a copper plate etched with a complex geometric pattern.
[Engineer's Eye Active.] [Analysis: Circuitry.]
Arthur traced the lines. "It's not a maze, Zack. It's a schematic. Look here."
He pointed to a fork in the copper line.
"If mana flows in here... and this rune is active... the signal splits. This is an AND Gate."
Arthur's heart raced. The Mages of today cast spells by "feeling" and "chanting." But the Ancients? They built logic circuits using mana as electricity.
"They didn't chant," Arthur whispered, realization dawning on him. "They programmed."
Suddenly, a flicker of light appeared in the center of the room.
The light coalesced into the form of a young girl. She wore strange clothes—a white tunic with geometric patterns. She was translucent. A spirit.
"Intruders," the girl said. Her voice didn't echo; it sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. "Identification required."
Zack hid behind a pillar. "A ghost!"
Arthur stepped forward. "Not a ghost. A Construct. A recorded memory."
He looked at the spirit. "I am Arthur. I am an Engineer."
The spirit tilted her head. The word seemed to trigger something.
"Engineer..." she repeated. Her eyes flashed blue. "Role Recognized: Maintainer. Welcome. I am Alice. Guardian of Node 4."
"Alice," Arthur nodded. "Status report."
Alice floated closer. Her face was sad. "Critical Failure, Maintainer. The Great Flow is obstructed. The pressure is building. Estimated time to system collapse: Unknown. Sensors are offline."
Arthur looked at the rusted, decaying machinery around him.
"The Ancients died because their plumbing burst," Arthur muttered. "And they left a ghost to watch the pressure gauge."
He turned to Zack.
"Zack, take notes. We aren't just studying history. We are going to reboot the Industrial Age."
End of Chapter 25