CHAPTER 49: CRAZY TECH CEO

Caelum’s sleek black car began to glide away from Alaric’s office building. Behind the tinted, glare-resistant windows, his silhouette appeared calm and composed as always.

His gaze was fixed straight ahead, but there was something different in his eyes like a spark slowly igniting beneath the stillness. One hand rested casually near the window, his shoulders leaning slightly forward, lost in thought.

Just before his eyes fully closed to embrace the silence, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. It wasn’t a wide, cheerful smile. It was a thin, calculated one. Not born from amusement, but from confidence certainty that the seed he just planted would grow into a tree no one could bring down. Sooner or later.

"Just wait and see," he muttered under his breath, barely audible in the car’s soundproof cabin. "I’ll make something out of you, Alaric."

He leaned back against the seat, eyes gazing at the darkening sky through the window. His gaze narrowed slightly, reflecting the fading image of Alaric’s office behind them.

"If your crazy ideas have already reached this point," he continued softly, "I wonder just how far you can push beyond logic."

There was a certain pleasure in imagining the end result of a long-term experiment. To most people, Alaric was just a bright young man who had recently tasted victory.

But to Caelum, he was more than that. He was a living project, someone who could transcend the limits of today’s technology—if shaped with the right methods. Just like he had once been.

His left hand tapped lightly on the leather seat, the rhythm steady yet deliberate. His eyes lifted toward the sky, as if envisioning a future still unwritten.

"I know you’re hiding something. And I’ll be the one to uncover it, and the first to claim it," he said, brimming with quiet ambition.

The car continued through the capital’s streets, now glowing with city lights. No music played. No phone in his hand. Just silence—and a mind spinning like clockwork inside his head.

Caelum sank into the seat and exhaled slowly. That same smirk returned, as if he was watching the early outlines of a masterpiece only he could see.

"I don’t need many students," he murmured.

Then, barely audible, "Just one. If he can reach my level."

The car moved steadily into the closing night. In the silence of the cabin, only the faint reflection of Caelum’s face remained on the glass. And in that stillness, he had made up his mind: whatever came next, he would shape Alaric into something the world was not ready for.

—

Caelum’s lab wasn’t located in the bustle of the city, but hidden on a hillside surrounded by tall trees and a veil of mist clinging to the soft clouds. It occupied the top floor—level four, to be precise. Below it sat a modest residence for rest and enjoying the view, far removed from the noise of urban life.

This space wasn’t merely a lab for experiments and inventions. It resembled more a temple for those who worshipped technology. Every corner was filled with glowing cables and devices so advanced even Alaric didn’t recognize most of them.

At the center of the room stretched a long worktable that continuously projected layered technical schematics. On it lay fragments of logic and futuristic concepts waiting to be assembled.

From the outside, though, the building looked plain. Frosted glass, exposed concrete walls, and a metallic door with no adornment. But once that door opened and Alaric stepped inside, it felt like stepping into a stolen piece of the future.

A high ceiling held up by steel beams with solar panels, walls lined with holographic blueprints that moved with a wave of the hand, a long workstation brimming with precision tools, and robotic arms weaving prototypes like threads of thought.

At the heart of the room stood a humming server tower, flanked by terminals with three-tiered transparent screens curving around it.

"Welcome," Caelum said briefly, with no excess expression. "Let’s begin."

Alaric, who moments ago had felt confident, suddenly froze upon feeling the atmosphere of this place. It held the energy of brilliance on the edge of combustion.

He hadn’t even had time to sit when Caelum slid over to the control panel, opened a 3D data interface in midair, and began explaining a modular matrix that fused flexible energy systems with organic circuits.

"We’re using this system because it’s lighter and can react to local temperature changes."

"Uh... yeah... that’s... incredible," Alaric stammered, his eyes still locked on the way Caelum pieced everything together like a child’s puzzle.

Every movement Caelum made was fast, precise, and free of hesitation. He typed and modified scripts while speaking, swiping through simulation graphs with one hand and holding a micro-soldering tool in the other. One second he explained theory, the next he demonstrated it. And it all flowed naturally, like it was etched into his instincts.

"I got stuck building this system once," Caelum said, eyes still on the screen. "But I managed to combine a farming AI sensor with a phone shock detector."

Alaric gaped. "You... connected those?"

Caelum only raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "All tech is connected. You just have to see patterns in the unexpected."

Alaric scribbled notes quickly, but his thoughts lagged behind. Not because Caelum was too fast—but because he was too deep. He wasn’t just a genius with numbers; he was a creator who saw the world as a web of infinite possibilities.

And the longer Alaric watched him, the more he felt like he was learning not from a teacher—but from someone who lived and breathed invention.

"Damn... this is insane..." Alaric whispered, eyes wide. "It’s more than I ever imagined..."

Caelum glanced at him briefly, with the look of a mentor who knew his student was starting to see the world from new heights. But he didn’t say anything. He simply handed Alaric a digital toolkit and told him to try.

Alaric stood, half-bent, scanning the schematics on the table. His hands hovered like a dancer in sync with a silent rhythm. "See this part?" Caelum said, pointing to a segment of the module.

"I once tried merging it with quantum logic from an old project. But it kept destabilizing every three seconds."

Alaric nodded, eyes chasing every move.

"Now, you try," Caelum said suddenly.

Alaric froze. "Me? But... I’m nowhere near your level. I haven’t even..."

Caelum turned to him, offering a small yet confident smile. "You don’t need to be great to start. Tech isn’t an ivory tower. It’s a field for experiments. Just try."

Alaric took a deep breath. His hand touched the surface of the worktable, humming with electric energy. He studied the unfinished schematic. A data path was broken, the flow disrupted. Yet something clicked in his mind. He imagined the logic stream as a blocked river.

"Maybe... the path broke because the module couldn’t sync." He dragged the virtual line to a different side. "If I reroute it with a variable bypass... I don’t know, maybe this is wrong, but..."

Without adding more words that might fuel doubt, he simply pressed confirm. Like Caelum said, this was a lab. Mistakes could be fixed.

Beep.

The indicator light turned green.

Caelum blinked. "Wait... it worked?"

Alaric stared too. "Uh... I guess? I just guessed."

"But you guessed right. The connection formed. The bypass is stable. That’s insanely fast." Caelum now looked at Alaric with genuine admiration. "You think I found that solution in ten minutes? No. It took me three days."

Alaric stood speechless, still unsure if he could believe it himself.

But the work wasn’t done. The path was restored, but the system still needed to be locked into a design model.

Caelum rolled up his sleeves. "Let’s finish it."

They worked side by side, immersed in total focus. The air shifted. Time slowed. Only the sounds of tapping keys and steady breathing filled the room.

An hour passed. Then two.

And finally, they stood in front of the result.

A small, oval-shaped device with logic paths flowing like veins beneath its clear surface. At its core, a violet pulse shimmered softly—syncing to sound and vibration.

"This device..." Caelum touched it gently. "It can read human emotion from vocal vibrations, then translate them into data streams for AI systems that lack empathy. In other words... you just created a bridge between human feeling and machine."

Alaric blinked. "I did? I mean, we did..."

"Don’t downplay your part, Alaric. Without you, I wouldn’t have thought of that alternate path."

Caelum gave him a crooked smile, eyes gleaming.

"Let’s call it... LUMINA CORE."

Alaric nodded slowly, eyes on his first real creation. It was the most extraordinary experience he’d ever had. Not only was he given full access to testing facilities. But, also a tech obsessed mentor who didn’t hesitate to guide him through grand ideas.

Even though Alaric knew... back then, he was still a nobody.

He looked around. So many incredible things had been built by Caelum technologies he’d never even imagined. On the outside, Caelum might have looked like any ordinary man... but the more Alaric got to know him, the more he realized. He was a treasure the world had spent years searching for.