A boy with long dark hair, a handsome face, and a detached air about him sat calmly on the sofa as the A.V. feed was abruptly cut off.
Jamie turned his head toward the speaker.
Blond hair, slightly golden reflective skin and matching gold eyes.
It was Paul, one of his roommates.
"Did you really have to cut off the connection?" Jamie asked, clearly annoyed.
"Of course!" Paul replied, plopping down beside him and immediately reaching for Jamie's chips.
"This is a family-friendly room with no place for promotional documentaries."
He began munching loudly.
"You know I have a snap of your browsing history?" Jamie muttered.
Paul froze mid-crunch.
"How is that possible?!" His eyes widened.
"I was in invisible mode!"
He refused to believe those logs could be saved unless Grema, the Unified AI, had personally tracked him.
Jamie looked at him with open disdain.
"Next time, try not to use my Flash Network."
'Damn it!'
Understanding dawned on Paul instantly.
He had committed a grave sin, using Jamie's private Flash Network.
Which meant Jamie had a copy of everything.
His entire history.
Now he too could be blackmailed!
'I should've just done a recharge,' he thought bitterly as the price flashed in his mind.
19.99 credits.
Damn it.
Too expensive.
"Where are the others?" Jamie asked casually.
Just then, footsteps echoed, accompanied by loud voices.
Three people arrived.
"You both are here already? I was just about to ask which Path you're choosing. I've been discussing it the whole day," said Abraham aka Abracadabra.
"Were you playing Skyball?" Jamie asked.
"Why does Paul look so depressed?" Ren Uesugi questioned, glancing at Paul suspiciously.
"No particular reason, I guess. Anyway, what was the score?" Jamie continued, staring at the chip packet in his hands which was disappearing faster than light.
"We won obviously. Six to three," Hermann replied between bites.
"Of course we did! It was only possible because of this Seat!" Abracadabra declared dramatically.
Skyball was a popular sport among ordinary citizens.
It was essentially football played with sky-shoes, specialized gear that allowed players not only to run along the ground but also to maneuver through the air.
"Abracadabra, send me the link to those novels," Jamie said.
Abracadabra instantly lit up.
"You! Are you finally becoming educated and cultured?!"
Jamie facepalmed.
Before the Null Year, many of the professions that now existed had once been mere fiction – concepts explored in novels and speculative media.
Jamie had read countless articles about that era. Modern novels, however, followed entirely different trends.
"He even watched the celebratory documentary of this year," Paul added helpfully.
Jamie responded by casually waving his hand.
A holographic card with a clear title materialized above his palm.
Black History.
Paul immediately stuffed his mouth with chips and fell silent.
The room they lived in was a shared dormitory within F.H.I.
Though communal, each of them had their own private rooms and every one of them had been selected for possessing exceptional potential.
As Abracadabra often joked.
Paul fit the "young master who ran away from home" trope.
He came from a distinguished lineage, but due to his immense talent and his refusal to spend his life managing family affairs, he had fled to enroll at F.H.I.
Ren Uesugi hailed from an ancient lineage of samurai.
Hermann was the descendant of a renowned failed painter.
Jamie, meanwhile, was labeled the mysterious loner.
And Abracadabra?
He proudly called himself a reader.
Each of them had their own stories.
'These sons of…' Jamie thought bitterly as the chip packet itself vanished from his hands.
Just then, Abracadabra clapped his hands excitedly.
"Let's go! I finally found someone who's interested!"
Before Jamie could protest, he was dragged into Abracadabra's room.
Upon entering, Abracadabra pulled out a sleek black card from his desk.
It rose into the air, hovering steadily.
The holographic sensors embedded in the room scanned the card, and an interface materialized in front of Abracadabra.
Instead of using a retina or fingerprint scan, which could apparently be replicated these days, he manually entered his password.
And it wasn't even a normal password.
It was a strange combination of drawings, letters, numbers and even dancing in a pattern.
The room shimmered as the system verified the configuration.
Then, a vast digital library unfolded before them.
Shelves upon shelves of floating projections stretched endlessly, each filled with holographic books.
Jamie blinked.
"Just how many books have you collected?" he asked, staring at the staggering number of digital volumes.
"I don't know, I just keep uploading them to the cloud but there are at least a hundred thousand!" Abracadabra declared proudly.
After running a few quick searches, he transferred a list to Jamie of two hundred and fifty titles.
Jamie stared at the list in mild disbelief.
"I have a date tonight," Abracadabra added casually.
"So I'll take a bath and head out, just don't delete any books!"
And with that, he left the room.
Jamie's expression darkened slightly.
Since when did this so-called reader have a date?
He had, on occasion, even offered dating advice to Abracadabra.
Yet he himself had never dated anyone.
After all, coaches never played.
Shaking off the creeping irritation, Jamie turned his attention back to the library interface.
It was still afternoon, he had plenty of time.
He began scrolling through the recommended titles.
"What are these…?" he muttered, reading through the list.
The Lazy Cultivator's Guide to Enlightenment.
Professor, I Swear My Aura Was Out of Control!
Chronicles of the Lost Child.
Love, Loss, and Level Ups.
AI Didn't Rob My Job — My Neighbor Did!
So You Accidentally Destroyed a Planet…?
The System Says I'm Overpowered!
Alien Dating: First Contact or First Breakup?
Why Is My Ex a Ghost Now?
Accidentally Reincarnated in Cultivation World.
Memoirs of a Failed Superhero.
I Was Reincarnated as a Plot Twist.
Level Up by Doing Laundry.
Daily Log-In into Girlfriend Grants Rewards!
Transmigrated as a Level 1 Villager.
The Game I Played Became Reality!
Great Thief of Apples — Sixth Edition! (G.T.A.–VI!)
…
Jamie stared at the endless stream of absurd titles.
He felt slightly dazed.