I get up and yawn. The daylight cycle has begun.

Yesterday was... nice. I haven't felt that excited in ages. I'm itching to go build right now. It's as if the fire within me is rekindled. It's strange and wonderful.

I smile.

"Hey. Good morning." Grace says.

For a moment, I'm startled. Then my mind catches up.

"Oh hey. Good morning to you as well."

She hums in response.

"There's no training today. Your Mentor decided to let you work on your Building."

I blink.

"Wait, really? I thought I had to go through the same thing over and over again till I got it perfected."

"What? No, you aren't supposed to perfect the exercise, you're supposed to hone your reflexes."

"Oh. Right."

"Anyway, I told your Mentor about how... full of energy you were yesterday. That's why he decided to give you the day off."

"Oh... thanks, I guess."

"No probs."

I get off my bed and stretch. I do a couple of exercises til I'm no longer feeling sleepy. Then I leave the dorm and enter the bathrooms. There I finish all my morning work. Once that's done, I don a new suit from the school's inventory. The school inventory is where they keep all the standard stuff you need for everyday life. At least, everyday life at this school. It was where I get my training suits from. I also pick up a bit of cloth.

I then head back to my dorm room. I see Dyne now fully awake, punching a black pad attached to one of his training machines.

"Hey," I say, heading for the built-in cupboard.

He turns to look at me and waves.

"Morning. How was the meet?"

I smile.

"Pretty cool. I've got a couple of ideas I wanna try out."

"Well, good for you. By the way... about Colby..."

I pause and look over my shoulder. I smile reassuringly.

"Don't worry. He's a nice guy. I didn't do anything to him."

He scratches his head.

"Yeah... I know. He's just a friend, y'know? I gotta watch out for him."

I smile.

"Yeah. I know."

We end the conversation at that. He goes back to punching.

I wrap up the tritinate, and leave my dorm room. Sometime later, I'm in the Builder's Workshop.

Not a very creative name, I know. But it works.

A Builder's workshop is... well, his or her workshop. The Builder's Workshop, though is a congregation of workshops that can be rented out or purchased. Usually, guilds and alliances have them, but schools with that sponsor the Builder path have them as well.

I send out a request to rent out a workshop.

"You don't need to do that. Your Mentor's already done it for you."

I pause. My Mentor sure is generous. On the other hand, it can also mean he knows I have jackshit in my account. Building is an expensive profession. And most of my prior funds came from Pirates I had looted. Or other organizations.

I push the thought out of my mind.

"Which one?"

Some data is sent to me. I decrypt it-then I know where the workshop is. I head to it.

The workshop is a small room. One side of it has a large window, giving me a nice view of space. In a corner is a Fabricator.

Now Fabricators are interesting things. They can create anything, save for some exceptions. Fabricators are also the only source of some types of materials. Those types of materials aren't naturally found. They work by nullifying intermolecular forces, with harnessed dark matter. Then they... weave matter into the required shapes.

They're complicated. Took me seven months to understand how they work. There's an entire subpath of Builders for designing Fabricators.

And then there's actually using Fabricators. You have to program the sequence of the Building.

This is, and always will be, the hardest part of Building. I used to rely on Larry, but I can't now. I've turned over a new leaf, and going to him might shed light on who I really am if anybody decides to investigate. And so I have to do this myself.

There's also a nano bath in another corner and a table with equipment for manual work. To control the nano bath, and the Fabricator is a holo-panel in the center of the room. The nano bath is to install implants, assembling, or for fixing things that can't be fixed manually.

There is also a shute where you can order molecular scramble for the Fabricator.

I walk up to the window and admire the view. I use the scenery to enter a trance.

I drop the tritinate into the nano bath and then order three large jars of molecular scramble. They roll in. I drop them into the Fabricator's tank.

Then I go up to the holo-panel and begin designing.

Nearly six hours later, I am done. I go through the entire process, which takes an hour, and then once I am satisfied I activate the Fabricator.

It takes half an hour for the process to complete. I get approximately sixty thousand small pieces. All in a small box. I dump it all into the nano bath and then execute the program for that.

Then I go back to the Fabricator, and once again run it, this time creating something much simpler. A hoverboard. I don't bother making the individual pieces, I simply create the entire thing at once.

And then once that has begun, I submerge myself in the nano bath. The sensation is strange, it's as if some sort of living jelly is surrounding you, touching at every part of you. I feel the liquid enter my body, as the temperature drops. Then I lose consciousness.

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I wake up, once again. I get up, gasping for air.

The world blooms into life in front of me. I see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, in all sorts of different ways.

It... is amazing. I spend five entire minutes looking at my surroundings in different lights, getting a feel for my new senses. Once that is done, I switch back to normal sight, as it would take some time before I could adjust to the new sight.

I look down at my body. My skin no longer has that artificial look. And my hand... is still robotic.

I only had installed the base frame of the full body implant I've made. My overall fighting ability has declined due to the fact, but I have no doubt once I install the entire thing, I will be like no other.

Though it is robotic, it is still much better than the other implant. For one, there is perfect synchronization with my current implants. Then it looks... much better. Sleek, elegant- and black. Just the way I like it.

I move my finger. It responds... much more smoothly than I expected. It's better than my biological hand, in fact.

I grin.

I then try to get out of my nano bath. Except... I use too much strength, and I end up throwing myself out instead.

I raise my hands in reflex, and do a somersault, landing on my feet.

My eyes widen.

Holy crap.

My overall fighting prowess did not decrease as I had thought. No. It increased.

I then reevaluate the entire design. If just the base level surpasses my old implants, then how powerful is the thing in entirety?

I have no idea.

Then I realize the hoverboard is built. I take it out of the Fabricator, and then place it under my feet. My feet are then stuck to it via grav-pads. The antigrav pads underneath light up.

I wobble unsteadily. It takes me a few minutes to adjust myself to it. Then I move around the room, go to the nano bath, collect the parts of my former implants.

They're actually cheap, and useless for most things, but I don't like throwing away stuff. Plus, there's the sentimental value as well.

I scoop them up, and then place them into the cloth I had bought earlier. I/d used all the tritinate, as the base frame was the only place they were required.

"Having fun?" Grace asks me.

"Yup," I say.

"Well, I see you used that weird implant you had sitting away in your head."

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Um... I thought you shouldn't be able to..."

"Access it. But that doesn't mean I don't know about its existence."

I scratch my head.

"Right... well, can you-"

"Not tell anybody about it? Sure." She answers, interrupting me. I think I hear an undertone of anger.

I'm assuming it's because of all the things I'm hiding from her. But I can't just go up to her an reveal everything. What I can do is...

"I'm sorry," I say.

She sighs.

"It's fine. I just wish you weren't keeping so many secrets. It's making me go insane here."

"Wait, wha-"

"Not literally, you idiot. I meant it was eating away at me. I'm curious, you know."

"Curiosity kills the cat."

"I'm not a cat."

"I know. It's just a metaphor."

"...I know."

And after standing around for two minutes in awkward silence, I decide that that's the end of the conversation.

They are two reasons I don't outfit myself with the full body implant. For one, I need a laundry list of nonfabricateable items, and two, I need a week to finish the entire thing. I have a race to get to.

Then, I call up the time. I realize I have fifteen minutes left.

What follows is a crazy sprint, because I'm not sure I can pilot the hoverboard well enough to not injure anybody. I'm more worried about myself when I say that. 

I reach the hangar with four seconds left on the clock.

I see Jack waiting, next to a small streamlined scout. The ship has three propulsors, and a couple of railgun mounts at the top. There is laser at the bottom. Impressive.

There is another identical scout as well. It seems he remembers that I didn't have a ship, currently. How nice of him.

He waves.

I walk up to him.

"Hey," I say.

"Hi. I didn't know you were a student here."

I smile.

"I didn't know you were a student here either. Funny coincidence, huh?"

He nods.

"Wasn't your hand... different yesterday? I'm unsure but I thought I-"

"Oh yeah, I replaced it today." I raise it for him to see. "Nice, isn't it?"

He nods once more, impressed.

I take a closer look at him. My optic scanners show a lot of piloting implants. As well as some... inbuilt armor. There are also some miscellaneous implants, but I don't bother to decipher them. It wasn't like I was about to fight him.

My eyes tell me he has brown hair, a crooked nose, and a square jaw. He has broad shoulders and a carefree look about him.

"You built it?"

I nod.

"Well, I know you said seven sharp, but I wasn't expecting you literally arrive at seven."

I scratch my head.

"Er... I was kinda busy, so I almost forgot about the race. I ended up having to race here... for the race."

He snorts.

"Well, let's get racin' then. I can't wait to pit my skills another pilot."

"And builder," I add.

"And builder."

We both hop into the scouts and plug into them. I find myself sinking into the mysterious embrace of coldness once again.

I notice Grace's presence in my mind. Some of her emotions are leaking into my mind. It's so faint that without the eerie calmness, I would have never detected it.

I leave a note in my implant, to go over it later. For now, I need to focus.

I connect to the school's systems. I search for races scheduled at this time and find three. I spot my name in one of them and then open the file on that.

We have to fly to another system, go to the planet nearest to the star there, collect a small metal ball, fly out of the system, into the asteroid belt, get into a carrier, use the ball to confirm identity, and then fly out of the asteroid belt, back to the school. All in all, it's going to be challenging.

I comm'd Jack.

"Yes?"

"Launch in five?"

"Sure."

"One..."

I set a waypoint map at the bottom left of my H.U.D.  Then I glance over my systems. All green.

"...two..."

I fire up my propulsion systems and warm her up.

"...three..."

The hangar doors slide open.

"...four..."

I lean forward in anticipation.

"...Five."

My thrusters flare up, making my ship go from zero to eight hundred thirty in less than three seconds. The inertial dampeners make sure that I'm not reduced to a bloody paste within.

Our both ships end up unable out to outdo each other as we exit the space station. I then activate the warp drive, and feel my body's senses fade away. The strange feeling intensifies.

I am the ship, and the ship is me.

A few moments later, I jump out of warp and nearly collide with Jack. I do a quick swerve towards the planet, avoiding mutual destruction. I also manage to get a small headstart.

I go full speed towards the planet. I do a long range scan, and find the location of the sphere. Then I activate the shields.

I'm about to do something really stupid.

As I neared the planet, I don't slow down. I continue going at full speed. I charge my anti-grav panels up.

"What are you doing?" Grace asks me.

I grin.

Then I enter the atmosphere. My shield starts warping, unable to take the brunt of it. Some of the outer panels begin to melt. The ground starts raising at a very fast pace.

Just when I'm about to crash, I activate the anti-grav. The inertial dampeners almost burnt out at the overload. My body's jerked into consciousness by the excess force. I then deactivated the grav-panels.

I graze the ground, as I pick up the sphere with my nose. I tilt the ship upwards, letting it roll towards me. I open the roof just in time to catch it.

It's large enough to fit in my palm. It's similar to a tag, except it's also built to withstand forces within volcanoes. Why? Because some training exercises had you diving into volcanoes to get them.

I close the rooftop and punch the throttle. The ship's out of the atmosphere. I see Jack enter just as I'm leaving.

I wave at him with a shit-eating grin. He looks at me dumbfounded.

Then he was on the planet.

I  go close to the star, and do a gravitational slingshot, launching myself at the asteroids. My fuel's running low, as I had burnt a lot when I had overtaxed my anti-grav panels and inertial dampeners.

I dive into the asteroid field and use the slightest amount of fuel I can to dodge. A few minutes later, I'm almost out of fuel. I decide to do something more stupid.

I deactivate my inertial dampeners and temperature conditioners. My implants can let me live without them. Sure, I would be feeling this tomorrow, but that's a sacrifice I can make.

"What are you doing!?" Grace says once again.

I barely make it to the carrier in time. I 'm beginning to feel the chill. The sudden movements wear at my body. But by that time I'm completely out of fuel. So I get into an exo-suit and disconnect from the ship. I break off the rooftop. Air rushes out. Utter silence pervades me.

Except for Grace of course.

"....You're fucking insane!"

I deposit the ball into the storage space of the suit. Then, I deactivate the ship's artificial gravity systems and kick off. I float towards the carrier at an excruciatingly slow pace.

"...Oh god oh god oh god oh god..." Grace continues to mutter.

My heart's thrumming, and I'm anxious about being squashed by an asteroid. Just then, I see Jack fly into his own carrier. I wave at him.

He still has that dumbfounded look on his face. If I could laugh, I would. 

A moment later, I hit the ship. I use a ladder to move to a hatch. I open the hatch and jump in. I take one last look at my ship, and the cosmos around it before slamming the hatch shut.

Air fills the room, returning sound to me that isn't the constant babbling of Grace. I'm grateful.

"...I swear when we get back to the school you are never getting access to a ship ever again..."

I remove my exo-suit hastily and make my way to the bridge. As I pass windows, I notice that Jack's ship has yet to start moving as well. I sprint faster, unwilling to lose.

I skid to a stop and use the sphere to open the door to the bridge. This ship's big enough to host one.

But it's going to make things ever so complicated. A single person manning an entire bridge? Yeah. This is the most challenging part. There's also the fact that the ship is parked in an asteroid zone.

I get into the captain's seat and redirect all consoles to me. I dismiss most of the weapons and defense, leaving some just in case. Also to take care of the asteroids. I end up having to change the entire interface because of the sheer complexity of the propulsion systems.

Then I get rid of a lot of useless consoles, like the console that shows me temperatures, air pressure, and other miscellaneous stuff. That reduces the size by more than seventy percent.

Then, I kickstart the engine and activate my weapon system. I spend the next few minutes blasting the asteroids in my immediate vicinity. That way, I have some space to maneuver.

I point the ship towards the direction of the school, and then start going crazy with the weapons. Half a minute later, all that is left of the asteroids in front of me is rapidly solidifying slag.

I then punch warp, a split second before Jack. Again, I feel my body's senses fade out. I would've fallen into unconsciousness if my mind were not connected to the ship.

When I jump out of warp, Jack is already near the school. I send my engines into overdrive, but the results are already determined.

I lose.

I find myself cursing as I leave the carrier.

"...just one second- that was all I needed-"

"Oh shut up, you lost and that's that," Grace says.

I pointedly ignore her and continue on my way.

"Stop ignoring me!" She screams in my mind.

I wince.

"Jesus christ, would you tone it down a little?"

"Why!? Is it irritating!?"

I wince.

"Yes."

For a moment, she doesn't say anything. Then she screams in frustration.

I stumble and nearly trip when Jack catches me.

"You alright man?" He asks.

Grace finally stops screaming.

I sigh.

"Yeah. My A.I was screaming at me."

His eyebrows shoot up. Then his eyes widen in realization.

He chuckles.

"Well, I would be more surprised if she didn't, considering your stunts."

"Exactly," Grace says.

I grin.

"I don't care, it was fun!" I say.

"Fun?" Grace says, exasperated. "You call nearly getting yourself and me killed fun!?"

Whereas Jack facepalms.

"Well... I wouldn't put it that way..."

"Put what-what way?" Jack asks.

"You wouldn't put it that way!? You wouldn't put it that way!?" Grace screams into my mind.

I clutch at my forehead.

"Oh for god's sake stop screaming at me!"

Jack blinks and raises his arms.

"I would if you would just listen."

I sigh.

"Fine. Now would you stop screaming at me?"

She doesn't reply. She's too pissed to. Meanwhile, Jack is looking at me sympathetically. Everyone else is looking at me as if I'm crazy. I don't blame.

They keep a good distance from me. I haven't... exactly made a good impression of myself here, have I? This is going to come back and bite me in the ass later.

I smile at him, to show him I'm fine.

"Anyway, nice race," I say.

He nods.

"It was. For a moment there, I thought I would lose."

I snort.

"Well, you would've, If I had just a little more fuel in that scout."

He blinks as if remembering something.

"Um, about that scout...."

Then I realize that the ship wasn't mine in the first place. I facepalm.

"Oh man... I totally forgot..."

"It's no problem. I can get a new one within Sunday if I wanted. Just... if we ever race again, don't wreck the ship, got it?"

I nod, still embarrassed.

He chuckles.

"Then we're fine. Hope we can race another time!" He says and flashes a grin at me.

I smile.

"Me too. Until next time."

"Until next time," He says, and nods at me.

We split up there. The simmering A.I and the wary crowd does not put me in a good mood on the way back.

I pass by a window and pause. This is one of the training rooms. Within, I see Dyne and Denise training.

Curious, I spectate.

Training, I feel, is too mild of a word to describe what they are doing. They are fighting as if their lives are on the line. Veins bulge and a faint sheen of sweat covers them.

They stand, panting, and look at each other. They are angry, focused, and adoring at the same time. It's a tad confusing.

Dyne winks at her.

"I wish I could go easy on you love, but you know as they say, never underestimate your opponent. Especially when that girlfriend is your opponent."

Denise chuckled evilly.

"Oh yes, plain 'ole me is gonna kick your ass so hard you're gonna need nanobots to shit for a month."

I shudder, mainly because she sounds like she means it. Also because of the imagery.

But Dyne is not affected. He's even grinning.

"Oh? Then it's going to be you on top for an entire month darling."

My eyes widen.

Ah! Too much information! Too much!

I notice Grace had calmed down a bit.

"What are you doing standing around like a perv?"

A bit.

I facepalm.

"I am not a perv."

Dyne and Denise turn towards me, surprised. I want to facepalm once again, but unfortunately,  I have only a single head. I must make do.

Then they stare at me confused.

I remove my hand from my face and wave awkwardly.

Denise folds her arm over her chest. Dyne waves.

"Oh hey, Dan. Didn't see you there. How long have you been standing there?"

"About... a minute or so," I say.

Denise's face goes red. I feel just as embarrassed.

"Well, Iza, let's pick up where we left off tomorrow." He says, picking up a towel. Denise does so as well.

"Iza?" I ask.

"Hmm? Oh, um, just the nickname I call her."

"You do not get to call me that. Ever." Denise says.

I raise my hands.

"Hey hey, what's with the hostility..."I say. She glares at me, "You know what, never mind. Dyne, let's go."

He nods, and then waves at Denise, smiling. She waves back as well, before glaring at me again.

What is up with all the girls today?

Unfortunately, many have asked the same question for centuries, but the mystery remains.

We depart, but not without Dyne giving Denise a peck on her lips. When we reach the dorm, Dyne speaks.

"Someday, I'm gonna marry her."

I pause.

"Wow." I pat him on his shoulder. "Good luck, man."

He smiles.

"Thanks. Though it's time to go to sleep, so... night."

I nod and yawn. I jump on to my bed. I hear rather than see Dyne do the same.

"Night." He says.

"Good night."

The lights go off.

In a corner of my mind, I feel Grace sulking. After a bit of thought, I send a hug her way.

I feel her surprise, but I respond with a 'shush' gesture. I smile.

Then I spot a feather fallen near my bed.