Macrocosmic Mage

Interplanetary Network

“Teaching is the noblest profession,” the old pedagogy text had declared. They change minds, guide hands, shape hearts. Without teachers, no other profession could exist. At the time, it painted educators as saints—a trope I thoroughly despised. Martyrdom doesn't pay rent.

But time has a habit of softening sharp edges.

Today, teaching is my craft—and, strangely enough, my favorite obsession. It is exhausting, yes, but quietly rewarding. Every day is a push and pull between bone-deep weariness and sudden sparks of fulfillment. The state pays us strictly for eight hours, never a minute more, yet stack upon stack of ungraded papers follow us home like desperate stray dogs. Still, the health benefits keep the lights on, and seeing a hesitant teenager suddenly grasp a complex concept makes the drag worth it.

It’s Friday evening. The weekly bell has finally tolled. I slip my phone into my pocket and step out onto the crowded sidewalk, blending into the surging tide of commuters. Students chatter and laugh around me—most of them heading not home, but to the neon-lit game pod parlors lining the avenue. Even middle schoolers have succumbed to the quiet addiction of the Interplanetary Network.

My name is Wyvon Klovis. I’m twenty-eight, and I teach high school science at a run-down public facility few people outside our district could name. I live in a studio apartment barely wide enough to stretch my arms in, but it’s mine, paid for entirely by my modest salary.

Tonight, though, I won’t be spending the evening cooped up. I have a promise to keep.

Anton Artron—my best friend of nearly a decade—is waiting. Anton is the sole heir to Artron Industries, a technological monolith and one of the richest entities on the planet. He’s a certified polymath—engineer, astrophysicist, software architect—though I stopped tracking his credentials years ago. Yet despite his astronomical wealth and terrifying IQ, he remains the same broad-shouldered, overly enthusiastic guy who used to share his lunch with me in college.

I change into a clean white shirt and black trousers, then head out into the cool evening air. A few blocks later, his residence looms above the neighborhood: a three-story architectural puzzle of sleek steel and dark glass, its rooms stacked unevenly like building blocks tossed by a child. It screams wealth and unvarnished eccentricity.

I tap the code into the gate keypad—still 1234, because for all his computational brilliance, Anton considers security protocols an unnecessary chore—and the heavy metallic door glides open.

“Surprise!”

I flinch, stepping back. Anton stands in the entryway clad in a bright yellow jumpsuit, a paper party hat balanced precariously on his mess of hair. A confetti cannon bursts in his hands with a delayed, metallic pop.

“What in the—Anton, what is wrong with you?”

“Big news!” he beams, his eyes wide behind thick-rimmed glasses. “I just inked a joint-development deal with Quincy Enterprise!”

The name makes my pulse stall. Everyone knows Quincy. They are a corporate ghost: no public board, no origin history, and absolutely no rivals. They manufactured the Interplanetary Network—the single entity that single-handedly broke fifty years of global economic stagnation.

“You’re joking,” I whisper.

“Not in the slightest!” His eyes sparkle. “And that’s just the appetizer. Come on, you have to see this!”

Before I can voice a word of caution, he grabs my sleeve and drags me toward the private elevator, bouncing on his heels as the brass indicator turns.

“You look entirely too pleased with yourself,” I say, adjusting my sleeve. “What is it this time—did you finally start dating?”

Anton smirks. “Better than a relationship, my friend.”

The elevator chime rings, opening into his third-floor circular workshop. Positioned directly in the center of the room, spotlit by subtle recessed lighting, sits a machine.

A pod. Sleek, crimson-hulled, and metallic, its seam lines pulsing with a soft white glow. Etched into its side is a single, gleaming silver emblem: a stylized Q.

My breath hitches. “Is that—”

“The unreleased Quincy Model-7!” Anton announces, throwing his arms wide. “Fresh off their private line. A personal perk of our deal. And it’s not for me—it’s yours.”

I stare at the machine, then at him. “Anton, no. Absolutely not. You gave me a car last year. I’m not accepting a piece of hardware that costs more than my apartment building.”

“Von.” His tone drops, losing its usual manic bounce. “You return or donate every single thing I try to give you. Don’t push this back. Please. It cost me nothing. Your twenty-ninth birthday is in two days. Just… accept it.”

The memory stings: the sleek sports coupe parked outside my school with a ridiculous red ribbon, and the weeks of whispering staff-room rumors that followed. But looking at Anton now, the usual boastfulness is gone, replaced by genuine hope.

“…Fine,” I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “On one condition: this is the absolute end of it. No more gifts.”

His brilliant grin returns instantly. “Deal!”

We spend the next four hours catching up over take-out, talking science and arguing over theories like we used to back in school. It’s past midnight when I finally walk back to my building, though my mind remains anchored to that crimson hull.

The next morning, I run my usual dawn circuit around the city park. The morning air is crisp, filled with the usual sights: elderly groups practicing tai-chi, dog walkers navigating the paths, and early commuters. Overhead, a massive digital billboard displays a high-resolution display for Quincy’s upcoming public hardware line—the very same elliptical pod currently sitting in Anton’s garage.

Or so I thought.

When I unlock my apartment door twenty minutes later, I stop dead on the threshold.

My living area—already tight—has been effectively bisected. Taking up half of my modest floor space is the crimson pod, perfectly leveled and plugged into the main wall socket via a high-voltage converter.

“You have got to be kidding me…”

I pull out my phone and dial Anton. It goes straight to voicemail. A second later, a short text pops up on my screen:

'Consider it priority white-glove installation, Sir. Play well. Please don’t file a police report.'

I groan, sinking against the doorframe, but my eyes keep drifting back to the machine. Up close, the crimson shell is flawless, resembling a seamless piece of dark glass rather than painted metal. The internal padding glows with a gentle, inviting hue.

Curiosity wins. It always does.

I grab a quick breakfast, shower, and step into the open interior. The soft contour seating molds immediately to my frame. As I lay back, the glass canopy slides smoothly overhead, sealing out the sounds of the city.

A crisp, monochromatic holographic display ignites in the dark above my face.

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[ Welcome, Player. Please close your eyes to initiate full neural synchronization. ]

===================================================

I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

The blackness behind my eyelids yields to a blinding flash of pure white light.

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[ Welcome to the Interplanetary Network. ]

===================================================

Glowing blue system notifications stream across my vision like falling rain.

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[ Please designate your registered callsign. ]

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I smile faintly into the void. “Photon-V.”

===================================================

[ Callsign accepted: Photon-V. ]

[ Analyzing baseline profile... Recommending starting archetypes: ]

Planetary Educator

Beastmaster Trainer

Armaments Merchant

Charmer

===================================================

I let out a soft, dry laugh. “Even in a virtual reality engine, the algorithm tries to force me back into a classroom.”

My gaze drifts down to the final option: Charmer. In a universe dominated by cold physics, hard logic, and lesson plans, the idea of wielding arcane mechanics and unexplainable abilities feels like the ultimate rebellion.

“Select option four. Charmer.”

===================================================

[ Archetype Confirmed: Charmer. ]

[ Environment Initialization Starting in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ]

===================================================

The light shatters around me into millions of microscopic prisms.

And reality dissolves.