Mornings in the SRM hostel were brutal.
The bell rang at 6:30 AM like someone was banging a steel plate inside Vicky's skull.
From the top bunk, Kiran groaned,"Bro… if you wake me again, I'll drop from here and break your laptop."
"You don't need to wake up for that," Vicky said. "Your existence already breaks laptops."
"Paavi," Kiran muttered, rolling over. "Let me die peacefully."
Despite the complaining, both eventually got ready and headed to the canteen.
They grabbed idli, vada, and sambar.Kiran took a bite, nodded like a food critic.
"Hmm. Quality decent."
Vicky raised an eyebrow."Yesterday you said it tasted like cement."
"That's because yesterday I was depressed. Today the sambar is slapping."
First Class of the Day
The programming lecture wasn't terrible.
Pointers still made no sense to him, but he understood half of the examples.For Vicky, that was a miracle.
Kiran only whispered nonsense.
"Bro… pointer means something pointing to memory."
"So?"
"So it's basically your mother's slipper. It points to your memory."
Vicky choked on his own breath trying not to laugh.
That Night — The Real Spark Hits
Back in the hostel room, Vicky opened YouTube.
"How Zoom, Google Meet & Agora handle millions of real-time connections."
He watched the whole 40-minute talk without blinking.
Mesh networks.SFU nodes.Packet loss compensation.TURN servers.ICE candidates.
"This is insane," he whispered.
Kiran looked over."What now? You found aliens?"
"No. Something bigger. Real-time communication tech."
"So like video calling?"
"No, da. The engine behind it. The backbone. This is next level."
Kiran shrugged."You do whatever. I'm watching reels."
The Power in His Blood Responds
For the first time in weeks, Vicky felt a familiar itch in his fingers.
A pull.Not fear.Not panic.Just… confidence.
"I can actually cheat here," he whispered to himself.
His power wasn't for diamonds or miracles.This was practical.
If he pulled a futuristic "network core" from any sci-fi game…reverse-engineered the outer shell…studied the internals…
He could build a REAL RTC engine.Better than anything on the market.A real company.A real future.
His heartbeat quickened.
He opened his phone, launching an old sci-fi shooter he used to play.
Inside the game's inventory menu was a device called:
"NanoLink Uplink Beacon — Guarantees stable connection between field units. Zero latency."
This wasn't like pulling a massive weapon.This was small.Portable.Manageable.
"Perfect," he whispered.
The Pull
Kiran was snoring.
Vicky sat by the window, phone in hand.He placed his thumb on the glowing beacon icon.
The chill hit him—sharp, but not overwhelming.His arm trembled lightly.A faint headache buzzed behind his eyes.
Then—tok.
A small, metallic object landed in his palm.Black, smooth, with tiny blue lines running across it like veins.
It was no bigger than a matchbox.
Inside, it hummed—gently. Not dangerously.Like a mini-router with an alien heartbeat.
He grinned.
"This… this is perfect."
This wasn't a nightmare.This wasn't overuse.This was control.
He placed it on the table and plugged a power bank into it.
Bzzzt—click.
The device light pulsed softly.His laptop Wi-Fi jumped two bars instantly.
Vicky stared, stunned."No way…"
He opened a ping test.
The latency dropped by 60%.Packet loss hit zero.
His jaw dropped.
"This thing actually works."
Not as magic.Not as a cosmic glitch.Just technology from a game — made real.
And now it was Vicky's.
He Starts Planning
He opened his notebook.
Under PROJECT: RTC, he wrote:
Step 1: Reverse engineer uplink beaconStep 2: Build simplified versionStep 3: Real RTC company → low-latency comms for IndiaStep 4: No risks with huge pulls. Small tech only. Controlled. Safe.Step 5: Make prototype before semester ends.
He leaned back, tapping the device.
"No diamonds. No danger. Just tech. This… this I can handle."
Behind him, Kiran snored loudly.
Vicky smirked.
"Bro," he whispered, "one day, your roommate is going to build the next Agora."