NovaCompress went live at 11:32 A.M. on a Wednesday, and by 4:00 P.M. the dashboard already showed 1,200 sign-ups, 7 paid monthly plans, and three requests for enterprise licensing. Vicky kept refreshing the analytics page in disbelief, his brain oscillating between shock and panic.
"Chill," Rani said from the holo-panel, her expression cool as ever. "This is normal adoption speed for a genuinely superior tool."
He jabbed a finger at the table. "This is not normal. I made this yesterday."
"You made nothing," she corrected calmly. "You supervised. I optimized."
"Yeah thanks, that makes me feel so much better."
But even with her sarcasm, he couldn't deny it — his life finally had some direction. Money would come in now. Stability. A path.
For the first time since arriving in Chennai, he felt like he had room to breathe.
He attended his classes the next day acting as normal as possible, though every now and then he'd yawn in that tired-as-hell "I stayed up coding till 5" way. Kiran elbowed him twice during Operating Systems.
"Dei, are you dying?""No macha, just… night work.""You're 18 da, why are you doing night shifts?""Long story."
The exhaustion was real. He wasn't built for double lives. But he pushed through the day, came back to the office after classes, and checked NovaCompress numbers again.
3,200 users.43 paid.A dozen emails asking for bulk API usage.
Good. The finances were slowly stabilizing.
Now he could look at the other problem.
The one that had been sitting quietly in the corner of his mind for weeks.
Rilu.
The name felt like a stone dropping inside his chest.She was the only real clue he had from that night — the night he pretended was "just a dream" but the empty potion bottle said otherwise.
He leaned back in his chair and exhaled.
"Okay," he murmured. "Money problem is manageable. Now the bigger headache. Rilu Osbo."
Rani flickered onscreen, her red hair shimmering like fiber-optic strands. "You want to contact her?"
"I can't," he said immediately, shaking his head. "Her father's monitoring everything. That house is like a fortress. And she nearly got me killed by calling me future son-in-law in front of a whole bloody bus."
"That was amusing," Rani said. Completely deadpan.
"It was traumatic."
"Well, you survived."
He rubbed his forehead. "Point is — direct contact? Impossible. But I still need answers. She's connected somehow. Her name came in the dream. She's working at the same building where the Beacon pinged twice. Something links her to all of this."
Rani waited, processing. "So what is your plan?"
He looked up at the hologram, eyes steady.
"I need to get inside TCS Butterfly again. Not on a tour. I need to find the source of that ping myself. Sneak in. Properly."
Rani tilted her head. "You? Sneaking into a Tier-1 secure IT campus?"
"I can do it."
"No," she said plainly. "You cannot. Not yet."
Vicky opened his hands. "Then guide me. I'm not backing off from this."
Rani's eyes glowed faintly, as if considering him.
"Very well. If you intend to infiltrate a secure zone," she began, "you must first pass a skill threshold. Your physical abilities are insufficient. Your situational awareness is poor. Your stealth rating is… abysmal."
"…my what?"
She ignored him. "You need training."
"What kind?"
"A crash course. One week. Every night. I will train you in infiltration basics… and supplement them with your items, potions, whatever your power can provide."
Vicky blinked. "…you're serious?"
"I do not joke," she said evenly. "If you attempt entry now, you will be caught within five minutes. Possibly two."
"Two minutes?" he groaned.
"You walk like a man carrying guilt, not confidence."
"I'm literally a student!"
"Exactly."
She folded her arms. "If you want the truth behind Rilu Osbo, if you want to know why your dream involved her — and why your potion was empty — you must learn how to move unseen."
Vicky leaned back, a nervous excitement bubbling in his chest.
"So… a week of training."
"A week," Rani confirmed. "Then we begin the operation."
He breathed out slowly.Finally, a direction.Finally, momentum.
"Alright," he said. "Let's do it."
Rani's eyes glowed again."Good. Then your lesson begins tonight."
And with that, Vicky's life officially shifted from "struggling student" to "rookie infiltrator in training."