Chapter 12: The Lightning Sensei
**Carter** sat in his motel room, his new phone mounted to a stack of books. The **Earth System** had taken control of the display, turning it into a real-time analytics dashboard, showing follower count, viewer metrics, and live chat feed. The channel was simply called **The Anomaly**.
His disguise was perfect: a simple, dark hoodie, a baseball cap pulled low, and the ubiquitous shades hiding the impossible storm of his eyes. His black and white dreadlocks, however, were deliberately arranged to frame his face, a visual hook that the System had deemed "prime clickbait."
*"We are live,"* Earth announced clinically. *"Viewer count is 2,400 and rising. We purchased preliminary ad space to draw a targeted audience interested in hacking, fringe science, and the unexplained."*
Carter took a breath. He wasn't performing for King Damien or his friends; he was performing for the collective, anonymous consciousness of the internet.
"What's good, chat?" Carter said, his voice calm, projecting the cool confidence the System had coached him to adopt. "Y'all wanted proof? Y'all wanted to see the impossible? Let's get this bread."
The chat instantly exploded.
> HackerGirl23: Yo who the fuck is this dude with the crazy hair? What the helly
>
> AnonGeek: Big cap. Hat emoji. Probably green screen.*
>
> TheOracle:** *50 SuperChat: Dude looks like he just left the Matrix.*
>
> **BillionaireMindset:** *Show us the trick, poverty stream.*
Carter smirked, reading the negativity. "I see you, chat. Salty already. Let's make this easy."
He gestured to a corner of the desk, where he had laid out his props: a completely dead, disassembled laptop, its components scattered; and a cluster of fifty or so dead phones and tablets he'd salvaged from a nearby recycling bin, their batteries drained to zero.
*"The challenge is live,"* Earth prompted. *"A viewer named 'DataGod' has sent a complex, military-grade encryption key into the chat. Address this challenge directly."*
Carter pointed a gloved finger at the ruined laptop. "DataGod, thanks for the key. Now, watch me work."
He focused. This wasn't the blind, desperate surge he used on the mugger; this was the surgical focus of a trained Drakain mage. He channeled the Dark Electric Energy**—the pure essence of Zoth's legacy—into his right hand. A visible, faint **black electric charge**, looking exactly like static electricity, crackled faintly over his fingers.
He slowly moved his hand over the disassembled laptop. The audience could only see the components vibrate slightly. Then, impossibly, the components began to **slide across the desk** with microscopic precision, clicking into place. The final piece—the screen—slid onto the chassis.
In seconds, the laptop was **fully reassembled**.
The chat paused for a beat, then detonated.
DataGod:** *WAIT WHAT THE FucK MY KEY.*
>
ScienceFTW:** *Impossible! That's controlled kinetic energy. CGI.*
>
> MatrixMan:** *He's got the lightning touch!*
>
> HPFan:** *This is some Harry Potter shit lol.*
Carter picked up the reassembled laptop. It was now **fully powered on**, displaying the instantly solved encryption key.
"Harry Potter shit?" Carter asked, looking directly into the camera lens with cold amusement. "I'm indeed on some Harry Potter shit, chat. But I'm in a whole different league."
He tossed the solved laptop aside. "Now for the real power flex."
He swept his hands over the massive pile of dead phones and tablets. The black electric discharge was stronger this time, forming a visible, snapping arc between the devices. The devices instantly lit up, their screens flashing to life simultaneously, every battery charged from zero to 100% in a single second**.
The viewer count skyrocketed past 100,000**. Donations flooded in, crashing the System's integrated payment processor briefly. Earth had never seen a faster digital monetization curve.
"Massive surge. We have achieved viral velocity,"* Earth confirmed. *"Initial revenue target surpassed by 300%. We have their attention, Carter."
Carter leaned into the camera, his voice low and intense, letting the spectacle of the fully charged electronics speak for itself. "Y'all think I'm a hacker. Y'all think I'm an illusionist. Fine. Keep watching, chat. I'm just getting started. I need money, and y'all are going to help me get it."
He ended the stream abruptly, leaving the internet in a frenzy of speculation, fear, and conspiracy theories. The foundation for the **Academy's funding** had been laid, all thanks to the terrifying reality of his magic and the cold efficiency of the **Earth System**.