Reincarnated in a scientific magic world

The Forge of Horizons buzzed with manic energy. Meeks, Lira, Jax, and Kaela worked in feverish silence, their hands darting across holographic interfaces and ancient scrolls. The Reality Anchor blueprint hovered at the room’s center—a labyrinthine design merging quantum circuitry with primordial runes.  

“We’re missing a core stabilizer,” Lira said, her mechanical eye zooming in on a flickering section of the hologram. “Something to channel the rift’s energy without overloading.”  

Meeks’ System responded before he could speak.  

---

### **Analysis:**  

**Required Component:** Reality Shard (Mythic-Grade)  

**Location:** Nexus of the Shattered Realm (Collapsed dimension, accessible via unstable portal)  

**Risk Level:** Cataclysmic  

---

Kaela slammed her fist on the table. “The Shattered Realm? That place is a graveyard! The last expedition there lost half their team to spatial fractures.”  

“We don’t have a choice,” Meeks said, staring at the rift’s stability counter—now at 12%. “The System says this is the only way.”  

Aldryn entered, his robes singed at the edges. “The rift’s decay is causing reality quakes. Farmlands are reverting to deserts, children are aging decades overnight. We need that shard *now*.”  

---

### **New Quest Assigned!**  

**Quest:** Retrieve the Reality Shard  

Objective: Survive the Shattered Realm and secure the shard.  

Reward: **Reality Anchor Completion** | +15 Intelligence  

Warning: Mortality risk 87%  

---

The portal to the Shattered Realm hissed like a wounded beast. Meeks adjusted his Chronal Stabilizer, now fused with makeshift armor forged from Voidspire materials. Lira carried a backpack-sized time dilator, Jax had upgraded his arms with chronal blades, and Kaela’s gloves crackled with containment spells.  

“Stay close,” Meeks warned. “If the System’s right, this place doesn’t obey physics *or* magic.”  

The Shattered Realm was a nightmare of fragmented realities. Islands of frozen lava floated beside glaciers that burned with black flames. Gravity shifted randomly, and the air itself screamed with the echoes of dead civilizations.  

“There,” Jax said, pointing to a spire of obsidian riddled with pulsating veins. “The shard’s at the top.”  

They climbed, dodging spatial tears that erased chunks of the path behind them. Halfway up, the System blared a warning.  

---

### **Alert:**  

Reality corruption detected!  

**Corruption Level:** 45% (Irreversible at 70%)  

---

Meeks gritted his teeth as his Draconic Constitution fought the destabilizing energy. His veins glowed gold, scales flickering across his skin.  

At the summit, the Reality Shard hovered above an altar—a prism of pure paradox, simultaneously existing and not existing.  

“It’s… beautiful,” Kaela whispered, reaching for it.  

“Don’t!” Lira yanked her back as the altar crumbled, revealing a creature beneath it—a writhing mass of eyes and teeth, bound by chains made of dying stars.  

**“The shard is MINE,”** it hissed, its voice fracturing into a thousand echoes.  

---

### **Analysis:**  

**Entity:** Devourer of Horizons (Primordial)  

**Weakness:** Temporarily destabilize its core with synchronized mana-technological interference.  

---

“Jax, distract it! Kaela, melt the chains! Lira, get ready to grab the shard!” Meeks barked, channeling mana into his pulse emitter.  

Jax’s blades clashed against the creature’s tendrils, sparks flying as chronal steel met antimatter flesh. Kaela’s fire spells superheated the chains, their cosmic metal glowing white-hot. Lira lunged for the shard, her drones weaving a protective barrier.  

Meeks activated **Mana Circuit Overdrive**, his veins burning as he fired an EMP-enhanced shockwave at the Devourer’s core. The creature recoiled, howling—and for a split second, its grip on the shard faltered.  

“Now!”  

Lira seized the shard. The moment her fingers closed around it, the Shattered Realm began to implode.  

“Portal’s collapsing!” Jax yelled, dragging Kaela toward the exit.  

Meeks followed, but a spatial tear opened beneath him. He fell—  

—and landed in a void.  

---

### **System Override:**  

**Draconic Constitution Critical Activation**  

**Sacrifice 50% of total mana to escape.**  

---

He didn’t hesitate. Gold light erupted from his body, shredding the void as he rematerialized in the Forge, shard in hand.  

---

### **Quest Complete!**  

Rewards Claimed:  

- **Reality Shard Added to Inventory**  

- **+15 Intelligence (New Total: 40)**  

- **New Affliction:** Mana Scarring (Mana regeneration reduced by 50%)  

---

Aldryn didn’t celebrate. “The rift’s stability is at 5%. We have hours, not days.”  

The team assembled the Anchor—a towering spire of crystalline alloy and etched runes. As Meeks inserted the shard, the System delivered a final blow.  

---

### **Hidden Cost Revealed:**  

**Reality Anchor Activation Requirement:**  

- **Sacrifice:** One sentient consciousness to stabilize the core.  

---

The room went silent.  

“No,” Lira said. “There has to be another way.”  

Meeks stared at the Anchor. His System had known all along.  

“It has to be me,” he said quietly. “The System’s tied to my mind. I’m the only one who can sync with the shard.”  

“You’ll die,” Kaela snapped.  

“Maybe not.” He placed a hand on the Anchor. “Draconic Constitution might buy me time.”  

They argued, but the rift’s tremors silenced them. Meeks stepped into the core chamber.  

“Do it.”  

Aldryn activated the Anchor.  

Light consumed everything.  

---

When it faded, the rift was gone. The academy stood intact.  

But Meeks was nowhere to be found.  

---

### **System Notification (Delayed):**  

**Reality Anchor Successful.**  

**User Status:** ???  

**New Quest Pending…**  

---

In a realm beyond time, Meeks opened his eyes.  

“Welcome, Catalyst,” said a voice older than stars.  

Before him

floated the System’s true form—a being of light and shadow, with eyes like collapsing galaxies.  

“Your work has only just begun.”  

---

End of Chapter 7