Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 41: : The Limits of Power

Chapter 41: : The Limits of Power

Ava worked fast, scanning each failed enhancement with ruthless focus.

Every piece of tech told the same story.

Lucas’s system could improve anything—

Until it couldn’t.

[SCANNING DATASET...]

[FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFIED]

[ENHANCEMENT FAILURE OCCURS WHEN BASE STRUCTURE IS TOO WEAK]

[CONCLUSION: SYSTEM REQUIRES HIGH-STRENGTH MATERIALS TO SUSTAIN UPGRADES]

Ava exhaled sharply.

There it was.

Lucas’s system didn’t just push things forward.

It demanded a foundation strong enough to handle the change.

If the material wasn’t good enough?

It collapsed.

Ava’s turned back to the wreckage, sorting through what little could be salvaged.

But her Blueprint System pulsed, flickering with a notification.

[NEW DESIGN PATH AVAILABLE]

[QUERY: REINFORCED BASE MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT]

[OBJECTIVE: CREATE A FOUNDATION THAT CAN WITHSTAND FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS]

Ava’s breath hitched.

She hadn’t been looking for a solution.

But maybe—just maybe—

She’d found one.

Ava cracked her knuckles, staring at the blueprint flickering in her mind.

[NEW DESIGN PATH SELECTED]

[PROJECT: REINFORCED BASE MATERIAL]

[OBJECTIVE: CREATE A FOUNDATION THAT CAN WITHSTAND FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS]

[ESTIMATED SUCCESS RATE: 42%]

42%.

Not great.

But not impossible.

Ava’s pulse quickened. She wasn’t just working with broken tech anymore—she was rewriting the rules.

Lucas’s system demanded a perfect foundation.

So if one didn’t exist—

She would build it.

Ava scanned the wreckage again, pulling components, filtering materials.

Too weak. Too unstable. Too reactive.

Then—she found something.

A fragment of a high-grade power casing, military spec, designed to handle extreme pressure.

Her Blueprint System pulsed.

[COMPATIBLE MATERIAL IDENTIFIED]

[REINFORCEMENT POTENTIAL: 67%]

[ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS REQUIRED]

Ava’s fingers twitched. She was close.

Damn close.

She grabbed her tools, hands moving instinctively, shaping, refining, testing.

The hours blurred.

[ALLOY BONDING SUCCESSFUL]

[STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT APPLIED]

[STABILITY INCREASED: 83%]

Ava grinned.

That’s more like it.

It took six more hours before the reinforced material sat on the table in front of her, gleaming under the dim light.

Tested. Stable. Ready.

Her Blueprint System flickered, confirming the results.

[PROJECT COMPLETE][REINFORCED BASE MATERIAL SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPED][STRENGTH LIMIT: UNKNOWN—FURTHER TESTING REQUIRED]

Ava didn’t feel tire. She was excited so moved fast, hands flying over the scattered components, finding her next piece.

Her Blueprint System pulsed, processing her schematics in real time.

[NEW DESIGN PATH SELECTED]

[PROJECT: CUSTOM POWER CORE—SELF-SUSTAINING ENERGY SOURCE]

[ESTIMATED SUCCESS RATE: 72%]

72%.

Not bad.

She had the materials. The tools. The knowledge.

And yet—

Nothing worked.

Ava’s jaw locked as the system flashed red.

[ERROR: COMPONENT INSTABILITY]

[ENERGY OUTPUT UNSUSTAINABLE]

[FAILURE RATE: 100%]

Ava exhaled sharply, pushing away from the table.

That didn’t make sense.

Her calculations were solid. The reinforced materials were holding. The power matrix was stable—

So why wasn’t it working?

She ran the numbers again. Rechecked her schematics.

Nothing was wrong.

And that was the problem.

Ava stared at the unfinished prototype, fingers curling into fists.

Ava dragged a hand through her hair, exhaling sharply.

This wasn’t just a setback.

This was a wall.

Her Blueprint System was flawless. The calculations were perfect. Every component was accounted for.

And yet—

[ERROR: COMPONENT INSTABILITY]

[ENERGY OUTPUT UNSUSTAINABLE]

[FAILURE RATE: 100%]

Something was missing.

Ava scowled, running through every possible solution.

More stabilizers? Already factored in.

Alternate power sources? Tried them. No change.

Structural modifications? Wouldn’t fix the energy problem.

She needed—something else.

Something outside the standard calculations.

Ava tapped her fingers against the table, eyes narrowing.

Lucas Bai’s system failed when it pushed past a limit.

Her system failed when there wasn’t enough data.

And right now?

She was missing a variable.

Ava leaned back in her chair, arms crossed.

She hated this.

Being stuck. Being forced to wait.

Lucas was still gone. Her project was at a standstill. She had nothing else to do.

Her Blueprint System hummed quietly in the back of her mind, waiting.

Ava’s fingers drummed against the table.

She had never really pushed the system before.

Sure, she had used it—optimized, repaired, designed.

But had she ever tested its limits?

She rolled her shoulders.

"Might as well see how deep this goes."

Her system pulsed in response.

[BLUEPRINT SYSTEM – ONLINE]

[AVAILABLE FUNCTIONS: SCANNING, REPAIR, DESIGN, CUSTOMIZATION]

[UNEXPLORED PATHWAYS DETECTED]

[QUERY: WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPAND SYSTEM PARAMETERS?]

Ava’s eyes narrowed.

Unexplored pathways?

That was new.

Her pulse quickened. "Yes. Expand."

The system flared, text flooding her vision.

[INITIATING SYSTEM EXPANSION...]

[WARNING: DATA OVERLOAD POSSIBLE]

[ACCESSING RESTRICTED FUNCTIONS]

Ava gritted her teeth as a rush of information hit her all at once.

Schematic overlays. New design paths. Structural modifications beyond anything she had worked on before.

And then—

Ava froze.

Because buried in the data, in the depths of her system where she had never looked before—

There was something locked.

[RESTRICTED BLUEPRINT DETECTED]

[ACCESS DENIED – AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED]

Ava’s breath hitched.

"What the hell?"

Her Blueprint System had never locked her out of anything before.

She had always been able to scan, modify, and rebuild without limits.

But now?

Now she was staring at a blueprint buried so deep in her system that she hadn’t even known it existed.

And worse—it was locked.

Ava’s fingers twitched, instinctively trying to push deeper.

[ACCESS DENIED]

[SECURITY OVERRIDE REQUIRED]

Ava exhaled sharply, narrowing her eyes.

"Override."

[REQUIRES AUTHORIZATION]

Ava gritted her teeth. "I am the damn authorization."

The system didn’t respond.

Ava leaned back, mind racing.

This wasn’t a glitch. This wasn’t a normal restriction.

Something—someone—had put this here.

Which meant that whatever was locked inside wasn’t meant to be accessed.

Had the system always been like this?

Or—

Ava’s mind flashed back to Lucas.

To his system.

To the connection he had built between them.

Had he triggered this? Had she?

Ava clenched her fists.

There was only one way to find out.

She inhaled sharply, focusing.

"Find the key."

Her system hesitated—then pulsed.

[SEARCHING...]

[QUERY: UNLOCKING CONDITIONS UNKNOWN]

[REQUIREMENTS: UNMET]

Ava scowled.

She didn’t have the requirements?

Ava sat up straighter, jaw tight.

She wasn’t about to let her own system keep secrets from her.

Her Blueprint System pulsed, waiting for input.

Ava inhaled sharply.

"Full-body scan. No restrictions."

Her vision flared with data.

[INITIATING FULL BODY SCAN...]

[USER: AVA ZHANG]

[AGE: 18]

[SYSTEM TYPE: BLUEPRINT SYSTEM]

[STATUS: OPTIMAL]

[KNOWN MODIFICATIONS: NONE]

Ava’s stomach twisted.

None?

That was wrong.

She had injected Lucas’s blood. Their systems had connected.

She had felt the shift—the pull.

And now?

Her system was acting like nothing had changed.

Ava’s fingers twitched.

"Run it again. Deeper."

[SECONDARY SCAN IN PROGRESS...]

[SCANNING NEURAL NETWORK...]

[SCANNING CELLULAR STRUCTURE...]

[SCANNING SYSTEM INTEGRATION...]

Ava held her breath.

Then—

Her pulse jumped.

[UNIDENTIFIED CONNECTION DETECTED]

[EXTERNAL SYSTEM TRACE PRESENT]

[DATA FLOW: ACTIVE]

Ava’s stomach dropped.

Data flow?

Her system wasn’t just connected to Lucas’s—it was still processing something.

Something new.

Ava clenched her fists.

She had been right.

Her system had changed.

And now?

She needed to figure out exactly how.