The age of information technology didn't arrive suddenly with a bang or fireworks. It all started during the late 1980s and evolved gradually, slowly at first, slipping into homes as boxy personal computers that hummed and blinked like they belonged in a lab. People weren't quite sure what to make of them at first, fascinated by their promise but still figuring out how they fit into everyday life.
Around that time, mobile phones were creeping in too—big, clunky bricks from the mid-eighties that could turn your arm sore if you talked too long. Calls were scratchy and full of static, barely holding together. Still, back then, being able to talk without a cord was as good as magic to people.
Then the nineties arrived, and the pace picked up. Phones started shrinking, and in 1992, someone sent the very first text message—a simple "Merry Christmas" that probably didn't seem like much at the time but would end up changing everything. By the middle of the decade, antennas had grown shorter, screens went digital, and phones slipped easily into briefcases instead of taking up an entire seat.
When the new millennium rolled around, things moved even faster. Phones could finally show colors, replacing dull green text with bright menus, and cameras were fitted onto devices—tiny lenses no bigger than a button that made film rolls and darkrooms feel ancient. Before long, color screens became standard, and people filled them with pixelated snapshots that somehow looked incredible back then.
By the mid-2000s, the first smartphones appeared. They could browse the internet, check emails, run simple apps. Clunky by future standards, but revolutionary for their day. The rest of the world was still crawling toward the future.
Of course, all of that happened somewhere else entirely—in a galaxy far, far away, on another world, in a different history altogether.
Here, it was still the early 1990s. People were only just getting used to carrying heavy brick-like phones with buttons the size of thumbnails. Most thought it was the height of convenience. They had no idea they were about to be thrown ten years ahead overnight.
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Los Angeles in the early nineties was like a city split in two. Palm trees tried to look graceful along cracked sidewalks, but the air still smelled of exhaust and street food. The streets were noisy, restless, full of people chasing something—success, maybe, or just a better day. It wasn't a shiny place yet, but somewhere beneath all that grit, the future was stirring, building itself piece by piece.
Inside the sprawling Convention Center—the city's main economic engine—something extraordinary was about to unfold tonight. Big banners with Caesar Technologies in bold black letters hung everywhere, heralding the debut of Maverick's very first product in the muggle world. He had been preparing for this moment for a while now, and with the future tucked securely in his back pocket, he knew exactly where the real opportunities waited.
Mobile phones. Truly mobile, mobile phones. While most people were still lugging around heavy, brick-like devices and calling it convenience, Maverick planned to push the technology a whole ten years ahead overnight. The tech was already there, hidden in plain sight, but for some reason, no one had thought to make it public by packing it into everyday gadgets. Maybe they figured there wasn't much profit in it, or maybe the idea just never crossed their minds.
After all, the idea of putting a camera, color displays, and touchscreens all into one device takes an out-of-the-box thinker. Not that Maverick was some visionary or a Steve Jobs—he was simply using his knowledge of the future to back a sure bet.
The main hall of the convention center stretched vast enough to hold thousands, and tonight it was packed tight. Reporters, TV crews lugging heavy shoulder cameras, photographers ready to snap countless shots, and columnists flipping through freshly printed press kits filled the space.
Maverick didn't hold back. He pulled every string, invited every major tech magazine, business column, and news channel he could think of for the occasion. This night—he wanted it remembered, carved into history. And he made sure the whole world saw it.
Besides unveiling the product itself, Maverick also knew the presentation had to be just as impressive if he wanted the press to eat it up. And who better to handle that than his fiancée, Isabella, who was already trained in muggle journalism.
Of course, presentations these days hadn't quite reached the level he had seen in the keynotes from his past life, so he passed along plenty of tips and little tricks as well to help her pull it off. And wow did Isabella deliver. She owned the stage like she was born for it.
The event kicked off with a dazzling intro, spotlighting the new technologies one by one. Each feature was laid out clearly but with enough flair to keep everyone hooked—slick demos, bold claims, and just the right mix of excitement and detail.
It wasn't just the product that surprised them—it was how Isabella brought it all to life. The crowd hung on every word, eyes wide with wonder, hearts caught up in the moment. Applause rolled through the hall like thunder, crashing again and again, carrying the excitement all the way to the very end.
The phone itself was sleek but not too futuristic—just enough to turn heads in 1993. A smooth, compact rectangle with a glossy black surface that seemed to glow under the lights. No buttons cluttered the front, only a clean, bright touchscreen bursting with vibrant colors.
On the back, the Caesar Technologies logo stood proud—a bold, stylized "C" shaped like a sharp, forward-moving spearhead, cutting through a circle of laurel leaves, a symbol of power and innovation.
The moment Isabella revealed the Caesar One—yes, that was the name Maverick had chosen for the first generation of the phone—with its full-color RGB touchscreen, the whole room buzzed like they'd just seen a miracle. After all, this was a time when phones didn't even have color displays, let alone touchscreens.
Then she launched into a flawless demonstration, gliding through menus with effortless taps and swipes. No fumbling with buttons—just smooth, seamless control, fingers dancing over the glass like magic. The crowd was spellbound, caught up in the promise of a future they hadn't dared to imagine yet.
Gasps and whispers rippled through the hall, followed by an explosion of applause. Maverick smiled, just as he had hoped. Journalists and onlookers rose to their feet, clapping and cheering like they were witnessing the future unfold right before their eyes.
It was everything he imagined—and then some. No doubt tomorrow, heck, the next few weeks' headlines would be all about his new product. A phone small enough to fit in a pocket, loaded with features that felt straight out of a sci-fi novel. Maverick felt the crowd buzzing, and he had no doubt it was going to be a smash.
Finally, when Isabella announced the price, the crowd erupted—and that roar told him everything he needed to know.
A typical phone these days—the chunky cell bricks—ran over a thousand dollars and, to most people, was more of a status symbol than something you actually needed. They were heavy, awkward, and barely fit the idea of "mobile," so most people stuck with their trusty landlines.
Maverick, however, had pegged his price at exactly 999 dollars. Not cheap, but with a design you could slip into your pocket and a lineup of downright cool features, he knew that anyone with a thousand to spare would be itching to get their hands on one the moment they saw it.
As for how he managed to price it so low while packing in so many features, well… he was a mage. Things that would be expensive headaches for muggle manufacturers were ridiculously easy with alchemy—especially for a master alchemist.
Of course, he wasn't cranking them out in endless batches from some magical cauldron or anything. No—the phones still rolled off muggle assembly lines, with certain parts even outsourced like any other tech company.
But a few key steps weren't handled quite the muggle way. The casing, for example—normally needing precision machining and pricey molds—came out of an alchemical press he'd built himself, cranking them out way faster and cleaner. Delivered straight to the factory, disguised as just another part from some third-party supplier, it saved him a ton on costs. That's what really let him price the phone just under a thousand bucks and still pull in a hefty profit.
Regardless, what mattered most to him was getting this product into as many hands as possible. Everything he was doing at this point—especially why he was so hasty in introducing this product much earlier than it was supposed to be released to the world—wasn't simply about taking advantage of his future knowledge and breaking into the muggle tech world.
Yes, that was part of it, but this phone—especially with its on-the-go camera—was a key piece in the events he had been orchestrating that would unfold in the near future. In other words, those cameras would play a crucial role in his scheme to finally shatter the long-held veil of the statute of secrecy.
Clap clap clap clap
Clap clap clap clap
When the presentation finally ended, the hall thundered with one last roar of excitement and awe. Cheers bounced off the walls, reporters exchanging knowing glances as they scrambled to craft the perfect headline, while cameras flashed nonstop, all focused on the night's star.
Maverick stood at the front row, watching it all like any other member of the crowd, clapping along, his eyes fixed on Isabella with a proud smile. She had nailed every single part of the presentation to perfection, and Maverick wasn't sure even he could have done it any better.
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Caesar One The First of Its Generation (II) (CH - 227)
The next day, just as Maverick expected, the world woke up to headlines that made last night's unveiling sound like the turning point of an age. Every newspaper that had been invited to the presentation splashed it across their front pages, the Caesar One looking less like a simple Mobile Phone, and more like a cultural turning point.
"A Leap Into Tomorrow: Caesar One Shatters Mobile Boundaries" – The New York Times
"Touchscreen Revolution Ignites a New Era in Mobile Technology" – The Guardian
"From Buttons to Brilliance: Caesar One Upends the Phone Industry" – The Sydney Morning Herald
"Mobile Industry Stunned by First Ever Phone with Built-In Camera" – The Asahi Shimbun
"The Future Has Landed—And It's Changing Everything" – Le Monde
Even papers that hadn't been invited were quick to jump in once the news spread, each scrambling to ride the wave of attention. In just 24 hours, "Caesar One" and "Caesar Technologies" had gone from mysterious names to sensations all around the world.
Tech companies around the world were blindsided. The product hit like a punch to the gut—a wake-up call that came out of nowhere. The name "Caesar Technologies" hadn't been on anyone's radar before this. No leaks, no rumors, nothing. One day they didn't exist, and the next, they were holding up a device that looked like it had fallen straight out of the next century.
At first, the disbelief was almost comical. The executives from major tech companies weren't shocked by the individual technologies themselves—they knew all of those existed in some form already. But they were very different things. Cameras were common, and touchscreens were mostly limited to niche uses like ATM machines, airline check-in kiosks, and large-scale computer systems. Never had it occurred to them to combine those technologies and especially in to a phone.
Aren't mobile phones supposed to be for telecommunications? If you want to take a picture of someone or something, couldn't you just use a camera? They were bewildered by the radical approach of this mysterious company's new product. Of course, much of their reaction was regret, because judging by the hype it was already gaining worldwide, those very radical ideas were bound to be a huge success.
And along with their envy came doubt. How on earth was it possible to pack all that technology into a single handheld device... sell it for just $999, and still turn a profit?
"That's impossible."
"Won't they lose money?"
"Quick—find out everything about this Caesar technology. I want to know whose business it is…"
"Could they have found a breakthrough?"
"It's a gimmick—it has to be."
Within days, boardrooms of every major technology company across the world lit up with tense discussions. Some executives scoffed, others speculated, and many were already issuing orders. Every company wanted to know the same thing: who exactly was behind Caesar Technologies, and how had his company pulled this off?
Investigators, analysts, and market researchers were set to work. At the same time, every competitor shared one urgent goal—get their hands on the Caesar One. Engineers were told to buy it, strip it down, and study every circuit and screw. They needed to know how it worked… and whether it could really be sold at that price without sending the company into bankruptcy.
Maverick, of course, had predicted every reaction. Let them reverse-engineer it, he didn't care. Even if they figured it out, they couldn't match his production costs. They would have to compromise somewhere—either in features, quality, or price—and by then, he would already be several steps ahead.
At the same time, he didn't mind there being competition—in fact, he welcomed it. After all, without rivals, the hype would not last.
Moreover, it wasn't only the tech companies that were scrambling. Network providers from across the globe began reaching out as well, some already betting big on the phone's success before the product had even hit the market. The reaction from the public was just that big.
Within days, collaboration offers poured in. Of course, Maverick had anticipated this too, and his managers had standing orders to accept any deal that made sense.
And when the product finally hit the market one week after the launch, the customer base exploded. Maverick did not yet have a store in every small city of every major country, but he had at least one on every continent. In particular, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China each had several stores, as these countries had the largest populations paired with the strongest economies.
Maverick used every trick he knew, from both his previous life and this one, to market it as hype as possible, and sales poured in from the very first day. His warehouses were swamped. Fortunately, there were no issues with stock shortages, as he had made sure supply would meet demand long before the day of the presentation.
Soon, scenes from across the globe began making headlines. In New York, office workers were spotted crowding around one phone, laughing at the novelty of taking a photo and seeing it instantly in full color.
In London, a teenager recorded her first video message for a friend and nearly dropped the phone in shock when it played back with perfect sound.
In Tokyo, a businessman used the touchscreen to scroll through his contacts with a swipe of his finger, his colleagues leaning in to watch as though it were magic.
Families in Moscow passed the phone around the dinner table, marveling at the tiny moving images on its screen. In Shanghai, a young couple took a photo together in the park, holding it up to admire the vibrant colors.
The only downside was that Multimedia Messaging Service wasn't quite ready yet. The true age of the internet was still on the horizon, so the pictures they took could only stay on their phones. To share them, people had to transfer images to a personal computer, then either print them out or save them to a floppy disk to send to someone else.
Still, for the time being, it was more than enough. Maverick recalled that in his old world, MMS—Multimedia Messaging Service—only became commercially available after the new millennium, and the first mobile internet services, like 2G and GPRS, didn't arrive until around 2000, nearly a decade later from now. Overall, the technology available to the general public—and the timing of its availability—was not that different from his previous life, even though this world was more advanced in some aspects.
However, Maverick had a feeling it would all come much sooner now that the Caesar One was out in the world. Integrating technologies like GSM, GPRS, and MMS wouldn't be difficult, and the hardware he had released was more than capable of supporting those features. He planned to give some of the network carriers a heads-up about it, and once a few made it possible, the rest would undoubtedly follow.
Nonetheless, it was still the early 1990s, and the general public couldn't yet imagine such possibilities. For them, now, simply being able to capture a moment and carry it in their pocket was more than enough. That said, the next generation of the Caesar One would at least include infrared data transfer capability, allowing users to share media without needing to sit in front of a personal computer.
And now, with the release of the Caesar One, Maverick's name became known worldwide for the first time. He was already a celebrity in the magical world, but now he was making waves in the non-magical world too—becoming a figure neither side could ignore. News outlets scrambled to tell his story, the public buzzed with excitement about his genius, and whispers spread of the mysterious innovator behind it all. Yet, just a day after the presentation, the man in question seemed to have vanished without a trace.
It was only by talking to people at his company that the media uncovered who he really was—a Brit, and not just any Brit, but a genius even in his school and university days. To top it all off, he was also the son of the current English Prime Minister. Though no one could secure a direct interview with him, the headlines kept running stories about his life, and newspapers made sure the whole world knew his name—even if he himself stayed silent.
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Tracking back to the weekend of the product launch, after the presentation, Maverick vanished with Isabella and left everything to the capable hands of his company's management. He was confident that his carefully chosen team could handle everything, and he didn't need to involve himself in the day-to-day operations.
Though still the CEO, Maverick was more like a hands-off shopkeeper, and the company was practically run by COO Jackson—a marketing genius Maverick recruited long ago (Chapter 90). The man was fully capable of steering the ship, and Maverick trusted him completely to deliver on every expectation.
With that settled, Maverick spent the rest of the weekend with Isabella, and when the new week finally rolled around, he headed straight back to Hogwarts—where the real work was waiting.
It was early December now, and he had midterm exams to prepare for four grades. On top of that, the script for Sirius Black was also set to begin within the month.
It promised to be a busy, event-packed final stretch to the year.
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Author's Note:
You can find this story on Webnovel, Fanfiction, and ScribbleHub, all under the same author name: RyanFic. Updates drop first on Webnovel!
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