My System Doesn't Give Power

When Zac opened his eyes again, the room was completely dark. He stared at the ceiling in confusion before checking the time.

Three in the morning.

[Welcome back to the land of the living. You slept for more than fourteen hours.]

Zac slowly sat up, clutching his head. "Why do I feel worse than I did before going to sleep?"

[Because your body has finally begun processing everything you put it through. It’s called delayed-onset muscle soreness. DOMS, for short.]

"Since when were you a doctor?"

[I’m many things.]

[In simpler terms, you have a workout hangover.]

"That makes far more sense."

Zac washed up, headed downstairs, and prepared a simple meal. Once he had eaten enough to silence his stomach, he settled into the living-room sofa and switched on his VSB.

[What are you doing? Browsing the network at this ungodly hour?]

"Wait and see. Besides, shouldn’t you already know?"

[For the hundredth time, I possess knowledge of the past and present. The future is constantly changing and cannot be determined with absolute certainty.]

"Right."

Zac opened the variant network and typed Armani Wild into the search bar.

[That certainly wasn’t on my list of predictions.]

The system’s voice immediately turned smug.

[You want to learn more about your sugar mommy.]

Zac’s fingers stopped above the screen.

"Do you have a death wish?"

[You do realise there is an information System living inside your head, correct?]

"I’m aware."

[Then why are you searching a public network instead of asking me?]

"Because the network doesn’t charge Info Points."

[That is irritatingly sensible.]

Zac tapped the search icon.

Hundreds of results flooded the screen. Articles, public records, battle reports, rumors, debates, discussion threads, academy documents, and shaky footage appeared faster than he could process them.

He scrolled through the seemingly endless list with a frown. "Why is there so much?"

[That is the burden of free information. You save money and pay with your time.]

"I don’t have all morning to read this."

[Then skim through it. Eventually, you’ll find something with at least one foot planted in reality.]

After several minutes of scrolling, a peculiar thumbnail caught Zac’s attention.

THE TEN MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF INFAMOUS WILD

"This should do."

He opened the article and scrolled past a dramatic image of Armani standing beside Bluey beneath a sky split apart by lightning.

Directly beneath the photograph was a warning printed in bold letters.

The nickname used in this article is intended solely for journalistic purposes. The publisher strongly discourages readers from addressing Ms. Armani by it in person.

Zac stared at the disclaimer. "Do they seriously need to issue a safety warning beneath her nickname?"

[That is what you call learning from experience.]

"What experience?"

[Keep reading. You’ll find out.]

Still puzzled, Zac moved to the first entry.

10. The Three-Nation Airspace Incident

Armani Wild once crossed the restricted airspace of three nations aboard her wyvern without requesting clearance. After the third nation threatened to intercept her, she landed on the roof of its defense headquarters and demanded to meet the official who had issued the warning.

By the end of that same day, all three nations had revised their aviation regulations to grant Armani Wild and her wyvern permanent clearance.

Zac blinked. "They changed national law because she ignored air traffic regulations."

[Laws are like spider webs, my friend. They catch the small flies, but the big wasps break right through them.]

"Must be nice. The rest of us get arrested. She gets legislation rewritten."

[And the amusing part? People will call it a victory. They’ll praise the new law as ’progress,’ completely ignoring the fact that it was bought, paid for, and tailored just to cover her tracks.]

Zac released a long sigh. "If the tenth entry is already this absurd, I’m not sure I want to see the rest."

Nevertheless, he scrolled down.

09. The Stormbreak Incident

During one of her journeys across the world, Armani encountered an enormous lightning storm threatening several coastal cities. Rather than taking a detour, she and Bluey flew directly into its center.

The storm dispersed twelve minutes later. Armani returned unharmed and reportedly complained that the lightning had been disappointingly weak.

Zac frowned at the screen. "Why does this sound more like a made-up legend than something that actually happened?"

[With her, the line between history and exaggeration appears to be rather thin.]

He moved to the next entry.

08. The Erasure of Ashen Valley

An extremist organization once seized an entire valley settlement and threatened to execute its residents before negotiations could begin. Armani entered the occupied territory alone, and the results were every hostage survived. The organization was completely wiped out.

Witnesses later claimed that Armani complained the rescue had taken so long that her groceries had begun to thaw.

"I’m certain this part was fabricated."

[Why?]

"Why would she bring groceries to a rescue operation? Even if she had, she could have stored them in her inventory. She wouldn’t carry shopping bags around while wiping out an extremist organization."

[That is a surprisingly solid argument.]

"This entire article is probably nonsense. I’m closing it."

[Don’t be so hasty. Even exaggerated stories usually have a grain of truth buried somewhere inside. Besides, this is far more entertaining than watching you practice mana control for six hours.]

Zac sighed and continued scrolling.

07. The Only Master of a Dragon-Blooded Wyvern

Bluey, Armani Wild’s female soul beast, possesses an exceptionally powerful true-dragon bloodline and the potential to reach, or perhaps even surpass, S-rank.

Dragon-blooded beasts are notoriously proud and almost impossible to subdue. Armani remains the only known person to have formed a soul bond with a wyvern of such strength and pedigree.

"Now this one is true."

[Indeed. Your sister spent half an hour praising that wyvern after meeting her.]

"That’s right." Zac frowned. "I still can’t believe Carrie rode a wyvern before I did."

He scrolled to the next entry.

06. The Proposal That Terrified the World

During an international gathering, the heir of a powerful ancient family publicly proposed to Armani Wild, and she rejected him without hesitation.

When asked what kind of man she would consider marrying, Armani replied, "The one who can defeat me."

The heir then asked whether such a man even existed. Armani answered, "He has already been born. I’m merely waiting for him to grow strong enough."

The resulting controversy lasted for months, with countless people speculating about the identity of the person she had referred to.

[Now that is interesting.]

Zac immediately narrowed his eyes. "No."

[I haven’t said anything.]

"I can tell exactly what you’re planning to say from your voice."

[I possess only one voice. That was a perfectly ordinary observation.]

"Nothing you observe is ever ordinary. You take one innocent detail, drag it into a dark alley, and beat a ridiculous conclusion out of it."

[Then I assume you have no interest in hearing my ridiculous conclusion.]

"Absolutely none."

Silence followed.

[She said she was waiting for a younger man.]

Zac closed his eyes. "You lasted seven seconds. You genuinely cannot keep your mouth shut, can you?"

[I wasn’t designed with that limitation.]

"Fine. Say whatever you’re desperate to say. It isn’t as though she meant me. It could be anyone."

[She claimed that the person had already been born and would eventually become strong enough to defeat her. That strongly suggests someone significantly younger.]

"Why are you so committed to turning this into my problem?"

[I’m merely arranging the available clues.]

"You’re arranging them into the shape of my face."

[Your face happens to fit the evidence remarkably well.]

Zac leaned back and rubbed his forehead.

Even entertaining the possibility felt absurd. Armani had never shown him the slightest hint of romantic affection. Almost every conversation with her felt more like an interrogation or a threat assessment.

"She doesn’t even seem to like me."

[Really? From where I’m standing, the evidence points in the opposite direction.]

"What evidence?"

[She trained you personally, protected your family, provided you with resources, and took an unusual interest in your growth. She even brought your family to Central City herself and made sure you were properly settled.]

"She also threatened to beat me unconscious, heal me, and do it again."

[People express affection in different ways.]

"You call that affection. I call it aggravated assault."

[You still cannot deny that she pays you a considerable amount of attention.]

"And you can’t deny that predators pay considerable attention to their prey."

[She is certainly a predator, but not in the way you’re imagining.]

[She may want to devour you, but probably not literally.]

Zac’s expression went flat.

[Besides, stop levelling so many accusations at your future wife and current sugar mommy.]

"Do not call her either of those things." He glanced back at the article. "Besides, isn’t she around forty-four?"

[Seriously? Are you using age as your defense? What does a twenty-four-year gap matter to people capable of living for centuries?]

"Enough. We’re dropping this and moving on."

[Fine. Guiding your love life is exhausting work anyway.]

"I never asked you to." With that, Zac scrolled down to the next entry.

05: The Black Coast Incident

The Association dispatched five Pillars and an elite strike force to raid one of the Ashes Cult’s strongholds on Black Coast Island, located east of the Red Bear Nation.

What they did not know was that the entire operation had been a trap. The cult leader possessed an extraordinarily powerful artifact capable of suppressing the abilities of everyone within its range, leaving the Association forces at the cult’s mercy.

Armani Wild arrived alone, destroyed the stronghold, and rescued the trapped strike force. She also came close to capturing the cult leader, though he ultimately managed to escape.

Zac frowned at the screen. "She rescued five S+-rank variants? That’s unbelievable. What rank is she?"

[She is beyond S-rank. If you want the precise answer, however, it will cost you a few Info Points.]

"I’d like to know, but the answer wouldn’t benefit me in any meaningful way. Let’s leave it there."

[Aren’t you even slightly curious about your future wife?]

"Will you stop calling her that?" Ignoring the system, Zac scrolled down.

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