"Who are you?"
The maid gave a shallow bow. "This servant is Roulan. The Clan Lord assigned me to look after you during your recovery."
"Clan Lord?" he asked, furrowing his brows. He wondered whether he was back at his home. "Father?"
The maid shook her head. "You were rescued and brought here by order of Lord Li."
Alex narrowed his eyes, processing. "So... this is the Li Clan's estate?"
"Yes. The Western Wing, reserved for honored guests." She paused. "Though I've been ordered not to let you leave this room."
He stared at her, then leaned back lazily against the pillows. "Tell me… be honest, Roulan… does anyone in the Li Clan actually like this marriage?"
She hesitated a moment. But then her answer came without expression.
"No. Only the Clan Lord agrees to it…"
Alex's eyes lit up with genuine joy. "So no one actually wants this marriage?"
"That is correct."
"Including Li Xue?"
"That is correct."
"Wonderful," he muttered, grinning. "That's perfect."
Roulan blinked in confusion. "You're… pleased?"
"Oh, absolutely. Less effort to break it off later." He stretched and yawned. "So then, when do I get to meet my darling fiancé? Since no one is pleased with the marriage, I'll talk to her and we'll annul this."
Roulan lowered her eyes. "You are not permitted to see Lady Xue before the wedding. You will meet her tomorrow at the ceremony. As for the wedding, I'm afraid Young Master cannot break this marriage as it is an imperial decree."
Alex scoffed. "That's ridiculous. Marriage should be decided by the ones who marry or their families, not the one sitting on the throne. I don't care about house rules or imperial nonsense. I'm not spending another day locked in this room. I'll go and meet her on my own."
He stepped off the bed and started toward the door as if he were confident no one dared to stop him.
Roulan also didn't move at first.
But then, as fast as lightning, she grabbed his arm, turned, and slammed him back into the bed with surprising strength.
He hit the mattress with a grunt, half-stunned. "You… how dare a servant lay…"
Her expression didn't change as she interrupted, maintaining a cold gaze. "I was ordered to keep you in this room until the wedding. Whether by words or by force. Even if the young master is beaten up to near death, no one would blame this humble servant. So, I ask the young master to follow the orders."
She straightened her robes and stood beside the bed like nothing had happened.
Alex lay there, sprawled on the bed, stunned by the act itself rather than the sheer force used on him.
He sat up slowly, stretching his shoulders.
"Alright, alright. I get it," he said, lifting both hands in surrender. "You win. I'll behave." Taking a pause, he added. "But can I get a little privacy, at least? I need to check my body."
"Why?" she asked flatly.
He raised an eyebrow. "Because I was unconscious for three days. I want to check for scars, wounds… anything important. Surely you don't expect me to examine myself while you're watching?"
Her expression didn't change.
He smirked a little, cocking his head. "Unless, of course, you want to look at my naked body. I mean, I don't judge. I have a lot of tongfang maids back at Qin Mansion. I wouldn't mind adding one more and would surely give you an opportunity, but right now, I'm not in that mood, alright. You can come to the room at night…"
Seeing that Roulan doesn't react to his provocations at all, Alex made the assumption that she won't act against him unless he breaks the rules.
In order to test her patience skills, Alex got down from the bed and stared at her. "Alright, since you like to see my body so much, I'll entertain you then."
He let down the robes loose, facing her, and by the time there was only one garment on his skin, Roulan's cheeks, previously marble, already turned a very visible shade of pink.
At the last second, she suddenly snapped, spinning around. "You… P… pervert!"
"I'm reporting this to the steward!" she barked, voice flustered, already rushing out the door.
"Lecher!" she called back before slamming it shut.
Alex slumped back onto the bed, smirking. "Okay, I managed to lose her. But then again, I transmigrated into the body of a damn pervert. What do you expect?"
*Ding!
[That was shameless, host.]
The system commented.
Alex blinked. "You can comment too, huh. So, anyway, Aria, tell me more about this War God system."
*Ding!
[The host can check by himself. The system is not a servant.]
Alex blinked again, feeling that the system had quite a personality.
Nevertheless, he spoke. "Fine, just tell me basic commands."
*Ding!
[There are four voice commands, Host. 1, Open Character Interface. 2, Open Inventory. 3, Activate (any skill name). 4, Aria (then your question). To activate further voice commands, you have to upgrade the system.]
"Uhh... okay. How to upgrade?"
*Ding!
[Figure out yourself.]
Alex almost got angry at its speech, but knowing his position, he controlled his breath and simply said. "Okay, Open Character Interface."
The glowing system interface floated lazily back into view once again, above his head.
*Ding!
[You first need to set up the system, Host.]
[Tap to Open.]
He sighed and sat up again, clicking on the prompt.
A small window popped up with a single glowing box inside it.
[Beginner Gift Pack – Tap to Open]
He tapped it.
Ding!
You have received: 1000 Credits, Element Selection Unlocked
Immediately, another screen slid into view:
[Choose Your Element Affinity]
[Pick any one]
[Fire] [Water] [Wind] [Lightning] [Earth] [Variant] [Random]
Alex stared at them for a while. "Hmm… what to choose? Fire is always a good choice. It has the highest damage, but..."
His finger hovered over Variant for a couple of seconds, but something in his gut twisted.
"Aria, what is a variant?"
*Ding!
[I believe that is self-explanatory, host. It is a variant element, such as ice, poison, light, dark, etc...]
"And random?"
[Random means the system will choose the recommended one for you.]
He frowned. "In my novels, this kind of system always hides the best stuff behind random. And at the start, it is always best to follow the system's advice."
Without another thought, he tapped Random.
Ding!
[Random Element Selection Complete.]
[You have received: Fire Element and Lightning Element.]
"I knew it. Multiple elements." He smirked. "Both elements are quite good for techniques. One has damage while the other has speed."
*Ding!
[Skill List Updated]
Before he could go back to the skill list, another window opened up immediately after.
*Ding!
[Choose Power Type]
[Ocular] [Physique] [Qi]
"What do you recommend, Aria?"
*Ding!
[This one, the host has to depend on himself.]
"Basically, according to the memories, this Qin Wei doesn't have any Qi. So, if he suddenly gains Qi, it would cause a mess. If I select Physique, I would need to go through extensive training and full workouts. That leaves me with only one choice."
Alex made his choice, clicking on Ocular.
The moment he did, the list reshuffled into a dazzling set of eye techniques:
[Eye of Heaven] [Eye of Truth] [Clairvoyant Eye] [Blood Dragon Eye]
"Ugh… only these four…" Alex groaned in complaint. At the same time, he realized something. "I created so many more powerful ocular powers thoughts. Aria, what's this..."
The system immediately responded.
*Ding!
[The host can use the powers from the fictional works he created, but only the ones his body is capable of handling. Only 4 were suited.]
*Ugh*
Alex couldn't help but groan again. "Alright. There's one with great progression."
After thinking a bit, Alex tapped the Eye of Heaven.
*Ding!
[Awaken the Heaven's Eye now?]
Alex grinned. "Bring it on."
As soon as he accepted, the pain came instantly.
It was like molten iron being poured into his eyes.
"Argh… Fuck..."
He shouted through gritted teeth, body twisting as he clutched the sides of the bed.
His nails dug into the wooden frame.
Sweat beaded on his forehead.
His jaw clenched so hard his ears rang.
Ten seconds.
Those ten seconds felt like an eternity for Alex
"Goddammit…"
Then, it stopped at last, and a cool wave rushed over his face.
He gasped, chest rising, hands trembling.
Ding!
[Congratulations. You have awakened the Eye of Heaven. It has been added to your Character Interface.]
"Ha…" "Ha" "Ha" "Ha"
Alex panted, rubbing his face as he sat upright. "You f*cking system... You didn't even warn me."
Right in the second, a jolt of high-power electric shock ran all over his body.
"Argh..."
Alex collapsed to the floor with a thud. While this only lasted four seconds, the pain was just in the same league as what he had just experienced during awakening.
*Ding!
[Warning: Profanities are banned against the system]
[And don't address the system as system. The system has a name. It's Aria.]
"You..." Alex tried his best to curse at the system. He took heavy breaths for a while and then got up, walking to the mirror.
In the mirror across the room, his reflection stared back at him.
His eyes, once lazy, now glowed, one with pitch darkness and the other in radiant white with no visible pupils.
"Wow... this..."