Chapter 135: Potentially the Most Powerful Person on Earth

Silas stood there for a long while. The estate around him remained peaceful.

A gentle breeze swept through the enormous gardens, rustling the neatly trimmed hedges and making the leaves of ancient oak trees whisper softly. Somewhere nearby, a fountain continued its endless song, the steady trickle of water strangely calming.

It was quiet.

His pink eyes remained fixed on the transparent pink screen before him, looking at one thing: Exalted Child of a God: SSS-Rank.

He slowly lowered the screen.

"So..." He spoke quietly. "I’m not just talented."

[No.]

"I’m not simply lucky."

[No.]

"I’m..."

Silence followed. The words refused to come out, but the system finished them for him.

[You were born extraordinary.]

Silas let out a long breath.

"I don’t know how I feel about that."

He resumed walking.

The stone pathway curved around one side of the estate, leading away from the main mansion. Morning sunlight filtered through rows of carefully planted maple trees, painting dancing patches of gold across the ground. Seemed they’d returned to Earth late. Very late.

His flip-flops made soft tapping sounds as he walked. The sound somehow helped him think.

"So, I’m basically... A demigod?"

[No.]

"No?"

[Not yet.]

"..."

[You possess the bloodline to become one.]

Silas scratched the back of his head. "That somehow sounds even more ridiculous."

[Reality often is.]

"You’ve become philosophical."

[I have always been philosophical.]

"No. You’ve always been sarcastic."

[I will pretend I didn’t hear that.]

Silas smiled and continued walking until he reached one of the estate’s ponds. Crystal-clear water reflected the blue morning sky. Orange koi lazily swam beneath the surface, completely ignorant of world-ending calamities, divine bloodlines, and Rift Breaks.

Lucky fish. Silas crouched before the pond, and one of them swam toward him. It stared at him, and he stared back.

"I envy you."

The fish blinked and swam away.

"Even you ignored me."

The system remained suspiciously silent, and that made it all suspicious.

"You laughed."

[I did not.]

"You did."

[I merely experienced internal amusement.]

"That’s called laughing."

[Perhaps.]

Silas chuckled softly. The conversation with the system had shaken him, not because he feared becoming stronger. He never had. Strength was strength. He welcomed it.

What unsettled him was responsibility. He looked toward the horizon.

"If I’m really the strongest person on Earth, potentially... What happens if I fail?"

The breeze seemed to stop. The system didn’t answer immediately. When it finally did, its voice had lost its usual teasing tone.

[Then Earth falls.]

Silas closed his eyes. The answer was simple and direct. Brutally honest. There wasn’t some hidden hero waiting in another city.

There wasn’t an elderly master secretly protecting humanity. There wasn’t another SSS-Rank. It was him. Just... Him.

"I don’t like that."

[I know.]

"I wanted to write my own story."

[You still are.]

"I wanted to enjoy school."

[I’m not so sure about that part...]

"I wanted to make money."

[You already have.]

"I wanted to flirt."

[You are doing remarkably well in that department.]

"I walked into that one."

[Yes, and you’ve already fucked three girls at the moment.]

Silas laughed again. It felt lighter this time. Perhaps because he finally understood. Nothing had actually changed. Yesterday, he was still Silas. Today, he was still Silas.

The only difference was that now he understood why everything around him kept changing. He looked at his hand, and slowly clenched it. The muscles beneath his skin responded effortlessly.

He finally understood why the system had hidden so much. If someone awakened one morning and was told...

[Congratulations. You’re almost a god.]

Most people would lose themselves. Power corrupted. History had proven that countless times. Silas wasn’t immune to it. Nobody was.

Power didn’t change people. It simply revealed who they already were. He looked down at his reflection in the pond. Pink hair, pink eyes, a black tank top, simple athletic shorts, and flip-flops. He looked ordinary, in the ordinary kind of way.

"I still look like a student."

[Because you are.]

"I expected divine lightning."

[Denied.]

"Golden aura?"

[Denied.]

"Wings?"

[You already have them.]

"At least glowing footsteps?"

[Absolutely denied.]

Silas sighed dramatically.

"My godly experience is disappointing."

[Submit a complaint to your ancestor.]

"Can I?"

[No.]

"I figured."

He stood up again. The path eventually led him deeper into the estate. For the first time since moving here, he truly appreciated just how enormous it was. There was a rose garden he had never entered, a greenhouse larger than some supermarkets, a marble gazebo overlooking a small artificial lake, an orchard filled with fruit trees, walking trails, stone bridges, and even a secluded meditation pavilion hidden beneath blooming cherry blossoms.

"Dad... Mom..."

Those words escaped before he realized it. His parents... everything here... they had prepared it, as if they knew something was going to happen.

They had left him a home and a future.

He slowly smiled.

"Thanks. I want to know more about you guys, but slow steps first. Thanks again."

The wind picked up again. Cherry blossom petals drifted through the air, dancing around him before settling across the stone pathway. It almost felt like an answer.

From the system’s earlier explanation, he had figured out that his parents weren’t ordinary humans. Yes, a rift had taken them, but no one knew what had really happened that day. The rift didn’t release monsters to kill them. It rather released sentient beings to capture his parents.

All this proved one thing. They were still alive, very much, somewhere. He smiled instinctively.

"They’re awake."

[Correct.]

"They’re probably looking for me."

[Correct.]

"Gromda is probably hungry."

[Very correct.]

He laughed. Some things really never changed. No matter how many worlds he visited, no matter how many monsters he fought, no matter how much stronger he became, he still had people waiting for him.

That realization grounded him. Power without people was meaningless. He finally understood something his system had never directly told him. Cupid wasn’t merely a god of love. He was a god of connections, relationships, bonds, and threads.

His greatest strength had never truly been Thread Manipulation or any of his powerful abilities. It was the people connected to him. Without realizing it, they had already become part of his strength. Just as he had become part of theirs.

"I think... I’m beginning to understand."

[Congratulations.]

"For what?"

[You have taken your first step toward understanding what it truly means to inherit Cupid’s blood.]

"That wasn’t it?"

[No.]

"There’s more?"

[Much more.]

Silas looked up at the endless blue sky. Somewhere beyond it lay other worlds, gods, descendants, and truths. He had only awakened weeks ago, yet he’d already become the strongest awakened known and unknown on Earth.

If this was merely the beginning, then what kind of future awaited him? His lips slowly curled upward with excitement.

"Then..." He stretched lazily, cracking his neck. "I’ll become strong enough that no one has to fear another apocalypse."

The system answered simply.

[An excellent goal.]

Silas turned toward the mansion.

"And before that..." He grinned. "I need breakfast."

[An even better goal.]

"Hungry?"

[I cannot eat.]

"You sound disappointed."

[I am.]

Silas laughed as he walked back toward the estate.

Behind him, the morning sun continued climbing higher into the sky, bathing the Ashard Estate in warm golden light. For the first time since awakening, his heart felt calm.

The future remained uncertain. The apocalypse was still approaching. Worlds, bloodlines, and destinies still waited beyond the horizon; perhaps, they had gods too.

But for today, he was simply Silas, an eighteen-year-old boy walking home in flip-flops.