Chapter 204: New System Update

[NEW SYSTEM UPDATE!]

[STATUS REPORT]

User: Silas Cupid Ashard

Race: Heartweaver Fae (First Wing)

Rank: SSS

Title(s): Exalted Orc Dominator, The First, The Orc King, Monster Seducer*

Age: 18

Level: 28

EXP: 0 / 1,428

Core Functions: Active!

[Core Stats]

Mana: 3,650 / 3,650

Strength: 86

Speed: 88

Stamina: 89

Agility: 87

Intelligence: 79

Endurance: 70

Charm: 78

Cupid Points: 108,910,300

[Heartweaver’s Racial Traits & Abilities]

Heartweaver Physique

Passive Heart Sense

Passive Fate Thread Vision

Passive Heart Domain

Passive Thread Stitch

Note: Additional racial abilities will become available as the user’s Heartweaver lineage evolves.

[Ability & Related Skills]

[Ability: Thread Manipulation]

[Stage 1 - Perception]

Thread Perception

Thread Sight

Thread Analysis

Weak Point Detection

[Stage 2 - Physical Manipulation]

Physical Thread Manipulation

Razor Thread

Thread Spear

Marionette Grip

Web Domain

Current Development: Thread Manipulation has grown significantly following the user’s battle with the S-Rank Primordial Entity, Echidna.

[Cupid’s Traits]

Lust - Unranked

Mischief - Unranked

Battle - Unranked

Possession & Obsession - Unranked

Authority - Awakened

- Authority: The user’s Authority has demonstrated the ability to interfere with and override the control of powerful entities connected to his domain of influence. Further development is required.

[Skills]

Resonance - Special

Smooth Talker - Lv. 6

Sex Machine - Lv. 8

Prowess - Lv. 8

Dagger Arts - Lv. 2

Martial Arts - Lv. 4

Fated Echo - 2

Orc King’s Vision

Orc King’s Strength

Perfect Stature

Archery - Lv. 1

Talons of Tyranny

Solar Wings

Sunball

[Marked Partners]

Anna Miles

Gromda Ashard

Chloe Montreal

Echidna, Mother of Monsters (Half Marked)

[Cupid Abilities]

Desire Manipulation

Charm Reflex

Targeted Obsession

Fated Connection

[Cupid Weapon Set:]

[Cupid Arrow Sets]

Piercing Arrows - Unlocked

[Cupid Bow Set]

Wooden Hunter Bow - Unlocked

[System Perks]

Shop Storage

World Catalogue

[System Evaluation]

The user’s current level does not accurately represent his maximum combat potential.

Recommendation: Continue evolution.

***

"How is Echidna a marked partner?"

[Seriously?]

"What?"

[Of all the details there, all you could see was Echidna’s status...]

"It is important."

[More than your strength?]

"..."

[You’re beyond saving.]

"I have beautiful women."

[You have crazy women.]

"They are cute."

[I’m not surprised.]

"What do you mean?"

[Even your distant cousin, Alpha, attracted a crazy Amazonian. You are really descendants of Cupid.]

"Why do I feel insulted?"

[Your imagination.]

The roof of the Ashard Estate was quiet.

Silas sat near the edge of the enormous rooftop, one knee raised, his arms resting loosely over it. The afternoon breeze moved through his pink hair as he stared across the sprawling estate. The city beyond it was beginning to glow beneath the setting sun.

Silas remained silent for several seconds. Then he spoke.

"System."

[Yes?]

"Why am I SSS-Rank?"

There was a brief pause.

[That is an interesting question.]

"I mean it." Silas looked down at his hand. "I’m SSS-Rank. My race is apparently ridiculous. I’m a Heartweaver Fae. I have Cupid’s traits. I have Authority. I have Thread Manipulation. I have the Orc King stuff."

He clenched his fist.

"And yet..." His expression became slightly frustrated. "I still struggle against S-Ranks."

[Correct.]

"I’ve fought A-Ranks that made me work for it."

[Correct.]

"I even had to fight Echidna until I had one percent of my mana left."

[Correct.]

Silas narrowed his eyes.

"You’re enjoying saying that, aren’t you?"

[Perhaps.]

"You’re annoying."

[Thank you.]

"I wasn’t complimenting you."

[I accepted it anyway.]

Silas sighed.

"Seriously, though." He leaned backward and looked toward the sky. "If I’m SSS-Rank, shouldn’t I just completely overwhelm them?"

The system remained silent for a moment. Then a translucent screen appeared beside him.

[No.]

"No?" Silas frowned.

[Rank does not determine an instantaneous victory.]

"Explain."

[The ranking system primarily evaluates potential, quality, capacity, and the overall ceiling of an individual’s power. It does not calculate combat experience.]

Silas stared at the screen.

"So?"

[So, you are comparing yourself to people who have spent years fighting with their abilities. You have been awakened for approximately three months.]

Silas went quiet.

[Your opponents have spent years learning how their abilities behave. They know their effective ranges. They know their limitations. They know how much power they can use without exhausting themselves.

They understand their bodies. They understand their opponents. They have developed habits, instincts, and combat patterns. You possess significantly greater potential than many of them, but potential is not experience.]

Silas scratched his cheek.

"So basically..."

[You have a Ferrari.]

"And?"

[You just learned how to drive.]

Silas stared at the screen.

"That’s actually a pretty good analogy."

[I know.]

"Don’t sound so proud."

[I am an intelligent system.]

"You’re a smug piece of software."

[And yet you continue talking to me.]

"Because you’re useful."

[Exactly.]

Silas chuckled. His expression became thoughtful again.

"So you’re saying that if I fought someone with the same rank as me..."

[You would not necessarily win.]

Silas raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?"

[Yes.]

"Even though I’m SSS?"

[Yes.]

"Then what’s the point of being SSS?"

The system immediately answered.

[You are thinking about rank incorrectly.]

A new interface appeared.

[RANK ≠ VICTORY]

[Rank represents the general quality and potential of an awakened individual’s power. Combat outcome is influenced by power, experience, skill, technique, battle IQ, ability compatibility, physical condition, mental state, environment, information, adaptability, equipment, and luck.]

Silas slowly nodded.

"That makes sense."

[You possess an enormous advantage in Power. You possess considerable advantages in Ability Compatibility. Your racial abilities are exceptional. Your potential is extraordinary. Your growth rate is abnormal.]

The system paused.

[Your experience, however...]

Silas waited.

[Is terrible.]

Silas’s eyebrow twitched.

"Could’ve phrased that better."

[Would you prefer "underdeveloped"?]

"Yes."

[Your experience is catastrophically underdeveloped.]

"That’s worse."

[I disagree.]

Silas rubbed his face.

"Whatever."

He looked toward the horizon again.

"So the people I’m fighting aren’t necessarily stronger than me."

[Correct.]

"They’re simply better at using what they have."

[Precisely.]

The system displayed another message.

[Consider an A-Rank swordsman who has spent fifteen years mastering swordsmanship. You possess superior physical capabilities, a superior rank, and abilities capable of killing him. However, he knows exactly how you will move after your shoulder shifts two centimeters.]

Silas’s eyes narrowed.

"And I don’t."

[Correct.]

"He knows his sword."

[Yes.]

"I don’t know my own threads well enough."

[Correct.]

"He knows how far he can push his body."

[Yes.]

"I keep discovering mine in the middle of fights."

[Precisely.]

Silas slowly smiled.

"So I’m basically learning everything while getting punched in the face."

[An accurate description of your combat development.]

Silas laughed.

"That’s terrible."

[It has proven effective.]

"It nearly killed me."

[You survived.]

"That’s your defense?"

[Yes.]

Silas shook his head.

"You really don’t care."

[I care about your survival probability.]

"Which is?"

[Currently acceptable.]

"That doesn’t sound comforting."

[It was not intended to be.]

Silas chuckled. Then he fell silent. The wind passed over the roof. For a while, he just thought about Echidna, the tournament, the A-Ranks he’d fought, the battles he’d barely won, the times he’d relied on overwhelming abilities without completely understanding them, and the time his mana had dropped to one percent.

He looked down at his hands.

"I’ve been thinking about this all wrong."

[Explain.]

"I’ve been treating SSS-Rank like some kind of cheat code."

[You are not entirely incorrect.]

"Thanks, but..." Silas smiled. "It doesn’t mean I’m already the strongest. It means I have the potential to become the strongest, and the gap between those two things..."

[Is experience.]

Silas nodded. "Experience."

The system displayed one final message.

[You are an SSS-Rank awakened, but you are also an eighteen-year-old who awakened three months ago. Your opponents have had years to turn their abilities into instincts. You have not. They make fewer mistakes, and you make many.]

Silas frowned.

"Many?"

[Many.]

"Name three."

[You frequently underestimate the range of your own abilities.]

"Okay."

[You frequently improvise unnecessarily.]

"Fair."

[You frequently become distracted by attractive women.]

Silas went silent.

"..."

[Would you like examples?]

"No."

[There are several.]

"I said no."

[Understood.]

Silas sighed.

"Fine."

He stood up. The evening wind swept across the roof. He stretched his arms above his head.

"Then I’ll get better."

[That is the appropriate conclusion.]

Silas looked toward the city, and his pink eyes glowed faintly.

"I don’t need to instantly defeat every S-Rank." His smile slowly widened. "I just need to keep fighting until they can’t beat me anymore."

[That mentality is considerably more useful.]

"And eventually..." He clenched his fist. "I’ll reach the point where my experience finally catches up with my potential."

[Correct.]

Silas paused and looked upward.

"System."

[Yes?]

"How long do you think it’ll take?" There was a brief silence.

[Unknown.]

Silas blinked.

"You don’t know?"

[No.]

The system’s screen flickered.

[But considering your current rate of growth, the answer may be considerably sooner than expected.]

Silas grinned.

"Good." He stepped toward the edge of the roof. "Because I’ve got a lot of people to surpass."

A second passed.

[Including Echidna?]

Silas stopped.

"Eventually."

[Anna?]

"She’s not a combatant."

[Alpha?]

"Easy."

[Kelvina?]

Silas paused. "Who?"

[Nothing.]

Silas narrowed his eyes.

"System."

[Yes?]

"What aren’t you telling me?"

[Nothing important.]

"..."

[Absolutely nothing.]

Silas stared at the screen suspiciously. The system disappeared.

"That was suspicious."

From somewhere in the mansion below, a loud crash suddenly echoed. Then Gromda’s voice rang out.

"WHO BROKE THE DOOR?!"

Silas closed his eyes.

"And there goes my peaceful evening."

[Your experience continues.]

"Shut up."