Scarlett came to a sudden halt right in front of Alex, her eyes shining brightly, and fired off a barrage of questions one after another, not giving Alex a chance to respond to the first one.
"Where is the artifact? Do you have it on you? How does it work?"
"Wow, wow, wow, calm down, you maniac," Alex replied.
"I can't calm down! Do you realize the implications of such a thing? I must study it! Come on, quickly, get it out," Scarlett exclaimed, her excitement reaching its peak.
Faced with so much enthusiasm, Alex scratched his head and replied, "Uh... I don't have it anymore."
Scarlett looked at Alex as if he were some kind of idiot and asked in a disappointed tone, "Don't tell me you lost it."
The way Scarlett was looking at him annoyed him a bit, but he calmed himself and explained, "I didn't lose it; it's just that when I activated the artifact, it merged with me."
This response only ignited Scarlett's eyes even more, and she exclaimed in excitement, "Ohh, an artifact that can merge with a person? I've never heard of such a thing! How does it work? How do you increase your strength? Have you used it before? What were the results—"
"I've already told you to calm down," Alex said, interrupting Scarlett.
"Ask your questions one by one; I can't keep up with your rapid-fire inquiries," he continued.
"That's because you're old," mumbled Scarlett.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing..."
An awkward silence followed before Alex sighed and said, "Go ahead, ask your questions."
Scarlett's eyes regained their brilliance, and she asked, "If it merged with you, how do you activate it?"
"I don't know how it works, but all I have to do is think about it, and a floating screen displaying my condition appears."
Hearing this, Scarlett's eyes sparkled even more, and she exclaimed, "Fascinating! What does this screen you're talking about contain? No, better yet, make it appear so I can see for myself."
Alex summoned the system and told Scarlett, who was excited to see the system's screen without realizing it was right in front of him, "I don't know how it works, but I'm the only one who can see this screen. For example, it's currently right in front of your eyes, but you can't see it."
Upon hearing this, Scarlett's eyes dimmed for a moment before they sparkled again, and she said, "I see. But what about my other question?"
Recalling her question, Alex said, "The screen shows me just my current abilities."
"I see. When you say abilities, are you referring only to your physical abilities?"
"Not just that; it shows much more."
For several minutes, Alex explained what the system showed him. In the end, Scarlett's eyes sparkled even more than before.
"Truly fascinating! It can quantify your abilities!" Scarlett exclaimed before swiftly moving on to another question.
"Now, onto the most important question," Scarlett said before asking, "How do you increase your strength with this thing?"
Alex hesitated about whether to answer this question because, in the future, he might have enemies, and sharing such information with someone else could harm him. But in the end, he decided to trust Scarlett. However, he gave her a stern warning.
With an extremely serious expression, Alex said to Scarlett, "What I'm about to tell you must absolutely stay within this room. Not even your mother or your sisters should know."
It wasn't that he wanted to keep the rest of his family in the dark, but Alex believed it was too early to inform the others, especially Lilia.
Even though he was explaining all this was to Scarlett it was because he intended to ask for her help, she was young, but Scarlett was the smartest person he knew, and he was sure she could help him.
Scarlett looked at him with a solemn tone and said, "Don't worry; I won't talk about it with others."
Hearing her response, Alex finally answered Scarlett's question, "It relies on a point system. I earn points by doing particular 'activities,' and with these points, I can increase the ability I want."
He wanted to explain everything to her, but he hesitated to tell her how he earned these points. He even wished she wouldn't ask him how.
Alas...
"Wow, this is getting more and more interesting!" Scarlett said, and continued by asking, "How do you earn these points?"