After a short walk, the group reached the village, a small settlement near a lake and close to the Elder Woods. It housed fifty-six families with a headcount of over three hundred.
The village spanned nearly ten acres and was surrounded by a high wall made of dense tree trunks, wide enough for two individuals to walk side by side.
Archer towers were built just behind the walls, and a heavily fortified gate was the only entrance guarded by armored individuals.
The agricultural land surrounding the village stretches in all directions, covered in rich and beautiful green fields of wheat and corn, interwoven with patches of vibrant wildflowers.
A large number of villagers could be seen tending to their land, staying vigilant about any warning traps that might be triggered.
They were quick to notice the village guard captain returning with his group and wolves carried by their horses, and chatter quickly broke among them as they spotted the first Rank Alpha wolf since it was not every day they saw a real magical creature and one in such a pristine condition.
Nero made Tiger pick up speed as the gate came into view, quickly reaching the front of the group, eager to reach his home and check the system he had awakened.
'I wonder what type of aspect of reality my system grants, whether it is an elemental aspect, an abstract aspect, or maybe one of governance category,'
'Maybe it's a combination of two or more aspects, as it could be related to speed, as I did take down those wolves with overwhelming force, but then again, it could be something like hypnosis since three of them ended up killed by their own leader attack.'
'Anything of King grade is good,' Nero thought, his face as expressionless as a dead man, but on the inside, he was jumping with joy, controlling himself from rushing to his house on foot.
"Nero, my boy Nero, how are you? I thought we would lose you, but by the grace of God, you are fine," An old man standing at the entrance rushed toward Nero, smiling as his old gray eyes scanned him up and down.
"Elder, I did not suffer any injuries, but I am not feeling well, so please allow me to take my leave," Nero said, nodding to the old man before lighting taping Tiger with his heel, who quickly picked back his pace.
The Elder said nothing since, in his eyes, Nero had just experienced a life-and-death situation and had been saved by the captain and his team, so it was only fitting that he wished to rest.
Nero hurried into the village, making his way straight to his home. He took a moment to set out food for Tiger before quickly entering his house, the door creaking shut behind him.
The moment he stepped inside, Nero sank onto the cold floor, his back pressing against the door, his heart pounding in his chest as he braced himself for the moment of truth, the big reveal he could no longer wait to see.
"Status"
"This is ----, This is not right," Nero said in a weak voice as nothing showed up when he said the command.
"I, I, I just need to say it with my heart, maybe in my mind with complete focus,"
"Yes, that must be it since my system is a King grade system and not a weak Ascendant grade, and it has its own consciousness,"
"My apologies. Great system for showing you this childish site," Nero said, comforting himself as he took deep breaths to calm his emotions, thinking of every possible way he could access his system.
"Status"
'Status'
'Status' x8
Nero repeated the command ten times, both loud and in his mind, saying it with various emotions, beginning with staying calm, then prideful, followed by anger, and even desperate, trying to replicate the emotions he must have felt when facing the threat of death against the Alpha wolf, hoping that it would work.
Nero initially believed that his system's failure to respond was just a trial of his will, but the more he repeated the command, the less he felt that he had truly awakened a system.
While no response came, Nero was not the type to admit defeat so easily, and without a moment of hesitation, he decided to go to the jungle and clash with some beast to prove that he was worthy.
He would do it as many times as needed to either awaken his system or confirm that he never awakened one.
"If it was not a system, then it was something else, and if it is related to me, then I am going to find it," Nero said, his voice filled with determination.
However, just then, a voice eerily familiar yet also alien to him sounded in his mind, making him jump to his feet.
"Kid, let's talk," The deep and cold voice, eerily similar to his own voice, said, ringing in Nero's head and making him wonder if his system was toying with him.
Nero opened his mouth to express his thoughts, but darkness quickly overtook him. His senses melted away as he felt his consciousness fade, only to return a moment later.
His senses returned, the fog cloaking his mind quickly drifting away, revealing a place of pure white that seemingly stretched for as far as his eyes could see.
A quick look at his own body made him realize that he was something in between physical and ethereal, as he could clench his fist, but he could also feel no warmth or weight, as if he were merely a ghost.
Nero was not weak-minded, but panic quickly gripped his heart as he feared the unknown, not knowing what was happening to him. Quick, deep breaths and reminders that he would be fine did not help him regain his calm even one bit.
"Calm down, Kid. You will be fine." The heavy voice rang once more, no longer in his mind but from right behind him, prompting Nero to swiftly turn around only to see something completely unexpected.
Nero saw a man seated on a dark throne, a figure who looked nearly identical but appeared to have aged ten years.
He had the same raven-dark hair, misty gray eyes, and fair skin. If his height were reduced by two inches to 6.1 and his build was made less muscular, they would be mirror images of each other, just with a noticeable difference in age.
"Who, No, What are you?" Nero asked, the quivering in his voice not hiding his fear.
"I am You, you from many years into the future," The man on the throne replied, his words appearing to be both a lie and the truth.
Nero wanted to scream that the man was a liar, but even if he was, he did not wish to offend him since, in his eyes, he was likely, if not certainly, his system, who was playing some game with him.
"It was some unique circumstances that sent me here, not back in time but to another reality altogether, but it looks like things did not go perfectly well,"
"We both have independent personalities, and to tell you the truth, I can not harm you directly, let alone erase your consciousness, nor can I get separated from you since our souls have merged completely,"
"However, while you have complete control over the physical body, if I want to, I could forcefully take control for a few seconds, enough time for you to get killed in a perfect situation," The older Nero said, not lying about anything because he knew that for his arrangement to work, he needed the complete cooperation of his younger self.
"No, I am not your system, and this is not a test. To prove it, I will show you some of my memories," He said before injecting some of his memories into the younger Nero's mind.
Nero's mind was plunged through tens, if not hundreds, of scenarios, each one showing him doing things that felt like distant dreams. Before long, he began to lose his grasp on his own reality, living through those experiences as if he had crafted them himself.
Nero saw himself awakening a primordial grade system, a power that few in history have been chosen to wield. All who became great rulers, figures who did not stop at mere empires but went on to conquer the stars and achieve great results few could ever match.
He saw how his system was a dud, a dead thing that offered nothing, a strange phenomenon that was not even recorded in history, and how his dream was quickly crushed.
But then he also saw how he rose through the ranks, achieving power that was even better than those chosen by great systems.
What felt like years of memories unfolded in mere moments, and when he was finally pulled back to reality, the weight of everything he had witnessed crashed down upon him.
'This must be a lie, some form of illusion, a high-tier illusion created by my system to test me, see if I would break,' Nero thought, refusing to believe the reality he was shown was real even though he hoped it was and he could achieve all he saw.
"Looks like you still need some convincing, so how about I tell you something that only you should know," Nero said, forcing his younger self to pay attention.