Chapter 3 Nyx

At midnight, Ethan woke up, rubbing his eyes as he yawned. "Finally, that cateater is out," he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a voice spoke in his head, its tone pleasant and sensual.

[It's pronounced 'catheter'.] The voice corrected him.

Ethan rolled his eyes and chose not to respond. He remembered the dull first few days of his new life. Ethan had slept most of the time, but when he was awake, he would casually flirt with Sasha, such as asking her out for a meal on a later date. He used the excuse that he wanted to repay her, as she was reprimanded because of his actions.

He chatted with family members who visited him. The doctors also mentioned how rare it was for someone to recover so quickly after being in a coma for three years. The most important thing he learned was that he was not on Earth, but on a planet called Helen.

The mysterious voice in his head belonged to Nyx, the name he had given to the "Sacred Dragon Emperor System."

According to Nyx, the system originated from a deeply ingrained desire within Ethan Chase's subconscious—to be the best, to do whatever he wanted without fear, to improve himself, to love and hate as he pleased—in essence, to have complete freedom of will.

Nyx took the form of a system because Ethan was heavily influenced by fictional stories with similar concepts and wanted shortcuts to achieve this. As such, the system was highly customizable and could be tailored to the specific desires of the "heir", which was just a fancy title for Ethan.

In short, Ethan had some cringe-worthy tendencies that he kept hidden from others. Nyx also claimed that it came into being because of fragments of Obsidian present within Ethan's soul.

What exactly was this "Obsidian"? Nyx did not have much information on it, but she stated that as Ethan progressed, the system would evolve alongside him and potentially gain more knowledge. In a way, Nyx was like a highly intelligent newborn with boundless potential.

Nyx told Ethan that the only reference to Obsidian came from Ethan's late father, who had said to him when he was young: "With perseverance and spirit, you will be able to unleash your full potential."

At that time, the young Ethan's eyes had shone brightly as he asked, "How big is my potential?"

His father had placed his hand on his head and said in a clear voice, "With my training and the many fragments of Obsidian inside of you, you will become one of the best in this world."

Lying on the bed, Ethan tilted his head, trying to recall his father's appearance but he couldn't. He didn't even know what his mother looked like, all he remembered was a warm smile.

Ethan felt a sense of sadness wash over him, making him sigh.

Sensing him, Nyx cleared his doubts. [The reason is simple. It's because you are in Ethan's body. His 'remnant will' made you feel like that.]

He rolled his eyes again and muttered. "Of course man I noticed. I sighed because I felt a bit sad for Ethan. I mean the poor dude has suffered a lot."

[I highly doubt you felt that for Ethan.]

Ethan had asked Nyx to be less formal in their communication, but perhaps he had gone too far in asking for informality. Well, it was more fun this way.

He grumbled. "What do you even know? To make up for his past regrets and wishes, I'll do things for him."

[Let's wait and see.] She sounded skeptical.

"... Anyways, tell me will this body freeze in fear when I encounter his old bullies?"

Nyx replied, [No. You will feel very angry.]

Ethan suppressed a smile and said, "Good." He then followed up by inquiring, "And when will these so-called tasks begin?"

[Tasks and quests are event based. They–]

Ethan scoffed, "I get it, tasks and quests are triggered by events. But I haven't stumbled upon one yet. Oh well."

[But you won't be able to fulfill his and your wishes if you continue to be so dismissive towards others.]

Ethan felt a twinge of regret for customizing the system in such a way. Nyx seemed to have entered a complaining mode as she said, [You don't even seem to be interested in me. You haven't even looked at your stats yet.]

Ethan took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "What's the point of checking them now? My body is still healing and I'd rather wait until I've fully recovered to take a look." He said, trying to avoid the fact that he simply didn't like numbers or statistics.

[I understand. But aren't you at least curious about the green numbers above the girls' heads?]

Ethan smirked, "Well, it's a numerical representation of how interested they are in me."

[What about my other features?] Nyx pressed.

"Honestly, I don't think you have anything useful to offer me right now. Sorry, but I don't think you'll be of much help other than providing information."

[...]

Ethan chuckled softly as he imagined a sexy woman pouting, but froze when he heard her say, [I am in awe of you for even lewding a non-physical being like me.]

Taken aback, Ethan was about to retort when he heard a sneeze beside him.

Ethan mumbled under his breath, "You could have told me that someone was beside me. They must be thinking that I'm a fool for talking to myself like this."

Nyx responded, [You already forgot? I don't have any useful features that can be used without a trigger event.]

Ethan, feeling speechless, chose to ignore her sarcastic words. He slowly got up and, dragging the IV drip attached to him, went to the person curled up on the bench near the wall.

He slowly went to his knees and gazed at the woman's face. It was dark, but he could still make out her beautiful features. He felt a sense of affection and attraction as he looked at her, because of the remnant will.

The woman was his stepmother, who had taken care of him after his parents died seven years ago. Scarlett Chase was a kind woman who always smiled warmly and treated Ethan Chase as her own son. But Ethan never had any familial affection for her, he only fell for her when she hugged and supported him in one of his bleakest moments of life.

Ethan didn't suppress these emotions now. Why should he, Ethan Hunt, care about such complex things? What only mattered to him was that she was a woman, and not blood-related.

Still, that didn't mean he would try to take advantage of her. He had Ethan's memories, and knew that Scarlett was a good person.

Ethan Hunt was a man who followed his desires, but that didn't mean he would play with the feelings of a good person. But if he saw a way to cross the barrier of familial affection, then he would of course try it.

"I mean, I always fantasized about doing a stepmother," Ethan muttered.

Just then, Scarlett opened her eyes and looked at him silently.

[Congratulations! You are officially fucked.]

"..."