Laura retreated to her own room after she instructed Karla to show Blue around the mansion to find a room for him. She then changed into a more casual dress as she laid down on the bed and heaved a tired sigh. She was very exhausted.

She had been anxious for a few months and after all the lingering matters had been settled today she should have felt much relieved but for some reason she couldn't be at ease. From the depths of her heart she felt like something was wrong and she felt extremely worried about her son.

She couldn't understand why.

Her son hadn't contacted her for about a year. Though she had already guessed the cause behind it, now she couldn't help but feel like something bad had happened to him. Or would it happen to him…

Laura hurriedly stood up and looked at the Life Lamp kept inside her room. The lamp's red flame was the same as before, no, it seemed to be even a bit vigorous? She guessed that it must mean her son was doing very well out there.

Then why didn't that uneasiness dissipate?

°°°°

Blue didn't have to wait long as Karla seemed to have sprinted her way towards his room. He looked at the young girl curiously with a slight smile. He noticed the few strands of white on her brown hair that was tied in a ponytail.

Karla looked the exact same as her mother would if she were at her age but her height was on the shorter side. She seemed to have also got the plumb hourglass figure from Laura. Her entire hair would surely turn white because of aether vein awakening of an extraordinary attribute. Of course it would be more fitting to call it a silver hair then.

His conclusion was derived from his past life and he was sure of it. As she entered the room Blue used the [Appraisal] menu and instantly got the information.

There was one spectral bar on above her head containing vitality, aether and threat level compared to him as well as another bar beneath it which was on the right of her head containing the information of her behavioral trait, current emotion and the amount of favorability she had towards him. Additional information of her existence level was displayed on another spectral bar on the left side of her head, just as he had suspected at his previous appraisal.

[Existence Level: 0.009]

[Vitality: 0.25

Aether: 0

Threat Level: 0]

[Behavioral Trait: Straightforward

Current Emotion: Excitement

Current Favorability: 61 (Interested)]

After checking her information Blue quickly started calculating to figure out how the system dictated her vitality value compared to him. He then concluded that his own vitality value was set at 1 by default and Karla's 0.25 vitality meant that it was a quarter worse than his. He had Lust Siphon to heal himself and not to mention his abyss spawn soul had been continuously strengthening his mortal human body so it wasn't that hard to figure it out.

Existence level, aether and threat level weren't worth mentioning as he had already got the gist of it. Her behavioral trait being revealed straightforward actually was the most important detail in his opinion. With someone's behavioral trait as a reference he could scheme more easily. Her current emotion's information was revealed plainly so it was convenient. As for the favorability of 61 he guessed that it was out of 100 considering the previous patterns. The part "(Interested)" written there needed a bit more investigation.

Anyways, just as he was about to greet and talk with her the system notified him with the familiar sound of—

Ding!

[A side mission has been generated. Please check the Mission menu]

It surprised him to easily get a mission but he didn't show any abnormality outside as he said,

"Karla, you're out of breath! Are you okay?"

He showed a concerned expression as he went to her and held her hand gently. He did it in such a smooth way that it didn't betray his 3 million years of experience.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Karla blushed a little as she stabilized her breath promptly. She appreciated the concern he had for her even at such a trivial matter. Also his warm hand gave her butterflies in the stomach as his scent reached her, further making her blush.

"... I am okay. Don't worry about this small matter. You wanted to talk about something?"

She asked in a gentle tone while avoiding his concerned gaze.

Blue appraised her again to see if there were any changes and sure enough,

[Behavioral Trait: Straightforward

Current Emotion: Happy

Current Favorability: 63 (Interested)]

Her emotion changed from excited to happy and favorability increased by 2. He pondered if favorability shown here could also decrease. After all, a person won't always had the same impression of another forever. So it was safe to conclude that it could also drop. He decided to call it a favorability point since the system didn't specify it as any level or anything which should be its way of affirming his hypothesis.

"I wanted to ask when you and Miss Laura usually have your launch. That way I will be able to adjust my schedule a bit better."

"Oh, it is usually around one at noon."

As he engaged in casual chat about their daily life he checked the [Mission] menu to see what side mission had been generated.

Ding!

[Mission]

[Current Main Mission: None

Ongoing Side Mission: 1

(Karla's First Crush)

Completed Main Mission: 0

Completed Side Mission: 0]

Blue was a little puzzled at the side mission that appeared on the spectral screen. There weren't any extra details about it. He willed it show more details on that side mission. This time there was indeed a reaction as (Karla's Crush) side mission revealed more for him.

Ding!

[Side Mission (Karla's First Crush) -

Summary: The youngest daughter of Blessed Womb's owner got the first crush in her life after meeting you back in the Verdant Orphanage. After conversing with you she was fascinated and your "concern" for her has touched her heart deeply.

Mission: Get her favorability point to 70 and make sure that it won't drop any time soon.

Time Limit: Before lunch on one at noon.

Restriction: Bloodline ability usage.

Reward: Subspace retrieval]

When he saw the reward his heart almost leaped out of his chest. He truly considered that his subspace will be taken by thieves before he could retrieve it in the distant future. But now this system seemed to have got his back and told him not to worry about it.

Another thing that made him anxious was the fact that in the description the time limit was one at noon which he just talked about with her and the fact that the system directly called it favorability point instead of just favorability. He only decided to call it such a bit earlier and this system already altered the content to it. Now when he appraised her the [Current Favorability] part changed to [Favorability Point].

He was now 100% certain that this system had been recording everything he was perceiving and more. As for the so-called "generating mission" it was just a ruse to let him feel more in control of it since it was bound to make him do that mission one way or another. Also that constant restriction on his bloodline abilities was driving him mad. This thing was literally denying his strengths and deliberately making his life difficult.

If not for the fact that Laura was previously barred by the system from his bloodline abilities and Karla was related to her then he would have long since corrupted both of them. Oh, there was also that fact when corrupted energy siphoning was rejected that year. Is this system anti-abyss spawn?

Now instead of feeling happy to get his subspace back he was feeling more gloomy inside at this system's clever manipulation of him. Who would be happy if they realized how they were being manipulated yet couldn't do anything about it because of their powerlessness? This system could even forcefully drag him into this world without him being able to realize what had happened and that was when he was a top powerhouse.

He was being turned into a system slave!

No matter how much he felt gloomy inside he made sure not to show any changes outside as he happily conversed with Karla. Since he was being forced like this then he will make sure to turn this situation into a fortuitous encounter for himself and repay this humiliation a thousand times to this hateful system.

He had to be the user and not the used!

He wouldn't be the host but the owner!

Speaking of it now, didn't his first contact with it reveal something about Origin Spark Fragment ownership? He had long figured that the ink-black cube was that fragment. The earrings were the System Avatar and learning about that old man's target details fulfilled the condition of "having knowledge" part. Though he still dared not reach any conclusion about the "aether of Outer Area" condition because he feared that his guess would hit the mark which only brought him dread and despair.

There's definitely something fishy about it or it wouldn't have revealed so much to him just to "dispel his doubts" because it literally made him form more doubts about it now. Yet he could not do anything about it but suffer in silence.

Blue wanted to heave a tired sigh but refrained as he focused on completing the very first side mission he got.