Then, as if the universe itself was mocking my inner monologue, a window popped up. 'ADVICE: SINCE HOST LACKS COMMON SENSE, BASIC GUIDELINES FOR LOW INTELLIGENCE LIFEFORMS WILL BE PROVIDED.'
It felt like a slap in the face. "Low intelligence?!" I yelled, the dark energy around me flaring dangerously. "Why are there even freaking lizard monsters rampaging around on the planet in the first place? Isn't that a sign of someone's lack of intelligence?"
The window, unfazed, responded in its cold, clinical text: 'ATTAIN THE STATUS OF AN INTELLIGENT LIFEFORM TO RECEIVE RELEVANT ADVICE. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. PLAYING VIDEO: SQUID GAME.'
And then, the damn video started. Right there, in the middle of the ruined alleyway, with Grand staring at me like I'd grown a second head, Squid Game. On repeat. I mean, come on! Really? Not even a quick 'hello, welcome to godhood 101' or a 'sorry about nearly killing you'? Just… Squid Game. I felt a headache brewing, a cosmic, existential headache. This was officially the weirdest day of my… afterlife? Whatever this was.
Then, the window, with an infuriating tone of self-pride and blatant laziness, replied, 'IF VIDEO IS TOO COMPLEX, SYSTEM CAN SIMPLYFY WITH TRANSLATION OR FURTHER ENHANCEMENT.'
Just tell me how to do it!" I yelled, my patience wearing thin.
'IF INFORMATION WERE PROVIDED, IT WOULD BE WASTED ON HOST.' The window responded, as if I were a particularly dim-witted houseplant.
I stared at the screen, disbelief warring with a rising tide of rage. A thought, dark and absurd, popped into my head.
The strongest man in the world, dead in a filthy alley, because a goddamn AI is too lazy to explain how to use my powers
The AI, with an infuriatingly casual tone, replied, "NOT MY DUTY."
"But… but that's what systems are for!" I sputtered, gesturing wildly at the Squid Game tutorial and the swirling dark energy. "To, you know, help!"
The system replied with a simple, infuriating "..."
I took a deep breath, trying to control the rising tide of panic. The lizardman's corpse was starting to twitch, a faint, unsettling tremor. What the hell could go wrong? I thought, my gaze fixed on the swirling dark energy. With a mental shove, I channeled it, all of it, towards the twitching corpse. And then... nothing. Just a silent, empty space where the lizardman had been. And a slight, lingering smell of ozone. Grand stared at the empty spot, then at me, his mouth agape. "Uh... Rack?" he stammered. "What... what just happened?