A cold wind blows through the desolate valley, the cicadas of spring and autumn chirp, and the youth returns!
To this day, Souya, who had originally given up all hope of having a cheat ability, couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement upon hearing this electronic, synthesized voice.
Talk about a plot twist upon a plot twist!
He had thought he'd have to rely solely on his own hard work from now on. He never expected fate to actually grant him a System!
Wait a minute? Then what about all the hardships I've endured over the past twenty years?
Souya suddenly froze, instinctively calculating all the suffering he had gone through over the years.
So?
Meanwhile, the System, whose chuunibyou energy was off the charts, clearly hadn't noticed what Souya was thinking and continued to ramble on.
[How about it, Host? Are you excited? Are you surprised?]
Hearing the System's words, Souya snapped back to reality.
He subconsciously looked at the paths he had been unable to step onto for twenty years and began communicating with the System in his mind.
"System, why did you appear so late? It's been twenty years. Do you know how I've lived these past twenty years?!"
The System, clearly a chatterbox, visibly perked up upon receiving Souya's reply, its tone becoming noticeably more cheerful as it started talking even more.
[Actually, I've existed ever since you arrived in this world. It's just that due to the lack of suitable trigger conditions, I've been unable to communicate with you.]
"Trigger conditions? You mean the catalyst?"
Souya recalled how he had appeared here, with the System's voice ringing in his ears, right after touching Morgan's veil. He instantly guessed a good portion of the truth.
"But I've touched plenty of catalysts before. How come you didn't show up then?"
Souya voiced his doubt.
[That's not my fault, Host.]
At this point, the System's voice suddenly grew a little defensive.
[It's because the mystery levels and quality of the catalysts you encountered before were simply too low. With the feeble energy from those things, it'd be a miracle if I could wake up.]
"Oh, so it's still my fault, huh."
Souya rubbed his chin, silently reflecting on the past.
It seemed true. Back then, he was just an Executor overseeing Subcategory Holy Grail Wars and had no intention of participating himself. Moreover, the quality of those Subcategory Wars was generally quite low, so he rarely came into contact with high-quality catalysts.
Furthermore, although he carried the title of the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament, the tasks he actually performed were much closer to those of the Inquisition.
Even when he occasionally handled the job of collecting catalysts, it usually involved slaying the target holding the item and leaving the cleanup to others.
So, if the prerequisite for the System to awaken was contact with a high-quality catalyst, then the blame truly lay with Souya.
But how was I supposed to know? If I knew this stupid System's awakening condition was that, I would have just gone and touched every single catalyst in the Eighth Sacrament's vault.
Discussing this issue further in his mind seemed a bit impolite, so Souya decisively changed the subject.
"Ahem. So, System, what functions do you have? And what's the deal with these nine paths?"
[You've asked the right person, Host! Although you are the master of these nine paths, when it comes to understanding them, I am second to none!]
Hearing this, Souya immediately put on a serious expression and prepared to listen.
[Does the Host know about the multiplicity of fate?]
Huh? What, you're a Q&A type System now?
Souya, who had been bracing himself for a long-winded speech, rolled his eyes internally. However, outwardly, he nodded and answered the System's question.
"Of course, I know that much."
[Then that makes my explanation much easier. Simply put, these nine paths represent the multiplicity of your fate.]
[Each path represents a possibility within your destiny. For instance, the possibility of becoming a king, or the possibility of becoming a hero.]
[Just like the threads woven by the Goddess of Fate, every thread undergoes different changes as it passes through the loom. And these nine paths are all the possibilities of your fate.]
[By stepping onto them, you can experience that possibility and personally interfere with that potential future. Once you walk that possibility to the end, the path will conclude, and that destiny will be engraved, becoming your power.]
?
A question mark slowly materialized above Souya's head.
You call that 'simply put'?!
"Speak English!"
[Heroic Spirit Simulation, Extracting the Future.]
"Bro, are you kidding me? So you're just a simulator!"
Souya instantly lost it. All that chuunibyou nonsense the System spouted earlier, and it turned out to be the most cliché simulator imaginable!
Souya was now certain this System definitely wasn't from Qidian or Webnovel. With this kind of cliché and useless ability...
I get it. You're an undercover agent sent by Wattpad, right?!
[What are you saying! What are you saying! How could I possibly be such a cliché System! These are merely the functions of the nine paths!]
"So you mean these aren't your powers?!"
Souya suddenly cheered up. As long as it wasn't such a lazy System, it was fine. Looks like I misunderstood you, System. You really are one of ours from Webnovel.
[Of course! This System's function is to provide consultation and guidance to the Host, acting as a beacon in the dark night to guide the Host forward!]
?
Souya slowly typed out a giant question mark on the public chat.
"System, do you have a name?"
[I do, Host. Do you want to know?]
"No, I don't. I'm just telling you that from now on, your name is 'Trash System'."
System: ???
***
"In the end, I'm still the one carrying all the weight."
Souya sighed at the sky, then lifted his foot and stepped onto the first of the nine paths—the one where the white fog had completely dissipated, revealing the wide road surface.
According to the Trash System, as soon as he stepped onto the path, the simulation would begin. His soul would travel to any node in history, becoming the person in that era with the highest compatibility with him. He would then live out that life, turning the possibility of that fate into a power he could wield.
Without further ado, since he could already begin the simulation, Souya didn't wait any longer.
The path he had never been able to step onto, no matter how hard he tried in the past, was now completely unobstructed.
Souya only felt an endless darkness enveloping him. In his final moments of consciousness, only the Trash System's synthesized voice continued to pop up.
[Detecting the source of power. Anchoring the era.]
[Anchoring successful. Destiny's script has been loaded.]
[The soul has arrived. Descending: Age of Gods, Britain.]
The darkness slowly receded, and consciousness began to return. Souya felt his surroundings were freezing cold, as if he were submerged in water.
At this moment, a force was pushing him slowly forward.
[This is the most glorious era of this island.]
[But beneath the prologue of this glory lies the sorrow of an era.]
[For the mystery that once enveloped this island, and indeed the entire world, is gradually fading. Even though geographical reasons have caused the mystery on this island to recede far slower than elsewhere, the end of the Age of Gods is only a matter of time.]
[However, there are always those who vainly attempt to challenge the trends of the era, or even the world.]
[The Light-Devouring White Dragon, one of the two kings among the Celts ruling this land, Vortigern the White Dragon, is unwilling to accept the fading of the Age of Gods, nor the fact that the people and things deeply affected by it will perish as a result.]
[As the White Dragon, representing the anger and reluctance of Britain's Age of Gods, he launches a rebellion against his brother, the nominal ruler of the Celts, King Uther.]
[On this land where chivalry prevails, Vortigern, a Celt, leads the invading Anglo-Saxons to wage war against his own compatriots. This is undoubtedly evil; it is high treason.]
[Consequently, the Celts join King Uther's faction one after another, raising their blades against the Vile King.]
[But as the final counterattack of the Age of Gods, the Vile King is powerful. King Uther's army suffers defeat after defeat. The people desperately need a new king—a king who can lead the Celts to victory against the foreign invaders, defeat the Vile King, and usher in a new era for Britain.]
[And you, were born into such an era.]
[But! You were not born as a human, but as a fairy, appearing in the rivers of Britain.]
[Becoming a glorious Water Fairy.]
Glorious my ass!
Souya's face was full of despair, his heart filled with uncontainable agony.
My hands, my feet, my towering jade pillar!
Gone, all gone!