A System That Beats Death

"Duly noted", Atlas replied.

To her bewilderment, Wei then started to leave without any hesitation. Usually, men would excitedly greet her and attempted to accompany her as much as possible, so it was jarring that this man's actions differed from theirs in every way. In fact, it seemed that he was trying to avoid her.

She then furtively glared at Wei for ignoring her. Judging that he was truly indifferent, she then purposely called for him.

"What is this Young Master's name?", she asked in a hesitant tone.

When Wei continued walking, four villagers stepped in his way. They were also part of the group of people that fancied her but were not part of the few that were qualified to court her. Like the fanatics in those fictional fan clubs, they were content with just a smile from her and would not tolerate anybody that wronged her.

"She asked for your name", one stated in an irritated tone.

Atlas stopped and turned towards the spectators to see if they were accepting of these overly confrontational people. He then noticed that the female had her long sleeves covering the bottom half of her face as she discretely snickered in delight.

"Do I also have to pay the toll for being in her territory?", Atlas stated with an irritated tone.

This response elicited outrage from the spectators who refused to tolerate their Lady being slandered. Clearly the talk of extortion meant that the Young Master in front of them was aligning her with gangsters. He not only refused the Lady's compassionate advice but also antagonized her.

"The only toll that is being paid is the fine for insulting our lovely Lady", one of the four villagers exclaimed.

Even though Atlas had never formally learned martial arts, he was still able to trample the dozen villagers that dare approach. These people at best had experienced a bar fight and only farmed listlessly for the entirety of their lives. Atlas on the other hand, had been in constant danger since the day of his birth.

When the one-sided skirmish ended, Atlas turned towards the female who flinched when noticed.

"After what happened recently, I thought you would have remembered", Atlas said mockingly.

"W-what do you mean?", she asked.

"I meant that I'm not interested in fake swan meat", Atlas said meaningfully.

On the way to the decrepit farm, Atlas began contemplating the nature of time now that he had the potential to live eternally.

That display of devotion to a beautiful female slightly confused him as the era aligned with the era during which women were treated as second-class citizens. However, he then reasoned that it could be due to this being an alternate reality or it could just be the nature of beauty once again enticing people. Beauty was definitely a desirable quality, but Atlas didn't exactly consider it useful.

Sure, there was an increase in effectiveness regarding persuasion, but it also came with increased recognition, attached expectations, and unwanted sycophancy. Atlas had long since realized that he had no d.e.s.i.r.e regarding romance. He was able to feel gratitude and openly expressed it but he had never felt a tinge of affection. It was not like the male characters in romance novels that had not yet found their significant other and acted cold to the people that d.e.s.i.r.ed to possess him. A better descriptor would be a defective module that had been deleted by the debugging process.

If life was part of a game, then being attached to a transient piece would be incredibly redundant. What was the point of romance when there was so much more in life? He couldn't care less about starting a family and he would rather have the System as his companion. After encountering the system, he believed the possibilities were truly limitless.

He began to shake as he anticipated flying on dragons, weaving grand spells of devastation, and exploring ancient ruins. With so much potential excitement, why bother with what he could've done in his previous life? The notion of being intimate with another human was just not that interesting to him. He could not deny though that human relationsh.i.p.s were slightly intriguing to him. That was why he read and gamed after getting rid of his demonic family. With his life unhindered, he founded the company to support his boredom and listlessness.

He was incredibly disappointed to find that this world did not have magic though and had been quite tempted to die again in order to transfer to a better world. Preferably, one with magic. However, his mind cleared, and he understood that wantonly dying would lead to a demented mindset so he rejected the notion.

He then finally arrived. In front of him was a middling estate which was located a considerable distance away from the nearest person. Contained within the property were badly maintained fields that had been interspersed with cl.u.s.ters of weeds and overgrown grass, protecting the estate were crumbling walls that had been interlaced with vines, at the center of the estate was a miniature dwelling that was showing signs of mold, and the source of water was a dried up well.

Atlas sighed, "I have my work cut out for me"

He then activated the Material Auxiliary Ability for the very first time. The tip of his index finger started to fill with an intense and vibrant energy that when in contact with the soil, the energy was rerouted to the earth. Atlas then watched in awe as the gray cracked soil began to change color like a terminally ill patient that had just miraculously recovered.

He then spent the remainder of the night whittling away at the excessive shrubbery with the Dull Knife. Despite being labelled as dull, it was extremely effective at slicing apart stubborn plant life. At the darkest hour of the day, Atlas was sound asleep in the abandoned dwelling.

When noon came, Atlas finally woke up albeit slightly sore. He then marveled at his work and thought that this was a considerable improvement.