"Tell me, what's the matter?"
The girl's lips parted, breath stammering.
"It's… It's just that… last night…"
Avis tilted her head. "Go on."
"… there was an order to prepare this suite again," the girl whispered. "After you... cas... castrated Instructor Graham three days ago in the playing field, everyone thought that… that you were going to be expelled and never coming back."
Avis' expression didn't shift, but something inside her clicked into place.
"Ah...?"
Her lips twitched as she groaned inwardly.
Oh crap.
She almost forgot that it has only been a few days since the real Avis cut that old instructor's little sausage.
The Stark family must not know yet or even if they knew, her older brother must've cleaned up her mess before it could reach her father's ears.
Vernon Stark.
She sighed at the thought of that scheming vulture playing the responsible brother that always has her back. He didn't even bat an eye when the family head kicked her out.
Though that crazy woman deserve to be punished, Avis thought having no one by her side when she truly needed someone was just too pitiful and lonely.
So, if she could, she would rather have him stop his pretentious acts and stay away from her. But the deeds of Avis Stark's stood in front of her like a ghost refusing to stay buried!
Avis took her mind out of the mattr and reached forward suddenly, brushing a strand of hair from the servant's cheek.
The girl flinched.
"Relax," Avis said with quiet venom.
Oh gods, why does she sounds like a villainess even though she was just speaking casually?!
Seriously.
"I'm not going to gut you."
But even so, the servant paled visibly.
Ugh!
Avis wanted to punch the wall.
But decided against it and stepped back, her voice turning dry.
"Tell me. What day is it?"
"A-August third, milady—"
"No, stop. I know it's the third of August," Avis frowned and said sternly. "I'm asking you if there's anything on my schedule..."
"A-Ah... The... The morning of the—" Ayla gasped and replied shakily, her voice caught, "—the evaluation ceremony at the Hanyu base."
A breath escaped Avis' lips, slow and bitter.
So that was it.
It was today that the original Avis Stark was meant to appear, still on her high horse, sweeping through the Hanyu Academy's combat rankings by beating everyone up — only to be publicly humiliated and given a huge demerit.
But not this time.
Not if she could help it.
"I get it. You can go now," Avis said, low and firm.
The servant didn't hesitate. She bowed so low her forehead almost touched the floor, then scrambled out of the room, the sliding panel closing swiftly behind her.
Avis turned to the uniform and other items laid neatly on the rack. Her lips tugged wryly, visibly unhappy at the thought of coming to school and go through countless unwanted stuffs.
With a groan, she shifted back to the floating screen.
[First Kill: Complete]
[Reward: Pending Claim]
[System Skill Tree: Locked]
[Synchronization in Progress…]
There's so much going on that she could barely understand from the Lady Stark's memory.
"This... feels so unreal... Like a game made into a reality..." she muttered as she reached out, her fingers steady now, and touched the "Claim" icon.
The screen flashed white — and suddenly, something entered her. Like a pulse of heat. Like lightning threading through nerves. Her breath caught, her knees nearly buckled.
"Ugh—ah!"
Avis gasped and clutched her chest, desperately trying to breathe in and compose herself. Before she knew it, a new line etched itself across the interface in bold, eerie clarity.
[Unique Ability Locked]
Combat Prowess: Soulbound Strike- Partially Unlocked]
Type: Passive / Adaptive
Effect: Borrow traits, instincts, and combat memory from previous soul imprints tied to this body. The more kills, the stronger combat prowess evolves.]
She just stared.
The system wasn't just giving her power. It was giving her history. The battle instincts, ruthlessness, and pain of the real Avis Stark weren't lost — they had been absorbed.
Available to her now, like a locked vault gradually creaking open.
"Is this all the reward?" She wanted to complain.
This body definitely remembers. She could feel it from the way she smashed the skull of the zombie during that night when she first transmigrated in her body.
"How can this system shamelessly call it a reward when I already had it from the start?" Avis scoffed inwardly.
But what truly unsettled her was the final line of the system's prompt.
"So the level of my combat prowess can be increased through slaughter. The more kills, the stronger it be?"
She blinked, and all the more she felt incredulous.
Kill?
Who was she supposed to kill on a perfectly ordinary day governed by modern law and functioning surveillance of the military forces?
"Besides—"
The girl's eyes narrowed fiercely.
"Are you seriously treating me like some clueless, gullible kid who doesn't an ounce of common sense left and a working brain? What, you think I'd throw away my chance to prepare for the apocalypse just because you dangled a power boost in front of me like bait to commit murder?"
If it was anyone else, they might've jumped without thinking for their own selfish gains as soon as they read the system prompt. But Avis was soft-hearted and cautious. She wasn't the real Avis who was crazy and unrestrained.
Though she was meek, after dying a horrible and painful death, she learned that putting too much affection and trust to others was a cruelty to oneself.
So whether it was person or a virtual entity, the girl decided not to accept anything thrown at her so readily, just because it looked enticing and helpful without thinking it through.
Avis saw the system window suddenly flickered into light and showed a blue round emoji, shifting from shock to a strange defensive stance.
[NullGenesis: ... Host is overthinking! Please refrain from hostile thoughts toward the system to preserve mutual cooperation.]
Avis raised a brow.
Oh? So it could respond.
She muttered thoughtfully, "I see. You can react… so this system is interactive after all."
Her lips curled in faint amusement as a new idea took shape.
She leaned forward slightly, as though speaking to something right in front of her. Her tone turned sweet—but her eyes glinted with cold intelligence.
"Tell me, N-Gen, do I really have to kill? Or…"
Her voice dropped lower and dangerously so.
"Is that just your twisted way of pushing me to gain experience… to force this body and my mind to become in-sync?"