"If you're a god, then why don't you use your powers to revive the dead?" Marin asked, glaring at the figure before him.
The Author tilted his head with a calm smile. "Have you ever seen me worshipped in a temple, a church, or anywhere for that matter?" he replied. "Have I ever claimed to be a god?"
Marin frowned. "Not really... I mean, I don't know much about you—"
"Exactly," the Author interrupted. "Yes, I created this world. And yes, I'm omnipotent. But just because I can do something doesn't mean I should."
"So what are you saying?" Marin asked, suspicious.
The Author's expression grew serious. "If I wanted, I could've made all of you like me—omnipotent. But what would you have done with that power? You would've abused it, no doubt. Creating and destroying entire universes just for fun, without understanding the consequences. You wouldn't value life, because you'd never know loss."
Marin stayed quiet.
"Death exists for a reason," the Author continued. "It's what gives life meaning. Without it, there's no urgency, no purpose. If you were immortal, would you really care about anything? About growing, protecting others, cherishing moments?"
Still, Marin said nothing. But his silence spoke enough.
"Exactly," the Author said. "So no—I don't interfere with life or death. I didn't create life, and I don't take it away. That's the system and besides that the gods watching you and the world from above don't like me interfering with the world, they want the world to continue on naturally so , that is also a reason for this. Understood?"
Marin still had no reply. The logic was frustrating... but sound.
The Author wasn't finished. "You've watched Naruto, right?"
Marin groaned internally. Why is everyone still obsessed with Naruto? It ended years ago. But aloud, he muttered, "Yeah, I've seen it."
"Remember during the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the Sage of Six Paths randomly showed up and gave Naruto and Sasuke powers out of nowhere to beat Madara?"
"So what?"
"Did you like that?"
Marin paused. Now that he thought about it... not really. Naruto was supposed to be the underdog. He worked hard all his life to prove that hard work could beat natural talent. But then it turned out he was naturally gifted—a reincarnation—and received god-tier powers from some mystical being.
"Felt like a cop-out," Marin muttered.
"Exactly." The Author nodded. "Same principle applies here. If I keep showing up whenever you're in trouble or someone dies, you'll never learn to face things yourself. You won't grow. You won't recover from pain or loss. And eventually, you'd stop trying, because you'd expect me to fix everything."
When the Author finished, Marin stood up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're useless." He turned to leave. "Thanks for nothing, 'God'."
Before Marin could take three steps, he was yanked back by an invisible force—telekinesis. The Author floated toward him and handed him a sleek, futuristic watch.
"This is a standard Enforcer-issued device," he said. "Ask Orien to show you how it works." And with that, he vanished into thin air—gone as instantly as he'd appeared and Marin who was brought into air by the author using telekinesis, was left to down by himself, he started falling and as he touched the ground , he was once again saved by his plot armor , he avoided any damage to his body.
Then Marin stared at the watch, half-curious, half-annoyed. He found Orien and asked, "So… what's this watch actually do?"
Orien grinned. "First off, it shows time."
Marin rolled his eyes. "Oh, what a shocker. A watch that tells time. My last one just showed random numbers—so this is revolutionary."
"Alright, alright, I get it, sarcasm overload," Orien laughed. "But seriously, it also auto-adjusts to your time zone and has a small storage function. Not infinite—just enough space for a suitcase worth of stuff. Think extra clothes and a secure comm device and it's a smart watch , once you connect it to your mobile , you'll unlock many new features which you should try in your free time."
"Inventory storage? Like real fantasy RPG stuff?" Marin asked, now visibly impressed.
"Exactly. To access it, pull the side button and press the face with your other hand."
Marin followed the instructions. As he pressed his right palm on the watch, his hand seemed to sink into the air, accessing the storage. His eyes widened.As he moved his hand around the storage, he soon encountered the wall stopping him from taking his hand any farther in the storage, he then moved his hand along the wall to check the size of the storage and soon mapped all the three dimensions of storage and thought it was okayish, not enough for much storage.
"Okay… that's actually cool."he said out loud.
Then, he remembered something. "Hey, what about that sword you used in the fight earlier? Where is it now? Can I get one too?"
"That wasn't a real sword, Kid" Orien replied. "It was made using plot armor."
"What does that even mean?"
Orien then started explaining, "There are three types of plot armor users. Externals, like me, can create objects out of plot armor. Infusers can channel it into real-world objects, enhancing them. Internals can use it to boost their own physical abilities. Those who can use two types are called hybrids. I'm an internal-external hybrid."
"So I'm internal type, then?" Marin guessed.
"For now. But depending on how gifted you are, you can master all the three types—like Nathan."
Marin nodded. "So that's why he's the strongest."
Then he asked, "What about genre injection? How do I get one?"
Orien held up a hand. "Slow down, kid. We've got places to be. People out there all around the world need justice."
Just then, a plane flew overhead. Orien looked up.
"That's our ride." Without warning, he grabbed Marin like a bag of groceries in one hand and in the other he took the scientist and leapt into the sky, and landed cleanly in the plane through it's cargo gate. The pilot then shut gate behind them.
"En route to the Academy," the pilot announced after closing the back gate of the plane and he threw the scientist to the wall of the plane and then strapped him so as to restrict his movement while he was still unconscious.