My System Doesn't Give Power

After the tournament ended, everyone was given the rest of the day off, and Zac returned home with exactly one plan in mind.

Sleep.

Preferably until tomorrow.

His entire body still ached from the tournament. In particular, his arm continued to throb from the aftermath of Sabrina’s compressed coating.

All Zac wanted was to collapse onto his bed, close his eyes, and temporarily forget that the rest of the world existed.

Unfortunately, that blissful prospect was annihilated before it could even begin.

Matilda summoned him that very afternoon, and by the time Zac reached the meeting point, he found Sabrina standing on one side and Ravena on the other, neither acknowledging his arrival.

Zac stopped a few steps away and looked between them.

"Just great."

[Vanilla on one side. Goth, on the other. Which one do you prefer?]

Zac gave the question the solemn contemplation it absolutely did not deserve. "Both?"

[And you called me a pervert.]

"Hey, that was a joke."

He walked toward them. "So, I’m guessing Matilda summoned both of you too?"

Zac waited for them to answer, but neither girl so much as glanced at him.

"Any idea why she called us?"

There was still no answer from them.

Zac scratched the side of his head. "Hello? I’m asking a question. You could at least acknowledge that I’m here."

Sabrina finally turned her head slightly. "I don’t talk to losers."

Zac blinked. "Come again?"

"You lost to me." Her expression remained perfectly impassive. "What makes you think you have the right to question me?"

"Huh?" Zac stared at her in disbelief.

Sabrina calmly looked away again. "If you’re that desperate for an answer, ask Miss Tattoos over there."

Ravena’s eye twitched hearing it, she slowly turned her head. "Just because I lost to you once doesn’t mean you get to ask me whatever the hell you want."

Zac opened his mouth to reason with her, but Ravena continued before he could get a word in. "And Matilda isn’t even my class instructor."

She jerked her chin toward Sabrina. "Ask Miss Pristine-and-Clean over there."

Sabrina turned toward her, with a faint irritation in her eyes. "What exactly did you call me?"

"Exactly what you fucking heard, you ice bitch."

Zac froze, and Sabrina went still. Then, with almost unnerving deliberation, she turned toward him. Her glare landed squarely on his face.

Zac immediately raised both hands. "Hey. I swear I didn’t teach her that."

Ravena scoffed. "You think I need someone to tutor me on how to insult a bitch?"

Sabrina’s eyes narrowed further. "You are crossing the line."

"Oh, yeah?" Ravena took half a step forward. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Okay, okay. Freeze. Pause. Interval. Intermission. Whatever." Zac stepped between them before the situation could deteriorate into an impromptu rematch of the tournament.

"What exactly is happening here? Did something happen before I arrived?"

Both girls immediately turned away in opposite directions, and neither answered him.

Within seconds, Zac found himself awkwardly trapped between two beautiful girls.

He rubbed his forehead. "What have I gotten myself into?"

[The husband caught between two quarreling wives.]

"Yeah, but who’s the husband?"

[Playing innocent now, aren’t we?]

"There is nothing to play innocent about."

[Sure.]

Before Zac could continue arguing with the voice in his head, another voice drifted toward them. "Well, well, well."

All three turned and saw Matilda walking toward them. "If it isn’t the top three of the tournament."

Her gaze moved leisurely between the three students, taking in the palpable hostility hanging in the air. Then her eyes settled on Zac. "What did you do this time?"

Zac’s face fell. "Why is it always me?"

"Aren’t you the one with the title of class troublemaker? Of course I’m asking you first."

"This time, I’m just as confused as you are."

"Whatever. I don’t have time for children’s drama."

Zac immediately pointed toward Sabrina and Ravena. "For the record, the children’s drama started before I got here."

[The husband desperately attempts to establish his innocence.]

"Stop narrating my life."

[Oh? So you accept that it is your life?]

Zac wisely chose not to dignify that with an answer.

Matilda, oblivious to the private argument occurring inside his head, looked at all three of them. "The reason I called you here is simple. I’m taking you to the academy’s Skill Archive so you can choose your rewards."

Zac raised an eyebrow. "Didn’t Sir Simon say we were supposed to go tomorrow?"

"Officially, yes. But the academy is extending a small privilege to the top three."

She gestured for them to follow and started walking. "You’ll be allowed into the Skill Archive today, before everyone else arrives tomorrow. Fewer people, no rush, and enough time to properly examine the available skills before deciding which one suits you."

"The students entering tomorrow will only be given two hours inside. Of course, if you don’t believe you need the additional time, you’re perfectly welcome to come back tomorrow with everyone else."

"Who said I don’t like special treatment?" Zac stepped forward without a trace of hesitation. "I’m completely in. Why are we still standing here wasting time? Please, lead the way."

Matilda gave him a knowing look. "That’s what I thought."

Matilda led the three of them away from the residential district and toward one of the mountains surrounding the academy.

At first, Zac followed without giving their destination much thought. But as the road continued climbing, leaving the buildings and familiar streets farther behind, he finally looked up at the looming mountain ahead.

"Are we actually going up the mountain?"

"You’ve only been at the academy for a few months, so I doubt you’ve had much time to explore beyond the areas students normally use."

"Not really."

"Then consider this a little tour."

"As you already know, New Dawn Academy exists inside its own private realm. You can call it a secret realm, a pocket dimension, or whatever term you prefer. The city below is the part most people have access to."

She pointed toward the mountain ahead. "But these mountains are different. The real academy begins up here."

"The real academy?"

Even Sabrina and Ravena, who had been walking in silence, turned their attention toward Matilda.

"Restricted training zones, research facilities, important archives, secured vaults, storage facilities, and quite a few places students like you have absolutely no business wandering into."

As they climbed farther, the road gradually became narrower, the buildings below disappearing behind the rising terrain.

Before long, they reached a heavily guarded checkpoint constructed directly into the mountain path.

Several guards stood around the entrance.

Zac immediately noticed the difference between them and the guards he had seen patrolling the city below.

"They’re stronger than the guards in the city."

[Important places generally require competent people to defend them. Revolutionary concept.]

The moment the guards recognized Matilda, the inspection became perfunctory. After checking her instructor identification, they allowed her and the three students through without delay.

Beyond the checkpoint, the environment changed almost immediately.

Dense trees surrounded them from every direction. Thick branches intertwined overhead, forming a natural canopy so impenetrable that only scattered fragments of sunlight reached the forest floor.

Sabrina quietly surveyed their surroundings while Ravena frowned at the wilderness ahead.

Zac looked at Matilda. "Are we going the right way? There isn’t even a path ahead."

"I know. It may look as though I’m leading the three of you into the forest to kill you, but don’t worry. I have no such intensions."

"That was not remotely reassuring."

"The absence of a visible path is intentional. It makes navigation difficult for intruders. Only people who have memorized the proper route can reliably reach the archive."

She took another step, then abruptly stopped.

"Speaking of which, pay close attention to where I step."

Zac raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"There are traps scattered throughout this area."

The three of them went silent.

Matilda continued as casually as if she had mentioned bad weather.

"Some are designed to restrain intruders. Others are considerably less forgiving. I would prefer not to have one of the tournament’s top three get killed while under my supervision."

Zac stared at her.

"You could’ve mentioned that before we walked into the forest."

"I just did."

"We’re already inside."

"And now you’re being especially attentive. See? Effective teaching."

Zac had no response to that.

From then on, all three students watched Matilda’s footsteps with considerably more vigilance.

The route was labyrinthine.

At several points, Matilda changed direction without any obvious landmark to guide her. She passed between nearly identical trees, crossed narrow stretches of uneven ground, doubled back once, and even stepped across what appeared to Zac to be an entirely ordinary patch of grass with suspicious precision.

After navigating the convoluted route for some time, the forest finally opened.

A massive stone wall stood directly against the side of the mountain.

Zac stopped.

"Don’t tell me we came all this way to admire a wall."

Matilda ignored him.

She approached the stone surface while retrieving her instructor identification card. The moment she pressed it against the wall, intricate lines of light spread outward from beneath the card.

The seemingly solid stone began to shift.

A doorway gradually emerged from the mountain itself.

Zac watched it form.

Magic.

[You live in a private dimension filled with superpowered humans and monsters, yet somehow this is where you draw the line at magic?]

Let me enjoy things.

The four stepped through the entrance.

Beyond it was a narrow passageway extending deep into the mountain. The corridor was dimly illuminated, its stone walls smooth and almost unnaturally uniform as the path stretched ahead.

Sabrina looked around.

"Why does a Skill Archive require this much security?"

Matilda continued walking.

"New Dawn Academy isn’t merely old. It was the first academy established after the apocalypse."

That immediately drew Zac’s attention.

"Over the years, the academy has accumulated an enormous repository of skills, techniques, research, historical records, classified knowledge, and information gathered across generations."

Her voice echoed faintly through the narrow corridor.

"And that list barely scratches the surface."

She glanced back at them.

"In terms of sheer quantity and historical value, New Dawn possesses one of the largest collections in the world, if not the largest."

Zac nodded slowly.

"Which means a lot of people would want whatever is stored inside."

"Exactly."

Ravena, who had been unusually quiet, finally spoke.

"But isn’t the academy itself already practically a fortress? We’re inside a private realm, for God’s sake."

Matilda nodded.

"That’s true."

She faced forward again.

"But when you’re protecting something this valuable, relying on a single layer of security would be complacent."

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

"Besides, it’s better to be safe than sorry."

When they finally entered the library, Zac stopped almost immediately.

The place was completely devoid of life.

Endless rows of shelves stretched across the enormous chamber, divided into numerous sections and packed with more books than Zac could reasonably count. The sheer scale of the archive made the library below seem almost modest by comparison.

And yet, despite the staggering amount of knowledge stored inside, there was only one person in sight.

Behind a large wooden desk, an old man was peacefully dozing with his head tilted to one side.

Matilda approached the desk and bowed respectfully.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Mimir."

The old man’s eyes slowly opened.

"Hmm?"

He blinked several times before recognition settled in.

"Well, if it isn’t our dear Greeny."

Matilda’s complexion immediately reddened.

Greeny? Zac thought.

"Mr. Mimir, please. My students are here."

"So?"

The old man looked entirely unconcerned.

"That never stopped me before."

Matilda clearly had no intention of allowing him to elaborate.

She immediately gestured toward the three students behind her.

"These are the top three from the tournament."

"The what?"

"The tournament."

Matilda stared at him.

"The academy has been announcing it for weeks."

"Never heard of it."

"You didn’t check your messages again, did you?"

Mimir waved one hand dismissively.

"I’m too old for all that nonsense, Greeny. In my time, important messages were delivered by pigeons."

All four of them blinked.

Zac remained silent for a moment.

System, just to confirm. Humanity had phones and the internet before the apocalypse, right?

[Definitely.]

A brief pause.

[Unless this man is secretly a thousand-year-old hermit.]

So he’s just being dramatic.

[Like Adrian.]

Precisely.

Mimir finally looked past Matilda and toward the three students.

"My, my."

The drowsiness vanished from his expression almost instantaneously.

His eyes sharpened.

"So I finally get to see the greatest prodigy humanity has ever produced."

Zac instinctively glanced toward Sabrina.

Of course.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

If it isn’t Miss Ice Queen.

[Are you jealous?]

No. I’m just wondering how this ice cube managed to collect so many admirers.

[That sounds remarkably similar to jealousy.]

It isn’t.

Mimir pushed himself up from his chair.

"You’re all here to receive your skills, aren’t you?"

Matilda nodded.

"Fine, fine. You may choose."

He stepped out from behind the desk, but instead of immediately leading them deeper into the archive, his attention remained fixed on the students.

More specifically, on one of them.

He walked closer.

"I didn’t expect to see you this soon."

Sabrina looked at him.

Mimir smiled faintly.

"The world has been waiting a very long time for you."

Uncertainty flickered across Sabrina’s composed expression. "Sir, I don’t know what you’re referring to."

"Of course you don’t. Because I’m not talking about you."

("...") ("...") ("...") ("...")

His finger moved past Sabrina and pointed directly at Zac. "I’m talking about him."

Zac’s eyes widened. "Me?"

"Of course. Who else?"

Mimir studied Zac’s face with an unsettling familiarity.

His expression slowly changed, as though he were no longer looking at Zac himself but at someone from a distant memory.

"You really do look almost exactly like him."

Zac’s heart skipped a beat.

[Busted!]