Free Web NovelChapter 20: System Profiles
The carriage stopped sharply before a line of guards in heavy coats and umbrellas.
Two guards opened the carriage doors, and out stepped a polished black boot.
A young man in a soft top hat emerged.
Before his foot stepped on the ground, an umbrella appeared above his head, not letting a single drop of rain hit.
"Young Count, the train will be departing in three minutes. Please hurry." A guard holding a pocket watch said with his hand placed on his chest and a slight bow.
Vincent nodded at him and turned around, extending his gloved hand.
A pale and slender arm held it and emerged out of the carriage. freewebnσvel.cøm
It was a young lady in a frilly black gown, wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Her sharp heels clicked against the ground as she stood beside Vincent, standing a head taller than him.
A blonde maid in a black dress appeared next, holding a suitcase heavier than Vincent himself in one hand and documents in the other.
She stood a step behind him.
"Young Count, please follow my lead." A guard said and walked forward.
The other guards surrounded Vincent and the ladies, escorting them inside the train station.
As Vincent followed the guard, he couldn’t help but look at the architecture of the station’s exterior.
It looked less like a station and more like a grand cathedral with spires blending into the clouds. Except for the stained colored windows, it was all black stone and gray marble.
’So depressing...’ Vincent thought and walked inside.
The interior was even more grandiose.
Gas lanterns lined the platforms in fixed intervals, contrasting in orange against the cold silver moonlight seeping overhead from the arched glass ceiling.
Multiple platforms lay before Vincent and he couldn’t see half of them due to the giant freight trains obscuring his vision.
Low rattling of chains hit Vincent’s ears as he walked on the platform, moving past the cranes loading machinery onto the train carriages.
Rushed footsteps of workers hit against the polished tiles of the platform as they loaded and unloaded cargo.
As Vincent moved past the trains and arrived in the middle of the terminal, he noticed murals of workers forging steel etched on the pillars.
From here, he was escorted to the front end of a train carrying coal.
"Only a minute left." The guard at the lead said while looking at the clocks above.
Encased in intricate metal, the clocks appeared like chandeliers.
The hour and minute hands were about to strike the top.
Steam hissed from the front of the train.
Vincent soon reached the only passenger carriage attached to the enormous locomotive.
The guards opened the door and stood at the sides.
Vincent boarded the carriage at last and helped Leona and Anastasia.
The station guards closed the doors, and exactly at this moment, the train’s engine roared.
Tick.
Dong. Dong. Dong.
Midnight bells rang in the Capital’s Liberty Terminal.
The locomotive’s wheels strained and the heavy metal rods attached to them jerked.
Clank.
Clank. Clank.
The rails began vibrating as the behemoth gradually accelerated.
Clank-Clank-Clank-Clank-Clank!
Steam screeched from the engine as the train picked up speed and at last left the Liberty Terminal.
...
Seated by the window on cushioned seats, Vincent absentmindedly stared at the desolate and dark streets of the Capital.
"Chamomile tea, young master." Anastasia’s voice gently pulled Vincent back to reality.
He took the tea and turned back to stare outside.
It was starting to get darker as the train left the capital.
Taking a sip, Vincent felt a mild floral scent pouring down his throat. A slightly sweet aftertaste lingered on his tongue as he put the cup down.
Vincent took a deep breath.
It got pitch black outside the window.
Vincent saw his own reflection in the window.
’It’s a new day in this world for me.’
Vincent took a sip of tea.
’It’s not been a full twenty-four hours, but a day has officially. It has been the longest day I’ve ever felt in my life.’
Most of Vincent’s past life was spent in schools, gaming, anime, and novels. The days would pass like a breeze, and in the blink of an eye, a week would pass.
But yesterday, in his past life, Vincent had gone out on his weekly walks and ended up dying from dehydration.
The next moment, he transmigrated into a noble’s body and got acquainted with a system.
’I thought I would turn my life around with this system and grow unreasonably fast. But...’
When was life so easy?
’I then met Anastasia. Then had breakfast with my new family, and then...’
Vincent recalled the events that had transpired today.
From the breakfast conversation to practicing etiquettes for the ball to unlocking the starter pack to attending the ball to eventually winning a coal mine from a Count and getting almost ambushed, a lot had happened.
The events played like a movie inside his head. There was not a single second missed.
Vincent took a sip of the calming tea and shifted his gaze to the resting silver-haired young lady seated opposite to him.
’In the morning I was timid but after meeting her and going through a vein opening, I surprisingly feel a bit confident to hold a conversation. I am not stuttering.’
Vincent then remembered his last conversation with his mother and sister.
’Even in front of them, I did not stutter. Their reserved presence makes me feel a bit on the edge, but I can feel their warmth and care. I’ll need to work a lot harder if I wish to fix the strained relationship with them.’
Vincent felt slightly mellow for reasons even he couldn’t understand.
Taking the final sip of tea, he put the teacup and leaned sideways on the window.
The vibration of the train buzzed against his head, causing slight pain.
The cranking of the wheels and the hissing of steam from the locomotive resounded in his ears the closer he was to the window.
Vincent closed his eyes, basking in the background noise and the slight stinging sensation from the vibrations.
’At long last, I have time to see my mother and sister’s system profile. System...’
[Loading system profile...]
+
[Name: Vanessa D’Arc]
[Cultivation: Crest Formation(Refined)]
[Lineage: Human]
[Role: Executioner]
[Affiliation: House of D’Arc]
[Relationship: Sister (Non-Blood)]
[Entanglement: Active Link (Unstable)]
---
[Traits]
– Solitary Suppression
→ Subject displays overwhelming combat efficiency when isolated
→ Threat level rises proportionally with enemy numbers
– Execution Instinct
→ Subject demonstrates abnormal precision toward lethal strikes
→ Opponents below compatible thresholds may experience immediate death
– Fear Adaptation
→ Pain response heavily diminished during combat states
→ Psychological interference effects significantly reduced
---
[Notes]
– A lethal combatant unable to train in her Martial Arts due to house management.
– Detected anomaly: Combat Causality Inversion
– Emotional state: Surprise, Anticipating.
– Physical state: Untainted, stable.
---
[Live Feed]
– Observing the host from a distance.
+
’Huh?’ Vincent abruptly opened his eyes as he read the last line.
’She is observing me?’
[Affirmative.]
’She is on this train?’
[Affirmative.]
’Why?’
[The system is not omniscient, host.]
Vincent clicked his tongue internally and subtly tried to look around. He could only see Leona and Anastasia around himself.
Leona was sleeping with her head leaned against the window, under the covers of a blanket, and Anastasia was quietly reading a newspaper on another seat near him.
There were no signs of Vanessa.
Vincent closed his eyes and leaned on the window again.
’Forget her observing, what does half the stuff on her profile mean? Let’s first start with non-blood. Is she unrelated to me?’
[Affirmative.]
’We are not real brother and sister?’
[Affirmative.]
’Wow. So my mother adopted my sister. Very noble of her. I didn’t have a sibling before but now I can make the joke that our parents found her in a trashcan.’
[...]
[...the system strongly advises against it.]
Vincent ignored the system message.
’Also, Executioner, huh. From the way her traits and notes seem, she looks like a one-man army to me.’
Vincent also saw that he could finally see someone’s cultivation and it wasn’t a ’???’.
’What realm is Crest Formation? How far is she from me?’
[The Host is in the Vein Awakening(Tarnished) realm which is the first cultivation realm. From here it is...]
[Vein Awakening(Tarnished) → (Refined) → (Complete) → (Ascendant) → Crest Formation(Tarnished) → Crest Formation (Refined)]
’Seems like I’m far behind my sister. Sigh...’
Vincent felt slightly dejected but there was nothing he could do about it. His predecessor had time and again proved to be unreliable. It was up to him to change everything from here onwards.
’Anyway, let’s see where my mother is then.’
[Loading profile...]
The system said so but didn’t load the profile yet.
For some reason, Vincent felt a strange sense of anxiety.
The longer it took for the system to load the profile, the more a nagging feeling arose.
Soon, stacks of text appeared before his eyes.
+
[Name: Vivienne D’Arc]
[Cultivation: ???]
[Lineage: Human]
[Role: ??? / Countess]
[Affiliation: House of D’Arc]
[Relationship: Mother (Non-Blood)]
[Entanglement: Resonant Link (Stable)]
---
[Traits]
– Death Affinity
→ Subject possesses abnormal synchronization with necrotic energies
– Soul Silence
→ ???
– Throne of ???
---
[Notes]
– Head of D’Arc House
– Detected anomaly: ???
– Emotional state: Unreadable
– Physical state: Untainted, stable.
[Current Classification: High-order existential entity]
---
[Live Feed]
– Sleeping.
+
Vincent knitted his brows and opened his eyes, thinking:
’What in the world is this...’
