FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife-Chapter 41: Consequences

I stood still, staring at the box before my eyes.

To move meant to risk waking up.

And so, I just stood still, trying not to get too excited. Having done a fair share of lucid dreaming in my past, I knew the ins and outs of the techniques...

But it was the part of staying calm upon a success that I’d never managed to master.

Maybe it was the immense weight of my discovery that allowed me to finally conquer this one last step of lucid dreaming... Or maybe this dream was simply that much more stable than a normal one.

Whatever the case, as the excitement continued to boil under my skin, I gritted my teeth and held it in, doing my absolute best not to let it get to my head.

’Slow and steady wins the race, man...’ I thought, daring not to even open my mouth in fear that it would break the structure of this dream. ’Which is why, just breathe.’

Exactly the same way in which I stopped myself from getting an erection while on Selia’s lap, I breathed in and out, putting my full attention on just regulating the rhythm of my breathing.

And once again, this technique worked like a charm, allowing me to rein in my excitement, even though it had already gone through the roof. Yet, the very moment I braced myself and opened my eyes to look at the window of light again—

’Don’t you fucking tell me...!’

Unable to hold back any longer, I gritted my teeth and raised my arm. This time, however, rather than waving my entire hand like some kind of lunatic, I merely pushed my forefinger out. Then, inch by inch, I brought it closer to the floating box of light.

Then, a resistance.

I felt it right at my fingertip.

An extremely slight resistance, like a delicate foil stretched between the box’s frame, bending under the pressure of my finger, threatening to break open if I applied even just a slightly larger force.

Then, with my hopes and prayers filling my heart, I gently dragged the finger over to the side.

Smoosh!

Just like before, a smudge of light was left in my finger’s wake. And just like with movements that didn’t result in a concrete shape, the light of said smudge quickly dispersed, like a breath-born fog on the window after the few seconds it took the moisture to evaporate.

’It worked...’ I thought, once again having to step back and deal with an explosion of excitement.

Still, while I remained as vigilant as I could, with every passing second, with every feat I’d managed to pull out while staying within the dream, I grew a tiny bit more confident.

"Wait..." I muttered, finally daring to actually use my voice within the space of the dream, "What if..."

My eyes widened as my enthusiasm skyrocketed.

The memory of when I saw all those system boxes appearing above the heads of my classmates, the sight of all the high-rank systems they’d received...

Even to this day, when I thought I’d finally forgotten all about it, the memory of it stung when juxtaposed against my own, FFF-rank Failure system.

And right now, right before my eyes, right within the reach of my fingers, I found a way to rectify this shame! To rectify the reason why I was so freaking powerless in this dangerous world, why I had no other choice but to rely on the mercy of others just to survive.

Prompted by those thoughts, I moved my arm again, reaching for that accursed window once more.

This time, I didn’t hesitate.

This time, rather than leaving just a single mark of a straight line, I went ahead and wrote it all.

"SSS-Rank Divine System"

The golden light of the letters I’d traced out didn’t vanish. It was as if this light patiently waited for me to finish before judging whether to imprint the light upon this space or to do away with it.

And just like that, I stared at my changed future. At my changed fate.

At the new me.

"SSS-Rank Divine System," I muttered.

I thought my excitement had reached its peak when I found out I could write in that box already. But now? Now it reached new, formerly unexplored heights!

It was only by some miracle that I’d managed to remain in this dream-like state for so long, even when I could do nothing but stand still while screaming out with joy in my mind...

Or so I thought, only to then watch the letters within the box fade, as the light of my new fate quickly vanished into nothingness, leaving behind nothing but the frame where I’d written it in.

"Huh?"

From as high as my excitement went just a moment ago, it now instantly crashed, plummeting into the depths of despair and the abyss of powerlessness.

What was even worse, was how I allowed the spark of hope to reignite in my heart, only to then watch the world mercilessly smother it down!

"SHIT!"

A curse escaped from my mouth.

Then, as my disappointment and desperation turned into fury, I raised my arm, all angry, ready to try again—

Only for my rationality to stop me just an inch short from the surface of the system’s box.

’Why didn’t it stick?’

Why did the light vanish, rather than turning into a new future for me?

Why?

There was no point in trying again before I could answer this question! If anything, I would be only inviting divine retribution if I...

I froze.

My mind, my body, even my soul all froze on the spot, petrified by a certain realization.

’Retribution? Consequence?’

A cold sweat ran down not only my spine, but exploded all over my face.

In this world that I’d entered only through Selia’s help and intervention, who would be the one to bear the consequences of my failed experiments?

"Oh my fucking god..."

My earlier excitement, later anger, and now terror all mixed into a potion strong enough to finally erode the foundation of this dream-like space.

The nothingness with but yours truly and the system’s box in it cracked... And then collapsed, shattered into a myriad of pieces.

Then, there was nothing left.

And next, with the same terror filling my soul, I opened up my eyes.