FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife-Chapter 44: Prompting the system box

’Some congratulations are in order, huh?’

The moment I regained my awareness within the now familiar zone of nothingness, a single line of thought took over my mind.

’To not stare right up at her chest when it was dangling directly above me...’

I shook my head.

"I did good," I muttered, only for my voice to then grow softer, fainter, "I did good..."

I took a deep breath before raising my hands and slapping my cheeks with them.

Even though I was now hidden away within the safety of my dream, I knew better than to allow my thoughts to linger on useless stuff. And for how comfortable Selia’s lap was to sleep on, it also put me in a position where any kind of night-time fantasies would be instantly reflected in the most visible way possible.

And ignoring all of that, I wasn’t here just to think about Selia’s breasts, but to complete a damned job. Which is why, as soon as I reined in my thoughts, I also noticed a big difference over my last experience in this weird place—Right now, I had grown used to being here. And that was likely to let me stay here for much longer than I did before.

With the inward-focused inspection of myself done, I properly raised my eyes and looked around, taking my time to inspect this weird space itself.

Just like before, it was just endless nothingness. No matter which direction I looked, there was just more of the same—nothing, nothingness, void and vacuum, all for me to do nothing with.

Or so I would say, if not for the one element that massively stood out from the nothingness of this place.

An element I crafted myself, yet never expected to persist within this space after it collapsed when I woke up last time.

My system-like box was still there, its frame faintly glowing with a golden light, adding up the very first element of something into this world of nothing.

"So it didn’t vanish," I spoke to myself as I approached the window, my eyes brimming with curiosity.

It didn’t matter that I had no idea how it could still be there. It was just one of the many things I had no right to understand right now. Instead, I merely noted the fact that whatever I painted with my hands and brought to the point where it wouldn’t vanish within a few moments was likely to stay in this space even after I left it.

With the mental note saved in my memory, I came even closer, inspecting the box while nearly smashing my face into it.

’No texture on the frame, just perfectly smooth lines,’ I thought as I stared at it from up close before reaching out and trying to gently press my fingers on it.

The box moved, giving in under the push of my finger with almost no resistance at all, like some sort of hologram hanging up within the realm of a virtual space.

Sadly, when it came to the box itself, that was the limit of what I could study. And now that the time came for me to find a way to learn more about it, I had nothing but my creativity to lean upon.

"Well, the sooner I start and all that..." I muttered under my nose before carefully bringing my finger up to the box and then freezing, taking a moment to think about what I should try to write.

And then, pushed by nothing more than habit, I wrote the most popular two-word sentence in the entirety of the earth, a simple statement that every aspiring programmer would produce at the dawn of their study.

"Hello world."

No command, no initiation of variable, just the two words.

Designed not to bring forth any form of real change or effect, but to merely test how the text itself would react.

For a moment, the text shone with its own, faint light...

Only to then disperse away, as if it was never there to begin with.

I pressed my lips together and took a long, deep breath.

’You came here knowing you were likely to fail over and over again. So if you are going to lose faith after the very first failure, how can you expect to achieve anything at all?’

With another breath, I managed to chase my doubts away and focus right back on the task.

Which is why, my next attempt was shorter, aimed at an entirely different goal.

"Hello."

Rather than relying on what little I knew about programming, I went ahead and tested if it was maybe possible to chat with this, let’s call it, proto-system of mine.

And yet, just like before, the shiny word persisted only for a moment before its light dimmed out, returning the insides of the box to perfect emptiness.

I squinted my eyes.

"Okay, that didn’t work either. But while a failure..." I turned silent for a moment while keeping my eyes locked on the box.

For a moment I felt like some sort of detective trapped in a box, observed by some unknown entity and attempting to find a way to escape.

Instead, I wasn’t trapped in the box but was in this space voluntarily. And rather than escaping from this place, I just wanted to figure out how to properly interact with this damned, floating frame!

"How about... this!"

With quick movements of my fingers, I wrote a much longer sentence into the box.

"The holder of this system can run a tiny bit faster."

If I couldn’t make the box display a message or reply to me, then maybe I had to try something more in line with what the system was actually supposed to do?

I wrote those few words and then pinned my eyes on them, watching, waiting...

Only for the shining text to then start fading away and disappear, just like my two earlier attempts before.

’Shit.’

I took a deep breath and raised my hand... Only to then move away from the box, trying to put some distance between me and the topic in question while I gave myself some time to think about it.

’That’s quite the conundrum, isn’t it?’ I thought, as no ideas appeared in my head even as minutes trickled by.

I sat down in the nothingness, laid down over the void, squatted in the vacuum and even swam through the endless expanse of null.

Yet, no matter how much I racked my brain, how I tried to bite it, no new ideas came to me.

"Okay, let’s backtrack a bit."

Sitting down back near the system’s box, I hid my face in my hands, as if to blind myself to the box’s presence.

That... and to hide away this entire dreamscape, opting to just fester my thoughts within the familiar darkness hidden underneath the lids of my eyes.

’Rather than trying to throw shit at the wall to see what sticks, let’s think back. What do I even know about the systems and their nature?’

There was a whole library worth of knowledge about all sorts and kinds of systems... that I read about in earthly literature.

But when it came to what I knew about the actual system and its rules within this world?

I held my breath as I tried my best to recount everything I knew, saw, heard or noticed before.

’A system can die. There are ranks to the system. Each system has a designated purpose, a goal...’

Even though I was still hiding my face in my hands, I squinted my eyes.

’Wait, a goal?’

While not pointing at anything related directly to the idea of a goal, the thought of it did bring back some memories of what Selia said about her own system.

"Didn’t she mention how her systems, her fates are already fulfilled?" I released my hands and looked up, staring at the empty box of my own system while scouring my memories for anything that could prove even most remotely useful.

’Systems are just guides to one’s fate.’

I gulped my saliva down.

’So, in a way... they are just a path one needs to take to reach their predetermined destiny.’

I blinked my eyes a few times.

After all the time I spent struggling to think of anything, figuring out such a major clue just like that?

It almost felt like cheating.

But heck, if given a cheat, how stupid would I have to be not to make proper use of it?

"That would mean systems aren’t a silver spoon for transmigrators and nobles to be born with in their mouth. What if..."

I swallowed hard.

"What if they are merely a path one walks to reach their destiny?"

The more I thought about it, the closer I looked at the system’s box, the more vibrant it appeared to be.

Almost as if trying to tell me that my thoughts were moving in the right direction.

Then, as if there weren’t enough hints for me to work with, another memory came up in my mind.

This time, a much younger one, from just before I fell asleep.

A memory of the topic that Selia hurriedly dismissed, only to then claim we would potentially talk about in some distant, unspecified future.

And with that memory mixing with the ideas I was already getting, I stood up and reached out for the system’s box, this time with a whole new load of confidence.

Then, as my finger brushed against the invisible foil of the system’s box, a short sentence written in raw light soon came to be.

"Upon touching the bare shoulder of the person he’s bound through fate with, the holder of this system shall gain the ability to..."

My finger froze.

So focused on trying to figure out the logic and rules of writing my own system, I didn’t pay any attention to what I actually wanted to achieve!

Sure, creating a prompt that would stick just like the system’s frame as opposed to all the texts that disappeared would be a success in its own right, but since I was already feeling it, then why not test it even further?

My finger moved again, writing up the second part of this now much longer sentence.

"... ability to perceive and manipulate the flames in his vicinity, even if he cannot see or interact with them directly."

The long line of text flashed and then froze just like all the prompts I’d written into the box before.

Yet, as seconds passed by...

The text refused to vanish, its light persisting just in the same way as the very borders of the area within which I wrote it all in!

"Did I do it?" I muttered to myself.

After a string of failures, it felt slightly unreal for things to actually work out.

And then, as if to chase away my doubts, some sort of golden power suddenly surged from within the very fabric of this space, only to rush forth and shoot through the air, right past me... before embedding itself into the text, turning its white, faint light into a vibrant, golden shine!