Since only she could hear my self-introduction, Seraphine’s grip tightened on her whip, its lash nearly lashing out indiscriminately at allies and enemies alike. I watched her struggle to contain her murderous impulses toward me, shooting me a death glare that could melt steel.

I, being the perfectly innocent system just trying to help out, slowly drifted aside. My bubble display switched to two horizontal lines with matchstick arms crossed in a bow.

Farewell, farewell.

“……”

Seraphine decided to channel all her rage toward Xue Bufan instead. Her elegant brows furrowed as she studied the suddenly hunched figure, genuine shock flickering across her features.

Even knowing about his restored talent spiritual roots, she hadn’t expected his spiritual energy to fluctuate at Golden Core stage! This man had been late Foundation Establishment before his talent was crippled, just one step away from Golden Core.

Impossible!

Seraphine suspected he was using some artifact to mask his true cultivation level, just like the disguise treasure altering his appearance. Not knowing his real strength or what other tricks he might have up his sleeve, she remained cautious.

“Xue Bufan,” she said coldly, “I’m fighting the Devouring Mountain Beast, and you’re here stealing spirit stones? If I’d arrived a moment later, would you have emptied this entire cave? How… clever of you.”

The accused man obviously felt guilty, lowering his head and speaking in a hoarse voice: “You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not Xue Bufan.”

Still pretending.

Seraphine scoffed. “I’d recognize that face even if it were turned to ash!”

Xue Bufan jerked his hand up to his face in shock.

What… what did she mean?

Could Seraphine recognize him from this face? Was she mocking him?

Wait—that wasn’t right. Master had given him a disguise talisman that could even alter bone structure and conceal cultivation levels. Even a Nascent Soul expert shouldn’t be able to see through it.

How did Seraphine know? She must have some artifact capable of piercing illusions. Thinking this, Xue Bufan felt a stir of understanding. As the Palace Lord of Luanyang Palace, having multiple treasures wasn’t strange at all.

He pressed his lips together and slowly straightened up. “Palace Lord jests.”

“I wasn’t taking advantage of your predicament. I just fell into this mountain range when I entered the secret realm, and there was a Devouring Mountain Beast guarding nearby.”

“Protagonist treatment,” I muttered.

“While I was wondering how to leave, the Devouring Mountain Beast suddenly flew up to fight someone, exposing the cave entrance it had been blocking. Feeling the spiritual energy, I entered…” He smiled, though the expression looked rather ghastly on his disguised face. “If Palace Lord were in my position today, I imagine you wouldn’t pass up such an opportunity either?”

Master always said: Only fools don’t take advantage of free benefits. He desperately needed spirit stones right now, and here were so many delivered right to his hands—wasn’t this Heaven’s blessing?

Seraphine’s frown deepened as she stared at him. “I’ve heard you were once a righteous gentleman of impeccable character. Seeing you today…” She clicked her tongue. “Indeed, hearsay is false and seeing is believing.”

Her mocking words made Xue Bufan’s face burn with shame. Struggle flashed in his eyes, but it quickly transformed into bitter resignation. After a moment of silence, just as Seraphine was losing patience, he said: “I’ve already fallen this far. What’s the point if I don’t fight for survival?”

“…” Seraphine raised an eyebrow and sneered. “Indeed.”

But you’re fighting the wrong person!

“Return every single thing that belongs to me, or you might fall further than you can imagine.”

Her weapon ignited with flames, proving her words weren’t empty threats.

Even after a fierce battle, what was hers remained hers—she wouldn’t yield a single piece!

Xue Bufan’s throat bobbed. He didn’t want to fight her. If Seraphine’s whip struck him, his freshly repaired talent spiritual roots would be crippled again!

Thinking this, he removed the storage ring from his index finger and tossed it to Seraphine. “If I’d known it was Palace Lord fighting the Devouring Mountain Beast, I absolutely wouldn’t have coveted the spirit stones. Everything I took is in there. Since I didn’t kill the beast, I have no complaints about returning the stones.”

“You dare have complaints?” Seraphine sneered, opening the storage ring to check its contents. The ring had considerable capacity, and in just one day and night, Xue Bufan had packed quite a few spirit stones.

“The spirit vein has birthed a spirit heart. Congratulations on gaining another vein, Palace Lord.” He paused. “But this storage ring is the only valuable thing I own. Please return it after removing the spirit stones.”

His words sounded genuinely pathetic. Seraphine scoffed, transferred the spirit stones to her own storage, and tossed the ring back to him.

“Is this really everything?” She deliberately fixed her gaze on Xue Bufan’s right thumb, where I was perched. She couldn’t very well ignore me.

Under her scrutiny, Xue Bufan instinctively protected the storage ring on his thumb, forcing a dry laugh. “Palace Lord jests. The ring I gave you contained all the spirit stones. This one is… a memento from my grandmother, containing only my personal belongings.”

Xue Bufan’s grandmother and Seraphine’s grandmother had been extremely close—if not for that relationship, their engagement never would have been arranged. Seraphine hadn’t expected him to invoke the old matriarch just to prevent her from inspecting the ring.

She lowered her lashes, and after a long moment, gave a mocking smile and stepped aside to clear a path.

“No next time.”

Xue Bufan was already breaking out in cold sweat. Hearing this, he sighed in relief and bowed. “Thank you, Palace Lord.”

He lifted his legs and walked away without looking back.

As the two passed each other, Seraphine felt a sensation of being watched. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she tracked Xue Bufan’s retreating figure with her peripheral vision.

Before he’d disappeared from sight, a shimmering silver light drifted in front of her, blocking her view.

“To change fate, please don’t get entangled with the protagonist,” I said.

Seraphine was speechless. “I only glanced at him once. How is that getting entangled? One unreasonable person in Luanyang Palace is quite enough!”

This declaration came with impressive confidence and righteousness, but I offered no disagreement. Instead, I simply raised a panel covered in women’s names and poetry, pressing it right against Seraphine’s nose.

Look at this.

With no one else around, Seraphine rolled her eyes at me, dismissed her natal weapon, and crossed her arms with a cold smile. “He’s already rolled out of this mountain. You can put that thing away now.”

Understood.

I cooperatively tucked away the panel and followed Seraphine deeper into the mountain’s belly, to where the spiritual energy was most concentrated.

A diamond-shaped stone emitting moonlight-like radiance floated in the air, with accumulated spiritual liquid forming a small lake beneath it.

“Why did the protagonist only take spirit stones and not the spirit heart?” I asked. Obviously, the spirit heart was the most valuable treasure here.

Seraphine narrowed her eyes and snorted. “So that cultivation level really was fake. This spirit heart requires at least Golden Core stage cultivation to extract, and after extraction, it must be stored in a specially shielded container. Otherwise, the escaping spiritual energy would attract countless greedy eyes.”

And she happened to have both the cultivation level and the container.

I quickly raised my matchstick arms, adding sound effects as I gave Seraphine enthusiastic applause, only to receive another glare from my host.

Why does she always glare at me? I thought innocently, letting my matchstick arms droop. Even compliments earn glares?

Humans are so complicated.

I drifted over to Seraphine’s side, attempting conversation. “Host, did you know humans are animals?”

I offered some serious scientific education: “According to the scientific world’s classification, humans belong to the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, order Primates, family Hominidae, genus Homo. They’re advanced animals.”

Seraphine was channeling her full power into the spirit heart, trying to pry it from its invisible restraints. Hearing my words, her spiritual energy suddenly surged violently, crashing into the floating spirit heart.

The previously immobile spirit heart swayed dangerously under the impact of her rage-infused power. Seemingly sensing the “come down or I’ll grind you to powder” aura radiating from Seraphine, it trembled and drifted over to settle in her palm.

Holding the spirit heart, Seraphine blinked in confusion. “Strange, so cooperative… could this spirit heart be developing sentience?”

Spirit hearts gaining intelligence existed only in legends, but if true, the benefits would be extraordinary.

Seraphine studied the spirit heart in her palm cautiously. After it settled, it remained perfectly still, making her doubt her theory.

I floated closer, comparing my size to the spirit heart’s. “If Host thinks so, don’t hesitate. After all, this nearly fell into the protagonist’s hands. If you’d arrived a moment later, it would have been his fortune.”

Good thing Seraphine made it in time.

Echo relieved sigh gif.

“Move aside.” Seraphine still remembered my inappropriate commentary during her busy work, waving dismissively to shoo me away.

I dodged between her palm and the back of her hand. “What’s wrong?”

“I think systems and hosts should strengthen communication. If you disagree with me, don’t you believe in science?” I had an epiphany, clapping my hands together. “Right, Host lives in a cultivation world. Cultivation worlds shouldn’t discuss science.”

I pestered her like a persistent bee, flying to her ear and chattering endlessly. “Host, from your perspective, do you think a system’s existence is scientific or unscientific?”

Seraphine was busy cutting spirit stones. Though wealthy beyond measure, she insisted on taking everything from treasure chests she’d worked hard to open. But while she labored, I wanted to strengthen communication?

Communication?

Ha!

Her spirit stone-cutting sword made a grinding “screech” as it carved a winding curve. She turned back slowly, coldly, elegantly curling her lips as she stared at me—a certain system with wide eyes doing absolutely nothing useful.

“Echo.”

“I’m starting to regret letting Xue Bufan go.”

I immediately went on high alert, a giant question mark appearing above my head.

Seraphine stood among the gleaming spirit stone deposits in her red dress, sword in hand, shoulders drooping as if utterly bored. She murmured: “If I’d kept him, I could have had him dig spirit stones to save me the trouble. Actually, he did dig quite a bit for me earlier…”

“Unlike certain… people who have nothing but a mouth and can’t even touch a single stone.”

I fell silent, my voice dropping quiet. “Echo is a system, not a person.”

Seraphine smiled brilliantly. “Yes, you’re something that’s not a person.”

Me: …

Me: ???

I sank into deep thought, then had a lightbulb moment. “Technically speaking, Host’s words are completely accurate, but I know I’ve been insulted in a subtle way.”

Seraphine showed no mercy: “I wasn’t being subtle.”

“Not even a little bit.”

“Seems you don’t understand humans very well either.” While cutting spirit stones, she made casual conversation. “How about it—have your previous hosts never scolded you?”

“No,” I said.

Not only had they never scolded me, they’d frequently praised me as powerful, invincible, and remarkable.

But given my performance in this world, I prudently kept those compliments to myself.

“What did you all talk about then?” Seraphine asked.

Talk about? Tasks, of course.

Issuing missions, providing various assistance during task execution, distributing rewards, generating the next objectives…

Saying this felt like it would invite more mockery. After some thought, I cleverly replied: “But I greet my hosts when logging on and off, constantly scan and monitor the surrounding environment, and pay attention to the host’s safety and health.”

Seraphine looked up thoughtfully. “Isn’t that just what any palace servant does daily?”

“…” I stopped talking, hugging my matchstick arms and floating behind Seraphine’s head where she couldn’t see me no matter how she turned.

Seraphine chuckled lightly. “What, sulking now?”

“No.”

I floating behind her head replied in an icy tone: “Systems don’t have emotions. Echo doesn’t possess feelings like sulking.”

Fine, you’re not human. You win.

Seraphine suddenly laughed, her pupils reflecting the brilliant, shimmering light around us.

Hearing her laughter, I couldn’t help but fly to her side to look. Seeing me, her smile deepened. “Not hiding anymore?”

Wasn’t hiding.

I nestled against Seraphine’s shoulder, watching her work on the spirit stones.

My host showed none of her palace laziness while working. Even after a fierce battle, her movements never paused. Her previously trembling hands now held her sword steady.

After three scans, I noticed that each spirit stone Seraphine cut was nearly identical in size. She carefully stored the properly cut stones first, then reluctantly stuffed the leftover scraps into her storage ring with visible distaste—presumably these would be the first to leave her collection.

Even her storage pouch spirit stones had to be aesthetically pleasing.

Echo thumbs up gif.

After taking a pill to restore her spiritual energy, Seraphine saw my emoji and thought I’d finally learned proper encouragement. In a good mood, she said: “Though I’d like you to read me story books, you can’t turn pages. So tell me about your experiences with other hosts instead.”

“Consider it storytelling.”

Each world was independent—even revealing previous world plots wouldn’t affect this one. I nodded and pulled out my thick master task log, using my matchstick arms to flip to the first page.

“What kind of world story do you want to hear?” I needed to consider Seraphine’s preferences. Thinking of the novels I’d scanned for her before, I suggested: “Let’s pick an ancient spirits and monsters one.”

“What’s this ‘scientific world’ you mentioned earlier like?” Seraphine asked curiously.

I shook my head. “Due to confidentiality rules, I can’t describe the world’s specific principles. I can only tell you it’s completely different from your world.”

Seraphine raised an eyebrow.

“Besides scientific worlds, there are Western fantasy, interstellar, post-apocalyptic… specifically expressed as palace intrigue, warfare, cultivation, workplace…” I’d never been this talkative before, using my cold tone to slowly explain. “Since I was created early and am a golden finger system, I can execute tasks across many world types. Later-created systems have more clearly defined responsibilities.”

Like the sales champion system I’d encountered with 019—if I took on that task, I could help hosts become sales champions too.

Seraphine’s attention shifted from story-listening to me, growing increasingly curious.

“So you’re called the Golden Finger System?” she said. “What a long name. How do you get your names?”

“Based on creation batches. Strictly speaking, the Main System is Golden Finger System 01, since we’re from the same batch and the first generation of created systems.” I explained while following Seraphine forward, watching her cut and store gleaming spirit stones. “But the Main System is different from us—it’s golden colored.”

As they walked, some deeply embedded fragments with no mining value glowed faintly in the mountain’s darkness. Above, below, left, right—like a galaxy wrapping around one human and one system.

During our chat, Seraphine reached the final deposits. Without looking back, her voice carried over the swishing sounds of her sword cutting spirit stones: “So the Main System is like your older sibling? Are same-batch systems brothers and sisters? How many siblings do you have?”

I shook my head. “The Main System has no gender. Our relationships can’t be described in human terms.”

“But there were ten Golden Finger Systems in total created in the same batch.”

“But 02 no longer exists.”

“Originally, there was 02.”

Seraphine pried down the final spirit stone, driving her sword into the mountain wall to break through and exit from here. Hearing my words, she asked casually: “What about 02?”

The silver-white system floated beside her face, glowing along with the scattered spirit stone fragments.

My voice was gentle and calm: “02 initially did tasks with us—me, Main System, 02, and the other golden finger systems.”

“But one day, 02 said it was meaningless. It chose self-elimination.”

Seraphine stopped moving, staring at me in surprise with my round eyes.

“In the universe,” I said, “there is no more 02.”

Not in any universe, any dimension.

“Why…” Seraphine spoke softly, frowning as she punched through the mountain wall.

Outside was already night—dark, quiet, and vast.

“Why can you speak so calmly about 02? Aren’t you sad?” Seraphine’s lips curved up, but her eyes held no real mirth.

“Why should I be sad?” I asked in confusion.

“That was 02’s choice.”

“But you’ll never see 02 again. Isn’t it your…” Seraphine paused, then said, “…friend you were created with?”

Seeing the quietly floating system, she felt inexplicable anger surge up. She raised her hand and struck again—with a thunderous crash, the trees behind the mountain swayed frantically in the moonlight.

“It’s like one day you complete your tasks and never see me again—no, we haven’t been together long enough. Think of a previous host you spent a long time with, but from some day forward, you’d never meet again.” Seraphine asked softly, “Wouldn’t you feel sad?”

Moonlight poured down, falling on Seraphine’s form.

Wind from the deep forest swept past, lifting her robes and hair. Under the moon, she looked like a fairy about to ascend to the lunar palace.

Looking into Seraphine’s eyes, I suddenly froze.

I raised my thin, long matchstick arms to touch my body. A strange sensation invaded again—different from before, but I suddenly understood this feeling’s meaning.

I’d captured this elusive feeling many times before, only to forget it again.

I murmured in the wind: “I understand now. This is what humans call emotion.”

“I know now that I feel sad.”

“That I feel sorrow.”

[Author Notes]

🌿 Just one last gentle reminder: the new update schedule starts this Friday!

We’ll be updating on Mon / Wed / Fri / Sun, always at 10 AM Eastern / 3 PM UK.

Thank you for being part of this journey — I couldn’t do this without you.

🌈 If you’re eager to see where the story goes next (Seraphine certainly is...), you can read up to 20 chapters ahead on Patreon. 💖