I am going to be a god.
No—the god.
The kind who rides dragons made of lightning, whose shadow alone starts religions. The kind who builds floating cities because the ground just feels too ordinary. Who laughs in the face of logic and says, "I want a pocket dimension full of spicy noodles," and gets it.
"System," I said, arms folded like a conquering emperor, "open the military tab. I want to build a dragon army."
---
[Searching military assets...]
[...]
[Warning: Insufficient system access. Your current level does not permit large-scale military procurement.]
---
I blinked.
"Okay, then how about one dragon? A baby one. Toothless Junior."
---
[Access denied.]
[Due to World Will interference, summoning mythical-class creatures is prohibited at your current access level.]
---
My smile twitched. "Wait, what?"
---
[Explanation: The World Will of this realm is an active regulatory entity. It is aware of external foreign systems and is suppressing most functionalities to maintain balance.]
---
Something in my gut pulled tight.
"You're telling me this world is… aware?"
---
[Correct.]
[And deeply suspicious of you.]
---
I sat down—hard. The soft grass beneath me felt less like velvet and more like smug mockery.
---
[System Access Level: 1]
[System Sync: 4%]
[Gold Generation Rate: 1,000 gold/day (base income)]
---
"…That's it?" I muttered.
---
[Correction: That is quite generous. Most local beings earn less than 50 gold per month.]
---
I opened the shop panel again.
All the good stuff—the good good stuff—was locked behind shimmering tiles, grayed out like they were laughing at me.
A self-cleaning toothbrush? 200 gold.
A cloak of minor invisibility? 10,000 gold.
A dragon egg?
---
[Unavailable until System Level 5 and clearance from World Will.]
---
I groaned and flopped onto my back.
My dragon-riding, gold-throne-building dreams crumbled like a knockoff biscuit dunked too long in disappointment.
I cursed the World Will under my breath.
Then over it. Loudly. For a full minute.
"Tyrannical cosmic landlord," I muttered. "What's next, taxes?"
---
[Warning: Local tax laws do not exempt divine anomalies.]
---
I shut my eyes and let it all crash into me.
It wasn't just frustration—it was grief, slow and strange.
All that buildup. The dream. The system. The throne.
And now… bureaucracy?
No fanfare. No divine lightning. Just a spreadsheet that hated dragons.
A breeze passed over me. Gentle. Uncaring.
And for a moment, the weight of it all returned. The ceiling stains. Auntie's yelling. The way the world used to pretend I didn't matter.
I was here now, but still a glitch in someone else's story.
Still nobody.
I sat up slowly.
Laughed quietly.
Because despite everything?
I wasn't dying. I wasn't starving. I had clothes, a healthy body, a sarcastic system, and even a fruit basket.
And a thousand gold a day? That made me rich by local standards.
Fine. I could work with this.
"Alright," I sighed, "what can I buy right now that's actually useful?"
---
[Suggested Purchases (within budget):
• Basic World Knowledge Pack (Outskirts Edition): 500 gold
• Disguise Kit (Commoner Appearance): 200 gold
• Personal Hygiene Spell: 50 gold
• Beginner's Guide to Cultivation (Local Format): 1,500 gold
...]
---
"…You had me at 'hygiene spell' and 'sleep.' Let's do it."
I tapped the first one—Basic World Knowledge.
My gold ticked downward like the total on a magical checkout screen, and a warm shimmer slid across my skin.
Knowledge. Language. Local customs. They filtered into my mind—not like a jolt, but a fog. Half-familiar. Half-dreamed. Words I didn't know how I knew. Faces I'd never seen but somehow recognized.
---
Basic World Orientation (Outskirts Edition) – Acquired
[Region: Ravaryn Empire]
[Location: Eastern Sector, Eldwright Duchy]
[Current Position: Outer town vicinity — Verndale, a rural trade post near the Forest of Beasts]
[Local Power: Duke Arcturus Eldwright (Lv. 89) and Duchess Alura Nazaira Eldwright (Lv. 82)]
[Known Threats: Wild mana beasts (1–3 star), rogue cultivators, unlicensed bandits]
[Note: You are in a Class-C no-barrier region — avoid drawing attention.]
---
I blinked slowly.
"So basically," I murmured, "I'm near a monster-infested forest, in a rural zone with no barriers, and I just spent five hundred gold to learn that?"
Silence.
The kind that feels smug.
"You couldn't include, like, a map? Or maybe the meaning of life?"
---
[Upgrade available for Advanced Regional Map – 750 gold.]
[Remaining balance: 500 gold]
---
"Of course," I groaned, flopping back onto the dirt. "I can't even afford a sense of direction."
Above me, the sky stretched wide and painfully blue. Too serene. Too peaceful.
"Outskirts orientation," I whispered. "That's what I get. Outskirts knowledge. Outskirts budget."
I exhaled long and low, eyes following the drift of clouds.
"I don't know anything. Not the world. Not the people. Not even the body I'm in."
I let the words hang there. Not dramatic. Just honest.
I sat up again, dusting myself off, trying not to overthink things like "local threats" or "wild mana beasts."
Ahead, the Forest of Beasts loomed. Vast. Primal. Alive with the unknown.
But I wasn't starving.
I had gold.
I had a system.
And for now?
I had a foothold.
Even if the world was watching.
---
[End of Chapter 4]
---