I woke up hot.
Not warm. Hot. The kind that makes your skin stick to fabric and your heartbeat echo behind your eyes.
I grunted and kicked the blanket off, rolling to one side and trying to find a cooler patch of sheet.
The house was quiet. Still.
I closed my eyes again, chasing the edges of sleep — but it didn't come. Something... shifted in the dark.
A semi-transparent blue rectangle hovered horizontally above me, just enough that I could see the ceiling through it.
Any lingering sleep vanished the moment I saw it.
I blinked. Once. Twice.
It didn't vanish. It was still there. Waiting.
I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the thoughts flooded in any way, too fast to hold back.
I'd read about this before. A hundred times.
In web novels. Fanfiction. Light novels. Fantasy RPGs.
A System.
It couldn't be.
But it looked like one.
Adjusting my eyes to the new light source, I focused on the words written across the middle of the rectangle.
[SYSTEM ONLINE]
My heart jumped.
I can't believe it.
I stared at the panel, its text unchanging.
I thought a single word — half in disbelief, half in hope.
'Status'
The panel changed, it expanded, and new data unfolded line by line.
[FAMILY SYSTEM]
________________________________
Name: Richard Russo
Age: 1
Race: Homo Magi
House: N/A
Position: Scion
Allegiance: N/A
Family Tree: -><-
Total Family Members: 7
________________________________
Wives: 0
Concubines: 0
Main line descendants: 0
Branch line descendants: 0
________________________________
Bloodline: N/A
Traits: N/A
________________________________
Talents: -><-
Affinities: -><-
________________________________
[House Structure: -><-]
[House Wealth: -><-]
________________________________
[Recognition: N/A]
[Reputation: N/A]
________________________________
Compatibility Index: -><-
________________________________
Tasks: -><-
________________________________
Body: 4.33
Mind: 25
Soul: 14
Mana: 584
________________________________
Strength- 4
Dexterity- 5
Constitution- 4
Intelligence- 24
Wisdom- 25
Spirit- 26
Charisma- 9
Charm- 7
________________________________
SI: -><-
________________________________
My breath caught.
What the hell was this?
My eyes flicked from row to row, trying to make sense of it all.
Homo Magi? Scion? Talents? Compatibility Index?
It was exactly what it looked like.
Not a hallucination.
Not a dream.
A real System. A real interface.
And then, I thought with a single word again.
'Hello?'
A second panel appeared.
[Greetings, Host.]
'Are you the system?'
[Yes.]
'What is this system?'
[This is the FAMILY SYSTEM. It is designed to facilitate the growth, development, and preservation of a family legacy.]
My heart skipped.
A shiver ran down my spine, not from fear but the possibilities.
'How do you facilitate it?'
[The FAMILY SYSTEM provides access to family-centric data, abilities, and enhancements. Including, but not limited to:
-Affinities
-Allegiance
-Bloodline
-Compatibility Index
-Family Tree
-House
-House Structure
-House Wealth
-Position
-Recognition
-Reputation
-System Inventory
-Stat Tracking
-Tasks
-Talents
-Traits]
I stared.
This wasn't a combat system. Not a Gacha. It's not a skill-tree simulator.
This was something else.
This was about legacy, family, generations, blood and bonds.
I leaned my back into the cot, heat forgotten.
This was what I always wanted.
Something to protect what matters.
It's a way to become the man, father, grandfather, and maybe even great-grandfather I've always wanted to be.
'Explain in detail, starting from the top.'
[Name: Richard Russo]
[Your registered personal identity.]
[Age: 1]
[Chronological age.]
[Race: Homo Magi]
[Species classification.]
[House: N/A]
[A formal family line with structure, territory, history, and influence.]
[Position: Scion]
[Designated role within your House.]
[Allegiance: N/A]
[Formal loyalty or binding ties to factions, noble orders, institutions, or ancestral pacts.]
[Alliance: N/A]
[Union formed for mutual benefit.]
[Family Tree: -><-]
[Known blood and relational network.]
[Total Family Members: 7]
[Current number of verified individuals connected to your family by blood or marriage.]
[Wives: 0]
[Recognized primary unions.]
[Concubines: 0]
[Recognized non-primary unions.]
[Main line descendants: 0 ]
[Direct offspring born from recognized primary unions.]
[Branch line descendants: 0]
[Descendants born from non-primary unions.]
[Bloodline: N/A]
[Refers to the inherited magical pattern or lineage signature present within a family or individual.]
[Traits: N/A]
[Individual characteristics that influence how a person interacts with the world—physically, mentally, magically, or socially.]
[Talents: -><-]
[Natural capacity to learn, master, and apply magical disciplines. It represents technical skill, learning speed, and adaptability.]
[Affinities: -><-]
[Innate emotional or spiritual connection to a magical domain, force, or concept. It reflects how naturally you resonate with a specific field of magic.]
[[House Structure: -><-]]
[Organizational framework and internal hierarchy of your family line. Defines how your House is arranged, led, and sustained across generations.]
[[House Wealth: -><-]]
[Dynamic metric that represents the total material, financial, and resource-based assets currently tied to your family line.]
[[Recognition: N/A]]
[Reflects how widely known or heard-of a magical House is within magical society.]
[[Reputation: N/A]]
[Reflecting how the magical world perceives your House based on public opinion, legacy, and myth.]
[Compatibility Index: -><-]
[Evaluates the viability and quality of a potential long-term partner based on emotional, genetic, magical, and strategic alignment with the Host.]
[Tasks: -><-]
[Objectives assigned by the Family System to support the growth, strength, and stability of your legacy.]
[Body:4.33]
[Body reflects your physical power, agility, and health.]
[Mind:25]
[Mind measures your mental capacity, judgment, and inner clarity.]
[Soul:14]
[Soul represents your presence, influence, and emotional force.]
[Mana:]
[Foundational resource for magical interaction.]
[Strength: 4]
[The ability to withstand force or pressure and exert power.]
[Dexterity: 5]
[The ability to perform a difficult action quickly and skilfully.]
[Constitution: 4]
[The overall physical state and well-being, general health and ability to withstand stress or illness.]
[Intelligence: 24]
[The ability to retain memories, mental capacity to think and learn.]
[Wisdom: 25]
[The ability to use knowledge, experience, and judgment to navigate life's challenges.]
[Spirit: 26]
[The quality of character, self-identity and willpower.]
[Charisma: 9]
[The ability to attract and influence others.]
[Charm: 7]
[The quality of attractiveness and allure.]
[SI: -><-]
[System's Inventory.]
I took a slow breath, letting the information settle in my mind.
Every line of that status screen — every category, every unexplored data point — told me the same thing: this wasn't a game. It was a blueprint. A framework for something bigger than myself.
And it was mine.
A quiet hum lingered in the back of my head, like the System was present but passive, waiting for input.
'Show System Inventory.'
A new panel opened immediately.
[System Inventory]
[Empty]
That made sense. I was a one-year-old with no possessions. Still, the confirmation made the system feel even more real.
I stared at the floating text, feeling a strange weight settle in my chest. Not fear. Not even anxiety.
Responsibility.
This system wasn't about gaining levels or farming experience points. It was about building something that could last—a family, a name, a legacy.
I thought again, carefully.
'Show Family Tree.'
The screen blinked.
A new window opened: a small branching diagram. Seven active nodes pulsed faintly—my immediate family—my parents and grandparents.
It was strange seeing my bloodline like this, so plainly visible.
I swallowed.
This was the beginning.
Not of a quest.
Not an adventure.
But something slower. Deeper. More personal.
It wasn't about being the strongest.
It was about being remembered.
'Why is the House section empty?'
[House has not been established yet.]
'Is that why House Structure and Wealth are greyed out?'
[Yes.]
'Is that the same reason for Recognition and Reputation?'
[Yes.]
I nodded to myself, absorbing it.
Most were locked right now.
Not locked by magic or power, but by status—by reality.
Nothing had been built yet.
Not a House. Not a name. Not a legacy.
But the system was giving me the tools to start.
'How does the Compatibility index work in practice?'
[All biologically female individuals within visible range will be logged into the Compatibility Index.]
[Profiles are only generated upon first visual contact. Each entry records emotional, magical, and genetic resonance patterns at the moment of observation.]
[Once logged, profiles remain accessible. However, data will only update when the Host sees the individual again.]
[The Host may review profiles at will. Filtering, ranking, and comparing individuals based on Compatibility Score or other parameters is supported.]
I let the information sink in, my thoughts heavy with implications I hadn't even begun to unpack.
A catalogue of people. Of women. Of potential futures — just by looking.
It was strange. Powerful. And more than a little overwhelming.
I wasn't even walking yet.
But this system... it didn't care.
It had already marked me as something else.
Scion.
Builder.
Patriarch-in-waiting.
I glanced again at the section that had frozen me more than anything else —
Wives: 0. Concubines: 0.
Plural.
Not a wife. Wives.
Not a concubine. Concubines.
I didn't even know how to begin wrapping my head around that.
Wife, sure — someday. A life partner. Maybe a soulmate, if I were lucky.
And concubines? That was something else entirely. Something out of old myths and empires.
But this wasn't talking about love stories. It was laying out logistics. Structures. Roles.
What kind of legacy was this system preparing me for?
I wasn't sure if I should be disturbed, amused... or deeply intimidated.
But the interface didn't flinch. It presented the data plainly, like it was just... normal.
Like this was expected of me.
I was one year old. I still drooled in my sleep.
And apparently, one day, I'd be managing marriage alliances and secondary bloodlines.
I stared up at the softly glowing panel, exhaling through my nose.
This wasn't just about stats and magic. It wasn't even about personal power.
This was about legacy, inheritance, and influence — the kind that shaped generations.
It was about names etched into family trees and whispered in histories long after the person was gone.
I didn't know if I wanted any of that. I didn't know if I could live the way this system seemed to assume I would.
But for now?
I had a path.
And whether I stumbled, crawled, or marched down it, it started here.
The panel faded from sight as soon as I stopped thinking about it.
I lay back, my breath slow, feeling the dampness of my sweat starting to cool now that the heat had lifted.
The room hadn't changed. The creak of old floorboards under the weight of a sleeping house. The faint rustle of leaves outside the window. The pipes still faintly creaked throughout the home.
And yet, everything was different.
I had magic in my blood. A System. A legacy to build.
I didn't know what it would ask of me or when, but it would come. There would be choices, sacrifices, and opportunities.
I was one year old.
Too young to walk, too small to carry the burden of a name.
But names were powerful. I know that. Names could open doors, close others, burn bridges and build kingdoms.
Maybe I wouldn't live long enough to see it all take shape.
Maybe I would.
But the path was mine.
The System might give me the framework, but the shape of my House and my future would be mine to carve—one decision at a time.
Thoughts, ideas, and theories flooded my mind.
I turned onto my side again as an all-encompassing tiredness consumed me.
I didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but I will take it slowly, steadily, and sanely.