Ethan stared at the notification floating in his vision.
[Do you want to steal? Yes / No]
The words hung there like a guillotine blade suspended above his neck. His hand trembled as he reached toward the interface, not from fear, but from the weight of the decision pressing down on him like a physical force.
For twenty-three years, he had been nothing.
A shadow. A ghost. A placeholder in other people's stories. His father-in-law despised him. His wife tolerated him. The servants pitied him. And Daniel Carter—this arrogant bastard standing three feet away—had just spent the last five minutes explaining, in excruciating detail, exactly why Ethan would never be anything but trash.
"…some people are simply born to be superior," Daniel was saying, his voice dripping with venom and contempt. "It's not your fault, really. It's just... genetics. Destiny. The heavens themselves have decided—"
Ethan's finger hovered over the notification.
Yes.
No.
Two words. Two futures. If he chose No, he would walk away. He would endure. He would survive another day as the pathetic son-in-law, the man everyone laughed at behind closed doors. He would continue to be the trash that everyone stepped on without a second thought.
If he chose Yes...
He didn't know.
That was the terrifying part. He didn't know what would happen. He didn't know if it would work. He didn't know if it would kill him. But he knew one thing with absolute certainty: He couldn't live like this anymore. Not like this. Never like this.
Ethan's jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed as memories flooded through his mind—every insult, every dismissal, every moment he had swallowed his pride and smiled. He thought about watching Daniel humiliate him in front of the entire city's elite. He thought about seeing the pity in Lin Yuhan's eyes.
His finger moved.
He chose Yes.
The world did not explode.
It imploded.
Something tore through his chest—not gently, but violently. It felt like electricity crackling beneath his skin, but wrong. Twisted. Painful. As if invisible hands were prying open his ribs and rewiring his bones from the inside out.
His vision blurred. Colors bled together. The banquet hall spun around him in nauseating circles.
For half a second, he tasted copper.
Blood.
His own blood.
His knees almost buckled, but he locked them in place through sheer force of will. If he fell, if he showed weakness, everything would be over before it started.
[Extracting Pride Aura… 10%]
The notification appeared in his vision, but it felt distant. Unreal. Like a dream he was watching from outside his body.
Daniel was still speaking, but his words were faltering now. "…some people are simply bor—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
His words died like a record skipping.
Something was wrong. He could feel it. A pressure. A pulling sensation. Like someone had hooked a chain around his soul and was dragging it out through his skin.
Ethan's fingers trembled—not from fear, but from the sheer force of power flooding into veins that were never meant to contain it. Heat surged up his spine like molten metal. It burned. It screamed. Every nerve ending was on fire.
He wanted to scream.
He didn't.
Instead, he breathed. Slowly. Deliberately. In through his nose. Out through his mouth.
[20% Extracted]
The pain intensified. It was like being electrocuted from the inside. Like his body was a lightning rod and the sky was pouring all its fury directly into his chest.
But beneath the pain, something else stirred.
Something darker.
Something that whispered to him in a voice that sounded like his own: Is this real? What if they see it? What if this kills me?
His heart hammered against his ribs. The world tilted. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead.
Then another thought followed.
Quieter than the others. But infinitely more dangerous: What if this is the only way I survive?
Shame flickered through him like a candle flame. He felt it. The thrill. The pleasure. Daniel's aura—bright, arrogant, suffocating—was being stripped away and pulled into him like a vacuum consuming everything in its path.
And Ethan liked it.
More than liked it.
He craved it.
The sensation of power flowing into him was intoxicating. It was like drowning for years and finally, finally taking a breath. Like stepping into sunlight after years in darkness.
Am I becoming a monster?
He swallowed hard. His throat was dry.
No. I'm becoming someone who refuses to die.
[30% Extracted — Successful]
The extraction stopped. The pain faded—not completely, it lingered like a bruise—but enough that Ethan could think again. He opened his eyes.
The banquet hall was still there. The guests were still there. Everything was exactly as it had been.
But something had changed.
The air felt different. Thinner. Like the pressure had shifted.
Daniel blinked, confusion crossing his face. For the first time that night, his smile wavered. Just slightly. But Ethan saw it.
Ethan reached for a wine glass.
His hand was steady now. Too steady. Like someone else was controlling it. Like the power he had stolen was already becoming part of him, integrating into his muscles, his reflexes, his very being.
He lifted the glass to his lips. The wine was sharp. Expensive. Bitter.
It tasted like victory.
He took a slow sip, savoring the moment. The crowd was watching now. He could feel their eyes on him. Confusion. Curiosity. Suspicion.
Daniel's brow furrowed. "What was that? What did you just—"
"You're right," Ethan said calmly, setting the glass down with deliberate precision. "I don't deserve to stand beside you."
The crowd leaned in, intrigued. Daniel's face relaxed. Relief flooded his features. He thought he had won. He thought Ethan was conceding.
He thought—
"…Because I stand in front of you now."
Silence.
Not gasps. Not whispers. Not even the sound of breathing.
Silence.
It swallowed the entire banquet hall like a living thing. Ethan could hear his own heartbeat. He could hear Daniel's breathing grow uneven. From somewhere far away, faint music continued playing—oblivious to the shift in fate happening here.
Daniel's smile froze. Then cracked.
"What nonsense are you—"
His voice cracked. Just slightly. But everyone heard it.
A woman in a red dress stepped back. An older cultivator narrowed his eyes, his hand moving instinctively to his cultivation core. Someone laughed nervously. The laugh died immediately. The silence swallowed it whole.
Daniel clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white. Why did his spiritual circulation feel… sluggish? Why did the pressure he always unconsciously emitted feel thinner? Weaker?
Ethan flexed his fingers.
Power responded. Raw. Obedient. It flowed through him like a second heartbeat. His muscles tightened under his suit. The fabric strained against his shoulders. He could feel the strength in his limbs now—real, tangible, undeniable.
Without warning, he placed one hand under the banquet table.
And lifted.
The massive hardwood table rose into the air as if it weighed nothing. Glasses slid across the surface. Plates shattered against the marble floor. Wine spilled like blood across the white stone.
A woman screamed.
Someone knocked over a chair in their haste to back away.
For three full seconds—
No one spoke. No one moved. No one breathed.
The table hung in the air, suspended by one hand, defying everything they knew about strength and cultivation.
Finally, a young man whispered: "…Did he just lift that with one hand?"
Ethan tilted his head slightly.
"Hm."
He looked at Daniel. His eyes were different now. Colder. Sharper. Like someone had replaced the weak, pathetic son-in-law with a predator wearing his face.
"Strange."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"I thought I wasn't talented."
A few guests actually choked. Someone coughed to hide a laugh. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Daniel's face drained of color. All the blood rushed out of his features, leaving him pale as a corpse.
"That's impossible," he snapped, his voice trembling. "You're Level One! You can't—"
Ethan felt the system pulse again.
[Luck Value Increased: 3 → 13] [Protagonist Destiny Fragment Acquired] [New Stat Unlocked: Fear Factor — 45%] [Daniel Carter's Confidence: 95% → 23%] [Lin Yuhan's Opinion: "Trash" → "Mysterious"]
The sensation was different this time. Less violent. More addictive. Like inhaling pure oxygen after drowning.
Ethan set the table down gently. It landed without a sound.
He straightened his cuffs with deliberate slowness, each movement calculated to maximize the psychological impact.
"Maybe," Ethan said lightly, "you misjudged me."
Daniel took a step back. He didn't mean to. His body just moved. And that terrified him more than anything. Because his body was responding to a threat.
And that threat was Ethan.
Across the hall, Lin Yuhan's breath caught.
She had lived with Ethan for three months. She had seen him hesitate when her father spoke. Seen him endure insults in silence. Seen him flinch at raised voices. Seen him shrink away from confrontation.
She had pitied him.
That was the worst part. She had pitied this man she was bound to by marriage.
But the man standing there now—
Was not shrinking.
He was expanding. Filling the room with his presence.
Her pulse quickened. Not just from shock. There was something in his eyes. Cold. Calculating. Dangerous. Like a predator that had finally decided to stop pretending to be prey.
Her fingers tightened unconsciously around her wine glass.
Who are you…?
She didn't realize she had whispered it. But she had. And somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice whispered back: Someone you should be afraid of.
Daniel forced himself to stand tall.
His pride wouldn't let him cower. Even though every instinct screamed at him to run.
"You think lifting a table changes anything?" he sneered, but his voice was hollow. Desperate.
Ethan stepped closer. Each step was measured. Controlled. Like a hunter approaching wounded prey.
"No," he agreed calmly.
Then his voice dropped—soft enough that only Daniel could fully hear. But not so soft that others couldn't catch fragments. Enough to make them lean in. Enough to make them desperate to know what he was saying.
"But you feeling weaker?"
A pause. A breath. A heartbeat.
"That changes everything."
Daniel's pupils shrank.
"How do you—"
He stopped. Because he did feel weaker. Not dramatically. Not obviously. But enough. Enough to know something had been taken. Enough to know that he was no longer the strongest person in this room.
Ethan smiled faintly.
Inside, his heart was racing like a hummingbird's wings. He was gambling. He had no idea how much he could steal. No idea if there were consequences. No idea if the system would turn on him.
But when he looked at Daniel—
He saw it.
Not a hero. Not destiny incarnate. Not the protagonist of this story.
Just a man. A frightened man.
And for the first time—
Daniel looked uncertain. Vulnerable. Mortal.
"Who are you?" Daniel demanded, and there was something new in his voice. Not arrogance. Not superiority.
Fear. Pure, primal fear.
Ethan met his eyes.
And in that moment, something shifted in the universe. A thread was cut. A destiny was rewritten. A protagonist was dethroned.
"I'm the variable," Ethan said quietly. His voice was soft, but it carried the weight of absolute certainty. "The one you didn't account for."
He stepped even closer. Daniel instinctively stepped back.
"And you?"
Ethan's smile sharpened into something dangerous.
"You're no longer the only protagonist in this city."
[Warning: Target's Fate Destabilizing.] [Further Extraction May Trigger Backlash.] [System Alert: Unknown Entity Detected.]
Ethan's smile faded slightly.
Backlash? Unknown entity?
The system flickered. Like it was afraid. Like it was warning him.
Before he could process what that meant—
Across the hall, an elderly man from the Azure Dragon Pavilion slowly stood up.
His movements were deliberate. Unhurried. But they commanded absolute attention.
His cultivation aura pressed outward like a tidal wave. It crashed against everyone in the room like a physical force. Weaker cultivators gasped. Some actually fell to their knees.
His gaze locked onto Ethan. Sharp. Piercing. Interested. Very, very interested.
The elder's eyes were ancient. They had seen empires rise and fall. They had witnessed miracles and horrors. And now they were looking at Ethan with an expression that was impossible to read.
"Well," the elder said slowly, his voice like grinding stone. "This just became… entertaining."
He smiled.
And in that smile was the promise of chaos.
The banquet hall erupted.
Not in violence. In confusion. Guests whispered frantically to each other. Some pulled out their communication devices. Others stared at Ethan with a mixture of fear and fascination.
Daniel stood frozen, his mind struggling to comprehend what had just happened. His pride aura—the very thing that defined him—had been stolen. By a trash son-in-law. By someone he had considered beneath his notice. By someone who was supposed to be powerless.
Lin Yuhan moved through the crowd, her eyes never leaving Ethan. She wanted to approach him. She wanted to ask him what was happening.
But something stopped her.
A voice in her head that whispered: He's not the man you married. He's someone else now. And you don't know if that's good or bad.
Ethan felt the weight of all those eyes on him. He felt the fear. The curiosity. The hunger for power that existed in every cultivator's heart.
He had made a mistake. He had revealed too much. He had shown his hand too early.
But he had also done something else: He had changed the game. He had made himself matter. And in a world where the weak were consumed by the strong, mattering was the first step to survival.
The elder from the Azure Dragon Pavilion continued to smile. He raised his wine glass in a subtle toast.
To Ethan. To the variable. To the man who had just rewritten destiny.
As the chaos continued around him, Ethan's mind was racing.
What have I done? I've painted a target on my back. Every cultivator in this city will want to know my secret. Every faction will want to recruit me or eliminate me. I've made enemies tonight. Powerful enemies.
But beneath the fear was something else. Something that had been dormant for twenty-three years.
Hope.
For the first time in his life, Ethan felt like he could actually win. Like he could actually matter. Like he could actually survive.
The system pulsed inside him.
[Plot Armor Stealer System: 45% Charged] [Extraction Capacity: Unlimited (Unknown)] [Warning: Each extraction increases visibility. Use with caution.] [Recommendation: Lay low for 48 hours.]
Ethan's jaw tightened.
Lay low. Right. Because that was going to be possible now. Not after what he had just done. Not after he had lifted a table with one hand. Not after he had stolen a Level Three cultivator's pride aura in front of fifty witnesses.
The only question now was: What would happen next?
The elder from the Azure Dragon Pavilion set down his wine glass.
He stood up. Slowly. Deliberately. Every eye in the room turned to him. Even Daniel forgot his humiliation for a moment.
The elder was one of the most powerful cultivators in the entire city. His name was whispered with reverence and fear. He had been cultivating for over two hundred years. He had seen countless geniuses rise and fall.
But he had never seen anything like this.
A trash son-in-law suddenly displaying strength that should have taken decades to cultivate. A man who could steal power itself. A variable in the equation.
The elder's smile widened.
"Young man," he said, his voice carrying across the entire banquet hall. "I don't believe we've been introduced."
He began walking toward Ethan. Each step was measured. Each step was a countdown. The crowd parted before him like water. No one wanted to be in the way of the Azure Dragon Pavilion's elder.
Ethan's heart hammered in his chest.
This was it. This was the moment where everything could change. Where he could be elevated to power. Or where he could be crushed like an insect.
The elder stopped three feet away from him. He looked down at Ethan with those ancient eyes.
And then he said something that made Ethan's blood run cold:
"I felt it. When you stole that aura. I felt something else. Something that shouldn't exist."
He paused.
"Tell me, young man. What exactly is that system of yours?"
Ethan's mouth went dry. The system flickered.
[Warning: Exposure Imminent.] [Recommendation: Flee or Fight.]
But Ethan didn't flee. And he didn't fight.
Instead, he smiled.
Because he had just realized something. The elder wasn't here to kill him. He was here because he was curious. And curiosity was a weapon Ethan could use.
"It's a secret," Ethan said calmly.
The elder's eyes narrowed.
"A secret?"
"A secret," Ethan confirmed.
The elder laughed. It was a sound like thunder.
"Oh, this is going to be interesting."
He turned to the crowd.
"Everyone out. Now."
The guests didn't hesitate. They fled like rats abandoning a sinking ship. Within seconds, only five people remained: Ethan. Daniel. Lin Yuhan. The Azure Dragon Pavilion's elder. And one other figure who had been watching from the shadows the entire time.
A figure whose presence Ethan had somehow missed.
The figure stepped forward.
And Ethan's blood turned to ice.
Because he recognized the aura. It was the same aura he had felt when he first activated the system. It was the aura of the person who had created the system.
The figure pulled back their hood.
And Ethan saw a face that looked exactly like his own.
But older. Scarred. Haunted.
"Hello," the figure said. "I've been waiting for you to activate the system."
"Who are you?" Ethan whispered.
The figure smiled sadly.
"I'm you. From the future."