Feeling like something was wrong with his eyes, Michael raised his hand to rub them but couldn't because he was wearing 'VR glasses'.
The scene in front of him had suddenly changed just now, and he didn't understand what had happened. Looking around, it seemed he had just moved several dozen miles. The three people who had been very far from him earlier were now a lot closer. He had only squeezed the steering wheel a little, so how did it end up like this?
"System, what the hell is going on?"
[The maximum speed the magic lamp can move at your will is one hundred times the speed of sound. The harder you squeeze, the faster it goes, and vice versa. You were just using maximum speed, so it's only natural you couldn't see anything. Let me make a little adjustment to help you determine your position more easily.]
The system didn't explain in detail but secretly modified the 'VR glasses'. This way, the image would be easier to see. Even if he couldn't see clearly at maximum speed, he could at least determine the direction.
Besides being surprised by the speed, there was another thing causing Michael a huge headache. Now his sense of touch was practically useless, and he had no way of knowing if he was squeezing hard or soft.
"System, can you increase my tactile feedback a bit? Right now I have no way of feeling whether I just squeezed lightly or hard, man."
[…]
[Since it's not currently a punishment period, the system will temporarily restore all your senses. You can consider your previous experiences a trial version so you know to try hard not to get locked up, whether for ten years or a thousand.]
???
Was it really okay to say something so irresponsible? This was no different from Michael being punished unfairly from the moment he woke up until now without a single warning.
Feeling that all his senses had returned and were even many times better than when he was on Earth, Michael wasn't happy. Instead, his face showed clear displeasure.
"You have to compensate me. You can't just let me be punished unfairly like that."
[Fine…]
Even though the system agreed easily, for some reason Michael had a bad feeling about it. If the system had haggled or refused outright, he probably would've felt a lot more reasonable about it.
"What are you going to compensate me with?"
[Before compensation, I want to take back what I said. Before, I said I'd help you meet a god on the Sun & Sea continent, but now I don't want to anymore. Surely you don't have any objections, right?]
???
This damn thing definitely wasn't an AI. If it really was an AI, then Michael sure as hell wasn't a human or a god either.
"Fine, you win. Enough nonsense, they're about to get out of my sight."
Michael felt that if he kept arguing, he really couldn't beat the system. Might as well just surrender and chase after those three.
The system had said that among those three, none of them was the chosen one, and those three were injured… There were two scenarios with a high chance of happening.
One was that those three were pursuing the chosen one. The other was that those three were desperately trying to protect the chosen one.
No point in guessing too much, better to just go see directly. Just as he was about to fly, Michael suddenly realized a huge problem. Those people had such absurd power, if they attacked the magic lamp, what was he supposed to do?
"System, what if they attack me? Does the magic lamp have any defense mechanism? Those people look really strong, like unnaturally strong."
If you could fly at half the speed of sound, how could you be normal? And if he was a normal person and got hit by them while flying at that speed, he'd die without a doubt.
Being able to fly like that probably meant they also had many other attack methods. What could a useless genie like him, who also didn't have the right to interfere in this world, even do?
[You don't need to worry. The magic lamp is inviolable, so they can't see the magic lamp or hit it. Only the chosen one can see the magic lamp.]
Hearing the system's firm confirmation, Michael didn't hesitate anymore and immediately sped up. When he got close to them, he saw them exchanging something with each other, but he couldn't hear anything at all.
Getting closer and looking closely, the three of them were wearing very noble outfits but with extremely strange designs. A young man with golden hair at the front seemed to be the leader, and the two middle-aged men walking beside him also looked incredibly formidable.
The golden-haired man's outfit was a suit of golden armor, and there was a lot of gold on it. The fabric material also looked very nice and special, with excellent durability. It was clearly torn and shredded from battle, yet flying at such high speed still didn't tear it apart.
The middle-aged man standing on the right had long black hair and blazing eyes. His crimson battle armor mixed with black spots made it look like he himself was lava.
The other one, though also middle-aged, had a slimmer build. His face was handsome in a scholarly, delicate way, and his long silver hair gave him a somewhat divine appearance. He wore a suit of battle armor inlaid with some kind of gemstone that looked quite similar to chunks of ice.
Among the three, the leader was injured the most severely. Whether it was because he was the weakest or because the enemy had specifically targeted him, it ended up like this.
"System, is there a way for me to hear them talking as well as the surrounding sounds? Ah, I don't want to hear background noise, just the sounds I want to hear."
[You sure ask for a lot, but fine. Consider it a little compensation for earlier. This is a permanent feature, not a temporary one.]
A headset made entirely of copper was immediately automatically placed on Michael's head. Even though he had a bunch of stuff on his head, he didn't feel heavy at all. It felt a bit like wearing an ordinary hat.
In his ears right now, there was only the sound of light wind, not the roaring wind from moving at high speed. At the same time, the conversation of the three people became extremely clear in Michael's ears.