The system wasn't being yelled at by Michael for the first time, so it didn't have any special reaction. Here, it was the one who did whatever it wanted, as long as it still did its job properly. Even a genie had no right to forbid it.
[Stop your nagging, because obviously I did the right thing. We've arrived at the point in time you wanted. For you, hasn't the time that passed been just like a blink of an eye? Even the words you wanted to yell at me, you only just now got them out of your mouth.]
The system really did speak reasonably. Every sentence, every word was the truth, but after hearing it, Michael wasn't happy.
"Damn it, that's your reason for smashing a giant hammer onto my head? Sure, I can't die here, but that doesn't mean I like getting hit by a hammer."
It was true that Michael himself wasn't harmed at all. As for 'mental damage,' that wasn't that important to him. But he was definitely annoyed and had to curse the system. Otherwise he wouldn't feel better.
[It was just one hammer to the head. Why are you acting like the sky is falling? This is the first time I've seen such a cowardly genie. What, are you afraid of hammers?]
"You… I'm not afraid of hammers. Forget it, let's stop talking about this. Where is our chosen one right now?"
Michael was a bit surprised that the system actually talked back to him. And not only did it talk back, it even dared to say that the 'great' genie Michael was afraid of a hammer. Even back when he was a fragile mortal who couldn't even lift a big hammer like that, he had never been afraid.
[It was quite far from where we were before, but it's close now. While you were 'sleeping soundly', I had the magic lamp fly to a spot near the chosen one.]
???
What the hell did it mean by sleeping soundly? It was clear Michael was knocked unconscious. Since when did the system know how to talk like that?
"Shut up with your nonsense. Let me see where we are."
Michael snorted and used the observation device to see where the magic lamp was now. He guessed it had been tossed around somewhere, because he didn't think the system was free enough to diligently control an indestructible object flying back and forth.
[…]
The system felt Michael was very shameless for saying that. Clearly the one doing the most talking here was him, not the system.
The moment Michael's vision changed, he saw a giant eye that made him jump in fright. But just a second later, the pupil shrank, revealing the owner's body, making Michael's mouth twitch.
"Damn it, why the hell is that fish pressing up against the magic lamp? It made me think I was in the lair of some giant energy monster or something."
Since there was a fish, this was probably some river or lake. Even if it was smaller, it would be a pond or a stream, not a puddle, because that fish was pretty big.
Michael immediately controlled the magic lamp to rise above the water to see where this was. Even though he was at the bottom, the water surface was very close; it took just a blink of an eye to get out.
As soon as he broke the water's surface, his field of vision became much wider. He also realized he had been in a small stream earlier.
He continued to increase altitude to get a broader view, but not long after, Michael noticed a small clearing in the forest. Not seeing clearly, it was just someone there. Looking closer, his eyes went wide, nearly popping out.
"What the hell? System, is that thing down there the chosen one who just turned three years old?"
Michael couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing because Leo now didn't look like a three-year-old kid at all.
His hair was definitely not messy but it was very strange. The main color was gold, but it was mixed with strands of blue hair, like a combination of his father and mother.
The hair thing was a bit odd, but his body was the bigger deal. His height was far beyond the norm for a three-year-old.
His body was chubby and plump with a big belly, yet his muscles were also huge. On his hands there were even many wounds left from training.
He used that three-year-old body to continuously throw punches at a tree trunk. Not sure if the tree trunk was quite soft or his fists were hard, but the bark was being punched off by him.
The appearance was very cute, the body was muscular, but it was a pity he didn't have proper clothes. Somehow Leo had found some pieces of torn fabric and patched them together to make pants, but there wasn't enough for a shirt.
The more Michael looked, the more he felt the situation was very wrong. A scenario he really didn't want to encounter had appeared in his mind.
[In just the blink of an eye, you don't recognize Leo anymore? Your memory is really bad… Ah no, I should say you're really stupid, since you forgot in just a blink.]
The system replied in a completely unserious manner, but Michael had gotten the answer he needed.
"System, do you see this as a normal three-year-old kid?"
After asking this, the bad feeling in Michael's heart grew stronger and stronger. He strongly suspected that the wish Leo made was something extremely outrageous for him.
[Of course he's three years old. You don't need to doubt the system's accuracy. Besides, Leo is the chosen one, not just any normal child.]
With the system answering like this, he grew even more suspicious that the thought in his head was true. If that was the case, then this first job was going to be extremely difficult.
At this moment, Leo suddenly looked up at the sky and squinted his eyes. A sharp gaze was fixed on the magic lamp, making Michael jump.
"System, what do we do now? What the hell is your script?"
[What else? It's not like everyone is an idiot like you, so just appear directly in front of him. The magic lamp already has the instruction manual tied to it for Leo to read.]
Seeing the system say that, Michael had no objections. Right now, what he cared about most was whether Leo was the kind of existence he was thinking of.