System Mission: Seduce the Final Boss [BL]-Chapter 37: Free... actually I’m not

Waking up, Blake felt... good.

No, way better than good.

Refreshed.

For a few seconds, he simply laid there, staring upward, letting the quiet settle around him.

Then it clicked.

Everything had been going smoothly lately. Suspiciously smoothly.

"...Right," he muttered under his breath, rolling onto his side.

The favorability level.

Ever since it had climbed, no, jumped to an eight, things had shifted in a way Blake couldn’t ignore, even if he wanted to.

The missions were still there, of course. The system wasn’t the kind to just disappear out of goodwill. But they felt... lighter, more specifically, less aggressive.

And most importantly, they weren’t coming as often.

Blake exhaled slowly, rubbing his face before pushing himself up.

"Finally," he mumbled.

For once, it felt like he could actually breathe.

He stretched, joints popping faintly, before getting out of bed and making his way toward the kitchen.

A faint hum slipped past his lips without him realizing it.

By the time he noticed, he was already halfway through cooking.

"...Huh."

Blake paused for a second, then shrugged.

He didn’t even remember the last time he’d felt relaxed enough to hum anything.

Spring vacation had started, and for once, it didn’t feel like a ticking clock.

It felt like time.

Actual, usable time.

Time to think.

Time to plan.

Time to figure things out without constantly being interrupted by some absurd mission or forced interaction.

He flipped something in the pan absentmindedly, gaze drifting.

’Mhh... I don’t want to meet Myles every day, but...’

He frowned slightly, considering it.

’I suppose... at least four times a week or something...’

The thought came too naturally

Blake paused mid-motion.

"...Wait."

Four times a week?

Since when was that his baseline?

He stared down at the pan, expression slowly twisting into something between confusion and mild disbelief.

"...What am I even thinking?"

And yet, he didn’t dismiss it or correct himself.

If anything, the idea stayed there, because he kind of had no choice.

Blake clicked his tongue softly and turned off the stove.

"Whatever," he muttered.

After eating, Blake moved back to his room, grabbing a notebook and a pen before sitting down at his desk.

For a moment, he just stared at the blank page.

Then he sighed.

"...Alright. Let’s try to make sense of this."

He started writing.

Slowly at first, then more steadily.

He needed to underline names and connections in the best way possible.

Fragments of information he had pieced together from forums, scattered discussions, half-remembered posts.

Asher Phoenix.

Blake underlined the name.

"Main character," he muttered quietly. "Nerdy, bullied guy turned hero... alter ego is Trail-X."

He tapped the pen against the paper.

From what he remembered, Asher wasn’t special at the beginning. Just another loser guy. Way smarter than average but somehow still underestimated by the teachers.

Until something changed.

Blake frowned.

"...Umm, I still don’t know what triggered it."

He scribbled a question mark next to the name.

Then moved on.

Alfred Hicth.

"CEO of AL-TECH," Blake murmured. "Side character that dies later on."

That was very important, since he remembered a depressive arc after a death, most definitely connected to Afred.

Because even though Alfred wasn’t the protagonist, he was one of those figures that seemed to exist in the background of everything.

Blake scratched his head.

"He helped Asher somehow," he said slowly. "But... it wasn’t obvious."

Not direct.

Not something the forum user could easily point to.

It was one of those vague, frustrating details that people speculated about endlessly.

Blake sighed and moved on.

Myles Cortez.

His pen paused for just a fraction of a second before writing the name.

"...Villain," Blake said quietly.

Alter ego: UD.

He underlined it.

Harder than necessary.

Myles wasn’t alone. That much Blake was sure of.

Back when he had been forced to keep an eye on him in that abandoned fabric, there had been others, just as scary.

So whatever Myles was doing, it wasn’t a solo act, or at least not completely.

Blake leaned back slightly, exhaling.

"...Okay."

Now came the hard part.

Connecting everything.

"Asher probably met Alfred at SSRT..." he muttered.

The tower.

The one place Blake technically had access to, through something he didn’t even fully understand yet.

"...SSRT tower..."

He frowned deeper.

After digging through whatever scraps of information he could find, one thing had become clear.

That place wasn’t normal.

Research.

A lot of it.

And not the kind you’d expect from a regular corporation.

"...Aliens," Blake said flatly.

Even now, saying it out loud felt ridiculous.

But everything pointed to it.

The kind of tech.

The kind of rumors.

The kind of... anomalies.

Blake tapped the pen against the page again, slower this time.

"Asher has abilities..."

That part was certain.

But what kind?

"...No clue, honestly," Blake admitted.

Which made sense.

If those powers were connected to whatever was going on in SSRT...

Then they weren’t something a normal person could just grasp overnight.

Blake stared at the page for a moment longer, then exhaled.

"...And then there’s Myles."

His grip on the pen tightened slightly.

"In the novel... his normal identity was not described that well."

That wasn’t even an exaggeration.

It was like comparing two entirely separate people.

The Myles Blake knew, and the one described in forums.

"...Over two meters tall," Blake muttered. "Metal suit... completely altered appearance..."

He leaned back, frowning.

UD didn’t just look different.

He felt different, even from secondhand descriptions.

"...I can’t even tell if they’re powers or just tech," Blake admitted.

From what people had said, UD used weapons that didn’t exist.

Things that sounded straight out of science fiction.

Which meant, either he had powers.

Or he had access to technology far beyond anything publicly known.

Blake exhaled slowly.

"...Or both?"

The room fell quiet again.

Then, after a moment, Blake reached into his pocket.

Carefully, he pulled out the ring.

Or—

What currently looked like a broken bracelet.

He turned it over in his hand, studying it.

"...I need those blueprints," he muttered.

That much was certain.

He had to open this ring.

Blake shifted in his chair, holding it up to the light.

He rotated it slowly.

"...Huh?"

He paused, from a certain angle...

"...That looks familiar."

Blake narrowed his eyes.

The shape, the pattern...

He turned his phone on and searched it fir the umpteenth time.

"...Huh..."

His posture straightened slightly.

"It’s like the symbol of SSRT tower..."

But not exactly, since it looked like a warped, distorted sun.

Like something had twisted it out of shape.

Blake turned the bracelet again.

"...This one’s... less warped."

It was still clearly connected, but not as useful as he expected.

"...So what does that mean?"

He frowned, thinking.

Blake leaned forward, grabbing his notebook again.

"Think like a sci-fi author," he muttered.

He started sketching.

Different variations of the symbol.

Rotations.

Simplifications.

Combinations.

But nothing really convinced him or gave any ideas.

"...This is useless," he sighed after a while.

He didn’t even know how the thing worked.

Guessing blindly wasn’t getting him anywhere.

Blake leaned back again, staring at the bracelet.

"...The warp..."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

It was there too.

Much less than the original symbol, but not gone entirely or anything.

"...What if..."

He hesitated.

Then grimaced slightly.

"I really hope I don’t break this."

Carefully, he adjusted his grip.

There was a small inner section, something that looked like it could rotate.

Or be pulled.

Blake took a breath.

Then, he pulled.

Click.

For a split second, nothing happened.

Then...

"—!"

Heat.

A sudden, intense surge of heat shot through the metal.

"Ouch!"

He immediately let go as he flinched, the bracelet clattering onto the desk.

"Ah, what the hell?!"

He shook his hand, wincing.

"That actually hurt—"

He stopped mid-sentence.

The bracelet had changed.

"...What?"

Slowly, cautiously, Blake leaned closer.

It had unfolded, no, shifted, into a different shape.

It was like the warped sun.

And at its center... an empty space?

Blake swallowed.

He turned it over.

On the back there was the sapphire.

The same one as before, embedded at the center.

"...But..."

He flipped it again.

The front carving, it definitely wasn’t complete.

"Does it need another piece to finally have those damn blueprints out?" Blake murmured.

He most likely needed another sapphire.

He leaned back slowly, staring at it.

"...Where am I supposed to find that?"

The room felt quieter now.

Blake ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply.

"...Think."

His mind drifted back to the plot.

To timelines.

To events.

"...When did Alfred die?"

Because that mattered.

If Alfred was the owner of SSRT...

And Myles, in the novel, had to go through the same process as this...

"...It all connects back to that damn tower."

Blake’s thoughts tightened, narrowing.

Everything circled around that place.

Ding.

Blake froze.

"...No. Nope. Absolutely not."

A translucent screen flickered into existence in front of him.

[ Mission: Steal the missing part of Ennora’s ring. ]

[ Time limit: 7 days ]

[ Penalty: ??? ]

[ Reward: Skill from spinning wheel. ]

Silence filled the room.

Blake stared at the screen.

Then at the weird warped ring.

Then back at the screen.

"...Of course," he muttered.

Of course it would show up now.

Blake leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"...Seven days, huh..."

His gaze slowly lowered, exhaling quietly.

"...Guess I don’t get to relax after all."