Chương 9: Not Just Yet

Sizzle!

Mark suddenly came back to reality as he heard the sound of meatballs sizzling on the fire, and Art hurried to grab them off and brought them to the table before putting them beside the spaghetti. Mark sighed as he took his eyes away from the screen that had haunted him with the same message for more than four years now!

Ever since that day, Mark has tried everything he could to wake the system up! But nothing works! Mark did everything that he has seen characters in light novels do. He trained, he meditated and he even went to really dangerous places to try and see if the system needed him to be in danger before it could wake up. But all he ended up doing was putting himself in danger for no reason.

Trying to wake up the system was the entire reason why he even started fighting against Anima in eh first place. He thought that he could wake up the system by collecting stat points from killing Anima and passing some mysterious threshold, but after some time, Mark realized that this was also a waste of time. Now, he just fights against the Anima because he feels it is the right thing to do. Even though Mark doesn't have a system, he is still as strong as a regular A rank using only his regular human strength.

It was now that Mark really understood what the god of games meant when he said that Mark would be burning his future potential. Fighting against Armageddon was something that Mark could not regret because that bastard took away his parents from him. It had to pay! And Mark also knew that if he didn't do it, then the entire world would have crumbled and been destroyed. But in exchange for that, Mark gave up his blessings and it really sucked.

Mark had no blessings, and he also had no power; he was basically fighting against the Anima using nothing but pure physical strength from his superior body. With only this superior body, Mark could handle Disaster class Anima with some effort. That was enough for him to take care of many of the stray Anima that appeared around his vicinity.

Mark had no idea how long it would take for him to finally get his system back. He thought that it would have come back by now, but every year that he wishes for it to come back is only another year for him to feel disappointed when it doesn't come back. Mark would rather just stop wishing for something like that if it was only going to end up in disappointment every time!

Over time, Mark slowly allowed himself to forget about the god of games and his system, and he began to enjoy the life that he currently had with Arit. Mark closed the system tab that he opened and moved closer to the table with the food.

Once Mark smelled the food, he felt his mouth begin to water immediately! Arit was an amazing cook. She was probably one of the best cooks that he had ever seen in his life, and there was nothing that she made that Mark could say wasn't the best he tasted. Arit would always blush and deny that she was a good cook whenever he brought it up, but Mark knew that she was just being humble. She was damn good at cooking, and Mark knew that she wouldn't lose against any of those celebrity cooks that he sees on TV or anime.

Arit noticed how Mark was staring at her food, and she felt a giddy sensation fill her entire body as she tried to hide her smile. Making food like this every morning for them was very hard, and she had to wake up very early to do it. Most people would be completely shocked if they saw the amount of effort she put into waking up early just so that she could cook for Mark. She felt like a housewife trying to please her new husband whenever she did it, and she would always chuckle to herself when she thought about this while cooking.

But waking up that early was always worth it whenever she saw Mark looking at her food like that! Mark looked like the food was the best thing that he had ever seen in his life, and she knew that he would finish this entire dish on his own if she gave him the chance. He could eat enough food for three people on his own after all. The fact that Mark loved her food so much made her far happier than it should. Arit knew that she wouldn't mind a life where she made food for Mark every morning while he was going out to work.

Arit spoke up as she tried to hide her excitement.

"What are you doing standing there and watching me? Come sit down and eat before the food gets cold. And why are you still not well-dressed? How many times have I helped you with this already, and you still don't know how to knot your own tie?"

Mark raised his tie up and shrugged with a smile once she said this, and Arit sighed tiredly. Arit was already walking up to Mark, and she just grabbed the tie from him and began to help him knot it around his neck expertly.

Mark was extremely tall, so he basically towered over Arit. The feeling of having Arit hanging off his neck like this and helping him again was something that Mark always enjoyed! Did she really think he didn't know how to knot a tie? Of course, Mark knew how to knot a damn tie! Mark was an expert at knotting a tie. He could tie ten different styles of knots with his eyes closed and twenty with his eyes open. But he would never tell her that. Why would he want to ruin something as amazing as this by telling her that he could knot his own tie!? Mark looked down as he felt Arit's breasts brush against his chest and he had to force himself to control his little brother's reaction!

"You're really beautiful, you know. I keep telling you that, but you never take me seriously."

Mark smiled down at Arit as he said this, and he saw a blush rise on Arit's cheek as she finished knotting his tie and flattened it against his chest softly. Mark could see some acceptance flash across Arit's eyes, but she just shook her head and she chuckled slightly before smiling up at him as she spoke.

"You tell me I'm beautiful every other day, just like a lot of others. Anybody can say something like that, and I won't know if they're just saying it because they want me for my body or if they really like me. When you're serious, I'll know."

Mark could see the longing in Arit's face, and he knew that she was serious about what she said. There was no way she wouldn't accept him if he just pushed her down and kissed her right now. But Mark held himself back and just laughed off their atmosphere again as he started to move towards the table. Mark was still hesitant to bring Arit into the world of superhumans that he lived in. She was just a normal human, and she would never survive if she got into a bad situation from being with him! Mark was being as cautious as possible because he really cared about Arit! He pulled out a seat for Arit and grinned.

"Come on then, princess! Let's eat before we get late for school. You wouldn't want to ruin your perfect attendance, would you? I know you're just going to blame it on me if that happens, and I'm not going to take the blame for you making us late."

Arit frowned in annoyance as Mark said this before she just sighed and went to join him. She knew that he was holding himself back for some reason, and she was still curious about it! But she wouldn't rush him. She was willing to wait as long as it took for him to tell her what was wrong, and until then, this was enough for her.

[System functions Recovering…]

[Time Elapsed: 4 years: 1 day: 10 hours: 32 minutes: 15 seconds…]

[Time remaining: 0]

[System functions can be awakened. System Functions are being recalibrated. System functions are being recalibrated.]

[System Awakening -]

"Not just yet. Let's calm down a little."

[A/N: I know this will piss some people off, but just wait. I have a surprise waiting for you guys in future chapters]

A playful voice laughed jovially as it caressed the system and stopped the system recalibration. The God of Games released another joyful laugh as he looked into the possible future and saw something that would be far more entertaining for him. The system could not awaken yet. Not until all the pieces have been put in their right place.

[System functions temporarily stopped. System Awakening paused.]

All of the system messages that appeared immediately cleared out again before Mark could see them and a certain God of Games laughed with even more mirth as it slowly made itself scarce again.