My Idle System

"Then, there are also people who have far more strength than normal, doing things you would never think possible."

Christian, arriving at this point, paused for a moment and looked at his sister, as even though he hadn't said much yet, he expected at least some hint of surprise. In the end, he was disappointed, as her expression didn't change at all. She remained unperturbed, giving him all her attention just the same.

He felt a little let down that he didn't see any expression of surprise or exclamation from her, but he still continued, trying to explain everything in more detail.

Christian didn't know, nor had he considered his own case, but Annabelle had long since noticed all these changes in him, so she was not surprised.

If her brother could be like this, then why couldn't there be others just the same?

She had reached this conclusion long before.

Most importantly, that there was a side of society that was hidden, and she hadn't known about it, she had long accepted this. Even before the changes in her brother started, now that she had received the confirmation, she just thought the hidden side was a little more than she had imagined, nothing more than that.

So, she just listened attentively as Christian talked about the ancient families, the mysterious department, and the special abilities that sometimes appeared in people, and things he had discovered along the way.

"Then, how did you find out about all these things?"

Annabelle, noticing that her brother hadn't said anything about himself yet, finally interrupted and asked. Her interest was more in him than in the damned world, after all.

"Actually, I was just going to talk about that."

"So, like I said, there are people with special abilities out there, and I'm also one of them."

"Or, well, I became one recently."

"My special ability lets me speed up my learning process, making it easier and faster to study things."

"So, I've been able to learn a lot more quickly."

Hearing his explanation, Annabelle felt like it could make sense at first, especially considering what he had done at school, with trading and now with AI. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

She first wondered why he hadn't told her about this until now, as she didn't see the subject itself as something that needed to be kept so secretive. She also didn't believe it was an issue of trust or anything like that. Then, why?

Annabelle felt a little hurt being kept in the dark like this, but in the end, she had already done enough by urging him to talk. She couldn't afford to be even pettier now, sulking or pointing things out. So, after pondering for a moment, she decided not to dwell on the issue anymore. What mattered was that he was finally opening up about everything, or at least, almost everything.

Anyway, going through what he had just said in her mind once more, Annabelle focused on the part about speeding things up. She began to ponder its exact mechanism. If it truly sped things up, wouldn't he still need to study at least a little? Yet, he hadn't shown any sign of doing that. Curious and hoping he would elaborate further, she decided to ask.

"By how much does it speed things up? And how is this special ability determined? Based on what? Like, why this particular kind of ability and not something else?"

While asking, she couldn't help but wonder, was it something like instantly learning everything the moment he set his eyes on it? Like a photographic memory, but taken further, where he not only remembered everything he saw but also fully understood it? If that were the case, though, she felt he should have accumulated far more knowledge by now.

She also felt that if his ability worked that way, whatever difficult situation he was facing right now should have been much easier to handle.

'Actually, thinking more carefully, there is still -.'

"It would accelerates things by maybe five times? Ten times? I'm not exactly sure about the exact number, as for why my special ability specifically relates to speeding up the process of learning..."

"Hmm, maybe it's about preference and need?"

While Annabelle was initially interrupted from her thoughts by Christian's answer, as she listened to his explanation, she began to feel like something was off, and especially so when he said the last sentence, she couldn't help but question what kind of nonsense he was spouting.

'Chris preferring study? There's nothing more unbelievable than this!'

If he had claimed a special ability that generated money, made him invincible, or anything else focused on results rather than the process, it would have been far more believable, after all, that sounded much more like him.

Annabelle couldn't help but breathe a little heavier, her chest rising and falling subtly, her eyes fixed on Christian with intensity, and though her actions didn't change anything, they still did momentarily distract him, especially with the deep neckline of her T-shirt.

In the end, while Annabelle, was unaware of the effect she had caused, she still eventually softened her expression, as she shifted her focus back to what Christian had said about the learning speed being five or ten times faster. That seemed a little more plausible to her now, after all.

At first, Christian's talk about studying had misdirected her, causing her to forget the changes his body had gone through. But as she recalled his recent eating habits- the times when he consumed nearly five times more food than usual, or perhaps even more, it started to make sense.

She felt there really had to be some connection here.

It was just that he was mixing some truths with lies, or perhaps he simply hadn't told her the whole truth.

In the first place, considering how his description seemed somewhat vague, maybe it was his way of letting her know that he still wasn't comfortable enough to talk about this particular subject just yet.

Of course, Christian hadn't thought that far. For him, he simply wanted to give his sister some idea about his ability with the Idle System. He didn't bother to think more deeply or try to be calculative with her.

Ultimately, Annabelle decided not to press him about his secret, or his special ability based on how he had explained it. It was fine if he wanted to hide something, as long as she understood what was really going on.

So, turning her attention back to him, and noticing his silence, as if he were waiting for her, Annabelle finally spoke, eager to hear the most important part.

"Alright, let's go with what you've said. Now, what happened next? How did you find out all of this?"

"Well, after gaining this special ability, I started learning many things, beginning with…"

Christian continued his story, first mentioning trading, which he no longer actively did since Iris took over the work, with him only supervising occasionally to make sure she didn't earn too much by accident.

He then spoke a little about school and the AI, before finally bringing up the topic of program hacking, which upon hearing, Annabelle finally interrupted, seemingly to confirm something.

"Hacking?"

And Christian seeing her expression finally change, surprise- no, even bewilderment, taking over. He felt a slight panic rise within him, worried about how she would perceive these actions. So, wanting to avoid ruining his image or giving her the wrong impression, he quickly explained his reasons.

"Yes, but you see, like I mentioned earlier, the world still has many hidden things. So, after I got my special ability, I realized that one should consider everything around him, especially for safety, and thinking carefully about it for a while, I decided that hacking would be the best method. It could also come in handy in many situations."

"So, with it, I..."

Annabelle, finally seeing that her brother had at least finished the first part of his explanation, couldn't help but interrupt before he moved on to something else. She leaned forward from her sitting place, fixing her gaze on him, and with a mixture of curiosity and concern etched across her features, she asked.

"Chris, why are you being this flustered?"

After her question, the room fell silent for a moment, before Christian finally seemed to gather his thoughts, or courage and said:

"Because it's illegal? Could be considered unethical?"

He gave his answer in a questioning tone, seemingly even unsure of the exact reason himself, so, Annabelle couldn't help but comment.

"What kind of ridiculous reason is this?"

"As long as you're not caught, I, of course, wouldn't mind or care."

"Most importantly, you didn't hurt any innocent person with what you did using hacking, right?"

Hearing what she said at first, Christian felt relieved, but then, upon hearing her question, he hurriedly replied.

"Of course not!"

And Annabelle, hearing his answer, followed just as quickly.

"Then, there would be no problem at all."