The moment Sophie and Lily disappeared through their front door, Dan remained outside for a few seconds, watching them from the doorway.
Lily’s small figure stayed close to her mother’s side as they walked across the short distance between their houses, occasionally glancing back at him and waving her little hand.
Dan raised his hand and waved back in response.
Sophie noticed and gave him a small smile before placing a hand on Lily’s shoulder and guiding her inside.
Only after the door closed did Dan finally pull his gaze away. He stepped back into his house and gently closed his own door, the familiar quiet of the evening settling around him once again.
He stood there for a moment. His hand unconsciously moved toward the dressing on his jaw.
The wound was no longer bothering him as much, and the soreness in his chest had already begun to fade beneath the cold compress Sophie had given him.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Sophie really hadn’t changed much. She was still just as attentive as he remembered, carrying that same calm confidence whenever she took care of someone.
Even after all these years, even after she had given birth to another man’s child, being around her had felt strangely natural. Almost too natural.
Dan couldn’t quite explain it. Part of him felt at ease in her presence, while another part couldn’t help but feel conflicted by everything that had happened between them. The familiarity was comforting, yet somehow, it also left him with a strange mixture of emotions he wasn’t ready to name.
Dan shook his head and turned away from the door.
He had barely taken two steps when the voice of an amused woman suddenly echoed inside his mind.
[What an interesting dynamic.]
Dan stopped, his expression changed instantly.
The voice was unfamiliar and It wasn’t coming from anywhere around him.
He did hear it with his ears, yet he had heard it as clearly as if someone were standing directly beside him.
[Now I’m curious... What should I gift you, mortal?]
’Have I finally gone nuts?!!’ Dan slowly turned his head, looking around the empty room.
There was nobody there. His brows furrowed.
"What?"
For a moment, there was silence.
Then the feminine voice spoke again, carrying an almost playful quality that made the entire situation even more bizarre.
[A system should be okay.]
Dan’s expression became increasingly confused. ’A system? What the fuck is going on, why am I hearing things?!’
He glanced toward the front door, then toward the windows, half expecting someone to be playing some kind of prank on him. But the house was completely quiet.
Before he could make sense of what was happening, the voice continued.
[Prepare well for the incoming apocalypse.]
[This should be interesting.]
Dan froze. "Apocalypse?"
The word immediately wiped the faint smile from his face.
He stared blankly into the room in shock as his mind struggled to process what he had just heard.
An unknown woman’s voice had suddenly appeared inside his head, spoken to him as though she knew him, mentioned giving him a system, and then casually warned him about an incoming apocalypse.
It was too much information to process at once.
"What the hell...?" He frowned deeply.
Was he hallucinating? Had someone slipped something into his food? Was this some kind of prank?
Dan hadn’t even finished forming the thought when a clear mechanical sound suddenly rang inside his mind.
<Ding!>
Dan’s entire body stiffened. A translucent panel suddenly appeared in front of him.
He instinctively stepped backward. "What the—"
Another panel appeared. Then another.
Within seconds, several floating screens had materialized around him, each one glowing faintly in the air. They weren’t projected onto the walls or coming from any device he could identify. They simply existed in front of him, translucent and impossible to touch.
Dan stared at them in disbelief.
His first instinct was to reach out and swipe one away.
His hand passed straight through it. His expression became even more bewildered.
Then the first notification appeared.
[Congratulations, Daniel Reynolds!]
[You’ve been gifted the Ultimate Family System!]
Dan stared at the words. ’Daniel...?’
His eyes widened slightly. Whatever It was, It knew his name, and after being called Dan for short by almost everybody, it felt a bit weird to see his actual full name Daniel Reynolds...
However, before he could even react to that realization, another notification appeared.
[Congratulations, Daniel Reynolds!]
[You’ve gained a Rare Unique Title:]
[The One Who Heard the Voice of Goddess Aphrodite]
Dan’s mouth slowly fell open. ’Goddess... Aphrodite?’
He looked around the empty room again. There was still nobody there. His confusion was rapidly turning into disbelief.
"This can’t be real."
Yet the floating panels remained directly in front of him.
He reached toward one again, almost expecting his fingers to pass through it just as before. Instead, the moment his hand entered the glowing surface, the panel rippled slightly before returning to normal.
Dan immediately pulled his hand back.
But as he thought about it for a second something seemed to click...
’Aphrodite? Isn’t that the Greek Goddess Of Love?’ His heartbeat quickened as the full scope of the situation began to become a bit clearer
Whatever this was, it wasn’t something he could simply ignore.
Another notification appeared.
[The Ultimate Family System urges you to start and develop your family.]
Dan stared at it. Then another line appeared.
[Get as many wives and children as you want.]
[It’s the first step toward building the Ultimate Family!]
For several seconds, Dan said nothing. His face became completely blank.
Then his eyebrows slowly drew together. "Wives?"
He read the notification again. Then he looked at the previous one. Then back at the system.
"Children?"
The absurdity of the situation finally began to sink in.
Dan rubbed his forehead. "Am I dreaming?"
The floating panels didn’t disappear. Instead, another notification appeared.
[Ultimate Family System has awakened partial sentience.]
Dan stared at it. "Of course it has."
His voice was filled with disbelief. Apparently, things hadn’t been strange enough already.
But the next notification caught his attention.
[Aphrodite feels the System might ruin bonding moments and has placed a restriction on the Ultimate Family System.]
Dan blinked.
Another line appeared beneath it.
[The System won’t be able to talk with the Host unless absolutely necessary, unless spoken to, or unless the Host wishes to communicate with it.]
Dan remained silent. Slowly, he lowered his hand from his forehead.
"So... there’s a goddess." He looked toward the ceiling. "There’s an apocalypse coming."
His gaze returned to the floating panels. "And I’ve somehow been given a system that wants me to build a family."
He paused. Then he added quietly, "And apparently the system has a personality."
Dan stood there for several seconds, completely overwhelmed.
His ordinary evening had somehow turned into the beginning of something he couldn’t even begin to understand.
He looked at the floating panels again. The words remained unchanged.
The Ultimate Family System. The title mentioning Goddess Aphrodite.
The warning about the apocalypse. None of it made sense. And yet, deep down, Dan could feel that this wasn’t a dream.
Something had changed. Something far beyond his understanding had entered his life.
Dan swallowed hard, staring at the glowing notifications in silence.
’What the fuck is going on...? This has to be some kind of joke...’
His mind was still struggling to process everything.
’How the hell could things get any more absurd?’
Dan shook his head slightly, finding it impossible to believe that any of this was real.