Alex Morgan’s tone had no fluctuation, as natural as if he were saying, “For the sake of eating dinner.”
“Huh?”
Hailey Morgan widened her eyes, lips slightly parted, and let out a short snort.
Even she was hearing Alex Morgan say this for the first time.
…By the way, what is an Ultram—?
Alex Morgan picked up his chopsticks and stirred the egg mixture; the metal chopsticks hitting the porcelain bowl made a rhythmic, crisp sound.
He didn’t look at Hailey Morgan, just calmly adding what seemed like an objective analysis:
“This is the preferred option. First, it’s strong enough; the lower bound is very high, and the upper bound is boundlessly high. Moreover, it often possesses very strong idealistic traits.”
“Kamen R— can also be considered; the reasons are about the same as for Ultram—.”
“As for piloting a giant robot, that’s not impossible… but it must be a single-pilot model. After all, I personally dislike the Super Sentai style; that usually requires a team of five, which not only lowers individual combat efficiency but also incurs huge interpersonal communication costs.”
He paused, then said, “So, three-person Systems like Getter R— and the Aquar—ion of Genesis are also out.”
“…”
“Of course, if there were a fantasy System where one could become stronger through effort and had clear Realm divisions, that would naturally be better, but that implies a much crueler world ecology…”
Hailey Morgan looked at Alex Morgan, who was earnestly analyzing the pros and cons of things she had never heard of anywhere else, and felt her brain short-circuit.
Is this guy serious?
Is there really something wrong with his head?
This was her first reaction.
If a normal person said something like this, they would probably be joking, or they would be a chuunibyou.
But Alex Morgan was different.
As he prepared dinner, he talked eloquently without a trace of joking on his face.
That expression, which regarded the absurd as natural, instead generated an eerie persuasiveness and attraction, sucking Hailey Morgan’s attention and focus in deeply.
Is there really something wrong with my head too?
Shaking her head vigorously, Hailey Morgan reached out to poke the forehead of Alex Morgan, who was cooking, but Alex Morgan’s movements were eerily fast; despite trying her hardest, she couldn’t land the poke.
She rolled her eyes: “Don’t make this beautiful girl become the straight man in a comedy duo!”
“Setting aside those requirements that I don’t understand but are inexplicably high, how can you be so sure that this world has those messy things, and why do you think you would be the chosen one?”
Without stopping his stirring, Alex Morgan looked at the egg mixture in the bowl, his voice steady and resolute:
“Because I am the very existence that has been chosen.”
This was not arrogance, nor was it a joke.
Alex Morgan was completely serious.
For Alex Morgan, as someone who had undergone Transmigration, this was a logical closed loop necessary for survival.
If there were no transcendent elements in this world, it would mean his Transmigration was fake, meaning his breathing, thoughts, and that Soul and memory from another world at this moment were all just hysteria and fantasies produced by cerebral cortex lesions—a total negation of his past life.
That would mean he had been trapped in this world from the beginning, on this ordinary, plain planet devoid of any miracles.
Alex Morgan absolutely, absolutely, absolutely refused to accept such a fact.
He firmly believed that this world was not ordinary.
Only in this way could his Transmigration hold up logically, and his past life would not be a hollow, ethereal phantom.
So…
This world does have transcendent elements.
Alex Morgan believed this definitely and certainly.
Hailey Morgan looked at him, the retort she had prepared stuck in her throat, her cheeks inexplicably feeling hot.
When Alex Morgan said those words, his originally somewhat stoic, handsome face displayed a sense of determination under the light that made her unable to look away.
The young girl reached out and poked his abdomen; it felt solid, and she could feel the lines of his muscles.
She understood something.
It was precisely because he held this almost paranoid belief of being the chosen one that Alex Morgan, as an orphan, lived such a disciplined life.
Oh my…
I’m really starting to get hooked.
The smile on Hailey Morgan’s face became increasingly uncontrollable.
Alex Morgan turned on the gas stove, the flames licking the bottom of the pot, and said, “You should go back.”
“No way!” Hailey Morgan immediately caught up with his train of thought, “Prepare dinner for Young Miss Hailey Morgan… the quest rewards are generous!”
This was indeed the most efficient way to communicate with Alex Morgan, and he nodded slightly: “As long as you don’t mind the chicken breast tasting bad.”
“What’s that supposed to mean! I’ve been controlling my diet for my figure, okay! Don’t look down on me!”
Alex Morgan paused for a moment, revealing a look of pity.
—No wonder her chest is still so small at eighteen.
…
The meal was eaten quickly.
Although Hailey Morgan kept shouting about controlling her figure, when faced with the boiled chicken breast that didn’t even have a pinch of salt, she still ate with a pained expression.
Only the bowl of steamed egg, smooth and without any air holes, cooked to perfection, was scraped clean by her.
In the end, she generously took out several hundred for Alex Morgan.
After seeing off this noisy Young Miss, the room returned to dead silence.
Alex Morgan cleaned up the mess with extreme efficiency, finished washing up, and walked straight to the old, slightly sagging sofa in the living room to sit down.
By this time, it had completely darkened outside.
He didn’t turn on the main light, leaving only the old tungsten bulb overhead.
The filament emitted a faint buzzing sound of current, casting a circle of dim, murky halo that barely illuminated a corner of the coffee table.
Alex Morgan sat there quietly; the boundary line between light and shadow cut right across him, splitting his entire being into two halves—one half bathed in the dim yellow light, the other hidden in the heavy shadows.
He liked this environment.
The dimness and tranquility, along with that thick security door, could isolate the clamor of the outside world like a tide, minimizing sensory interference and allowing his thinking efficiency to reach its peak.
This could be considered a form of meditation, as well as a form of self-control.
For Alex Morgan, physical training was certainly the cornerstone for bearing power, but the mental training component within it perhaps held even greater significance.
Without the corresponding control and will, even the most powerful strength was nothing more than an out-of-control beast.
Therefore, even if the mysterious veil of the world had never been lifted a corner for him, Alex Morgan was always prepared.
And the reason he could persist for ten years like one day in this disciplined life, akin to an ascetic monk, was not just to close the logical loop, but also for those unknown possibilities.
Since he had miraculously undergone Transmigration to this world, the gears of fate could naturally start turning at any moment.
So as long as he was still alive, as long as he was still breathing, the preparation could not stop.
Perhaps, it would be the very next moment?
Ding—
A crisp notification sound, audible only to Alex Morgan, exploded deep within his mind without any warning.
The half of Alex Morgan’s face that was in the shadows saw his eyelashes tremble slightly, and then he opened his eyes.
He saw, in the Void Realm, a line of pale blue, translucent text appear out of thin air, covering the image of the old coffee table.
[System charging complete.]
[The Strongest Hero System has been activated.]
[Do you wish to claim the Newbie Gift Pack?]