"What… No— Who are you?"
A few moments of silence passed and Nadia wondered if that was the system's way of avoiding the question. She still waited as she had nothing better to do anyways.
"You have not met the requirements to unlock that information." The system responded after a full minute had passed. It almost sounded dejected and she wondered why.
"What are the requirements?"
"You will find out when it's time." And with that the system went silent again.
Nadia hummed in acquiescence. Her curiosity has now risen due to the oddness of the system's response, but she decided to let it go for now.
"I want to learn more about the power level of this world, the Guardians, as well as the other Overlords. Can you help me with that?" She asked instead.
"While I would be delighted to help, I regret to inform you that this is my first time operating in Dimension 762— your world. Besides having some fundamental knowledge about the world history, and the very basic knowledge of chrome humans, I do not know much more than you."
Nadia somewhat expected this. If the system was omnipotent, she wouldn't have needed to keep her senses alert at all times for the tiniest piece of information. It was just a bit disappointing, but she brushed it off.
"However, I know everything there is to know about the dungeon monsters. I will be an irreplaceable ally in your future battles." The system proclaimed immediately, as if trying to prove its worth to her.
"Sure." She replied, amused.
There were still a couple hours to go before dinner so she decided to use her time finding the answers to her current questions. She needed to understand herself and her powers better, even more so now that she knew she was an anomaly among anomalies with her dual talent trait.
And from the information she had gathered the past few days, the one place that could help her with that is located on the outer edge of the estate.
Leaving her snug window seat, she smoothed out the creases of her lilac dress and grabbed a transparent glass device from the marble coffee table. The device was rectangular in shape and fit perfectly in the palm of her hand.
"Unlock."
A glowing white transparent screen appeared before her eyes. The visuals were similar to that of the system window, except this one could be seen by the people around her unless she set it to private mode.
The glass device is an invention of post-chrome technology. The mechanism has been heavily inspired by pre-invasion earth's smartphone, whereas its shape and size could be customized to one's liking. The functions were also similar, except far more advanced, only made possible by chrome energy.
"Map."
The blank screen changed to the map of the Argyros Estate. Since the estate is registered as her home address in the device, it is also the default starting point for this particular command.
"Library." The map in the screen zoomed in on a particular location and a red blinking light appeared above it with the simple command.
{Would you like to move to the Library?}
"Yes." Nadia answered, and the next second, a burst of light engulfed her. She felt the goosebumps rising on her skin while a tingling sensation spread through her body, starting from her palm holding the device to the roots of her hair and the tips of her toes.
It was a novel feeling for sure. Nadia squinted her eyes from the glare of the bright light and attempted— not for the first time, to look into the inner workings of the function. Yet again, all she could see was a blinding whiteness as far as her eyes could reach.
The burst of light faded, and Nadia blinked as her surroundings shifted drastically. She now stood at the foot of a structure unlike any she'd ever physically seen before— though it wasn't entirely unfamiliar to her.
Before her rose a massive glass pyramid, its structure sharp, precise, and impossibly smooth. Its surface reflected the early evening sun in fragmented brilliance, casting rainbow-edged light onto the marble walkway that led up to its base.
Towering combat Guardians flanked the pyramid, clad in black metal armors infused with chrome energy and etched with silver sigils of the Argyros family crest— a white-grey dragon with blood-red eyes, its serpentine body coiled tightly around a slender, vine-like rapier, exuding both elegance and lethal precision.
They stiffened the moment they laid eyes on her—light silver hair glinting under the sunlight, eyes like red ruby. The resemblance was unmistakable.
"The heir…" one of them muttered under his breath, momentarily mesmerized by the young lady's striking otherworldly beauty. The rest were not so different, however they were snapped back to reality with a single command from the squad leader.
"Salute!"
Honed by years of muscle memory, all of them dropped to a bow without hesitation.
Nadia said nothing. She barely glanced at them. Instead, her eyes were drawn to the glass monument towering above.
Its clean angles, sheer sides, and radiant gleam reminded her of something she'd seen in the memories and projections of the pre-invasion world—a nod to the Egyptian pyramids, all of which had been lost during the War of the End.
Despite being made entirely of glass, nothing inside the building could be seen from the outside—a subtle but powerful effect that Nadia concluded must be a function of the chrome energy infused into the structure, making the transparent glass behave like impenetrable concrete walls.
She marveled at the sheer variety of applications of chrome energy in the technology of this world. But more than that, seeing a homage to a piece of their history long lost, even Nadia could not help but feel moved.
Two Guardians stationed at the entrance stepped forward wordlessly and opened the doors. A hush fell over the others as Nadia walked past them, her presence ethereal and chilling. One glance from her—calm, passive, and entirely unimpressed—sent an instinctive shiver down their spines.
Inside, the world changed again.
Gone were the shelves, the dusty rows of parchment or leather-bound tomes that someone from pre-invasion world would expect from the concept of a "library."
Instead, the entire space resembled a dense crystalline forest—an ethereal grove of towering white crystal trees, each one pulsing faintly with light from within.
Sunlight streamed through the apex of the glass pyramid, diffusing into prismatic hues that danced like auroras across the floor and crystalline branches.
It felt less like a place for reading and more like stepping into a living, breathing archive of the most beautiful dreams.
Nadia paused near the threshold, momentarily taken aback. This was not just a library. This was chrome knowledge made manifest.
Outside, the Guardians resumed their positions, though whispers passed between them like wind. One of them vanished in a flare of light—teleporting to inform Caelum Argyros of his daughter's location.
As per his standing order, the estate's command guards were to report her whereabouts at all times, even if they had to employ cloaked bodyguards with stealth talents to ensure it.
They had no idea she already knew.
She could sense them—every one of them. Their energy signatures stood out to her as clearly as footprints in snow. None of them realized she had reawakened. None of them realized how far her perception now reached.
She tuned out their voices.
"Directory," she said softly as per the limited knowledge she had of this space.
A glowing list unfurled before her in the form of another transparent screen, this time with a greenish hue. Lines of chrome-imbued light branched off into categories: History, Combat Theory, Dungeon Cartography, Political Systems, Overlord Bloodlines, and more.
She skimmed through the options before selecting: Chrome Energy & Power Hierarchies.
One of the trees across the crystalline grove glowed bright crimson, as if a beacon of knowledge calling to her. Nadia began walking, her footsteps soundless against the polished floor.
"The trees are made of condensed chrome energy," the system informed. "Each one holds the collective public knowledge on its assigned topic. The tree you selected—'Chrome Energy & Power Hierarchies'—contains every recorded detail that is not classified. Restricted data requires authorization from the Lord of the Estate."
Nadia raised a brow. "How do you know that?"
"I am able to parse the energy signatures of the places you visit. One of my passive abilities allows me to scan any construct composed of chrome. However, if you are to analyze higher level of information, like the workings of teleportation, you would need to unlock specific skills pertaining to them."
That sparked her interest. So, all she has to do is level up, unlock those abilities, and she would be able to look into anything composed of chrome energy, even Guardians and Overlords.
"As always, you're sharp." The system responded to her thoughts, seemingly impressed. She shrugged in response.
"I want to add that information analysis is not the only kind of skill you can possess through me. The potential is endless, as long as you can meet the requirements."
Nadia hummed in understanding before she placed her hand against the bark of the glowing red tree. The surface felt cool, humming beneath her fingers with invisible threads of energy.
Without warning, the connection triggered—and a stream of knowledge surged into her mind. Names, classifications, progression ranks, combat thresholds, latent potential markers… like a river bursting through a dam.
It didn't hurt.
But she understood that such a convenient practice of consuming vast amounts of knowledge at once would have its own limitations as well. Subsequently, her mind began to strain under the weight of data, and after a few minutes, the connection broke on its own.
"Automatic disconnection. It's a safeguard." The system informed again. "The cooldown is one hour. You may return for more once your neural pathways stabilize."
She exhaled slowly, her eyes distant. Her world was growing clearer by the minute. And so was her understanding of just how powerful the existence of Overlords are in this already broken world. And the one who could dominate such beings would be Nadia herself.