The ever-changing expressions on Michael’s face made Leo feel extremely confused. What kind of god is this? He only made one wish, and yet Michael looks as anguished as if he’s about to die?
"Hey, are you okay? Too difficult? If this wish isn’t possible, I can wish for something else, you know."
Seeing that the situation was a bit strange, Leo spoke up to probe. Of course, it wasn’t because he felt sorry for this pathetic genie. He just wanted to know what was going on.
"Damn it, what good does saying that now do? You’ve already made the wish. There’s no way to change it."
Michael was at a loss for words, on the verge of tears. Starting out, instead of a tutorial, it was hell mode.
Which path to becoming a king is ever simple? He was sure his entire life was going to be extremely ’exciting’, with who knows how many people wanting to kill him. And on top of that, he had to do his utmost to make sure Leo stayed alive.
"System, get your ass out here right now!"
At that moment, Michael just wanted to curse the system out for finding a chosen one like this for him. How was this twisted wish any different from a ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent failure rate?
[Actually, you don’t need to yell like that to talk to me. Just communicating with your thoughts is fine.]
The system appeared in front of Michael, but Leo couldn’t see anything. In Leo’s eyes, Michael was just having some kind of mental episode, looking for someone named System to pick a fight with.
’Is there any way to quit this job? How the hell am I supposed to complete this kind of ridiculous thing you’ve arranged for me?’
From what Michael understood, the system definitely knew everything about this. It clearly set him up on purpose.
[You are a genie. Your responsibility is to fulfill the wish of the chosen one. Even if you fail, you must still give it your all.]
Feeling that saying that didn’t give Michael any motivation, the system then mentioned the positive things he could gain.
[You’re not working for free, you know. All the power you gain before this current body dies will be stored. This time, you have god-tier talent.
Are you really going to waste a once-in-ten-thousand-years opportunity? You should know that no god has appeared on the continent for the past tens of thousands of years.]
Under the system’s constant tempting, Michael finally reluctantly accepted to carry out this wish, which was ’harder’ than reaching the heavens.
"Are you done having your mental breakdown?"
Seeing that Michael was done throwing his tantrum, Leo asked a ’shocking’ question.
"You’re the one having a mental breakdown. I was just thinking about how to help you."
Michael lied without batting an eye to save face. He couldn’t very well say that he had just been planning to ’dodge work.’
Of course, Leo didn’t believe these made-up words were true. But he could confirm one thing: Michael had no choice but to help him fulfill the wish.
From Michael’s expression, it wasn’t hard to guess that he didn’t have the ability to easily grant that wish. But for someone with vision like Leo, he felt that having a bizarre existence like Michael on his side was already a pretty big ’victory’ in itself.
"So, what kind of help are you trying to give me?"
Even though he asked, Leo was sure he’d just get some useless answer. If he could actually do it, Michael’s face earlier would have been confident, not despairing.
"Besides doing my best, what other way is there? I can create a human body with god-level talent and follow you to help, but right now I don’t know how to fight. If I used that body, I’d be even weaker than you are now."
Michael lied a bit to save face. It was true he couldn’t create a human body, but since no one could see the system, he had no choice but to ’reluctantly’ take the credit.
[...]
Michael’s ridiculous thoughts made the system lose a lot of faith in him. But this wasn’t something the system could change.
"What does god-level talent mean?"
Leo didn’t know much about this world. Having lived in a desolate mountain since he was little, he was completely clueless about the continent’s civilization.
"Do you know what a contractor is?"
Leo honestly shook his head. Apart from knowing how to read and knowing martial arts, he seemed to not know anything else.
His honesty gave Michael a bit of a headache, not knowing how to explain it in a way he’d understand.
"Umm... You can think of it as the highest level of cultivation talent. The ultimate limit for a contractor with this talent is to become a god."
Although Michael’s words sounded a bit grand, all he got back was a look full of doubt from Leo.
If it were before meeting Michael, maybe Leo would think gods were something extremely powerful, but after meeting one, he realized gods were actually just these weak and bizarre existences.
"Hey, are you insulting me with that look? I’m saying the strength of gods on this continent, not someone like me."
Michael was genuinely pissed off by the blatant look of contempt from a ’three-year-old kid’. Was it his fault he was useless? The previous genie hadn’t told him about any of this, so how was he supposed to know?
"About how strong is the strength of a god?"
Although Leo himself found Michael incredibly unreliable, Michael’s knowledge of this world was definitely greater than his. Mining a bit for intel wouldn’t hurt.
Hearing this, Michael looked around for an example that was easy to understand. Finally, his gaze stopped on the ground.
"That mountain you’re standing on... A god could blow the top off that mountain with a single strike. The key point is they can do it countless times, not just hit once and then be done."
Michael didn’t know what the ’cooldown time’ was, but right now he wanted to act tough as hell.
Becoming a god was something decades away, so Leo probably wouldn’t remember this random stuff by then.