The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 148: You are weird.

A long moment of silence stretched between them, and Lucian couldn’t tell whether it was a heavy silence or an uncertain one.

Valentina simply continued staring at him for a long time, her golden eyes locked onto his face, as though trying to pry into his thoughts and determine whether it was a lie he had blurted out…

But all she could feel was the truth.

And that… made her genuinely frown in confusion.

“You are weird.”

Valentina finally broke the silence, her fingers unconsciously tightening around his neck again—not enough to choke him, but enough to remind him that his life was resting between her fingers.

And yet…

And yet this newborn vampire wasn’t even panicking!

Lucian simply looked at her, his gaze calm enough to irritate her somehow.

“You are weird, weird. Maybe you are even crazier than me.”

Most newborns—heck, even elder vampires—lowered their gazes before her, and there were rarely any who could meet her eyes without a shred of fear in their own… and now there was this.

Even his pulse had already stabilized, and she could hear his heart beating steadily again after the momentary shock of her seeing through his skill.

And then, rather than cowering in fear, Lucian smiled lightly.

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

Valentina’s frown deepened, wondering if something had gone wrong with his brain during the transformation.

‘Knowing our bloodline, that’s possible,’ she thought inwardly.

“Becoming crazier than an old vampire isn’t really a compliment.”

She finally released her grip. Her fingers slowly slid away from his throat, and the pressure immediately vanished, making the trees sway normally again—as if even they had been holding their breath all this time.

But even after the danger had receded, Lucian’s gaze never left hers. Not even after being released.

Almost as though he didn’t care about death…

Or perhaps…

He simply trusted her enough to foolishly believe she wouldn’t do it.

“Fuck… now I get why my daughter called you annoying,” she muttered to herself, barely above a whisper as she rubbed her forehead, but her voice was still enough to reach Lucian’s vampiric senses.

“I’ll take that as a compliment as well.” Lucian’s smile widened slightly.

“Now I can even brag about annoying the Strongest Vampire in the world.”

Valentina gave him a dry look, and after a few seconds, she let out a long sigh.

“Leave that aside. Tell me what you saw.”

Her expression turned serious once again, her voice carrying a heavy weight.

“Your status window,” Lucian answered honestly, making her lips twitch again.

For a brief second, she even considered throwing him to the monsters lurking nearby and letting them tear him apart, but remembering that the newborn before her could possibly be a Progenitor, she simply shook the thought away.

Lucian, understanding the meaning behind her question, finally began explaining everything without hesitation.

A few seconds into his explanation, Valentina stood before him with a noticeably dark expression on her face.

“So…” Her voice became flat.

“You could’ve read my complete Status Window if you were strong enough?”

Lucian nodded.

“I could have,” he said.

Valentina looked at him for a moment longer before standing upright, showing no reaction on her face.

Lucian stood up as well, lifting the sword with him and lightly grasping its hilt in his left hand.

Valentina remained silent, thinking, considering something… her gaze drifting toward the dark jungle before returning to him.

Finally, she spoke.

“I don’t particularly care about how you got such a skill, because abilities like that are exceedingly rare. There are barely any powers like it that mortals can possess.”

Hearing her words, Lucian raised a brow in surprise.

Well, he already knew that the [True Analysis] skill was a bit unique, considering it had been given to him by his dear System, but hearing that from a vampire who had lived for who knew how long… maybe even he had underestimated its value.

“But…”

Valentina suddenly disappeared from her spot, appearing before him in an instant.

Lucian barely had time to react before her hand slipped behind his head, firmly grabbing it from the back and pulling him forward.

The distance between them vanished, their faces ending up mere inches apart, her golden irises shifting into a deep crimson red.

The atmosphere exploded, a crushing pressure descending like a collapsing mountain.

The ground beneath Lucian’s feet cracked, fractures spreading across the earth beneath him.

“Don’t you dare use it on me without my permission.

Don’t… you dare look at my information without my permission.”

The pressure intensified even further, and Lucian’s feet nearly sank into the earth—so much so that he could even feel his organs being damaged under the overwhelming force.

Her breath brushed faintly against his face as she pulled his head closer to her.

Their heights were similar enough that they stood nearly eye-to-eye.

But there was nothing intimate about the closeness—not beneath the unbearable pressure pouring from her body, so overwhelming that it made his vision blur violently.

His pulse quickened uncontrollably, thumping loudly in his chest, even causing his breathing to grow deep and uneven.

“Do you understand me?!”

Valentina’s voice suddenly rose, louder than before, and for the first time, it almost trembled with anger, completely stunning him.

He had never seen that expression on her face. Not once throughout the entire time he had known her.

Lucian had only ever seen Valentina remain mostly composed—cold, amused, sadistic, or even teasing—but never genuinely angry, which was somewhat strange considering she was a Scarlett.

Slowly, he nodded.

“I won’t… not without you knowing it.”

Valentina’s eyes narrowed.

That wasn’t the response she exactly wanted, but hearing the sincerity in his tone, after a few more seconds, she finally released him.

The pressure over him vanished again, as though someone had removed an entire world from his shoulders.

“Haa…”

Lucian took a deep breath, then another, feeling his body grow lighter.

For several moments, he simply stood there, but Valentina didn’t wait any longer and took a few steps back.

He looked at her for a brief second, seeing her expression turn flat before she glanced at him again.

Lucian could tell that she was still somewhat angry about him prying into her information.

But Valentina no longer cared about what he was thinking.

She was feeling a bit annoyed—no, very very annoyed right now.

“Break time’s over,” she suddenly said.

The throne within a distance suddenly dissolved into the shadows, as though it hadn’t even been there in the first place.

At the same time, the silver sword resting beside the throne lifted into the air.

Whoosh~

It flew straight toward Valentina, who didn’t even glance in its direction.

The moment the sword arrived before her, her arm moved. She effortlessly wrapped her fingers around the hilt before casually slicing it through the air.

Lucian frowned, not only because of the sword flying toward her, but also because the throne had vanished back into the shadows.

His mind raced. Even if only briefly, he had seen Valentina’s status window through the distorted and blurred lines.

And as he recalled what he had managed to read, his frown deepened, and something didn’t make sense.

Because the woman standing before him—the one recognized as the Strongest Vampire, someone who had reached the Transcendent Rank…

Had… an S-Rank Talent. And no Affinity.

That… was simply impossible.

“What is it?” Valentina narrowed her eyes, immediately noticing the confusion on his face.

“You don’t have an affinity?”

Hearing his direct question, the redhead’s lips twitched slightly.

“So you saw that too…”

At this point, she wasn’t even asking. It was obvious that he had.

Lucian nodded.

Valentina let out a sigh and raised a hand, pinching the bridge of her nose tiredly while still looking at him.

“I don’t.”

She lowered her hand, her fingers tightening slightly around the hilt of her sword.

“And no more talk.”

Before Lucian could even process her words, Valentina had already rushed toward him, her sword flashing directly at him.

Lucian’s pupils contracted.

But just before her blade could slash through his arm, he instantly raised his own sword, barely managing to alter its trajectory.

The silver blade scraped against his weapon before carving through his flesh, leaving a large gash running along his arm.

Before the wound could even begin regenerating—

Valentina attacked again, not stopping to give him time to heal.

She moved gracefully yet wildly, attacking him relentlessly with a strange madness while still correcting every mistake he made.

Time passed as Lucian and Valentina moved furiously, the sound of their colliding blades echoing throughout the jungle.

And whenever Lucian made a mistake, Valentina’s blade was bathed in blood.

She would cut him first and correct him afterward—almost as though she was taking revenge, enjoying every moment she spent tearing through his flesh and severing limbs that would simply grow back again.

Even though he had gotten better with the sword, that hadn’t decreased the difficulty even a bit, and instead it only got harder.

If his footing was wrong, she cut him.

If his attack was too predictable, she cut him.

If he left an opening…

She cut him.

“Agh…!”

Lucian groaned sharply, feeling his balance shift as he fell to the ground, only to notice that one of his legs was missing, severed cleanly.

Blood poured from the torn limb as his jaw clenched against the pain.

But rather than giving him time to recover, Valentina appeared before him and thrust her sword directly toward his throat.

Whooosh—!

Lucian reacted instantly.

He brought his blade forward, and the moment the two weapons collided, his body was violently thrown backward by the impact, his feet skidding across the ground.

“Just because you lost your balance doesn’t mean your opponent will stop for you.”

Valentina’s voice echoed through the jungle as she immediately blurred toward him, closing the distance in an instant before slamming him into a tree trunk.