Price of Freedom

The glass doors of the Dome of Mating Affairs slid open. Marcella stepped into the hall and walked straight toward the divorce counter. She tapped her wrist console to sync her appointment number. Property division protocols flashed across the screen, followed by electronic signature prompts. In just ten minutes, the bureaucratic machinery finalized the separation. Marcella Vance and her five mates were officially divorced.

Jaxon, Corey Farrow, Gaelen Yark, Tobias Weller, and Derek Quinn stood on the other side of the counter. A brief shadow of resentment flickered across their faces over the loss of property and merits. However, that fleeting sting was quickly overshadowed by a rising thrill. They were finally free from Marcella. They could now pursue Gemma and become her official mates.

Jaxon slammed his knuckles onto the counter. "Marcella, I will not hold back if you keep causing trouble for Gemma."

Corey crossed his muscular arms over his chest. "If you mess with my future mate, I will make your life a living hell."

Gaelen smirked, adjusting his cuffs. "I do not mind ruining the Vance family over this."

Tobias sneered. "Count me in too!"

Derek pointed a warning finger at her. "Hmph, you had better watch out!"

Having delivered their threats, the five former mates turned and marched out of the Center of Affairs without a second thought. In this aether beastworld, males were granted only one chance in their lifetime to be matched with a female by the system. Once divorced, only females who liked them could submit a formal application to marry them.

Marcella watched them leave and almost laughed. She had no idea why her five ex-mates felt so confident that Gemma would marry them. Gemma was just stringing them along, but that was no longer her concern.

She was not the original Marcella anymore. She had no intention of harassing the heroine, nor would she bother Gemma. Those threats meant nothing to her. She turned away from the counter, her steps light.

Her Holocom vibrated. A holographic projection materialized in the air.

"Dome of Mating Affairs Alert: Ms. Vance, our records show that you are currently single. Please arrive at the nearest maris center within three days for evaluation and matching. Friendly reminder that failure to be evaluated and matched on time will result in a singlehood tax. The system will automatically deduct one hundred merits and ten thousand galactic credits from your account each day."

Marcella tapped the screen to dismiss the notification. The penalty was harsh, but she did not need to worry. The system would undoubtedly send her a new mate tomorrow, so she would never give it a chance to penalize her. Since she had arrived in this aether beastworld filled with males, she intended to enjoy it to the fullest. Anything less would be a waste.

Back at her home, Marcella let her robotic butler draw a bath. The machine provided meticulous service. By the time she stepped out, the robot had prepared a simple dinner.

She ate while scrolling through the AetherWeb, familiarizing herself with this world. Here, males awakened supernatural abilities upon reaching adulthood. These abilities were ranked from one to ten stars. Ten stars represented the current known maximum, though no one knew if eleven, twelve, or higher tiers existed.

Since males constantly fought against mutant beasts and insectoids, their bodies absorbed lethal energies, leading to contamination. The higher the contamination level, the more likely they were to mutate into beasts or insectoids themselves.

Meanwhile, females had the ability to resonate with males using their psionic powers, lowering their contamination levels. Upon reaching adulthood, females would definitely awaken psionic powers, and possibly supernatural abilities—though the chance was extremely low.

Psionic power tiers ranged from F, E, D, C, B, A, S, 2S, 3S, and 4S. Historically, only three females had kicked off with S-tier psionic powers. Two had already passed away, and the third was the book's heroine, Sylvia.

At the same time, because the ratio of females to males was severely imbalanced, most males would never be matched with a female in their entire lives. As a result, they could only spend merits to request resonance from females or use merits to buy resonance serums.

Resonance serums were made from female pheromones and could only be sold by the system. Each year, females in the aether beastworld were required to provide at least fourteen ounces of pheromones to the system. In return, the system paid one hundred merits per ounce. Of course, this also protected females to some extent.

After getting a general understanding of the situation, Marcella yawned lightly. Seeing that it was almost midnight, she immediately climbed into bed. She did not want to wreck her body and die a second time.

However, she woke up less than a minute after falling asleep, only to find her soul drifting about.

Marcella looked down at her transparent body floating in midair, then at the body lying on the bed. She repeatedly tried to return to her body, pressing into the flesh, but nothing worked.

In an instant, panic set in. Could someone tell her what was going on? Had her soul left her body? Was she dead again? Marcella had already died once. She did not want to die a second time!

In her panic, she remembered the Slumber System she had been bound to back in her previous world.

Marcella shouted into the empty air, her spectral voice trembling. "System, are you there? Help me, quick!"

When she had dropped dead from overworking her body back then, the Slumber System had appeared, claiming it was there to save her. It should be able to save her a second time too, right?

"Where are you, System?"

Just as she was freaking out, a familiar voice rang out.

'Updates in progress, Ms. Vance. Ten percent... Twenty percent... Fifty percent... Ninety percent... One hundred percent... Upgrade completed.'

A chime sounded.

'Hello, Ms. Vance. Welcome to the Phoenix System. I am System 4444.'

Marcella was dumbfounded. The Phoenix System? What happened to the Slumber System? Never mind that for now.

"System, please help me out. Am I dying?"

The system replied without hesitation. 'That is right, Ms. Vance. You have one day left.'

To make it more convincing, the system pulled up the dashboard for her.

'Life Span: 23 hours 57 minutes 29 seconds'

'Karma Points: 0'

'Available Resonance Targets: All males'

'Available Partners: 0'

Marcella was surprised to find out that she only had less than twenty-four hours to live. In her panic, she suddenly remembered the upgraded system's name.

She hurriedly asked, "Are males supposed to help with my revival?"

The system did not beat around the bush and began explaining calmly. 'Ms. Vance, you must resonate with the males here and reduce their contamination levels in order to extend your lifespan. For example, if you resonate with target A and reduce his pollution by fifty percent, you will gain twelve hours of life. If you then resonate with target B and reduce his pollution by another fifty percent, you will gain one full day of life. Resonance can accumulate, and available resonance targets are not restricted by tiers.'

Marcella was shocked.

Did that not mean she could just keep resonating with low-level males? For instance, she would be able to reduce their contamination levels by eighty percent easily. The lower the level, the less psionic power it consumed, and the faster she could extend her lifespan.

The system continued. 'However, resonating with males of different ranks yields varying amounts of merit, calculated per resonance. From one-star to ten-star, the corresponding merit values range from zero point one points to one point. One merit point can be exchanged for one day of life. In addition, once you accumulate a certain amount of merits, you can return to Veridia.'

Hearing this, Marcella became very excited, and her body twisted in the air. "I get to go home? System, how many points would I need?"

The system fell silent for a moment. 'I was not done yet, Ms. Vance. Accumulating one hundred million merits will allow you to return to Veridia for one day of travel.'

Marcella was speechless. A hundred million merit points for a single day of travel? Was the system joking with her?

'Ms. Vance, do you not want to go back?'