[A Few Days Later] [Wilson Estate, New York]
Alex sat alone in his bedroom with the curtains partly open, afternoon sunlight stretching across the floor while the estate remained unusually peaceful around him.
Rachel was downstairs dealing with a manufacturing report from Titan Hardware. Max had taken Diana and Aiden into the garden with Halle and Asher. Caroline was somewhere inside the mansion arguing with a stylist over an upcoming campaign, while Chloe and Trixie had disappeared toward the theater room.
Scarlett had returned from Los Angeles several days earlier after wrapping Alien 2. Angelina finally had two days away from Gods & Wonders, and Evangeline had arrived from New Zealand the previous night after completing her final scene for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
For once, almost everyone was home.
Alex leaned back against the headboard and summoned the System.
The familiar translucent interface appeared before him.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the completed quest notification.
..
[LONG-TERM QUEST COMPLETED]
[A HOUSE FULL OF TOMORROW]
Objective Completed:
Protect the family you are building without losing yourself in the process.
Final Milestone Completed:
Expand your family through willing, natural relationships.
Welcome another future child into your household.
Completion Status: 100%
Reward Unlocked.
..
Alex smiled slightly at the wording.
Jennifer and Angela had entered his life because they wanted to, rather than him using some cheap mind control. Rachel's pregnancy had happened because they had already wanted a child together.
The System had simply recognized what happened afterward.
Alex moved his attention toward the reward.
The interface changed.
...
[QUEST REWARD]
ETERNAL YOUTH
Eligible recipients:
Alex Wilson
Recognized adult family members
Recognized dependent children
Current adult recipients may select a permanent biological age profile. Once activated, biological aging will cease at the selected state. Existing age-related cellular deterioration will be corrected during transition. The recipient will thereafter maintain the selected biological condition indefinitely.
Selection is permanent after confirmation.
Dependent Child Configuration:
LOCKED
Child recipients will continue natural biological development until the appropriate maturity threshold is reached.
Further controls will become available when eligibility requirements are satisfied.
...
Alex stopped reading.
He stared at the words for several seconds before scrolling farther.
A warning appeared.
...
[IMPORTANT]
Eternal Youth does not provide invulnerability. Recipients may still experience injury, illness, poisoning, physical trauma, or death through sufficient external causes. The reward preserves biological youth and prevents natural age-related decline.
...
Alex slowly exhaled.
"So Max doesn't get to declare herself an immortal god-empress quite yet."
The System offered no response.
Alex looked at the adult recipient section.
Names appeared beneath his own.
...
Rachel
Max
Caroline
Halle
Angelina
Scarlett
Evangeline
Chloe
Jennifer
Angela
...
Alex decided to keep the system a secret from Jennifer and Angela at the moment.
Their relationships had only just become romantic, and neither woman knew the truth about the System yet. Alex wasn't about to walk into their lives after a few weeks of dating and casually explain that reality included magical interfaces, clones, impossible wealth generation, yearly miracles, hidden archives, and eternal youth.
That conversation needed trust.
Months at minimum.
Maybe a year.
Whenever it happened, it would happen because their relationships had reached the point where Alex believed they genuinely belonged inside that part of his life.
He closed the recipient window and sat quietly for another minute.
Then he picked up his phone.
The message he sent to the family group was simple: Come to my room when you're free. System thing. Important, although nobody is in danger.
Max replied first: If you start with "nobody is in danger," you've already made it sound dangerous.
Caroline followed seconds later: Should I bring wine?
Rachel responded almost immediately: No.
Alex smiled and put the phone down.
A few minutes later, his bedroom had become considerably more crowded.
Rachel sat near the edge of the bed. Halle took the armchair beside the windows while Angelina sat on its wide arm. Scarlett had claimed the small couch beside Evangeline, who looked tired from traveling but curious enough to remain fully awake.
Chloe sat cross-legged near the foot of the bed.
Caroline stood beside the dresser holding a glass of sparkling water after Rachel had apparently prevented her from arriving with actual wine.
Max walked in last after checking that Diana and Aiden were sleeping, closed the door behind herself, and immediately looked around.
"If this glowing box tells Alex to knock up one more chick, I am marching right up to the pearly gates and demanding to speak to a manager."
Chloe laughed as she shifted farther across the bed. "Who exactly handles System customer service?"
Max walked toward Alex and dropped beside him. "Probably some virgin angel in heaven who uses our sex life as pay-per-view porn."
Rachel rubbed her forehead while Scarlett started laughing.
Alex looked around the room. "Everyone finished?"
Max leaned against his shoulder. "Absolutely not, but I'll save it for later. You can speak now, Moneybags."
Alex summoned the interface.
The amusement faded almost immediately.
Everyone in the room could see the System now, and the glowing words appeared above the foot of the bed.
[QUEST COMPLETED]
[A HOUSE FULL OF TOMORROW]
Caroline's eyes widened. "Wait, we finished it?"
Rachel looked toward Alex, then briefly touched her stomach. "Jennifer and Angela completed the relationship condition, and my pregnancy completed the child condition."
Alex nodded. "That's what I'm assuming."
Max looked absurdly pleased with herself. "Mazel tov. Our polyamorous sex cult just leveled up."
Halle covered a laugh with one hand. "Please never say that at a parent-teacher meeting."
Max pointed toward her. "Are you kidding? I'm making it my official job title on the PTA sign-up sheet just to watch the soccer moms have a stroke."
Alex changed the display before Max could develop the idea any further.
The reward appeared, and silence followed.
Nobody joked or moved.
ETERNAL YOUTH.
Caroline slowly lowered her glass.
Scarlett leaned forward.
Evangeline blinked several times as though the words might change if she waited long enough.
Angelina's expression became completely unreadable.
Rachel stared at the technical description with the same focus she normally reserved for contracts capable of changing multinational corporations.
Chloe finally broke the silence.
"Alex, is that saying what I think it's saying?"
Alex nodded. "Pretty much."
Halle looked back toward the screen. "We stop aging?"
"If I activate it," Alex replied. "You can also choose the biological age you want your body returned to before aging stops."
Caroline's eyes widened considerably. "Returned to?"
Alex opened the configuration menu.
Each woman's name appeared beside a currently inactive selection field.
[SELECT BIOLOGICAL AGE]
[CONFIRMATION REQUIRED]
[PERMANENT AFTER ACTIVATION]
Caroline stood so quickly that everyone looked toward her.
"Hold on. You're telling me I can choose an age, physically become that age again, and then stay there forever?"
"That's what it says."
Caroline stared at the screen before slowly turning toward Max. "Do you understand what this means?"
Max looked equally stunned. "Yeah, Caroline. It means we get to stay hot forever and inherit the Earth once all the regular losers drop dead."
Scarlett burst out laughing.
Max became increasingly animated as the idea developed inside her head. "Picture it: the year 2500. Society has completely collapsed, but King Moneybags is sitting on a solid gold throne, and Queen Max is sitting on his with gravity-defying boobs and enough cash to buy whatever's left of New Jersey. Also, we take turns sitting on his lap. But right now, I'm sitting."
Alex looked toward her. "Eternal youth doesn't make you immortal."
Max waved one hand dismissively. "Fine. Ageless and gorgeous, with a high probability of dying in a grease fire at a diner."
Rachel gave her a dry look. "Or bullets, cross-town traffic, diseases, and whatever apocalyptic nightmare occurs when Alex and Trixie get their hands on that flamethrower."
Max's eyes narrowed immediately.
Alex pointed toward the System. "Can we focus on the fountain of youth? Gerald doesn't need to become part of this conversation."
"He'll always be part of this conversation."
Chloe laughed softly before looking toward the children's section. "What does locked mean?"
Alex expanded it.
The interface displayed Diana, Aiden, Asher, and Trixie beneath a protected section, although none could be selected.
"They'll grow normally," Alex explained. "The magical interface won't let us permanently trap them as toddlers-which, frankly, is a massive relief. Once they hit whatever this thing considers 'an adult,' their settings unlock."
Chloe's expression relaxed immediately. "Good. I was about to ask some very uncomfortable questions if the alternative was Trixie staying ten forever."
"Trixie being ten forever would eventually destroy civilization," Scarlett said as she leaned back against the couch.
Max nodded gravely. "Yeah, we'd have to shoot her into orbit for the survival of the human race."
Chloe pointed toward both women. "Nobody is launching my daughter into space."
Evangeline continued studying the reward. "Does it fix things that already happened because of age?"
"According to the description, it repairs age-related deterioration when the transition happens," Alex replied. "It doesn't say it'll erase every scar or change everything about your body unless those things are specifically connected to biological aging."
Angelina looked toward him. "What about the baby weight and stretch marks?"
Alex shook his head. "I don't know whether things like stretch marks count because those aren't necessarily age-related. The System gives us biological age selection, though, so returning someone's body to an earlier biological state could affect more than ordinary aging."
Rachel immediately focused on the permanent warning. "We shouldn't test assumptions with something irreversible."
"Exactly," Alex replied. "That's why nobody is activating anything today."
Max slowly raised her hand.
Alex looked toward her.
"Bummer. I was already mentally locking in twenty-one. Old enough to buy booze, young enough to not have lower back pain."
Caroline turned toward her. "Max, twenty-one is way too young. We hadn't even figured out our cheekbones yet."
Max looked personally insulted. "Speak for yourself. Twenty-one-year-old me was a spectacular trash fire. I was broke, full of rage, and surviving entirely on stolen sandwiches and spite."
"Exactly," Caroline said. "Not exactly the pinnacle of glamour."
"It was peak survival instincts, Caroline. I could hotwire a toaster back then."
Caroline turned her attention back to her own hypothetical choice. "I'd probably lock in twenty-five."
Scarlett gave her a highly amused look. "You basically passed twenty five a few years back."
Caroline smiled sweetly. "Yup. That was my prime. I kinda miss it..."
Scarlett turned back toward Alex. "I don't know... If I hit pause right now, I'd basically be cheating the system before the game even gets hard."
Max snorted. "You say that now. Call me when your first gray hair sprouts up and starts actively plotting your demise."
Scarlett touched her hair defensively. "If I find a gray tomorrow, I'm blaming your negative energy."
Evangeline smiled at the bickering, but her focus remained on the glowing text. When she spoke, her voice was much more grounded. "I honestly don't know what age I'd pick. There are definitely physical parts of being younger I'd happily take back, but... I don't want to feel like I'm erasing the woman I fought so hard to become. It feels like wiping the slate clean."
Alex nodded understandingly. "You wouldn't lose any of your memories or experiences. The System changes your biological state, not your mind. But no rush. Take your time and think this through"
Evangeline considered that, letting out a thoughtful breath. "Yeah, I need some time to think."
Angelina had been quiet longer than most of them. When she finally spoke, her tone was entirely stripped of the room's earlier sarcasm. "There was a period of my life when getting older genuinely terrified me. Hollywood basically conditions you to believe that every birthday cake is just a countdown to irrelevance. I don't feel that way anymore."
Alex watched her closely as she continued.
Angelina folded her hands loosely in her lap. "Still, knowing I could actually stop aging changes the conversation entirely. It stops being about whether I'm afraid of getting older, and becomes a choice: do I actually want to watch my body break down when a magical screen says I don't have to?"
"That's exactly where my head went," Chloe agreed, her voice practical. "I'm not losing sleep over a few wrinkles, but if somebody offers me a half-century where my knees don't hurt every morning when I get out of bed, I'm going to listen."
Rachel looked toward Alex. "What age would you choose?"
That question smoothly shifted the entire room's attention to him.
Alex leaned back and considered it. "I haven't decided. I'm at my prime. The bigger issue is whether we should use this right now at all."
Max stared at him like he had two heads. "You are seriously considering putting the Holy Grail in storage?"
"We don't lose it if we wait."
That shifted several expressions from confusion to curiosity.
Alex brought up the activation information again on the display. "There's no expiration date. I can activate it tomorrow, next year, ten years from now, or much later."
Caroline blinked. "Then why wouldn't we just wait?"
"That's what I'm thinking," Alex replied calmly. "We could just let life continue normally and revisit this in ten or twenty years."
Scarlett nodded slowly. "Okay, that actually feels way less insane than having to choose my forever-face tonight."
Evangeline smiled. "Imagine spending twenty years arguing about everyone's final age."
Max immediately pointed an accusing finger at Caroline. "She'll change her answer every single birthday."
Caroline gave her an offended look. "I have excellent, decisive decision-making skills."
"You bought a fourteen-thousand-dollar purse because the clasp reminded you of a croissant you ate in Paris."
"It did remind me of Paris, Max."
Rachel ignored them and looked toward Alex, slipping back into her usual pragmatic tone. "Holding the reward also gives us time to fully understand its limits. We've already learned that System wording tends to matter."
"Exactly," Alex said. He looked around the room. "There's another reason I don't want to activate it yet. Jennifer and Angela don't know about the System."
Nobody seemed surprised by that.
Halle nodded in agreement. "It's too early for them."
"I care about them," Alex explained, "and we're officially together now, but dumping all this on them after a few weeks would be reckless. I want to give those relationships time. Maybe a few months, maybe a year. When I tell them, I want it to be because we reached that level of trust naturally."
Angelina smiled faintly. "That's the right choice, Alex."
Rachel agreed with a small nod. "Once someone knows about this, they can't unknow it."
Max sighed dramatically, slumping back. "Fine. No immortal empire until the new girlfriends finish orientation."
Alex gave her a tired look. "There isn't an orientation."
"There really should be," Max shot back. "Day one: how not to get lost in the mansion. Day two: relationship scheduling. Day three: do not touch the pervy spatula. Day four: Rachel's seminar on which expensive rugs you're legally allowed to accidentally bleed on."
Rachel turned toward her, completely deadpan. "There are absolutely zero rugs where you are allowed to accidentally bleed."
Max pointed triumphantly at her. "Boom. See? Put it in the pamphlet."
Laughter rippled around the room again, easing the heavy, existential weight that had briefly settled over everyone.
But Halle hadn't joined in.
Alex noticed after a few seconds. She was still sitting in the chair near the windows, one hand resting nervously against her opposite arm while she stared quietly at the age-selection screen.
"Halle?"
-
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[5 advance chs] [All chs available for all tiers]