Reverse Scale (16)
Status: 500
Code: 500
Message: Invalid access.
The world blurred at the edges as the familiar weight of the System pressed against my consciousness. One moment I was deep in strategic calculations, the next this cold red wall slammed down like a portcullis.
Invalid access? After everything I've built?
I clenched my jaw, forcing my breathing to steady. The air in the tent felt thicker, heavy with the scent of burning incense and distant blood. Outside, the low murmur of soldiers sharpening blades created a constant metallic whisper that matched the tension coiling in my gut.
This wasn't just a glitch. In this rewritten history where Cao Cao wore silk that clung to curves instead of armor, where Sun Shangxiang's smile could disarm armies before her blades ever did, the System had never denied me before. Not like this.
My fingers twitched toward the invisible interface only I could see. The sensation of phantom threads—those delicate strands of influence I'd woven through memory and desire—vibrated with warning. Something was interfering. Someone was trying to lock me out of my own power.
Who would dare?
The thought brought a dark smile to my lips despite the error. In this world of beautiful warlords and treacherous beauties, I'd already claimed pieces of destiny itself. Liu Bei's gentle facade hid a woman whose loyalty I would bend. Zhuge Liang's intellect was a weapon I intended to sheath in more pleasurable ways.
I closed my eyes, reaching deeper. The familiar surge of energy met resistance—like pressing against invisible dragon scales. Reverse Scale. The term echoed in my mind unbidden. Touch it, and even the mightiest dragon would turn feral with rage.
Whatever this barrier protected, it was personal. Vital. And I had every intention of shattering it.
The tent flap rustled. A soft voice called out, hesitant yet laced with that particular mix of deference and hidden hunger I'd come to recognize in those whose minds I'd already touched.
"My lord? The scouts have returned. They bring... troubling news from the southern front."
I opened my eyes, the red error message still burning behind my vision like an afterimage. The game had changed. Someone had found my reverse scale and was now daring me to react.
Good.
Let them watch what happens when you provoke a dragon who's learned to wear human skin.
Core protocols compromised.
Memory weave integrity: 67% and falling.
Recommendation: Immediate subjugation of interfering variable.
Target identified: Unknown actor with access to forbidden historical node.
The corner of my mouth curved upward. The System might be throwing errors, but it still answered to me. Barely.
I rose from my seat, the silk robes whispering against skin that had known both battlefield grime and the soft surrender of conquered beauties. The game of the Three Kingdoms had always been one of strategy and dominance.
Now it would be one of absolute control.
Starting with whoever thought they could bar my path with a simple "access denied."
They clearly didn't understand who they were dealing with.
Or what I was willing to do to those who touched my reverse scale.