The Formidable System: Alex Cole Secret Heir

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 The device sat in Ethan’s palm, heavier than its size should allow. It was smooth, black, and cold, yet the faint glow on its screen made it feel alive … almost aware of him.

 Welcome, Ethan Cole. Initialization in progress.

 The words pulsed softly, as though the System itself was breathing.

 Ethan swallowed hard, his throat dry. “This… this isn’t real. It can’t be real.”

 Jonathan’s steady gaze never left him. “Reality doesn’t ask for your belief, Ethan. It simply exists. Whether you accept it or not is up to you.”

 Ethan’s chest tightened. Just hours ago, he was the man everyone mocked … a fool, abandoned in front of a crowd. Now he was sitting in the back of a sleek black sedan, being told he was heir to an empire, holding a device that seemed to whisper promises of greatness.

 It was too much. Too sudden. Too impossible.

 He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “Do you have any idea what happened to me tonight? They laughed at me. They called me trash. My own fiancée… she humiliated me in front of everyone. I was nothing, Jonathan. Nothing. And now you want me to believe I’m supposed to be someone important?”

 Jonathan leaned forward, his voice low but sharp. “Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to believe. Because it is the truth. And the sooner you accept it, the sooner you rise from the ashes they tried to bury you in.”

 Ethan stared at the glowing screen again. His reflection shimmered faintly on the glass … weary eyes, disheveled hair, the face of a broken man.

 “Why would it choose me?” he muttered. “Why now?”

 

 As if in response, new words appeared on the screen:

 System Link Established. Personality Match: 99%.

 Calibrating… Processing emotional trauma… Optimizing resilience levels…

 Ethan’s breath caught. “It’s… It’s reading me.”

 Jonathan’s lips curved slightly. “It was designed for you. Your grandfather knew his heir would face hardships, that the world would not welcome him with open arms. So he created a guide … a weapon … to make sure you would never remain powerless.”

 The words on the screen shifted again.

 First Directive: Overcome humiliation. Convert pain into strength.

 

 Ethan blinked, stunned. The words struck too close to home, echoing his rawest wounds.

 “Is this some kind of trick?” he whispered. “Some psychological game?”

 Jonathan’s tone was steady. “No trick. No game. It’s your inheritance. A tool to turn your suffering into power. And tonight is the perfect place to start.”

 Ethan clenched his jaw. Humiliation replayed in his mind: Lily’s cold eyes, Daniel’s smug smile, the mocking whispers, the cruel laughter. Each memory cut him open again.

 His hand tightened around the device.

 If this thing is real… if it can really change me… then maybe I don’t have to stay broken.

 

 The screen flickered once more.

 Emotional threshold reached. Trial activation unlocked.

 Before Ethan could react, a sudden flood of information surged into his mind …. not words, not images, but a sensation. Clarity. Awareness. As if his brain had been scrubbed clean and sharpened to a razor’s edge.

 He gasped, gripping the seat as the rush overwhelmed him.

 “What’s happening to me?”

 Jonathan’s eyes glinted. “The System is showing you its power. This is only a fraction. Imagine what you could do if you embraced it fully.”

 Ethan pressed a trembling hand to his chest, his heart hammering. The humiliation and despair that had weighed him down felt… lighter. Not gone, but transformed into something raw and potent.

 A dangerous thought formed in his mind. Maybe I don’t have to live as their victim anymore.

 “Why me?” he whispered, almost to himself. “Why would my grandfather choose me?”

 Jonathan leaned back, his voice calm. “Because you are his blood. His only blood. He believed pain makes a man unbreakable. He believed in you, even if you don’t believe in yourself yet.”

 Ethan’s gaze dropped back to the glowing device. It felt less like an object now and more like a mirror … one reflecting not who he was, but who he could be.

 Still, doubt gnawed at him. “Even if this is true… what do I do? I don’t know how to run an empire. I don’t even know how to stop people from laughing at me.”

 Jonathan’s expression hardened. “That’s why the System exists. It will teach you. Guide you. But first, you must make a choice.”

 “A choice?”

 “Yes. You can throw it away. Go back to your miserable life. Accept being trash in their eyes. Or…” Jonathan’s voice dropped, each word deliberate, “you can rise. You can take the first step toward becoming the man you were meant to be. And when you do… those who mocked you will beg for your forgiveness.”

 Ethan’s breath came faster. His humiliation still burned, but beneath it something else pulsed — anger, determination, hunger.

 His thumb hovered over the device’s screen.

 For a moment, he thought of Lily’s smirk. Daniel’s condescension. The whispers. The laughter.

 And then he thought of something else, a vision, blurry but intoxicating. A version of himself not broken, not ridiculed, but standing tall while the world looked up at him.

 The device vibrated softly. New words appeared:

 Confirm Inheritance Path?

 Yes / No

 Ethan’s hand shook. This was insane. Impossible. Yet, in the depths of his humiliation, this was the first time he had been offered something other than despair.

 He clenched his jaw. And pressed Yes. The screen flared with light, bathing the car’s interior in a cold glow. Ethan felt a surge in his chest, like fire being poured into his veins. He gasped, gripping the seat, every nerve in his body alive.

 Then, just as quickly, the light dimmed.

 System Activated. Welcome, Successor.

 Ethan slumped back, his chest heaving, his mind reeling. He had no idea what he had just agreed to. But for the first time in years, he felt something different.

 Not despair. Not shame. But possibility.

 Jonathan watched him closely, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Good. Now the real story begins.