Ares slumped against the cavern wall, his breaths ragged. His wounds burning with pain. The monster’s attack had nearly killed him—and it would have, if he hadn’t reacted on his own.

  But that was the problem. He had reacted. The system hadn’t. Why?

  He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to focus through the pain.

  “You detected the monster before I even saw it. You warned me. So why the hell didn’t Combat Protocol activate?”

  A pause. Then—

  System: [Analyzing failure…]

  [Initial detection: Unusual heat signature. [Elevated Aetheric emissions. Airborne chemical composition altered]

  [Classification: Environmental anomaly → Potential hazard]

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  Ares narrowed his eyes. Environmental hazard?

  System: [Data conflict detected]

  [Lifeform exhibits extreme heat output beyond standard biological parameters]

  [Detected emission of combustible gases: Methane, hydrogen, sulfur dioxide]

  [Possible fire-generation mechanism—insufficient data for confirmation]

  Ares exhaled sharply. That explained it.

  The system had detected something strange. It had flagged the heat, the Aetheric signature, and even the gases in the air. But it hadn’t been able to connect the dots fast enough.

  “So you knew something was here, but you didn’t know if it was dangerous?”

  System: [Threat classification delay: 47.3 seconds]

  Ares felt his stomach turn. A full forty-seven seconds.

  That was nearly a minute where the system had hesitated.

  It wasn’t that it didn’t detect the threat. It just didn’t recognize it as a combat scenario until it was too late.

  He let his head rest against the stone wall, exhausted. This wasn’t like a game, where enemies were automatically labeled as threats. The system didn’t operate on certainty—it operated on data. If it didn’t have enough, it hesitated.

  Just like now.

  “I almost died because you couldn’t make up your mind.”

  A long silence. Then—

  System: [Affirmative]

  Ares exhaled through his nose. At least it wasn’t lying to him.

  This meant one thing: the system wasn’t perfect. It didn’t have infinite knowledge. It couldn’t instantly assess every enemy. It could guess—but sometimes, guesses weren’t fast enough.

  If he wanted to survive, he couldn’t just rely on it. He had to think, react, and fight on his own.

  Ares tightened his grip around the jagged rock in his hand. The pain reminded him he was still alive.

  And next time, he wouldn’t wait for the system to tell him to fight.