Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 349 - Piezoelectricity Is Hardly So Powerful!

The system reward, because that was all that I could bring myself to believe this was, took five seconds to... identify the power system? Maybe less. Then it was business as usual as everything snapped into a different reality with no warning.

All the solar panels and framing disappeared. Same for the batteries and other important electrical pieces, like the breaker box and outlets. Now there was only a seamless panel of smoky quartz that seemed to replace the entire back wall.

Dark amethystine veins ran from its center in structured fern-like patterns. Like Lichtenberg figures that had been organized with the engineering care of a spider. Pulsing very faintly with an inner light that quickly reminded me of the air purification wall.

"Of course. Why wouldn’t the System turn the power supply it goaded me into working on into alien looking crystal technology?"

The words came out flat, almost resigned, without actually caring if someone overheard. If I am really being watched, there was no hiding this in the first place. Not without just rushing to Stash the whole thing without storing my belongings!

Because a hop into the air shows me that this has also layered the very roof itself, though the patterns on top are much more... generically geometric. Almost split in grids like the panels had been - and the old exterior end of the container is the same.

Vrika padded closer in my mindscape, examining the metaphysical representation of the change through shared vision. The black wolf seemed more curious than alarmed - now - which was either reassuring or meant my companion had given up on normal before I did.

It would be ’par for the course’, as they say. This spirit agreed to my contract rather quickly after I replaced its last partner, jumped fully on the Rimecoat Alpha high-speed train, and even before I arrived in this world... could it be that my partner is just... too willing to go with any river’s flow it finds itself in?

> What about me? You always fight and argue- what? I swim against my own current? That... no, I refuse that impression! I am fighting against the currents of others! <

Poking it with a human finger, shifting and biting it’s flank with fox fangs, and turning around and slapping it’s face with a wolf tail before I retreat from my mindscape and start worrying over what these system changes will mean... makes the wolf howl in irritation. For like four seconds.

I forced myself to move. One step. Two. Back inside the container to examine what the System had wrought. Smooth, no visible seams or joins. When I reached out to touch it, relying on the same sense of danger that had warned me before, the surface felt neither warm nor cold.

Honestly, an unsurprising detail considering it has done the same to my physical body. The dark gray quartz appearance was more pronounced up close. Too opaque to see all the way through even with the inner lighting.

"It wanted me to give the container power, but now what?"

Like it responded to me, three symbols glowed softly at floor level. Vaguely circular, but perhaps a bit more egg shaped? I can’t help but note one of them was right where an outlet box had been... and that gives me the idea to experiment.

I left and grabbed one of the light strips I’d never installed from one of my bins. When the plug drew close, the center of the oval brightened into brilliant violet. Pressing the prongs toward it, convinced I was on the right track, there was a sudden gentle resistance.

Letting go caused it to stay where it was. Like some kind of magnetism... but as usual, it defied any physics I know of - which is admittedly not a lot - and all magic I am aware of... which I’m beginning to wonder ever even scratched the surface of possibilities on my world.

"So, I guess we still have power."

Speaking after flipping the switch on the light and seeing it come on without any delay, I looked over and touched the center of the crystal. Right where all the lightning branches sourced from. Pale purple displays shimmered into the air, not *quite* like the system in my vision but also inescapably related.

[ POWER SYSTEM STATUS }

[ CHARGE: 100% ]

[ LOAD: 12W ] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

[ LIMIT: 8.0 kW Continuous | 16.0 kW Surge ]

Holographic, three-dimensional text and symbols that floated an inch from the surface. Pulling my hand back made the display fade, and I turned off the light while flipping it over and reading the sticker on it that gave off its power ratings.

"Twelve watts. Yep."

Bulky equipment gone, what would consume four feet of my floor space had been compressed into a solid silicate that gave me back most of that area. I still couldn’t cover this if I wanted to maintain access, but the floor and the walls on either side were mine again.

Standing, I pulled out my phone and backed away to take more photos. Barely hesitating, I opened my messages and found the thread of a BoundaryKeeper. Feeling the need to share, now that I know she knows most everything, I attach a before and after set.

> Besides, she’ll get the photos anyway with the silly backup. Might as well call attention to them.

C: [This. This is the kind of crazy things I deal with. In this life I live in your world.]

I attached both photos and hit send before I could reconsider. She knew about the System now. She knew about the countdown and the impossibilities. If anyone deserved to see proof that I wasn’t exaggerating about how strange this all was, it was BoundaryKeeper.

The reply came faster than I expected.

BK: [...]

BK: [What do you mean... ’your world’?]

BK: [Are you an alien? Wait, are all werewolves aliens? I knew the Chupacabra was, but...]

BK: [Your system thing just DID that? Can I come see it?]

In the middle of all that, I realized that Kyrie did not actually tell her... everything. Did she really just think I was Helene still, going by a different name!? I typed back quickly, already anticipating where this would go.

C: [No, you can’t come see it. I’m putting everything away and then it’s going into my... other ability.]

BK: [You mean that magic pocket dimension thing that won’t take stowaway snakes.]

C: [Yes.]

BK: [Does it still work? What happened to the solar panels?]

C: [Yes it works. They’re all gone too. All turned to... quartz? I think. Anyway, back to work for us both.]

BK: [No, wait. I have so many questions that I don’t know where to begin or which ones to focus on. But you want me to show this to her, right?]

I slid it into my pocket without answering. It would just bring a follow-up barrage of questions. Claire was a smart woman, anyway. If she can’t figure out what I am and am not okay with by now, then I’m not sure why she bothers paying so much attention to what people do.

Not with all the complaining she does about a different Stroman than the one I dealt with today not doing what she wants. And as I start to put away all my things, one Stash walk at a time, I start to wonder what the situation is with Luca.

If the assistant was only just told these things, what about the Beta?