I Hate Systems

Worst of all, he couldn’t find any Mental Energy streams. Even when he was surrounded by the egg-shaped barrier, when Compass Carburettor unleashed a Mental Energy stream towards Horan to escape into his mind, the Mental Energy stream bumped into the barrier and failed to pass through.

That was why he wasn’t able to leave it. And before he could attempt anything else, he had been brought to this mysterious place.

Boom!

Chains were conjured suddenly as they appeared, constricting him, wrapping around him from head to toe before pulling him to the ground, causing him to kneel.

The mysterious entity from before appeared as Compass Carburettor condensed Anthozoa and shot at him, riddling his body with holes before laughter resounded.

“Don’t bother, this is just a conjured body of mine.” The mysterious entity, the Saint of Calamity, Conjurer grinned.

“Who are you.” Compass Carburettor glared in response, nervous for the other party seemed as strong, if not stronger than Slayer.

And, he was having trouble believing what his senses were relaying to him, for the sensation he perceived from the other party was similar to what he felt from Immortal and Truck-Kun.

‘Is he their ally?’ He thought before realising that it wasn’t the case, ‘No, he’s an enemy.’

His thoughts whirred in response as his eyes looked around, realising something as he focused all his power into his throat.

“Don’t bother, this is a conjured world that’s entirely cut off from all other worlds. You cannot leave this place with your current strength. Teleportation, spatial jump and similar abilities won’t work here.” Conjurer smiled smugly, staring at the other party to say, “I am surprised to see how easy it was to capture you.”

He tilted his head, “Why did Gilthru make it seem like such a big deal?”

“This world is connected to you.” Compass Carburettor said all of a sudden, “It’s one of the worlds you represent.”

“Bingo,” Conjurer clapped his hands, grinning in response, “As expected of the Main Character. You’re pretty quick on the uptake.”

He observed Compass Carburettor staring at him in tension, speaking calmly upon noticing that the other party wasn’t able to break free from the conjured chains, “I need you to do something for me.”

Compass Carburettor only raised an eyebrow in response as Conjurer continued to speak, “I was hoping to harness your power to strengthen one of my worlds. It’s rather special, you see, as I’m planning to make it the strongest world under me.”

“You’re sending me there, sealed.” Compass Carburettor said, his tone somewhat confident.

“Only your power though,” Conjurer said, clenching his hand into a fist as the chains dug into Compass Carburettor, vaporising his body little by little, causing him to grunt in paint. But no matter how painful it got, he never opened his mouth to scream.

Conjurer felt that it was somewhat strange that Compass Carburettor was enduring the pain like this but didn’t place much thought on it, “Don’t resist, there’s nothing you can do here. I know everything there is to know about Systems and the Main Character System.”

“Escape is impossible for you.”

“Three years…” Compass Carburettor muttered as his arms fell off, his expression a glare as he continued, strained to speak, “I’ll be free in three years!”

“And then, I’ll come for you.”

Boom!

His body exploded, vaporising in response as the chains fell to the ground.

Conjurer felt mildly confused at what Compass Carburettor had said, but didn’t bother with it, grinning as he stared at a tiny sphere hovering before him, “Compass Carburettor as a concept. In this energy form, there’s nothing you can do.”

“It’s not possible for me to kill you, but that’s why, you’ll become the source that fuels my growth forever.” He said, extending his hand to grab hold of the tiny sphere, one that contained all of Compass Carburettor’s secrets, a form where he couldn’t do anything, helpless.

“He was pretty weak…” Conjurer frowned, staring at the tiny sphere as he said, “But, why is his power so dense? If it’s this dense, he should have been a hundred times stronger than what he had displayed.”

He then recalled Slayer’s discussion with his fellow System Slayers, eyes lighting up in realisation, “I see, so Compass Carburettor and Gilthru fought just now. That’s why he’s weak. He was already exhausted.”

Arriving at this thought, Conjurer grinned in response, “It seems I’ve profited thanks to you once again, Gilthru.”

But, just when he planned to process the tiny sphere and imbue it into the world of his planning, Conjurer felt his thoughts churning in response all of a sudden.

Immediately after, Compass Carburettor’s words resounded in his mind, looping nonstop.

[This world is connected to you. It’s one of the worlds you represent. You’re sending me there, sealed. Three years…I’ll be free in three years. And then, I’ll come for you.]

These were all that Compass Carburettor spoke to him as the memory of the same looped in his mind, confusing Conjurer before suddenly, something sparked in his mind, ‘Wait, every Main Character has a Core Skill. Then…’

His eyes widened in surprise as realisation finally hit him, ‘What’s Compass Carburettor’s Core Skill?’

Core Skill—Lore!

The looping voice in his mind suddenly sunk into the depths of his mind before vanishing as immediately after, the tiny sphere in his hands whirred in response, spitting out a Coordinate.

The Coordinate absorbed the looping thoughts from Conjurer, transforming into a System instantly thanks to Slayer’s Bullet Template before seeping into his body.

The sound resounded in his mind as Conjurer’s conjured body became a System Host while a mysterious power took control of his powers for an instant, taking advantage of his shock as immediately, using the power of Lore that shaped this System, the chains on the ground swerved into the tiny sphere, bounding it up before pulling it towards Conjurer.

“What the…?” Conjurer was shocked to see the tiny sphere vanish from his view, his senses, and the world he had conjured itself. All he knew was that it had been transported into one of his conjured worlds, but as to where it was, he couldn’t sense it as Compass Carburettor’s aura vanished entirely.

Only now did he realise that the Main Character slipped out of his hands, not even a minute since he had been captured.