I Hate Systems

Chapter 88: Fektra and Bureta Forest

Bureta Forest!

It formed the southwestern border of the Heroica Empire and extended into the Great Megwest Empire. There were neither any guards nor fortifications placed here. After all, there was no need to do so, thanks to a certain monster species that lived here.

Fektra!

A tiny, fist-sized monster with a hard shell and sharp mandibles. They were great at scuttling over rough, uneven surfaces, including vertical ones like cliffs and tree trunks. Even though they were fist-sized, each Fektra weighed a kilogram and formed the basic system of measurement for weight on their continent.

An adult Fektra weighed exactly one kilogram, not a gram more, not a gram less. This was a trait they possessed, another reason they were feared. After all, this trait of theirs allowed them to form a hill with their bodies or take up any structure, acting as the perfect building blocks for that.

So, nowhere within their territory was out of their reach. Thanks to their identical physiques, they were able to perform innumerous feats. And, it was unknown as to how many of them lived in the Bureta Forest.

After all, whenever someone sets foot within their territory, he/she would be swarmed and shredded into bits in a matter of seconds. So, Bureta Forest was also a dead man’s territory for the Heroica Empire.

But, the Fektra were territorial creatures. And, they only liked to live in the Bureta Forest whose terrain, environment, soil, and other conditions perfectly suited them. Due to this, they had never exited their territory in the more than a millennium of the Heroica Empire’s recorded history about the Fektra, not one, not once.

Therefore, the Heroica Empire never tried to intrude into their land. Moreover, they used the Bureta Forest as their border, just like what they did with the forest near Kettle City.

On the other side of the Bureta Forest was the Great Megwest Empire’s territory, a region swarmed by monsters that tried to expand into other territories. The Heroica Empire constantly fought against the teeming horde of monsters daily to defend its borders.

Therefore, the Bureta Forest was a perfect fortress. After all, any monster that dared to set foot within the forest wouldn’t be left with anything in a matter of seconds. And, spanning the massive stretch of the area encompassed by the Bureta Forest was free territory the Heroica Empire never had to bother about defending.

Thanks to this, it was able to concentrate its forces in areas where it was necessary, a reason it continued to grow in power among the four Empires on the continent. It was even rumoured that the Heroica Empire would reach the status of the Great Megwest Empire within a century or two.

“They have arrived,” Suddenly, Duchess spoke, causing Compass Carburettor to break out of his thoughts, turning around to see a group of people march towards them, carrying a couple of trunks. They were all Grogars that had assumed human forms.

At present, they were brisk, brimming with widened smiles, clearly having taken advantage of the Skill of Intelligence to the limit. For those with greater loyalty, he even bestowed them with the Skill of Resting, allowing them to become fresh with shorter naps than usual.

The loyalty of the Grogars continued to increase once they obtained the Skill of Intelligence. Compass Carburettor felt that it would take at least another couple of months before their loyalty towards him would stabilise. Beyond that, it would only change when they experience something big and drastic that might either shake up or firm their loyalty towards him.

He Bestowed them Skills according to the tasks they were allotted.

“All the items that Lord Spirit had asked for have been completed.” One of the Grogars bowed, speaking through telepathy. He was still feeling some difficulties in using the local language. When they assumed human—Spirit—forms, they were becoming closer to him.

Even though Compass Carburettor didn’t know the local language or even their words, he was strangely able to understand them. Now, the Grogars were the same. Though, it seems the level of ‘ease’ wasn’t as much as him, as they seemed to be struggling to cope up with the sense of disconnect that existed with understanding stuff that they couldn’t normally understand.

This sense of disconnect was minimal in him. If he were to talk quickly, he too would experience this disconnect, since the language was being processed in the language he was comfortable with. That was also why he also talked at a moderate pace.

“Great job. We’ll tell you of anything else when needed.” Compass Carburettor nodded as he sent them away, looking at Duchess in excitement, “Shall we see what he has created?”

“I call dibs on all of them!” Duchess laughed as she comically wrapped her hand around both the trunks, acting like she was protecting them from the big bad wolf. In response to her actions, Compass Carburettor acted like he was startled, looking behind her, causing her to turn in response when he lifted a trunk and backstepped a couple of times, grinning.

After a short banter, they got serious, having blown off enough steam by goofing around. They then opened the trunks, for a moment being stunned by the radiance of the items within.

There were two sets of each item. And, there were four items in total. It seemed each trunk was prepared for them accordingly, as there was a note attached at the top. Compass Carburettor picked up his note, reading the words written on them, “I have named all three items, since they are my creations. And, to display your ownership, I also inscribed your initials on them. Hadora, Katia, and Drooftur, all three of them are fully made from Darble. They are heavy and are treasures. Don’t lose them!”

He could practically imagine the face of the lifeless engineer staring at him as if he was gazing at someone that was burning through money for something that could be done for free.

“Haha,” Compass Carburettor laughed, lifting Katia, a hand-held rotary device that would carry them into the air. And, it came with adjustable parts, with its base form resembling a thick rectangular slab that could be easily carried.

“This would allow us to cross the Bureta Forest!”