I Hate Systems

Moreover, with the way he arrived, waved his hand to create a building out of nowhere, and created an unending stream of water and grain that gushed out of the land, it wouldn’t be wrong if they associated him as a deity.

And that they did, expressing loyalty that directly entered the domain of devotion, surpassing three hundred in the units of loyalty measured by Secret Society.

With that, it was easy to turn them into members, causing them to shed tears as they understood just how grand the one they were worshipping was.

Compass Carburettor didn’t put on airs, slowly patting his statue as he placed a massive sphere of Mental Energy within. Unlike when he turned Mental Energy physical using the Trait of Permanence, he directly gushed the energy into the statue, mildly modifying the properties of the statue until Mental Energy was trapped within.

As even the source of energy for his Apocalypse Pearl was Mental Energy, he could achieve this. After all, what he was following here was the same structure that he had used in his Mental Energy Form before, one that was capable of absorbing Mental Energy but incapable of emitting any.

In front of the statue appeared a tiny rock on which, the following words were inscribed, “Lord of Wealth—Compass Carburettor. Lord of Secrecy—Domino Plottopia. Lord of Creation—Gahrat. Harbinger of Serenity—Hazen.”

Immediately after, the walls of this prayer room began to change, now sporting a story, one for each of the four identities.

The story of the Lord of Wealth displayed a child that was desperate for worldly riches, one who attains it by the end of his life but loses everything else. In the final moments of his life, he attained enlightenment, becoming the Lord of the Wealth.

The story of the Lord of Secrecy displayed a woman that led a revolution, crawling through the back alleys of a city as she slowly gathered people that supported her cause, eventually overthrowing the corrupt regime. But once she took control of the region, she noticed how different things were, failing to achieve anything.

After all, what she had done in the dark could no longer be done in the light. At this juncture, when she desperately hoped to find a solution, unwilling to become worse than the corrupt regime she went against all her life, the woman became enlightened, maintain her secret society that lived in the shadows of society without no identity, silently protecting those that lived in the light. That’s when she became the Lord of Secrecy.

The story of the Lord of Creation was of an infertile lady who had grown old, crossing beyond the age where she could have kids. She was in despair when one day, she noticed a tiny sapling budding out of the ground due to the previous day’s rain. A realisation struck her as she treated trees as her own children, causing vegetation to sprout everywhere she went, planting seeds in every empty spot she could find, saving countless people from famine.

And when she died, the places her ashes were spread upon immediately caused plants to sprout, becoming trees within a day. That’s when she attained status as the Lord of Creation.

Finally, the story of the Harbinger of Serenity followed an orphan from a war-trodden region, one that witnessed the horrors of humanity and the other sentient races, seeing how such wars affected the lives of the common populace and the suffering that continued to increase in the world. His only goal was to give peace to the common folk.

Unfortunately for him, his peace-keeping efforts were razed to the ground by a war-mongering army, leading to his death. But, the desperate prayers of those wishing for peace actually revived him, causing him to continue with the purpose he existed, to bring peace to the people in this eternally conflict-ridden world.

As it was a goal he hadn’t completed yet, he didn’t call himself a Lord but became the Harbinger of Serenity instead.

“Your prayers give meaning to my existence, to give peace to this world. It was also what had brought me here. My tired people, may you lead peaceful lives from here on.” Compass Carburettor said before disappearing in front of the eyes of everyone.

“God!”

Everyone kneeled on the ground once again, continuing to shed tears of joy as they prayed earnestly, radiating with devotion as the Mental Energy they generated flowed into the statue, collecting within.

Compass Carburettor appeared beside Grisha as he retracted his Mental Energy Body Layer, gasping for air as he collapsed to the ground, “That was close! Too close!”

“Great job out there.” Grisha said, patting his back in support, “It shouldn’t have been easy to use your abilities in such a state.”

“Indeed.” Compass Carburettor sighed, focusing on a mini Spydragon he had left within the building called the World Seal, observing the actions of the cultivators there. Of course, the disintegration effect was thanks to his Dust Wave. He had only left a small portion of it there, just to make things appear mysterious.

As it was able to disintegrate their bodies upon contact, it cemented his power that was beyond what even Martial Providence Stage powerhouses could handle. And the fact that the power lingered only on three murals showed his last-ditch attempt to at least preserve some records, the same for his corpse there staring at the back of the Haggon statue where his will had been left behind.

He was only assured of three people that would arrive here as System Hosts—Straxia, Dwun, and Velcorn. That’s why he made three clear murals while making the rest look like they had been destroyed by the Evil Spirits that had broken out of their seals.

As to the details regarding their Martial Spirits, he made an estimate based on their character. Of course, he was aware of everything regarding the System Hosts in the Apocalypse World.

After all, Carburettor Island—The place that stood at the forefront of Earth’s technology—had already analysed their behaviour pattern, breathing style, posture, etc. And using all the collected data, they had created perfect character data for each.

Thanks to the supercomputers in their arsenal, this wasn’t even a problem to compute. And having absorbed all the compiled data, Compass Carburettor had an accurate grasp of Straxia, Dwun, and Velcorn’s character.

With that, and because their wills would be strong enough—due to remembering all 48 loops of their life in the Apocalypse World—to choose the Heaven Martial Spirit of their liking, he was sure of it. That’s why he accurately depicted what Martial Spirits they would possess in the murals.

This way, it was possible for the cultivators to devise plans to counter the three. The cultivators there had already collated all the information and created a scroll with all the details, planning to create copies out of it to circulate them among other cities too.

Upon seeing that it was proceeding according to his expectations, Compass Carburettor sighed in relief, causing all the Spydragons that he had created until now to vanish, sighing as he noticed all his strength leaving him.

As a final note, he closed his eyes, focusing on the unconscious figure of Stencil in the Dimensional Space, slightly tearing up as he clenched his hand into a fist, tightening his grip before transmitting through telepathy, “Be strong, my princess.”

“Dad will save you!”

And with that, the Restriction Order had fully taken effect as Compass Carburettor was no longer able to sense any of his abilities, even his innate ability as a Spirit. He was now a Spirit in name alone, sporting no difference to a human, unable to turn into a Haggon any longer.

He couldn’t cheat death anymore. Sighing, Compass Carburettor nodded at Grisha as the both of them began to board the horses that they had hired, watching the figure of Ranze approaching them in the cover of the night.

Compass Carburettor looked above, gazing at the twinkling stars as he uttered, “The race has begun.”