I Hate Systems

Stencil accompanied Aronaut and Gehera, arriving at the outskirts of the Trotak Kingdom, the home place of Gehera’s mother, Tehela.

The reason they had arrived here was to help awaken Gehera’s Personal Fragment, for that was the only way they could make contact with Slayer.

“Keuk!” The moment she arrived at the Trotak Kingdom, Gehera felt the auras of the Titans that resonated with her, for her mother was the princess of this kingdom. This meant that she was technically its heir.

The land was under the domain of influence of the Titan Saints of the Kingdom. And as a result, she felt the influence the moment she arrived, knowing that she was indeed a Titan, despite her current appearance being that of a human.

“Your existence isn’t something that’s considered possible in this world,” Aronaut said, having used his Skills to investigate her in detail, continuing, “But, your father relied on multiple otherworldly powers to make the impossible possible.”

He patted her back, “So, believe in your parents and let whatever’s happening in you take its course.”

“I’ll…try,” Gehera said, panting in response as she could feel something stirring up from within her. Flashes of scenes appeared in her vision, the details too blurry for her, as if they were just murky crayon smudges on a piece of paper.

“Want me to help you?” Stencil asked when immediately, Gehera’s eyes turned sharp as she went on alert, observing that she was able to sense the changes with a somewhat clearer gaze.

The reason was simple. She was afraid of Stencil. It was a feeling of fear that stemmed up from the depths of her being, shocking her, for she failed to understand the cause.

“I can manage,” Gehera replied in a hurry, taking in deep breaths before she felt fine, observing the changes stop. By now, she was able to feel a foreign object in her.

No, it felt like she was that object while her body was but a cage housing her true self. It was a jarring sensation that she didn’t wish to experience any longer.

[Let’s make a round through the places her mother used to live at first. We’ll head to her father’s place after that.]

Stencil informed Aronaut through a Mental Energy stream. Her Mental Energy reserves were pretty low, but thanks to the Anthozoa in her possession, she was gaining a steady stream by basking in the sun.

It wasn’t much but still helped her accumulate Mental Energy at a consistent pace.

Stencil was nervous about her father’s condition, hoping to save him as quickly as possible. But, as she didn’t know where he might have gone, her only option was to try her best with the means at her disposal.

Moreover, from the moment her father had been kidnapped, she was unable to access the Astral Network. It seemed like the Astral Network was cut off from this world itself.

Normally, it was the Astral Network that formed the bridge allowing Systems to enter and exit a world. Though, high levelled Systems could return to the System World even without that.

Using the Happy-Go-Lucky System, Stencil was capable of the same. This was why they had been confident about simply leaving the world the moment they encountered a problem beyond what they could handle.

Unfortunately, the level of the problem was just too vast for them to even think about handling before things progressed to the current state.

And now, even using the Happy-Go-Lucky System, Stencil was unable to leave this world. The System World itself was cut off from this world. Though, this also meant that she could snack upon all the Systems trapped in this world.

The Aero Society was already on it, working under Aronaut’s orders. They were already on the tails of the System Hosts living in this world. Once they finished cornering the Systems, Aronaut would bring Stencil there to give the final blow.

The Systems in this world ranged between levels thirty and fifty. There were more than a dozen System Slayers above level fifty that were now part of Aero Society.

So, considering their past strength, they were able to draw out even more power from the Relic that formed the core of Aero Society. With that, it was a guarantee that they could hunt down all the Systems.

“Can you become a Titan?” Stencil asked Aronaut, smiling contently to see the other party transform into one immediately.

“Take us with you.” She continued, “We can tour the Trotak Kingdom safely after that.”

“Leave that to me,” Aronaut smiled, “I can bring out the powers of a Titan Saint.”

With that, Aronaut grabbed hold of Stencil and a trembling Gehera before placing them on his shoulder, calmly walking through the kingdom, brimming with the aura of a Titan Saint.

His arrival immediately alerted the Saints of the Trotak Kingdom as one of them arrived before them in a hurry.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning slammed into the ground, and through the calamity of a thunderstorm, the Titan Saint made his appearance.

He stared at Aronaut, beginning with a respectful introduction, “I’m Takar, one of the Saints of this Kingdom. May I know the reason for your arrival?”

“The Goblins developed from this place, right?” Aronaut asked, sporting a mild frown, “I came here to investigate the strangeness of the Goblins.”

“Please come with me,” Takar lead the way with a show of hands, “Allow me to host you in our royal palace first. I’ll show you the information we’ve collected to date about the Goblins.”

“That would be helpful.” Aronaut nodded respectfully, accompanying Takar who then noticed the two humans on his shoulder.

“They are…?” Takar asked.

“My companions,” Aronaut said, “They’re the ones helping me with this investigation. They’re pretty helpful.”

Since a Saint vouched for them, Takar didn’t comment on the matter, ignoring the two weak humans as he escorted Aronaut to the royal palace.

“Kyak!” Gehera screamed shrilly the moment they entered the royal palace as tears streamed out of her eyes automatically. She muttered in a daze, “Mom was here!”

‘Of course, that’s why I’m bringing you here.’ Stencil thought, gently patting Gehera. Though, her heart remained unmoved by the other party’s tears. Compassion? She probably didn’t have much of that, especially with her father’s life on the line.

In her eyes, Gehera was just a key to saving her dad.