I Hate Systems
chapter-217

"Systems are my enemies." Compass Carburettor said through telepathy, telling a bit more information to Grisha.

"Then, I'll help to the best of my abilities," Grisha said, watching him shake his head.

"Only a System Slayer can kill a System. You don't have the means to kill them nor the defence to protect yourself against their methods." He continued, "But, there's a way you can help me."

"How?" Grisha asked excitedly.

"Once I refine a System's Core Skill and find that it's not necessary for me, I'll use that ability on you. Basically, you'll be carrying a bunch of abilities." Compass Carburettor said, watching her sulk as he motioned for her to remain seated, giving her an arm and a pearl, "First, use this and obtain an ability. That way, you'll be able to fight properly."

"Alright," Grisha nodded before swallowing the two items, grunting for a couple of seconds before closing her eyes. She was silent, absorbing the influx of information, finally opening her eyes after ten minutes had passed.

She extended her hand, watching a wand condense on her palm. The wand looked like a cylindrical rod and had two bird feathers on its top.

"So, it's not a pair of wings." Compass Carburettor sighed in disappointment.

"My ability is pretty special." Grisha seemed rather happy in response, saying, "It seems there is some sort of healing power buried within me. So, the ability of the bird fused with it and created this wand. Using this, I can heal people."

"That'll come useful." Compass Carburettor nodded before saying, "Alright, it's for the best if you stay here. Make some preparations for our eventual travel. In the meantime…"

Saying so, his figure vanished, arriving at the balcony before climbing up to the roof of the house. He jumped from one house to another, soon reaching the house of his target, closing his eyes to see using the eyes of a Spydragon he had planted inside.

There was the figure of Stencil working on a book now, scribbling a lot of information through it.

For a moment, Compass Carburettor focused, activating Info Scanner, looking at the information displayed.

[Remembrance System (Level 2): 41 Mental Energy]

'It seems my little scheme had indeed worked.' He nodded in response, watching the low Mental Energy reserves of the other party.

First, upon seeing that there was a passive shroud around the Remembrance System Host that made him recall Stencil, he understood that this was the System's ability. And, it was active against anyone that stared at the Host.

This meant that it was constantly expending Mental Energy. That was probably why the Remembrance System Host remained in his/her room all along, only roaming through the house for food and bath.

He/she was a genuine shut-in.

After understanding the ability at place, he had installed a spy camera in the room, one that relayed everything that happened in the room live to an audience in a certain stream. It was a streaming platform in the dark web, filled with degenerates.

So, not much of a reaction happened, even when they saw the face of someone they liked. For some, they saw the figure of their crush, an actress they liked, etc.

Since the comments were disabled, the people didn't discuss things and find out any oddity of the situation. After the initial reaction, they lost interest, only staring at the stream because of the fact that it was nonstop, running 24x7.

So, more than the Mental Energy they generated for the Remembrance System, its expenditure had instead increased, because its ability was being used up to look like different people for all the eyes watching its Host.

And, that wasn't all. Compass Carburettor had installed quite a few spy cameras in their house. At the start, it did work in shaving off the Mental Energy of the Remembrance System.

But of course, it noticed the cameras, creating a Quest for the Host to destroy all of them. Normally, this would have been fine. But for a recluse, it came off as a shock that there had been so many cameras in their house.

Had it been a couple of cameras, then they could have just attributed it to a perverted thief that was collecting blackmail information.

But, when there were tens of cameras, it slammed off as a shock to the Remembrance System Host, causing them to shrink further into their cocoon, not even daring to use the internet after that.

After all, Compass Carburettor had been using a lot of accounts to constantly harass him/her to make them fed up with the internet. It would take at least some days to get out of this phase.

Moreover, as the apocalypse had yet to start, the Remembrance System Host didn't take action, planning on while thinking that this sense of reclusiveness would be rather advantageous to it.

After all, once the Host breaks out of that cocoon, the amount of Mental Energy it would obtain would become tremendous.

That was what Compass Carburettor had actually used to take advantage of them. And now, upon seeing the pitiful Mental Energy reserves, he smiled, summoning his gun as he swapped one of the bullets with a System Fragment.

System Fragment—Intoxicating Fragrance (Level 10)!

This was one of the abilities Regriel had possessed. It allowed the target of this ability to become intoxicated towards him.

As for Compass Carburettor, he was using it a bit differently, shooting the bullet into the Remembrance System Host as his figure flashed, appearing atop the roof of a nearby building.

He then watched the show, sensing the effect of Intoxicating Fragrance spread out of the house and seep into the ground.

For a moment, nothing happened. But suddenly, ants burrowed out of the ground in large numbers, attacking the house as they swarmed the Remembrance System Host.

"Kyak! Why have they attacked now? It shouldn't have happened so soon!" Screaming in fluster, the Remembrance System Host flailed around, unleashing a couple of abilities that began to destroy the approaching ants.

The ability seemed to be a strange mist that corroded only the living organisms targeted as an enemy by the user. It was a fearsome ability that was immensely cost-efficient, causing Compass Carburettor to be glad that he hadn't underestimated his foe.

But, he wasn't flustered at the sight of the ability, calmly seated on a rooftop as he watched the spectacle, 'Now, how will you survive this?'