I Hate Systems
chapter-298

"Okay, that youth is taking action as I had expected." Compass Carburettor sighed in relief. His motives might have been spurred by selfish intentions, but they did save other people. This was how a morally sound merchant took action.

It was always a win-win for them. Otherwise, they won't do it. If it was only profitable for them but harmful for the consumers, then they were unscrupulous merchants.

Compass Carburettor wasn't that. And now that he sensed the youth's emotions through the Mental Energy stream he emitted whenever he thought about the mysterious spatial entity, Compass Carburettor was glad that the youth maintained a rather firm sense of justice.

He hadn't received justice for his family, but now, he wished to at least give justice to others. It may or may not go well for him, but it was better than wallowing in despair. At least, he now had a sense of purpose in life, something to do than to seethe with regret.

There were a dozen cylinders with the ability of Fortress in his Dimensional Space. There were hundreds of cylinders with the ability of Vitality Bowls too. Compass Carburettor first planned to find individuals to entrust with the External items of the fortress and work in creating settlements that others could migrate into.

And all of these Fortresses were modified to look the same as the one next to Feora City. So, they would all turn into Mental Energy generation hubs for him.

After that, he planned to find discrete groups that were surviving somehow but were located in dangerous locations, surrounded by enemies on all sides. For such trapped groups, he planned to give them a Vitality Bowl each.

Of course, this was also modified to sport the symbol of Secret Society. With that, they would form smaller packets of Mental Energy generators.

All these External Items were prepared by Grisha. She was still making more of them, using the ants to the full advantage. All the materials were procured by the ants while she converted a large underground tunnel into her laboratory, producing External Items nonstop.

After that, they would communicate as Compass Carburettor would pick a safe time—when the Elf wasn't anywhere nearby—to arrive and collect the External Items.

Even though he was concerned that the Elf would kill Rhizen in the meantime, he had no other choice but to plan first. At present, he wasn't qualified to face the other party in battle.

But, he was confident in Rhizen.

Rhizen was a child of luck, a wielder of luck. Even in situations without any variables, things would still work in his favour in the end.

With that in mind, Compass Carburettor continued to visit various places, finding individuals to entrust the External Item of Fortress with, also giving them a leather scroll each. While he was at it, he wished to make the lives of the people easier.

Along the way, he descended at Mount Craire, hunting some three-horned mongooses to obtain a couple of their orbs. After that, he went to the next place, working there, thinking, 'I hope Rhizen's luck is strong enough.'

…

"Rhizen, I managed to kill a three-horned mutated beast on my own." Chenger laughed jovially, dancing, "I will no longer hold you back anymore."

"Silly, you never held me back." Rhizen laughed, patting her head, messing her hair until she groaned in response.

It was a joyous scene. A couple of minutes later, he began to dissect the three-horned mutated beast's corpse, focusing on the task at hand.

Chenger stared at his working face, one that was wholly serious, blushing in response, flustered internally, 'Stop admiring him! He's your target! TARGET!'

"So, even if he's your lover, you'll still stealthily admire him like this, huh?" Druvus snickered, whispering in her ear.

"Shut up!" Chenger flinched, jumping back like a cat as her face reddened, "I w-wasn't staring at him or anything. I was taking note of the dissection process."

"Yeah, yeah, of course, you did that." Druvus rolled his eyes, snickering as he asked, "Do you know where he stared peeling its skin off from?"

"I-I know that, of course," Chenger stuttered before running away, her face beet red from embarrassment. Obviously…she didn't know, having only been focusing on Rhizen all along.

"Bro, don't tease her so much. She can't handle that much." Rhizen said suddenly, gazing at Druvus while smiling wryly.

"I won't go overboard, alright." Druvus skipped some steps before arriving beside him, whispering, "These days, I have a strange feeling."

"What feeling?" Rhizen asked, turning serious upon hearing Druvus' tone turn solemn.

"I feel like something is about to happen, something disastrous." Druvus said, "I may or may not be wrong about that. But still…"

"I understand," Rhizen nodded, "to be frank, I too have been feeling this way recently. It feels like the mutated beasts we faced recently have been under someone's control. They were strangely targeting us as if intending to probe the full extent of our abilities."

"So, you too felt the same." Druvus nodded, "Then it is indeed a cause for concern. Your instinct is better than mine."

"By the way," He whispered, asking, "Is Chenger actually alright?"

"What do you mean?" Rhizen asked, his tone turning strange all of a sudden.

"I just feel like she's a different person sometimes." Druvus said, "The feeling has mostly disappeared recently. She's still the same in front of you, but when I'm talking to her, there are times when she acts differently."

"I see…" Rhizen nodded, expressing worry, "Is that why you've been teasing her every time you get a chance?"

"Sorry man, I was just acting due to my fears." Druvus apologised, "But don't worry, I don't mean her any harm. I just wish to confirm something with her."

"I couldn't feel anything odd about her. She still feels like the same Chenger that I know." Rhizen said, "but, I don't underestimate your instincts too. Try to see if there's anything wrong with her. There are mysterious abilities in this world. So we have to be careful to protect our loved ones."

"Indeed," Druvus nodded and left.

Seated within a room in the fortress was Chenger, gazing at a screen on the corner of her vision, staring at it while deep in thought. It was a simple window, but one that showed her powers.

[Personality: Original, Chenger]

She then gazed at a second screen, one that displayed everything she witnessed to Shyvern's group. She was in a frown for a good hour before snapping her fingers, causing the screen to vanish, "I didn't like your plan in the first place. So, I'll no longer cooperate with you."

"Rhizen is mine."