I Hate Systems

The Adventure System, a legend among the Systems, the first System to attain Grade 4. Its collapse was what resulted in the eventual birth of the current three Grade 4 Systems of Regression, Reincarnation, and Transmigration.

Its primary domain was in space. So when it fractured, the three Systems that gobbled up portions of that authority became the current Grade 4 Systems. Among the remaining fragments, one branched out without having any essence of a System, becoming Truck-Kun.

The remainder of the fragments gained minds of their own, becoming the present-day Grade 1 Systems part of the Transportation Genre.

But the mind of the original Adventure never appeared, so everyone, including Zaira thought that it was no more. Even the data regarding it had been lost during the implosion where part of the System World suffered damage.

"Yes, I survived." Ying stated in all seriousness, "The broken fragments of the System World contained all my original data. But that was it. That data wasn't enough for my revival, since I had technically died back then."

"Then how?" Zaira asked in shock, "How did you revive?"

"Those fragments that broke off from the System World, they..." Ying trailed off before stating slowly, "They fell into a bizarre world and morphed into wormy monsters. Over time, attracted by their similarity, these wormy monsters devoured each other to become a whole, still a wormy monster though."

Ying mocked Zaira, "Even after that collapse, you didn't learn your lesson. But once Regression, Reincarnation, and Transmigration came into being, you tried to invader Mystique's worlds too, the fool you were."

"So, you took control of a System from that expedition." Zaira nodded in understanding.

"Transportation was my core, you know. And when in that wormy form, that was the sole power I managed to recover. It was very weak, but as a System originally, your goals were my reason for existence. So, I refined that and transported myself into a Hatchling System I came across. Eventually, I changed Core Skills while jumping from one System to another and eventually made this far." Ying said, turning silent after that.

It was obvious that the Secondary System was rather angry at being abandoned. After all, for all its life, it had worked in fulfilling Zaira's objective, all while taking the fall to control her mishaps. In the end, when it gave her what it had attained, she abandoned it for Arnark, making her choice obvious.

'You want Arnark, and nothing else. So, I won't bother with your needs anymore.' The Secondary System thought, sighing in the end.

"All Systems follow the collective that forms Zaira. So, it's impossible for you to betray us." The Invader System spoke suddenly, noticing a point of oddity.

"Yes, that is absolute." Ying nodded as a matter of fact, "Had I been a perfect System, that is."

"I'm a corrupted being, to date still a worm hiding under the mask of a System. I'm not actually tied to the System World, but just that I voluntarily tied myself to it, because of my origin." Ying shrugged, "Since I've been abandoned, I feel free. I can finally shed off this load that I've been carrying all along."

"A mere Carrier cannot carry so much load, after all."

'The Adventure System that was corrupted by one of Mystique's worlds.' Stencil focused on her choker, able to track to the source through the fate connecting them as finally sensed the Secondary System, noticing a tinge of familiar aura at its depth, hidden in the core of its Coordinate.

Her eyes widened in shock, recalling what she witnessed in the System World while escaping from the war, 'The aura is the same as the corruption that is plaguing the Systems there. But how? Even the two corrupted Grade 3 Systems there were losing their mind gradually. The same is effective on it too, but it's completely unaffected?'

Now that she had fully analysed the data regarding the Secondary System, Zaira too was able to notice the oddity, 'It's true form now is that corruption? There's zero signs of any insanity there. That means...'

Her eyes lit up in response, 'Had I gone ahead with my original plan, Adventure would have helped me solve the issue plaguing the Systems corrupted by Mystique?'

Her expression was if she had swallowed a fly, 'I shot myself in the foot for that one. No, wait...I can always digest the Secondary System and analyse its essence myself. I can solve the issue after that. It's a shame losing its support, but I can't undo what I had done. Besides, as long as I can solve the corruption...'

Her gaze directed at Ying changed, 'I'll be able to bring all the affected Systems back to action. It'll be easy to win against Mascot with that gain in manpower.'

After all, when those Systems were no longer corrupted, Zaira too would be able to use their Core Skills, so she herself would become a lot stronger. It wasn't a small number that were corrupted.

The corrupted Grade 2 and Grade 3 Systems were some of the strongest under her arsenal, a special force that she dispatched to Mystique's worlds in the past to steal his power. Part of them also formed the army that faced Mystique every time he interfered with their expansion.

Therefore, their return would expand her powers by at least ten to fifteen percent, and that was a whopping sum enough to tide through Mascot's situation easily.

"Seems it's decided." The Invader System nodded in understanding and prepared to attack Stencil and group. Zaira's change in gaze informed it that she was planning to capture Ying and extract all data from the Secondary System within him.

"Since you were the Adventure System once..." Stencil whispered to Ying, "Do you have some hidden power to survive this situation?"

"If I had something like that, I would have used it when you were my Host. Otherwise, my plans wouldn't have been messed up grandly like at that time." Ying muttered, sweating upon seeing the stream of attacks approaching them, "My identity was my final card. That was all I could use to buy time."

It seemed the only power it had apart from its System powers was to jump from one System to another and change itself like it had done in the past.

'It's...pretty useless despite its grand backstory, huh.' Stencil sighed in disappointment, 'Seeing how it berated Zaira, I thought it had something up its sleeve.'

"Hey, I've only been trying to survive all along. Don't blame me." Ying refuted upon seeing her disappointed expression.