I Hate Systems



"What are you now?" Mystique stared at Compass Carburettor with interest. Those that managed to pique his interest in the past never had a good end. And now, Compass Carburettor was the latest in the list.

"I'm…just a helpless guy who's pleading you by force." Compass Carburettor panted as he tallied the Psyche Stars in him. The experience influence was growing stronger in him as he announced through Tell-Tale, "I want you to do me a favour."

Through Tell-Tale, he was giving himself an order to see through. Thereby, even if he was influenced by millions of experiences, the driven direction would be towards the result dictated by Tell-Tale. Without such a power, it would have been impossible to reclaim his individuality as Compass Carburettor.

"Pleading me by force?" Mystique broke into laughter, "That's a funny expression."

"But, what can you do?" He calmly tied his hands and stood arrogantly, "There isn't a single existence in the multiverse that can order me to do anything."

"What about yourself?" Compass Carburettor said as he harnessed Lore at full strength, inserting a rule into one of Mystique's worlds that had been semi-destroyed. Suddenly, it generated a collective consciousness and joined the collective within Mystique, intending to influence his decision.

But a moment later, it simply entered a state of slumber as Mystique repeated calmly, "No one."

"Including myself."

"The arrogance," Compass Carburettor exhaled softly as he looked around in disbelief before behaving like he was preparing another attack. But in truth, he was simply stalling for time. And soon, what he was hoping for appeared.

"What's your goal, Compass? This isn't like you to risk everything for a non-existent goal." Mystique asked once the collective consciousness in him changed. The one that appeared this time was calm and was someone willing to listen to him, and also someone that had views closer to him.

'Thankfully, using up all those Psyche Stars was worth it.' He sighed in relief, for the Psyche Stars used in those attacks were only intended to influence Mystique so that a calmer collective consciousness would wake up and take the reins.

"I hope you retract all your worlds into a cluster and gather them on one side of the multiverse." He stated his thoughts, "That way, even if I were to rampage freely after this, none of your worlds would be affected. So, I can avoid your rage."

"Honestly, there's too much risk facing your worlds."

"So, you want me to gather all my worlds to one side as a lump, huh?" Mystique muttered as he tilted his head, "But, I don't think that's possible."

"I thought Genre Representatives could freely position their worlds in the multiverse as they pleased?" Compass Carburettor frowned, thinking if his prediction had been wrong.

"It's possible, yes. But," Mystique shook his head, "As for Mystique, only the collective consciousness ranked in the three digits and higher up can do that."

"Rank?" Compass Carburettor was surprised by the term, "What do you mean by that? Is it based on the strength of the world the collective consciousness is from?"

"Not by strength, no." Mystique shook his head as his eyes shone with unfathomable madness, "But by their danger."

"For example," He tapped his chin a couple of times and said, "Consider the source that birthed the Systems. The danger level of that world is ranked 441."

"441…?" Compass Carburettor's eyes widened as for a moment, all his experiences caused him to stutter, realising the truth of the matter, "That means…"

"Yeah," Mystique nodded, "There are 440 worlds in me that's worse than whatever birthed the Systems. Well, in truth, the Systems are pretty cute and tame, don't you say?"

"Cute? Tame? The Systems?" At this moment, Compass Carburettor didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of the notion used by Mystique. The most terrifying entity that pretty much ruled more than half the multiverse was just…cute?

"There's a limit to bullshit." He glared at Mystique. "If it's like that, then why did you act against them in the past and treated them like a threat?"

"Some of me did that, but," Mystique shrugged nonchalantly, "Those collective consciousnesses are ranged in the five digits. They are pretty irrelevant. Anyone ranked beyond 441 would consider the Systems a threat. But for the higher ranked ones, Systems are not worth noticing."

"Does that mean you'll not move your worlds?" Compass Carburettor asked, sighing.

"I don't have the authority. I'm ranked in the four digits, you see." Mystique closed his eyes and spoke closely, "I'll patch you up with someone in the three digits. There's one that's awake. Slightly crankier than me, but vastly better as compared to the others in the three digits."

"By the way," Mystique cautioned, "Don't trigger that…"

"Aaahhh…this is such a pain." Mystique suddenly acted like a laidback old man as he dug into his ear, making a hole deep enough for his index finger to wriggle out from the other side.

He stared at Compass Carburettor and spoke as if it was a drag, "You want me to move my worlds?"

"Just so you wish to rampage around?"

"Are you qualified enough?"

"Am I?" Compass Carburettor activated Lore and Tell-Tale fully, enveloping the region under the concept of Mortality, fully wrapping his power of Dreamcraft around Mystique.

"Seems you're decent enough." Mystique waved his hand casually and swatted all his arrangements, "It's rare for an individual to gain this much power. But,"

He warned Compass Carburettor, "You should stop your growth at this level. Your mind as an individual wouldn't be able to handle any more power. It would evolve into a collective beyond this. Well, if wish to gain more power, just fuse Lore into Psyche Star. Something fun will happen."

"I'll keep a note of it." Compass Carburettor nodded as he stared at Mystique, "So, your answer?"

"Well, it seems like a pain, but why not? I'm interested to see how far you'll go." Mystique snapped his finger, causing all his worlds to begin moving towards one region.

Compass Carburettor expanded his senses and focused, able to sense the movement of countless worlds, relieved that he had succeeded. Just before he left, he stared at Mystique and asked, "Suppose the Systems find a way to subordinate you. What will happen?"

"That'll never happen." Mystique stared at Compass Carburettor as if he were looking at an idiot, "Why would something under my control succeed in controlling me?"

"Something…under your control?" Compass Carburettor was taken aback by the answer, "You mean…the Systems never broke free from your domain?"

"Yup, they never did. But of course," Mystique continued, "None of the collective consciousnesses ranked higher than 441 ever awakened during the time the Systems have been active, not even once. That's why the Systems can rampage freely. Even 441 has been asleep all along. But it has been skipping ranks though. When Magister stole that item from that world, its rank was in the four digits."

"That means…" Compass Carburettor was stunned, "If I were to consider the System World to be a part of that world, then does that mean adding all its foundation, it only reached rank 441?"

"Pretty much," Waving his hand, Mystique turned around and intended to move away.

"Last question," Compass Carburettor asked, "The world Jyorta Bone is from…what is its rank?"

"Why do you ask?" Mystique tilted his head.

"Just…curious." Compass Carburettor replied.

"It's dangerous enough," Saying so, Mystique vanished, "A place so messed up that even hell seems tame."

"Well, I have quite a few such worlds under me."