I Hate Systems

"Kyak!"

"N-No! My power!"

"W-What is h-happening?"

The screams of the people resounded as the ambient Spiritual Energy in their world dwindled rapidly. The Spirit Veins laden through the earth dried up while the circulation streams of energy were broken, with each drying up.

Martial grunted in pain a little as he went against his created motives. But soon after, he was able to endure the pain, experiencing his strength returning little by little.

The cultivation world turned chaotic as the cultivators were unable to progress in their cultivation any longer. But right at this time, Martial extracted blood from the external heart, one granted to him by the Waning Essence System.

He infused the blood into the dried-up Spirit Veins, causing it to circulate through it and constantly absorb any Spiritual Energy that was produced in the world. This ensure the world's development through Spiritual Energy was halted entirely.

Right at this time, Martial introduced the concept of internal cultivation to the world, teaching them to gather energy through the consumption of food and store it in their Dantians to cultivate further—as they did originally.

The power structure remained the same, but instead of absorbing Spiritual Energy from the air, they converted flesh and blood energy from food and turned it into Spiritual Energy.

And as long as the blood of the Waning Essence System circulated through this world, it would continue to absorb Spiritual Energy and halt the world's development.

Moreover, as the heart was attached to Martial, and since the world was now connected to him, through him, the blood of Waning Essence would be replenished instantly.

The Waning Essence System was constantly stealing power from this world. And to a certain extent, through Martial, it was able to filter out Mental Energy and only absorb the content suitable for its development.

As for Martial, thanks to the Waning Essence System's help, he was able to regain more worlds under his fold. Basically, the two had embarked on a symbiotic relationship.

It could also be stated that he was the first among the Genre Representatives to become a Quasi-Host to a System.

"Don't delay, take over as many worlds as possible before Immortal recovers." The Waning Essence System's voice resounded in Martial's ear, "He's still injured on the battlefield and is recovering. Before he regains his strength, steal at least a couple hundred worlds. That should make a dent in his strength, at least a little."

"I can only steal the wuxia worlds though. It's impossible to target the Xianxia worlds that form the core of his power." Martial said, "There's no realistic way to convert those worlds into mine."

"It's fine, the majority of his worlds fall under wuxia. Sealing those would cripple his powers to a great extent. That is enough." The Waning Essence System said as Martial disappeared and reappeared in another cultivation world, repeating the same to suppress its growth and turn it into a martial arts-based world, one that relied on internal-energy cultivation.

At the same time, in the river of time flowing through a Xianxia world, Regression appeared and subtly entered it before all traces of it vanished. The same happened in the majority of the Xianxia worlds, taking advantage of Immortal's momentary helplessness and absence.

…

"Hmm…" Compass Carburettor frowned as he stared at the foot of the mountain, noticing that more and more members of his Secret Society fell victim to the hunters. "The hunters have grown stronger all of a sudden."

He stared at Gehera, "Are you able to handle them all?"

"Yes," Gehera nodded, "That's still within my limit. But, it won't change our situation. I need access to the main System."

"If I can maintain a siphon line with the Hunter System, I can create a steady stream of hunters to fight our opponents. We'll simply rely on their strength to fight them." Gehera said before panting a little.

"We're getting exhausted." Compass Carburettor muttered, sensing the Mental Strength of every Secret Society member at war deplete over time. The case was the same for him too.

Even though he could act using Mental Energy, his Mental Fragments would stop moving without enough Mental Strength. And currently, the apocalyptic setting was targeting his Mental Strength.

'I need to find a method to gain enough power.' Compass Carburettor thought, creating a Secret Society member that took flight before crashing into the hunters to explode into a sea of mist, trapping them all.

Suddenly, lightning sparked through their bodies, one that latched onto the Systems within them to pry them away. Their bodies collapsed into Mental Fragments while the System Fragments remained alive, trapped within the mist.

Gehera entered the mist and made the Hunter System Fragments collide with one another, combining until they formed a large enough chunk to express its characteristics.

She then placed her hand on the combined Hunter System Fragment, focusing on it as her hand trembled, her mind coursing through the vast network of fate, mind, time, and space that connected the Hunter System Fragments to the Hunter System.

Boom!

Gehera found herself standing in a void, surrounded by planetary-sized objects of various shapes and sizes. Suddenly, a planet resembling earth approached her before the clouds covering it morphed to form an eye that shot open and glared at her, destroying her mental projection.

"Gah!" Gehera screamed in fright and flew out of the mist, rolling on the ground in a fluster as she trembled in fear, "S-Scary, too scary."

"So, that is a Grade 2 System." She gasped in alarm.

"Is it possible to steal power from it directly?" Compass Carburettor asked, sighing upon seeing Gehera shake her head vehemently, 'Indeed, it makes no sense for her to be capable of that. It hasn't been long since she gained this power. She still needs time to develop it further.'

"Alright, just steal the power of the fragment trapped in the mist." Compass Carburettor said, watching Gehera do so as he created more Secret Society members, intending to replenish the numbers when suddenly, a wave of Spiritual Energy blasted past him, wrecking the traps set on the mountain.

There emerged a primal cry, one of desolate despair, full of soul-rending pain as at the peak of the mountain, the truck exploded, wounding everyone in the vicinity as a crater formed due to the explosion.

And kneeling in the centre, amid the billowing dust was Immortal, one whose face was crumbling, rapidly aging in response as an animalistic roar resounded from him, a sign of his sentience waning.