I Hate Systems

What route of power did Stencil embark on?

With powers similar to Zaira, she was posed with some options and the challenges associated with that. In order to avoid strengthening Zaira, Stencil avoided the route of Systems altogether.

But her powers were more or less geared in the same domain—Mental Energy. Therefore, she arrived at a conclusion—concept.

Just as how the System World absorbed the thoughts of people and condensed concepts out of those thoughts and birthed Systems, Stencil did the same.

But, instead of a fixed concept that Systems were based upon, hers were fluid concepts.

These concepts were primarily based upon actions and consequences than a state of being. For example, Muscle Lantern was based on the thoughts people generated while bodybuilding, undergoing surgery, and rehabilitation.

Injury was a state of being. But rehabilitation was an action. This was their primary difference.

When Zaira chanced upon a concept like Coincidental Luck, she would search through all the worlds for the exact same concept and overlay them until they attain a quantitative value. After that, she would condense the Core Skill of Coincidental Luck out of it.

But Stencil did no such thing. All the concepts that she gathered were free to mingle on their own, through their natural affinity. And eventually, once they became a big enough cluster of diverse thoughts, they turned into an energy packet sporting a concept that she called a Power Concept.

As to what this process referenced? They were the collective consciousness.

What was a collective consciousness?

The consciousness of every single living being in a world mixed to birth this. It was a disorganised mixture that somehow attained stability and harmony, the case of unity in diversity.

And that was the rule all her Power Concepts followed. So, whether it was a Hero or a Villain, their Power Concepts were all naturally birthed by their source thoughts combining based on their affinities.

So, their powers weren't absolute, concrete, and fixed like Systems but dispersed, just as humans were.

If you were to take a normal human, he might be able to cook, dance, drive, run, study, etc. He would be capable of performing a variety of activities with various levels of competency in each. That was the essence of being human.

They weren't specialised in one task like a System. This was why Systems were overly reliant on the Astral Network to purchase Skills they needed based on the situation.

But for the Heroes, that could shape their Power Concept like a lump of clay and gradually veer it into the direction they desired. It might start as a certain ability and after a few years, it might be entirely different, just as how the collective consciousnesses changed based on the population changes of the various races in their world.

At present, Stencil already attained a fluid functioning Power Concept. Heroes and Villains were birthed as the world progressed. And as the years went on, the Power Concepts existing and being birthed continued to change, deepening in concept and diversity.

This was just one-third of what Stencil wished to achieve though.

The second part was regarding the collective consciousness while the third was regarding her regression.

When the first Invader arrived at her world, Stencil already sensed that the key to her second step lay with them. And indeed, she was right on the mark.

Four Stars and Five Stars among Invaders were capable of sharing their powers with the targets, similar to the Demon Gods that share their powers with their followers.

At present, just like Zaira that embodied all the Core Skills she created, Stencil too embodied all the Power Concepts she produced.

So, the next step of her plan was to share the extraordinary power she had accumulated with natives of her enemy worlds and create cults there, just like the Demon God Cults in various worlds.

Even a great tree would collapse with enough rotten roots.

Zaira was the System World itself.

But, Stencil didn't have such a world. Even the 24 Rings was just the world she was controlling. It was neither her world nor did she represent it. Her sole power was the Power Concepts being generated in this world that she controlled.

Though, she had one advantage that none had, including Zaira and Slayer—Collective Consciousnesses.

Collective consciousness and a Power Concept were pretty similar in their functional makeup. Therefore…

Boom!

Stencil focused as immediately, the dragon plushie inserted all the obtained data in her. Intense energy waves billowed out of her when suddenly, a collective consciousness jumped out of her mind and vanished into the world.

"What?" All the collective consciousnesses in her mind were flabbergasted at the development. They never expected that she could casually take them out of her mind.

It was then they stared at the Coordinates, realising how she was able to do so. The dragon plushie was the same. Using the Coordinate, it stabilised itself and could now operate outside her body. But it was inherently still part of her.

The collective consciousness arrived at the sky and merged into the layer where the Power Concepts were being generated. Suddenly, the thoughts having an affinity with this collective consciousness merged into it, empowering it.

Every single consciousness within the collective consciousness merged with a thought. Overall, it resulted in the collective consciousness becoming a Supreme Power Concept.

It was an amalgamation of countless Power Concepts harmonised into one. Following that, it returned to Stencil's body when suddenly…

Boom!

Platinum Head could feel strength flowing into his body.

The Power Concept of Platinum Head now fell under the domain of Power Concepts governed by this Supreme Power Concept. Meaning, it could supply power to Platinum Head using that connection.

This was what Stencil wished to gain from the Invaders, hence the mission.

"You saw this?" Suddenly, a voice echoed within her mind space as all the collective consciousness turned around, staring at the sole human in this space.

She was accompanied by a group of collective consciousness carrying her like royalty. She was the real Stencil. Her voice billowed in the mind space, "All the collective consciousnesses now have the opportunity to become a Supreme Power Concept. And you know what that is similar to?"

All the collective consciousness shuddered at her stare as Stencil said, "A Genre Representative. Similar to that, each one of you would become a Concept Representative and would be fuelled by the concepts part of you."

"At the moment, the number of produced Power Concepts is limited. So," She looked around, "It's on a first-come, first-served basis. Only those that submit to me would be given this opportunity."