I Hate Systems

"Hazen…?" Compass Carburettor muttered, sporting a bit of hope that shattered in an instant upon noticing the parallel thoughts shared between him and the Secret Society member get cut off.

"Graaahhh!" The Secret Society member forming his right-hand in terms of value, one whose Dreamland was created by absorbing fragments from the Core skill Manifestation and Genre Representation now screamed in pain as he turned insane.

The cause was, of course, Hazen. In the final moments, while protecting Stencil, a wave of collective consciousness flooded thanks to the Regression System's actions. Hazen was impacted by them as a good chunk of the quantity invaded his mind.

It forced him into a state of unconsciousness. And now, it seemed that they were wrestling with him to dominate his body.

Even though Hazen was an expert in terms of the mind, the sheer quantity of collective consciousness he had to face proved beyond what he could handle. And while he was working on a solution, a collective consciousness had taken control of his body to attack the Secret Society member and break out of his Dreamland.

As for Stencil, the collective consciousness piloting her only remained silent until she was out of harm's way before taking action.

Thomp!

Hazen stomped the Secret Society member's head, shattering it into fragments, watching his body turn still as he gazed at Compass Carburettor, "Compass…take me back to my world…right now."

"Are you back, Hazen?" Compass Carburettor asked in a hurry, feeling that Hazen's state was strange.

"Yeah…not fully though." Hazen said, staring at his hands that didn't heed his command, "Most of my actions are still determined by the collective consciousness."

"I'll take you back," Truck-Kun said as he too exited the Secret Society member's Dreamland, accompanying Gehera as he was just about to grab Hazen when Stencil attacked them all.

"What?" Hazen was surprised as his body instinctively defended against the attack. A second later, he understood what had happened, "So, she's not Stencil."

"Don't harm her!" Compass Carburettor said in alarm upon seeing Hazen take a fighting stance, "With your power, we can save…"

Boom!

Stencil faced her palm his way and unleashed a beam of energy, sending him flying away before turning around to target Truck-Kun, watching him, Hazen and Genera leap away to evade the attack.

Sporting a subtle grin, she arrived before the Secret Society member on the ground, placing her hand on his body to cause it to wriggle in response before transforming into a sphere.

"The foundation of its Dreamland is just perfect for my rise." Stencil said with a satisfactory smile, turning around to stare at the figure of an injured Compass Carburettor, "Two more Dreamlands worthy of note are left in you. With all three combined, I will exact revenge upon those System bastards."

"Stencil! Stop! That's your dad!" Gehera shouted as she took out a Totem and transformed it into a Magic Beast, causing it to arrive between Stencil and Compass Carburettor.

"Hahaha! My dad?" Stencil laughed hysterically, almost gasping in response as she stared at Compass Carburettor, "Him?"

She glared at Gehera, "There's zero biological resemblance between us two. Or rather, neither of us is human. Even in terms of genetic information, there's nothing common between us. He's a strange, murky entity with a unique fate signature. Whereas…"

Stencil announced with a tone of arrogance, "I'm the Dragon of Systems."

"Besides," She stared at the four people around her, licking her lips, "All of you have interesting abilities to harvest."

Boom!

A formless suppressing force slammed into them as Gehera was the first to buckle under the pressure, staring in shock, 'How did Stencil become so strong?'

Only then did she notice that the sun was high up in the sky, almost reaching noon, recalling Stencil's prior words, 'Is that how it works for her?'

Stencil was Compass Carburettor's daughter. So at first glance, it didn't make sense that the collective consciousness piloting her body would be considering them as a target, especially since they had fought on the behalf of her body's well-being, which implied the well-being of all the collective consciousness too.

But of course, there was the Regression System's play here. While targeting Stencil with its Core Skill Manifestation, it thought of the best way to nullify Stencil's potential, coming up with a brilliant strategy.

What was the characteristic trait of the majority of those in a Cultivation World?

Short-sighted! Dishonest! Cunningly focused on benefits!

And among the various collective consciousness of the Cultivation Worlds, the Regression System focused on the worst of them all, sending them into Stencil.

Therefore, the majority of the collective consciousness present in Stencil was absolutely cunning retards that were dishonest in nature, biting the hands that fed them without remorse if it meant beneficial to them, irrespective of the value and longevity of the benefit.

Currently, the collective consciousness piloting Stencil pocketed the Secret Society member, gradually absorbing all the Mental Energy stored in him. As the one with the biggest Dreamland, the Mental Energy stored in him was also the highest.

And by absorbing it, Stencil gained enough power to exhibit her strength. But after the first attack, she realised that her opponents weren't someone she could capture so easily, as each had strange powers that could overwhelm her if she was careless for a moment.

Hence, she changed her tactics, taking flight to vanish from the scene, transforming into an ethereal dragon that disappeared in the form of a Mental Energy stream.

"No…Stencil…" Compass Carburettor gasped in worry as he lifted his hand, intending to transform into a Mental Energy stream to chase after her but only coughed in response, too injured and exhausted to move.

Hazen had fallen unconscious once again as Stencil's attack seemed to have riled up the collective consciousness in his body further.

"We need to leave this world first," Truck-Kun said, snapping his finger to bring the trio into a truck, "Once we recover, we'll return to this world…"

Ka-boom!

The sound ten times louder than a thunderclap resounded throughout the world, startling the natives as some of those with weak hearts died from shock.

The thunderclap brought a formless pressure onto Truck-Kun who grunted in pain before staring around in alarm, "What…is this mess?"

An instant later, he collapsed to the ground, like a doll whose strings had been severed.