I Hate Systems

"We have travelled through a lot of places. So, it isn't easy to trigger our disbelief."

"Is that so?" Wayna raised an eyebrow, smiling as she thought, 'This might be…interesting.'

"You can join me later once I start working on them." She said, extending a slip of paper, "My house address is written on it. Just visit after two days. I need to make the necessary preparations until then."

"Sure," Stencil smiled as she read the address, displaying her excitement.

"What is up with those two though?" Just as she was about to leave, Compass Carburettor asked, pointing at the figures of Faluda and Felladin, "I noticed that you seemed familiar with them. Why are they just staring at each other for so long?"

Compass Carburettor behaved like he wasn't cunning enough to make sense of the situation just by observing the body language of the people involved.

Wayna thought for a moment before saying, "You can just consider them to have a lot of history. They have a lot of conflicts. Anyway, it's best to not bother with them, it's for your own good."

When she said the last sentence, her voice was more serious than before as Wayna smiled and stood up, boding them farewell.

While she exited the restaurant, her eyes trailed upon the two System Slayers, choosing to ignore them as she obtained what she had come for.

[What do we do now, dad?]

Stencil stared at Compass Carburettor, observing that the System Slayers seemed guarded against others for some reason. It didn't seem like they could hitch a ride onto whatever they were planning.

[We'll observe and tail them later. Let's finish our food first and make our way out.]

Soon after, they exited the restaurant, heading towards an inn where they booked a room to stay as Stencil took out the Tukkan Crystal and began to play with it, using the abilities of the Secret Refiner System.

"What are you making?" Compass Carburettor asked, curious as Stencil didn't seem to be making a Duloctite or Magicite from it.

"A weapon to channel my power better." Stencil said, "Something similar to your gun, dad. This material is a pretty good fit for me."

"Something to use in this world only?" He asked next.

"Yeah," Stencil nodded, "I can create a suitable weapon for myself in other worlds. So, there's no need to worry about making a weapon that works in every world. It's not possible unless it's a Personal Fragment."

The Tukkan Crystal was a shade of fleshy pink, semi-transparent and semi-translucent. And when viewed from certain angles, it looked opaque, with the colour turning black.

It was a mysterious crystal, with the majority of its property originating from the arrangement of the lattice.

And hence, it couldn't be casually forged like an iron. The techniques regarding its usage were pretty delicate.

Stencil had no idea about them though, only wishing to experiment with the Tukkan crystal in her hand to gain some experience.

After that, she planned to see what Wayna did with her Tukkan Crystal. Only after that was she planning on refining her weapon for real.

Lightning sparked across the Tukkan Crystal, causing it to emit starlight sparkles as the Mental Energy in the lightning bolts was surprisingly absorbed into the crystal, empowering it a little.

Stencil then used Origin Essence, sensing the crystal remaining mostly unreactive towards it. She then seeped in the power of her Coordinate, sensing mild changes as the crystal began to turn transparent while the impurities in it began to seep out through the lightning sparks.

'I see, since the Coordinate is like the purest intangible material that forms a System's body, if I seep its power into any material, that material becomes purified to the peak.' Nodding in response, Stencil continued to refine the Tukkan Crystal, watching it gradually resemble glass.

But as she turned it, she saw lines of colours ranging from red to violet flash past like a wave. The Tukkan Crystal was pretty interesting to experiment upon as Stencil lost track of time while playing with it.

During this time, Compass Carburettor exited their inn, thinking of looking around the city to curb his boredom and hopefully chance upon the System Slayers in whatever they were planning here.

"Kyaaa! Save me!"

"Hehe, you shouldn't have come into the back alleys like this, lady." A man's snickering voice resounded.

While Compass Carburettor went around the city, before he realised, he had walked into the back alleys that were situated a couple of streets behind the flea market that he visited before.

Upon hearing a lady's shrill voice, he frowned, immediately making his way in the direction of the voice, coming across a red-eyed man that was choking a woman, steadily increasing the grip in his hand as the lady's face became paler and paler.

"You'll be my tenth kill for this month. It's a joyous occasion." The red-eyed man grinned, watching the woman's eyes roll to the back of her eye socket, displaying her whites.

One glance at the woman and Compass Carburettor didn't feel like saving her at all, 'When did System Slayers become so…common?'

The screaming lady was of course a System Slayer. But surprisingly, she was weak. And she truly was helpless against the red-eyed man who was a Master Warrior.

'Well, might as well.' Thinking as such, Compass Carburettor summoned Anthozoa and aimed at the red-eyed man, shooting a bullet, causing his head to explode in response.

The bullet turned into air right after and vanished, leaving behind no traces as the lady fell to the ground, coughing vehemently as she gasped for air.

"T-Thank you…" She said, struggling to get up as her legs felt weak.

"What were you doing here?" Compass Carburettor asked, glaring at the lady, "Don't you know a place is shady when you see one?"

"I…was searching for something." She said, getting up as she dusted herself, bowing towards him, "Thank you for saving my life. If fate permits, I'll repay the favour."

She then turned around and began to walk away, almost stumbling a couple of times as a result.

Compass Carburettor stared at her, frowning as it indeed seemed like the lady had been helpless before and wasn't acting.

He squinted, focusing on her back before eventually, her Personal Fragment was outlined in his eyes, causing him to frown, 'This isn't hers?'

'What the heck?'