I Hate Systems

"What?" Kowla was alarmed, hurriedly stepping back a little as she became nervous, alternating gazes between Pilkan and her father before glaring at the latter, "You said you wouldn't ask for that."

"I'm not going to use it." Compass Carburettor let out a casual smile, "I only need to see the manufacturing methods of the Lan Clan's Ascender Scroll."

'Ahh, that makes sense.' Duketace nodded.

After all, an Ascender could create an Ascender Scroll. So, even if he wasn't an Ascender yet, there was no reason for Pilkan to be interested in the Ascender Scroll.

That was why Compass Carburettor made it seem like he was just interested in the manufacturing methods of the Ascender Scroll. This way, he would display the depth of his powers, one where he could glean into the manufacturing methods of the Ascender Scroll simply by looking at it.

Secondly, he'll appear even more unfathomable in their eyes, even though in truth he had yet to lay eyes on an Ascender Scroll.

As usual, being a charlatan was his true calling as Compass Carburettor didn't even bat an eye, completely committing himself to the role.

"Okay…" Kowla extended her hand, causing a scroll to appear on it, brought out from her Dreamland.

The scroll spanned a length and width of two metres, pretty large in nature. The hands of Kowla trembled in response, hesitating to part with it.

But, she truly had no other choice but to do so, having borne witness to Pilkan's strength at first glance, watching him casually kill the Captain, a Superior Invoker.

This meant that he could kill her in an instant if he wanted. Her resistance meant nothing in the face of unfathomable might.

Compass Carburettor smiled as he grabbed the Ascender Scroll, focusing his Dreamland on it as it was sucked into the place. The moment the Ascender Scroll arrived at the Dreamland, it unfurled itself, displaying a network of complex Mental Fragments, seemingly melted and fused into the structure.

'Amazing! So this is what Ascenders are capable of.' He thought, understanding that Ascenders were able to imbue sentience in everything they create. This meant that the Ascender Scroll was sentient, imbued with the Ascender's will.

It implied that only those from the Lan Clan could use this Ascender Scroll. If anyone else were to use it, the hidden will in the scroll would destroy their Dreamland.

As Pilkan was from the Lan Clan, the will didn't take action, allowing Compass Carburettor to deconstruct its workings in a matter of minutes.

'It's a mini Dreamland that accelerates the rate at which one gains and builds up their Mental Strength.' Compass Carburettor nodded. At present, the only reason he was still a Common Invoker was due to his lacking Mental Strength.

Unlike Mental Fragments that could be accumulated, Mental Strength was something only obtained through endless training. And this was achieved by making the Invoked Spirit train in the Dreamland.

For other Invokers, they also needed to spend ages building up both their Dreamland and Invoked Spirit. But for Compass Carburettor, that process took a few seconds.

So, he only needed to train for Mental Energy.

The Ascender Scroll was akin to a formation, created using Mental Fragments sourced from the target living beings, ones that symbolised sleep, dreams, and focus.

The Ascender Scroll with him was created using an eagle's Mental Fragments dedicated to sleep, dreams, and focus. Therefore, training with it allowed the Invoker to rest faster, have deeper periods of sleep, and be focused throughout their training.

This would spike up the growth of their Mental Strength, strengthening it over time. Eventually, they would attain the tipping point to attempt becoming an Ascender.

The problem with creating an Ascender Scroll was that no Mental Fragments had these three substances alone. They were usually a mix of many others.

An Invoker was unable to extract or separate that. Only an Ascender was capable of doing so. But even for them, time was required, which was why it took a decade on average for an Ascender to create a Scroll.

Of course, as he wasn't an Ascender, Compass Carburettor couldn't create an Ascender Scroll. But, that was only if he proceeded with the conventional route.

In the Dreamland, the Human Invoked Spirit snapped its finger, creating a manual grinder. It then dumped a bunch of Mental Fragments into it and began to rotate the wheel, grinding the Mental Fragments.

The ability of a Human Invoked Spirit was to create tools out of Mental Fragments. This meant that Compass Carburettor could consider the Mental Fragments themselves as tools, or rather just items that had to be ground to dust.

Following that was elementary factory streamlining of the process as the majority of the Mental Fragments were ground to dust, to their smallest possible states.

Following that was the first process of separation: Winnowing. Every mode of manual filtration techniques employed by humans of the past was used one after another, separating the Mental Fragments by terms of size and weight differences.

Following that, he made them fall through a tiny funnel, placing a batch of Mental Fragments closely. This batch was full of Mental Fragments regarding one's sleep. Compass Carburettor had to individually pick them from the pile of dust until they formed a small batch.

Following that, he fused the batch into a spherical tool, placing next to the stream of Mental Fragments falling from the funnel.

This was something every item in existence, whether in particle or energy form possessed: Affinity.

Being attracted to similar components was an aspect possessed by all, including Mental Fragments. It was something he had understood before Hazen branched out of him.

Compass Carburettor smiled, watching fragmented Mental Fragments branch out of the falling stream of Mental Fragments and latch onto the sphere.

Over time, the dust covering the sphere increased in quantity as Compass Carburettor stopped the process. Like extracting iron filings from a magnet, he poured the dust into a separate container, grinding them once again into finer dust.

He then made them fall through a funnel, observing them being attracted to the sphere placed nearby, noticing part of it just fall through without being attracted. These were extras that had been part of the parcel before, attached to the Mental Fragments with sleep.

Compass Carburettor continued the process, going through multiple steps as the resultant batch of Mental Fragments regarding sleep became more and more purified. Finally, once they attained the desired purification, he combined them into a sphere, using them for the initial process, watching the attraction become better as compared to before.

'There only exists methods we haven't thought of.' Compass Carburettor smiled in response, already confident in creating an Ascender Scroll many times more potent as compared to the one in Kowla's possession.