I Hate Systems

"Is this what you were hoping for?" Aronaut asked upon seeing Stencil hit the peak, "Congratulations are in order for being the fastest System Slayer to hit level 99. You did it under 25 years."

"Thank you," Stencil nodded without a change in expression, "But this isn't the end. Me hitting level 99 is just the prerequisite for the subsequent plan."

She eyed Gehera, "Since Slayer isn't taking action no matter how much Gehera taunts by stealing his strength, it means he's close to attaining whatever he's holding out for. So, I plan to disrupt it."

There had originally been two options presented to them in order to save Compass Carburettor. As they didn't know about Conjurer, they could only rely on Slayer to obtain the details.

But of course, Slayer was avoiding them resolutely, not even caring about his strength getting siphoned permanently by Gehera. It meant that this drop in strength was of no concern to him, which meant that getting his attention in this manner wasn't possible.

With the first option no more, it left them with the second choice: Disrupt Slayer's plans.

And currently, that was the Plague Doctor Profession that he had been investing heavily into. Some of the Aero Society members were already on the move regarding that, having been acting in culling the flames of war that had erupted between the Xetuka Kingdom and the Burnak Kingdom.

Currently, it was a battle between Aronaut's and Slayer's forces.

But if a real battle were to erupt, Aronaut would definitely lose. After all, his current strength would only allow him to take on one of the five peak System Slayers on Slayer's side. At most he could stall two.

As for Stencil who had just hit level 99, she couldn't face the peak System Slayers. It had to be noted that Stencil only had one Personal Fragment. She could create three chokers, two of which were already binding the Secret Refiner System and Happy-Go-Lucky System respectively, none of which were at level 99.

The Happy-Go-Lucky System was still at level 88 while the Secret Refiner System was only in its early forties. It wasn't easy to level them up like she had done for herself—for they needed Mental Energy specific to their type to level up, otherwise, it would be akin to poison for their growth.

System Slayers were capable of using all forms of Mental Energy for growth. In the end, Stencil couldn't fight the peak System Slayers that probably had hundreds of Skills under their arsenal, with at least a dozen Core Skills, with a good fraction of them highly levelled, even at level 99.

In contrast, Stencil wielded two Core Skills, both of which were non-offensive in nature. She could rely upon her cultivation powers, for her choker was the Earth Divine Martial Spirit, but the attacks would only be of cultivation genre.

It could easily be countered by the System Slayers that would wield powers from different genres. Therefore, a head-on assault would result in their abject destruction, which was why Aero Society wasn't able to cull the flames of war to a desirable effect.

Slayer had been planning for too long and this world was his home, his base. His foundation was too robust here to face against.

And in order to mitigate Slayer's influence, Stencil planned to create one special System. As to how she could create it?

Bullet Template—Slayer!

Taking out Anthozoa, she condensed the parts of the massive sea of Mental Energy that had passed through her body until now. She had filtered out just these fragments, condensing a bullet using it that she shot out.

Boom!

The bullet slammed into the first System Host she had targeted, plunging into his body as it clashed with the System there, destroying its weak self in a matter of seconds before devouring it in an instant. Its Core Skill was actually destroyed as its Coordinate was absorbed.

This resulted in its own Coordinate strengthening, creating a stronger foundation as a System was birthed, bonded to the man.

Skill-Breaker System—Level 1!

This was the System that she had been preparing to create. The information regarding this was only generated when Stencil deconstructed the foundation of the Systems. And it was this that was transferred through the Mental Energy stream that she absorbed.

It was only a sliver though, among the vast sea of Mental Energy, hence why she first deconstructed all the captured Systems to level 1. If she hadn't deconstructed their foundation, the Systems wouldn't experience that feeling of deconstruction, which wouldn't have been in the minds of their Hosts, who wouldn't have generated Mental Energy regarding the same.

And it was this Mental Energy—of them feeling their Systems getting destroyed by a mysterious power—that she used to create the bullet, resulting in the birth of the Skill-Breaker System.

Immediately after confirming the birth of the Skill Breaker System, Stencil used her third choker, winding it around the man's neck as it emitted lightning snakes that drilled into his body, embedding itself into the newly birthed System.

Stencil spent a few minutes to root her control into the new System, bringing it fully under her control, before which she killed the man. He was no longer required, for she gained control over the System.

With that, she took it within herself, retracting the choker, obtaining the power of the Skill-Breaker System.

She then stared at Aronaut, asking the stupefied individual, "Among this group of System Hosts, take the Core Skills of any that you need for Aero Society."

"Sure," Aronaut regained his bearings, quickly beheading those whose Core Skills he desired, watching the Relic absorb them casually as he muttered, "We already have multiple similar Skills regarding the remaining Core Skills."

"What do you plan to do with them though?" Gehera asked, staring at the System Hosts that were still alive.

"Target practice," Stencil said, taking on the form of a Coordinate as she superimposed the Skill-Breaker System over herself, transforming into that as she now resembled an anvil, hovering in the air silently for a second before slamming into the closest System Host.

"Argh!" The System Host screamed at the impact before staring in shock, for he didn't feel any pain. But an instant later, a thunderous shout resounded in his mind.

"Garghhhhh…" It originated from his System's death throes.