I Hate Systems

Hekatra pointed at her Darble Horn, causing it to morph until it became compressed into a kite-shaped crystal, "And this, is a Warble. There are a couple of uses in using this Warble, the pinnacle creation of our Great Empire."

She said with a hint of pride, "Usually when you become a Transcendent, the ability you gain is based on the Armament and Puppet that you have used for the longest duration in your life. So, were you using a shield the longest, then you are stuck with a shield as your ability. That simply sucks, because the Transcendent state allows you full reign over your ability. And, having a shield ability means you have lost all your potential attack power."

"A lot of Transcendents in the past have despaired about obtaining a useless ability that simply caused them to underperform as compared to their potential." Hekatra sighed, "After all, it's not like we have a guarantee in reaching Transcendence, not to mention the time it takes to attain that state. When it arrives, it arrives. And, to train our Darlac reserves, we use simple Armaments the most. So, our resulting Transcendent ability is…pretty shitty to be frank."

"And, that's where the Warble arrives." She grinned, "This would be fused into our Darble Horn, allowing us to freely choose our Transcendent Ability. Thanks to this, every Transcendent in our Great Megwest Empire possessed abilities that perfectly suited them, allowing our might to exceed the might of Great Empires from multiple continents, combined."

"And, that's not all." She said, "For Transcendents that possessed some Puppeteer talent, they can use the second function in the Warble."

Sporting a solemn tone, she proclaimed, "They can remove the Warble from their foreheads and plant it on anyone, whether human or Dungeon Monster. And, once they win the battle of the mind, they would inhabit the body of the respective human or Dungeon Monster. And, since all those possessing a Warble were old, experienced veterans of war, they would always win."

"We used this to inhabit the bodies of Haggons." Hekatra said, "With that, we obtained tremendous power. We created Warble that even people who hadn't attained the level of Transcendence could use. Using that, they inhabited the bodies of other Dungeon Monsters, also turning more powerful."

"What happened to your original bodies?" Compass Carburettor asked.

"Without our souls, our original bodies were in a comatose state. And, they would remain as such unless we decide to return." She shook her head, "But, none of us even cared about that, causing our bodies to shriven up eventually from hunger. With that, we attained a point of no return. After all, using our Warble a second time to inhabit the body of someone else was insanely difficult. We have to first refine it to a certain extent."

Hekatra sighed, "And, even to this day, none of us managed to do that, except for one person, the Great Emperor's son. It seems he managed to refine it long ago and had chosen to commit suicide. It was because he was unwilling to remain a Haggon any longer."

"Was he fed up with living life as a Dungeon Monster?" Duchess asked.

"Yes," Hekatra nodded, her tone turning weaker as she spoke, "It is because as time passed, the instinct of the Haggons began to conflict against our human instincts. And eventually, we began to become more and more like Haggons, mindless brute monsters that wished to break everything in their path. The Haggons barely had any intelligence, so we had chosen them to reside within. But over the years, we began to lose our comrades whose human selves were destroyed, causing them to return to being mindless Haggons once again."

"So, if we wished to escape such a fate, becoming human was the only way out. But, none of us wished to do that, intending to remain powerful even if it meant such a fate awaited us." She laughed, "After all, we had already lived longer than our human lives had dictated. A Haggon's natural lifespan is around 300-400 years."

Hekatra concluded, "The reason I attacked Lord Spirit is because of our Great Emperor's final command. It was to select a suitable human to implant the Warble of the Emperor's Son. This way, the Emperor's son would be able to walk the lands in his human form once again."

"I see," Compass Carburettor muttered, immediately thinking of something, 'A battle of the minds to dictate the body's ownership. It's the perfect cliché for a System Host to obtain power. The Slave Harem System would give him a Skill to strengthen his mind, allowing him to end up as a victor when this Great Emperor implant's his son's Warble into Regriel's forehead.'

He smiled, "Can you tell me more about this battle of the mind? How was your experience regarding it?"

"Yes," Hekatra nodded, recounting the entirety of her experience and everything else that she had heard from her colleagues.

Once she told him everything, Compass Carburettor looked at her, his gaze boring into her eyes, "Do you wish to bring back your comrades? Thanks to my power, your humanity would no longer slip away."

"I am grateful for your help." Hekatra bowed, "As I have become a member of Secret Society, I realised that nothing else has changed in me. I am still Hekatra, a loyal citizen of the Great Megwest Empire and our Great Emperor's right hand."

"Indeed," Compass Carburettor laughed, "Your identity won't change, nor will your disposition. Joining the Secret Society only has benefits. There are no disadvantages."

"Please follow me, Lord Spirit," Hekatra said, returning to her Haggon form, noticing that she still maintained perfect clarity of mind. Moreover, the encroachment of the beast's instincts no longer happened in her, causing her to feel freedom for the first time in her life, feeling that what she had hoped to achieve had truly become reality today.

Followed by a gentle bow, she prayed, transmitting her thoughts to Compass Carburettor, "I'll lead you towards Mohart Dungeon."

"Please rescue my comrades."

"Please help our Great Emperor."

"And please, revive our once stellar civilisation."