I Hate Systems

"A tribute…?" Flonna thought as she focused on herself, observing her mind become strained immediately. Thoughts clashed at ten times the usual speed, mentally exhausting her.

What she had experienced in the past, the strongest of her emotions, etc. were churned to generate Mental Energy that flowed out of her as a stream and vanished.

An hour later, the tribute ended as the memories in her surged and condensed into an experience.

Flonna took a step forward and was surprised to see a depression form on the floor. It was an imprint perfectly outlining her feet, etched a centimetre deep.

She wasn't capable of this before. If she focused her strength, she could of course shatter the floor. Thanks to her powers, she had overwhelming strength. But, having such finesse in control to only imprint an impression of her feet was a feat of the legends.

After all, to attain such a level of muscle control, she would have had to train for decades or if not all her life. Flonna was now able to perfectly control her strength, able to make use of her strengthened physique to even perform delicate activities like embroidery.

She had been capable of it in the past. But once the crown formed on her head, the rise in strength prevented her from doing it. A slight tug ripped apart the fabric, the needle bent when it pricked her finger by mistake. All she ended up creating were rags.

But now, Flonna smiled happily, watching her hands turn into a blur as she finished sewing an elaborate set of embroidery within short few minutes. This was work that would have taken her weeks before.

"I'm satisfied with this Skill!" She closed her eyes in prayer.

It wasn't just Flonna that received such a prompt but pretty much every monarch of importance. And of course, they all paid the tribute.

'Good!' Ahjar grinned once he received all the Mental Energy generated from the tribute. He kneaded them like dough and inserted them into the Monarch System's coordinate, slightly influencing its Core Skill.

Like a magnet attracting iron filings, the Coordinate began to attract certain fragments of Mental Energy stored in its body, absorbing them all. A year later, the Monarch System was surprised, "Eh?"

Passive Skill—Mind of a Monarch (Level 200)!

His Core Skill gave birth to a derivative skill, further strengthening the Monarch System.

When Systems attained high-quality Mental Energy and accumulated a lot of other necessary factors, their Core Skills would derive a Skill. This straight-up reinforced the System to unprecedented levels.

Usually among Grade 1 Systems, the System that manages to derive a Skill ends up becoming so strong that it swallows all the other Systems part of its genre and eventually enters Grade 2.

The Monarch System wasn't lucky during its time as a Grade 1 System. So, it didn't possess anything other than its Core Skill. But, it did have the advantage of being the first of its genre.

So, by the time the second System was birthed in its genre, its level had already reached the eighties, allowing it to easily hunt them. As a result, it reached Grade 2, and eventually, it attained its current height.

But, even though it was at Grade 3, the Monarch System didn't get along well with the other Grade 3 Systems, since it couldn't work well with them. Usually, Grade 3 Systems worked in pairs.

The best example would be the Waning Essence System and World Spirit System. The former caused the cultivation world to be deprived of its ambient energy while the latter caused a world to become a cultivation world.

They formed the perfect duo that could take turns changing worlds and gather plenty of Mental Energy.

But the Monarch System wasn't lucky in this regard. There wasn't a suitable Grade 3 System that could take on the world it had influenced, especially since the effects were long-lasting. Moreover, since all its powers did was bring about the era of warring states, even when the other Grade 3 Systems took on such worlds, it was hard to make changes that weren't still influenced by the warring states' ideology.

It wasn't as if it was impossible for a Grade 3 System to change it completely, just that it took longer and consumed more Mental Energy to do so. Moreover, thanks to the Monarch System's actions, most of the Mental Energy would be focused on the rulers, even in a changed era.

Therefore, the overall Mental Energy generated by such worlds wasn't optimal. If a Grade 3 System wasn't careful, it would actually make a loss. It was all economics for the Systems, as they were pretty much merchant-like.

Moreover, among Systems, Grade 2 and above, there existed two factions. The first was a faction that derived new results from their Core Skill, such as a Derived Skill, Assistant Skill, Passive Skill, etc.

The second batch was deemed inferior, having only their Core Skill to rely upon. The Monarch System was among them, but no more, since it derived a new Skill, a Passive Skill at that.

This resulted in changes to itself at an intrinsic level, after all, its Core Skill evolved. This evolution also affected its mind, which was normal for Systems since their existence revolved around their Core Skills.

But, what the Monarch System was unaware of was the fact the evolution this time geared its ego, causing it to become enlightened, "Wait!"

"Grade 1 Systems devour all Systems part of their genre to become Grade 2 Systems. During this, their Core Skill assimilates all the data regarding the Core Skills of the other Systems and evolves into a Core Skill encompassing the entire genre. That's why it becomes capable of creating an entire race and splitting itself into countless fragments, the essence of being a Grade 2 System." It muttered, deep in thought.

"At Grade 2, the System causes the race it governs to fight races governed by other Systems. The victor devours the loser's System fragment. Over time, the Grade 2 System accumulates data from various races belonging to different Grade 2 Systems. Eventually, it reaches the cusp of evolution, possessing data of hundreds of races." It frowned, "At the cusp, its Core Skill evolves, allowing it to become Grade 3 where it can influence the laws of the world, for it already possesses the data required to create the various races that are necessary to form an ecosystem in the world."

"But, once a System reaches Grade 3, there is no conflict. Grade 3 Systems just take turns changing worlds and share an amicable relationship." Realisation finally dawned on it, "I see, so that's why no Grade 3 System managed to become Grade 4 until now."

"We were misguided."