Chương 367: System Lovers

Well, I suppose that this is a fairly good spot to settle down for a group of fanatics who are probably not too well-liked… But is it really wise for their entrance to stand out so damn much? The crystal compass eventually took me to an area that was considered a natural border between Rootriska and Heldinot. It was a relatively well-concealed spot that was lost in a small mountain surrounded by lakes, rivers, forests and ravines of all sorts.

Nonetheless, the great gateway leading into their paradise hidden inside the mountain in question was actually highly visible. It was crafted out of pure white stone that was so reflective of sunlight that if I had actual eyes, I would have gone blind looking at it. Even if the location was well-hidden, it seemed a little silly to be so outward with their precise location once one got here. Few would be able to see the gateway, big sis.

The area is actually enshrouded in an illusory effect that subtly and harmlessly targets the minds and brains of people and beings caught within it. It is an extremely powerful effect achieved thanks to an immense array which combines several ways of power and energies I doubt the stuff that protects some royal palaces is as good as this… This requires not only many talented people, but must be costly to maintain.

Well, it doesn't matter for you–Since it targets the brain and mind, it is a kind of illusion that simply can not affect you due to your undead-like traits For such an illusion to possibly have an effect, the entire array would have to be focused directly on you, and only you. Even then, the match-up is simply too unfavourable Ah, I see. I didn't even notice that there should be something in place to hide them. Oh well…

I casually strolled toward the entrance and met with three robed figures along the way, who emitted a clear stream of confusion each–I guess they were supposed to fetch me, as I would be lost in the illusion and struggling to pin down where I should go, but they found me walking straight toward the right spot.

If I had to guess, the array should probably have made them impossible to perceive, but I acknowledged their presence immediately, which was probably the main reason why they were confused, as that would be the biggest show of the fact that their array was having no effect whatsoever on my good self. They quickly collected themselves, and all three of the figures bowed slightly.

"We welcome you, Miss Nebulo" They spoke in unison before the one who was standing ahead of the trio began speaking to me by himself.

"Greetings, I am Sir Fourth of the Ruling Council. We have been looking forward to your visit, Miss Nebulo… I will lead the way. Please follow me" I nodded and performed a little trick I had been preparing for no other reason than to look dashing.

I pulled the cloak covering my mechanical body, using it as a curtain to block the sight of the three fundamentalists as I transformed into my 'Gynoid Form', deciding to take on the appearance I had been granted inside the final trial of Gilepre, a more lanky variant of my human self. Before they could question what I was doing, the cloak imbued with negative energy was stocked in The Closet of the Mindscape, leaving only what would seem like a regular, tall, and most gorgeous woman dressed in black clerical robes.

"Alright, go ahead, Sir Fourth" The trio was momentarily stunned, but Sir Fourth collected himself and proceeded as if nothing had happened. I casually followed behind with both hands behind my back. The trio led me inside as the gates opened. There were about thirty heavily-armoured knights guarding the area in front of it, and a dozen more guarding what lay directly behind. They were ready to welcome anyone who wasn't fooled by the illusory array. Those guys definitely seemed strong.

They were definitely a notch above the average knight, probably several more notches, actually, but I could tell that something was a bit weird about them. My combat guts were telling me that defeating them could be trivially easy for some reason. It must be because of their class Class? That system feature thing? Yes, it must be the concentration of system crystals nearby, but I am managing to get a surface read on the systems of these people remarkably easily… Anyway, they all have the same class.

They are Gate Guardians. It is quite a powerful class, and they would actually get stronger than they appear now if an actual threat appeared, but that great strength is dependent on a certain condition Oh, let me guess… They have to actually guard the gate? Exactly, they lose might if they aren't near a gate they have the duty of protecting, and if they aren't doing so, that extra power I just mentioned would never show up.

Away from a gate they are tasked with protecting, they would just be typical heavily-armoured knights, maybe a bit stronger still, but they would have to contend with you in the realm of physical might. Hence why you feel like they are actually easy to defeat The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. That's because they are, just under certain conditions… Is that so… Our little walking trip allowed us to check out a lot of other people.

It seemed like having a system class here was the norm. Everyone we met, save for some clearly small children, had one. There were 'System Scholars', 'Hallway Guardians', 'Door Guardians', and many others. Though Nara informed me that most of them had prefixes attached to their classes, which indicated the 'rank' they were at. Sir Fourth was apparently a 'Master Record Keeper'. I always thought that system classes had to be about fighting, but I suppose not.

I ran into a bunch of people with classes that clearly had to do with craftsmanship or more mundane jobs… The 'Master Floor Sweeper' took me off-guard. I'll have to admit.

However, I then made the mistake of asking Nara just what all of these prefixes I was hearing about actually meant, and she thus began a lengthy explanation that simultaneously made perfect sense, but was so needlessly convoluted and impractical that I was starting to think that the Universal System just liked to make things needlessly complicated for the sake of it. Well… Everything is needlessly convoluted, isn't it? I just got used to the rest over the years.

The memories of my first-ever lesson about magic flashed through my mind. The explanations of the 'aspects of inner energies' and how there was actually a basically infinite number of elements, with the colour of a fire being slightly different being enough to classify it as a whole element of its own, separate from the typical fire. I had been well-mannered even back then, but the temptation to stand up and question the entire thing still itches me to this day.

In the end, rather than having interpretations concerning the logic of all the nonsense, I instead plunged my teeth into another issue that I was certain Nara and I would find common ground upon. She had provided a list of the prefixes a class could have. When there was no prefix, then it meant that the class was in the middle.

Indeed, most people started with classes that had a negative prefix, but apparently, climbing up from the negatives to the 'neutral' wasn't actually that difficult for most people, but acquiring positive prefixes was a pain in the ass. The only difficult jump to make from the 'negatives' to the 'neutral' was the graduation from the 'Junior' prefix. Apart from this, nothing was too complicated in the lower echelon. The difficulty wasn't what was irking me, though… If I may ask, what's up with the made-up words?

I have no idea. They are so obviously made-up and ugly as well… They don't even fit well as prefixes! As expected, we were in agreement. After all, who could possibly defend the existence of the 'Lessest' prefix? That's obviously not a real word. If it is, then it is an obsolete one. People say 'Least' nowadays. I've read old books. People have used 'Least' for a damned long while. In the event that it is a real word, then it doesn't excuse the usage of 'Less' as a damned prefix.

'Lesser' works just fine, but just 'Less'?

'Less Floor Sweeper?' It doesn't even roll off the tongue well! The Universal System is like a super-god-god-god. Surely, there would have been better alternatives than this in its arsenal for the stuff that is literally shoved in everything that exists. I also don't quite agree with the order in which some of these rankings are arranged, but I suppose that's only my personal opinion in this regard… There are nine 'lesser' rankings, there is the neutral ranking, and then there are…

There are way too many 'greater' rankings. I don't even feel like counting them. From what I could tell, thanks to Nara, no one went any higher than 'Master' as we walked around through the interior of the Temple of System Fundamentalism. I was thinking about other things, but the inside of this place is actually incredible. They have forests, villages, towns, and all that business in there, all linked together via the wide and tall hallways of the white temple. They even had suns and moons in there.

I would have been surprised if they were the actual kind, but turns out they were just big mana crystals filled with 'sun' and 'moon' mana. Which was still incredible, but my expectations were a bit lopsided these days. It is obvious that they are using some form of spatial distortion.

The mountain we saw outside was in no way large enough to house such a large internal complex–However, I am uncertain whether the space within was expanded, or if you somehow teleported somewhere else upon stepping further inside the temple… I am quite used to warping all over the place and over great distances, but teleportation is something I have never experienced–Unless that blood pocket dimension thing teleported me in and out, but if that was the case, then it was truly seamless.

Either way, it was impressive work how this temple had been put together. Although it was far more than a temple, it was a sort of small country in there. Although I didn't notice the spatial hijinks, I could tell that something was off about walking through the white hallways of the temple. It felt as though I was covering far more ground with each step than I should.

Looking forward and back, the hallways I had traversed were simply humongous, seemingly stretching on forever, and yet, it never took long to reach a new destination. Sir Fourth never explained anything, and instead kept babbling about stuff of no importance.

"Here, Miss Nebulo. Sir Seventh is waiting for you here" The masked man cleared his throat and sent the two who had been following along this entire time.

"Please, excuse any possible antics he might display in front of you. Do not repeat my words, but I sometimes wonder if Sir Seventh isn't becoming a little bit senile" After telling me this, he bowed his head slightly and opened the door for me. He closed it once I was in, leaving me alone inside with another robed figure just staring at a painting. It was a painting of a woman on horseback. The painting was huge. Even El Gigante-01 wouldn't have the arm span required to grab both ends of it.

The woman depicted in it was rather familiar… Oh my… Nara's attention fell on something else, though, as her first instinct was to check the surface of Sir Seventh's system, and just like with the others, she looked at his class first. Class: Grand Holy Hierophant