Ch 45. Chat with System

"Hello again, System." I called out, happy to see the familiar light. The sweetest reminder of my growing powers. 

He was still somewhat depressed it seems, as he just stayed quiet for a few seconds while I basked in the moment. 

"You're putting me in a very difficult situation, you know that right?" System replied despondently. 

"Mm. You do know though, that was never my intention. I'm just using my powers." 

It wasn't as if I hated System, rather I should be thanking him. Even if he had limited control, he was the reason for my powers. And because he was related to my powers, I had always born a curiosity about the nature of his being. 

"I suppose I can't change your mind?" System sighed. 

I've made abundantly clear to him already, I am not giving up my pursuit of greater powers. 

"No, I suppose you can't..." I trailed off. I always had a lot of questions about the system, one of these questions coming to mind at the moment. 

"But maybe we can find something that works for both of us... but to do that I need to know more about your nature, and our situation in general. Let's start out with the major issues. Why do you only speak up after I level? You've mentioned something like a time-limit before. Explain this to me."

It really was inconvenient, to be honest. Sometimes I wanted to ask him things, but I'd never come up with a way to speak with him outside of leveling.

"Well, that's simple... it's not as if I don't like talking, I like talking very much in fact! But I'm not designed to be able to initiate contact on my own. Everything that I do takes energy, even now speaking with you is using a certain portion of your energy, energy that would otherwise be used for your own benefit." He paused, perhaps seeing if I was going to ask any questions, but I just waited for him to continue on.

"As far as why there's an exception made for leveling, most of the energy loss is caused from opening and maintaining the connection between the two of us. I need to form a mental connection with you at the start of every conversation. When you level up, the connection between us is already opened for the purpose of allocating the energy needed for applying any level up benefits. Attributes in particular take up most of the energy needed, since these are permanent enhancements they require large amounts of external energy to augment. You may have noticed this already, but the more powerful you become, the more energy it takes to create these attribute points."

It's true that I was initially intending to hear about forming a mental connection, but something he said caught my attention.

"Why does it take more energy the further I level up?"

I asked him, curious about why I was needing to constantly seek out stronger and stronger foes. 

"Attributes are a summary of your entire being, your soul. Your soul is analyzed at every level automatically, to determine how much energy is needed to upgrade it by the minimum amount possible for us, one attribute point. As for wh..."

There's something about that didn't make sense to me, so I cut him off before he could continue. 

"One attribute point is the smallest possible increase? Then why do I get more than that per level?" Still being careful not to mention the exact number of points I was receiving, given that I was certainly getting more than he expected. 

"I don't actually know the exact answer... but it has something to do with balancing efficiency and the safety of the user. It's most efficient for us to create these attribute points in large batches, but if we took that too far then the user would be left unassisted for extreme amounts of time. As a compromise, we set the number for a level up at five. Those are my assumptions."

Assumptions. So there are things about the design of the system that even System doesn't know? Somewhat worrying to hear. 

"Back to my previous question. Why does it take more energy per level?"

"I was getting to that before you interrupted!" System yelled out, sounding frustrated.

"Changing someone's soul artificially leads to incredible effects, as I'm sure you are aware. But it also causes the soul to become more resistant to change, each attribute point requiring more energy than the last. A lot of our chosen ones start off with natural training methods, raising each aspect of their soul to the maximum extent before enhancement, making the most of each point. You had a very late start, but you can still benefit somewhat from this method."

It made sense to me, but the part about training and natural methods made me feel sick, hearing about how I had wasted my start. I had gotten some clues from [Identification], seeing things that could enhance attributes naturally, but looking at my constitution, strength, and agility which were all at well above average human levels, those three were probably a lost cause. It really hurt to think about. 

"And by using some of the excess energy from this leveling process I am also allowed to have a bit of a conversation. Normally you would have known all of this already, which is why we're certainly at a disadvantage. I am mainly just here as a support role. When we send chosen ones like you to a planet, generally they function as the centerpiece of our force's strategy. If there hadn't been an issue, you would have been coordinating our faction through me."

The system had continued on speaking, oblivious to the inner turmoil his words were causing me. 

"I'm running out of time. Do you have anything else to ask?" He chimed in again, bringing me out of my languor. 

My mind focused on the last burning question I had. 

"Can I contact you outside of leveling? You said you couldn't do it because it used energy without my permission, but if you had my permission there a way?"

"Well... yes. But that takes a lot of energy you know. We're restricted from doing this for a reason."

Neither of us had time for this. 

"But it is possible, right?"

"Yes... I suppose it is possible, but do you really want to talk with me that badly?" System asked, genuinely interested in my response.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, very impatient now that he told me we were at the end of our time limit.

"You like talking with me?" He asked again hopefully, his voice shaking. 

"Yes?" I replied, even more confused by his disbelief. System had been perfectly fine to talk with, he knew a lot of very useful things after all. 

"That's the nicest thing anybody has every said to me." System cried out, fighting sobs of happiness as he sniffled to himself. 

I was out of patience. I needed an answer. 

"...So? How do I do it?." As I hurried him to calm down. 

"Just mentally picture it. Picture the connection between us like a thread, it doesn't necessarily have to be a thread, but just picture something strongly and form a strong desire to speak with me. Do it with enough intention and the connection will be established by the system." Seeming quite happy with himself now. 

I'll keep that in mind... but this system was seriously pathetic sounding with how emotional he got. "What do you even do all day?" I asked, accidentally letting the thought rise to the surface. 

"...I don't really do anything. Sometimes worshippers try to make contact, and give them directions. Sometimes I coordinate their actions with the next follower that comes along, but for the most part there isn't anything that I do. I'm just by myself."

"You mention worshippers, how do they contact you exactly? I thought you said this took a lot of energy to do." I was very interested to get my questions out of the way while I still had time. 

"There are several ways to do this, this applies to you as well. You just need to use a powerful energy source and form a proper mental focus. Just as you can use your own mana, or the system's accumulated power, it's also possible to use crystalized mana. That's the most popular option for adherents since they neither have systems nor enough mana to support the task."

"Crystalized mana?"

"Slime cores. Golem cores. Beast cores. Most powerful monsters form some sort of crystalized mana core that powers their abilities, but the easiest options for you are elementally inclined monsters like slimes. Cheaper and more widely available." 

"Mm, I'll keep that in mind." I said, not getting a response back this time. 

The guards approached me, Marcella in tow. Looking oddly at my crouched figure as I sat observing myself with a hand mirror, hunched besides the giant snake head and bloody sections of snake severed by Marcella's explosion fire magic. 

"Honestly, what are you doing Keaton?!" Marcella was looking angry and embarrassed. Looking at me like I was crazy. 

It was somewhat embarrassing for me as well, but I just played it cool. Coughing to hide my discomfort at their stares. 

Storing all the bloody giant snake pieces around me before joining up with the group. Everyone was ready to go, they were just waiting for me.

"Shall, we go?" I asked. The relief on Marcella's face apparent.