Chapter 178: Quest Against a Villain

<Ding!>

[Quest: Make the villain, Rhizen suffer defeat]

[Quest Details: At the summit of Mount Craire lies a treasure that the villain, Rhizen uses to cause havoc in the world later. Steal it before he obtains it.]

[Quest Reward: Snake Form]

[Quest Failure: Loss of Cat Form]

As the System interface hovered before his face, Krager frowned a bit, thinking that it was indeed a serious Quest, 'If I fail it, I'll lose my Cat Form. This cannot do. The Cat Form is currently my most useful form.'

He laughed, casually turning around to ask Rhizen, "By the way, have you trekked on this mountain before, Rhizen?"

"No, this is actually my first time." Rhizen replied, slightly wary. But, he wasn't wary at them but rather at his surroundings, in fear of some animal that might suddenly ambush them. It was the signs of someone that hadn't trekked the place but had seen some dangerous articles on the internet about the same.

It was the reaction that first time trekkers had.

Krager had been aiming to first become close with Rhizen. That way, his betrayal wouldn't be guarded against.

'The other two are somewhat of a useless baggage. But, it's not possible to get rid of them so easily.' Thinking as such, he looked at the expressions of everyone, "Since none of us are tired, shall we move faster? For the next one kilometre, there's not even much of a slope. If we go faster, it'll also allow us to spend more time at the top."

"That's fine with me." Compass Carburettor laughed, being the first to agree. Upon seeing that one of them was okay with the arrangement, the remaining two nodded eventually.

'That's great. Compass is a simple but lively youth. He's someone that hasn't experienced any danger in life, so his guard is by far the lowest among everyone here.' He smirked mentally, thinking, 'I should use him for the plan.'

Of course, he didn't know about the existence of Neena. It was pretty much a rule followed by every System. And, that was the fact that the existence of other System Hosts wouldn't ever be said or confirmed by them

After all, with such a thing being reality, the System Host wouldn't think that he alone was unique, a peerless individual that would reach the peak of the world thanks to his System. It would cause a blow to his superiority complex that was resulted from possessing a cheat.

That would instantly slash the majority of the Mental Energy a System received. So, it was pretty much impossible for them to relay the existence of other System Users.

There was also the rule put forth by the First Generation of Systems that had arrived at the world. It was to prevent a System Host from speaking about the existence of a System.

Usually, no System Host wished to reveal their secret in fear that their Systems could be stolen through unforeseeable means. Secondly, they would be selected in such a way that their personalities would prevent them from saying this.

Thanks to the existence of the System that made their life better, it would result in their ego blowing up. And, this would make them act as if everything they obtained was the fruits of their hard work, their perseverance, their undying pursuit of excellence.

If suppose they revealed the existence of a System, it would make all their companions and the peanut gallery realise that everything he/she attained was only thanks to his System and not him.

This would be a powerful mental blow. And since all Hosts that were picked up by a System had the relevant character in them, they never divulged the details.

Though, just as what Compass Carburettor had experienced when he tried to tell the existence of the Systems to Ephemella, they too wouldn't be able to utter the word. For those unaware of the truth, uttering the word 'System' wouldn't do anything.

Thankfully for him, using Secret Society allowed him to divulge the details of the Systems to some of the key members that played an active role.

But, none of them could converse about it with others. The only way to do it was to pray to him, transmitting the contents to him before he relayed the same to the one that wished to receive this message.

And for facing against a System, one couldn't even think in related to it. Or, they had to constantly pray to him while thinking about the Systems. This way, all the thoughts and generated Mental Energy stream would flow to him and not the targeted System.

This was the method Compass Carburettor used to keep the Slave Harem System in the dark while also manipulating Regriel's companions to think in ways that would provide it with false information.

This involved multiple layers of brainwash and mental suggestions that were placed in a person's psychic without their knowledge, done through the usage of certain words and actions that had greater effect in their mind.

As a merchant, this was pretty much his expertise.

As for Krager, he was a lone wolf that now wished to steal Rhizen's fate. Even though his character was quite the trash, he had a couple of qualities that allowed him to be the perfect individual for this mission.

As the four of them constantly kept moving, Krager's expression suddenly collapsed, frowning as he made everyone stop, saying in seriousness, "I don't remember this place."

"What? Weren't we proceeding about in a straight path until now?" Compass Carburettor was the first to retort, showing his lack of knowledge about the place.

"No," As someone that had been to the place many times, Krager shook his head, saying, "There were a lot of places with root clusters where we picked the routes with a wider entrance. Theoretically, we went through the correct route, but,"

"Did we take a wrong route?" Frowning, he turned around, asking Neena, "Since you are more familiar with this place, can you lead us back to the original route?"

"I've been to this place many times. It's just a small curve that runs parallel to the main route. It'll rejoin the main route a bit further down the path." Neena said casually, showing that it wasn't of concern.

As everyone began to continue walking after that, Krager soon noticed a familiar path, laughing as he said, "Alright, we have returned to the original route. Thank you, Neena…"

He then looked shocked, muttering, "…where's Neena?"