"Why would you assume that Folsan has been caught?" Wardcruncha raised one eyebrow as he chopped up pieces of some magical root Rontress didn't know the name of, where was he getting these things?

  "Hm? Because he is, right now, he's probably looking for a way to quell the unrest happening in Flotol and find a way for the villagers not to target him." I say with a casual shrug, watching Wardcruncha work didn't give me any idea as to what he's doing. "Sooner or later they will, Flutt is probably doing his best to fix everything and that's why he's gonna become the next head priest."

  "Oh?"

  "Yes, I know, I'm helping someone out again, haha." I roll my eyes, of course I need a new head priest, someone needed to dedicate their time to helping out the people of Flotol and it won't be me. "Besides, Flutt likes to help people doesn't he? I'm sure he'd do an amazing job since he's gonna do what he loves anyway."

  "Or something?"

  "Or something, yeah." Truth is, I don't actually know how Flutt will react to his new position, anyone can be corrupted by power, and that goes double when there's a possibility that he gets a new sub class related to being the head of a church. "Negative perks would probably mess things up though, like they always do."

  "You know, I once encountered a bishop who could corrupt people with his words, this was back when gods were worshipped across the world so the class that he got increased the faith of those he interacted with, unknowingly or not, he created a city full of zealots." As Wardcruncha told his story, his hands didn't stop moving, he kept chopping, the knife tore through the root with ease.

  Also, Gods were once worshipped in this world? What happened to them? And why is a fucking light house the main religion right now? How did people go from deities to a giant building?

  This was never discussed in the game and honestly, I'm pretty interested in knowing the world's history, especially since it apparently used to be the standard fantasy world instead of the wasteland that we have now.

  Well, I guess someone fired the equivalent of fantasy nukes all over the place and now we're here, that much is clear, you don't exactly get "post apocalyptic grim dark" without causing the apocalypse first.

  And that someone, I'm guessing, would be Pricors? Their technology does seem to be advanced enough that if they wanted, they would be able to plunge the world into a nuclear fallout with a press of a button.

  Huh, makes me wonder if the reason why magic corrupts is because of these unknown weapons.

  Wait, doesn't Wardcruncha have an answer to this?

  "Did magic used to not corrupt people?" I hesitantly ask, I know that this is probably a sensitive topic for him so I won't mind if he doesn't answer me.

  "Magic has always had the ability to corrupt people, Rontress." Wardcruncha shook his head, he let out a tired sigh and briefly stopped cutting. "It was even worse back then, we didn't have the system to help us out and the only way to prevent corruption was through becoming an inhuman, it's an ancient art you know, that one."

  "You don't have a system?" Woah, that's a shock to me, I wonder what's the difference between my and his magic? Is he stronger? Am I more versatile? Or is he more versatile? Can he control spells better than me?

  "I have one of the original systems." And there goes another bomb, Wardcruncha is just casually dropping nukes now huh? "It is not as advanced as yours, it doesn't even evolve the same way, my system has remained the same from the moment I got it until now."

  "Oh? So your system is just some old man then?" I grinned, he probably means the milestones right? Like how my system evolved when I reached level 10.

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  "And the level cap is much lower, quite frankly, the only thing good about it is that it is focused on making its host more powerful instead of whatever it is yours does." Wardcruncha talked like it's his funeral or something.

  "Wait, why does the system have that feature?" I tilted my head, that didn't make sense right? Why would the system have milestones?

  "It's a safety feature, without it, only adults... No, only inhumans would be able to wield the system, it grows alongside you, which is why I warned you not to level up too quickly, otherwise you'd mess up your progression." Wardcruncha's warning was most likely well informed— and by that I meant it comes from personal experience. — so I should probably heed it.

  Silence, I need to find a topic and keep this conversation going, I wanna know more about the system.

  "It's kind of annoying how it takes a lot of kills to get a level up in the later stages though right? I find it annoying at least."

  "That happens for a reason, one is that the system has more features and so needs a lot of power to evolve, most of the energy that you get from your kills actually goes to the system instead of yourself... Well, current systems are actually part of the soul so in a way, it does go to you."

  Oh? Does that mean that there's something managing Wardcruncha's system inside his body? That's quite interesting.

  "What a hungry bastard then." I scoff, can't believe my system practices the sin of gluttony. "What's up with the system anyway? I get the feeling that it's supposed to prevent corruption but I don't even know how it does that?"

  "Do you really want to know?"

  We went into an intense staring contest, neither was backing down. I have a feeling that if I answered yes, I'd know something I shouldn't so I look away and shake my head, "no."

  "Good. Just know that the system is there to protect you, it exists to make your life easier."

  "Huh. Okay."

  Actually, I've never thought of that before, what does my system do? It makes me more powerful obviously, duh, but apparently it's not the main focus of the system? If so, then what does the system give me? Give everyone?

  And it was made, it's not a natural part of the world, who designed it? The Pricors? Did those guys have their own system as well? Why are they gone though? Goddamnit, it's like everything I do eventually circles back to the ancient civilization that once ruled this world.

  "So, Flotol." You know what? Maybe I don't need to go around searching for conspiracies, I'm sure the Pricors civilization was a great one and all that jazz. "Right now, Folsan should be doing damage control, which leads me to doing the next step of my plan: hunt down Nogjaf."

  "Earlier, you said he would have rushed out of the village the moment he saw the stampede." Wardcruncha pointed out. "By now, he would be out of Flotol's territory and probably beyond Ghorise, assuming he didn't have issues when traveling."

  "Well, you're right, but also, you said that he rushed out of Flotol, yes?" I smirked when realization dawned on Wardcruncha's face.

  "He's gonna lack supplies."

  "Correct! Which means he wouldn't be out of Ghorise, but in it." I started laughing. "Now, no one in their right mind would travel from Flotol to Ghorise in the middle of winter but I'm not just no one, I'm an inhuman, and someone powerful enough to fight an army all by herself."

  "Stop flattering yourself and actually tell me what you're planning." Wardcruncha rolled his eyes. "You're going to Ghorise and grab Nogjaf yourself? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of your threat to Flotol?"

  "First off, no, it won't." The reason why I threatened Flotol was to make Folsan rush, not to exhaust the villagers by making them search for Nogjaf. "And second, I don't want Flotol's relationship with Ghorise to sour because the villagers are knocking on doors in search of a man who's chosen to disappear."

  "Hm. That is true." Wardcruncha nodded. "And that's it?"

  "Yep."

  "So, what are you planning now?" The old man asked, he looked away to focus on what he's cooking. "I genuinely doubt the reason you did all this was only to publicly execute Nogjaf, it doesn't make sense."

  Wardcruncha dropped the chopped root into the stew he was cooking— it's too bad I came here when half of the ingredients have already been used, I might have recognized it. — and the scent of magic filled the air... Well, lavender filled the air. I can feel the ambient magic in this room get thicker though.

  "Thank you for putting so much trust in me." I grinned when Wardcruncha let out an exhausted sigh. "And yep! You're right! It's not just to publicly execute Nogjaf, I also want to mentally and verbally attack everyone in Flotol, they did, after all, just stand by."

  "How petty."

  "Eh." I shrug.

  "... Doing this makes them more obedient and susceptible to your words though, right?" Wardcruncha's guess was correct, of course it was. He's sharp, as sharp as me even.

  "Yes." I nod, well, I might as well reveal the rest of my plan. "I thought about becoming a leader but decided it wasn't a good idea, but what if I assign people into that position and just tell them what to do occasionally?"

  "Not a bad idea, if I do say so myself."

  "Thank you." I smile.