Seized by the System

The reason why Fang Ning did not want to turn Black Robe red again was that he was worried that overuse of Obsession, which was a loophole in the System Maxim, would cause the System to collapse.

However, he was too lazy to explain so elaborately. Sometimes, he needed to be unreasonable when dealing with an almost 2-year-old System.

“I’m not waiting anymore, I’m going to battle.” Right after it was rendered speechless, it immediately retorted.

“Then you better be careful, there’s really no way of retreat for us…” said Fang Ning worriedly.

“Ugh, you’re right. I’m suddenly regretting my decision to enter here,” said the System in embarrassment.

“Huh, didn’t you say you’ll never regret things?” asked Fang Ning.

“Oh, I had misspoken. If I had known that there would be no way of retreat, I wouldn’t have entered at all. Matters of the arcane realm can’t be compared to safety matters. I thought that we would be able to run away into the Draconic Arcane Realm, so I never expected the power of this place to be so strong, since it can even seal the Legendary Interspatial Equipment that I created by hand. Fortunately, it can’t seal the space I have within in. Otherwise, we’ll be finished. Ah, this is so troubling,” said the System, his tone laced with fear.

This was the first time Fang Ning had witnessed such fear in the System, and he immediately felt nervous.

At the same time, he also reminded himself not to be too conceited, as he could not afford even a single mishap. After all, in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after victory has been secured, whereas he who is destined to be defeated first fights then seeks victory. ¹

Basically, it meant that he needed to make all kinds of preparations, including preparing for failure so that he would be able to accept a result of failure before he returned to war.

If one only thought about the results after victory and ignored the terrible fates that would be brought by failure, then that person would not be a wise commander at all.

“That doesn’t sound right. Didn’t you say before that you never feel emotions like fear or dread?” Fang Ning’s nervousness was replaced with wonder as he continued, “You said long ago that you weren’t human and had never felt emotions, so everything is just an act. Tell me, what are you planning?”

“Ugh.” Once the System realized its act had been seen through by its host, it immediately replied boldly, “What I said was that since we’ve no way of retreating, I want you to guarantee that I’ll always have money to pay-to-win. So, immediately, right now, transfer all the experience that ratty book has to me, so that it won’t be too late to do so when I need to use it…”

“I knew something was fishy.” Fang Ning immediately relaxed; the System was not feeling any fear, so it was all good.

However, the System was right. He thought about it and still knew that he was afraid of death. In the end, he took a step back and called his precious game book that was lying on the table, before he started speaking to it.

After a while, the game book flapped its pages rapidly, which was then followed by the appearance of a System Notification.

[Advanced-level game book has handed over 3.34 billion experience points to the System.]

“There’s actually so much, it’s no wonder you try so hard to get it…” said Fang Ning in revelation, before his tone took on one of heartache, “I wonder how much suffering my precious had to endure to accumulate so much experience points. Once you leave, you better upgrade my precious. Advanced-level doesn’t cut it anymore but I’m not asking for Legendary-level, just Master-level will do for now… Besides, once you upgrade it, its efficiency in farming experience points will rise too.”

“I know, I know. I’ll upgrade it once I leave,” replied the System insincerely.

“Hmph, there you go making empty promises again. Better be worried about your chivalrous attribute lowering,” reminded Fang Ning.

“How’s that going to be possible? I’ve always been an honest System, and I’ve always kept to my word,” insisted the System.

“Okay, alright, whatever you say. Hurry off to battle with you, and may the light of justice protect you,” blessed Fang Ning.

“Having you alone fooling me every day is more than enough. Don’t come up with some light of justice, I don’t need it,” retorted the System.

“…” Fang Ning had nothing to say in response.

“Justice” was meaningless to the System. The humans only saw that the results of Vigilante A’s actions were ones of justice, yet they had no idea that the true intentions behind his actions had nothing to do with justice at all.

…

Therefore, Vigilante A said to Qiao Anping and the rest, “All of you are to stand guard here. I’ll go inspect the area so that I can get a good grasp of things.”

“Very well. Be careful, Venerable One,” said Qiao Anping with a nod of his head.

The information that they possessed right now was obtained through advanced spies, which meant that it needed be investigated on-the-spot. The Venerable Dragon God was the most suitable candidate to carry out a task like this.

Saki Yamanashi lifted her head to look at the man hovering in mid-air with concern and worship.

She understood clearly that everyone else could hardly look after themselves; the only exception was this man before her, who was still as invincible as before.

Although she had cultivated the Ultimate Devilish Ability that was enough to restrain this bloodlust, she knew clearly that she possessed no combat power of her own.

‘Uncle Black Robe is far stronger than I am, yet he was still defeated with a single attack by the other party…’

Qiao Zijiang, Qiao Zishan, and Xu Rui lifted their heads reluctantly to look at the majestic and awe-inspiring man.

It seemed like no matter the situation, the man never felt any fear or horror, and remained calm despite it all.

Out of the three of them, the first two had broken through into Lake-level with the help of the Truth Department, which enabled them to get a hold of themselves.

Although the last of the trio had not taken any shortcuts and was still at Pond-level, he had been given a family treasure by Elder Xu before he left.

As they understood clearly the power the bloodlust of this place held, they knew just how great the gap between themselves and this man was.

Vigilante A swept his gaze across the area below him before he flew towards a direction that he had picked. According to the information map that was given, he had flown east.

…

However, before he managed to fly even a few hundred meters, the people at the camp heard a “plop” that came from the direction he had flown towards. When they looked into the direction, all they saw was that the Venerable Dragon God had fallen into the river…

“Uh, this should be the so-called being handsome for no more than three seconds, right?” whispered Qiao Zijiang to himself.

“No, something must’ve went wrong,” defended Saki Yamanashi subconsciously. “Uncle Black Robe, you probably can’t fly anymore…”

Black Robe felt hate bloom in him at this statement. ‘I’ve suffered such grievous injuries, yet you still want to help outsiders with their experiments on me…

‘As expected, women always liked pretty boys, the ones with ordinary faces are always at a loss…’

However, he too wanted to find out whether or not he could fly, so he decided to test it out for a bit. In the outside world, he could fly freely, though he would deny that half of the time he was relying on the function of the black robe.

In spite of that, he realized he no matter what he did, he could not get this treasure he had on his body to work…

“This is bad. This Land of Sanguinity must have some kind of ban on space here, which stops everyone from fleeing at will. I believe similar effects will continue to appear…” speculated Black Robe.

“I see. It’s no wonder Lord Azure Dragon took a beating… Huh, what’s that?” asked Saki Yamanashi as she pointed towards the distant river.

Everyone’s gaze followed her own.

All they saw was an azure dragon appearing out of the water abruptly before it began hunting a monster in the water…

It was a crocodile with a human face, and it was truly a strange and horrifying sight.

The Azure Dragon bobbed above and below the water from time to time, not killing the monster, which was a surprise to everyone.

“That’s not possible. The Venerable Dragon God is a powerhouse of Inland-Sea level, and his power is enough to shake the skies and sway the earth, yet a water monster is able to challenge it so?” wondered aloud Qiao Anping, before sizing up Black Robe with an inexplicable gaze.

It was as if he was saying, ‘This fellow couldn’t even handle one punch, isn’t he a bit too weak?’

Black Robe’s face went dark, but he was too lazy to defend himself.

Suddenly, Qiao Anping’s face fell, before he immediately said, “I see, so that’s how it is. Everyone, test your luck and see if you’re able to cast magic.”

Black Robe felt a chill upon hearing these words. He had just wanted to cast his magic, yet it was just like what the other party said; even the weakest flame spell could not be casted.

“I think it’s the space ban coming into effect… This arcane realm is really quite dangerous.” Black Robe thought of what Vigilante A said before and instantly understood why Vigilante A said this was truly a cruel place.