MoP: Ch. 156

---Third POV---

For any deity, divine power was their lifeblood, never to be violated.

Naturally, Flovia would never allow a sentient being unrestricted access to her divine power. At the moment of creation, she only granted the "system" the simplest intelligence and commands. As long as it could convey the target's intentions and punish the host, that was enough.

To invoke divine power, it had to be approved by the "Mother" of all systems, the Central System Core.

At the same time, the Central Core possessed slightly higher intelligence than ordinary "systems" and had absolute control over them, able to issue commands remotely. This was to handle problems that individual systems couldn't deal with on their own.

In addition, Flovia maxed out their instincts for reproduction and expansion, ensuring they would go all out to serve her followers.

Viktor had once studied these parasite-like systems in depth. Unless you discovered it before it entered your brain, the only option left was to find the Central Core and perish together with it.

And even those two options weren't easy.

The "system" parasite was completely invisible to the naked eye, extremely stealthy, and the host didn't feel a thing, not even discomfort, when it entered. As for locating the Central Core... it was as hard as destroying the foundation of the gods' entire belief system.

That was something Viktor had worked on for over 600 years and still hadn't achieved.

At this thought, Viktor exhaled and continued, "Don't be fooled by how obvious the weaknesses of the 'Siren Romance System' seem. Apart from those, it's virtually flawless. Just let Garble take it slow. Stall it as long as possible."

Booze sighed bitterly.

"The problem is, we can't stall anymore! The two sirens are already fighting!"

He pressed on, unwilling to give up.

"What if, just what if? Give us at least one possibility. Could we use some kind of bug spray or something?"

"No. There is no possibility. Every idea you've thought of is a dead end."

Skepticism was written all over Booze's face.

"You underestimate us? We've got a system host test subject! That's not something you theory guys can brag about."

"I was the first experimental subject of this system," Viktor replied calmly.

"The hell?!" Booze was shocked. "Then didn't you break free from the system? And you didn't even find the Central Core!"

Suddenly understanding, he slapped the table and stood up.

"You turned yourself into an undead and scrambled your brain to find the parasite?!"

"..."

Viktor had clearly underestimated how far a player's mind could wander.

"You think turning into an undead is that easy?"

"To this day, I'm still the only undead in this world with complete consciousness."

"A normal undead being able to bite off your jawbone would already be considered top-tier intelligence."

And as for players? They'd just be kicked out of the game and wait out the respawn cooldown, more realistic, honestly.

"In short, I don't have a solution. My method was discovered by Flovia and patched. You can't replicate it."

"But I can pass on some experience to help you get along with your system better."

He stopped the pen he'd been moving at some point and blew on the ink on the paper.

"1,000 magicoins. Non-negotiable."

Booze gasped at the price.

"Yes or no," Viktor said bluntly, without a trace of sentimentality.

Booze hesitated. After all, he was the only player among their group who had infiltrated the casino, and his rank wasn't low. He had to be protected.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Deal!"

Now all he could do was pray that the information he'd just bought was worth more than its price.

The transaction completed, he looked at the intelligence in his hands, and his mouth formed an "o" shape.

[Mind Control (crossed out) Siren Romance System Punishment Standards]

[Level 1 Warning: Electric Shock; Reason: The target's mood is slightly low, or their affection level has slightly decreased. Punishment Criteria: Ignoring the target's emotional state or acting cold or perfunctory in conversation.]

[Level 2 Warning: Mild Burning; Reason: The target is clearly feeling down. Punishment Criteria: Failing to take action when the target is in a low mood, or using inappropriate tone or language in conversation.]

[Level 3 Warning: ...]

In addition to explanations, there were plenty of specific behavioral examples listed. It was as if someone had tested it all personally.

Booze was surprised. "It's this detailed?"

Viktor nodded.

"The pain threshold is a huge advantage for you players."

"By continuously triggering punishments above level 5, you'll actually feel better."

"Understand this chart, and stabilizing high-intensity punishments won't be a problem."

Booze couldn't tear his eyes from the paper. He was amazed.

"This isn't just helpful, it's basically a full-on strategy guide!"

The punishment types, triggers, and real examples were all clearly laid out. There was no way Garble would be the only player to ever encounter the Siren Romance System. This paper could absolutely be resold!

After marveling for a couple of seconds, Booze tucked the strategy sheet away and rushed off.

"Who knows what kind of chaos Garble is facing right now, I have to relay the intel ASAP! Catch you next time!"

With that, he stormed out the door.

Luminaris, sitting on Viktor's left shoulder, couldn't help but mutter:

"Let's hope his 'next time' isn't just ten minutes from now."

"Hm?" Viktor lowered his head in surprise. "You could understand what he was saying?"

"You forgot to turn off the range-based psychic matrix!" Luminaris said in annoyance.

Viktor checked, and sure enough, it was still on. He had disabled the matrix earlier while talking to the beastman. But later, to let ProGamer_Daddy understand the beastman's speech, he'd reactivated it midway.

Then Booze had shown up, and he completely forgot to shut it off again.

Which meant the guy had been hearing everything said between him and the player the whole time... and didn't react at all?

He suddenly understood and turned it off.

"Thanks for the reminder."

"No need to thank me. I just don't want to hear any more of those undead's nonsensical, noisy conversations!"

Luminaris shot him a sharp glance and said stiffly, "You didn't even notice the matrix was still active. And you still want to keep working?"

At this rate, you'd collapse the next second and Zycotl would have to piece your bones back together!

Viktor raised a hand, trying to rub the bridge of his nose.

"It's fine. It's just the psychic matrix, I can handle it."

After all, his strength had returned to Grand Mage level. Maintaining a passive psychic matrix was easy. It wasn't a big deal...

Then, upon seeing the skeletal fingers of his hand, he awkwardly put it down.

"...Maybe I really do need to rest a bit."

That death-vision experience earlier had taken a lot out of him. It even brought back some of his old human habits.

The darkness of night made the flames on the street appear even brighter. Viktor glanced back at the beastman jogging outside the weapons factory. Their eyes met in the air for a moment.

Then he deliberately avoided further eye contact and headed toward the lord's mansion.

Since he wasn't in the right condition to work, he wasn't going to push himself. The wheelchair sped along the street as he closed his eyes and delved into his inner sanctum.

Ever since waking up this time, he felt that something was different about it. Otherwise, the memory flashbacks wouldn't have been so intense.

He patiently explored. The outermost mental barrier was still riddled with holes, and the deep blue mental sea within boiled incessantly. It was a classic sign of mental collapse and spiritual power locking.

But... the entire inner sanctum seemed... larger?

Standing on the central island of his mental power, he looked up in surprise at the turquoise sky overhead.

"That is..."

After searching for a while, he finally found the source of the unease in his heart. In the sky, a star was blinking constantly.

The inner sanctum was merely a manifestation of spiritual power. He hadn't created a sky in it, so how could a star just appear on its own?! It's not like this was a real pocket world.

He gathered his spiritual power, trying to pull the star-like light off the mental barrier. But he grasped at nothing.

"It doesn't exist?"

His expression grew solemn.

"I can clearly sense it, yet I can't even touch it with my mental form, what the hell is this thing?"

Something even more intangible than spiritual power... Perhaps Viktor's hostility and dissatisfaction were too strong, because the star-like white light began to dim. After one final flicker, it vanished completely.

Now, he couldn't even perceive it anymore.

He searched for a while longer, but still found nothing, and could only give up for now. Though he had no concrete proof, he couldn't shake the feeling that this thing was connected to the extra divine authority of Eternal Light he had acquired.

As for why nothing strange happened when he had first contracted Luminaris and received two complete divine authorities... yet now all these anomalies were appearing... He would have to investigate that later.

While Viktor was investigating his inner sanctum, the wheelchair had already carried him back to the lord's mansion. He opened his eyes and turned his head to pat the shoulder beside him.

"You should get back to work now."

He could rest, but Luminaris' shift wasn't over yet. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"I've walked with you all this way, and now you want me to go back to work?!!"

"...Isn't it your work hours right now?"

Viktor had thought Luminaris was just slacking off and tagging along to take a break. Considering that Luminaris had been diligently looking after him these past few days, he had allowed it.

"Undead!" Luminaris' chest heaved with frustration. "You have no heart!"

He had kindly accompanied him the whole way, making sure he didn't fall or pass out halfway. And yet all Viktor cared about was working hours?

Viktor looked down at his chest, empty except for ribs and a spine.

"I thought that was obvious."

"Damn it!"

At a loss for words, Luminaris completely lost the argument over his rights. He stormed off Viktor's shoulder and flew away angrily.

Halfway through, he couldn't resist turning back.

"Hey, undead, how did you get rid of that system thing back then?"

"The romance system?"

A flurry of memory fragments flashed through Viktor's mind.

"Of course, because the first-generation system had a bug, it even mistook Stockholm Syndrome for love."

Stockholm Syndrome, also known as hostage identification syndrome, was a psychological condition in which a hostage, after spending extended time alone with their captor and experiencing extreme fear, deceives themselves and ends up falling in love with the captor.

At that time, the siren romance system didn't yet have a name. Viktor called it the Mind Control System.

It was like a high-stakes contract placed between the "strategist," the one trying to win over the target, and the "target," the one being pursued. Either the system would transform the strategist into the target's perfect lover, or the strategist would reshape the target into someone who could "love" them.

He chose the second route.

The romance system could punish the strategist based on the target's emotional state. But because of its low intelligence, it was overly rigid. As long as the target's body wasn't harmed, those punishments were more like minor inconveniences.

If you could endure the early stages of Stockholm Syndrome, there would be no punishments at all afterward.

Unfortunately, though this method succeeded in defeating the romance system, the bug was later discovered and patched by Flovia herself. As a result, the system's threat level was increased from Level 9 to Level 10.

Being schemed against by Flovia and forcibly bound to the romance system, even though he ultimately overcame it, was still the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him.

After all, the divine authority of love wasn't nearly as aggressive as those of the other high gods. And Flovia wasn't known for particularly useful creations either.

Before developing the siren romance system, her inventions were limited to things like heart-shaped arrows and auras that made people fall in love. Not completely useless, but not particularly helpful in most real situations.

So he never took her seriously.

Who would've thought she'd suddenly have a breakthrough, like becoming a whole new person. She abruptly created a true divine artifact, with no real weaknesses except one, the Siren Romance System.

And she designated its host as a major incarnation that possessed one-third of her own power, hoping to use this to force Viktor to comply and seize the only pass to resurrection from the other gods.

He had almost fallen into her trap.

It was sheer luck that helped him discover the system's one blind spot, that it couldn't recognize Stockholm Syndrome...

Luminaris was stunned. He had only asked casually and hadn't expected a real answer.

Then he asked again, "Stock... Stock-whatever—what's that?"

"That's your second question."

Viktor turned the Zycotl wheelchair around and waved at him.

"The first one was a reward for not hiding anything about the psychic matrix. If you want to know more, work harder first."

"Hey!"

Luminaris stomped his foot in frustration but had no way to argue.

After a full night of rest, Viktor felt completely refreshed, even his bones seemed more energized. There were still no new discoveries about the "star" that had appeared in his inner sanctum the night before.

So he shifted his focus to the mountain of tasks waiting for him.

After working straight through the morning, he had only managed to finish a third of the paperwork on his desk.

"Shortage list for critical supplies, division plan for the magic school's colleges, personnel supplement request for newly discovered player mine site, standardization proposal for the weapons factory's parts..."

He sorted the finished documents and handed them off to Zycotl.

The husky wagged its tail and dashed off with the pile.

Viktor stroked his chin in thought.

"Having Zycotl constantly run errands isn't a long-term solution. I really need two secretaries to handle all the trivial matters..."

The problem was, there was a shortage of people everywhere. Even squeezing out two assistants for himself as the lord wasn't doable right now.

Just thinking about it gave Viktor a headache.

"Nary Town only has a population of around five thousand, why is its overall functionality already far beyond Honeyvale Town?"

Wasn't everyone working with a population in the low thousands? He had thrown a thousand players into the mix, so why, aside from the fluctuations in divine power, did it feel like they weren't making any impact at all?

Unable to figure it out, he opened the official Earth website.

"Well, since it's come to this... Let's see what the players are up to."

Yesterday, he had launched a campaign encouraging players to recruit new people. By now, after an entire morning, they should've come up with at least a few ideas, right?