The origins of the System came unexpectedly. Out of everything that could have happened with [Awaken], I hadn’t even considered receiving information about the magic and how the System came to be.

The fact that the System had started as a method to control other magic users? That was as far as you could get from a surprise. In fact, to me, it was still the very same thing.

It limited your options, allowed others to summon you at their request, and although I had no hard evidence, I was sure someone, somewhere, could see my status windows at any moment.

It was a waste. A waste of time, energy, and a good class. That's exactly how that information felt.

I bet my stomping and overall grumpy face made it clear to everyone that I was not to be disturbed. Like an addict, I couldn't just cut my strike there.

One more. I wanted just one more win. A real one.

I trampled my way to Yasmin's room, and with a gesture of my hand, I made her follow me. There were no words spoken when I made her sister, Claudia, join my entourage. Sadly, Pol had gone back to Nova to keep his corruption levels in check.

“I was having a really wonderful day—two wins in a row! But then, I decide to sacrifice this class, and all I get in return is some useless information about the System? That's not how I want to end my day and my evolution.”

Did they know what I was talking about? Clearly not. They knew I was busy with evolving my class, and that was the extent of what they knew.

“So, have you already thought about your own classes?” Both nodded. “Good! Then Yasmin?”

“My [Administrator] class is strictly focused on managing a city and, to a lesser extent, the Church. But let's be honest, this is not a city. We are in a dungeon, filled with all other kinds of dangers, and eventually you will have more than just Nova and Core under your control.”

She paused, audibly gulping, perhaps second-guessing her own conclusions.

“I don't think anyone knows how to manage an Empire inside a dungeon, and I truly believe that's what we need long-term. So that's who I want to become.”

“From what I know,” I began challenging her decision, “we cannot really control the dungeon. At least not without some mind-control-related class. What do you expect to achieve, then?”

“There’s so much more to do! We'll have to plan safe ways for the population to travel, manage more summoning sites, handle the inter-world communication that would normally be done via summons requests, and… maybe we cannot control the monsters, but perhaps we can tame them, put them in farms, or even contain them in different zones. It's just endless, really!”

I nodded. She had been putting thought into it, and it was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. And I agreed with all her points: the challenge of managing and leading all our future plans was bigger than what she could do now.

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I would be the power behind our empire. The not-so-hidden menace to the rest of the worlds. As massive as I wanted my presence and strength to be, we still needed a figure that could be the public face, someone to handle the day-to-day interactions.

“And you, Claudia? I hope you seriously considered my request.”

I didn't consider any of the two friends. Yasmin, I could perhaps confide in for more personal topics. Claudia, on the other hand, let's just say I was on far from good terms with her. Her lies were still fresh, and my trust in her was broken.

“I don't want to step out of my research yet,” she immediately answered.

“And I'm not asking that,” I retorted. “I'm asking that you keep corruption under control where it matters.”

“Yes,” she sighed. “Even if I know a thing or two about corrupted individuals, my line of research has always been based on objects, as you saw during your time in Velmar Six. I honestly believe that we should not keep objects from corrupting; quite the contrary. By corrupting them in controlled manners, we can ensure that they become resistant to further corruption while drawing the properties that we most need out of them.”

“And that's something you can do?”

“Not quite… or not yet, at least. I believe that being corrupted myself and having a class specifically designed for it could make it possible.”

“It sounds like you are not confident, and that if we ever get there, it's rather in the long run.” Her eyes went blank, and she rapidly blinked a few times, telling me I was right. “So, short-term, what would we do?”

“I… I suppose I could still have one skill to clean corruption. It would be useful when experimenting if I can revert back to a neutral state.”

Through sheer willpower, I managed to resist my temptation to ask, ‘was it really that hard?’ I knew it wouldn’t make things any better or easier, and we had reached a compromise that benefited all of us.

“Thank you,” I said instead. “You know how this works, right? Let go of any strong feelings anchoring you to extremes, and concentrate on what you want to be.”

I waited for them to take a sit and then I immediately started the process. This time, [Weave] seamlessly augmented my [Dome of the Inquisitor] without overwhelming me at all.

Within the dome, it was incredibly easy to direct corruption at any point or direction. It almost seemed insulting to what I had been doing previously. Before, I had to almost aim an attack to make it happen, while now it simply felt like extending an arm.

I just thought of reaching for a piece of the System inside Yasmin, and it just happened. I didn’t even try to send a different amount of corruption to both of them at the same time. The skill description had already mentioned it was hard, and I didn’t want to set myself up for failure.

What I focused on, though, was the information being relayed back by my energy. I could still see the same ugly, small, and black bugs eating at the confines of both of the women.

It was no longer a blind process where I had to imagine what they were doing or how much it could go on for. I actually felt what they were collectively doing. I knew that they were chewing at the outmost layers of the System, the ones that augmented someone’s capacity to feel mana—the dumbed-down version of magic, or energy.

I was more efficient. Every time something felt off, I could isolate that part within my dome and immediately react, be it by adding more corruption with a more defined and accurate intention or by chopping off the bugs on that part.

While I could not directly shape the classes they were choosing, I could see when they focused too much on one feeling or desire and things started either slowing to a crawl or going south.

I was architecting their classes with them. And when the process was over, I could only smile at how smooth it had felt as compared to the previous times.

{Dungeon Acting Ruler} {Object Corruption Meister}