It was early in the morning when Compass Carburettor woke up, blinking in confusion upon staring at the unfamiliar ceiling before recalling the incidents that led to this.
He turned around, gazing at the sleeping face of Grisha as he sighed, activating the loyalty stream of Secret Society to see that it was green in colour.
If he wished to do so, he could make her a member of Secret Society immediately. But, he didn't do that. There were a couple of reasons as to why he was proceeding about things differently this time.
First of all, just as what the Coincidental Luck System had said, he was no longer protected by the luck generated by the Main Character System.
For the past one week, he had been roaming through the city, trying his hand at a variety of things to see that something in him had changed. This was a sort of intuition that was generated by Secret Society after he obtained the Core Skill of Info Scanner.
When he was in the Darble World, his plans had some flaws, quite a lot in fact. But, the luck from the Main Character System filled in the gaps. Though, he had been careful all along, creating a couple of layers to each of his plans.
But still, he encountered some clues that helped him greatly. If he wasn't helped by the luck, he wouldn't have met the bandits while travelling through the Heroica Empire. Maybe they might have just been late to trap him.
Or maybe, the sense of fear he inflicted upon them might have been coincidently broken apart by some other incident. Anything could have happened. The world was a vast place, with countless things happening simultaneously.
But, the sequence of incidents that happened conformed to his benefit. Though, it was only because of what he had done that he managed to reap benefits from that.
Just luck alone wasn't enough. If one was incapable of taking advantage of an opportunity, no amount of luck would help them. As a merchant, he was well aware to strike the moment an opportunity presented itself.
But still, he had to chance upon things to take advantage of first. Despite a fisherman's skills in reeling fish, it would be useless if the pond he fished at had no fish.
And now, Info Scanner gave him an instinct of sort related to his being, allowing him to sense that a formless force/energy that had been supporting him before had now vanished.
This was the luck given by the Main Character System. From now onwards, he had no room for errors.
And, suppose he made Grisha a member, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't come across a System that would cause her death because of this.
Such a possibility existed. And, he had no guarantees in being able to protect her always. At least, once the apocalypse began in full swing, she would be accompanying him all the time. That way, her being a member of the Secret Society would actually benefit her.
'A benefit of the future is a liability of the present.' He sighed, brushing a couple of hair strands on Grisha's face as he got up.
The other reason he hadn't made her a member was to see how long he could go and trust people. After all, Secret Society was a definite tool for him to trust people. He could see the loyalty of people interacting with him.
And, once turned into members, the moment they betray him, all related memories would be erased from their minds.
It was a pretty convenient tool that he had already come to rely upon unconsciously. He became aware that if he proceeded the same in the future, he would soon become unable to trust anyone that wasn't a member of Secret Society.
There were risks in trusting others. But, that was one of the aspects of life. Currently, he struck a deal with the Coincidental Luck System. Sure, there were countless risks involved with this.
But on the other hand, it also allowed him to hunt a lot of Systems. After all, the Systems would be hunting Rhizen, the Coincidental Luck System's Host. And, he would be able to take advantage of that fact to hunt the Systems.
If he had trust issues, he wouldn't be able to partner up for such events. He was a merchant. And a merchant never looked for trust in people. That was something only a ruler or those along the line would seek.
A merchant only sought for one thing: Benefits!
If there were benefits in allying with someone, do it. As long as there was enough benefit to be allied, there won't be any risks of betrayal. That was all a merchant sought and maintained.
And, having Secret Society dulled his senses as a merchant. It made him look for trust in other people. Sooner or later, it would affect him more.
After all, the only reason he was hunting Systems was to save his daughter, nothing more, nothing less. His hatred was only towards the Money-Making System.
It wasn't because it tried to devour him in the System World. Before he obtained the Money-Making System, he was an absolute trash. If it hadn't entered him, he would have remained as such.
And in the System World, if a part of its body hadn't remained within him, he would have reverted to being a trash once again. Because, he would lose the mental maturity that he obtained over the course of his development with the Money-Making System.
And for the 20 years as a System Host, sure there were times he cursed the Money-Making System for placing him in awkward and embarrassing situations constantly. But despite that, those two decades were more or less a blast, something no human would have ever been able to experience.
But now, there was a pretty good chance that the Money-Making System planned to drive his daughter, Stencil through a revenge route. What awaited her in such a journey was only pain and the harshness of life.
And by the time she reached the end, she would be burned out. That was why he had hatred towards the Money-Making System.
He wished to save her before that. And for that, he needed more power, at least enough to wring the Money-Making System out of her body and save her.
And to achieve that goal, he had to maintain the core of his mentality.
The mentality of a merchant.
