How much Mental Energy could one harvest from a world?
"Not much!" Would be the answer from a Grade 1 System, for it needed at least two decades to harvest around a hundred thousand Mental Energy. Even in technological worlds, this was the standard duration required, not to mention in other less connected worlds.
After all, unless the target killed your mother, you wouldn't think about them every second of your existence. Even on Earth, as the richest man, at most Compass Carburettor made his way into the conversation of people once or twice a day, and that was only between people that constantly talked about people and the rich businessmen that dealt with money.
The average joe was busy making a living to even bother with such people who had more money than they ever needed.
So, even though he sat at the highest seat on Earth, the streams of Mental Energy directed at him weren't much, in terms of consistency. If divided in terms of seconds, at most one Mental Energy stream was directed at him every two or three seconds.
On some days, there would be hundreds or even thousands every second, happening every time he did something drastic that affected the lives of plenty of commoners. But on other days, there wouldn't even be a Mental Energy stream for entire hours.
At the end of the day, Grade 1 Systems weren't even able to tap into the network of Mental Energy's potential much.
"Pretty decent!" Would be what a Grade 2 System says, being able to absorb Mental Energy from all the humans of the world, for they were all System Hosts. Meaning, any Mental Energy they generated would be absorbed by the targets, for they too were System Hosts.
This was why Grade 2 Systems never bothered to interfere with the affairs of the world, only doing so when the world was on a destructive cycle. If the number of people reduced drastically, the total Mental Energy it farmed would reduce, to prevent which it generally gave immense benefits to a certain someone and turned him into the protagonist of the world.
Eventually, that protagonist would solve all the problems plaguing the world, resulting in it functioning at full capacity for the foreseeable future.
A Grade 2 System would probably need around a week or two to make a hundred thousand Mental Energy.
"Great!" Would be the answer from a Grade 3 System, for the majority of the Mental Energy generated in the world would be absorbed by the world itself. After all, with the entire world acting as its Host, all the Mental Energy generated in it would obviously become the Grade 3 System's.
It would probably make a hundred thousand Mental Energy in a matter of hours.
If the same question was posed to the current Compass Carburettor, the answer would be, "Decently great!"
He wasn't getting as much Mental Energy as a Grade 3 System, but he was actually making more than a Grade 2 System.
After all, it wasn't just humans that he was absorbing Mental Energy from, but also the plethora of creatures existing in nature.
He first started by enveloping every city and town in a dome of mist, making them act as batteries that produced a steady stream of Mental Energy. With that, he was making more Mental Energy than what he consumed, allowing him to expand his network and act on cities farther away.
By transforming into the Garuda, he was able to fly at a rapid pace. Within a week, he pretty much captured all the major cities and towns. He didn't bother with the villages, for the time taken to capture them all was too much and wasn't worth the effort.
With that, he was getting a few hundred Mental Energy every second, a tremendous sum. Adding onto the fact that the sunlight incident on him was also being converted into Mental Energy, his reserves were climbing up rapidly.
Following that, he awaited a week, saving up enough Mental Energy before which he stared at the sky, emanating a stream of mist while flying around the entire world. Gradually, he spread the mist around, creating a layer high up in the sky, forming a thickness of a few metres.
It was at a height where it wasn't visible either during the day or during the night. It took him a month to finish erecting the mist dome entirely, having enveloped the entire world under it.
Moreover, the moment the mist thinned in a certain location, it automatically absorbed some of the Mental Energy spheres forming around its inner surface, using it to replenish itself. With that, it became self-sustaining, following which Compass Carburettor removed the domes covering the cities.
It was no longer necessary, for he had enveloped the entire world with it, also spreading around a thin enough mist that was strong enough to trap in the Mental Energy streams generated by the people whenever they had any thoughts.
Whether it was a human, a fish, or even an insect large and developed enough to unleash Mental Energy, they were all his targets, becoming active players of his Mental Energy farm.
With that, he was obtaining at least a thousand Mental Energy every second, an amount he never deemed possible. But, Compass Carburettor didn't stop at that as he went around the world, laying down solar panels—Anthozoa's skin.
The moment sunlight was incident on them, these skins absorbed the sunlight, converted it into Mental Energy and stored them there in the form of Mental Fragments. The moment the number of Mental Fragments exceeded a certain level, they would transform into Mental Energy and flow into Compass Carburettor.
These sunlight-absorbing skins, Compass Carburettor morphed them into trees and planted them anywhere he pleased, enjoying the sheer volume of Mental Energy he was gaining now, which had pretty much doubled.
The entire world had become a Mental Energy generator, causing his reserves to increase like crazy. It wasn't just that, but now that he could transform anything into Mental Fragments, Compass Carburettor stared at a mountain, transforming it into Mental Fragments that he absorbed.
He then used that to create thousands of Forbidden Tales, sneaking them into the hands of anyone with a mildly strong fate in the world, watching them all fall into its influence gradually.
And thanks to that, with the passing of every day, Compass Carburettor fragments began to grow in the minds of the populace, including the commoners. The situation in the world had progressed to a level beyond what Conjurer could ever think of, even in the worst of his nightmares.
