Chapter 82: Magic Network!

Looking at Lucian’s corpse, which was floating in the sky surging with dark alien energy, Ethan had a cold sneer on his lips.

As soon as the creature started talking, Ethan already expected it to attack.

Because of that, he had long since been ready to activate all kinds of spells, whether it was his Body Strengthening or Ice-Make to pin it down on the spot.

However, even though he possessed the power to do so, he decided to try something else.

"System... EXTRACT!"

Yes! Ever since the initial pop-up appeared, the option to extract and initiate fusion had always been present.

The only reason he had held off until now was that he didn’t know the exact effects of fusion.

However, since the System had decided to launch an attack, he no longer needed to hold back.

"System, extract?! What are you talking about?!"

"Don’t tell me you have a system too?!" The system passed before muttering in disbelief

"Impossible! If that were the case, I would have sensed it!"

"Looking at you, your aura is completely that of a native!"

Cursing in sheer shock, the System was caught completely off guard.

’No, no, no... he’s bluffing! Otherworlders like us have a distinct aura that comes with being inherently invaders.’

’Because of that, it’s almost impossible for an otherworlder to hide from another.’

’In that case, is he bluffing?!’

’As expected of a stupid native... in the face of overwhelming strength, they can only rely on petty tricks.’

Convinced that Ethan was merely putting on an act, the System, amused by the attempt decided to play along.

"Oh? And how exactly are you going to extract me? Even if you did have a system, you couldn’t!"

"I have thoroughly fused with Lucian’s body! Such a high-level method... even if I gave you natives a hundred years, you wouldn’t be able to understand a fraction of what I did!"

"Hahaha!"

Laughing mockingly at Ethan, the System could already envision its glorious future.

After dealing with these ants in front of it, it would be time for it to truly shine and establish its dominance in this world.

All the hidden treasures, secret opportunities, and world’s resources, everything would be all its!

At least, that was how it should have gone.

"Arghhh! How is this possible?!"

"Damn it! That light... You really have a system?!"

"Main Gods above, just what kind of place is this world?!"

Crying out in sudden, blinding pain, the System’s grand delusions of world conquest were cut short.

In front of it, Ethan stood tall as a brilliant beam of radiant light shot directly out from his chest, enveloping the creature’s entire body.

Under this divine light, the System, looking like a thick bucket of tar, was forcibly peeled away from Lucian’s corpse, being violently drawn and absorbed back into Ethan’s form!

"Wait a minute!"

"Stop! Let’s talk about this for a second!"

"I promise to help you get stronger! I’ll even hand over the full power of evolution to you!"

"Please... please don’t do this! I already risked everything to come to this world; I can’t lose now!"

Feeling the rapid pace at which its body was being dismantled and absorbed, the System realized this was no bluff.

Completely stripped of its former arrogance and cockiness, it began to pathetically plead and beg.

Hoping Ethan would stop and spare its life, unfortunately, the only thing its weeping accomplished was causing Ethan deep disgust.

"So much for a higher lifeform... even Lucian is far more worthy of respect than you."

"At least even in his death he remained proud; what about you? Begging helplessly without any shame"

"If Lucian could see you right now, perhaps he would be utterly disappointed in himself for losing to trash like you."

"No wonder he told me never to lose to some pathetic system user; perhaps he already knew how miserable you truly were."

Looking at the System weeping and begging out loud, Ethan let out a sigh of disappointment.

If this was the baseline mindset that most of these otherworldly invaders possessed, then Blue Star was safe.

Once the mages reached their full potential and their numbers grew, these alien warriors who begged at the first sign of trouble would be a walk in the park.

However, that would only hold if all the other invaders were as weak-willed as the one in front of him.

Though Ethan strongly doubted that was the case; according to his calculations, the next wave of otherworldly invaders would most likely be far stronger than this one.

Shaking off the thought, he turned his attention to his own system interface:

[Absorbing Otherworldly Demon ’System’...]

[10%... 20%... 35%...]

Along with the agonizing wails and screams of the entity, the progress bar steadily climbed.

It wasn’t until about five minutes later that the countdown finally reached completion, and the alien System was entirely extracted.

Retracting back into Ethan’s body, Lucian’s System had now been completely stripped and secured within his own Awakener system.

[Extraction Complete!]

[Requesting permission to extract the System and initiate fusion?]

[Fusion options include: Self-Fusion and System-Fusion.]

Once again seeing these familiar options, Ethan examined them with heightened curiosity, selecting one of the choices to expand its details:

[System-Fusion: In this mode, the extracted System is merged directly into the current Awakener System, unlocking new standardized functions for all Awakeners across the world to utilize.]

Reading this, Ethan’s eyes widened in surprise. Even in his past life, he had never heard of the global Awakener System undergoing an update of this nature.

’Was this another butterfly effect? Or was this something that happened in my past life that I simply lacked the status to know about at the time?’

’Either way, I’ll analyze that later. For now, let’s take a look at the other option.’

[Self-Fusion: Upon detailed analysis, it has been detected that Awakener Ethan Smith has created his own original power system.

Self-Fusion merges the extracted System directly with yourself and your original power system, granting everyone linked to your path their own interconnected magic network.]

[During fusion, the original alien System is wiped clean, leaving a clean template.

Additional features can subsequently be developed or added by devouring other Systems, or by acquiring specific rare materials and higher-order abilities.]

Unlike the previous description, this explanation was far more comprehensive, and its implications filled Ethan with intense excitement.

Although there were some losses such as the original evolution function being wiped out, overall it was a good deal!

With this feature, he could effortlessly resolve many of the current operational bottlenecks facing the Mage Legion!

"Haha! Amazing! With this, I can drastically accelerate my plans!"

Smiling from ear to ear, Ethan didn’t hesitate for even a single second.

"System! I choose Self-Fusion!"