Chapter 199. The System's revenge

"I can't believe I have you back on my operation table Trader. Now do you have any last words?"

"Shut up Solomon, I'm not in the mood for jokes today."

The Mad Scientist was looking over my body that was lying limp on the table.

The reason I could speak and hear him, was because I was in my soul form, watching him studying my body supervised by Blue.

But for some reason, my friend Blue seemed a little distracted looking with disbelief at me floating in the air.

I know it's shocking to speak with ghosts but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

"Trader, why do you look so wrong?"

"How rude! For your information, that's how my actual body looks like."

"Actual body?"

"Sorry Blue, I don't have the energy to talk about this, maybe another day."

The Pigling didn't seemed bothered by my response and looked at the Mad Scientist.

"Ok...so Solomon what exactly am I looking at right now?"

"A curious sight isn't it?"

Then he proceeded to tell Blue about the process I was going through right now, plus the secret that I was from another world.

I let out a sigh, expecting this since Blue was curious by nature and we couldn't lie to him.

After I almost died a second time in one night, I concluded that I was being attacked by the System.

When I tried to get back to the Overworld, I had the same reaction proving my theory.

The first idea that came into my mind was that I was similar to the Piglings in the Nether, when my flesh came into contact with the other dimension I would die.

But from what I knew, the System didn't make my body, so the only other option left, was that it attacked me from the outside.

That's why I was here in the Nether tribe, I wanted Solomon to check out my soul if it had any changes from the last time he saw me.

He is the only person I know who could find out the truth.

Especially after I lost the Monocle.

"I'm done."

The Mad Scientist closed his book and wrote something in the ritual circle that made me go back to my body.

"Besides your unusually fast growth in your skill levels, there's nothing out of the ordinary about you. So your idea may be correct, the question is, how do you plan on overcoming that problem?"

I have a few ideas that could work.

If the System puts an automatic program to kill me whenever it finds me in the world.

I can wear Netherite armor to make myself invisible like before.

It has some merit to it, and I can finish this quickly if I make myself a diamond armor.

The second solution is to learn how to make a new body that could hide from the System.

But that would take a lot of time and a lot of research.

"I have some ideas, but I'll listen to what you have first."

"I could make an item that can hide you from the System, maybe a bracelet or necklace. But I'll need a few items for that."

Am accessory that could help me hide from the System?

That sounds like a good idea, and I can lend it to someone else if necessary.

"That sounds like a good idea, what do you need?"

Then he proceeded to tell me a list of items that were rare, but not impossible to find.

Most of them were in the Nether, and we had enough gold to trade for those.

And the others, I can ask Bobby to give them to me.

Speaking about rare items, this reminded me of the totems the General used.

"Hey Solomon, we're you the one who made the totems for the General?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"In the last battle, he was forced to use 2 of them and I saw that it had a few special abilities besides the regeneration."

"Ahh, I see, you must've cornered him badly if he was forced to use them. Yeah, it's harder to make those since the process is longer and uses a lot more materials, that's why only the General had them."

He also told me what was special about them.

In the process of preparing the totem, right as the souls enter the golden figurine, it has to be bathed in a certain substance.

For example, to have an area of regeneration, as the souls enter the object, it's sunk into a couldrun filled with regeneration potion.

For a shield, it's surrounded by obsidian dust and other hard materials.

But apparently, the General had one more totem on him, and its special ability would teleport him back to the outpost.

That means he also survived the explosion.

"Can you make me a few as well, something humane that doesn't involve sucking the soul out of an Enderman while he's still alive."

Some of those totems are brutal to make, and I don't feel comfortable having something like that in my inventory.

"Sure, but I'll need some items for this."

What he needed weren't items, but more like tools.

Costume-made tools.

It's very hard to break an obsidian block into powder, you'll need a diamond chisel for that, and even then you'll have to stay for hours just to chop a corner off.

"I'll see what I can do. First make me the accessory that would hide me from the System, then you can concentrate on the others."

"Oh, how you like to work me to the bone. Don't you feel sorry?"

"I still didn't forgive you for attempting to escape with Alexa."

"Tsk* Fine, I'll get to work, don't bother me until then."

I smiled and thanked the man as I left.

But Blue wanted to talk with me, so he came along as well.

"Trader, I have a question to ask, or more exactly a request."

That's rare, there aren't a lot of items that interest Blue, especially not when it comes to request it from me.

I wonder what it would be?

"If it's in my power, I'll do my best."

"You don't need to be so serious about this, I wanted to know if Solomon could make 2 more bracelets for me and Undying."

That's an interesting idea, but I don't know if it would work the same way as it does for me, since the thing that kills them in the Overworld isn't the System, but the part of the Nether in them.

Then again, we don't know until we try, so I don't see a reason to refuse.

"Sure, you can make him do whatever you want since you're taking care of him."

Blue is doing a wonderful job at keeping the Mad Scientist in check.

With his ability to see lies and curiosity for research, the Mad Scientist doesn't have any choice but to follow whatever he says.

Plus, I think Solomon is having fun in here as well with all these soulsand blocks in his inventory.

"Thank you, I'm sure Undying would be happy to hear about this."

He smiled like a fool while thanking me.

Looks like love truly is the happiest pill.

I left the tribe in my golden armor and went to check on the Fortress connected to the palace.

Unfortunately, it was harder for me to infiltrate this time since I didn't have my stealth armor, and nobody recognized me.

Or at least they weren't comfortable with calling Bobby on the Nether just to talk with me.

In the end, they accepted my proposal and called Bobby to meet me in the Fortress.

After a few minutes Bobby came with a smile on his face.

"Trader, glad to see you again. What's with the new armor, change of style?"

"Noo, I wished had my old armor back, it's just that recently I died and lost everything, and now the System hates me so I can't stay in the Overworld."

His smile froze and he started to blink rapidly.

"I'm sorry, I heard something funny about how you died and somehow ended up being hunted by the System, but that must be a bad joke."

Ohh, it's been a while since I managed to break him, it's always fun to see that reaction.

"Yeah, unfortunately, this isn't a joke, and now I'm stuck in the Nether until I make somethingthat can hide me from the System."

His smile slowly died, and now he was massaging his head trying to comprehend what he just heard.

"Let's go talk in a private room, I don't want the guards to think that the end of the world is coming."

Well, they wouldn't be that far off with that conclusion, especially if they keep guarding the Nether Fortress.

I followed them to a special room that was recently built, and I told him what happened.

Once I was finished, he wasn't shocked to my disappointment but had a serious expression thinking about the next move.

"I see, it's a mess as I expected. Can I lock you up in a house where you can never leave it?"

"Sorry, Bobby, last time that happened the Sultan died, and not too long after I died as well."

He slapped his face like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You can't just gloss over your deaths like this Trader! How many times can you even come back anyway?"

Now that's a touchy subject, but he helped me too much for me not to tell.

The only thing that I'm willing to keep a secret is Violet, and that's mostly so he wouldn't watch over his shoulder every time I visit him.

"This is my last life, if I die, I'm gone for good."

He looked seriously at me, trying to deduce something frommy expression.

"I'm starting to think the house idea is more probable now. What are the chances of you living a normal life if I asked you?"

"Not high, especially when I'm so close to the end goal."

He let out a sigh and sat down on a chair while closing his eyes.

"That's what I figured, I'm guessing now we can only prepare you for the worst."

"Unfortunately yes, but I'm already making progress with this, and that's why I wanted to meet with you in the first place."

I then told him all the ingredients and tools Soloman asked for, and he wrote it all down on a book.

"Some of them are hard to get, especially the diamond tools. But I should be able to get them in 2 weeks, is that ok for you?"

I would've preferred to be done faster, but in the same time, I'm not going to travel a lot when I'm leveleing up my skills.

"It should be fine, send them all to the tribe. Blue would know what to do with those. How much do I owe you?"

"You helped us plenty of times, don't worry, I'm doing this for my friend after all. If you still want to pay, then come to my weeding."

Yeah, that should be in a month.

It's going to be more complicated now that I can't visit the Overworld, but I'll figure something out until then.

"Of course, I'll be there as I promised, and I already thought of the perfect gift."

He smiled and said that I was always welcomed.

"Also, you don't have to worry abou finding Alexa, we already discovered the tuneless you were talking about and began exploring them. In a few days we should have most of it mapped."

Wow, they moved fast.

"Was there anyone obstructing you?"

"We saw signs of the tunnels being used, but not people that made those."

"Be careful, those tunnels are under the Brutes Kingdom, and their very strong."

"I'll keep that in mind, just give me a book signed by you so Alexa would know we were sent by you."

I would love to finish the job just like that, but unfortunately you have to pass the Wither and I don't know If they'll be able to.

What should I do?