About an hour has passed.

  I am now standing near the king in a makeshift audience chamber.

  The long bland hall is filled with nobles, soldiers, and government officials who all look anxious.

  Kneeling on the ground is the viscount who had been captured by the adventurers.

  Despite the man’s presence, no one was glaring at him.

  Before this all began, I instructed everyone to not identify the Viscount for their own safety.

  Not having had a chance to change, the noble's armor is still covered in dirt, blood, and dust.

  Just barely cleaned up having wiped the blood from his face, the kneeling man speaks.

  “Your majesty, Lady Oracle, I am Viscount Leasteer Tolard. I report that after being knocked unconscious in the battle against the stampede I was chained to a chair by the demons, most of that time is hard to recall though. Afterwards I woke up in a pile of rubble in the city. When found I was treated with suspicion and hostility by everyone and restrained despite my station.”

  His fists are turning white from how hard he is clenching them, just barely restraining his anger so as to not lash out during an audience with the king.

  “Another thing, I… I am no longer able to use The System… I can’t use my magic anymore. Please, there must be something you can do!”

  Unable to hold his rage and fear back with gritted teeth anymore, the man starts shouting.

  Before he can complain further, the king raises a hand.

  “Silence! I understand your concerns, but shouting won’t accomplish anything. Now, I know this will be hard, but I will ask that you demonstrate your inability to use magic. We have researchers standing by and they will see if there is any sign of your connection to The System.”

  Despite his attempts to look strong, I can see the fear in the king’s eyes.

  This is probably a very complex issue for him after he heard everything I had to say.

  On the one hand, being disconnected from The System means no longer being manipulated, but it also means losing the support The System provides.

  To him, it looks like a trade off between magic and the power that comes with it, and one's own mind.

  The hall is filled with murmurs as the man trembles while he attempts to use magic, but his mana does not move an inch.

  As expected, he was so dependent on the system that he has no idea how to even move his own mana.

  All he is doing now is calling out in his mind to activate the skill.

  This result is probably different for all kinds of people, I am sure some will still be able to use their magic after a disconnect, just not as well for a while.

  I look over and see The Oracle out of the corner of my eye as she stands beside the king.

  The look on her face is terrible.

  The Viscount was Class 3 and is now completely unable to use his magic.

  The implications couldn’t be worse.

  “If the Demon Lord can disconnect people from The System… It could mean the end of magic.”

  The whole room pales at The Oracle’s mumbled words.

  Interesting, I guess the king has not informed her of everything I said about the temple.

  The king loudly clears his throat to get the room focused again.

  “Now, this is something that must stay within this room alone, but I have learned some troubling news.”

  Weary, the king leans back against the small temporary throne.

  “As we know from the adventurers, when identified the Viscount is labeled as a threat. But I have been informed that it goes beyond that… The System which is connected to your Mana Core and thus your mind, directly influences your perception…”

  Everyone in the room is hanging on the king’s words desperately and terrified that you could hear a pin drop in the silence.

  A moment later he shatters that silence with a harsh reality.

  “In short, The System is pushing people to violence with a form of mind magic. Our hate towards those who are identified by The System as a ‘threat’ is artificial. We are being controlled.”

  “What?!?!”

  “Impossible!”

  “B-But that means-”

  “Calm yourselves!”

  At the king's shout everyone quickly shuts up.

  Once the hall is focused again, though not exactly still as people tremble with all kinds of emotions, the king turns to me.

  “Ms. Knight, Would you explain to the room what you told me.”

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  I bow lightly to the king and turn to the long hall full of the nation’s remaining soldiers, nobles, and officials.

  “Hello, I am the Hero, Lua Knight. After being killed by my father I was resurrected by a god and awoke in The Sea of Trees. There I learned I was immune to mind magic, something that I believe may be a gift from that god. Because of my immunity and other resistances, The System was unable to connect to me directly and I was put in a unique position. I was given a living mana construct to watch over me and, by the confession of said construct, they had orders to lead me to my death.”

  The whole room gasps at my confession, even the king is reeling as I had not told him everything yet.

  “That mana construct led me to a temple that was built long ago when The System was first created and had been used as a base for those rebelling against it. It was there that I fully disconnected myself from The System and took up the same cause.”

  This is horrifically risky to admit to, but I need people to start doubting The System if I want anything to work.

  And if I, The Hero, say I am against The System. The impact will be incredible.

  “I believe that the Demon Lord has likely found this same temple or a similar one and intends to use it for their own purposes. The entire building was disconnected from The System and I am sure that The Demon Lord intends to replicate that effect and use it against us. Thus, our only option is to get ahead of the issue.”

  I can see a bit of hope and reverence in the eyes of every single person in the room, even The Oracle is looking at me as though I am her only hope.

  The demon I had attack her must have really done a number on her.

  Finally, looking out at the crowd I do my best to suppress my rising grin at how perfect their reactions are.

  I quickly lower the sensitivity of my ears before speaking this last part.

  “We must all disconnect from The System first, and learn to use magic without it.”

  Then the whole room goes nuts.

  “That’s insane!”

  “But we would be powerless!”

  “Why would we do such a thing?!”

  “Surely we can beat the Demon Lord without resorting to such measures.”

  Even after being told they were being mind controlled and that the Demon Lord would attack them regardless, there are many idiots too stuck to even consider the reality of the situation.

  I look over to the king and he raises his hand once more.

  The room calms down and I manage to continue speaking.

  I go on to explain that I am an example of how one can still use magic despite not being connected to The System.

  The audience is quite shocked to learn that I have managed to make a fake connection to The System to trick identify, something they thought was impossible, and that I can supply everyone with the same ring I use to prevent The System from labeling them as a threat.

  I can see the Viscount who had been dragged in here rather roughly is the most relieved from my statement.

  As a demonstration, I toss one of these rings over to the Viscount and have him put it on.

  After that the king instructs a guard to identify the man and tell us the results.

  “I-It didn’t label him a threat!”

  The whole room is rather shocked to find the problem solved so easily and ecstatic to learn that there is a solution to at least one of the issues.

  The only reason I can do this is because of my golemancy which lets me control Mana Cores.

  That, and the fact that The System is rather inflexible in the way it functions.

  [Identify] simply sends a ping to your core and reads the System data stored on it. If it can’t find the connection it labels the entity as a threat.

  As far as Alice knows, The System has never been modified since its creation.

  After several experiments on the monsters in The Sea of Trees, we determined that The System by itself is so rigid that it just never accounted for my Mana Core ring loophole.

  I can only guess that Golemancy is so rare or perhaps something only those from another world can have which led to the oversight.

  I should ask Lucadon more about this since they were the one to tell me how to make the rings.

  If I can figure out how to order that asshole back in the first place.

  I internally sigh to myself before thinking more about The System and everything I have learned so far.

  The System is really mysterious if I am being frank.

  Even Alice does not know the reason it was created, just that the creator had been trying to do something and the people of this world wanted to stop them.

  The System was created as a response to the curse the ancient humans placed on the world and it is gathering incredible amounts of power.

  However, even after thousands of years The System has yet to do anything with that power.

  I don’t get it. What is the goal here?

  Whatever it is though, I refuse to go along with it.

  The hate The System generates pisses me off too much for me to give it any benefit of the doubt.

  “So, if we have these rings then we can still use The System without it affecting our minds!”

  One of the nobles shouts with enthusiasm, drawing me from my thoughts.

  Dumbass, listen to what I say properly!

  “No, the ring can only hide you from The System. However, like I said, you can still use magic if you practice. You can even develop new spells without relying on the skill shop and achievements.”

  As the people keep jumping from one emotion to the next as I explain how the ring works The Oracle turns to me and asks a question I had been waiting for.

  “Ms. Knight, how exactly do we disconnect from The System though. If the Demon Lord is in control of this temple as you say, then we have no hope.”

  “That is simple, I can disconnect people. My Golemancy allows me to replicate the effect. I can also help train people in using their magic.”

  I feel overwhelming joy as I see The Oracle smile in relief at my answer.

  Now I am in control of everything.

  None of these people realize the power and influence they are now throwing my way.

  I will not only be able to dictate their actions and magic, but they will all owe me a huge debt after this.

  And if that weren’t enough, the Anti-System Rings I am providing make for perfect tools to spy on everyone and everything!

  Once word of the Demon Lord’s use of the Temple of Rebellion to steal people’s magic away spreads, the world will have no choice but to turn to me as their only hope to free themselves from The System while retaining their power.

  People will fear The System and the Demon Lord while associating their hatred of other races with the mind control provided by The System.

  If things go well, I will have everyone eating out of the palm of my hand in no time.

  Though, I doubt it will be that easy.