Systolic category of a manifold "M" is defined in terms of the various "k"-systoles of "M". Roughly speaking, the idea is as follows. Given a manifold "M", one looks for the longest product of systoles which give a "curvature-free" lower bound for the total volume of "M" (with a constant independent of the metric). It is natural to include systolic invariants of the covers of "M" in the definition, as well. The number of factors in such a "longest product" is by definition the systolic category of "M".