Master of the System

Emily took in a deep breath. The world was changing way too fast. It was easy to read books about history and see how far people have come from since back then, but when the change happened in less than a year, it was a bit disorienting. The world she lived on, now known as the Moon Lotus World, was actually just a tiny piece of dust drifting about. There were hundreds of thousands of other pieces of dust just like the Moon Lotus World, and they were connected intergalactically through teleportation gates. It felt like everything she knew was a lie, and what was even worse was the system had assigned her another mission. Well, it had assigned her a mission and then replaced it shortly after.

[Mission Deleted: When the End Seems Like the Beginning]

[Now that you’re important and experienced, it should be a lot easier for you to grow again financially. Using the Moon Lotus World’s resources, dominate the intergalactic market!]

[Reward: The reward is the money that comes with domination]

[New Mission: Conquer the Intergalactic Market!]

[The system has given some thought to the previous mission, and it seems like the conditions weren’t clear enough. Also, the reward has been changed. Try your best! Forge onwards and spread your financial tentacles throughout the whole intergalactic market. Become the wealthiest person within the intergalactic society!]

[Reward: Eternal Life]

The reward was extremely appealing, but the difficulty of the mission was too damn high! She hadn’t even finished taking over the Moon Lotus World’s finances yet, but she was already given a mission ten times more difficult. Thankfully, the mission didn’t have a time limit other than her natural lifespan. Throughout the years, she had advanced to the nascent-soul stage thanks to the rewards given out by the system, but she suspected a thousand years wasn’t enough to conquer an intergalactic market. The only thing she could so was complete the smaller missions and rack up the rewards to become a soul-seed cultivator.

[New Mission: Seal the Deal]

[The Moon Lotus Sect is signing a huge deal with the United Federation of Bread. As the most financially savvy person Elder Vremya bothered getting to know, you’ve been hired by the sect to negotiate terms with the other party. The better the deal you make, the better your rewards.]

[Reward: Mystery Box]

Emily wasn’t exactly sure why the Moon Lotus Sect’s Elder Vremya had taken note of her, but she was thankful he did. If it wasn’t for the Moon Lotus Sect’s support throughout the years, her company would never have grown as much as it did, and she would’ve died to a mission long ago. Sometimes, she thought about surrendering to another user of the system, but whenever she thought more about it, she realized she didn’t have anything else she wanted to do. How could she go back from being wealthy to just moderately rich? It was easy to adapt to luxury after being poor, but the luxurious people who became poor? They suffered.

After recalling what she had prepared, Emily put on her business face and straightened her back. She pushed open the door and walked inside the room, taking long strides with her chest puffed out. Negotiation started from before the two parties even met. Materials had to be prepared, attitudes had to be adjusted. If she showed weakness, she’d be eaten alive on the battlefield for benefits. Her favorite thing in the world to see was someone squirming nervously in the waiting room; it was a telltale sign of an easy profit.

Confidence! Emily oozed it! Midstride, she made eye contact with everyone in the room. There were two elders from the Moon Lotus Sect, and two unknown individuals. One of them was wearing a military uniform while the other was wearing a suit and tie. Just an hour ago, she had no idea what those articles of clothing were called, but to survive in the cutthroat world of business, she had to be constantly learning. Unfortunately, she wasn’t given time to purchase the intergalactic society’s formalwear; instead, she was wearing a set of red and gold robes meant for the most serious of occasions. Before she had finished walking to her seat, she had already taken in the room’s inhabitants’ postures, attires, and facial expressions. Usually, she would mentally calculate how much their clothes and accessories were worth as well, but she didn’t know the prices of these new gizmos and gadgets she had just been introduced to. However, there was one thing she did understand. In this situation, the Moon Lotus Sect had the upper hand. If they didn’t, would Elder Vremya and Elder Azalea look so indifferent?

Emily took her seat and crossed her arms. She kicked her legs up onto the table and crossed one ankle over the other before leaning back in her seat. “You want to do business with the Moon Lotus Sect? You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last.” From her spiritual sense, she could tell the two elders from the Moon Lotus Sect neither approved nor disapproved of her actions. It seemed like she was being given full rein in this negotiation. Since the elders trusted her so much, there was no way she could let them down. She took a vial of oil out of her interspacial ring and drank it in one go.

“Was that cannabis extract?” Joanne asked, her eyes widening. There were rumors running rampant about the free use of drugs in the Moon Lotus World, but she never expected to verify them here.

Emily raised an eyebrow and took out another vial. “This?” she asked. “This is a special medicinal elixir capable of heightening your thought process.” She put the vial away and snorted. “But we’re not here to negotiate for elixirs, are we? The federation wants the financial heart and soul of the Moon Lotus World: Elder Vremya’s knowledge. I wonder if you can afford it.”

The man in the suit glanced at Joanne. “Is this how the Moon Lotus World’s residents normally behave?” He glared at Emily. “Don’t you have any manners? The Moon Lotus World is far behind the intergalactic civilization in terms of resources and technology. What we’re going to trade you for some modified battlesuits is something the Moon Lotus World can never achieve by themselves even if they were given ten thousand years. You don’t walk in here and act like you own the place when you’re the weaker party.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed. “We’re the weaker party? We are the weaker party?” The table shattered as Emily put some force into her legs. She climbed to her feet and towered over the man in the suit, pressing him down with her spiritual energy. “Negotiations and deals are methods of the weak! The strong seize what they want! Do you believe that if I kill you right now the federation will send someone else to negotiate without taking action against me? Do you want me to prove it?”

“I’m going to have to ask you to take a step back,” Joanne said, shielding the man with her own spiritual energy. She stepped in between him and Emily. “This is a negotiation between two parties of relatively equal standing. No party is above the other.”

Emily glanced at the two elders behind her. Judging by their postures, they obviously thought what Joanne was saying was a bunch of garbage. It reaffirmed the fact in her mind that the Moon Lotus World had the upper hand in this negotiation. She gave Joanne a big smile before retreating, sitting back in her seat.

Joanne patted the suited man’s shoulder. “Don’t be so tense,” she said while taking her spot behind the man again. “She wouldn’t have really killed you.”

A faint smile appeared on Emily’s lips. Honestly, she really was considering it. If she did it, she would’ve been given more time to learn about the intergalactic society to prepare herself for the next negotiation. However, she would’ve felt terrible if she actually had to kill someone. Even though she was a ruthless business woman, she had only hired assassins once in her whole career, and that was on accident. If she were to take action against the man, she would’ve just beat his face in to dislocate his jaw, an easy way to prevent him from speaking without killing him. A sweet voice came out of Emily’s mouth. “Now that we’ve established the fact no party is above the other, are you willing to speak reason with me?”

Joanne’s expression darkened. She knew she shouldn’t have come here, but her boss made her! What was with the residents of the Moon Lotus World turning black into white? They were obviously the unreasonable party first! A sigh almost escaped from Joanne’s mouth. Just from this encounter, she could tell the negotiator was shaken. It seemed like the federation was going to make a huge loss this time around. For the first time in a while, Joanne felt like it was pretty stupid to give a mortal such an important position as a diplomatic negotiator. If he were a cultivator, would he have had to rely on her as a bodyguard?