Master of the System

Vremya stood in the void. Not too far away, there was a shining speck—the world he had created before. He didn’t want to place the faster-time world too far away, but at the same time, he didn’t want it to be too close to where he lived. Thus, he found the perfect spot. Behind him, Karta and Pravos were glaring at each other. Well, Karta was glaring at Pravos, and Pravos was looking at Vremya’s back with bright eyes. The old man waved his hand, and a huge landmass appeared before him. He waved his other hand, and a blue sphere appeared around the land. He furrowed his brow and flicked a few times with his fingers. A burning sun appeared in the landmass’ sky. It was flat, sticking to the blue sphere like a wet piece of paper. Underneath the landmass, stars and a bright moon cropped up; they were flat as well. “That should do it,” Vremya said, nodding his head.

“Wow!” Pravos clapped her hands, applauding the primordial god. “I didn’t think you’d be so skilled in creation!”

Vremya rubbed his nose and sniffed. “It was nothing.” Although he made it look easy, he wasn’t actually that skilled in creation. He had merely taken out a landmass from his bellybutton and added a bit of flair to make it seem like he had created it himself. “Now, I’ll set up a system over the whole thing.” Since he didn’t want to have to monitor the place himself, he had to create a method for Pravos to control his powers, and what better way to do that than by using a system? All gods were using systems anyway.

“It looks like a microwave,” Karta said upon seeing Vremya’s user interface.

“Well, it’s basically the same thing,” Vremya said and patted the boxlike display that had appeared in front of him. “You put whatever you want to speed up inside the world and select how long you want to speed it up for. Then, you hit enter. I’ve calibrated the time to a million years a second.”

“Is it operational already?” Pravos asked, raising an eyebrow. Primordial gods sure were amazing. If she wanted to construct a project like this, who knew how many years it’d take to get the resources to even begin? Pravos pursed her lips and couldn’t help but compare Vremya to Blagora. Although Blagora seemed more serious and reliable, Vremya actually got things done instead of hemming and hawing. “Can I test it out?”

“Sure,” Vremya said, gesturing towards the world. “Place something inside, and when you’re ready, put in how long you want to brew it for.”

Pravos waved her hand, and a seed appeared in her palm. “Can I grow this?”

Vremya nodded, gesturing towards the world with his head.

Pravos flew through the blue sphere and landed in the center of the landmass. She buried the seed, made sure it was in a good position, and flew back up. She went to the boxlike display and punched in the number one hundred. “This is in years, right?”

“Mhm.”

Pravos hit confirm. The sun and the moon rotated at blinding speeds until they were just one streak of light on the blue sphere. In the blink of an eye, a green sprout shot up out of the ground and … died. Pravos stared at the dead plant before turning her head towards Vremya. “What happened?”

“You didn’t water it for a hundred years,” Vremya said and rolled his eyes. “What did you expect would happen?”

Pravos scratched her head. “So…, how are you going to fix that?”

“I’ll throw in a caretaker golem,” Vremya said and shrugged.

“What about bacteria and other microbes?” Pravos asked and pointed at the dead plant. Even though a hundred years had passed, the plant was still there, not decomposing in the slightest. “Even with water, there’ll still need to be bacteria in the soil to produce nutrients, or it’ll all be used up.”

Vremya rubbed his chin.

“And what about plants that grow in different climates?” Pravos asked, her brow furrowing. “If a plant can only grow in the snow or on mountaintops, this landmass won’t be able to cultivate them.”

Vremya exhaled through his nose. He placed a hand on Pravos’ shoulder. “You said you wanted to help me, right?”

“Of course!” Pravos said, her face bright red.

“Great.” Vremya nodded and passed Pravos a large pouch. Inside, there were thousands of heaven-grade spirit stones. “Fix all the problems with this project. If you need golems in the world, buy them. If you need bacteria and microbes, buy them. If you need snow or mountains, buy them. If you need a formation to swap between different climates, buy them.”

Pravos stared at the pouch full of money and gulped. If she misplaced the bag, she’d probably never be able to pay it back. In the past, Blagora never trusted her with any amounts of money because sometimes she’d buy things on impulse. “Y-you can count on me.”

Vremya patted Pravos’ shoulder. “If you need more money, just let me know.”

Pravos swallowed and bobbed her head up and down. Primordial gods sure were filthy rich. No wonder why they never bothered with the righteous gods’ alliance and the evil gods’ alliance. It was impossible to bribe or motivate someone who already had everything. The only thing that could make a primordial god move was another primordial god. Pravos swallowed again as she watched Vremya and Karta fly away, heading towards the speck in the distance. If Vremya was this rich despite sleeping for eons, how rich was Istoriya, a primordial god who had been hustling since the start of existence? It made Pravos’ head hurt just thinking about the number of spirit stones in Istoriya’s bank account.

***

Max sat up. He was in the middle of a grassy field, and beside him, there were the remains of a dead plant. Where was he? His brow furrowed as he tried to remember the last thing that had happened to him. He had been given orders to annoy people through floating words in his vision. He had insulted a horse…. Then, right! A woman trapped him with a rope, but how did he end up here?

[Max! I need your help.]

Max blinked at the line of text. It seemed like the previous words had been replaced once more. The first time he encountered the floating text, they seemed to belong to an overenthusiastic girl. The next time, they seemed to belong to someone who was bored and wanted to watch the world burn. This time, it reverted back to the girl.

[Your mission is to cultivate and take care of any plants that may appear.]

Max scratched his head. He looked around, but all he saw was a field of green grass. Other than the dead plant, there wasn’t any other noticeable feature. “Will I know where the plants appear?”

[Yep! You’ll be alerted and given a corresponding mission.]

Max sat back down. “Is there any food or water?”

In response, a bag with a black dog’s head printed on it fell from the sky, landing by Max’s feet. Then, a bottle of water fell down beside it.

Max nodded. It didn’t seem like he’d starve to death. “Alright,” he said. “How long do I do this for?”

[Until you die. However! If you successfully cultivate and become an immortal, you can do this forever instead!]

Max stared at the text. He had no idea what to say. After a long moment, Max looked up at the sky. “Can you take me home?”

[Oh, right! Here’s a house, your new home.]

A shack fell from the sky, landing beside Max with a bang. He stared at it. “That’s not what I meant.”

However, no matter how long he waited, the words didn’t respond. He could only pick himself up and head inside the house to inspect his new home. Sadly, it wasn’t even new. It looked exactly like the house he used to live in. Even the stains in the toilet were the same. Max scratched his head. Maybe it was all just a dream, and tomorrow, he’d wake up in a clinic or something.