Master of the System

Eula stepped out of the restaurant, following after her bodyguard, Paul. “Is it over?” she asked, peeking over the ex-interdimensional mercenary’s shoulder. The fire had been stopped by a barrier that had suddenly appeared, and the screams of the citizens had faded away as well. It seemed like the immortal had gotten what he wanted and left the area.

“I think so,” Paul said with a tense expression. He was holding a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. He had agreed to escort the princess back to the palace since the capital had fallen back into a state of peace. “Stay behind me.”

Eula nodded. At that moment, the sound of footsteps rang out, and something struck her chest. Paul had pushed her back into the store. The ex-interdimensional mercenary retreated back into the restaurant as well and whirled around, placing a finger on his lips to silently tell the princess to keep quiet. Eula swallowed the protest that was on the verge of leaving her mouth and listened. The footsteps were followed by something else. Other than the clopping of feet, it sounded like something heavy was walking around. Instantly, she was reminded of the spirit tiger that had eaten her horse. If someone was walking around with something like that, didn’t that mean they were the tiger’s owner? The immortal was heading towards them!

Just as Eula suspected, two people and three tigers came into view. One of them was a man dressed in black robes, and the other was … Max? Eula rubbed her eyes and blinked hard. Before she could say anything, Paul asked, “Isn’t that the guard who tried to assassinate the chef?”

“He is! What happened to him?” Eula asked. Before, the guard was merely at the second stage of qi condensation, but now, she couldn’t even sense how strong he was!

“Hello,” Max said, waving at the people inside the restaurant. His brow furrowed upon seeing Paul and Eula. The two looked really familiar, but after basically a million years of solitude, he wasn’t sure how good his memory was. “We’re going on a journey.”

Eula tilted her head. Who did Max mean by we? Him and the black-robed man? Him and the tigers? Him and the people in the restaurant. “What do you—?” Before Eula could finish her question, a portal opened up right outside the restaurant entrance, and everyone inside the shop was sucked in. Smith Jr. and Karen were sucked out as well despite being inside the kitchen.

***

Vremya browsed through his display, swiping at the holographic projection with his feet. Like the stinky dog beside him, he had gotten lazier and lazier with every passing day. The door to the living room was flung open, and Pravos appeared. “Vremya, there’s a problem!” she shouted and spread her arms out wide. “There’s a really big problem!”

Vremya tilted his head. “Did you run out of money?” Through experience, he realized every problem could be solved easily with the use of money. If there was an unsolvable problem that Pravos had encountered, then obviously, she was lacking enough money to resolve it. Vremya reached into his fanny pack, took out a bag, and lobbed it towards Pravos. The god of justice caught the bag and weighed it with her hands before rapidly shaking her head.

“That’s not it,” Pravos said and pocketed the money. “I transferred your users to the fast-time world, and when I went on the marketplace app to buy them appropriate cultivation techniques, I got a message saying I was banned!”

Vremya raised an eyebrow. Instead of responding to the frantic woman, he opened up his marketplace app. Instead of the usual frontpage that was filled with advertisements and recommendations, he was greeted by a black screen with a line of white text.

[You have been banned.]

Karta barked and jumped to her feet, flipping herself out of her lazy posture. “I was banned too! What the heck!?” She mashed on her personal computer, turning it off and on again. When she opened the app once more, the same message appeared. “What gives!?”

Vremya frowned. “Since Istoriya attacked my users, it makes sense he’d attack my supply source as well.” He rubbed his chin. “I wonder how else he’ll target me.”

Karta growled. “I’m banned from the messenger app too!” She glared at Vremya. “Hey, old man! Are you just going to sit back and let these guys ruin our comfy lives? Go beam them into the future or something!”

Vremya checked his messenger app. As expected, he was also banned. He glanced at Pravos, and she nodded. “The majority of my apps aren’t working either,” the god of justice said. “If the council of primordial gods apply pressure on these app providers, they have no choice but to give in. I can try going to the righteous gods’ alliance and ask them for help….”

“There’s no need for that,” Vremya said and snorted. He rose to his feet. “Do these upstart gods really think I’m that easy to bully? They’ve forgotten who was the one that carved out the space they’re living in. Since Istoriya isn’t doing a good job of reminding them of the past, why don’t I take up his role for a bit?”

“What are you going to do?” Karta asked, raising an eyebrow. Her eyes narrowed. “Did you just freeze time?” Vremya was standing one way, but in the next moment, his body had slightly shifted. If she wasn’t keeping a close eye on his countenance, Karta wouldn’t even have noticed.

“I went to get something,” Vremya said with an expressionless face. He looked into Karta’s eyes. “Stinky dog.”

Karta blinked. “Hmm?” Vremya didn’t get serious very often, but when he did, he let out a totally different aura, one befitting of a primordial god; usually, he gave off the aura of a couch potato. The Labrador retriever unconsciously straightened her posture and perked up her ears. “What’s up?”

“You were bugging me before about getting you a new domain, right?” A cold smile appeared on Vremya’s face. “How would you like to be the new god of the marketplace?”

Karta tilted her head. She could become the new god of the marketplace? “You’re going to kill Rynok? That’s illegal!”

“So? Who cares? Are you in or not?”

Karta jumped off the couch and ran to Vremya’s side, rubbing her body against his leg. “Of course, I’m in!”

Pravos looked at Karta before shifting her gaze up to Vremya. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” she said. However, before she could even finish her sentence, the two gods had already disappeared. Pravos stood in the middle of the living room with a stiff expression. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t even message anyone for advice thanks to the stupid ban!