Master of the System

Smith Jr. scratched his head. It was strange not having a golem whipping him to do things. He had been taken away from the restaurant by a strong suction force and ended up here—wherever here was. Smith Jr. suspected it was the place where the system obtained its ingredients for him to practice with. There weren’t any signs of civilization except for a shack which belonged to Max, the guard that miraculously became an immortal in a single night. Instead of the golem, Smith Jr. had to rely on himself for motivation to complete the quests he had been given.

[New Mission: Plant Spirit Rice]

[A chef must know where their ingredients come from!]

[Reward: House]

Smith Jr. squatted down and placed his hand on the ground. It was warm and temperate. Although his cultivation was relatively low compared to an immortal’s, he was still a cultivator. A little bit of exposure to the elements wouldn’t hurt him. Couldn’t he finally rest? Instead of laboring away, planting rice, why not slack and recover all the sanity he had almost lost through the repetitive grind he was forced to endure. It wasn’t like he needed a house anyway. With that, Smith Jr. relaxed the tension in his shoulders and plopped down onto his butt before falling onto his back. He spread his arms out to the side and stared up at the sky. When was the last time he got to experience something like this? It felt like years.

[Uh, chef? Why aren’t you doing the mission? It doesn’t count if Karen completes it without you. Are you going to abandon the side of justice as well?]

Smith Jr. picked a tall piece of grass and stuffed it into his mouth. He bit down and chewed at the root, savoring the earthy taste. The world he was currently in was a healthy place; at least, the patch of grass surrounding him was very lively. His dad had taught him how to tell the condition of the soil by the taste of the grass. The first time Smith Jr. tried it, he poisoned himself and nearly died. The memory caused a wry smile to appear on the chef’s lips, and he let out a sigh. Would he have a son too? His eyes shifted, his gaze landing on Eula’s figure. The princess was standing with her brow furrowed while staring up at the sky.

Smith Jr. sat up and dusted off his sleeves before climbing to his feet. He patted his butt a few times, knocking dirt to the ground. He walked towards Eula with stiff movements, and upon seeing her stare at him, he almost asked her what she wanted to order out of habit. Smith Jr. coughed to get rid of his awkwardness and glanced up at the sky. “What are you looking at?”

“I’m trying to figure out where we are,” Eula said. “It’s quite obvious we’re not in the same world as before.”

“Obvious? How?”

“Well, for one, the sun’s crooked,” Eula said, pointing up at the floating ball of light in the sky. “You see the northeastern section of it? It’s a bit flat.”

Smith Jr. squinted. He was pretty sure it wasn’t a good idea to stare directly at the sun, but he wanted to see what Eula was talking about. With the help of his hand shielding some of the sunrays, he was able to see the portion Eula was referring to. The sun was asymmetrical. It looked like a child had made it out of clay and accidentally dropped it, flattening a portion of it and didn’t bother to fix it before putting it into the sky. “I see what you mean.”

Eula nodded. “I think it’s quite clear we were brought away for a reason,” she said. “And I think all of us were brought here specifically because each one of us is special.” Her eyes narrowed, and she looked into Smith Jr.’s eyes. “You have a system in your mind, don’t you? I have one too.”

Smith Jr. hesitated. It was one of his greatest secrets, but since Eula was willing to trust him, if he were to lie to her now, then the chance of him establishing a relationship with her would be ruined. “You’re right,” he said and sighed. “There’s no sect behind me. There’s just this system.”

Eula grinned. “I knew it!” She nodded. Her suspicions were finally confirmed. “How about now? Did you get any new mission?”

“Yeah,” Smith Jr. said and scratched his head. “If I plant spirit rice, I’ll obtain a house.”

“Huh. Our missions are different,” Eula said and scratched her cheek. “My mission is to water the Bloodsucking Vine with ten liters of chicken blood. I’m not sure where either of those are.”

“The chickens are over there,” Max said, appearing out of nowhere, startling the two. “The Bloodsucking Vine is over there.” He pointed at a distant mountain. “It’s in the valley beside the pile of bones. It’s impossible to miss it.”

“Oh, um, thank you,” Eula said, nodding at Max. “You seem to know your way around here. Is this where you became an immortal?”

“Yeah,” Max said, his eyes glazing over. “I’ve been tending to livestock, herbs, and ale for the past million years. This is my first time receiving a mission to tend to people.”

“A million years?” Eula asked, her eyes widening. “We’re going to be stuck here for a million years? Wait! I have a mission to gather a loyal troop, and if I don’t complete it in thirty days, I’ll die. Please tell me there are people here.”

Max shook his head. “Occasionally, gods come by to plant things and retrieve things, but there aren’t any other humans. There’s the golems who do the work that I can’t.” His brow furrowed. “If you want some troops, I suppose you can feed the chickens some grain to make them loyal to you. Does the mission specify they have to be human?”

“No…,” Eula said, her voice shrinking. Was she going to be a great general of the chickens? “Aren’t there any fiercer beasts I can make my troop?”

Max turned his head. “There’s plenty of mythical beasts here like dragons and phoenixes,” he said. “But I think you’ll get eaten first before you can bring them under your control.”

Eula grimaced. Well, she could always add more troops later. The most important thing was surviving, and if she had to become queen of the chickens to live, then that’s what she’d do.

***

“You were right,” Karta said, whispering to Vremya. The Labrador retriever snuck a glance at Pravos, who was sitting in a corner with her personal computer. “She looks absolutely fine to me. All she needed was a distraction.”

“I told you so,” Vremya said and glanced at Pravos. The god of justice was doing just fine. She was raising his users perfectly. If only everything could work out just as well. A sigh escaped from Vremya’s lips. “It seems like we’ll have to kill a few more gods.”

Karta blinked and tilted her head. “You were thinking about how to deal with our problem for over an hour, and that’s the plan you came up with? We can’t solve everything by killing gods!”

“Why not?” Vremya asked, raising an eyebrow. “If the god of messaging refuses to let us use her service, the easiest way to resolve that is to kill her and replace her with someone who will. I’ve thought about it long and hard. Anything I can offer her, the council of primordial gods can offer as well. Thus, killing and replacing is the only way.”

“And who are you going to replace her with?”

Vremya glanced at Pravos. The god of justice definitely wouldn’t agree to a plan involving the death of a god. However, there was someone else in the direction he was looking at. “Smith Jr., Eula, Paul, or Max.”

“I wouldn’t pick Smith Jr.,” Karta said and shook her head. “He despises you because of Tutor Golem 3000. Also”—Karta cleared her throat—“what do you mean you’re going to replace a god with a user? If you do that, every god will unite to deal with you!”

“Aren’t they already doing that?” Vremya asked. “What does it matter?”

Karta groaned and slapped her forehead with her paw. “You know what, you’re the primordial god. You’re right. Let’s do things your way.”