Master of the System

Pravos nodded to herself. Her newest user was doing his job quite nicely. Unlike Rachel, Lance didn’t question her words; instead, he faithfully carried out his mission. Seven months had passed, and he had already captured nine bandit leaders, one away from the designated goal of ten. If it weren’t for the fact he enslaved the people he captured, he would be the perfect user. It was a good thing all the bandits he was dealing with were bad people and deserved to be captured in the first place. Although the punishment was a bit too harsh for her taste, justice was still justice. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still better than zero justice being applied at all. If only she had been richer back in the day. All the lower dimensions would be just and fair. A sigh escaped from Pravos’ lips, and she shook her head.

“What’s wrong?” Karta asked, her ears perking up. After walking around in the dark all the time, she had gained the ability of echolocation. Pravos thought it was odd, but considering the dog’s facial structure resembled a bat’s, she didn’t think too much about it afterwards.

“Nothing,” Pravos said. “I was just thinking about money.”

“You do that too?” Karta asked, her eyes widening. Was this bitch trying to encroach on her domain as the god of the marketplace? Her eyes narrowed, and she peeled back her lips, baring her teeth. “You better stop.”

Pravos blinked hard. She wasn’t allowed to think about money? What kind of unreasonable demand was that? She scratched her head before focusing back on her display. There was a cable coming out of Vremya’s bellybutton, and it split into three different wires, each connecting to a different personal computer. Pravos touched the cable coming out of her computer and sent her divine sense into it. Her divine sense traveled up the cable; when it reached the fork, it traveled towards Vremya’s computer. Instead of a screen of systems, she found him looking at a screen full of rivers instead. Without warning, her divine sense was knocked away, and Vremya let out a harrumph. “Did you need more money? What are you peeking at my screen for?”

“N-no,” Pravos said and shook her head. “Sorry!” It felt like she had seen something that she shouldn’t have. What was she doing in a house full of aggressive weirdos? She glanced out the window, or what she thought was the window, and only saw darkness. Right, she was here because she was trapped.

Karta licked her lips and glanced in Vremya’s direction. “Since you’re letting Pravos spread her domain in your bellybutton, shouldn’t you let me do the same? I helped you out, didn’t I?”

Vremya glanced at Karta. “Fine,” he said. “But you can’t reward your users with anything material, only cultivation techniques and knowledge.”

Karta’s eyes lit up. “Great!”

***

Emily furrowed her brow, staring at the floating text in her vision.

[Karta’s Market System successfully installed.]

[Main Mission: Dominate the World Through Money!]

[There is more than one way to rule the world. Other than absolute power, another method is absolute wealth! Gain control of the world’s marketplace by making sure very commodity flows through your hands before being passed to another.]

[Rewards: None. Failure to complete the assigned missions shall result in death.]

Emily read the last line over and over again. She had to become the ruler of the world’s marketplace or else she’d die? What the hell? Did someone place a curse on her?

[New Mission: Create a Dojo]

[The first step to making money is having money. Your parents died and left you with nothing but a rundown dojo. Under normal circumstances, you’ll be bullied and extorted, forced to give up your inheritance; however, this system is giving you a chance! Earn one hundred spirit stones through teaching.]

[Gifts: Basic Punching Technique, Basic Kicking Technique, Basic Stance-Training Manual]

[Rewards: You think you deserve any after receiving help?]

Emily’s expression darkened. The system seemed like an asshole. She reached her arms up to rub her eyes. A sharp pain stabbed her eye, and she let out a shout. She glanced at her hand and found a piece of chalk in her palm. “What the heck?”

[This is the system chalk. Draw a circle on the ground.]

Emily frowned and climbed out of her seat. She squatted on the ground and drew a circle with the chalk. It was a crooked circle that looked more like an egg, but apparently that satisfied the system’s wish. There was a flash of light that caused Emily to close her eyes. When she opened them again, there were three books sitting in the center of the circle. She picked them up, and as expected, they were the manuals she was gifted. She browsed through them, and without warning, they disintegrated. “Huh?”

Pain flooded Emily’s mind as the techniques were forcibly jammed into her head. She fell to the ground and clutched her stomach, curling up into the fetal position. After a few seconds passed, the pain went away just as quickly as it had appeared. Emily sat up and panted for breath. She climbed to her feet and frowned at the odd sensation in her legs. It seemed like she had discovered a new way to stand up. Had she been standing up incorrectly this whole time? She looked at her fist before punching forward. Then, she let out a kick. She had been studying in her father’s dojo ever since she was a child, but suddenly, it felt like she had wasted all those years. The previous attacks she was proud of, she realized she was doing them wrong this whole time.

Emily sat back down in her chair and squinted. She tapped on the desk a few times with her fingers. Honestly, the mission seemed doable. Originally, she was planning on selling the dojo and finding a job elsewhere, but with these new techniques, she was more than qualified to teach students. She had heard the Moon Lotus Sect was recruiting from all around the continent. Thanks to that, the dojo business was booming. Although most people wouldn’t be accepted as disciples, everyone still wanted to try, and what better way than to improve on the basics?

***

Grandpa Vremya frowned. Unexpectedly, he had been prohibited from accepting any requests pertaining to mine-management. At least he had made a comfortable profit from the last mine. Unfortunately, he had to spend three million spirit stones on four interspacial rings which could hold the rest of the spirit stones. Azalea called him gaudy, but he didn’t care. It was practical.

Since the easy-money mission wasn’t available to him anymore, he had to choose something less profitable like guiding inner disciples into a training ground. The sect owned many, many pocket realms. Every year, they would open one up and let the disciples into it to explore and test their luck. Since only one pocket realm opened up per year, it meant the rest of the pocket realms had over three hundred years to replenish their herbs. Other than leading disciples around, he could also enter the demonic battleground. A long time ago, a crack in space appeared and connected the world he was in with another one. He suspected his godly self might’ve been the cause of it by scratching his bellybutton too hard. The two worlds were at odds with one another, mainly because of the appearances of their citizens. The world he was in was full of humans. The connected world was full of octopus-people.

The demonic battleground was the crack in space where water met land. Some intrepid humans discovered eating the octopus-people could increase their cultivation bases. Some terrified octopus people realized they’d be killed and eaten if they didn’t fight back. Thus, a war of food and survival began. If Grandpa Vremya went to the demonic battleground, he could kill octopus-people and sell their corpses for spirit stones. Unfortunately, the amount of bad karma he’d gather would outweigh the gains. It seemed like he’d be babysitting some inner disciples as they traveled through a pocket realm.

Grandpa Vremya opened his eyes and looked at Azalea. “I’ll be a pocket-realm guide.” Although he only needed to complete a mission once every ten years, he wasn’t satisfied with sitting around. The faster he created his foundational pillars, the more time he could spend on forming his golden core.

“Alright,” Azalea said. “I’ll accept a mission as a guide for you.” She hummed to herself as she left with Grandpa Vremya’s identity token. Naturally, a guide needed inner disciples to lead around. Luckily, she was an inner disciple. It seemed like she was going to explore a pocket realm with Grandpa Vremya. She got excited even though she knew Grandpa Vremya would likely be cultivating the whole time. Maybe it would be different this time … is what she thought every time.