Master of the System

A block of text appeared in Rachel’s vision, causing her to frown. Of all the times for a block of red text to block her sight, why now? Luckily, she could still sense things with her spiritual energy. It didn’t seem like anyone was going to come out of the golems anytime soon though.

[New Mission: Tolerance!]

[Don’t be xenophobic! There’s nothing wrong with foreigners. In this encounter, don’t let anyone who comes out of those spaceships be hurt.]

[Reward: Seed-Nurturing Sutra]

Rachel had no idea what the reward was, but judging by its name, she guessed it was related to her soul seed. She had been tricked by the words once before when it gave her a cultivation technique requiring extinct plants; however, in the end, it did give her the plants as well. Not to mention, the chalk she had been given was also an extremely strong barrier-piercing treasure. However, to not injure anyone coming out of the golems, which she now knew the words referred to as spaceships, wasn’t that asking for a bit too much? These people obviously came with bad intentions despite their kind words. Not only could she not injure these invaders, but she couldn’t allow them to come to harm either. Forget the Seed-Nurturing Sutra. She was already at the peak of the soul-seed stage. What nurturing did her seed need when it was already about to sprout?

[The Seed-Nurturing Sutra will help your soul seed grow! Do you know how many soul-seed cultivators have failed in their breakthrough to false immortal? More than ninety-nine percent of them! With this Seed-Nurturing Sutra, your chances of breaking through will increase by thirty percent. Is harming these foreigners more important than your own breakthrough?]

Rachel pursed her lips. At that moment, one of the spaceships creaked open. A door opened up on its side, and a ramp extended downwards to the ground. From the ramp, an armored figure appeared. Rachel furrowed her brows upon seeing the sight. She had never seen any material quite like what the person was wearing. It was sleek and glossy, and there were no gaps for her to stab her sword into. The armored person reached up and took off his helmet, revealing a head with long, blonde hair. The woman slowly crouched down and placed her helmet onto the ground while maintaining eye contact with Rachel. “I, uh, greet the sect leader,” the foreigner said. “That’s how you greet people in ancient times, right?”

Rachel’s brow furrowed. Ancient times? “You come from the future?”

“In a sense,” the woman said, rising to her feet without making any sudden movements. “Our society is several thousand years ahead of yours in terms of technology. My name is Joanne.” She gestured towards herself. “What’s your name?”

“Hmph!” Grandpa Vremya descended next to Rachel before the sect leader could respond. However, Rachel held her hand up, preventing him from stepping forward. A puzzled expression appeared on Grandpa Vremya’s face. According to what he knew about Rachel, she would’ve attacked the invaders by now, but now, she was stopping him? His eyes narrowed at the foreign woman. Was she a false immortal?

“We’re going to be tolerant,” Rachel said, glancing at Grandpa Vremya. “As long as these people follow our rules, we’re going to treat them respectfully without causing them any harm.”

Grandpa Vremya blinked before shrugging. With a wave of his hand, the golden frisbee disappeared from underneath the spaceships, and they clanked as the suction force keeping them together vanished. More and more elders of the sect appeared behind Rachel and Grandpa Vremya, their expressions blank as they stared at the spaceships. A large majority of them had severed their curiosity; after all, what good was curiosity? Most of the time, it got people into trouble. “Sect Leader, should we confiscate their vehicles?”

“No,” Rachel said. Her fingers twitched, tapping against the hilt of her sword. “We’re being tolerant.” She glanced at the foreigner. “You’re the leader? How strong are you? Fight me.”

“Didn’t you just say we weren’t going to cause them any harm?” Grandpa Vremya asked. “Isn’t asking her to fight you the same as you executing her?”

“The sect leader wants to fight without harming anyone?” an elder asked.

Michelle burst out into laughter, but a moment later, she placed her hand in front of her mouth and fixed her expression. The sect leader knowing the meaning of holding back? What a joke. Every time the sect leader sparred with someone, they’d end up crippled or dead.

Rachel’s expression didn’t change as she stared at the foreigner. “As someone who comes from a civilization more advanced than ours, you should understand how things work. Proper talks can only begin when both sides have equal levels of strength.”

Joanne nodded. Historians always said ancient times were bloody and filled with violence. People would be killed at the drop of a hat. Face was the most important thing. Now that she had experienced their manners for herself, she couldn’t help but look down on the natives here. The sect leader in front of her might’ve been a soul-seed cultivator, but how strong could they truly be when living in such a backwards environment? “I’m a peak nascent-soul cultivator. I heard people limit their strengths to have fair fights.”

A cold smirk appeared on Rachel’s face. “I’ll go easy on you,” she said and put away her sword.

Joanne bent down and retrieved her helmet, putting it back on. As long as the sect leader limited her strength to the same level, Joanne had complete confidence in defeating her. The techniques used by the federation were created through thousands of years of polishing by millions of people. Not only that, but her spacesuit wasn’t just an ordinary spacesuit. It was capable of boosting her strength by threefold! Joanne clenched her hands into fists and punched them together in front of her chest, sending a shockwave through the air. “Come!”

Rachel squinted at her opponent. Thanks to the red words floating in her vision, she wasn’t allowed to hurt her opponent. She was also limiting her spiritual energy to that of the nascent-soul stage. Such a severe handicap, just thinking about it put a smile on Rachel’s face. With a roar, she slashed her hand forward, not bothering to take out her sword. Ice materialized in the air behind her, forming a dragon’s claw that surged ahead in tune with her arm.

Joanne took on a fighting stance, leaning heavily on her back leg. She sent a jab forward, punching at the approaching claw. An explosion occurred at the end of her fist, and a shockwave flew through the air, striking the claw before it could reach her. Cracks appeared on it, but it didn’t shatter. Joanne paused for a brief moment. Although the jab didn’t look like much, she had used most of her strength to power it; even a soul-seed cultivator would’ve been forced back. She punched again, taking a step forward this time, and an even louder shockwave crashed against Rachel’s claw, shattering it completely.

Rachel flicked her fingers, and the broken crystals shot forward at an even faster speed. They struck Joanne’s armor, doing absolutely no damage, but when the shards made contact with the metal, they melted, lowering the temperature of the metal by a noticeable amount. Before all the shards had even struck Joanne, Rachel slashed upwards with her arm, and an icy dragon claw rose out of the ground right below Joanne’s feet. The armored woman leapt upwards, avoiding the claw’s grasp. The claw followed after her, but jets of fire shot out of her heels and elbows, propelling her to the side.

“That’s an interesting design,” Michelle said, her eyes lighting up. She glanced down at her feet and willed her spiritual energy into her heels, ejecting it as harshly as she could. There was a frosty explosion, and she was launched into the air uncontrollably. Her legs flipped upwards as she flailed her arms, and she was flown straight into the ground, her head slamming through the earth. Her legs continued shooting out frosty energy, sending her deeper into the ground with every passing second.

Although Joanne was fighting Rachel, she was still paying attention to her surroundings, and when she saw Michelle’s near-suicidal actions, she couldn’t help but freeze for a moment from pure confusion. A moment was all Rachel needed. The icy claw swerved through the air and caught Joanne, melting as it made contact with her armor. A deep chill invaded Joanne’s body, and she was surprised to find her spiritual energy was completely incapable of fending off the invading wave of cold. Another icy dragon claw slammed her down into the ground while melting into her armor at the same time. Her body became sluggish, and soon, after a wave of claws melted into her, she was completely frozen.

“That shouldn’t count as harm, right?” Rachel muttered to herself. Luckily, the floating text seemed to agree with her seeing as the mission was still ongoing. A sigh escaped from Rachel’s lips. As usual, she was unparalleled underneath the heavens. Even a foreigner from an advanced civilization couldn’t do anything to her. She shook her head before turning her gaze onto Grandpa Vremya. “Do you want to spar?”

Grandpa Vremya pointed at the frozen spacesuit. “If you don’t unfreeze her soon, she’ll die.”

Rachel glanced in Joanne’s direction before turning back towards Grandpa Vremya. “You think I know how to unfreeze her? My spiritual energy is completely frost-based.”

Grandpa Vremya blinked. “You were going to fight me without freezing me, right?”

“No?” Rachel blinked in return. “This is how I fight.”

“Let’s spar some other time then,” Grandpa Vremya said, waving his hand dismissively. There was domineering, and then there was stupid. He wasn’t stupid.