Master of the System

Joanne woke up naked. She tried to sit up, but found that she couldn’t move any part of her body but her head. The swishing of water in her ears caused her to freeze, and she analyzed the situation she was in. Her ankles, wrists, waist, and neck were bound by straps of metal. Her body was floating in a pool of hot water, and her nose was barely poking through the surface, just enough for her nostrils to avoid being submerged. The water was hot, and her skin was tingling, almost painfully so. It felt as if she had just been playing in the snow without gloves and was washing her hands in hot water, but the sensation was felt everywhere on her body, not just her hands. As she recalled what she had been doing prior to this, dark lines appeared on her forehead. Was this the Moon Lotus Sect’s way of thawing her out after freezing her? Couldn’t the sect leader just undo her spells?

That really seemed to be the case since Joanne’s spiritual energy was unrestricted. She channeled some strength into her body and sat up, undoing her bindings with ease. To her surprise, she wasn’t in a special room dedicated to unfreezing people. The place she was in could only be described as a regular bathroom. There was a tub, and there was a towel. She climbed out of the tub and nearly burned her foot. Underneath the tub, there was a fire burning. A bitter expression appeared on Joanne’s face. Were these natives trying to thaw her out or turn her into stew? They weren’t cannibalistic, right? There was nothing in the reports about cannibalism.

At that moment, the door to the bathroom swung open. Joanne wasn’t even given a chance to wrap the towel around herself. Azalea glanced at the foreigner. “How do you feel?”

Joanne’s gaze scanned Azalea from head to toe. It was almost as if Azalea was the naked one. With a shake of her head, Joanne got rid of her distracting thoughts of how muscular Azalea was. The fleet leader had noticed it when she her ships were floating over the sect. A lot of the women had more muscles than the men in the homeland. “I feel fine. Thanks for asking.” Joanne walked over to the towel and wrapped it around herself. “What happened to my gear?”

Azalea scratched her head. “Elder Michelle thought your clothes were interesting, so she took them. Vrem, Elder Vremya’s examining your armor.”

Joanne nodded. Elder Vremya could examine her armor all he liked. She doubted he’d be able to learn anything from it anyway. It was like giving a computer to a caveman; the only thing he’d be able to do with it was use it as a club. “And my companions? Where are they?”

“I thought you’d ask about them first,” Azalea said. “We settled them in the Valley of Nothing. It was the only open-enough space that could fit all of them.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “You brought a lot of people. Did you bring your whole sect over?”

Joanne laughed. “We don’t have sects in the United Federation of Bread. Sects existed to pass down heritages. In the federation, all cultivation techniques are shared amongst the populace, eliminating the need for sects.”

Azalea nodded. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Why is your federation named after bread?”

Joanne sighed. “Bread didn’t exist on planet Bread; however, the people from planet Bread were the ones who won Intergalactic War I, so naturally, they named the federation after themselves. Under federal law, bread can no longer be used to describe the food. Bread, the food, is now referred to as gehd.” Joanne looked around. “Is there anything for me to wear?”

“Oh, right,” Azalea said. She pulled a robe out of her interspacial ring and passed it to Joanne. “Also, the sect leader wants to speak with you. Come outside when you’re done putting those on.” Azalea stepped outside and closed the door. She waited. And waited. A puzzled expression appeared on her face. What was taking the foreigner so long. There was no way she had ran away, right? After all, her crew and spaceships were still here.

Azalea opened the door and poked her head in. Inside, Joanne was struggling to put on the robe, her face bright red, curses flowing out of her mouth. “So many fucking ribbons and shit. Why can’t they just—” She stopped speaking and raised her head, meeting Azalea’s smirking gaze. “Give me a minute.”

“I already gave you ten,” Azalea said and walked up to Joanne. “Let me help.”

Joanne sighed with a defeated expression and raised her arms out to the side. Azalea dressed Joanne as if she were a helpless child. While doing so, she couldn’t help but ask some questions. “That armor of yours, is it expensive? Of everyone who came, only you had one.”

“Generally, all nascent soul experts have a battlesuit,” Joanne said. “More importantly, they can only be used by nascent-soul cultivators and stronger. If you join the federation, you’ll be given a battlesuit as well.”

Azalea grunted. “Fighting isn’t really my thing,” she said. It really wasn’t. If there was anything she was good it, it’d be doing all the miscellaneous things Grandpa Vremya was too lazy to do. “I’m more like a secretary.”

Joanne glanced at the muscles bulging from Azalea’s arms. “Right,” she said. “I have a question as well. Why is everyone so … muscular?”

“It’s fashionable.”

Judging from Azalea’s tone, Joanne could tell the muscular woman didn’t want to say anything more about it. “So…,” Joanne said. “Who was the man that brought down my fleet?” Of all the things she had expected from a lagging civilization, she had never expected control of gravity to be one of them. For people who had never gone into space, understanding gravity wasn’t very useful. Of course, there were some stories set in the ancient times about powerful cultivators who controlled gravity, but those weren’t the most historically accurate.

“That was Elder Vremya,” Azalea said, putting the finishing touches on Joanne’s robes. “He’s a bit arrogant and hard to get along with. I’d avoid him if I were you.”

“But you’re you, and you’ve never avoided me.” The door swung open, and Grandpa Vremya walked inside. If it weren’t for his voice, Azalea would have had no idea who he was. He was wearing Joanne’s set of armor, but there were a few stark differences in the chest and hips area; they were flatter. Grandpa Vremya glanced at Joanne. “I see the defrosting treatment worked; I wasn’t sure if it would.”

“Elder Vremya’s the one who saved you,” Azalea said, patting Joanne’s shoulder. “If it wasn’t for his suggestion, you’d be a frozen corpse.”

Joanne pursed her lips, the loss from earlier stinging at her chest. “I don’t understand,” she said. “How did your sect leader defeat me while limiting her strength?” She gestured towards Grandpa Vremya. “Since you’ve somehow put on my suit, you should be able to feel the kind of strength it gives you. Did she really limit her strength to the nascent-soul stage?”

Grandpa Vremya shrugged. It was possible Rachel was only claiming to limit her strength but, in reality, used it all. At least, that’s what he would do if he were in Rachel’s situation. It was also possible Rachel’s comprehension of frost had reached the peak. “She’s the number one cultivator of her generation,” Grandpa Vremya said. “She’s also currently the strongest person in the world. It’s not unusual for you to lose to her.”

“This isn’t the kind of strength talent can overcome,” Joanne said, her brow furrowing. “Over time, humans have increased their physical limits through equipment. The fastest runners in ancient times aren’t as fast as the fastest runners now due to proper running gear and the material the racing ground is made out of. It doesn’t mean they were less talented back then. I’m talented too, damnit; I’m a fleet leader for a reason.”

“So? The sect leader’s a soul-seed expert,” Grandpa Vremya said. “If a math teacher competes with a child in addition, the adult will win even if you give the child an abacus.”

Joanne snorted. “Clearly, you haven’t unlocked the full potential of the battlesuit, or you would be agreeing with me right now.”

Grandpa Vremya shook his head. “It isn’t me who hasn’t unlocked the full potential of this suit. It’s you.”

Azalea gave Joanne a wry smile as if to say, “I told you so. Arrogant, isn’t he?”

Joanne placed her hands on her hips. “Why don’t you show me this full potential then?”

“Can I?” Grandpa Vremya asked, taking the helmet off of his head.

Joanne gestured with her hand. “Of course.” A moment later, she frowned. Grandpa Vremya had completely removed the suit. “What are you doing?”

“Turning your suit into a golem,” Grandpa Vremya said, taking out a stack of frozen titan hearts and dozens of bottles of titan blood. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Question marks appeared over Joanne’s head. How the hell was that obvious!?