Master of the System

“So this is what you were trying to hide from me, eh?” Grandpa Vremya asked. He was standing over Pravos, who was kneeling with her head pressed to the floor. “The fast-time world has actually entered a state like this.” He stroked his beard. “Interesting.” He glanced at Azalea and broke out into a smile. “You always wanted to beat me in something, no? Let’s have a competition.”

Azalea raised an eyebrow. “What kind of competition?”

“A user-raising competition,” Grandpa Vremya said. “Since resources are pretty scarce right now because of the titans, we’ll limit ourselves to things that can be found inside of this world. That means only techniques developed in this world are allowed to be used as rewards for the users.”

Azalea smirked. “You want to compete with me in management?” she asked, smiling so wide she revealed her teeth. “Are you sure about that?”

Grandpa Vremya’s brows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Azalea said, her smile still brilliant. “Let’s do it.”

Pravos’ expression darkened. With Grandpa Vremya and Azalea competing, how was she going to fix the fast-time world? She had to restore the special lands, make them able to nurture excellent spiritual herbs once more. Since Grandpa Vremya and Azalea were competing with the resources inside the world, wouldn’t they pillage those special grounds, robbing them of their last vestiges of energy? She had spent a ton of money buying the resources necessary to create those lands, and if she wanted to do it again, it wouldn’t be possible! The materials simply weren’t available on the market anymore. Instead of competing, Pravos felt like Grandpa Vremya’s contributions would be much greater if he pushed the titans back to where the original frontlines were!

Grandpa Vremya took one glance at Azalea’s computer screen before nodding. “I’ll pick him,” he said, pointing at Howard. “His potential is the highest.”

Pravos glanced at Grandpa Vremya. She had already uninstalled her system from the hopeless fellow and transferred it to the girl in second place, Lucy, instead. Pravos had no plans on informing Grandpa Vremya of Howard’s shortcomings at all. It would be good for Grandpa Vremya to lose face once in a while. Maybe he wouldn’t be so … him if he lost a few times!

***

[The Destined for Immortality System has been installed.]

Howard rubbed his eyes. For the past three hours, he had been staring at the cultivation techniques he had chosen, doing his best to memorize them. Evidently, he had stared at them for so long that he was starting to see things! He rubbed his eyes and went back to the top of the page. However, rubbing his eyes didn’t help. There were even more lines of text blocking his vision now!

[Are you ready for greatness? No matter what questions you have, the system will answer them for you. Whether it be guidance in picking cultivation techniques, answering questions pertaining to your current techniques, or even answering the questions to exams, the system will do it all.]

Howard’s brow wrinkled. It seemed like the system was back after being uninstalled. Was it a specialty of the academy? Did he have to ask his questions out loud? How was he supposed to ask the system to answer exam questions if he had to remain silent?

[The system is capable of reading your thoughts. If you want to ask the system a question without speaking, address your thoughts to the system. For example, System, what color is my underwear? That’s a trick question; I know you’re not wearing any underwear.]

Howard’s eyes widened. He really wasn’t wearing any underwear! Did the system really know the answer to every question? If that were the case, didn’t it mean he had all the knowledge in the world? System, can you teach me the strongest cultivation technique?

[No.]

Huh? Howard blinked. System, what do you mean by no? I thought you knew the answer to every question.

[I’ve answered your question. I can’t teach it to you because you aren’t smart enough to handle it. If you attempt to learn it by yourself, you’ll achieve no progress no matter how hard you try. If I forcibly teach it to you, your brain will melt and leak out of your eye sockets.]

Howard frowned. Wasn’t smart enough to handle it? System, what’s the strongest cultivation technique that I’m smart enough to handle?

[The Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique. You can find it on the second floor of the library.]

Second floor? Even if he had the great scholar medallion, Howard wasn’t allowed to enter the second floor. System, is there a way for me to obtain the Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique right now?

[There are a few ways. You can bribe an upperclassman to memorize and record it for you. You can impress Teacher Brawn and become his personal disciple and wait for him to impart the technique to you. You can drug the library patrol and sneak into the second floor and take the technique.]

Howard frowned. All of those ways sounded either really difficult, immoral, or both! He didn’t think he could achieve any of those. Would it be possible for the system to directly give it to him? Wasn’t he supposed to be rewarded with an eidetic memory if he became sworn siblings with someone? System, can you assign me a mission with the Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique as a reward?

[New Mission: Assassination]

[The system finds your classmate, the spiritually enlightened cactus, to be displeasing. Assassinate or cripple it.]

[Reward: Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique]

Howard stared at the floating text in his vision. Wasn’t this even more difficult than the other ways!? He couldn’t go around assassinating fellow students! He’d be crippled and thrown out of the academy!

[If you sign up for Teacher Botan’s classes and make a good impression on her, she might take you in as a personal disciple. When you become her personal disciple, it won’t be difficult to gain access to many different herbs. You can concoct a traceless poison designed to kill off spiritually enlightened cactuses and use it to complete your mission.]

Howard’s expression darkened. If he had to become the personal disciple of a teacher, he might as well go find Teacher Brawn and learn the technique directly! Why would he ever go through such a roundabout manner to obtain a cultivation technique?

[Teacher Botan conducts classes about herbs. As long as you show an abundant amount of knowledge pertaining to plants, she’ll be impressed. With the system, what question can’t you answer? The chance of her rejecting you is close to none. However, with Teacher Brawn, you’ll have to impress him with your combat abilities, and the system will be unable to assist you directly. Teacher Brawn’s standards are quite high, and the chance of you being accepted as his personal disciple is about ten percent.]

So, there was still a chance? Regardless, becoming Teacher Brawn’s disciple was his only option. Even if he could concoct a traceless poison, there was no way Howard was going to kill a fellow student even if that student was just a plant!