Master of the System

Smith Jr. hummed to himself as he twisted his wrist, causing the pan he was holding to jerk. Four eggs flew through the air, performed a perfect somersault, then fell back onto the pan. Living as an immortal was boring. He didn’t need anything to survive; as such, he and Eula were living in a small cabin in the woods, pretending to be mortals. After living for millions upon millions of years, he was almost a little bored of living, and it seemed like today would be no different from any other day.

[User! The system has a huge opportunity for you. Would you like to become a god?]

Smith Jr. blinked. How long had it been since the system stopped contacting him? Back then, there were only five people: him, Eula, Paul, Max, and Karen. They had become immortals together by completing the system missions involving taking care of plants. Afterwards, well…, there was no afterwards. The system disappeared; missions stopped coming. They were left alone in an empty world for millions of years. During that time, Karen’s relationship with the group rapidly deteriorated, and she split off, refusing to keep in contact with them. Later on, things happened, and Smith Jr. finally got together with Eula. They had kids, and after a few thousand years, Paul and Max joined the family tree. After a few more thousand years, Karen got pissed at the four immortals’ descendants and convinced some of them to join her side, forming the forces of evil.

“Smith?”

Smith Jr. turned around. His wife, Eula, was standing in the doorway. “What is it?”

“The system contacted me,” she said with her brow furrowed. “It asked me if I wanted to become a god.”

“You too?”

Eula blinked. “You received the message as well?” she asked. She glanced at the kitchen stove. Smith Jr. was still frying the eggs. Evidently, he thought making breakfast was more important than notifying her about possible godhood. Well, she supposed it was his devotion to cooking that made her fall for him in the first place. How could she get upset at him for something like that?

“Yup.” Smith Jr. nodded. “What do you think? Should we become gods?”

“Things have been a bit stagnant recently,” Eula said and sighed. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to respond to the system. Shall we become gods then? I hope it doesn’t make us fight each other for the opportunity.”

***

Vremya scoffed. Make them fight each other? Why would he do that? He needed more people to share the burden of supporting the godly laws. If he did what Karta did and had his users fight each other for the final position, wouldn’t he be ruining his own plan? Luckily, all of his users inside the fast-time world agreed to become gods. Well, luck wasn’t really a part of it. If they didn’t agree, he would’ve forced them into godhood anyway, but since they were voluntarily doing it, then they’d be more willing to listen to him when he ordered them to hold the frontlines against the titans.

As for the billions of offspring his users had, Vremya decided it’d be best to just leave them in there. It seemed like his avatar and Azalea were having a competition of sorts inside. Well, he should help himself out at the very least.

***

Karen frowned. After all this time, the system had finally reappeared. However, she couldn’t help but wonder whether or not it was pranking her. The mission promised her godhood, but it was incredibly easy to complete. All she had to do was cripple a cactus beyond repair, leaving it with a single breath of life remaining in its green little body. Compared to the previous gardening missions, this one was nothing. She flew into the air, not wasting a second to complete the mission. What if the system had reappeared for the other four? If they completed the mission before her, all she could do was cry as her chance at immortality slipped away.

***

Howard had no idea what was going on. He wondered if he was dreaming. For the fourth time today, one of the founding immortals of the academy had visited him at his apartment and blessed him with good fortune. He stared at the weapon in his hands, and he wondered if it was a trick, a cruel prank the immortals performed out of boredom. With his cultivation base, it was impossible to verify the immortals’ words. Immortal cultivation techniques, immortal treasures, immortal blessings, how was he supposed to know if they were real? Perhaps he was the chosen one, but if he was, why hadn’t they come to him earlier? Why now after all those years had passed? He shrugged and sat down, taking out the cultivation technique that Immortal Eula had given him. If someone was going to trick him, it wouldn’t be the beautiful woman, right? He felt like her gift was the safest to use first.

***

Rachel blinked and raised her head. A naked old man had appeared out of nowhere above her. “Elder Vremya?”

“Not really,” the person who looked like Elder Vremya said. “I’m Vremya’s other self.” An orb appeared out of nowhere and fell towards Rachel. “Here.”

Rachel caught the orb with her palm. It was made of glass, and inside of it, there was a glowing rainbow mist. Before she could look at it any longer, her surroundings changed. She was standing in a small room with four phoegons and six other people. Five of them were strangers, but she recognized one of them: Miss Emily, the woman who financially supported the Moon Lotus Sect. When Rachel looked back at her hand, she realized the orb was gone, and remnants of rainbow mist were flowing into her skin.

The door to the room opened, and Vremya walked in, completely naked, of course. “I am Vremya, the god of time.” He swept his gaze across the room. “I am the master of the system, and I have raised you all with one purpose in mind.”