Master of the System

Elder Formation nodded at her newest disciple. Ruby was growing quite quickly, and her foundation wasn’t being rushed either. If it weren’t for Kid Vremya’s existence, Elder Formation would’ve been extremely satisfied with her current disciple. However, Kid Vremya did exist, and she couldn’t even kill him in secret unless she wanted to face Rachel’s wrath. Recently, Rachel had been acting crazy, declaring war nonstop while personally heading out to battle. If it weren’t for the fact soul-seed experts could live up to ten thousand years, Elder Formation would’ve suspected Rachel was having a midlife crisis. The sect leader was only over a thousand years old, still too young to be experiencing one of those.

“Do you think I can defeat Vremya?” Ruby asked. Her head was bowed, but her eyes were rolled upwards to take a peek at her master’s face. “I worked extremely hard this year.”

“You did work hard,” Elder Formation said with a small smile. The girl had reached the third stage of qi condensation starting from scratch. Unfortunately, the heavens were unfair. Kid Vremya was a genius beyond measure. Even if he slacked off and did nothing for a whole year, he was still at a higher rank of cultivation than Ruby. “We’ll see if you can defeat him at the newcomer-promotion contest. Even if you lose to him, you should still be second place. That’s more than enough for you to be promoted to an outer disciple.”

“I’m not going to lose!” Ruby said and pouted. Why was her master talking about her defeat as if it were already going to happen? She worked hard and cultivated in her cave the whole year. She even gave up on playing with dolls and reading picture books! Of course, she still had to read the textbooks required for her studies, but her arrogant neighbor had to do that too. The time they had to cultivate was equal, and she was sure Vremya was wasting more time than her. She worked harder and studied harder; if the world was fair and just, then she would win. Her victory was practically guaranteed!

“Take this,” Elder Formation said and handed Ruby a bracelet. “Since you’re still at a low level of cultivation, it’ll double your current amount of spiritual energy. With this, you’ll be able to perform twice the number of attacks as usual during a fight. If I give you any more than this, the sect will count it as an unfair advantage.”

“Thank you, Master!” Ruby said and put the bracelet on. Her eyes glinted as she admired her wrist. “I won’t let you down!”

Elder Formation smiled on the outside but sighed internally. Hopefully, her disciple’s enthusiasm would remain after being defeated. “Let’s go to the competition grounds, shall we?” She pulled a wooden flute out of her bag and blew on it. A moment later, a large crane descended from the sky. With a wave of her hand, Elder Formation whisked Ruby onto the crane’s back before hopping on herself.

It didn’t take long for the crane to fly to the competition ground. It wasn’t a very large venue. In the first place, there weren’t that many newcomers. Every year, half of them would be promoted to outer disciples. New disciples would come in every three years. If the newcomers weren’t promoted by the age of ten, they were removed from the sect. Previously, they would just be expelled, but since the Moon Lotus Sect apparently now had two vassal sects, those who weren’t qualified to become outer disciples were going to be placed into the vassal sects instead.

Elder Formation swept her gaze over the venue. Unsurprisingly, most of the elders were in attendance. Even Rachel was there. However, the person they were all looking forward to seeing the most was not. The crane landed near the elders, and Elder Formation waved her hand, whisking Ruby off into the distance with the rest of the newcomer disciples. “Is Vremya not here yet?” Elder Formation asked upon approaching the elders.

“He hasn’t shown up,” another elder replied. “I wanted to know how far he had gotten in his cultivation. Did you know he hasn’t shown up even once to the skill pavilion?”

“He hasn’t entered the main pavilion either,” another elder said, shaking her head. “There’s another disciple that completes all his chores for him. She accepts missions with his token and collects his allotted spirit stones for him as well.”

“I haven’t seen him in the cafeteria either,” a third elder said. “I paid careful attention to all the newcomers, but none of them are taking any extra food. If he’s eating, he’s finding his food elsewhere.”

A strange expression appeared on Elder Formation’s face. “Is he dead? Did he suffer an accident inside of his abode?”

The elders exchanged glances with each other. What if he had died on the first day? That would explain why none of them had seen him in the sect. Even the most reclusive of geniuses had to go to the skill pavilion to learn new techniques, and before people reached the foundation establishment stage, they also had to eat. “I’ll go check on him,” Rachel said, climbing to her feet. The only reason she had attended this competition was to inspect Kid Vremya’s progress. If he wasn’t going to show up, then this was just a waste of her time. Wings made of ice grew out of the sect leader’s back, and she disappeared in a flash.

Back at Kid Vremya’s mound, Azalea was knocking on her neighbor’s barrier. “Vremya, today’s the day of the competition!”

“I’m not going.”

“Huh?” Azalea tilted her head. “What do you mean you’re not going? If you don’t go, how are you going to become an outer disciple?”

“There’s still five more years before I’ll get kicked out of the sect,” Kid Vremya said, his voice echoing to the entrance of the cave. “I’m establishing my foundation right now. It’s more important than some competition between kids.”

“But you’re a kid too….” Azalea’s voice drifted off. A moment later, her eyes widened. “Wait! If you don’t become an outer disciple, then that means you’ll still have chores! Are you really going to make me do all your chores for the next five years? That’s not very fair!”

“Don’t make deals you can’t keep.”

Azalea stomped her foot. “When you become big and famous, you better not forget about me!”

There was a short pause. Then, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat. “What was your name again?”

“Vremya, you big bully!” Azalea wanted to run into her neighbor’s cave and throttle the person inside, but the translucent barrier was preventing her from doing so. “My name is Azalea. If you forget it one more time, I’m going to throw your token into the latrine pit!”

After another short pause, Kid Vremya’s voice came out of the cave. “I think you should leave the token with me for now.”

Azalea exhaled out of her nostrils like a bull. “No! I’m keeping it!” She stomped back into her cave and tossed Kid Vremya’s identification token into a crevice in the wall where she kept her important items. Afterwards, she activated the barrier inside her abode and left. “I’m going to the competition. When I come back, I’ll be an outer disciple, and you’ll have to call me Senior Sister Azalea the next time you see me!”

Kid Vremya grunted. He didn’t really care. He was at an important point in his cultivation. When a cultivator broke through from the qi-condensation realm to the foundation-establishment stage, he had to condense the qi in his dantian into a lake. The size of the lake determined the size of the foundational pillars it could accommodate. Theoretically, the size of one’s lake of qi could be infinite, but it wasn’t practical. However, Kid Vremya didn’t care about practicality. With his insights into gravity, he knew there was one key component required to be proficient in gravitational arts: Size. Size mattered. Size mattered a lot. Even if it was impractical, he had to create a lake of qi wider than a star. Someone who hadn’t reached the foundation establishment stage could live for a hundred years. He was planning on spending all one hundred years on cultivating his lake of qi and breaking through at the last moment.