Master of the System

Smith Jr. placed his knife down and exhaled. He used to think the opening hours of the store was too early, but after having to train his knife skills under a sadistic tutor, he realized the opening hours of the store was too late. If the store opened one hour earlier, that was one less hour of practice! “System, don’t you think we can attract more customers if the operating hours of the store were longer?”

[Your opinion shall be taken into consideration. As for whether or not it will be implemented, that is yet to be seen.]

Although it wasn’t a direct rejection, it might as well have been. Smith Jr. sighed and made his way out of the kitchen, ignoring the faceless golem that was cracking its whip. Smith Jr. opened the door to the restaurant. For the briefest of moments, he considered running outside to escape for freedom, but he understood he wouldn’t get past the fence before a red golem came to cripple his legs. Smith Jr. was about to turn around, but a lone figure caught his eye. Although it was early in the morning, it was still crowded in the capital city, but people were making an obvious point to avoid the one Smith Jr. had his eye on. The lone figure was a man with golden hair and strange-looking armor. For some reason, Smith Jr. was reminded of the dreadful beast that had attacked him in the forest, the one that had forced him to enter someone else’s body as a soul. He shook his head and took a seat by the front entrance, turning his gaze up to the sky. He didn’t want to have anything to do with that man, and Smith Jr. knew gazes were provocative; that’s why he kept his eyes firmly on the clouds above. However, that man wanted everything to do with him.

The lone figure headed straight for the restaurant and stopped by the entrance. Paul glanced at Smith Jr., but upon realizing how weak the latter was, Paul focused his attention back inside the store. With the skills he gained as an interdimensional mercenary, he could sense a formidable presence inside. It must’ve been the servant of the god of time. Paul exhaled and drew his sword which was hanging from a sheath on his waist. He reached behind himself and grabbed his buckler with his left hand. Ignoring Smith Jr.’s expression, Paul nudged open the restaurant door with his shield and stepped inside. “Come out, servant of god!”

Smith Jr. scratched his head. Of all the places that weirdo could’ve gone, he just had to enter this store. Well, it didn’t matter. Red Asura was there as the store’s guardian. Even if the strange man wanted to do something weird, the golem wouldn’t let it happen. Smith Jr. stood up and walked inside while clearing his throat. “Customer? The menu is on the left,” he said and pointed at the blackboard. “You can sit anywhere you’d like.”

Paul furrowed his brow before reaching into his bag. He took out a compass and held it flat. It was a tool given to him by the system. Instead of pointing north, the needle always pointed towards the destination of the objective. The compass needle spun around and wobbled a few times before pointing directly at the weakling in front of him. The furrow in Paul’s became even deeper. He walked around Smith Jr., but the compass needle turned with his footsteps. “You’re the servant of god?” Paul asked after confirming the absurd conjecture. How the hell was a servant of god so weak?

Smith Jr. took a step back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. “I’m not a believer of any god, and I’m not really interested in believing in one, so if you’re here to try to convince me to join a religion, you’ll be treated as a loiterer.”

“Strange,” Paul said, ignoring Smith Jr.’s words. “This mission can’t be this easy.” He stretched his arm out, grabbing at the weakling’s shoulder. A red blur came from the corner of the room, and Paul took a step back while swinging his shield. A curved blade with spikes on it bounced off his buckler, and Paul stabbed forward with his sword, performing a simple parry and thrust. Unfortunately for him, his opponent wasn’t a standard one. Red Asura ignored the sword stabbing towards its body and swung down with the five blades that hadn’t been deflected.

Paul continued his thrust forward as if he was unaware of the danger. Five transparent bucklers flew out of his shield, each of them circling around his body, positioning themselves to block the blade strikes. A barrier appeared in front of Red Asura’s, but a rainbow sheen coated Paul’s sword, and it pierced Red Asura’s defenses with ease. The sword stabbed into Red Asura’s stomach, and a burst of rainbow light flooded the room. Red Asura collapsed onto the ground, and Paul withdrew his weapon before shifting his gaze onto the weakling. “Golems are simple constructs,” Paul said and shook his head. “The only thing that can truly protect you is yourself.” Now that the guardian was defeated, there was nothing left to stop Paul from completing his mission.

Smith Jr. swallowed and took a step back. Red Asura, the demon that he couldn’t overcome no matter what, had been defeated so easily. If it were any other time, Smith Jr. would’ve rejoiced in its demise. Without it around, he could be free! However, the person who defeated Red Asura wanted to capture him now. Smith Jr. used his signature technique and dropped to his knees. He slammed his forehead into the ground. “Please spare this lowly junior’s life! Whatever you want, I can give it to you. If I don’t have it, I can get it!”

Paul’s jaw dropped open, but he shut it right away. Since he was getting close to the top in terms of power levels, he knew some a smattering of knowledge when it came to the gods. Gods picked people who had high potentials, those who could reach the height of power. They chose the strong, the smart, the determined, the fearless. This might’ve only been the second servant of god Paul had met, but meeting Smith Jr. destroyed all his previous judgments. Paul sighed. “I’m here to hold you captive for a bit until my god deals with yours.”

Smith Jr. raised his head. “Are you…?” A moment later, he shut his mouth. The system was a treasure, and Smith Jr. knew the cost of having a treasure despite being weak. It was a crime. He couldn’t let anyone know about it. Even if it was an abusive treasure that tortured him, it was his abusive treasure. Thus, Smith Jr. changed his question. “Are you an immortal?”

Paul exhaled and shook his head. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew Smith Jr. was hiding something, most likely the existence of a system. Of course, it wasn’t his problem. He took some ropes out of his interdimensional bag and wound them around Smith Jr., making sure he wouldn’t be able to move an inch. While Paul was in the process of tying, a sudden pain struck the back of his head, causing him to pitch forward. His body collapsed like a sack of potatoes, and he couldn’t summon any strength. His vision blurred in and out, but he used the last of his remaining willpower to get a good look at the person who had assaulted him. It was a faceless golem with a whip.

***

Vremya jumped to his feet and pumped his arms into the air. “Tutor Golem 2000, I knew buying you was the right choice!” He stood there awkwardly for a second before clearing his throat and sitting back down. He glanced at the black Labrador retriever by his side. “You didn’t see or hear anything just now.”

Karta rolled her eyes. “I never thought you could get excited about anything,” she said before sighing. “I still think your tutor golem is overpriced.”

“You think everything’s overpriced,” Vremya said with a sneer. Who cares if he paid nine hundred fifty thousand heaven-grade spirit stones for a golem? He was rich! He could afford it. If he hadn’t done it, his precious user, Smith Jr., would’ve already been taken away. Pozhar’s Red Asura had nothing on Tutor Golem 2000. The price between the two golems existed for a reason. If Red Asura was on the level of a nascent soul cultivator, then Tutor Golem 2000 was on the level of a false immortal; they simply couldn’t be compared.

“Vremya!!! How dare you steal my user!? Give him back to me!”

As the god of time, Vremya was an expert at ignoring problems until they went away. So, like he had done at the start, Vremya continued to ignore the crazy lady forming blackholes in the sky. He turned to Karta. “Is there a way to steal someone’s user?”

“Yep!” Karta said. “The god of thievery made an app for that purpose. You can’t find it in the standard store; let me download it for you.”