The Idle System Box Set

by Pegaz

  “Instead of you making such a stupid mistake,” John’s sneer turned malicious, “I’ll make you tell me.”

  In a flash, he lunged at Michael and swung his right sword down.

  Michael tried to dodge to his right, but when he tried to move, his body wouldn’t listen to him.

  RIP!

  John cut Michael’s left arm off from his shoulder. He then let go of the sword, making it disappear. His right palm had blue flames surrounding it, and he slammed his palm onto the wound, burning it closed.

  John’s trick was to use the strength of the threads against his enemy’s body to go against the direction his enemy wanted to dodge, forcing him to a standstill.

  In John’s left hand was still the short sword which he lunged into Michael’s right shoulder. He smashed his left knee into Michael’s stomach only a second after the sword went in.

  Only a mere three seconds into the fight yet Michael had lost his left arm, received a sword wound in his right shoulder, and taken a blow to his stomach. The blonde keeled over in agony.

  John grabbed Michael by the neck, and dragged him along as he fought the rest of the zombie like people. After a few minutes, the room was cleared. John let go of Michael’s neck and stared daggers at him.

  “So, feel like talking? Or, do I need to persuade you?” He pointed a blade in between Michael’s legs.

  Michael started sweating, seeing where the sword was pointed.

  “There’s really no need,” he muttered. “I was going to tell you anyway. Just… please, don’t do what you’re thinking of.”

  Chapter 40

  Unable to Remove

  John inched closer. Michael screamed.

  “STOP! Stop, I’m talking, I’m talking!” Michael’s face grew pale as he tripped over his words. “Jeremy May! It’s him! He m-manipulates people… he’d been doing it since he was a kid! Please move that sword so I can speak properly!”

  John obliged and Michael took a deep breath before continuing.

  It wasn’t until Jeremy May was in his forties that he came across a technique that lets him manipulation people. After that, he used the technique on any disciple in the sect that would benefit him. He even used it on both Elders and Grand Elders. Michael was spared because the two of them shared the same values.

  Jeremy’s plan was to remove the rule in place that required an investigation of a target to make sure they deserved death. With that rule gone, the targets the sect could kill would multiply a hundredfold. The total Life Stones that the sect would make every day would increase at least ten times over. With the investigators removed, the huge amount of gold and Life Stones expenditures would disappear too.

  Whenever Jeremy had an opportunity, he would contact influential families and sects, telling them he could get rid of their enemies for a huge price, regardless of their criminal record. Of course, the current Sect Head would never allow that, which meant Jeremy had to remove him from his position. However, the Sect Head made a breakthrough in cultivation, which disrupted the scheme. Jeremy had to get creative.

  Fortunately for him, Sect Head Jamie Cooper let his guard down because of his breakthrough. He didn’t know Jeremy had a unique Memory Manipulation technique. A few months before John returned, Jamie’s memory had already been manipulated.

  John was angry at this explanation.

  “So, it’s all about money?” he choked out. “Power? Influence? The sect is already the best assassin’s sect in the known universe. How greedy can one person get?”

  Michael laughed. “Of course, it is! Cultivation takes a huge amount of resources for each person. Without resources, our lives would be over hundreds of years earlier.”

  John was getting angrier. “Then, why did you warn me when we first met?! You told me people were after my master! Why would you tell me when you’re one of them?!”

  “To make you tell Jamie about a faction in the sect.” Michael’s words hit John like a truck. “It took the spotlight away from Jeremy, who isn’t in any faction.”

  John pressed his blade against Michael’s neck.

  “How did Jeremy get around the blood oath?”

  “Jeremy isn’t hurting sect members with the memory manipulation.” The blonde stayed calm, resigning to his fate. “The people affected have their minds altered so they do not know that they’re hurting sect members. My blood oath doesn’t recognise the manipulated people as members either!”

  “It alters their minds as well? I thought the technique only alters the memories?”

  “You are naïve. The technique is called Memory Manipulation, but it alters their thought processes, memories, and almost every sense in the brain.”

  John was stumped on what to do with the new information. “What did you mean when you said I almost ruined your plans? Almost? I don’t even know your plans. What exactly did I do?”

  “You both hindered and helped us by helping Jamie breakthrough!”

  “So…”It all clicked together in John’s head. “You learned how to breakthrough to Silver Grade?” John went pale at the thought of the strength of everyone in the sect becoming much stronger with Silver Grade Life Power.

  “Jamie told us everything,” the blonde snickered. “It’s only a matter of time before we too break through to Silver Grade. All we have to do is figure out how to filter our deepest impurities out. Those impurities have invaded our bodies for so long that we haven’t figured out a way to remove them yet. But just you wait. Soon, we’ll—”

  “I’ve heard enough!”

  In one fluid movement, John sliced his sword through Michael’s throat.

  I can’t do anything to help. Jeremy will now be the new Sect Head, and he’s much stronger than I am. He has everyone in his pocket with that technique, and even has my master as a hostage! Not only that, he knows how to help people breakthrough to Silver Grade.

  John still had the Scan option on and could see all four corners of the mission hub, including all the small rooms for teleporting. He soon noticed two people come out from the rune behind his master’s throne.

  Shit, Michael was stalling for more time. He had already contacted Jeremy about me showing up here.

  Sure enough, Jeremy May, and his master, Jamie Cooper, stepped out of the teleportation room. John couldn’t fight either of the two men, so he had his map out, ready to teleport at a moment’s notice. He wanted to try talking with Jeremy when he noticed more people coming through the teleport runes all over the East wall. In only thirty seconds, there were thousands of people.

  John smiled bitterly and looked at Jeremy as the man approached.

  “Pulling out all stops just for little ol’ me?”

  Jeremy was 6 feet tall. He had grey curly hair, a grey moustache that went down to his double chin and deep black eyes. In addition, he was an enormously fat old man, almost like a ball that could roll around.

  Jeremy smiled. “There’s nothing little about you.”

  “I know,” John snickered. “Can’t say the same about your manhood, though.”

  Jeremy’s face turned dark red. “You—”

  “Ah, really! Don’t worry,” John interrupted. “Your plan has succeeded, and I can’t do anything about it.”

  Jeremy’s gaze turned cool. “Join me. With you by my side, we could have anything we ever wanted.”

  “Will you release my master’s manipulation if I do?”

  “Ah,” Jeremy’s lips curled into a toothy grin, “I’m afraid not.”

  “Then no, thank you.”

  From the portals, around ten thousand people poured in. They were standing in front of the wall. Jeremy took notice of them—they were waiting for his order. He smiled and lifted his hand, pointing at John.

  “Kill him.”

  Chaos broke out! Thousands of people immediately took out their weapons and charged at John. They were all Rank 4 and a few were Rank 5, but more importantly, each of them had a huge amount of Sin points. John could only sigh. He could kill a lot of the
m, but he was not sure he could kill them all.

  He materialized his two thread swords and gripped them tightly, using the rest of the threads to help him block incoming attacks. The first person arrived in front of John and swung his sword straight down, hoping to split John in half. John put his right sword above him and at an angle, moving the sword’s trajectory while he stabbed the man’s neck with his left sword. He spun to his right almost a full 360 degrees, swinging his other blade across another man’s waist.

  The swordplay went on, and John was soon tangled in a mess of multiple swords, parrying them from all directions. He downed many foes, but more and more continued to attack. That’s when his enemies pulled out what looked like muskets from back on Earth. They lifted the weapon up, pointing at John.

  BAM!

  The bullets hit John, and the force of the bullet dragged him 20 feet across the room. However, the bullets did no real damage because of his Elemental Defence skill.

  John lifted both his hands that still had swords in them and shouted at Jeremy. “I’m still standing!”

  Jeremy was getting bored with watching. He decided to deliver a devastating blow to John. “How about this?!”

  John looked over despite being in the middle of a fight, utilizing his thread shields to protect him from any incoming blows. He saw Jeremy holding a small musket as well.

  It was pointed directly at his master’s head.

  BANG!

  Jamie neither resisted nor used Life Power to defend against the bullet.

  His memories of Jamie flashed before John’s eyes. He recalled when his master first took him as a disciple, and the many times after when he’d helped him.

  As Jamie’s body dropped to the floor, John felt his heart completely freeze.

  His master’s blood spilled everywhere. Tears formed on John’s eyes.

  The first friend I made tried using me to deal with the first master I had... and now that same master is dead…all because the people he trusted are greedy?

  ‘Ding!’

  Emotional state back to normal.

  ‘Ding!’

  Emotional state back to normal.

  ‘Ding!’

  Unable to remove the emotion called Anger.

  Chapter 41

  Anger

  Nobody moved even an inch after Jamie fell to the floor. The whole room was silent—no one so much as breathed, for fear that they would draw attention. It was so quiet that you could hear another person’s heartbeat.

  John stood there, a single tear rolling across his cheek and onto the floor.

  Ah, so this is how Danny felt. Being used by the princess was just an excuse he kept telling himself. The real reason he killed all those people was because of his desire for power.

  And now...

  I desire more power too.

  BOOM!

  John let all his Life Power out. His whole body started to split and heal as his Life Power stretched out in a 3-foot radius all around him. On all sides, the flame-like power flickered in a silver colour, reaching 14 feet into the air.

  John’s killing intent leaked from all over his body, floating within the silver flame mixed with his blood. As this spectacle unfolded, the blue and black flames from his palms ignited as well. More colours joined the mix: a grey colour from the metal head, brown colour from his wooden elbows and earthen feet, then finally a dark blue from his water knees.

  When all colours had assembled, the giant silver flame of power started spinning clockwise. It was getting faster with each passing second. The colours began to mix and turn pitch black, like the colour of John’s nails.

  Gradually, the flame slowed to a halt. As it did this, the surrounding temperature began fluctuating from freezing cold to scorching hot due to the different elements. The strength of the black flames emitting from John began generating wind in all directions. Because of the hot and cold air around him, three small tornadoes formed, each reaching the ceiling.

  The tornados were not strong enough to push anyone out from the room, but everyone was shocked nonetheless. The surrounding floor started vibrating and spider web cracks formed with John in the centre. The people in that area couldn’t keep their balance and fell.

  John checked his stats in the system.

  Life Pool: 137.2M

  He was still looking at it when a second later, it changed.

  Life Pool: 136.2M

  John smiled and formed a fist with both hands.

  So, it costs a million Life Power per second to keep this going. It’s a high price, but I don’t care. I can’t wait to kill them all.

  John formed eight swords from his threads, each pitch black. They hovered around him, while in his hands, he formed two guns. Ready for a bloody rampage, he charged into the hoard of thousands of people.

  The only thing the people could see was a black, human-shaped flame with two guns in his hands charging at them. Where John’s eyes were supposed to be were nothing but black flames, spinning ferociously as he charged on.

  The enraged Sider pushed his black Life Power into his guns and generated hundreds of bullets per second. While his swords slashed away at tens of people at a time, John’s fingers were going on a trigger-happy spree, shooting as many opponents as he could.

  Each of the slashes and bullets didn’t kill the people they hit immediately, even when they were split in half or shot in the head. His foes could feel the black flame burning them alive for a few seconds before death released them.

  After only several seconds, all the people in the room besides Jeremy and John were dead.

  The flame disappeared after John spent it all. He was standing in front of Jeremy, roughly 30 feet away. His eyes were closed. When he opened them, he glared at his last prey.

  Jeremy May, a Rank 9 Level 9 Immortal whose powers were almost unmatched by even the most skilled immortal experts, felt a cold shiver go down his spine. Sweat beaded on his brow as soon as he looked into John’s eyes. Both eyes and pupils were pitch black, his irises shining as a bright yellow.

  John charged. Nervous, Jeremy got into a fighting position. He had to be ready for anything. When John got within 15 feet of him, he disappeared from view.

  Jeremy glanced around, searching frantically, but found nothing. It wasn’t until he saw something in the corner of his eye that he immediately lifted his right arm into an L-shape to block.

  BANG!

  “AAHH!”

  John reappeared 15 feet away from Jeremy. The giant, black bullet he shot had hit its mark and now Jeremy’s right arm was covered in a black flame. The old man tried to put it out, somewhat in a panic. When he finally managed to, his right forearm had some of its skin melted.

  With a sneer, John formed five swords and five guns with his threads and started attacking Jeremy in all directions. Through the flurry, Jeremy was being overwhelmed.

  “Enough!” Jeremy shouted and released his Life Power for the first time. All the threads, blades, and guns were destroyed. Jeremy lifted his hand, and a giant, pale green ball of Life Power formed. It was over 5 feet wide and growing. “You managed to hurt me, so I’ll make you die without an intact corpse.”

  John smiled. “I’ll leave that burn mark as a gift to remember me by then.”

  As Jeremy gathered more Life Power into his attack, John became increasingly aware that his own Life Power was severely depleted. He staggered back a little, but managed to stand straight. His legs and knees were shaking. John had lost all his strength and could hardly stand, but he still had enough juice to carry out his plan. He smiled at Jeremy.

  “You’ve made a huge mistake. You killed my master, you tried to kill me. From now on, I’m going to hunt all Rogue sect members down. I’ll become the assassin of assassins. Haha!”

  He lifted his right hand and put his middle finger and thumb together.

  However, before he could carry on with his plan, Jeremy had finished preparing his attack. To John’s horror, the old man threw the ball of energy at him
. It had grown to a 25 foot, pale green orb of pure Life Power.

  John didn’t panic. He took a deep breath.

  “Oh yeah, I’ve left you another gift. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”

  He snapped his fingers.

  BOOM!

  Multiple explosions were heard all around the mission hub. After a few seconds, the ceiling started cracking all over and proceeded to collapse in on itself.

  John had planted 500 units of Life Power Explosion’s roughly 200 feet apart from each other throughout the whole mission hub during the fight. Each Explosion’s attack created a 100-foot width and depth sphere shape in the ground, which was the maximum they could produce before exploding. If you were topside when the Explosions went off, you would have seen hundreds of black fire pillars shooting up from underground all the way to the sky.

  Jeremy just stood there. The Explosions were too weak to hurt him in any way, but he was stunned at the sight. Turning his head, he looked at John who only stood there looking back at him, a smile on his face. He was not blocking the attack that was about to hit him. A few seconds later, the 25-foot sphere attack engulfed John.

  Now, it was Jeremy’s turn to smile. “He was right. I did make a mistake. I should have killed him first.”

  Jeremy took out his sword and flew out of the collapsing building, avoiding the pillars of black flames. From the sky, he watched the whole mission hub collapse. His anger grew at the sight of the lost resources, but at least, he was now officially the Sect Head.

  Satisfied, the old man left the scene, flying into the distance. Now that he was the new Sect Head and that Sider is dead, everything would fall perfectly into place.

  Chapter 42

  Plans

  John had used two tricks during the fight with Jeremy. One of them was the teleport skill with the map to vanish from Jeremy’s line of sight, which he used quite frequently, enabling him to time his disappearance. The second trick was when Jeremy’s giant sphere attack was directly above John, going down towards him, John had turned the Hover option on and used threads at the back of his legs to pull him backwards. From Jeremy’s point of view, the attack had engulfed John.