The Idle System Box Set

by Pegaz

  The army must have drafted the men and left the women, elders, and children behind.

  John carried on flying east and landed outside the Nobody Sect’s teleport room after an hour. He walked inside the teleport room and closed his eyes. John looked for another mortal-only world on the universe map within his head.

  He found one after a few minutes of searching, but before using the teleport rune, John opened his eyes and took out the communication device from his Storage Space to message Patrick.

  Patrick said he could get the letter to the spy within a day, so John asked him to send it. He turned off the communication device, put it inside his Storage Space, and walked through the teleport room.

  A few days later, he arrived on the new planet. There was a world map inside the teleport room, but he already had this place mapped. Without a moment to spare, he went to the surface.

  John knew what to do this time around, so it only took a handful of weeks to get all nine kingdoms on this planet gathering their armies and preparing for war. It wasn’t long before he was back in the teleport room, searching for the next planet. Finding one, John teleported and repeated the same trick.

  A few short months later, John had already done his trick on six different planets. The closest mortal planet to him now was over ten months away as it was near the opposite side of the universe. John had planned it this way as he was now only a few days away from the Adventurers Guild’s public planet. He headed there as soon as he could.

  When John arrived back on their public planet, he changed his appearance to that of his old disguise named Jonathan. He made sure the eyes in particular were back to normal, as that would give him away completely. Once satisfied, he ventured out into the world.

  Jonathan strolled inside the Adventurers Guild’s shop and went straight to the second floor. He knocked on the same private booth as the last time he was here. He asked for the same person he dealt with previously since he wanted to make sure the VIP ticket to the auction was still valid.

  After a moment, the door opened and the old man he dealt with was sitting at the desk with a cup of tea.

  Walking inside, Jonathan took out the VIP ticket.

  “A friend gave me this. Said he got it from you years ago.” He put on his most genuine smile. “I am wondering if I can use it to attend the annual auction that the Adventurers Guild is hosting in two days time.”

  “A friend?” The old man looked at him and knitted his brows. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Is it every day that a person buys every map the Adventurers Guild has, then kills the fire elementals who attacked after the auction?” Jonathan smiled even wider.

  The old man’s jaw fell open and he dropped his tea on the desk.

  Jonathan looked at the desk and laughed.

  “My friend also said you have a bad habit of spilling tea.”

  As he was laughing, Jonathan created a thread. It came out of his leg and crept towards the old man. When the thread touched the old man, he used his Memory Manipulation skill.

  He looked at the old man through his Immortal Eye.

  ???

  Rank: 5

  Level: 9

  Sin: 2

  Status: Memory Manipulated

  Jonathan used his Memory Manipulation’s Voice skill next.

  “Get me a new VIP ticket for this year’s auction.”

  The old man’s eyes glossed over. He nodded, stood up, and left the booth. A few minutes later, he came back and gave Jonathan a new VIP ticket.

  “Forget I was ever here,” Jonathan said. “If you remember me, never speak about me to anybody. That includes any discussion face to face or otherwise. Got it?”

  The old man nodded and sat down. Jonathan picked up the VIP ticket off the desk and walked out of the booth. He went downstairs and promptly left the building.

  Jonathan then began to stroll about the city, enjoying the busy atmosphere. He looked around with Life Vision and Immortal Eye and was a bit stunned. From what he could see, there were just over a dozen Rank 9 immortals in this city.

  Is there a special item or animal being sold at the auction? If there is, then I came at the right time. The Death Sect better not threaten me this time because I can actually do something to them if they do.

  It won’t be like last time where I bluffed and teleported away.

  Jonathon walked around for an hour before making his way to the same hotel he stayed in last time he was here. He wasn’t in the same room, but still on the seventh floor. It was still huge and despite having chosen it, he felt like it was a waste of space for one person.

  He took out the leather teleport parchment and the same metal chest he’d used for years. Placing the leather parchment inside the chest, he concocted the deadliest poison he could that wouldn’t damage the leather, rune, or chest. He then filled the chest with it.

  After teleporting to his cultivation room inside their private planet, he removed his disguise and went to see Sarah. He spent the next day and a half with her, talking about his latest adventures. He took special care not to say what he had done to generate the sin points he’d gathered, though.

  When the time came, he kissed Sarah goodbye. In a matter of seconds, he’d completely changed his looks and transformed into Jonathan, clothing and all. He wore a simple black t-shirt, trousers, boots, two wrist bangles, and an earring. Finally ready, he teleported back into the hotel room. After one final sweep of the room, he checked out at the hotel reception and walked to the building where the auction was being held.

  Arriving at the building, he showed the guards his new VIP ticket and walked through the elegant VIP door. He was guided to VIP Booth #9, where he took a comfortable seat. From his spot, he used his Life Vision and Immortal Eye to count all the Rank 9 immortals. All fifteen of them were inside the building, occupying different VIP booths.

  The ceremony began with a flood of silence over the crowd, then a middle-aged man walked on the stage, a hush falling all around him. John recognised him as Joseph, the same person who hosted the auction last time he was here.

  A few minutes later, Joseph made a brief speech about how the auction worked. With a swish of his hand, the auction began.

  Chapter 41

  Wanted

  Four women dragged a cage over 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide onto the stage. They covered it in a red cloth so people couldn’t see underneath it, but with the Scan skill, ‘Jonathan’ could.

  Inside the cage was a giant bird. It had four small wings, four small legs, and a huge tail. It had a thick skin covered in small, thin feathers. The colours of the feathers were quite intricate, a gradient of light brown, red, black, and light bronze. Jonathan could see it had a short, pointy beak and two tiny, almost hidden ears. The head was pretty small and long compared to its body.

  Joseph looked at the four women and motioned for them to remove the cloth. The crowd gasped.

  “Take a gander, everybody!” Smiling, Joseph spoke into the microphone. “Our first creature in this auction is called a Livid-Eyed Crane and is the most stable way of flying without the use of swords or Life Power. They can travel thousands of miles a day with no rest. If raised from birth, they are docile creatures. Of course, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a wild side. If they see their natural enemy, they will ignore all orders and go for the kill.”

  Joseph paused for effect at that time, which the audience fell completely for. With another twirl of his wrist, he drew the attention back to himself and continued.

  “The Livid-Eyed Crane feeds on small creatures but can eat almost anything to survive. They are ideal for helping your children or grandchildren travel until they are able to fly on swords.” Finally, Joseph dropped the price. “The starting bid is £600 million and the minimum bid is £10 million.”

  Jonathan looked at the creature with his Immortal Eye.

  Livid-Eyed Crane

  Rank: 1

  Level: 1

  A few moments later, a woman in the norma
l seats below the VIP balconies won the bid with £750 million.

  There were a few more creatures auctioned off after the Livid-Eyed Crane, but Jonathan had no interest in any of them. The next few items were runes; Jonathan won the auction for all mythical blank runes, just in case he was struck by inspiration and wanted to make another one at a later date.

  He won all bids for immortal ranked beast blood to go with the runes, too.

  After that came armours, swords, spears, and many other weapons. Again, Jonathan had no interest in them. When the herbs came around, Jonathan bought a few poisonous ones and made new poison molecules to share with Sarah when she woke up. He didn’t bid for any of the normal herbs that only had Life Power. There was just no point.

  The next few items up for auction were absorbing and breathing techniques. With his Scan skill, he read them all while they were on the stage being auctioned. They were useless as his Life Power per minute didn’t increase after reading them.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” Joseph announced into the microphone with his usual smile. “We’ve come to the last three items being auctioned for this year. I wish you all luck.”

  The next item was a breathing technique. Jonathan read it with his Scan but found it useless, too. Someone in VIP booth #8 bought it for £1.9 billion.

  The second to the last item was a mythical Rank 9 armour set. It included a helmet, chest piece, leg guards, boots, and gloves. All the items had five empty rune slots so the buyer could choose his own runes to place inside. It was won by the Sword Sect in VIP booth #1 for £1.8 trillion.

  Jonathan was interested in what the final item was since the second to the last was a mythical Rank 9 armour set. He’d seen a few Rank 8-9 armours, but they were all sold separately or not at all.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to the best item for sale in this year’s auction.” Joseph paused once more for effect before drawing the item out from his coat pocket. Whatever it was had to fit inside a gilded silken pouch. “This... is a map with an unknown language and markings written on. Our experts and the experts they have asked to examine this map have all concluded this is at least a billion years old!”

  Jonathan’s interest was definitely piqued.

  “A billion years is an aeon!” Joseph exclaimed with fervour. “This map is at least one aeon old! Ladies and gentlemen, an aeon ago, we had many people who had transcended among us! All the experts believe this map could lead a person on their path to transcending! Though there is no guarantee on this, and we have no clue about where the map will lead you… Isn’t even a single percent chance of transcending priceless?”

  All around, the crowd erupted into cries of disbelief and shock. Sitting in VIP booth #9, Jonathan was absolutely stunned. His mouth was open, eyebrows arched, and if he still needed to breathe, he would have stopped completely.

  Transcending? Is that the realm above Rank 9? What is it? My master transcended, but was still killed by Jeremy, so is it powerful or not? Why did my master not want me to know about transcending? I remember he said the information about it would hurt me more than help me, but why?

  Hundreds of questions flooded his mind like a whirlwind of confusion. It was difficult to think straight, but he knew what he had to do.

  He had to buy that map.

  Looking at the panel, he got ready to bid.

  Joseph continued after waiting for the crowd to calm down and stop speaking.

  “The starting bid is £1 quadrillion and the minimum bid is £500 trillion.”

  Jonathan pounded the 100x button, then hit it again to outbid himself.

  Onstage, Joseph visibly stumbled as he leaned into the microphone again.

  “Highest bid is... £101 quadrillion from VIP booth 9!”

  Jonathan stood up and took out his nano swords. He strapped them onto his body and got ready to fight. There were fifteen Rank 9 people here at the auction and he was sure that each one would want the map. It carried on like this until Jonathan’s bid was finalized. No one dared outbid him.

  He’d won.

  As soon as Joseph announced that he had won the auction, Jonathan teleported to the stage, paid Joseph in full, then added a generous tip. In the brevity of a moment’s time, the map was then in his Storage Space where it was safe from harm. The system immediately scanned it and did a side-by-side analysis to every other map he’d scanned in the known universe.

  While other people might not be able to find where the map was leading them, his system was a cheat and could go through every map without making a mistake. The system was working hard which made him extremely happy. The only problem was that he didn’t know how long it would take the system to find where the map led to since there’s over a trillion planets.

  Still standing onstage, Jonathan darted his eyes back to his surroundings. In his Scan, he could see a dozen of the Rank 9 people travelling down towards the stage all at once. A few travelled by foot, while the others flew or climbed. Twelve people stopped near the foot of the stage, staring up at Jonathan.

  Jonathan looked at them over his shoulder and spoke.

  “If we fight, the whole capital city will be destroyed. Many innocent people and at least half of you will die before me.” His icy expression curled into a small but deadly smile. “I don’t care, but do you? Even if you kill me, I can guarantee you won’t find the map.”

  All twelve people were wearing the same Daoist robe, causing a little concern to him. He was hoping to cause discord between them, making it a little easier on him during the fight. But they seemed to be from the same organisation, which meant it would be a lot harder.

  There were three other Rank 9 people within the auction arena, but he found they were from the Sword Sect, the Dual Cultivation Sect, and the Death Sect. Those three remained inside their VIP booths, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try stealing the map if an opportunity presented itself.

  One of the twelve Rank 9 people took out a rolled up parchment, unrolled it, and spoke.

  “You’re wanted for questioning about the Anti-Assassin Sect’s destruction and the murder of the millions of innocent people on the planet. Either come with us peacefully or we will use force to subdue you.”

  There was deadly silence.

  Jonathan’s icy expression immediately became clouded with absolute, blood-freezing horror.

  “What… What the hell are you on about?” he stuttered, trying his best to mask his flustered demeanour with disdain. “I’ve never even been to the Anti-Assassin Sect’s planet. I didn’t even know the sect had been destroyed! Where did you hear word of this?!”

  I almost slipped up just then. I was about to say I wasn’t near the planet when it got blown up. They might not know the planet’s gone. As an innocent cultivator just wandering about the universe, I shouldn’t know when it happened either. That sentence almost sentenced me to death.

  The man threw the parchment to Jonathan.

  “Read it,” he spat. “This is all the proof you need. We are here on justifiable grounds. You can’t shout that we are thieves with this, and the town is safe as we’ve locked down the space surrounding the auction hall with runes.”

  Jonathan looked around and noticed for the first time that the entire building was being evacuated. He spotted the runes being put into place in his Scan, Adventurers Guild staff members standing just outside to guard them. All of the innocent people and staff members filed through the doorways.

  Soon, the whole place was empty.

  Jonathan clenched his fist into a tiny ball.

  Steeling his nerves, he reached down and scooped the parchment off the floor. He skimmed it through but found there was too much adrenaline coursing through his veins to make sense of the words scribbled onto the page. Mustering all the nonchalance he could, he tossed the parchment aside like it was an old shoelace.

  “Sorry, not really my style of reading material.” He drew his nano swords from their sheaths and smiled. “It’s also not my style to be dragged anyw
here without kicking and screaming along the way.”

  Chapter 42

  Two Minutes

  All twelve of the Rank 9 people stood their ground. They watched their target with dagger eyes, not so much as blinking.

  Jonathan was still smiling as he spoke again.

  “So, you all want to come one at a time or all together?”

  One man on the far left side grew angry.

  “Brat,” he called out. “We need only one of us to subdue you.”

  “Oh?” Jonathan turned his head and looked directly at the man. “You want to be the one, then?”

  And so, it began.

  Gritting his teeth, the man rushed towards Jonathan, removing his greatsword from its sheath. Within milliseconds, the man was close enough to his target and swung his sword down in a mighty show of strength. Unlike most heavyset fighters, this fighter showed no lack of speed as he travelled with the same lightness of a feather sweeping across a winter breeze.

  In the breadth of that millisecond, Jonathan raised his long sword with his right hand to block the attack and swung his short sword in a hooking motion. As their attacks collided, Jonathan aimed his short sword directly at the man’s lungs. It was a long shot, and he had everything to lose. This was a real life-or-death battle.

  The greatsword kept on travelling as it met the sword. The Rank 9 man thought his attack was too powerful to be blocked and that he’d broken through Jonathan’s guard, but unfortunately for him, that was not the case.

  Jonathan’s nano sword completely sliced through the greatsword.

  Sidestepping to his left side as the greatsword was split in half, his sidestep did not interrupt his short sword’s hooked strike and the sword hit its target. With unbelievable quickness, a burst of blood sprayed out from the man’s open wound.