The Idle System Box Set

by Pegaz

  The Adventurer Guild must have a place that sells many, if not all, maps of the known worlds in this universe. In my current situation, if I don’t immediately find a local map when I arrive in a new world, then I’ll be travelling without any knowledge of where to go. Maybe, I should go to their HQ to ask?

  He closed his eyes and recalled the teleport map he saw in the mission hub. If his memory was right, he was currently over a thousand teleports away from the Adventurer Guild’s public planet. But maybe, it would benefit him to ask before committing to going there. John headed towards this world’s nearest capital.

  When he arrived, he went straight into the Adventurer Guild where he met with the guild master and got his ranking updated to IF. Afterwards, John put his ID away, then looked at the guild master.

  “Can you tell me if the guild sells world maps?” He hoped for the best. “I mean, every available map. I want all mapped areas, not just for this world.”

  “We can order them for you,” the guild master replied. “But that will charge you a steep delivery cost. Your other option would be to go to the guild’s public planet and buy them from there.”

  “How much are we talking with the delivery cost?” John smiled cheekily. “And how long would it take?”

  “It will be in the billions.” The guild master’s voice was sceptical. “And as for time, I’d say about eight months.”

  “I can get there much quicker.” John shook his head. “Tell me, where do I go to buy maps in person?”

  The guild master told him where to go. It was the closest planet next to their headquarters which is open to the public, and where the Adventurer Guild sold most of their items and held other matters of public affairs. With this information, John thanked the guild master and was on his way. It would take him one month to arrive at the specified location with the Rogue’s teleport system.

  A month later, he arrived at the Adventurer Guild’s public planet. Entering the city, it stunned him. The technology was like the industrial age in England. Steam engine trains and vehicles that could pass as cars were travelling around the city. The capital was right next to an inactive volcano and a river passed right through the middle.

  While looking around, John found the guild’s main shop. He walked inside, immediately spotting a book that had the details of what world maps and normal maps were for sale. After browsing through the book, he walked to the counter.

  The woman behind the counter smiled. “Hello, sir, how can I help you?”

  John smiled back at her. “Hello, I have a huge amount of maps I want to buy.”

  The woman wasn’t too shocked by this. John guessed that it must have happened all the time. She calmly directed him to the upper floor, where he could place his order in a private booth. John thanked her and followed her words.

  Inside the booth, there was a big desk with two big chairs on one side and on the other, a big chair with an old man sitting in it. On the counter, there was a teapot and three empty cups. The old man nodded up at John, then poured him a cup of freshly brewed tea.

  “Welcome,” he said. “How may I help you?”

  John sat down and picked up the cup of tea, sniffing it before taking a sip. “Good tea. I’m here to order a huge amount of maps.”

  The old man poured himself a cup and took a sip. “Please tell me which maps you want.”

  John looked up. Hope this doesn’t give the old man a heart attack.

  “All of them.”

  The old man dropped the cup of tea onto the desk.

  John smiled. “Before you ask, I mean all of them. All world maps and all area maps the Adventurer Guild is selling.”

  The old man cleaned up the tea on the desk and looked at John.

  “Each area map is £10, and the world maps we have are £30 each. We’ve got more than a trillion world maps and many more area maps. Are you sure?”

  John nodded. “As long as I can pay with Life Stones, then sure.”

  Grade 1 Life Stones cost £100,000 each, and each stone was 100:1 to the next grade up. By my calculations, a Grade 5 Life Stone would be £10 trillion. The amount of Grade 5 to 8 Life Stones I robbed from the Rogue sect’s vault is in the thousands or even millions.

  The man nodded. “Very well. Please wait here, and I’ll go set it up.” He stood up and walked out of the booth through the door behind him.

  John sat there and sipped on his tea. When he ran out, he helped himself to the teapot and poured himself another cup.

  Eventually, the man came back with a piece of paper. “We have everything you wanted. It’s being put together now. Here is the bill.”

  John took the piece of paper to read it.

  1,354,736,733,856 world maps at £30 each amounts to £40,642,102,015,680. (40 trillion.)

  24,397,769,523,896,532 area maps at £10 each amounts to £243,977,695,238,965,320. (243 quadrillion.)

  Total amount: £244,018,337,340,980,000. (244 quadrillion.)

  John looked over the sheet several times, double-checking it.

  So, £244 quadrillion for mapping the whole known universe? That’s two Grade 7 Life Stones and forty-five Grade 6 Life Stones. The rest will be a big tip.

  Satisfied, John looked at the man and confirmed the order. The amount of maps would take a few days and millions of workers to organise them for him, so they gave John a receipt. When the maps were ready, he could pick them up from a warehouse outside the city. The total amount was not due until then, but John gave them a down payment of forty-five Grade 6 Life Stones.

  John’s wealth impressed the man, so he gave John a card.

  John took the card and read it.

  xx Day, the Adventurer Guild is hosting an auction. This card is a VIP ticket.

  On the backside of the card was the address of the venue with the only rule the auction has.

  Winning bidders will receive the item as soon as possible and must pay then and there.

  “Oh, an auction. I’ve never been to one. This could be interesting.”

  Chapter 45

  Start

  The auction was in eight days’ time from then, so John had time to kill. Asking the man for a good hotel around the area, the man gave him directions to a 5-star hotel that the guild manages. It’s a bit expensive per night, but by the man’s description, it was worth it.

  On the way to the hotel, a person was handing out flyers. John got hold of one and looked at it. It was a promotion for a concert where a singer was performing. The concert was the next day, and tickets were still available.

  Suppose, I should take in some of the culture and music of this universe. Since this planet has steam-powered technology, their music equipment might have better technology. There should be art in this city too. Guess, I’ll ask around.

  On the back of the flyer was a map. He memorised it and decided to check it out tomorrow.

  Walking into the hotel, he booked into the penthouse on the 35th floor.

  The construction technology is better here too. The most floors I’ve seen on other worlds’ hotels are eight.

  John was steadily growing an interest in the technology of this world. Why didn’t other planets have this kind of stuff? Was it a patent-type thing where they couldn’t share? Were there laws?

  Head swarming with questions, John checked his lodgings out. He had the entire floor to himself. In the bedroom, there was a bed that was three times bigger than any king-sized bed. The rest of the place had nice seats and couches everywhere. He could hold a party and entertain fifty people in this room. They wouldn’t even feel cramped.

  Opening the door, which was a similar design to French doors, he walked onto the balcony. The landing was massive too. If he wanted, he could probably place two of the beds out here and still have room to spare.

  Is there such a need for this much space? Do people bring their families into the hotel in this area? This place isn’t a holiday location, though.

  John never used the hotels back on Earth. Although he had th
e funds, he lived a frugal life. He only had a small house and couldn’t understand why people would spend millions for anything bigger. It seemed like just a hassle to clean. Spend money on a cleaner? They could have been cops undercover, so he could have never hired anyone anyway.

  Before he went to sleep, he scanned the people in the capital. There were millions of people with Sins above 25 points, but there were also Rank 9 immortals in the city. John assumed they were the guards of the city. Or maybe, they were here for the auction. If they left after the auction, then John would go on a killing spree. If they didn’t, he would have to skip it and play it safe.

  The next morning, John was sitting on the balcony enjoying the view when the hotel staff delivered a tray of breakfast to him. While drinking the tea, he planned his day out.

  I’ll go check out the concert later today. The remaining seven days until the auction, I’ll go through the things I took from Rogue sect.

  ‘Ding!’

  Emotional state back to normal.

  Every time I think about the Rogue sect and my master, my anger rises. I was hoping my emotional state would have been more stable by now. The system can’t remove the emotion if it gets too severe. That’s the only reason I haven’t been able to check the items yet.

  He took out one book that came from the treasure vault and read it over. The book was a technique for drawing runes with blood and a brush. It was evening when John stopped and closed the book. Over the hours, he had read about and practiced the drawing techniques.

  Wanting to stretch his legs, John put the book away. He left the hotel and walked towards where the map showed the concert was to be held. As he approached the building, John noted that the outside resembled a football stadium from back on Earth. Hundreds of people were outside the stadium waiting to get inside, and the ticket booths had signs with the words “Available” above them. On the outside of the stadium were four metal poles with metal beams in between them for stability. Lights flooded the stadium from these metal poles.

  John flew up and stood on the crossing metal part at the top of the metal poles. He flew to a part of the stadium that was more lit up than the rest. Comfortable, he waited for the music to start.

  An hour later, a young woman walked onto the stage and began to sing. John looked at the instruments that sounded like drums and guitars. The music was somewhere between opera and rock music. It was new to him. Something sweet, something sad… When it was over, John left the concert with a twinge of an emotion he couldn’t put his finger on.

  Three days later, the Adventurer Guild contacted him about the maps. They were ready for him to collect. And so, not long after, John arrived at the warehouse outside the city for his goods. The building was at least a few miles squared with a 50 feet high ceiling. The whole place was full of maps. The sight shocked him—he knew there were quadrillions of maps, but seeing them all together was another thing entirely.

  It took John over six hours to finish putting all the maps inside his Storage Space. The system scanned each of them as they were entered, but the process was still on-going. It was going to take a while.

  For the next few days, he walked around the capital to take in the culture. He thought that looking at calming paintings, statues, and other things could possibly help keep his anger in check. Sadly, it didn’t work.

  Guess the only thing that will calm me down is killing Jeremy May. John sighed and went back to his hotel. From then until the auction started, he simply read the same book he was reading earlier.

  Two hours before the auction was to begin, John arrived at the location it was being held. He went to the VIP entrance and John handed over the VIP card he was given. The staff asked him to follow him upstairs, where he was guided to a private booth with three seats.

  Thanking the staff member, John walked inside the booth and inspected the seats. They were made of metal and seemed to be painted gold with a red velvet cushion in the middle. He sat down in the middle chair. On the right side of each chair was a small panel with five buttons. Each of the buttons was label with a number.

  This panel must be how they bid. I need to figure out how much the button increases the bid amount by now. Is it 1x? 10x? Or 1 thousand and 10 thousand?

  Looking over the balcony, he noticed a big stage made of wood at the end of the giant room full of seats. All around the edge of the room were balconies with the top half covered in a one-way mirror to stop people peeking inside.

  John turned Life Vision and Immortal Eye on and checked everyone in the building. There were a few Rank 9 immortals here for the auction, just like John assumed earlier.

  Time passed and eventually a middle-aged man walked onto the wooden stage. He stood in the middle while holding what looked like a microphone.

  “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the annual Adventurer Guild’s sponsored auction.” He paused for a few seconds, and the crowd clapped. Moving his hand down to signal the crowd to quiet down, he continued. “For those who are new, the panel to the side of the chairs is how you bid. There is no need to shout your bids.

  “The numbers represent how much you’re increasing it by. Each item will have a minimum bid so the number ‘1’ will be the minimum bid. On the panel, the highest number is ‘50’, so if the minimum bid is £10,000 then by pressing that button, you bid £500,000. The only rule is when you win a bid, someone will bring the item to you to you as quickly as possible, and you must pay for it at that time.

  “The Adventurer Guild does not take responsibility for any theft or deaths once the item is in your hands.”

  Two women dragged a big square object with a red cloth covering it as the man finished speaking.

  The man looked over at the object, then turned back to face the crowd.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Joseph, and without further ado, let us start the auction.”

  Chapter 46

  Auction

  With a swirl, the two women unveiled the object underneath the red cloth.

  The revealed object was a cage with a big animal inside. The creature was curled up, its head pointed towards Joseph. Its eyes were fixed on him, unmoving. Its mouth was thin and extended, pointed teeth peeking out. The whole place could hear a low growling coming from it. The creature’s fur was dark red with black rings patterned across it. The nose was big and black, and its ears were pointing straight up.

  Joseph put his hand out, palm open in gesture to the cage. “For those who do not know this creature, let me make a brief introduction. They call this creature a Territorial Fox. With the right scent, you can make this creature a guard for your property. This is guaranteed for an area of one mile squared.

  “With the scent in one of the bottles provided, you make a full circuit around your property. If anyone crosses the line you’ve made and the creature doesn’t recognise them, then the Territorial Fox will instantaneously find out about it and howl an alarm.

  “The only ones who can cross this boundary undetected without extreme measures are those Rank 7 or higher while flying. This creature is the best that we know in terms of noticing intruders.

  “The starting bid will be 100 million, and lowest bid increase is 1 million.”

  John pondered over the description. So that man flying on the sword on my first mission from Rogue sect was at least Rank 7? No wonder he flew so fast through the sky...

  When he came out of his thoughts, the bidding had already risen to £500 million and still increasing.

  “£501 million.”

  “£512 million.”

  “£513 million.”

  “£523 million.”

  It was a battle between two people now. One was raising the bid by 10 million, and the other person by 1 million each time. This only lasted a few seconds.

  “£556 million is the highest bid. Going once... going twice... Sold! Congratulations to VIP Booth 18 for your purchase.” Joseph did a small clap after speaking.

  The crowd whispered around. John could not see a
nyone in the other booths because of the one-way mirror around the top half of the balconies. He was in VIP Booth 4. He wondered who was in Both 3, 2, and 1. They put him here for spending quadrillions, so he assumed the others above him had spent even more. However, all he could see were their information from the Immortal Eye skill.

  In all three booths, there were three people in each booth. The middle person in each booth was Rank 9. The other two people with them were weaker, so maybe friends or family. However, he noticed that the people from the third booth had millions of Sins each.

  The next twenty items were all mythical-grade equipment with five blank spots for runes. The average selling price was close to £350 million.

  The next forty items after that were mythical-grade runes which escalated from useless to brilliant. The useless went for £5-10 million, while the brilliant ones went for over £500 million.

  Because the people in the three booths had won bids on items and didn’t care about being anonymous, John learnt their identities when Joseph congratulated them. They were from the best immortal sects in the universe.

  Booth 1 had people from the Sword sect.

  Booth 2 had people from the Dual Cultivation sect.

  Booth 3 had people from the Death sect.

  If only I were strong enough to kill those from the Death sect... I would almost hit my goal of 100 million Sins from those three people alone.

  The Rank 9 Death sect member had over 40 million Sins. The other two were both Rank 7 and totalled 35 million. John had to resist all temptation.

  The two women walked on the stage with the next item for sale.

  “Up next is a herb called Shatavari. Many people will know about this plant and its medical properties. It can heal minor injuries in seconds and major injuries in minutes. Some people even say, as long as people have breath in them and eat this, they will avoid death.”

  When the women on the stage lifted the red cloth, everyone saw a big green and white plant.