The Idle System Box Set

by Pegaz

  When he finished furnishing the rooms, Sarah came over and explained that she was absorbing the poison from the corpses and the air. When she finished, the smell had gone thanks to the air vents John made. John nodded and showed Sarah her room.

  “How do you like it?” he asked with a smile. “Only thing I can’t do is make a soft mattress. I’ve got to go topside and grab leaves to use as bedding. That’s the only thing missing though. I’ve got blankets.”

  Sarah walked around the room, checking the chairs, table and desk. They were made of stone and not very comfortable if you were to sit for a long time.

  “We need padding for the chairs, too.”

  “Uh... right,” John replied, taken a little off-guard. “I’ll go find something to use then. You can use this to cultivate.” John gave her a Grade 8 Life Stone then flew out the hole heading topside.

  When he came out of the hole, he looked around for long leaves and tall grass he could use for temporary bedding. After 10 minutes of not finding anything suitable, he gave up and went through the teleport rune. He stole his and Sarah’s bed from the hotel room along with four chairs.

  When he arrived at the cultivation cave, he removed the stone bed he made and placed Sarah’s bed from the hotel in the same place. He removed the chairs and replaced them with the ones from the hotel, too.

  “This is more comfortable than grass!” He proclaimed proudly. “I’ll leave you alone to cultivate for today. Tomorrow we’ll spar to see the martial arts you know and how you put them to use.”

  “Thank you.” Sarah nodded. “I’m an amateur in martial arts. I mostly use the poison to stop anybody from getting close enough to swing a sword. It’s my style of choice.”

  “If I was still your enemy and wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.” John frowned. “Can you guarantee nobody else in this huge universe is immune to your poisons, or won’t have any tricks to deal with you?”

  She lowered her head and then shook it.

  “Even in my last life,” John continued, “I followed a quote I learned which helped me almost every day. It went ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst.’ It was because of that quote that no matter what I did, I always thought about the worst scenario and tried to prepare for it. Even in this life, I trust nobody because I always prepare myself for betrayal.”

  John was about to carry on when he realised something.

  “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to preach.” He scratched his head. “I only wanted to convince you that learning martial arts will only help you survive.”

  Chapter 8

  Share Skills

  It stunned John that he was preaching. He hated people who preached one thing and did another, but he needed to convince Sarah. This was for her survival.

  “As a doctor on Earth,” he continued, “I’m sure you kept preparing for the worst outcome medically, right?”

  “Yes.” Sarah lifted her head. “In the surgery room, there were at least three possible outcomes that we prepared for in every stage of a procedure.”

  “Okay, good.” John nodded. “Think of martial arts the same way, but instead of saving someone else, you’re saving yourself. Think three moves ahead. For now, though, we’ll take it slow and do the basics tomorrow. I’ll take my leave now and come to fetch you in the morning.”

  After chatting for a few minutes about trivial things, John left. On the way back to his room, he looked to his right which was the end of the tunnel. Thinking for a few seconds, he continued digging the tunnel in the direction it was going. Both the rooms he made were twenty feet in the same direction, but he left enough of the stone so it didn’t collapse and could continue as a wall. After digging over forty feet in a straight line, he turned and dug to his left. When he got a certain distance, he walked back and did the same on the right side of the tunnel.

  Half an hour later, he had dug a 100 x 100-foot room with an eight-foot ceiling. The task had exhausted him physically, but if he had used the earthen element to do it, he could have lost millions of Life Power units. Creating small furniture like the chair had cost him fifteen thousand Life Power. He did use his earthen element to create pathways, though, which saved him hours of time.

  Walking on the pathways, he got some of the seeds he had collected and planted the ones he knew would survive with no light. The holy basil was one of them. He was looking forward to a few years from now to see if his theory was right. He believed that the further down they were planted, the more Life Power per year they would absorb. If this was true, then this cave, being over two hundred miles underground, might make the holy basil absorb over ten thousand Life Power per year. And if it turned out to be true, with the number of seeds he was planning on planting, each year he would have millions of extra Life Power.

  John tried to evenly spread the seeds as much as possible. He separated the different herbs between the pathways, too. At the end of each pathway, above where the seeds John planted, he wrote the name of the plant in case he mixed them up or needed Sarah to check on them.

  Do they need water at the start? The only water down here is what Sarah brought with her supplies. I can’t ask for that. I’ll give it a month and if nothing changes, then I’ll go fetch a lot of water.

  John walked back to his room, switched out the beds and chairs in his room with the ones from the hotel, and went to sleep.

  The next morning, John knocked on Sarah’s door. When he was invited inside, John took out the martial art books he had bought from Robert back in the mortal world all those years ago.

  “First, read one of these books,” John instructed. “Then we’ll practice a little.”

  We need time to train. I’ll get these system skills the normal way and keep the Time Pool for emergencies. That should give us enough time so Sarah can at least defend herself. I was going to use it to complete the Divination’s Scrambler skill, but doing it this way should give Sarah enough time to train without any worries.

  Sarah nodded and picked up the first book: it was Judo. After every practice, Sarah would read the book again. Along with John guiding her, it didn’t take long for her to master the basics in Judo.

  After fifteen days, the Scrambler skill was completed. John started the Sider Share skill and the time was fifteen days just like John assumed. During the past fifteen days, Sarah mastered the basics of Judo and Karate; she was now working on Kung Fu. While training, they’d gotten a better understanding of each other, and even had a few accidents happen. They were both embarrassed and ignored the accidents after a few seconds, then carried on training.

  Fifteen more days passed and Sarah had mastered the basics of Kung Fu. The Share skill was also complete. Looking at the top of the system, the Share option came into view. John turned it on and a fifth tab at the top came into his view. Inside the fifth tab was only one name: ‘Sarah.’ Next to the name, it had an On/Off option.

  So, if there are two or more Siders I know who’s alive, I can choose to share with one but not the other? Great!

  He turned the option On and the numbers 0/20 popped up under her name.

  So I can share twenty of my skills? That’s a lot for now, but as we grow stronger, we’ll need more slots... Is that possible?

  To the right of the numbers, at the other end of the screen was another 0/20.

  So Sarah can share twenty of her skills with me, too? I only know a few of her skills—creating molecules, changing Life Power to Toxin Power at 5:1 rate, and absorbing the poisons or venom of anything she touches.

  He and Sarah were currently taking a break when Sarah brought it up.

  “You completed the Share skill you talked about, right?”

  “Yeah.” John turned his head to Sarah, shocked. “How did you know?”

  “It asked me to confirm whether I wanted to share the skills between us.”

  “Ah, that makes sense.” John nodded. “This is the first skill that needed someone else besides me, so it should ask for your opinion. I for
got that point. We don’t know how this skill works yet, though. If I don’t put in the whole twenty skills to share all at once, there could be days, months, or even years as a countdown to redo the list of skills.”

  John paused for a moment, deep in thought.

  “You might need to put in the skills you want to share with me at the same time,” he muttered. “Or it could be me first, you second, or vice versa. Let’s wait until it completes all my skills, then I’ll put in the skills that are best for survivability rather than attack or defence. While we’re waiting for those to finish, we’ll continue your training.”

  “Hmm…” Sarah thought for a second before speaking. “Being careful about the new skill is fine, but why all survivability skills? Why no attacking skills?”

  John was stumped that Sarah had asked that question.

  “Why? I don’t know. Where’s this coming from?”

  “You’re avoiding the problem again!” Sarah gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. “We both know why, but you won’t admit it! What’s wrong with putting yourself out there? It hurts when something goes wrong, but you pick yourself up and carry on with life!”

  “Carry on with my life?!” John’s face twisted. “Have you ever caused a loved one’s death!? I never want to repeat that mistake ever again, even towards a friend! These skills I’ll share with you will make it so you can survive in the worst environment!”

  “This isn’t about the skills.” Sarah didn’t back down. “What are you going to do? Just stay inside a cave for the rest of your life, no matter how long it is? Scared you’ll cause my death by your actions?”

  “YES!” John cried out abruptly. “I’m scared. Is that what you want to hear?” His expression darkened as he bowed his head, words heavy with sadness. “I’m scared of causing your death. Being around me… is a disease. Having you around at all could very well be the end of you.”

  Sarah’s eyes welled up, brimming with tears.

  “You let me decide if I want to stay or not,” she said, taking a step towards John. She brought a hand up to his face, tilting his head so it was no longer shadowed. A single tear rested on his cheek, which she wiped away. “And I chose to be by your side.”

  With that, Sarah pushed herself onto John, who was caught off-guard. The two of them tumbled onto the floor, Sarah’s lips pressed against his.

  Chapter 9

  Forbidden Technique

  The kiss surprised John, but after a second, he put his left hand on the back of Sarah’s head, closed his eyes, and kissed back.

  After a minute, Sarah lifted her head, out of breath and bright red up to her ears. She lowered her head onto John’s chest so he couldn’t see her embarrassed. John, on the other hand, wasn’t as embarrassed but still had a light red blush across his face. He wasn’t out of breath, but he still took deep breaths to calm down.

  As they lay there, an awkward silence fell upon them. Sarah’s head was still buried in John’s chest.

  “Why?” John broke the silence with a quiet voice. “I got used to being alone, but now you’ve done that and stirred my emotions up.”

  “Because even if you become a real immortal,” Sarah murmured back, “a life without friends, a family, or a lover isn’t a life. You saved me from the Anti-Assassins, so I’m saving you from yourself.”

  John was speechless.

  After a few seconds of silence, John took a deep breath. “Do you know what a Dao Companion is?”

  Sarah shook her head, still on John’s chest.

  “It’s what the authors of cultivation novels came up with instead of marriage,” he explained. “It’s to describe couples who can live for eternity. For cultivation couples, they can go tens or even hundreds of years without seeing each other because of the simple rule. Cultivation comes first.”

  John explained how, in the novels, they described it as the couple needing strength to protect each other. They would often part ways to grow strong separately. Once they reached immortality, they could spend an eternity with each other. As Dao Companions, they make an oath to never be with another person, even if the partner dies. In this universe, they had no such oaths, instead going by blood pacts. But John’s system could block blood pacts. John asked if Sarah’s system was similar, and she confirmed his suspicion.

  “The Anti-Assassin sect made me do a blood oath,” she interrupted. “But the system didn’t recognise it, so the system blocked it from taking effect.”

  John smiled and continued. He explained how, back on Earth before he met Lisa, he slept around too much. He didn’t want that again; he wanted the real thing like the Dao Companions in the novels; however, becoming Dao Companions was a very serious thing to him. There was no divorcing or separating and no matter what, they would trust each other with even their lives.

  “We’re not at that point yet,” John finished. “We’ve only known each other for under two months. We need more time to get to know each other. I’m different from who I was before dying. You were a doctor who saved lives, and you even said you might open a place to treat patients again. But I’m the direct opposite. I’ll kill anyone who I think is a threat without hesitation.”

  John looked down towards his chest, staring at the top of Sarah’s head.

  “What about you?”

  Sarah looked up for the first time since the kiss.

  “What you said about the Dao Companions is what most women want,” she stated calmly. “Even on Earth. You’re right, though. We need to get to know each other. I only know what I’ve been told about you. I want to know the real story behind the man who is foretold to kill billions of people.”

  “What…?” John’s eyes open wide when he heard Sarah. “I will kill billions of people? Is that what the Divination said?”

  “Yeah, it’s been a pattern.” Sarah tilted her head at John. “But the Assassin Sect will be destroyed by you, too. My ex-master said it was not a good trade. Too many innocent people will die.”

  “It said I’d kill billions of people.” John looked down towards Sarah. “Not billions of innocent people... right?”

  Sarah thought about it.

  “It never had the word innocent in it specifically,” Sarah mused. “It was my ex-master who added the innocent part. He only told me about the Divination, but I found the original written Divination later on.”

  “Phew.” John sighed. “I’ll be honest with you. I think the Anti-Assassin sect is trying to take over the Rogue Sect with being the best assassins in the universe. They’re trying to justify their actions. Don’t tell anyone about the name of the assassin sect, though.”

  John rolled to his right, holding the back of Sarah’s head with his right hand. He lowered his head so that he was facing Sarah, who was now lying on the floor looking up. He looked into Sarah’s eyes and smiled.

  “You look more beautiful when you’re blushing.” John laughed for a second, then continued. “If you want to get to know me better, you’ve stirred something inside me. I’m willing to give it a shot.”

  John lowered his head and kissed her. He felt Sarah’s hands drifting up and down on his back. Lifting his head, he moved his left hand to brush some of Sarah’s hair off her forehead.

  “I’m in trouble now,” he muttered. “I will keep thinking about you, about this moment, and this.”

  He lowered his head for another kiss.

  John raised his head and rolled to back to his original position while moving his right hand from under her head. He was lying side by side with Sarah now. His right hand moved and held her left hand, but he didn’t hold too tightly because of his black, sharp nails.

  “I admit I was giving you the survival skills because I didn’t want a friend to die,” he whispered. “Now I want to give you the same skills but for a simpler reason.”

  John took a deep breath, turned his head to the right, and looked at Sarah.

  “I need you to live.” His words were soft but firm. “If you die, then I’ll destroy this entire uni
verse and not give a damn. I know we don’t know each other very well, but I’d still do it. Can you imagine what I’ll do if we married and somebody killed you? I can’t. From now on, you will be my anchor to bring me back when I get out of control.”

  Sarah let go of his hand and sat up, looking down at John.

  “Fine, I’ll take the survival skills.” Her eyes had a look of determination in them as she spoke. “I’ll become a doctor that saves more lives than you kill to balance it out. If you ever get out of control, I’ll bring you back to sanity even if you’re kicking and screaming all the way. But you still have to teach me how to defend myself.”

  “I will.” John also sat up. “I’m not taking it easy on you, either.” He smirked after saying that. Before Sarah could reply, John took a book out of his Storage Space. “We’ll continue training tomorrow since we both need to cool down now. I don’t want to be unromantic by pushing you or anything like that... but read this book. Give me an answer tomorrow if you want to try this technique someday.”

  John placed the book on the floor, embarrassed at the book’s contents. He knew Sarah would not want him around while she read it. He went out of Sarah’s room and into his own where he lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling for hours.

  Hearing his own heartbeat, he couldn’t get to sleep. He hadn’t been this nervous before in this entire life, even in his first life-or-death battle. All he could think about was whether Sarah would answer him about the book. What would she say?

  Back in the room, Sarah looked at the book on the floor. The cover piqued her interest.

  She walked over and picked the book up. The whole book was ten to twelve parchments stuck together and the grey cover had no writing on it. She opened the wooden cover and read the title. When saw the picture below, that was when she became dark red from blushing. It got so bad she used the book as a fan.