Seized by the System

A horrible thought appeared in Fang Ning mind just as he was browsing the net.

He immediately rushed towards the blacksmith’s forge.

Sir System was delighted to see him there, “Richman, did you finally have the heart to come work in the frontline?”

Fang Ning let out a heavy breath after hearing the familiar voice of Sir System.

‘Right, this is the System Space. Even the Heavenly Axiom is nothing in this space…’

He replied while acting calm, “No, I am just here to have a look on how to improvise the SOP and increase your productivity.”

Sir System saw through his act and said, “You looked like you were in panic mode when you entered…”

Fang Ning looked around and realized nothing was wrong. He asked, “Stop with all the crap. Have you read the Divine List?”

Sir System replied, “Of course. Did you just realized that the third race is missing on the list?”

Fang Ning realized Sir System knew he did something wrong.

He completely forgot about the list as he was too eager to get online as soon as possible…

He tried to bluff his way out of trouble, “Impossible. My memory is strong enough to memorize all the books in a library now that I am a Pond-level powerhouse. I saw the problem almost immediately.

“Something must be wrong since the Divine List chose to hide the third race away from the public. I was trying to figure out the reason behind it and suddenly a traumatic thought came to my mind.”

Sir System replied, “Oh, so you admit that you came in feeling afraid…”

Fang Ning was speechless, “You are focusing on the wrong thing, sir. Now is the time for you to ask what did I figure out.”

“What else could go wrong? It must have just missed it out accidentally. No point questioning about it,” Sir System replied in disdain.

Fang Ning said, “Bullshit. You really think that the Heavenly Axiom is so mistake-prone like how I am? I believe that the Heavenly Axiom knew the presence of the third race and admits their existence prior to placing them at third place among all the races while pushing the spirits to the fourth.”

As he spoke he pushed his imaginary specs before continuing with confidence,

“There’s only one truth to this. The Heavenly Axiom is personally trying to hide any information regarding the race from everyone else like an act of over-protection. From this action, we can conclude that this race must be full of potential, and I am afraid they are the offspring of the Heavenly Axiom… They will soon become the threat to the human race.”

Sir System replied, “You are ignoring me again… Hurry up and go get a job and stop browsing the net all the time. If not, you can also come and help me here. You will have no time to fear anything when you are busy.”

Fang Ning didn’t listen to him. He picked up the golden sword and walked back to the internet café.

…

However, he didn’t have the chance to enjoy for longer as Ren Ruofeng came to visit him after a moment.

Sir System came to get him to welcome their visitor. When Fang Ning refused to, Sir System threatens to cut off his internet access…

It was a long time ago since the last time Sir System threaten him right before he managed to control the two major income sources for their organization. He was not used to being threatened after the hiatus.

He forced himself to walk to the main hall with Zheng Dao and welcomed Ren Ruofeng as well as his followers from the Truth Department.

Fang Ning said, “So, what do you need from me this time, Elder Ren?”

Ren Ruofeng folded his fan and replied with a smile, “I heard that the Venerable One recently received a treasure from Heaven, and I am here to send my congratulation.”

Fang Ning immediately knew that he was planning something as he heard his reply.

Even though he never enjoyed socializing, he still managed to accumulate enough experience to see through anyone’s intention just by following Sir System in his meetings with multiple types of personalities.

He opened his right hand and showed the greenish purple divine monument.

“You are so modest, Elder Ren,” Fang Ning explained the item to everyone there, “this is the divine monument. You cannot imagine how magical this monument is. I am planning to make an announcement to the world about this item in near future.”

Ren Ruofeng carefully examined the divine monument, but he felt disappointed after a while.

He quickly suppressed that feeling he had and laughed at himself in secret. He couldn’t believe that his greed would reappear just as he saw the treasure.

He said with respect, “There’s a saying that mentioned that a treasure will always belong to a capable one, and I can sense that this saying is true in your case. From the way you freely control this treasure can I conclude that this treasure has accepted you as its master?”

He knew about this through his own piglet sculpture.

Fang Ning nodded, “Elder Ren is truly a wise man. You figure it out with a single look.”

He thought to himself at the same moment, ‘Well Sir System beat this monument until it was greenish purple. If it still doesn’t want to accept us as its master right now, it would be destroyed…’

Ren Ruofeng asked curiously, “What is the power of this treasure?”

Fang Ning smiled. He realized that his time to act was upon him once again.

The monument flew up from his right palm and slowly expanded in the living room, before projecting out golden words into the air.

All the visitors were shocked by what they saw.

“Divine list?”

“The universe? Earth and Moon?”

“Humans, spirits, and demons?”

All of them started speculating about what the divine list meant.

Ren Ruofeng was exceptionally calm. However, when he realized the emptied third place, he frowned as he felt that something wasn’t right.

Qiao Zijiang asked, “Venerable One, I can understand why the human-race is ranked first among the others, but as the master of this monument, do you know who is in third place?”

Fang Ning had no idea, but he chose to bluff his way out of this question…

He pointed at the ceiling and said, “Mysteries cannot be leaked.”

The rest understood that there’s a big secret lying behind it.

Ren Ruofeng gave a light cough. He felt that there’s something else the monument could do.

He asked, “Venerable One, what else can this monument do besides ranking every single race according to their strength?”

Fang Ning laughed and started walking towards the garden.

The others were surprised by his action before they followed.

The divine monument also returned to its normal size and moved out behind Fang Ning, and everyone was amazed by how loyal it was towards Fang Ning.

Ren Ruofeng said softly to the jade white piglet sculpture hidden inside him, “Pig head, look at other people’s treasure, so loyal and honest. Look at you. You just sleep all the time and never moved without being pushed like a freaking tube of toothpaste…”

The piglet sculpture stretched and replied, “If you think it’s so perfect why don’t you take him instead of me? Unfortunately for you it already has a master. Be grateful to have a treasure like me. God is equal to everyone.”

Ren Ruofeng felt that it was right.

He stopped commenting. Even though that piglet was lazy, but at least it was useful and never messed anything up.

Fang Ning walked to the garden followed by his divine monument.

The others stood and stared at the monument.

Ren Ruofeng was the most tentative among the people. In his mind, he felt that the monument would surely be more useful than just displaying a list of power levels.

At the next instance, everyone was shocked by what they saw.

The monument expanded once again, but this time it was ten plus meters high.

A huge door slowly appeared above the monument.

Behind the door was full of clouds.

Among the clouds was a windy road heading upwards.

The road was barely visible, and it only reveals a few jade stairs near to the door.

Everything else was hidden away by the clouds and mist. They could barely see the shape of the stairs which showed the structure of the road among the clouds.

“What is this?”

Everyone was shocked and asked.

“The Ladder to Heaven.”

The ladder to Heaven? Everyone was thinking about his replies.

“What’s the purpose of this?”

They continued asking.

Fang Ning explained the uses of the ladder. The analogy he used was that everyone could climb the stairs together and whoever climbed the highest would be rewarded more.

The people there were delighted after they heard it.

Would Ren Ruofeng bring along anyone that was dumb?

What was power for?

Power meant the opportunity to take a share of the available supplies.

Now that the resources were being held by their allies, everyone knew what that meant without talking about it.

Ren Ruofeng felt relieved as well.

Luckily throughout these times he always maintained a friendly relationship with the Venerable Dragon God and earned his trust, and finally, he saw the reward of doing that.

Who else could deny the fact that China was the boss of the world in the future?

What else could they do if their access to the ladder to Heaven were denied?

However, there’s a limit of what they could do. The Heavenly Axiom would most likely interfere if they overexert their power.

So long as they performed minor controls like how football teams were grouped up in cup matches, the Heavenly Axiom would close an eye.

After so long, China finally had the privilege of controlling the rules of the game for power!

Those who had experienced it would know how fantastic that felt… China was always being bullied, but it’s their turn to be the man.

Ren Ruofeng asked, “May I know when will be the first ever ladder climbing ceremony?”

Fang Ning thought about it and replied with a smile, “We don’t need to be impatient. I talked about it with the monument and it said that the event will be carried out before the first quarter. We are now in August. It will most likely be held in late September to early October, which is the early part of quarter four.”

‘Well, isn’t this the benefits that we should have? ¹

‘While this event is hidden away from the other people, we will have extra 2 months to prepare for this. That 2 months will be the chance for us to gain more advantage compared to others.’

Ren Ruofeng nodded and replied, “So we should carry the most responsibilities. We must choose at least eight people out of the ten human-race that will join this competition. Regardless we should all talk about working together for the greater good.”

Everyone looked at each other and smiled.

Everyone knew that the supplies would be distributed to the races as according to the result of climbing the ladder to Heaven.

However, was it possible that those that finished the climb would gain nothing from this?

That would be impossible. The Heavenly Axiom would remember him at the very least.

That was the best they could ask for.

Those who completed the climb would surely garner much luck as well as received increased cultivation improvement for a long time.

Previously, luck was never certain. It was something that appeared and disappeared unpredictably.

However, such luck was no longer random as the Heavenly Axiom had taken over the control of the universe.

Fang Ning nodded in agreement and said, “We need to hold the responsibility for the greatness of the human race.”

Everyone started laughing after he finished.

The garden in front of the farm villa was filled with laughter.

Fang Ning continued talking after everyone finished laughing, “I am still concerned about how we are going to choose a suitable candidate. Fortunately, there’s a Colosseum being built inside my Draconic Arcane Realm, and will be done in October.

“I have set up a complete set of obstacle courses there, plus we don’t have to worry about both the safety and security as it is being protected by the spirits of the realm.”

Ren Ruofeng understood what he was thinking and promised, “Then you shall carry out the necessary arrangements. I will help send out the invitations to all the other countries by then,

“I believed that all the countries will participate, unlike that time where only 13 countries joined us for the event organized by the Alliance of Justice and Order.”

Everyone laughed and the place became even more enjoyable.

Sir System was impressed and said, “Richman, here you are earning another pot of gold again. You are so clever.”

Fang Ning replied, “Now you understand how great I am? Those who use their brains will be the leader, while those that never will always be led.”

Sir System felt disappointed, “So I am just a labor all this while. No wonder I can never earn more than you did.”