Chereads / In Search of the Red Oleander / Chapter 4 - A System?

Chapter 4 - A System?

Later that night, four people sat at the dining table, fortunately for me, my father decided to joined us for dinner. With him here, I can enact the second phase of my glorious plan.

The first phase of the plan has already been started and will be completed in about 10 years. It involves the expansion of the dungeons ground floor to encompass the entirety of this planet. The purpose is to terraform the planet physically so that if something should happen to my dungeon it will not revert back to its original state.

The second part of phase one is to drop more scrolls pertaining to support. For example farming, alchemy, blacksmithing, things that they will need in order to build a civilization. In addition, the drop rate for manuals and books have been increased while the old skill scrolls have been decreased.

My thought process is simple if they want to fight then they must train hard for it, scrolls are just too simple. Moreover, scrolls are just one-time use items, while manuals and books can be used repetitively passing them down from generation to the next, building a larger knowledge base.

All of this has been done, now all I need is time to see it through.

As for the second phase it begins right now. "Dad, something strange happened to me today," I said deliberately ignoring what occurred at the office.

"Oh, what happened?" he asked unconcerned.

"I was wandering about, when I heard a voice in my head," after saying that, I felt two differing waves of spiritual essences scanning my body. "No, it's nothing bad," I hurriedly reassured them. "The voice said that I was an oracle of the god of dungeons."

"And you don't think this is bad?" he said exchanging knowing glances with mom.

"Not bad," I replied hurriedly, "The voice said it was going to cover the planet with forests, valleys, rivers, and lakes so we can have more space to live. And the dungeon's gonna drop new skill scrolls and stuff to help us live better. What do you think, dad?"

"Aster, I think someone was just playing a trick on you."

"But dad, when the voice told me about the scrolls, the ground kind of split open and a lot of stuff came out. Look," I said while taking out an assortment of skill scrolls, manuals, and tools from the space storage ring I use as a decoy. "See dad, these are things that can help and it doesn't involve fighting."

"Ah, I understand now," he said nodding, "Son no matter how much you disapprove of fighting it still in important part of life. Whether or not what you said is true, and I'm not saying you're lying, but it's gonna take time to prove it, until then you can still strength in yourself. Starting tomorrow you can practice with the other children."

"But dad, what about the things I said."

"When practicing with the other children; don't mention it to them, you'll only be made fun of," except for myself, the dining room erupted in laughter, my mom was trying to hide it but I can still see her smile.

"What about the scrolls?"

"Well, I'll have someone check to see if it's safe. Now finish your dinner so you can go to bed, have a good rest for your first day."

"Wait dad, there was another thing. The voice said that it plans to create a new entrance leading directly to the fiftieth floor, and wanted the McLean clan to make a kingdom there. Think about it dad, you can be king and mom a queen. My brothers and sisters will be princes and princesses." I said in a hurry.

"So, Aster wants to be a prince?" my mom cooed.

"Mom, don't say it like that," I whined blushing.

"Finish dinner, then to bed," with my dad's last words, my plan has hit its' first stumbling block.

When I got back to the room I was fuming mad. I turned to look at Death of Rabbits and said, "you know… I don't think they believe me."

"What's not to believe," he said in a dead pan voice, "when a five-year-old comes up to me and says he can speak to the gods; I would definitely trust him, and not think he's crazy."

"I know right? Fine, I just need to make a small change of plans. This one is going to be much better," I said, "Death of Rabbits, I need you to go down to the dungeon and select one hundred low level inoculate ghost that are capable of talking to its' host.

"Very well, may I ask what you plan to use them for?"

"Yeah, I plan to use them as systems."

"Systems?"

"Yep, systems," I confirmed. "When you come back, I'll explain more about them," I said. Then as if being squashed to the floor he vanished.

By the time I finished my bath, Death of Rabbits was waiting for me along with fifty inoculate ghost floating around in my room like transparent wisp of smoke. As monsters go, inoculate ghost aren't so bad. They're mainly parasitical creatures feeding off their host; the higher level ones can even take over their host's mind, but that is a very long process.

"Death of Rabbits your back, thank you for your hard work," I praised him. "I need you all to form groups of five with ten ghost in each group," I ordered them and then proceeded to name them according to the labor force that I need in the future.

The first group was called, "The Farming System," who was tasked with finding candidates with plant attributed spiritual roots.

"The Blacksmithing System," was tasked with finding candidates with fire attributed spiritual roots.

"The Alchemy System, Merchant System, and Taylor System," were also tasked with finding candidates with suitable spiritual roots.

"You're probably wondering what this is all about. It's simple, I wish to promote the increase of industry on this planet, so I shall start with this kingdom here. You all will pretend to be Systems, a type of guide that will help your host stay focused on the task at hand using the methods that I shall teach you," I proclaimed. With that done, I begin training them.

"Once you have attached yourself to your host—without being noticed—you need to make them feel special, and remind them that with a little hard work they will soar to the top of success. For that, all you need to do is make a grand announcement like, 'Congratulations host, you have been bestowed the Farming System by a benevolent god who noticed your talents. With it's help you will become a world renowned expert with little effort, '" I told them proudly; stoking a person's pride, vanity, and slothfulness is the best way to trick them.

"Next you need to show them you're the real deal and not some kind of joke, by gifting them something related to the job. For example, you can gift a farmer a watering can or hoe; another would be giving a hammer and anvil to blacksmiths. This should keep them interested for a while. It's your job to keep them focused, try using missions to string them along. When they complete the missions give them two things, first feed them some spiritual essence using spirit stones that I'll provide you with, call it experience points for completing the task. Then give them physical rewards that will help them with their work, the harder the task the better the reward. For example, if they plough the land give them seeds as a reward because it will keep them moving forward. With enough time we can even give them larger land to farm as a reward. If you need anything else just let us know and we'll try to find a way to get it to you, we'll figure something out as we go along," after that long tutorial, I started to hand out the resources that the ghost might need to complete this mission.

"Good luck everyone, you may begin your mission," I said. The inoculate ghost silently left to begin the covert operations.

This is just the first wave, if this works I will send out more systems. Systems for ranching, cooking, or perhaps a system for high end brothels; thinking for the future of mankind sure is difficult.

I'm so excited, I'm sure this is definitely going to work. I turned to Death of Rabbits and asked, "So what do you think, will it work?"

"You gave permission for fifty monsters—who specialize in sucking the life essences from their host—to attach themselves to fifty humans. I can't imagine what could go wrong," he quipped.