A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

REALM 145

Chàng Bo wasn't usually the type of person who ever regretted his immediate actions, but right at this moment he really was seriously regretting his decision. To give context to this situation we shall journey back to a few moments earlier…

Realising he was now back in Realm 145, Chàng Bo immediately looked around Mao Lu's residence, but the place was empty. All that greeted him was a few months’ worth of dust.

"He's not back, that means Argenti still has him." Chàng Bo scowled but he quickly let go of his anger, there was no point to it. He neither had the current ability to go to Realm 1 or the strength to survive there, let alone go and retrieve Mao Lu. Also, Mao Lu was a Gatekeeper. Argenti may have wanted to get him out of the way but there was no way she was planning on killing Mao Lu, if she had been planning to kill Mao Lu there would have been no way she would have gone to all the effort of putting on that big charade and whisking him away.

In the meantime, whilst Mao Lu coped with whatever training Argenti was putting him through, Chàng Bo's time was better-spent training and consolidating his strength. For the moment he was still far too weak, he was still in the early stage of the Dao stage, although he felt his strength approaching the mid-level of the Dao stage, a Dao stage practitioner was still a child compared to the great powers that existed out there, especially towards a Gatekeeper. He needed to get stronger his current progress was far too slow.

Of course, if any other practitioner had heard Chàng Bo's complaints they would have straight out spat blood. For the average practitioner, it would take them several thousands of years to reach the Dao stage, a talent would take at least one thousand years averagely, yet here was Chàng Bo, a 100-year-old practitioner at the Dao stage complaining about his slow progress.

Chàng Bo opened up the sovereign system:

Skills

Supernova lvl 70/100

Starlight lvl 50/100

Celestial dance 63/100

Angel flight 80/100

Heaven's Grace 25/100

Stats

Fate points: 10/10, 000 [Warning! Low points]

Health: 100/100

Strength: 800/1000 – 200 more strength to reach mid-point Dao stage

Mission

Deepen the Bond: Progress 35%

His skills had definitely improved. Especially his skill Supernova, after the battle with the Irregularity Chàng Bo had had the opportunity to push that skill to its limit and he'd even progressed in it.

Supernova was a high tier skill that only celestial essence practitioners of the Ancestor stage would dare start training since it was so destructive. Chàng Bo's Supernova wasn't the regular supernova skill either, he'd used the sovereign system and plenty of fate points to level up his Supernova skill from that of a High Tier to a God Tier skill. It was a very hard spell to control and to train, he'd put most of his resources for the last fifty years into levelling up that one skill and had only managed to get it to 50/100 in mastery, yet in that single fight, it had improved to 70/100.

Chàng Bo was itching to practice it more, but to do that he'd need to travel to another realm, one that he could trash and use as his training ground without any consequences.

Additionally, Chàng Bo needed a ton more fate points. With the low amount of points, he currently had, he could probably only open the system two more times, let alone upgrade all his skills and do the crazy amounts of cultivation that he was planning.

"I need to get a ton of fate points before anything else," he muttered, "time to start changing some people’s fates."

The easiest ways to change people's fates were to do something drastic, something that wouldn't just impact the people involved but also impact many others as a repercussion. But what could that be? What should he do?

It wasn't like he could go on a killing spree here; he knew Mao Lu would hate that, and it wasn't like he could cause some huge event. Hypnos had given him a cloaking device but that didn't mean he should be too brazen.

If he made himself too obvious, then he'd be a walking target, and it wasn't just the Gatekeepers after him. It was these Creators or agents from the Endless Plains as well. He didn't know what those people from the Real Realm were like but if Hypnos, who easily saved him from Creed, was scared of these creators than they weren't people to be messed with.

But he couldn't just lay low, he needed fate points. With fate points, he could purchase boosters from the sovereign system. One booster was worth 3,000 fate points, a single booster could drastically upgrade a skill or improve his progress in that skill by 1 depending on the level of that skill. For example, Angel's flight was his lowest tier skill, being an earth tier skill.

One booster could improve it by one point, but with a skill like Supernova, he'd need 20 boosters to level it up by 1 point. This was one of the reasons why it had taken his so long to upgrade the Supernova skill. Of course, normal training improved the skill, but improving by 1 point without a booster was equal to five- or ten-years’ worth of training for Chàng Bo, and he didn't have that kind of time. Additionally, one booster was worth five points in strength.

If Chàng Bo wanted to break through quickly he needed a ton of fate points. He wished he could complete the 'Deepen the Bond' mission now, the idea of unlimited fate points was far too tantalising.

Of course, this method had its drawbacks, quickly upgrading his skills or strength made his foundations weak, this was the reason why he had taken 100 years to get to the Dao stage, he usually accumulated fate points and used them slowly whilst taking the time to solidify his foundation.

What could he do to upgrade himself quickly without harming his foundations?

Chàng Bo casually spent five points and scrolled through The Sovereign system store. There was a large portion of the store that was still locked to him, he wouldn't be able to see them until he reached higher stages. Chàng Bo scrolled through the various, skills, potions, and manuals in frustration before he asked, "Sovereign System, is there any way I can cheat the system, I want to solidify my foundation and level up quickly, I don't care what the cost is, if there's an option I'll take it."

Chàng Bo waited for a moment, at first he thought the system simply ignored him and that there was no real way to cheat the system, but just as he was about to sigh, the system's screen crackled in front of his eyes, like there was some type of interference.

Ominously red text appeared on the screen. It said, "Do you really want to cheat the system?"

Seeing these words, Chàng Bo involuntarily shuddered, there was something evil about these words, he felt cautious. There was much he didn't know about the system. From what he'd learnt from Hypnos, he'd owned the system long before his Mother had given it to him. He'd even fought to the death and even badly disfigured Hypnos for it. It must have some dark history. The system was created by One, the same man who had made the 400 realms, who knew what sinister aims this system really had.

Chàng Bo momentarily hesitated before replying, "Yes, I want to cheat the system."

The screen in his eyes yet again crackled, rips appearing on the edges as red text appeared yet again, "Are you willing to pay the same price?"

"Willing to pay the same price? … Chàng Bo was confused, what price. Was this something his previous incarnation had paid.

The text changed, "You currently don't have full control over me, not like you used to. With full control, you can use the system without limits."

Chàng Bo squinted in suspicion, "What was the previous price I paid?"

The red text changed again, "Your fate, give me your fate and you will own the system."

To Chàng Bo the red text smelt metallic and dripped like blood, he felt like he was staring into a deep bloodthirsty abyss. Chàng Bo had never met a demon before, but he'd heard rumours of them, maybe they existed in the Real Realm as well.

What if One never made the Sovereign System but instead sealed something with ungodly power within it? Was this thing trying to bargain with him, his soul in exchange for power? Had the previous him really made such a deal? if he had he must have not done it easily. Chàng Bo knew himself, one thing he loved the most was control, control of his life and his fate especially.

"If I paid such a price before why I don’t have the power to control you now?" he asked.

The screen crackled with static for a long moment before the red text changed and said, "You died, fate became negligible your fate has now changed."

Chàng Bo's eyes squinted into a narrow line; he knew when something was lying to him.

"Maybe another time, for now, I'll just get the fate points normally." He said.

The screen crackled before the red text simply read. "The option is always open," before the screen went back to normal.

Chàng Bo appeared normal on the outside but on the inside, he was deeply disturbed. The Sovereign System was definitely more sinister than it seemed, but then again behind anything as powerful and as fate changing as a system, there had to be something quite evil behind it. He'd been too naive before to think otherwise.

"I guess I'll just do some good deeds for now." Chàng Bo thought. It was at that moment that Chàng Bo remembered Mao Lu's friends. Mao Lu had asked him before they parted, to go check in on his friends. Chàng Bo could go see them and maybe he could even gain some small points by helping them out whilst he thought of something he could do.

With a new goal, Chàng Bo smiled to himself before changing clothes from his currently ragged outfit and into a pair of slim chino trousers and a jumper. He strapped the golden sword he'd still been holding around his waist, and then ran out of Mao Lu's house.

As he passed the Vermillion gates, just as he was about to turn and leave, he saw Mao Lu's car. It was the black Maserati Gran Turismo. It had been parked for several months so there was a thin layer of dust and some bird droppings on the roof. Chàng Bo's eyes sparkled when he saw it, he'd always wanted to drive that car. "It can't be that hard. If Mao Lu can do it so can I." Chàng Bo smiled to himself as he ran back into the house and found Mao Lu's car keys.

He waved his hands, causing the dust and bird poop on the car to turn into stardust that blew away in the wind, it sparkled clean like it was brand new. Chàng Bo excitedly opened the car door and jumped into the driver's seat. He remembered what Mao Lu had done and buckled his seat belt and started the engine. As Chàng Bo felt the car reverberate as the engine started, he smiled childishly.

"Wait where do his friends even live?" Chàng Bo wondered, he realised he hadn't actually gone to visit them, "Oh it doesn't matter" Chàng Bo shrugged it off, he knew a few methods to track down people easily, and who cared, he was finally getting to drive this car.

He tentatively moved the gear stick like he'd seen Mao Lu do, and then stepped on a pedal. The car went backwards.

Chàng Bo laughed out loud as he managed to reverse the car out of the parking spot and onto the main road. He then moved to the other pedal and the car shot forward.

It was at this point that Chàng Bo realised he'd lost control, he tried moving the steering wheel, but the car was swerving violently.

As he moved onto the busy road, several times he nearly crashed, only narrowly avoiding it by using magic to move the car just in time. "How do I stop this thing!!!" he yelled as his feet hit several of the pedals all at once.

The car started making a jarring sound and it didn't stop, it only got faster.

Chàng Bo instantly regretted his decision.