Janitor - Chapter 2

I could hear the rustle from the door, and the knob turning.

‘Hmm, I think it's time for my plan to go underway, I can only barely sneak out a minuscule amount of Qi from the suppression placed on me, so I’m gonna have to be creative with a contract.’ Cultivation contracts were governed by the heavens, they were pretty simple binding contracts, until a bunch of sweaty power hungry mongrels abused the crap out of them. Now the heavens implemented a rule where the greater the benefits of one side the more Qi you have to pay to make the contract, and since I have almost no Qi at my disposal the other side needs to be getting hella benefits.

‘Hmm, so let me lay out my whole plan, In order to train up subordinates I need to make this system thingy and allow them to grow and get rewards using it; so I will try and create a contract where they consent to me living in their head (rent free) where I can act like a system.

‘On the most pressing matter now… what benefit can the opposing side gain from the contract that would heavily outweigh the access I am gaining to their consciousness? Maybe I will allow them to consume my body-soul if they ever decide to quit/leave the system and guarantee they will not able to suffer any harm from me; I'm just going to have to make sure they stay until I can open up the suppression of the Qi a little more, and then I can make the terms better to ease my stressed-liver.’

I wrote up the contract on the blank backside of the magazine I was using before, and put it near the side of the trashcan.

The man in the green suit came into the closet and flipped on the lights, he scanned around for a mop and walked over to my scroll left in plain sight. ‘The only thing I can do now is cross my fingers…’

The scroll was shimmering in the soft light waiting to be taken and explored… but, it was left waiting, as the janitor glanced over it and didn’t give two shits.

‘Ehh? Usually when there is a mysterious scroll in the cultivation world wars get started in order to claim it, is that not how it works in the mortal world?’

‘It seems like I'm going to have to turn my system voice on and guide this ignorant man to my priceless treasure.’

“STOP” A commanding monotone voice echoed around the room. I think the little trick worked a little too well, since the guy jumped in the air and swung his mop around like a sword god knocking over dawn soap bottles and stray bins.

“Wh-who’s there??” he replied clearly shaken

“It is I, the System, created by the greatest immortal across the 9 heavens ruler of the 95th planet”

“Are you o-one of those cultivators of the legends?”

“Not quite, I am a system that guides lowly cultivators, now heed my advice and read the ancient scroll in front of thee.”

‘hehe my ancient dialect is perfect, there is no way he doubts my profound System status.’

‘What the…’ Confusion rang out in my mind, as the man in front did not submit, instead growling slightly he spit out some hateful words:

“YEAH RIGHT ur no damn immortal System, why the hell would you threaten me with a piece of paper, you damn hospital robber probably the same one that stole the pills yesterday.”

“Now get out here and let papa get a raise” He shouted out.

‘Well I'm screwed..’ this man was one jacked mortal with veins drawing a map around his forearm and his biceps popping out of his overalls. Not only that, but he had his left hand in his pocket looking ready to pull something out at a moment's notice.

“If you a real immortal then show me some proof –why don't ya”

‘Shit, shit, shit.. hmm’ My eyes were scanning all over my brain going into damage prevention mode, I saw a can of pressurized gas that prompted my memory, ‘Umm in martial arenas don’t wind cultivators team with fire cultivators to create extremely effective attacks?’

I picked up the can along with a lighter in my back pocket praying to the heavens that I would make it out alive.

Using the last of my Qi I amplify my voice “If you do not accept the contract in front of you, you will burn you to a crisp”

“You have 5 seconds” My echo effect starts wearing off as I turn on the compressed air, when the gush starts flying out I flick on the lighter.

BOOM, A explosion of fire burst out as alarms start blaring out throughout the hospital.

“UNHOLY SHITT—” The janitor screams and jumps back as I start aiming the fire towards him.

‘I have spent a lot of effort trying to get this subordinate so I can’t afford to kill him.. Im taking a big gamble with this fire, lets just hope he accepts quick’

“Ok-ok I will accept, you can stop the fire now– YOU CAN STOP THE FIRE NOW!”

He freezes up as he undergoes the heavens accepting procedure for contracts, but a contemplative look forms on his face - ‘Shit is he actually reading the terms and conditions?’ my fingers cross tighter hoping he skims.

‘It looks like he’s waiting for me to turn off the fire, probably got some hints from the contract… I see your plan but I can’t turn back.’

I turn the fire toward him faster now and I can see the nervous sweat forming faster on his face, only a couple of inches before the fire hits, and his nervous look turns into pure chaos, his face looking like a poisonous purple potato. ‘I have no Qi to manipulate the fire so If it gets him he’s a goner.’ My lack of control of my one and only chance to gain power makes me almost as nervous as him.

“I ACCEPT” The heavy words cut through the room as I feel something fundamentally change inside my body, modified by the will of the universe.

But it’s too late, the fire has already reached his face, singing his eyebrows with its blue might…

‘-Or is it too late HAHAHAHA, it looks like my gamble paid off, even If I don’t have the power to manipulate fire, one of the rules in the contract is that I'm not allowed to harm the body or soul of the participant in any manner.’ Damaging the body was definitely something fire could do, so the heavens would not permit it, bending the fire around his head in the last moments, saving his precious soul from demise.

I could start feeling the effects of the contract now, a shred of my consciousness was painfully ripped off and was now being integrated into the young man's skull.

‘OK-ok it's finally happening, calm down– calm the @#$% down! Remember back to the novel, what did the system say at first again? It issued a quest or something, let me try that out.’

“Hello, Welcome to the Mortal-God System,” I said into the man's head.

‘Damn I was under too much pressure and I came up with a dumb ass name.’

[First Quest Issued: Put out fire]

Difficulty: F

Contents: A fire has started in the janitor's closet, extinguish this fire…

*this is a multipart quest complete first section to continue*

Reward: ~Calculating~

This time in order to emulate a quest system I just sent an info packet directly into his noggin. I also had access to the man’s consciousness, feeling his raw emotions, a mix of shock, awe, terror, and a whole lot of confusion.

‘Hmm, the best thing to do here is to elaborate on what he has to do, but at the same time I need to make sure to maintain my status as a System, and In the novel I read the system never elaborated and was kind of a dick, so I guess I can’t really help out.’

So instead I tapped into the man's thoughts and listened to what he was about to do, I pressured my will into the cerebral cortex and comensenced the consciousness switch.

**Janitor’s Perspective**

|Shit, what the hell is happening.|

It all started with the goddamn pill rober maniac yesterday, all this morning I've been having this shitty feeling in my heart - that something bad is going to happen. Well I don’t know if it is something bad exactly, but when I opened my janitor's closet minding my own business, I was ganged up by some kind of omniscient system thingy. My Ma always told me to be careful of those cultivators since they got so much power, but does that apply to the “System” too?

Well whatever, I wouldn’t have to be in this mess if I wasn’t so lazy and unfocused, and actually could read a single damn word in my engineering textbook back when I was in college, but no– now I have to do this crappy janitor job for minimum wage.

Well it is my fault in the end, Ma always told me you gotta shovel yourself out of the shit you shat - so I guess it's time to play firefighter.

I mean the quest did say it had a reward so maybe I would get a few bucks out of this whole thing -if nothing else.

|What the hell should I do now? Hmm let's see, there is some water in the mop bucket, but most spilled when I got spooked before. I can use some metal sheets as well to cut off oxygen or maybe go out where there is an actual sprinkler system and collect some water.|

Oh yeah I completely forgot that the real firefighters are on their way and there probably people running around in panic thinking there was some terrorist attack or something. Well whatever I guess it's time to put this shit out.

Swapping back…

**Jay (System)**

‘Well I’m back, this consciousness shit is cool as hell, albeit disorienting, and why does this guy go on long monologue/flashbacks so often.’ I rocked back to my own consciousness and started controlling the janitor's senses now, looking at what was probably the world record time for killing a fire. ‘Even if he has no talent for engineering he does have some hella firefighter skills; wait didn’t he say that he had trouble focusing, maybe I can give him some of those “Adderall” pills I stole, they made me stay up all night focused on reading that shitty book.

‘Well now that the fire was as good as gone it seems like it's time to give him the next part of the quest.’

[Put out fire, Part 1 ✓, completed]...

[Put out fire, Part 2]

Contents: The Firefighters have just arrived and the hospital is in disarray, convince everyone that it was just an accident and do not allow them to search the closet

[Rewards for quest finished calculating]

Rewards: 1 lesser focus improvement pill

I spit the info packet out making sure it got delivered to the right processing area in the janitor's mind.

And heard a thought in response:

|What the hell does calming down the hospital have to do with fighting a fire? Why is it part of the same quest?|

‘Well shit he's catching on, but I guess it's a good time to establish systems dickhead persona.’

I talked using the system's robotic voice, “Answering the host, this part of the quest has to do with putting out metaphorical fires… (answer complete, exit 1).”

|Oh cool, you can answer me? Hello say 1 to test please|

‘Haha kid, it's not that easy, my System bible tells me to only respond when it benefits me and/or annoys you, so you better hold onto your pants and suck your thumb.’

‘Well I guess now's as good a time as any to reflect on what the hell I need to do, and let this guy go on damage control mode in the hospital’

‘I mean the system definitely helps motivate people at some level so might as well make a quest log of my own to track my progress/ todos’

I fuzz back to my original self with a small chunk of consciousness missing.

I take out notepad and scribbled down the date: 11/12/13

[Quest: Gain subordinate ✓, complete]

Quest Takeaways:

Keep the fricking subordinates in full control if they leave the system then you die Keep fake persona to make sure the subordinates don't doubt you Always keep cool stuff on hand for rewards Other stuff I’m too lazy to write down

My eyes start closing remembering that I haven’t slept for 48hours straight along with suffering wounds from a car crash.. the room gets darker as I drift away without consent, fearing the worst for what will happen in my sleep.