Seized by the System

To Nie Renkuang, the weak spot of Persona Partition would have been the alter ‘Flight’ who had always held him back and prevented him from doing his best.

However, in Fang Ning’s perspective, this was the essence of Persona Partition.

It was also why he took an interest in the technique.

No matter what situation he was facing, he would want to have a reliable escape plan before he could plan further.

This would help him stay at the pinnacle of invincibility.

Sayings like ‘to find a way out of impasse’ and ‘to fight with your back against the river’ ¹ would never happen to Fang Ning.

Fang Ning was sure that he could cultivate his ‘Flight’ alter. His Dream-Cultivation Method would definitely be smooth sailing.

That was because he had plenty of ways to trick this alter to cultivate for him while he slept…

Otherwise, he would not have chosen to work overtime. He had enough excuses to avoid working even if the System said it would force him.

However, to make sure he could have a stress-free future, he needed to do this. As soon as his Dream-Cultivation Method had succeeded, he would be free to sleep in the day and play games at night.

His life would have been perfect…

After two hours of working overtime, Fang Ning stood up and wandered around, eventually entering the Draconic Arcane Realm.

Different from the darkness outside, due to the formation setup, the Draconic Arcane Realm would always be filled with light.

The System who was arresting petty criminals made a face. “I didn’t know you humans meant that you can just wander around when you work overtime.”

Fang Ning responded by pulling his own face. “I’m doing creative work, not coding or speccing. What I’m doing now is searching for inspiration.

“You know, a forced overtime would only create a pile of garbage codes that were only written to handle whatever standard you were asked to do, and wouldn’t allow people to create an optimized and creative code.”

The System said, “I don’t want to know… I just think you are procrastinating again.”

Fang Ning was speechless. “Your tone of voice and attitude is exactly the same as my ex-bosses. They all thought the same, and the only thing they get at the end of the day were garbage. You don’t want garbage techniques, do you?”

The System answered uncertainly, “Oh, if that’s the case, you better look for your inspiration.”

So, Fang Ning continued to wander in the Draconic Arcane Realm.

It had been a while, and the third floor had turned into a sea of flowers and herbal crops. The scents of different herbs and bright colors of the flowers flooded his senses, accompanied with fluttering butterflies.

Seeing the butterflies, Fang Ning had an idea. ‘What if I invite the Spiritual Insect Clan to work for me?

‘They were just flying around anyway. If they can help with the pollination of the crops, it would definitely increase the production of the herbs. So many of the herbs now are from imported from seeds.’

He then decided to set the idea aside, as usual, thinking he would do it when he had time.

In the sea of herbs and flowers, a group of humanoids was busy working.

They were the Whitestone people. When Fang Ning approached, no one greeted him, focusing instead on the work in their hands.

Some of them were cleaning the herbal garden and pulling out weeds, others were washing the water channel, while the rest were taking care of each individual plant.

The Whitestone people might be square-headed, but they were meticulous and move with an agility of an old farmer.

They were a long-lived clan, each one of them had been working in the farm for several hundred years…

From Anderson’s report, he realized that to Whitestone people, farming was actually planting vitality crops.

Regular food could provide no nutrients to them as they were not regular creatures.

Therefore, Whitestone people were one of the best farmers in the Upper Realm.

No one on Earth could compare to them in this regard. It was no wonder many bosses flocked to recruit them. Aside from aiming for their honesty, many people probably wanted them for their green thumbs.

The only thing was that they were so square-headed, they would not even greet their boss.

On that end, they lost to Anderson.

Fang Ning did not mind. He nodded his head as he saw his younger self in them.

Whenever his bosses came to check on his progress, he would lower his head, hoping his bosses would move along quickly. It was so unlike most other people who would approach the bosses and talk to them about their work.

From then on, Fang Ning had understood that charismatic people had an advantage in the commercial world, even if two people may be similarly skilled.

However, he did not change, he was lazy to change. He was just a lonesome person without anything to tie him down, so he lived true to himself.

Would honest people be taken advantage of?

Fang Ning thought, ‘At least, not here.’

He liked honest people.

It was the same when he tasked his foolish-but-loyal black dog, Brett, with the most important mission of all.

The phone that served as a summoning device was loaded full of his trust toward the black dog.

After all, that was his and the System’s last resort.

Anderson did not greet him today. It was not that he became square-headed after hanging out with the Whitestone people, but he was leading the team in the spiritually-controlled mech tournament, so he could not make it…

Scanning around, Fang Ning could see that the vitality crops were thriving. None of them had shown any signs of shriveling, showing the Whitestone people’s skill and the effort they put in.

Among the many herbs under their care, the plant that flourished the most was the old wild ginseng the System swiped.

It had not been moved to the Draconic Arcane Realm for very long, but Fang Ning could tell it already grew a whole size larger.

It was leafy and green, with parts of its roots peeking out of the ground. Vigor overflowed and spilled out from its trunk.

It outshone the other vitality crops as it was head and shoulders above them. The moment anyone placed their eyes on it, it would be imprinted into their brain.

The ginseng used up a whole garden on its own. No other herbs had been planted within a hundred meters of it, not even weeds could be seen in that area.

There was also a faint air of dominance around it, as expected of the king of herbal plants.

Even regular ginseng had very specific needs to the ground in which it was planted as it absorbs a lot of nutrients from the earth.

After a season of planting ginseng, the area would be required to rest for a long time before ginseng could be planted again.

Vitality-ginseng was even fussier than that.

After reading Anderson’s report, Fang Ning understood that in the expenditure regarding the System’s herb garden, most of it had been spent on the old ginseng.

The bulk of the money had been spent on purchasing all kinds of fertilizers. With only the earth’s nutrients and the vitality in the atmosphere, it would not have been enough for it to grow.

That was also why the System had been keeping its eyes on Fang Ning’s income. They could earn a lot, but they had a lot to spend, with each investment being a money sink.

The System could earn at least several hundred million yuan per appearance, but its expenditure was so constant, not even mountains of gold and silver could keep the money in.

It was not a surprise to say that many people were heartbroken when the System swiped it off the Truth Department from the Land of Heritage.

After all, the Truth Department had taken care of it for ten years, so the money they spent on it can only be more than what Fang Ning had spent.

At the moment, two Whitestone people were in charge of taking care of the ginseng along with the former Truth Department farmer, Zhao Xin.

She was examining each leaf carefully to make sure no insects were growing on it. After all, the more potent and nutritious a plant is, the easier for insects to take advantage of it.

Ginseng was especially loved by many types of insects.

If insects were able to take a few bites off the giant ginseng, they would definitely turn into a local Chong Daqing.

A Whitestone person had some ocher-colored aura around it. He was most likely detecting the growth of the roots through earth-based powers.

The other Whitestone person was slowly working the fertilizers into the soil, burying them around the ginseng.

Fang Ning did not make a sound or ask them to give him an update about when the ginseng would finish its growth…

He just stared at the ginseng quietly, standing there.

Before long, the ginseng began moving. It swayed toward Fang Ning’s direction and shook its leaves.

Every leaf seemed to want to ingratiate Fang Ning.

Fang Ning was surprised. The three honest people who were taking care of it did not know how to talk to their boss, but this old ginseng knew to do that.

Zhao Xin and the two Whitestone people stopped their work, similarly taken aback.

It was then that they realized Fang Ning was standing there. They greeted Fang Ning simultaneously and stood there stiff like a board.

Fang Ning waved his arm, indicating that they need not constrict themselves and that they can continue with their work.

The Whitestone people looked like they were pardoned from execution and immediately continued their work again.

Zhao Xin was slightly better, as she had some systemic training when she was still in the Truth Department.

She approached Fang Ning and explained, “Sir, the old ginseng has a high predisposition to spirituality, I think it should become sapient really soon. Its movement probably suggests that you have something it wants that can help it grow.”

Fang Ning thought for a little and took out several Dragon Clan’s secret pills…

As expected, the old ginseng immediately rattled and beckoned, suggesting that it wanted to eat them.

“The big guy really is going to turn into a sprite soon,” sighed Fang Ning as he placed one pill on the ground near the ginseng.

Before long, he could see two thick roots prodded out and disappeared back into the soil dragging the white pill with them.

After that, the ginseng quietened and stopped moving, taking the moment to digest the pill.

The System suddenly interrupted and said, “Richman, look at it, don’t you think my ginseng looks awesome?”

Fang Ning shook his head. “I don’t want to look at it.”

The System said, “…What?”

Fang Ning was speechless. He explained, “With its current state, it does look awesome. If it could become sapient, its future would be immeasurable. After all, plenty of bosses in the world like smarter things.”

The System said, “Its future is immeasurable, but right now, its expenditure is a lot. A single herb like that is comparable to the sum of all the other herbs in the entire place. Richman, lend me money…”

Fang Ning said in disbelief, “I’ve just lent it to you, and now you’re asking for more? Does my account even have more money to lend? No, there’s not a lot.”

The System persuaded, “Your account doesn’t have much money right now, but after Anderson and Lei Tian finished this season’s spiritually-controlled mech tournament, the prize money would fly in like snowflakes in deep winter.”

Fang Ning rolled his eyes. “That’s right, they would fly in like snow and immediately become like water and flow over to you, isn’t it?”

The System agreed. “Only rich people like you would understand me.”

Fang Ning suddenly jerked. His face was rigid as he said, “I have an idea. Don’t disturb me, I wanna go back to work overtime, I’m confident this will work.”

The System said bitterly, “You can just tell me if you don’t want to lend me money, you know, no need for flimsy excuses like this…”

Fang Ning ignored it as he rushed into the System Cyber Cafe. He started typing furiously, projecting an aura of busyness.

He was not trying to get out of lending money to the System, he really had an idea.

The idea came about from the old, yet-to-be-sapient ginseng who still managed to behave so actively.