The clock was approaching eleven in the morning.
Yuan Lin woke up not to the sound of his annoying alarm clock, but to the sunbeams seeping through his cheap curtains.
He stretched in his bed and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction.
There was no work to go to, no manager to yell at him, no printers waiting for him to save them from a paper jam.
This was the life of a true lord. A life of freedom and sovereignty.
"Alright," he thought as he got out of bed and headed to his computer. "Today's plan: I'll do an eight-hour intensive cultivation session, level up significantly, and then devise a plan for world domination. But first..."
He spent the next two hours watching videos of people building mud huts in the wilderness, then another hour reading heated debates about the ending of a popular sci-fi series.
His old nature as a professional procrastinator was fiercely resisting his new ambitions as a demonic lord.
His mind knew he should be cultivating, but his body and soul yearned for the trivial internet pleasures he had denied himself.
Finally, he felt that familiar pang in his gut. It wasn't a hunger for food, but a hunger for energy. The small wisp of Qi in his body was demanding fuel.
He groaned lazily. "Alright, alright, time to get to work."
He dragged himself to the living room and sat cross-legged on the floor.
He took out one of his precious `[Lesser Soul-Soothing Incense]` sticks and lit it. The calming, herbal scent spread through the air, and he felt the noise in his mind quiet down a bit.
He closed his eyes and sank into his consciousness.
He began the arduous and boring process of pulling energy from the remnants of the `[Chaos Orchid]` and filtering it through the `[Mind Fortress]` skill he had bought.
The process was slow and required absolute concentration. He watched his progress through the system interface.
[Orchid Energy Assimilation Progress: 15%... 16%...]
[Cultivation Progress: 0.0094%... 0.0095%...]
It was like watching a loading bar for a program from the 1990s.
"My god, this is boring," he thought after what felt like an eternity. "At least at work, I could pretend to be focused while Browse the internet. Here, if I lose my focus, I might accidentally absorb a phantom memory of a mental patient and spend the rest of the day thinking I'm a chicken."
After three hours of this hard "work," he felt mentally drained.
He opened his eyes and felt another kind of hunger. A real hunger this time. His stomach was roaring.
He went to the refrigerator and opened it. It was completely empty, except for a bottle of ketchup and the sad refrigerator light. He had completely forgotten to buy groceries.
He stood in the middle of his kitchen, facing the toughest decision of his day.
Option one: Get dressed, go downstairs, walk to the supermarket, buy food, come back, then cook. This required effort and interaction with other human beings.
Option two: Order a pizza.
"The decision is clear," he thought decisively. "A true lord does not go to the supermarket. A true lord orders his servants to bring him food." In his case, his "servant" was the anonymous pizza delivery guy.
He took out his phone (the cheap replacement he'd bought), but then paused. Why bother Browse through apps?
He summoned his mental interface. "System, find the best two-for-one pizza deal in my delivery range."
The results appeared before him instantly. He found a perfect deal. A spicy pepperoni pizza, and two of them for a good price.
He called the restaurant. "Hi, I'd like to order the Burning Volcano deal... Yes, two of them... No, no, they're both for me."
After ending the call, he sat on the sofa, awaiting the arrival of his victim... or rather, his meal. He felt pleased with himself. He had used a cosmic system to find himself a discount on pizza. This was true power.
He was wondering if he could use his `[Leadership Aura]` to get a free soda with the order when the doorbell rang.
"That was fast!" he thought with surprise.
He used his `[Perception]` to check the door. He saw the normal, stressed-out aura of the delivery guy.
Just as he was getting up to open the door, his entire mental interface flashed a bright, crimson red, accompanied by a blaring alarm in his head.
This wasn't just a regular chat notification. This was a message of a completely different kind.
[!!! URGENT ALERT - FACTION SUMMONS !!!]
Yuan Lin felt his heart stop.
[Demon Monarch Wu Tian has initiated the "Blood Oath Summoning" ritual. He requires the Lord's immediate attention and guidance. The matter is of the utmost importance.]
"Blood Oath Summoning?" Yuan Lin whispered, feeling the blood drain from his face. That term alone sounded extremely bad. Wu Tian wasn't the type for drama. If he had resorted to something with such a majestic name, a real catastrophe must have occurred in the Gray Chaos World.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang again, this time more impatiently.
"Pizza delivery!" a muffled voice shouted from behind the door.
Yuan Lin stood in the middle of the hallway, frozen in place.
In front of him was a door separating him from a hot, delicious pepperoni pizza.
And inside his head was an emergency summons from a demon king who might be on the verge of starting an interdimensional war.
His comfortable, lazy world had just collided with his dangerous, demonic world in the most absurd way possible.
And he had to choose.
The pizza... or the cosmic catastrophe?
For a hungry Lord of Chaos, the decision was harder than it looked.