The Systemic Lands

Chapter 514: Day 4,817 – Michelle

Michelle

I wanted it.

It was a stupid thought, but that level 7 monster enthralled me. Its massive body, its immense power. The Molten Millipede of Fear And Destruction. The endowed name was something that rang through my very soul.

After spending a decade on working out monster abilities, battling with monsters, and teaming up with Emperor Michael, I knew exactly what I wanted out of my monsters. The key thing was power. If I had such a level 7 monster, then we could blast our way to the top of a tower. No stupid climbing, traps, or puzzles.

It wasn’t going to happen unfortunately. I had been less than useless. I had tried my skill Puppet Strings on the monster and it just shrugged them off like it was nothing. Even with it being a level 6 skill that had been upgraded.

I wanted to ask for the skill point, but getting an idea of the cost of a level 7 skill was important. The skill numbering system might be off slightly, since it was based on the boss monster of the zone not the level of a zone. Unlike endowed names, levels assigned to skills were a human construct.

Sitting on the roof of the Imperial Palace, I enjoyed the calm peaceful weather and kept an eye on both my level 6 monsters next to me with the limited energy in the air. I rested a hand on the consolidated piece of the Infinite Block. It was by far the most versatile, but it wasn’t that strong in any one area. I could make use of it, but preventing excessive damage from building up would be tricky.

Its self-repair abilities were limited. The Book Of Curses, was sealed up tight as well. Neither one would be useful for long if I began using them. Hopefully I wouldn’t be forced to deploy them with the city upgrade. Preparations were already being made this far out. Announcements and warnings going out ahead of time.

“Another chilled mimosa,” I said to the servant nearby as I lounged on a chair. They quickly scurried away. It felt amazing to have servants and be this important. But it came with a cost. I was looking at other bug type creatures at the lower levels and thinking about the level 7 monster.

That beam attack was more powerful than that annihilation beam combination that Michael did. The problem was getting close to such a monster and restraining it for a hundred minutes. I shook my head at that. It wouldn’t be possible unfortunately.

My use on the team was quickly reaching a limit. The others might not see it, but I knew that Michael knew. He was no idiot. The power of a level 7 monster was immense. It could energy speak as well. I shivered despite the warm air at the memory of its screeching voice.

The problem was the power gap. A team made limited sense going forward. With the power gap to a level 7 monster. Michael would need to be fighting and beating level 8 monsters before we could think about capturing level 7 monsters.

Level 6 monsters were paper against the power of a level 7. A mimosa was handed to me, and the servant stepped away to the side. I sipped the drink enjoying the utter luxury it represented. The mimosa was worth 5,000 points to make and purchase out in the city.

A rare luxury that required a lot of work and preparation to make. It would be tracked against my expense account, which was fairly generous. I sipped the fruity alcoholic beverage while thinking about how I would get myself up to a combat level of 7.

Right now, I was a mid 6 to a high 6 in terms of combat level. But there was a huge gap between 6 and 7 just like there was a gap between 3 and 4. The power of the monster’s endowed name was possibly a clue to greater powers and understanding. I just needed to tame one.

I patted the pouch on my side as reassurance. I had recovered the point crystal while everyone was focused on the skill crystal. I had brought it up to Michael, but he said I could keep it unless it was going to be cashed in. I wasn’t going to cash it in.

Summoning such a monster would require 10,000,000 energy and 1,000,000 energy per second in terms of upkeep. It was an insane amount if I did crystal summoning. But progress was being made in the development of energy storage and transmission.

Jacob Copper had a number of unique ideas. I should speak with him and see if there was a way to create batteries to support the cost of a level 7 summon. I sipped my mimosa and considered such a tactic. The batteries would have to be nearby to prevent resonance decay and any kind of interruption.

Perhaps tying things into the airship batteries would be possible. Well Michael wouldn’t like that. Any risk to the Crystal Vortex he got quite annoyed. I looked over my notes on the level 7 monster. I already knew what was written down, but my imagination was quite active.

If I wanted to keep drinking mimosas, I couldn’t be useless. We would eventually go after other level 7 monsters and I would need to be ready. I know Michael was thinking about grinding heavily, but he was sure to poke level 7 monsters with his grinding in a level 6 zone.

He had taken quite a bit of curse damage from drawing on the energy in the air, but his attack was impressive, incredibly impressive. But the drawbacks were equally large. Curse damage was no joke. Just resisting the immense heat of the zone was difficult. The energy given off by the level 7 monster was like a miniature sun, it was so much.

The other issue was figuring out which skill I wanted to upgrade to level 7. There were a limited number of higher-level zones from what we could tell. That meant picking the skills to be upgraded was very important, since I would be stuck with them.

I considered my options carefully. Puppet Strings was a must to counter any counter summoners. With it at level 6, I could take control of level 5 monsters. If it was upgraded to level 7, then I could control level 6 monsters. It would provide needed support for battles against level 7 monsters and a counter if they were a summoner.

It was something we had all discussed, but there was a sense of curiosity at what kind of skill a level 7 zone would give from its level 8 boss. With there being a jump in monsters and how skills were presented in level 4 zones, it stood to reason there would be a corresponding skip in skills from a level 6 to a level 7 zone.

But that was far off in the future. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how one would fight multiple Molten Millipedes of Fear And Destruction. Just fighting one was a massive headache and only Michael was able to do anything.

I sipped my mimosa and contemplated my options going forward and how battles would play out. I would have to look at grinding quickly, sweeping an entire level 5 zone in one go if we went to grinding. That would be about 50 million points. The biggest limitation would be my supporting stats. It had been getting harder to control level 6 monsters.

Summoning a level 7 monster through the ritual method, would be highly dangerous if I didn’t have the stats to subdue it. I would need to double my stats. That was about 70 billion points. That was what would be needed at a minimum to make a difference in level 7 battles. About five years’ worth of effort to get to that point.

The mimosa was a soothing balm on my frustrations as I considered this immense gap that needed to be overcome. Michael had been right that we needed to see a level 7 monster to understand the challenge in front of us and what was needed to defeat them.

Once we could handle level 7 monsters with ease, then we could finally confirm the outer reaches of the Systemic Lands and see if there was an exit or portal back to Earth. I had hope that one day we would succeed. I finished off my mimosa and a servant rushed over with a tray.

“Another one Monster Master Michelle?” they asked politely.

“No, leave me,” I replied. They bowed and left. I used to be nervous about ordering people around, but after you battle countless horrors created by the Almighty System, nothing much would phase me anymore. The level 7 monster had come close, but I had been mentally ready for something completely over the top.

Also, I wanted to avoid a mimosa habit. Two a day was more than enough while we were back in the capital. This corner of the Imperial Palace’s roof was my spot to relax. Other people would come up here occasionally, but I didn’t bother with them. Bureaucrats and high-ranking soldiers came up here to enjoy the lounge area that had been set up. People on their meal breaks when Clarissa wasn’t cracking the whip at them.

The first thing I would need to do was to speak to Jacob Copper about flesh batteries. I hadn’t been interested before, but things were reaching the point that it was something to consider. He had done a good job with the capture boxes.

I had been mulling over the problem for a while of level 7 combat. It was time to sort things out and stop mopping in disappointment about my failure. The Eclipsing Moon had taken a single attack and had been destroyed.

It was aggravating to lose such a useful monster, but it had played its purpose in blocking a single attack. I needed to increase my own power so I could capture level 6 monsters on my own. Another problem I would have to think about. I began packing up my notes. It was starting to get late.

I wanted to freshen up for dinner since it was expected for our team to be there. We could skip out nights, but that would have to be communicated. I got up and stretched, moving the level 6 monsters to a satchel at my side. There were no issues there thankfully. The moment I fully stood up and left my lounge chair, a soldier fell into step beside me.

They weren’t protecting just me, but ensuring a move wasn’t made on the Rods Of Taming. A level 6 monster set loose inside the city would be a complete and utter disaster. After the disaster of level 4 monsters in the Monster Battle Arena, they were no longer allowed. The risk was just too high. A shame, since they would have been an interesting diversion.