The Systemic Lands

Chapter 62: Day 150 (6) – A Long Day

The cart was fine when we exited the dungeon. I had brought Tom down with me and kept him in the back and made Ruth hold a torch. She had been mostly silent after her huge mistake. While other people might not consider it huge, I did and was annoyed with her.

I did the math on her travel time, and she was slow. I considered confronting her about that, but again it was a matter of trust. I could either trust her, or I could grill her metaphorically and strain our relationship. I would continue to wait and watch, for now.

Ee were camped inside the slime forest but in sight of the deadlands beyond for the night. It was way too late to go back. I missed my bed. The large amount of people killing slimes had scampered away for the night, or at least weren’t near us. This brought back memories from when I had been killing slimes so long ago.

Well not that long, but it felt like ages ago. It had been about five months since this had all started. “Sorry.” I looked over at Ruth. “Sorry about forgetting torches.”

“Should charge you for the wasted time and clearing the dungeon for you. But it is fine. Just don’t screw up like that again. Next time it might be your life instead of some wasted time.”

“I know.” We continued to sit in silence as I munched on an apple. My mind was focused on the layout of the Systemic Lands I had discovered so far. I had an inkling of how things were laid out, but I needed more information, a lot more.

I needed more information and shook my head. Time to focus back on my companions. With two people, besides myself, things were going to become even more complicated. I frowned a bit as there was something bothering me.

“How did you manage to ask me a question? I thought you needed crystals otherwise the guards would stop you,” I asked Tom.

“Me?”

“Yes you.”

“Oh well. I heard people talking about you and if there was anyone brave enough to ask you a question. I volunteered in exchange for ten crystals to pay the fee.”

“Clever, so not just a pretty face,” Ruth said while staring intently at Tom.

“Made a small profit for a large amount of risk. Sounds about right for this place,” I said. That was one worry put to bed. The answer felt quick and genuine. It all came down to trust, something I had very little to hand out. I believed in shared interests, not in people’s inherent goodness. This opinion increased dramatically for anyone coming out into the unknown with me.

“So, what were your first days like sir?” Tom asked. Someone was getting comfortable, perhaps too comfortable.

“Hard and dangerous. Hard and dangerous. My advice is to focus your entire being on surviving, you just might.” Tom looked at Ruth. She let out a long sigh.

“Michael might be many things, but he doesn’t lie. The monsters don’t give you second chances or play nice. This isn’t a game or civilization where you can always fall back safely. Ultimately your fate and life are in your hands.” I nodded at that explanation. Most people here didn’t get that or found out too late.

“Also, the cart is expensive, so I don’t leave it behind or get it damaged,” I said.

“The cart, got it,” Tom said.

“So, where to?” Ruth asked.

“We will see. If we can’t proceed to the West, then the situation becomes a lot trickier.” I looked over at Tom who appeared to be confused. “The East has been mostly cut off due what and what is not out there. The Ants stop going straight East, and then to the Southeast, whatever is there is hiding too well. North and South are swamps, which would make travel painful.”

“That leaves West where we are and Northeast. So, we are exploring West, since it offers more opportunities in my mind.” Tom took a moment to work through my explanation and I let him think. The key was to find dungeons. The layout of the Systemic Lands was still eluding me, I almost felt I could see it, but I was still missing too much.

“I need the Wolf Dungeon still,” Ruth said.

“And? First time was me being helpful.”

“You are going to make me pay?” Ruth asked while staring at me.

“Yes. My time is valuable. What I could make from grinding compared to helping someone with a dungeon is quite large. I would say right now my rate is 25,000 points for a day.”

“What?!” Tom was surprised. I glanced at him, and he quickly shut his mouth.

“You will quickly learn that we operate on much different scale, well at least he does for now,” Ruth said.

“It is part of the scaling of this place. I don’t want to talk about it right now, but Ruth is right. Think Elon Musk levels of points to the regular person on the street. You interested?” I highballed myself, since my top earning potential per day was 20,000 points. Still, it didn’t hurt to upsell my services going forward. I had the street cred so to speak.

“It is a lot, but the Shadow Concealment sounds interesting. I need to think on it.”

“Take your time. Once my earning potential goes up, so will my rate.”

“I think you are currently maxed out,” Ruth said.

“Currently.” I couldn’t tell if there was any inuendo in what she said. I just chose not to think about that.

“Very true, I have learned not to underestimate you. It is a lot, and I am nowhere close to the number of upgrades you currently have.”

“Hmm, well it is your choice, but if you do want to go there then I need to plan for that. How many total?” I asked.

“One hundred. A large focus on Body, with a bit in Mind, Spirit, Perception, and Regeneration.” That seemed a bit low in my opinion.

“That seems low for the number of points you should have.”

“Your sense of scale is off. Also, I keep points in reserve, just in case.” I thought about it a bit more and did some mental math. Okay, it wasn’t that low compared to what she had just earned.

“You weren’t investing in stats before?”

“No, people are struggling to get enough to get by. You are the only person who has enough points to invest so heavily into stats. I am probably the person with the most stats after you.” That was surprising.

“Don’t look so surprised. I figured you realized with how you were forcing your weight around.” I mentally winced at that phrasing. I was no longer fat. Still I was sensitive to some things, or the phrasing threw me off.

“You are right. Just didn’t realize the gap was so large.”

“Well, most people just invest into Body if they invest into stats at all. You invest into everything.” That was true. If I invested into just Body, I would be quite…I didn’t know what would happen.

“My speed and reactions, am I pushing superhuman boundaries?”

“Maybe, possibly. I can’t tell.” I looked over at Tom, an athlete.

“Tom, come here. You were a linebacker, right?”

“Yes.” We both got up and he approached me.

“I want us to hold up our hands and push against each other. Interesting to see if the Body stat is doing anything interesting.” He followed my instructions, and he slowly increased the force he was pushing against me.

I was still holding my ground easily enough when Tom spoke up. “That is everything.”

“I am going to push back a bit.” I pushed back and Tom’s arms were slowly pushed back. “Ok, that is enough, let’s ease up.” We both eased up and I looked down at my hands.

“How much Body?” Ruth asked.

“A hundred.” I flexed my arm and looked at it. I looked at Tom. “You weight is over 200 pounds right?”

“About 220.”

“Stand there and turn your back to me. I am going to try and lift you.” Tom did and I lifted him a foot into the air by his waist. I then carefully set him down.

“So superhuman?” I muttered out loud.

“With your body type, then yes.” I looked at Tom. “You didn’t work out before coming here I am guessing.” I nodded at that.

“Your arms are too thin for your level of strength. If you were lifting weights more, they would be thicker. They aren’t pencils, but they aren’t the cannons a person would need to do what you just did.”

“We always knew there was an effect, but it is subtle,” Ruth said. I frowned a bit as I thought about my lack of abs.

“That still doesn’t answer any number of questions. Is the effect linear or exponential? Does it stack on top of a base, multiply, or insure a specific level? My flexibility has been improving with no noticeable jumps, my stretching is probably helping, but does Body impact other things besides force exerted?”

“There is also technique. Sumo and martial arts exist for a reason,” Ruth added.

“Super strength fighting is not the same as regular fighting, if the stuff I have read offers any guidance. There are also different types of superstrength. I need to think on this a lot more,” I said.

“How would you rate him?” Ruth asked Tom.

“I would never expect that level of strength from a person built like him. Legs and torso are solid enough, but the arms…it is a bit freaky.”

“The power of arbitrary numbers,” I muttered and shook my head. “I might need to make Body a priority again, but Perception and Regeneration, it is hard to decide.”

“Not going to keep spreading out the upgrades?” Ruth asked.

“The impact of the various areas is not clear. Perception is critical for staying alive. Can’t kill what I can’t sense or see.”

“Not Regeneration to unleash skills even more quickly?” Ruth asked.

“If I had more skills, then maybe. If we even have a chance at a higher-level dungeon.” My mind went back to the Shadow Pit Dungeon that had exploded. The problem was that I couldn’t kill the venom flies physically, with ease, without being impacted by their gas. I also had nowhere near enough energy or energy regeneration to kill how many had shown up.

If this exploration went poorly, I would have to completely rethink things, or at least grind out a lot more points. A lot of points. Another 200 upgrades would run me about 600,000 points. Having a notebook made it so much easier to work out long term cost projections for upgrades.

Working backward from that target put the cost at 12,000 50-point crystals. If I upped my grind speed to 400 a day, that meant 30 full days of grinding. That was an insane amount of grinding and points. At least compared to before. I am sure future me would look back on the idea as quaint.

It was tempting to just grind away in the same spot without exploring or taking a risk, but that way laid complacency and stagnation. That was the same mindset people used to grind slimes day after day without thinking.

Thinking properly was incredibly hard. Most people lacked the capacity to really think and consider options outside their experience. That was why all the reading I had done over my life was so powerful. It allowed me to consider a much wider range of options and outcomes.

The monsters were dangerous, that was obvious enough. But to me as long as they followed the same patterns and each one behaved like the others of its species, there was only the initial threat of the unknown when testing their combat abilities.

Other people were the real threat. I was past the point of worrying about anyone from Purgatory too much. No, the threat came from people that were based in other cities. If they found a better skill, they would have a huge advantage.

Skills were where the real power and threat lay. Everyone knew about Acid Shot and there was no chance of keeping that a secret. I needed another edge or two in a high-level fight.

A common saying was that the military was always preparing for the previous war and not the next one. Another good example of a lack of critical thinking was the continued underestimation of an insurgency. The fact was that any fight lasted until one side was either completely dead or gave in.

My will could out last the best of them. The problem was when I met my counterpart or someone more skilled at doing what I had done and was currently doing. There was always someone better or stronger out there. Just as I constantly thought over everything, there were people who were more efficient, luckier, or any number of things more than me.

First step, new areas. Second step, new dungeons. Third step, new skills. Fourth step, repeat previous steps.