The Systemic Lands

Chapter 70– Day 164 – Rematch

We reached the vine area of the cliffs. I cleared out all the nearby pigs along with Ruth. I had recovered from the sonic attack, but I would not say no to a restoration when I returned to Purgatory.

After the pigs I then went after the bulbs. I didn’t hesitate to wipe them out before they could make their way up and then attack. It sucked to lose the 450-point crystals, but I wanted the skill point, not crystals.

With my overpowered acid skill, it wasn’t that hard. It was frustrating how things bounced between too easy and life-threatening terror. That was the issue when a game environment didn’t scale with the power level of a person and just did its own thing regardless of how much power a person or group had.

After the tenth bulb the entire ground began to shake, and all the vines began to move. “Run! RUN!” I shouted. My group was already retreating to the West where we had already cleared. A large green bulb with a five-petal yellow flower on the top crawled over the top of the cliff, using the mass of vines.

I was glad I had made sure to regenerate my energy after each and every bulb. “Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” Vines whipped up in front of the bulb intercepting my attacks. The vines quickly melted away and the splatter damaged the other vines nearby. The problem was the sheer number of vines the monster had.

It turned its flower top towards me, and glowing particles began to gather towards the flower. It was a hyper beam or something equally overpowered and stupid if it was signaling an attack like that. I had a few seconds to act. I had come up with this idea before, but I didn’t want to do it or test it out. “Acid Shot!” I targeted a slight depression in the ground and dived into the slurry of my own skill.

VROOOM!

My eyes were shut and facing the ground, but I could still feel the light through them. I rolled out of the depression to see a long line of scorched ground that was partly melted. The back of my armor felt warm, but I had avoided the worst of it and wasn’t incinerated.

“Acid Shot! Acid Shot! Acid Shot! Acid Shot!” I unleashed four attacks in quick succession at the bulb as it quickly crawled towards me. The last one had splatter hit the bulb directly. It began to gather motes of light again.

“Acid Shot! Acid Shot!” I dived for depression I made before and used my skill two more times. It became a bit deeper as the acid ate into the ground.

VROOOM!

This time I really felt the heat on the back of my head and back. I rolled up to my feet, acid slurry dripping from my armor, which was half melted at the moment. “Acid Shot! Acid Shot! Acid Shot!” I was out of energy.

Thankfully that was enough to break through the vines and finish off the monster. I let out a sigh of relief. My armor and clothing began to free itself from my body and plop onto the ground as it kept melting. I might be immune to my skill, but my clothing and equipment wasn’t.

I could only shake my head at that. At least I was still alive. Level 3 monsters were no joke. I couldn’t even begin to imagine a dungeon or area full of them. I walked over to the skill crystal left behind and poked it.

My first option was Radiant Beam. Tempting, but probably a point sink. After seeing the cost of Aqua Sphere I had cooled on higher level skills for the moment. The second option, which made this all worth it, Air Burst. A movement skill if I had to base it off the monster. Radiant Beam was a boss killer, but it probably was insanely expensive to compensate. A movement option was far better for me at the moment.

I winced at the 50 energy cost after I chose the skill, but at least there wasn’t an upkeep requirement like Aqua Sphere. I made my way back to my group who had peaked over the hill.

“You are having a serious wardrobe malfunction,” Ruth said she gave me a look. I decided to not care and own my situation. I could only wish I had abs right now. There was still a little bit of flab on my gut. I took a water flask and poured it over my head. I then did that with a second and third flask. I needed to get any acid off me before I put on new clothes or even something to cover myself with.

“That was insane,” Estevo whispered as he stared at the long lines of scorched ground the Radiant Beam from the monster had left behind.

“Touch and go there for a bit. That Radiant Beam was way too overpowered. Level 4 is impossible if level 3 is like that.” I shook my head and Ruth handed me my cloak, which I had thankfully taken off before so it wouldn’t get in the way, and I wrapped around my waist.

“No spare boots unfortunately,” Ruth said. I let out a sigh.

“Well, straight back to Purgatory unless there are objections,”

“No, but what skills?” Ruth asked.

“Radiant Beam and Air Burst, I chose the second.”

“Why, that was like VROOOM! And everything went WOOSH!” Tom said and waved his arms.

“Yeah, and I would only get a single shot with it at best. That kind of skill is the definition of a glass cannon. If it doesn’t work, you are dead. Still, it would be totally awesome.” It was the kind of skill that would go well with a group, but I was committed to supporting myself. If someone else wanted to get it and help me out from time to time, I wouldn’t complain.

“Boys and their laser beams of doom,” Ruth shook her head.

“I will take that compliment. Still got a bit too crispy for my liking. My back?”

“I don’t see any issues with your back,” Ruth said, and I gave her a nod.

“Good, that was way too close for comfort.”

We reached the blue slime forest by the end of the day. I tried Air Burst a couple of times. I needed to touch my pinky, index, and thumb together across both hands. My ring and middle finger were going inwards with the knuckles from both hands touching. Apparently two hands equaled one hand doing two separate signs.

I could visualize the Air Burst anywhere around me. So, a high cost directional defense or the ability to propel myself by releasing it from under a foot, I was able to do a very high and long jump from a standing position.

At my back, allowed me to shoot forward. The tricky part was the recovery from the use of the skill. I stopped when my cloak began to get torn up. Still the hand signs were a problem. Hopefully I would find a way around them.

It made me wonder how complicated a level 4 skill would be. Three hand signs? That would be hard to use in combat quickly. There needed to be upgrades to reduce the number of hand signs or the shouting. Also, the cost.

“So, planning to go back in the middle of the day?” Ruth asked once we made camp.

“Why not?”

“People might not recognize you,” she said. I could only roll my eyes at that.

“They can look at my amazing body,” I said while poking my slightly flabby stomach. Still no abs. That was really annoying me, far more than it should. After all the running, fighting, no abs. I felt like I was being scammed in some way. I just didn’t know how.

“If you say so. No teasing remember,” Ruth said.

“Hmm, this situation is too hilarious not to,” I replied.

“Good, because O. M. G.” Ruth burst into laughter. Tom and Estevo chuckled as well, I gave a small grin. She just went on for at least two minutes, bursting into laughter whenever she looked at me until she finally calmed down.

“Done?” I asked.

“Yes, yes, I can’t believe I held it in for that long. You must be the only fighter to win but lose their clothes.” She wiped the tears of laughter off her face.

“It isn’t that funny,” I muttered.

“Well at least the armor was worth it to protect your modesty for a short while,” Ruth said. At least there were no dick jokes, which would have actually annoyed me.

“I am going have to completely reinvest in an outfit and a spare going forward. How annoying,” I muttered.

“A spare isn’t a bad idea, if we have a cart,” Tom said.

“Well, we will leave tomorrow morning if nothing annoying comes up. Tom and Ruth, you need to get your own packs and supplies.” They both nodded at that.

“What about me?” Estevo asked.

“You are free to leave and do whatever you want. In Purgatory people have to find their own way. Also, you have quite a few points to gear up to hunt slimes or wolves. I am sure you can find one group or another,” I said.

“I see, thank you for keeping your word.”

“I don’t lie. My word is my currency. I better not hear things about me. I have sources, you start talking, someone would gladly turn you in just for a reward.”

“I understand, I won’t speak about you, but can I speak of the monsters and everything else?”

“I don’t care about any of that. But nothing on my skills or me personally. The rest including Neo Brasilia is not an issue and even my actions there are fine to talk about.”

“Got it,” he said with a nod. I wasn’t that worried. That was the great thing about strength, I could worry less. I still wouldn’t be careless, but I had the luxury of mercy and didn’t need to kill him. It felt nice and a small part of my heart warmed at that.

We got some sleep and the next day we began making our way through the blue slime forest. I had Tom show Estevo the proper way to kill a slime and let him kill a couple to get in practice. No need not to help the guy out. I was feeling inclined towards him for the two dungeons he had shown me.

After killing our way through the forest, a bit that was when we ran into our first group. Four women, a lady’s group. “Ladies,” I said. They had frozen up at the sight of me. It was probably the cart. It was almost as distinctive as me.

“Are you Champion Michael?” One of the women asked.

“Indeed, I am Champion Michael. Wardrobe malfunctions aside.” Two of them giggled, one of them leered, and the one that spoke stared right at me. She clearly was the leader with that stern and tired look on her face.

“I am Gertrude of the Emerald Wolves.”

“Your group here?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“We’ll have a good day of grinding, let’s go.” I continued to walk forward, and they didn’t say anything else. We didn’t run into anyone else as we reached the city gate. It felt good to be back. We made our way through the streets.

Since we entered Purgatory from the West, we came into the plaza through the Red Dawn district. I got several stares, but no one moved to intercept me. We made our way to the pillars in the center of the plaza. The ten guards and the Captain there quickly came to attention once they saw me.

“Champion Michael.”

“Captain, how is the city of Purgatory?”

“Tense, but manageable at the moment. Tyrese and Ken will probably want to speak with you, should I send word that you have returned?”

“Yes, I have quite a bit of news. So, we can have lunch together and I will make a public announcement tonight. Let them know that and to spread the word.”

“Should I be concerned?”

“We have discovered another city. Suffice to say that Purgatory is far ahead and needs to stay that way. The streets are filled with filth and starving people. It also smelled and had the stench of despair and death in the air. But I will speak on that to the city later. Right now, I have had a wardrobe malfunction while fighting a level 3 monster.”

I let him know the reason why I would be public speaking so rumors would spread out and people would show up and pay attention. A new city was a big deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in Purgatory attended. My mention of a level 3 monster was to remind people I wasn’t to be messed with.

“My apologies,” the Captain gave me a bow and room was quickly made for my cart to roll up. I turned in 815 50-point crystals for 40,750 points, putting me at 47,678 total. I purchased a restoration for 892 points. The high cost was concerning, but there were probably internal injuries from the fights I had.

I paid 25k for iron armguards, shield, sword, greaves, and helmet. I paid 2.6k for two sets of fine gray clothes, boots and sheathe included. Another 9k for a dyed black cloak and dyed black leather armor. I purchased another chair for my building, bed, and bed frame for 6.5k.

I then spent another 700 points on restocking supplies and replacing two of my reinforced packs. I was able to get two more keys for my home for 2,000 points. That left me with 986 points. Ruth and Tom had finished up as well, as I finished putting my stuff in the cart. “Ah before I forget.” I gave the last 10 50-point crystals I had to the Captain and kept 10 along with 145 5-point crystals. “For you and your men’s hard work.”

“Thank you!” They all said as I left for my home. No one had bothered it at all, something that still surprised me. I was sure there would be someone out there. Well, the position next to the plaza, meant guards were always present.

“Estevo. You are free to go. You might want to try Laura at the Union over that way.” I had noted he had cashed in his crystals when we did. He was still looking around at the people and places. He stared at me once I spoke to him and then looked in the direction I was pointing.

“Thank you, Champion Michael.” He gave me a slight bow and then left.

I opened up the door and locked up behind my two companions and the cart. The double doors were nice for allowing the cart inside.

“I am getting a shower first. There is a bed and bedding for each of you.” I pointed out their rooms. The only light was in the main room with the cart and the shower room. “If you want more, then you need to pay for it. We leave tomorrow morning. Each of you get a key. Don’t lose it and always lock the building when you leave.”

I handed out the keys and went to get a shower. It felt good to get clean and shave off my facial hair. I got changed into a set of my new clothes and armor. Much better than running around with just a cloak.