The Systemic Lands

Chapter 8: Day 8 (2) – Self Reflection

I picked a building that was a bit distant from the gate, but close enough to overhear any noise and spot anyone walking around. It wasn’t the best position. That was on purpose since the best building to wait in, was one my pursuers would probably wait in to ambush me.

The restoration from the pillar removed fatigue, but there was a mental part that wasn’t completely removed. I basically set the watch to beep every half an hour. I had tested how far the sound carried, and it wasn’t that far despite the silence oppressing the deserted city.

Now I just needed a lot more points. I confirmed that killing people didn’t give me any points. I thought on what to invest in now. Body was okay, but I still struggled. I wasn’t hopeless, but I wasn’t in the kind of shape that I could run for over an hour. That short escape had been the very limit of my ability and if it hadn’t been for the recent restoration, I never would have made it.

It would cost about 3,000 points for the next 10 upgrades and then 3,500 or so for the following 10. If I wanted to raise each of my four remaining stats up to 10, I needed 32 more points. So about 10,500 or so points or 2,100 slimes.

There was no way any of the upgrades were useless. Perception meant being able to see or sense better and Mind probably meant being able to process things better. The details were unknown, but I felt I could work them out from their possible effect from their names alone. Spirit and Aura were the big question marks at the moment, but I didn’t have a single doubt that they would be any less useful than the other stats listed in the store.

If anything, they were the most important. Anything that humans weren’t used to, like magic, would probably fall under those categories. There was also no way I was upgrading the store. Especially after killing my teammates and the people attacking and chasing me from the plaza. It was a risk I was taking, but I wasn’t about to spend points on a store others would benefit from.

Still, it was clear there hadn’t been a mass arrival after five days. So, my hope was on ten days. If that wasn’t the case, then the next set of teleportation would probably only happen once everyone in this batch was dead or a very long amount of time.

I was in no rush at the moment after what had happened. If it was just me, it would be boring. I could handle the isolation and boredom no problem. I thought that now, but it was far better than worrying every second of the day if my teammates would kill me for crystals to get points.

I preferred the solitude, the silence, the quiet peace of reflection. I would never say no to a good conversation, but everything so far had been stressful. This was the first point I had since arriving to this fake game world to just relax.

I clenched my hands. What I had done, had been done. There was no going back. It was either them or me. Don’t lie to myself. It wasn’t them or me, it was a choice. Good or bad, I had to live with it now.

The key thing about these types of games, was that they were always zero-sum games. Like a sports game, there had to be a winner and a loser.

Was it the best choice…maybe? It was the choice I had made. That was why I would always suck at the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The idea behind it was two people in separate rooms. If both plead innocent, they each get 1 year on a lesser charge. If one confessed, and the other didn’t, the person who confessed would go free and the other would get 3 years. If they both confessed, then each would get 2 years.

The optimal answer was for there to be trust and both plead innocent. If they both thought that, then the next step in that logic train would be for you to confess and be free. That is how you end up with the sub-optimal result of both people confessing.

There had been a number of studies and analysis on the question. To me, it came down to a matter of trust. Do you trust people to do the optimal choice for all parties involved?

My answer was a clear and concise no. To put my life and fate in someone else’s hands was against who I was. I would trust a police officer, due to the fact they get paid and had consequences for bad behavior. The same with a doctor operating on me. But I was a cynic at heart. I didn’t believe in the inherent goodness of people.

That didn’t mean there weren’t good people. But the risk involved was too great for this type of situation. My life was the most valuable commodity and I was loathe to spend or risk it. Still, I clenched my hand in anger and frustration.

My preference would have never had to been forced into the situation in the first place. The fact that I thought there was no better path forward was a failure on my part to properly plan.

Even though the deed had been done, I had sworn that I would always be honest with myself. That was why I didn’t hesitate to call myself fat and recognize things as they were, not as I wished them to be. It came from my fear of hallucinating or losing my sense of self. That fear had been deep rooted and with me for a long time. I had seen family fall to mental illness, and I refused to let that happen to me.

It was also motivator to invest in other stats besides just Body. I didn’t want to be trapped in illusions or think things were there that weren’t.

Maybe I could have just killed Jesus and called him out as a thief. That might have been the better move. But once I committed to taking everyone out, it was hard for me to reconsider. That mindset gave me the courage to follow through when I acted, but it also stopped me from thinking the entire situation through and possibly arriving at a better outcome. I mentally sighed, reviewing my actions was painful, but necessary in order to make better choices going forward.

I heard people talking outside. I checked my watch, courtesy of Frank. It was just before mid-day. The days ran about 12 hours long, with about 2 hours each for sunset and sunrise. They were a bit longer than 24 hours, which had made it annoying to track the length of the day.

From what had been found out so far. The length of the day was slowly getting shorter. That meant seasons and cold. At least that was what the group and I discussed. Now it was just me, and it seemed a distant problem.

It was a problem for future me. I looked out the window. There were five men near the gate talking. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I ducked back inside. The mega brute from before was with them as well. The guy was built like a tank on steroids.

I went back to resting. I would wait the rest of today and tomorrow. I noted that none of them had packs. That meant no food or liquid. On the other hand, I was sitting with a pile of fruit. Time was on my side at the moment.

I rested until it was dark. Once it was dark, I got up and walked further away from the gate. No need to make it easier if they decided to search the nearby buildings.

My new building was like all the rest. Grey stone, no decorations or furniture. The most intricate thing were the stone steps up to the second floor and the rectangular windows. Other than that, it was completely bland like all the others.

I slept that night. I didn’t dream. I had found out that I only dreamt when I felt safe and had a comfortable bed. Any kind of stress killed my dreaming. Perhaps that was related to why I was a light sleeper. Unfortunately, I had never dug into the science behind dreaming. Hindsight was 20/20 and it wasn’t a research priority at the moment compared to the world around me and the store.

I got up and enjoyed a couple of oranges. With my meal done, I relieved myself in a side room and went back to waiting. I would give things another full day. This time I would make good use of the day for a bit of exploration.

I left the building and began moving clockwise around the city, following the wall away from the gate. If the gate was in the west at 9 o’clock, I began making my way towards 12. The idea was to do a full loop around the inside of the city, using the sun and shadows as a reference. If I hadn’t gotten halfway by mid-day I would turn around.

Thankfully the wall was an easy-to-follow guide and there was an unobstructed road between the wall and the buildings. Since the buildings were square and oriented the same way and the wall was curved, the outside street width varied quite a bit. No towers or stairs to go up the wall and the buildings themselves were only two stories tall with no roof access.

I ran across a gate in the 12 o’clock position. I checked outside of it and there was a similar forest to the one out of the previous gate. Still, I didn’t trust the area. It could easily have another type of monster.

At the 3 o’clock position was a third gate that had grassland and rolling hills in the distance. I didn’t see any monsters out in the fields either. That made me exceptionally nervous. In the 6 o’clock position was more pine forest.

Once I spotted my old gate to the slime forest, I ducked into a building. It was late afternoon, and my feet were sore, and my body hurt a bit from all the walking. Still, I did a lot better than I would have before the upgrades.

Also, the information was quite useful. Four gates, three pine forest biomes, and a grass biome. The forests looked similar enough that I didn’t expect anything new besides a different type of monster.

The reason for this assumption, went back to game logic. It would do no good to put slimes everywhere. Also, other people had to have been desperate and left out of the other gates. The fact that the situation in the plaza was so tense due to a lack of points and food, indicated that there was no known source of points.

That was when I heard laughter and shouting. I checked out the window, and saw three people coming back inside the city. I frowned, they had probably picked up crystals from the slimes. It was time for me to act. I couldn’t let the secret of the points get away with these people. If I didn’t strike now, they would get a restoration and I would be easy pickings.

I left my pack behind and brought only a single club. While it was tempting to duel wield, it would be too easy to get overwhelmed and lose my grip on my weapons.

“We are going to eat well boys. These crystals have to give points or do something. No wonder that asshole had so much food.” I was creeping next to the houses. With one house extended out a bit more into the street in front of me they couldn’t see me.

“Finally, some good news. Let’s head back.” I rushed out. I counted five, the other two had probably hung back to try and catch me or something. My first swing hit the closest man in the side of the head, taking him out.

I didn’t hesitate and swung the other direction while stepping forward. I hit another man right in the face, shattering his teeth and jaw. He fell to the ground moaning and screaming.

“Get them Frank!” I shouted out, focusing my eyes and head behind them. The three remaining men, including the super brute hesitated and looked behind them. I stepped forward and hit the brute on the knee. He stumbled back and fell on his butt letting out a cry of pain. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The other two spun around, rage on their faces at having been tricked. “DIE!” One of them shouted and rushed at me. I swatted away his blow, but that was when the second one rushed in as well. I had to move to keep the first man between us, to avoid getting overwhelmed. I parried another his attacks. I had strength and energy on my side while they were all exhausted and tired.

Act! I stepped in and jabbed out with my club. The blow took him in the chest. He began gasping for air and fell on his butt. The other man stepped past his downed companion and swung.

“Why are you doing this?” He screamed out in rage. His lips were dry, and his eyes were sunken. Probably a former drug user, which made him weak but also unpredictable.

“Magic formation, three. Fireball!” I swung out my free left hand. The man shied back in panic. I stepped forward and swung through his guard to hit him in the head. He stumbled to the side in a daze. I swung back in the other direction, hitting his head again and laying him out.

“You. You are going to die.” The super brute was on his feet, but his knee wasn’t looking good, and he was shaky on his feet. I backed up as he advanced, making sure to manage my breathing.

“You look like a person who is the picture of steroid abuse. Do you have a tiny dick?” I asked.

“Ahhhh!” He screamed and rushed at me. I quickly retreated. His leg was in bad shape, and he was clearly exhausted. I led him away from his group. Once there was some distance, I went around him and back to the rest of the men I had downed. Delivering a blow to the head of one of the men who was struggling to get up.

I then kept up the chase. After a minute, the super brute collapsed to his knees and was breathing heavily. I slowly walked around behind him, circling him like a shark. Forcing him to turn and turn. I kept walking around him. The other four men weren’t moving at all.

“Why?”

“Why not? This area is mine and the slimes are mine. I won’t allow you to steal this opportunity and get revenge.” I only spoke so he would waste more breath.

“I hate you,” he said that with such passion, I almost felt bad for not caring. The key word being almost. I kept walking and he kept turning to face me. I then quickly switched directions and he struggled to change his rhythm.

I rushed towards him and swung at his head. He got an arm up in time. There was a loud crack. The bone was broken for sure. I backed off and began circling him again. He only lasted one more blow, the one after that hit him in the head and killed him.