The Systemic Lands

Chapter 91: Day 215 (4) – Superman

We left the Meeting Chamber and made our way to where Tyrese had the crystal reserves under guard at all times. Even if there was an attempt to steal the crystals, it would be impossible for two reasons. First, they were in chests, each chest was heavy even with Body upgrades and normally required two people.

The second issue, was where to hide them or use them? The only place they could be used was a store. So, to steal the crystals required a person to access the store with the guards controlling it. That meant to get our reserves, the guards would have to be defeated. If that happened the city would be on fire and a lot of people dead.

“I know we talked about taking on points, but there have been some emergency expenses, that I wanted to hold onto the reserve for,” Tyrese explained as we walked to the reserves. I thought we agreed to store crystals, but I wasn’t about to argue keeping the raw crystals.

“Like what?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Medical care. I have paid the city reserves back, but I don’t keep any of my crystals free. Too much risk and demand from my people.” Or plots you had to pay off and investments to create minions. Ruth didn’t was getting her crystals from somewhere. “Honestly it was Ben who showed me why we needed liquid reserves, just in case.”

“The security is decent. And what is someone going to do? Carry out all those heavy chests?” Ken asked with a chuckle.

“Still, we need to upgrade security in the future. Who knows what skills are out there? We will also need to create master stranger protocols. What a headache.”

“Master, stranger?” Tyrese asked.

“People with skills who can control others or sneak by. Regardless, we need protocols of some kind to prevent such a situation. Like double verification, set times to open the vault, and questioning of anyone attempting to remove crystals.”

“I will find someone to look into creating a system like that. You really like giving other people work, don’t you?” Tyrese asked.

“Well, we can always switch jobs. You can investigate and fight unknown monsters, and I can stay here and sleep on a comfortable bed and get suggested reasonable things to do,” I replied.

“Hmm, suggestion,” Tyrese let out a hum.

“Ack! ACK!” Ken let out some clearly suspicious coughs. I rolled my eyes.

“If you don’t like my ideas say so. But if we lose the crystals and you didn’t do everything possible, they are coming out of your pocket.”

“It is fine, there is nothing to worry about. On the second floor. Come on,” Tyrese led us past the guards and to a room on a second floor. I noted the door was open and Tyrese paused. Of course. Why wouldn’t the entire crystal reserve be stolen right now?

“Where are all the chests?” Tyrese was barely restraining himself from shouting as he looked at the guard.

“Accountant Ben said you needed them all at the pillars to upgrade the city since Champion Michael has returned and it was an emergency.”

Tyrese let out a sigh of relief. “That guy, I swear he gets ahead of himself sometime with how efficient he is.” We left the building and I tried to recall if I had seen anyone at the pillars? It was hard since there was activity all around that place all times of the day now. Unless I was looking for something or someone specific, I didn’t pay that much attention to the hustle and bustle.

As we approached the pillars, I saw several empty chests and the guards looking concerned, but not interfering. “STOP HIM!” Tyrese shouted and gestured at his accountant. I let out a sigh, of course.

“Hah!” The squirrely looking man let out a shout and spun around. His punch impacted a guard next to him. WHOOMP! Even I could feel that from here! My mind quickly raced to do some guesswork as the back of the guard exploded outwards in a shower of blood, bones, and viscera from the shockwave of the punch. Could superpowered punches even do that to a human body?

A couple was showered by the blood and bone, falling to the ground in shock. People began to scream and run-away panic. He probably had 550 to 650 stat upgrades based on the point count and I suspected most of them were in Body. He had three times my Body. While I had skills this wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

“Acid Shot!” One of the Captains called out. Ben leapt high into the air and the skill missed completely. Jumping, what a mistake. He landed and another guard swung a wood club. The club broke on his body. Ben turned and punched the guard in the head. It popped like a balloon.

“Michael!” Tyrese turned towards me begging me to do something. I ignored him. I was observing what a high tier Body fighter was like, specifically this one. I drew my sword. I didn’t have my shield with me, but I wouldn’t have used it anyways in this situation. Acid Shot was my best chance at winning this. I began to walk slowly forward as the remaining guards scattered away.

Ben turned towards me, his right-hand dripping with blood. “Your reign of terror ends today, Michael! I will save this city from tyranny as its hero!” I would have face palmed at the ridiculousness of that statement, but this was the most serious fight that had come my way. I couldn’t afford any useless movements.

There was nothing I could say. I didn’t know the man well enough to get under his skin with a few comments and I needed to focus on this fight. I kept my sword at the ready in front of me as I slowly advanced. Ben turned to look at the pillars. Nope!

I rushed forward. He leapt out of the way. You can’t dodge mid-air! Acid Shot! He punched out with his right hand at the ball of acid flying directly towards him. My skill exploded backwards, while the flesh of his fist began to melt slightly, he avoided the worst of it. He got some acid on himself but only a drop or two. He must have Mind upgrades as well to have that reaction speed.

Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. I unleashed a barrage at him with one hand. He had landed and leapt to the side. People weren’t stupid and they adapted unlike monsters. I rushed towards him and swung out with my sword.

He quickly retreated to keep his distance. I made sure to put myself between him and the pillars. No restoration for you. After about half of minute of trying to reposition and engage, him trying to pass, and me trying to intercept, we both came to halt breathing heavily. He wearily kept an eye on my left hand.

“You can’t win,” Ben said.

“I can’t lose either.”

“Fire!” I heard Tyrese shout as arrows flew through the air. Ben leapt away, staying close to the ground, and avoiding the arrows. People can learn from past mistakes unfortunately. I chased after him. He was a lot faster than me, dammit.

He was racing for one of the side streets out of the plaza. If he escaped, it would lead to no end of trouble for me. I did not want to be stuck in a guerrilla war. I pushed myself, sucking air in with each breath.

That was the problem with smart opponents, they could retreat if they thought they were losing. My stats were spread out, not optimized like his for person-to-person combat, or PvP. I needed a much bigger energy tank, to use Air Burst, which would have been perfect right now.

We reached the side street. One good thing from chasing was that I had a clear shot. Acid Shot! He dodged at the last moment, getting grazed on his right shoulder. “Ahhh!” He stumbled from the pain and went tumbling to the ground. Chance! That is the weakness of getting powerful quickly, no mental strength to pain and improved combat instincts.

I dropped my sword, time to go all out with both hands. Acid Shot! Acid Shot! He tried to roll away, but I was too close, and his left foot was hit. “Ahhhhhh!” He screamed some more while flailing about on the ground in pain. It was over. I let out a long breath as I tried to steady my breathing.

I walked back and picked up my sword as Tyrese and his guards came over. He looked at me and then at Ben screaming on the ground with his melted flesh. “Why?” Tyrese asked.

Ben just kept screaming in pain as blood came out and mixed with his melted flesh. Tyrese looked at me and I finally spoke up. “Waiting until he is weak first. A cornered rat is the most dangerous. Probably better to let him bleed out.” I wasn’t about to get close and give him the chance to turn the tables on me by grabbing me with his high Body stat. Let’s not get our head popped.

Tyrese gave me a look. Oh, I also didn’t want to reveal I was short on energy right now and he probably suspected something since I hadn’t finished Ben off at range. The higher cost of Acid Shot meant that I was limited in the number of uses I had.

“Shoot him.” Tyrese said and a couple of guards with bows shot their arrows. They barely sunk into Ben at all. Interesting. All of this was something I suspected would happen at high Body, but it was good to have confirmation.

More arrows were shot into the dying man, and he finally expired on the ground, a bloody mess and stuffed full of arrows like a porcupine. “What a mess,” Tyrese said, and I was sure he wasn’t just referring to the corpse.

“That was 750,000 points,” I said, and I could tell Tyrese winced at that. Even for me that was a sizable sum. That was when Ken finally showed up guards in tow.

“Its over?” Tyrese just sighed and Ken looked at me.

“The culprit is dead, but he used up 750,000 points from the general fund that were meant for city upgrades,” I said.

“It was Ben,” Tyrese said.

“I see,” Ken glanced at the melted and bloody corpse. Some people looking in, quickly walked away as guards secured a perimeter. This was a familiar enough sight that none of us felt queasy. It made me reflect on how far I had come. “This, well this isn’t good. People will demand answers,” Ken looked at Tyrese who was still trying to get over everything that had just happened.

“I…should I step down?” Tyrese muttered. Ken looked at me. Great, why did I have to decide? I knew why, since I had killed my way to the top.

“Ken, you know how people will react, and the Union?” I looked at him.

“There could be a riot. That many points and the demand for more social spending. It isn’t good.” There was no talk of trying to cover up what had just happened. The plaza was many things, but discrete wasn’t one of them.

It was tempting to dump the blame on Tyrese and get upset with him, but it just wasn’t practical. He kept things running smoothly with the guards as far as I could tell.

“Tyrese stays in charge. But the crystal storage will have to have at least two of us present to take anything out of there. Also master stranger protocols, figure them out and quickly. We will make purchases for the city when I come back,” I said.

“Will he have to refund the crystals?” Ken asked. Tyrese looked at me, I looked up at the sky. A small white cloud was drifting by.

“I…” Tyrese just trailed off. I understood where he was coming from. This was on him, and it was huge. But throwing him under the bus for a temporary benefit, even a large temporary benefit like 750,000 points, just wasn’t worth it.

On the other hand, not doing anything would see pressure fall onto Ken and people would be upset. I had to come up with a third option. Think. A minute passed by, but the nearby guards kept anyone from bothering us. I was really tempted just to kill everyone, but that wasn’t a real solution, and would only lead to more problems.