Chapter 148: Day 332 (2) – Keeping It Simple

I sat in my office and the good doctor had just entered. He gave me a short bow which I returned as a head nod. He took a seat across from me. I close the book of research the doctor had given me, with his tests, conclusions, and plans.

The silence stayed in the air. “You are sure there are cognitive impacts with potions?” I asked.

“As sure as I can be without further testing,” he said. I tapped my fingers on the desk.

“Which is a key component for energy sensing?” I asked to confirm.

“Yes, you need potions to force negative energy. That unlocks the sensing ability.” I nodded at that.

“What about summoning?” I asked.

“I need more time and points. Points for regenerations to make blood powder. Time to try various combinations.” I looked down at his notes and then back up at him.

“You are slow. Too slow.”

“I tested the powder and potions on myself, I am willing to take risks.” I nodded at that.

“That is why we are having a conversation and you haven’t been removed from your position. The fact is you are too slow.”

“I suspect the Ritualist abused negative energy to train up his energy sense.”

“He doesn’t appear to be in cognitive decline.”

“It would be gradual, and it may not be permanent. The person I was working with on this died in the last battle. I would have to restart the study all over.” That was annoying and unfortunate.

“Memory tests showed slight impairment, more long-term memory,” I summarized the doctor’s findings.

“Yes. My hypothesis is that using crystals and powder like the Ritualist does is a workaround from how the system and skills actually work.”

“Including the sensing?” I asked.

“Including the energy sensing. It could be a higher-level stat available in the next tier of the store.” I leaned back in my chair and considered that.

“You seem sure about this hypothesis.”

“Everything else hasn’t been dangerous to people using the stat or skill. People can control their bodies even with a high Body stat. A high Perception doesn’t overwhelm a person. Skills don’t hurt the people using them. This is the first instance of something negative, which implies it is not part of the system that handles the store, skill, and stat points.” I stopped tapping my fingers and rested my hands on the table.

“Doctor Katz, what is your timeframe for reverse engineering summoning?”

“Another 20 days, could be 50 days.” I shook my head. “Before you say that is unacceptable, I am trying everything step by step.”

“I read through your notes.” They were quite comprehensive. “But it probably isn’t something complicated. You are overthinking things.” There was a bowl of blood powder on the desk and a wolf crystal I had prepared. It was time to either make a point or look stupid. But I had a gut feeling I was right.

“Doctor, the thing is the Ritualist gave it away with his name.” That was what gave it away. Also, how complex all the doctor’s testing methodologies were. If the Ritualist was cognitively impaired, then look at the very simplest dumbest solutions first. A crystal in a circle of powder was the most simple thing involving both a crystal and blood powder.

“A ritual?” I shook my head. I then carefully laid out the wolf crystal and a circle of blood powder. If this didn’t work, I would try a hexagram next. I poke the crystal and thought of forming a monster. A monster near instantly formed on the desk. Both the powder and crystal were gone.

I felt incredibly proud of myself. I had been doing a lot of thinking of how the Ritualist was doing things on the walk back to Purgatory. Going over his history, everything I knew, the resources he had access to, and the doctor’s notes. I was going to rush through several tests, but the fact the first one worked was a pleasant surprise.

It also cemented the doctor lacked intuition for this type of work. No matter, I would rather have the slow fuddy duddy than another Ritualist. Someone who was careful and slow was the exact type of person to put in charge of the research department. I had read enough stories about mad scientists, that I was not going to let another one happen under my watch.

I closed my eyes to focus through the senses of the small wolf I had summoned. “I…”

“You lack gamer logic doctor.” I mentally controlled the monster to move about. It was weird. So this was how the Ritualist felt, detached all the time. “You can see or sense the link?” I asked.

“Yes, that was impressive.” I dismissed the monster. It collapsed into dust and the dust disappeared, leaving no trace behind. I shook my head.

“Work out the exact costs and limitations for level 1 and level 2 monsters. I want hard data. I want you to train up with summons as well.”

“That is a lot of trust you are giving me. Surprised you aren’t doing it yourself.” I shook my head.

“It is distracting to have those extra senses. My strength rests with my individual combat ability. I wouldn’t be able to fight half as well with summoned monsters. Everything I have seen, makes me believe it is a sub-par way to fight compared to skills, but very annoying in PvP,” I explained.

“PvP?”

“Player versus player. Then you have PvE, player versus environment.”

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“Ah. I can see that. You want to focus on high level monsters.” I nodded at that.

“Hordes of low level monsters are good against people without stats, but in the last battle, the Ritualist had no chance to defeat me personally. We need people with the skill, trustworthy people.” I stared at the doctor. “If there is an issue, please speak up.”

“The threats, they need to stop.” I blinked at that.

“Very well. No more threats directed at you. Anything else?”

“For now, nothing else.” I nodded at that. It was good he understood not to press things. “This means that his hybrid process most likely has people ingest powder or blood powder and then a crystal.”

“We will need to test it. To know the limitations at the very least.”

“It would be a death sentence,” the good doctor said.

“Yes, it would be. But we need information. You saw what the Ritualist did? All his innovations, we need to know exactly what he is capable of. No exceptions. But, you can work with Clarissa and the leadership council to find people to use.” The useless people would be rounded up and subjected to testing.

The good doctor was silent, and I let him think things through. I was quite pleased with myself for reverse engineering the summoning process. So simple. But more tests needed to be done to determine how much powder was needed. Was a circle the optimal shape? How much could components be switched around? The energy costs?

There were questions, but I had no doubt the good doctor would work them out. The Ritualist might be a trailblazer, but he was blazing the trail for me.

“I will take my leave.” The doctor took his notes back and left without a backwards glance. Clarissa came into the room.

“No more threats at the good doctor. Also watch him more closely. Especially his mental state.”

“Understood,” she made a note in her book. “A breakthrough?”

“I had a breakthrough. Just take the dumbest, simplest idea and try it. The doctor’s notes helped me get there, but he was overthinking things. What about the rest?” I asked.

“President Bob was nosing about the powder making process, but he was quickly shut down. General Gerold is holding on without too much trouble. Laura and the Union aren’t making anyways and she has consolidated her power.”

“The powder process can’t get out. We don’t need our people having cognitive decline. Whatever the Alchemical Hall is, perhaps it will offer a better method of potion making,” I suggested.

“Very well. You wanted to view the city budget.” I nodded and she pulled out another book. I began flipping through it looking over the numbers.

“You are drawing quite a large number of points for guards.” I looked up at Clarissa.

“Yes, I am. The risks are quite high for someone in my position and you out of the city.”

“Cleaning staff as well.”

“To clean this building and clothing. There is a lot of upfront costs to house people. And yes, I am consolidating things in your home, since this is where I am working out of.”

“When other people step up with 1,000 stats, you better have other revenue sources.” I set down the accounting book and looked at Clarissa.

“I understand, but people are needed. If you want a company, or an organization, I need people. I can’t do everything myself.” I let out a sigh at that and looked up at the ceiling. “Also thank you. The city couldn’t take any more fighting. Things were so close to collapsing completely.”

“It wasn’t me. The Ritualist asked for a truce first,” I replied.

“Regardless, you were open to the idea. We have a chance to rebuild and stabilize things.”

“Maybe. There is always more out there Clarissa. The Ritualist will come back. It is not a question of if, but a question of when. All we can do is prepare.”

“Perhaps Michael, perhaps.”

“Well since we are sharing feelings, good job keeping this place together. I might not agree with all your choices, but they aren’t wrong.” I looked back down, directly at Clarissa. “If there is something, speak up. No more threats.” The good doctor had a good point. I guess that was why I had labeled him the good doctor.

“Thank you for that. I appreciate it. We sat there in silence. I was thinking about how much I didn’t want to deal with the city. I could only speculate what Clarissa was thinking about.

I meant what I said about taking a step back. If the city burned, it burned. I was done with the hand holding. Purgatory needed to stand on its own. The Ritualist had moved from an ‘A’ level threat to a ‘B’ level threat.

I was wise to his tricks, and he couldn’t kill me. With the truce, I could grind up even more. The qualitative difference between stats and levels was immense. The big issue which I hadn’t brought up yet, was that 500 Body, did not make me five times stronger than 100 Body.

There was an improvement, but the pace of improvement had slowed. From what Gerold had mentioned about the Mind stat, it appeared the stat power curve was logarithmic. We needed more researchers to look into this. I considered asking Clarissa but held off.

There was no need to dump this on her plate right now. The information would come in time regardless. There was no rush to work out the power curve on stats. I wanted city buildings and equipment.

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