Chapter 174: Day 384 – Give Me More Power

At least there was no arrival today. I didn’t want to go through that again. One round of rampant cannibalism was more than enough.

Fethee had managed to not kill himself or get himself killed. Naran was nice to explain things to him and get him situated. I think he felt bad about Aahan, since it seemed like a project to fix the guy. I wasn’t going to poke Naran about that. While he didn’t blame me for the level 4, he was frustrated. My best guess it was how utterly useless he was.

I had thought he would have been able to do something, but nope. The level 4 just ignored all his skills like he didn’t even matter. It also didn’t go after him either, which probably hurt as well. Too weak to do anything, too strong to be targeted. Completely useless.

He would have to sort out his own demons. If he asked, I would help, but we didn’t have that type of relationship. If I began to get involved with his personal feelings, that would just lead to drama. Better to let things cool off and keep grinding up. Also, Fethee could be his new project.

Fethee could come back with us to Purgatory, but after that, it was up to him, and he would get paid a bit if he stayed on. Again, that was all Naran’s problem. The lowest ranked person got the role of cart butler.

If anything, I was more annoyed about Oscar. Good teammates didn’t just grow on trees. Someone who was willing to put in the effort. I needed meat shields. While he did take up that role, he didn’t accomplish much. What a waste.

We already completed grinding session number three, and this would be number four. Between both sessions I was able to purchase 135 more stat points.

Body-500; Mind-175; Spirt-200; Perception-175; Aura-175 (+75); Regeneration-460 (+60); Endurance-50; Absorption-50 for a total of 1,785 upgrades.

Naran was getting closer to the point where he would be switching over to level 3 monsters. He had put everything into the Body stat.

Body-440 (+90); Mind-100; Spirt-100; Perception-70; Aura-70; Regeneration-100; Endurance-30; Absorption-30 for a total of 940 upgrades.

With our purchases done, and Naran done purchasing supplies we left Neo Brasilia’s plaza. “How much longer are you thinking?” Naran asked me.

“I am thinking two more sessions. We will be cashing out on day 398, then we can get back to Purgatory by day 399 late, or early day 400.”

“More city purchases?” Naran asked.

“Just the Rod of Control for me. Curious about that one. But Clarissa should be handling the rest. Want to see what people have worked out, it should be interesting for the most part. Then after that, I am thinking doing the loop, I talked about,” I said.

“The loop around the edge of the map, even the void parts?” Naran asked.

“Even those. Want to get a sense where all the level 3 areas are and if there are any more cities.” I hesitated at the next part. “I think it is time to look at the swamps. Maybe. Still not that convinced.”

“It would give us a lot of information. But to play devil’s advocate, grinding would be more efficient use of our time, let other people explore,” Naran said.

“I know, which is why I am not convinced and am still thinking about it. I am just wondering where everyone else is. Or if there is a massive empire just over the horizon,” I explained.

“If there was something like that, we should have seen something by now. Being able to cross level 3 zones would be the real game changer. But that has its own risks,” Naran said.

“I only feel comfortable in the frostlands. The mistlands and the stonelands are too risky with the lack of visibility or footing. There would be no way to get a cart through these areas. This means that I would have to carry everything. Kind of waiting for an airship, less walking,” I explained.

“You are thinking there might be a better grind spot?” Naran asked.

“Maybe. The one we have is pretty good. Still, not comfortable against the white gargoyles with my mind upgrade and you can’t kill the blue ones in melee.”

“Too fast and their force wall is tricky. Also, the cold is a bit rough.” I nodded at that.

“Well, the Aura upgrade definitely helped quite a bit. Environmental resistance is one of the hidden effects of that stat. Still feel the chill though. Realistically I probably want to get my stats to 1,000 across the board before poking a level 4 zone.” It was daunting to think about.

I had gone back to focusing on Regeneration upgrades for now. That had been my last purchase and what I was going to purchase with my next two grinding sessions. If things stayed on track, I should be able to 620 in the Regeneration stat.

It was a lot of focused investment, but I wanted to be a mage, not a body mage or a front-line fighter. I was considering testing the one-million-point mark, but still wasn’t that confident yet. I could beat one level 4 monster, maybe, but multiple level 4 monsters and I would be screwed. Also, I had gotten off quite lightly with melee types.

I was more curious about the tower than ever. At least 10 but probably 40 level 4 silver golems. A full set for each door. Whatever was in the tower, was definitely important. It was tempting to hope it was the end of the Systemic Lands and an escape, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

“I don’t know Michael. Grinding might be boring, but it is progress. I don’t see how things can progress more quickly,” Naran said, and he was right. Still, there was curiosity within me. The same reason why I wanted to understand the crafting system, was the same reason why I wanted to get a sense of the borders.

“That was why I said it was an idea. Any thoughts on the golems?” I asked knowing he had been thinking on the issue. How many Body stats would one need to go toe to toe with them and win.

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“The main issue is their outside. I would say 400 to 600 Body and a person can dodge them. But the problem after that is their durability and getting in close. I just don’t see how it is possible. Not with the pole it used. You have any ideas?” Naran returned the question back at me.

“Based on Death, probably need around 1,000 Body for close combat. No idea about damaging it. Well, you can get gear now. So, probably need that,” I replied.

“Gear, maybe. But that has the same problem as skills. Investment outside what I need and Body,” Naran said.

“Well, you are easily looking at 1,000 Body, probably around 5,000 if I had to guess. Based on the stat scaling, if you want to fight something like that hand to hand.”

“The scaling is asinine,” Naran complained.

“Indeed. The cost increase and the logarithmic growth are both issues. Stat points become more costly and less valuable the higher one goes. I am thinking that one needs to color outside the lines somehow. No idea, but the Ritualist had the right idea in that regard,” I explained.

“True. But how would one go about boosting stats?” Naran asked.

“Well the powdered water will do the trick as you know.”

“Not permanent and the side effects afterwards make it too risky. Maybe as a last a resort, but for regular combat, it isn’t a practical option,” Naran said and I nodded at that.

“Well keep thinking and hopefully someone comes up with something. I can’t think of any way to bypass how the Almighty System has things set up,” I said with a sigh. I considered myself reasonably intelligent, but I lacked the genius people like the Ritualist had. To make that intuitive leap to discover something completely new.

It was frustrating. That someone else could outthink me. Sure, it was the case on Earth a million times over. But here in the Systemic Lands, it felt frustrating I wasn’t able to be the best at everything. That was probably my gamer mindset being frustrated at not having a clear path forward.

Well, there was a path, but from what I could tell, it was insane in length. It was a safe path. A path with very little risk but required a tremendous amount of time and effort to be invested. I didn’t even have a path to explore beyond the city upgrades. I wasn’t holding my breath there either.

With how stingy the system store was, I doubted that a simple solution would present itself. If the Almighty System didn’t let us get food from monsters to reduce dependence on the store, there was no reason why it would relax any of the other monopolies it possessed.

We kept walking as my thoughts were about the future. “Hey, did you never notice anything inside the tower?” Naran asked me.

“No. I was too far away to see clearly inside the door, and my monster didn’t have a good angle due to the steps,” I replied. “Why?”

“Just curious what could be in it. If that is the welcoming, we need to be able handle level 4 zones before going inside. Wanted to know if there is a reward,” Naran said.

“There is. That is guaranteed.”

“Really? You sound quite sure.”

“The dungeons and the cities might have dead ends and be made from a random number generator with how they are laid out. But the core of each city and the boss monster of each dungeon is critical. It isn’t just the view that is going to be the reward for getting to the top of the tower,” I answered.

“It would have to be an amazing reward, for how big a headache it appears,” Naran added, and I nodded at that comment.

“If there is anything that can break the logjam of the grind it is in that tower. Even with the risk, it is a goal now. A clear one.” Even though I said that with confidence, the list of requirements for the tower was brutal.

I needed to be able to fight multiple level 4 monsters. I needed to be able to one shot level 4 monsters. I needed to be able to resist any and all effects of level 4 monsters. I needed to beat a level 5 monster to get a better understanding of their strength. If level 4 monsters were used as minions or guards, then the boss was at least one step higher based on the dungeons. That meant a level 5.

Upgrading Acid Shot would be rough. If it cost 50 energy, a guess based on other level 3 skills, then getting max upgrades would raise the cost to 200 energy per use. That was ten times what it currently cost, but I didn’t think it would become ten times stronger.

I would need a massive gas tank, Spirit, and a huge amount of Regeneration. It was a daunting prospect. The first step was being able to beat the monsters outside the tower and then poke it some more. If only this were like an actual game where I would get a massive amount of experience for fighting above my level. The Almighty System didn’t care about that.

There was a lot more grinding in my future. Even if I wanted to explore, Naran had voiced the same concerns I had. It wasn’t worthwhile. It was better to focus on driving up stats, so that when I did push through dungeons in level 2 zones, they wouldn’t be an issue. Investing in my strength would make things much easier going forward.

What could easily be life and death fights, would be simple with more stats. I just wanted to go faster and was trying to think of anyway I could speed up my grind besides investing into Regeneration. There was nothing at the moment. Hopefully when I got back to Purgatory, progress had been made in sorting out the crafting crystal type and what channeling was, so active enchantments could be used.

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