Chapter 223: Day 510 (2) – Onwards, With Everyone

“Ow,” Naran let out a groan.

“You alive?” I asked as I got to my feet. The area around where the crystal had been was scorched black and any small rocks had been crushed to dust. Some of that dust had melted into blackened glass.

“That…let’s not do that again,” Naran said. I agreed with that sentiment.

“Well, we have an answer at least, skill crystals only react to blood as a medium, not water, and when they disintegrate, they unleash the skills they have within them,” I said while slowly stretching.

“Dangerous, very dangerous. The effect also spread out in a wave, and wasn’t instant,” Naran added.

“What, wasn’t it like a bomb?” I asked while looking at the ground for more clues.

“I had more height than you and glanced backwards. The dusting from the ground being crushed and then the fire pods spread from the center out. So, like a bomb, but you are probably thinking of the crafting bombs,” Naran added.

“It wasn’t instant. The effect took time to spread out. Not much time, but still time,” I worked out what Naran was trying to tell me.

“Powerful, probably the most powerful single attack yet,” Naran said.

“Maybe, but it was spread over an area without focus. Comparing the power to other level 3 skills, this was an order of magnitude greater in terms of power and scope. I almost want to say it unleashed all the upgrades and its potential at once. You notice anything with the energy?” I asked.

“It was drawn in a bit to the skill crystal, but the energy always shifts around,” Naran said.

“But do other skills absorb energy?” I asked. He paused to think about that for a moment.

“Yes, they all behave like that, drawing from the environment,” Naran said.

“That is a sign there could be a skill cap in certain areas, due to energy density. Similar with how Regeneration is limited. Raw energy manipulation is something that would be incredibly useful. Getting the source code so to speak,” I said.

“Well, that source code appears to be quite dangerous,” Naran gestured at the blackened landscape. I nodded at that. Anything outside of the Almighty System’s boundaries was dangerous.

“It is too bad skill crystals can’t be moved. The bomb power alone would make it useful against level 4 monsters,” I speculated.

“That seemed weird to me, why are skill crystals arbitrarily every ten days and floating in the air,” Naran said.

“The same reason for anything else that seems nonsensical, the Almighty System wills it, or Systema Vult,” I replied.

“So where to next?” Naran asked me.

“We go as far East as possible and then call it a day. Tomorrow we can push through the swamp further East,” I said. We went back to the cart. I noted Fethee had been quietly explaining monsters, crystals, and other basic information to Heba while we were away.

Good, my entourage needed to work together. I would give her the chance to leave once we returned to Purgatory. If she stayed on, I would have to think about beefing both of them up and making them real teammates. I really wanted a summoner for scouting purposes.

While Naran and I could call up a summon, having someone focused and working on that skill would be better than someone not dedicated to improving. It was like physical fighting. One had to get good at movement, it wasn’t enough to have a high Body stat. Not everyone was a summoning savant like the Ritualist.

We soon reached the end of the cliffs which curved South and then there was the swamp. The swamp started to curve back West, so we called it for the day.

I was making notes in my research journal. Naran was focused on inspecting his massive sword. I grinned slightly and shook my head. Making jokes about him compensating for something were too easy. I focused back on my journal adding in notes about everything that had happened and my speculations. I was also checking my earlier guesses to see how they compared.

“Fruit?” I looked up and Heba had prepared a tray of cut fruit.

“Thanks,” I said and took the tray from her and set it on the ground next to me. She went away to prepare the rest of the food. I put my research journal away and thought about the two people following us and what their roles would be going forward.

A summoner was a must. Also, someone with a mental skill, to counter summons. Naran did seem to have taken Fethee under his wing. Perhaps a conversation with the man, before I decided things for him. Heba brought Naran a cut tray of fruit. Heba could also take over more chores like cart pulling, while Fethee was made a combatant. A nice internal system of promotion. From cart puller to full teammate.

New teammates weren’t going to spontaneously generate themselves from the ether. Them being brave to come along on their own, was a very good personality trait. They were able to overcome their fear and take a risk.

“Fethee, once you are done with your tasks, come sit with me,” I called out.

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“Yes Champion Michael,” he quickly said back. He was sitting across from me in less than a minute and I could see Naran paying attention to what I was doing.

“So Fethee, you have survived quite a while and we managed to recruit Heba. I was thinking it is time to discuss your future in a direct combat role on our team, while she takes over all your tasks. What do you think about that?” I asked the man.

He paused for a moment before speaking. His English wasn’t the best, but he was getting better. “I can fight, but monsters you fight are very dangerous and scary. I can’t beat them,” Fethee said and I nodded at that.

“True, but you would work your way up to that level and you need to decide how you want to fight. I like to think of them as classes or specializations. I focus on direct damage skills. Naran focuses on melee combat. But there is also a summoner and mental skills. The choice is yours,” I said.

There wasn’t enough development to have an archer or stealth class. Skills and stats might be out there, but they weren’t key classes in my mind. My skill damage covered the ranged damage niche quite nicely. I guess there could be an immobilization class. But it wasn’t a main or key class in my mind. Only those four classes had the necessary combat potential and weren’t niche specialties in my mind.

Fethee looked over at Naran and I nodded at him. Naran began explaining each of these classes in more detail and how they would fight. Once he was done explaining I jumped back in. “We would get you to the point where you could participate in team training and situations,” I said.

“What do you think is best?” Fethee asked me.

“Whatever you feel most comfortable doing. Naran prefers physical combat compared to skills. I prefer to keep my distance, if at all possible, which is why I use skills. A summoner would focus on more extreme ranges and have to coordinate. A mentalist would need to focus their attacks while avoiding counter attacks similar to what I do, but in a different way,” I explained.

“Right now, I have been making sure you don’t die to monsters and can grind them while we aren’t around. But the goal would be to get you up to a level of combat where you can fight level 4 monsters with us as a team,” Naran explained.

“We don’t need a decision now. But you need to think on this issue. While some stats are needed across the board, where you focus determines how you fight. If you want mental or combat skill, we need to keep a lookout for one as well,” I added. We were then silent to let Fethee get his thoughts in order.

“What about Heba?” Fethee asked.

“Maybe in time. But she will transition to take over your role. If you don’t want to become a combatant that is fine as well. As the first person you get priority,” I replied. Fethee looked over at Naran who gave him a nod and a smile.

“I would like to focus on combat like Naran,” Fethee said. I mentally sighed. It wasn’t a bad choice, but I would have preferred a summoner or a mentalist. Still another meat shield to put between me and danger was never a bad thing.

“Alright then. Then Body to Mind needs to be at a two to one ratio at worst, right Naran?” I asked for confirmation.

“That would be for the best. More Mind is better, but you can push yourself and train to help close the gap. Also, Aura and Perception at least 100. The rest are extra, for now,” Naran answered. I liked the caveat he added at the end. New information was always coming in.

“What are your stats now?” I asked Fethee. He responded right away without hesitation.

He had Body-200; Mind-100; Spirit-5; Perception-50; Aura-30; Regeneration-5; Endurance-5; Absorption-5 for a total of 400 upgrades. Not that bad, but nothing compared to the stat count Naran and I had.

“Perception is a must, have you had issues at high speeds?” I asked Naran.

“Not really, maybe. But we haven’t fought against a stealth focused level 4 monster,” he replied, and I nodded at that.

“I would like at least one person to focus on Perception on our team. I guess it will be me for a while,” I said with a sigh. I had 300 Perception, which was almost as much as his total stat count. Having someone specialize in Perception was key to surviving in my mind. But there was a lot of risk in our sourcing that stat.

There was a lot of risk of outsourcing a lot of stats, which was why Naran had caught up to me in the combat department by specializing and focusing on Body. The 500 Spirit had been a good choice, since I could spam my skills without worrying about every bit of energy.

It really wasn’t my energy that was the big issue anymore, but my maneuverability and ability to hit a level 4 with my skill. Each level 4 monster had some form of defensive move so far. I had to use Acid Shot at least twice with really good timing to hit them.

Naran could easily increase his damage by increasing a stat but stepping up to the next level of a skill had a lot of unknowns and would be a step up in cost. Like a ramp versus a staircase. My Regeneration, Spirit, and other stats were nowhere close to support taking that step.

It was frustrating, but I had learned after the previous upgrades not to rush things. Going for an upgraded Acid Shot would be nice, but I could focus on my other two skills while also improving my stats to support an increased grinding speed.

Fethee would need a lot of points to get up to speed, but Naran could be his mentor. I wasn’t that motivated to do a lot of hand holding. Heba could take over his duties. It hadn’t escaped my notice that she had been listening in to the conversation.

Hopefully she wouldn’t go the meat shield path. I wanted a more diverse team. She had the right mentality of being brave and not complaining like Fethee. I guess when your boss melts people without hesitation, it makes an impression. I wouldn’t abuse their faith in me, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to save them. The education they were getting was more than enough compensation for the risk and on top of what Naran was paying or helping them make.

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