Chapter 278: Day 548 – Back To The Grind, An Upgraded Skill

I had picked up a cart in Neo Brasilia and lots of supplies. I then made my way South. The living armor carrying swords was easy to wipe. I soon came across a fortress patrolled by suits of living armor with various weapons.

The level 3 boss and sub-bosses were just upgraded versions of the living armor, nothing that could stand against me. I easily cleared the dungeon. The two skill choices were Summon: Living Armor Sword and Summon: Living Armor Axe. Both of which I ignored.

I chose to upgrade my skill Acid Shot to level 3. I felt I could adjust the skill slightly during the upgrade, from its shape and size. I was happy with a sphere of acid shooting forward. “Acid Shot.” I was forced to say the words again and make the ‘ok’ hand gesture to use the skill once more.

The skill had shrunk back to its original ball size from large beach ball size. The acid hit a wall of the fortress next to some of my previous acid. It melted through the dungeon terrain much more quickly. It was a clear upgrade in power and by the splatter, force and range as well. “Acid Shot.”

I let out a long sigh. I had been wrong about the million-point threshold, and I had been wrong about the upgrade cost taking a skill up to another level. It was annoying. I had been overly cautious and pessimistic, which had caused me to guess wrong and make critical mistakes. As least I was finally correcting this.

The Astrologer had made it clear that I only needed to upgrade the skill to level 3. But I could get some more upgrades to make using it easier without impacting the cost. But that would take time and was tempting. But the skill was more powerful than it had been at level 2 with all the upgrades. Each level was a qualitative difference. The upgrades were more window dressing except for the fifth and the tenth upgrade.

I needed and wanted more stats. I left the dungeon and kept making my way to the South as quickly as I could while pulling a cart. I soon reached the edge of the level 3 zone at coordinates (-1,-4). There was mistlands in front of me. I walked forward. Thankfully the walk through the level 2 zone had gotten me used to using my skill verbally once more along with a gesture.

“Acid Shot.” I took out gleaming white armor that was trying to mentally affect me. It had been hard to make out in the mist, and even the mist was confusing me. But they were only minor annoyances. I kept moving forward dealing with monsters as they popped up.

If I ever doubted my direction I would just leap into the air, above the mist and look at where the light source was in the sky and adjusted my direction to keep going South. With a way to find my direction in the mists they weren’t that scary.

It was the tidbits like this that the Astrologer had passed to me that were invaluable and were the real building blocks of trust. The fights became tricker when the living armor monsters was replaced by giant white crow monsters attacking me from above.

“Acid Shot.” The problem for these level 3 monsters was how predictable they were. Racing through the stonelands and peeking at level 4 zones, I was a lot less worried than I was before. The Astrologer even confirmed I didn’t have anything to worry about in a level 3 zone unless I went into a dungeon due to the level 4 monsters inside of them.

I leapt into the air again and spotted the darklands ahead of me as the light source was about to reach the horizon. The Astrologer had told me not to go into the darklands during the night. Terrain effects were energy based and could leave lasting effects. The darklands ebbed and flowed with the light source that crossed the sky. I recalled what the Ritualist had said about them.

“Level 4 zones are the precursor to the hell of level 5 zones and beyond. One does not travel lightly through them. I would say that only the darklands is reasonably passible during the day. The jungle is a nightmare with its three dimensions and the mushrooms. Don’t even think about them until your stats are all over 1,000. The shifting energy of the terrain can impact you if your stats are too low.”

“It is said that that the living throne of the Divine Empress was first forged from her enemies being dragged into a mushroom zone. If your energy shifts, it cannot be fixed. This is something you cannot allow to happen, no matter what. Curse damage is the most devastating kind of damage, don’t forget.”

I wasn’t about to test my luck. I came to a stop for the night and pulled out rods with a length of string tied to them with the other end tied to the cart. Each string was about 20 feet long or 6 meters.

“Use metal rods tied to strings from your cart to know your boundary. The safe distance is 40 feet or 12 meters. I keep it to half that. Do not exit it or throw anything beyond it until you are ready to fight. Level 4 zones might not always adhere to this, but for camping out in a level 3 zone you will be fine.”

Another useful piece of advice as I quickly got to work pushing the eight rods into the ground where I had set up my cart. I did a loop just on the outside once I was done setting up, killing the two monsters that showed up.

I then returned to my cart, barely able to make out the rods in the billowing mist. It was a clever strategy to make sure no one wandered off and gave a small degree of leeway if a minor mistake was made during the night.

I drank some water and relieved myself not to far from my cart. I then took time to stretch as it got darker and darker. I jumped up in the air. The darklands was a wall of black. Not as black as the void, but close enough.

The night passed uneasily, but I managed to get some sleep. Waking up the next morning, I carefully packed up my cart. While I would have left it alone and it would have been fine in other zones, I didn’t want to lose track of it in the mistlands.

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I brought the cart to the transition area between zones. I left my cart where it would be clearly visable from a distance and stepped into the darklands. Once I was done grinding, I could return at night and retreat into the mistlands and set up everything once again. It would be a bit annoying, but I was not going to risk losing my cart and supplies.

It didn’t take long to see a massive gray shield the size of a car drifting across the landscape. It was shaped like a tower shield. It quickly turned towards me and rushed forward. “Acid Shot.” My skill hit it and splattered across the monster shield.

I retreated and after half a minute of barely staying ahead of it and being forced back to the mistlands, it collapsed to the ground and turned to dust. I picked up the level 4 point crystal and put it in my pack. I could see why this kind of monster would be annoying to fight for a mentalist or physical build, but was weak to my skill.

Weak for a level 4, meant taking half a minute to die to a level 3 skill. I recalled what the Astrologer had said about the monster.

“The Bulwark Shield is imposing, but quite similar to the lower-level monsters. It is a metal-resist type, but even if your liquid-melt type is close on the type chart, it is will do damage over time since it is closer to the negative axis. Don’t give me that look, I am not just going to hand the type chart to you. Get to 5,000 Spirit then I might be willing to share. Or work it out yourself, I will be curious how close you come.”

The Astrologer was still a smug ass, but he was a correct smug ass. It was an important distinction. “Acid Shot.” I hit another shield and ran into a third one. “Acid Shot.” This was much easier than the golems. The shields just floated at me.

“Tower golems? They are a pain and not as easy as the monster I have in mind. Out of the hundred or so of level 4 monsters, I am picking the perfect one for you to grind on. Where you can really rack up the points quickly. Don’t get stupid ideas.”

It was impossible to make out the light source while in the darklands. The place itself seemed to suck in light. The soil, rocks, and the few dead plants were all dark in color. Various shades of black, with only hints of gray.

I routinely went back to the boundary with the Mistlands to check on the time. I also went back to make sure I didn’t stray too far into the darklands. The idea of running into a level 5 field boss, was not appealing. I considered the Astrologer might be lying about the meta-points, but it would be a lie that did not make sense and I would be risking my life for no reason.

I was barely able to beat level 4 monsters with my skill and stats. Going up to level 5 would be impossible. I was sure the Ritualist had some idea if I hadn’t gotten the information to aid me. Still, the idea of getting a meta-point tempted me dearly.

It was so incredibly frustrating that knowing about something, stopped you from getting it. Almighty System, you really pissed me off. What was even the point of setting things up like this?

“You want to know what I think. I think that it is just madness. Plain and simple. The System is pointless to a large extent. Probably some eldritch weapon gone amuck. Or a civilization program with no sense of civilization. I think the System is cancer turned uncaring god.”

The Astrologer did not have any love for the Almighty System. I didn’t blame him. The fact that it chose people to give opportunities to earn meta-points meant it was picking winners and losers. And picking people with no sense of personal safety.

This also painted a worrying picture about the Astrologer. If he had gotten on or more of these meta-points, then there was a good chance he was off his rocker.Just running head long into danger, surviving, and then being rewarded for it.

It was aggravating in a way that was hard to put into words. I didn’t regret my decision to press the Astrologer for answers, but I regretted my past decisions. Why did the Almighty System view retreating and reassessing a dangerous situation as a bad thing? It wanted people just to run out of cities screaming wildly and killing things? Did it not understand human nature?

These questions and more continued to plague me. That was why I thought the Astrologer was truly evil, he gave answers that I didn’t want or need, but that I asked for. I felt like a child, getting what they asked for Christmas but still complaining about it, since it didn’t turn out the way I thought.

It wasn’t the Astrologer’s fault unless he was lying, but he was either the most prolific liar, or he was using the truth like a sword. And I had been wounded deeply by his reckless swinging. The only thing I could do was grind out these level 4 monsters, one at a time and focus on the future.

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