Chapter 73: Day 185 – Meeting in the Wilderness

Well, it had happened. A group had made it out here. I counted four people at our camp with a dark green cart. They stayed away from our cart and weren’t poking around. I had been observing them for a while behind a hill a distance away. Time to make an appearance.

I got up and slowly walked forward. I was easily spotted. Their entire group quickly stood up. Four men this time, a sausage party. I would have preferred to see Gertrude and her giggling girls.

“Ah, we were wondering if the cart had been abandoned.” I just stared at the man. “Uh, but it clearly isn’t. I am Sam, part of the Union.”

“I am Champion Michael of the city of Purgatory.” No shock or anything. I figured they were from Purgatory, since the Union was a thing, but it wasn’t exactly a hard to copy name. That kind of mistake would be idiotic.

“We know. We were checking out the nearby monsters,” Sam said.

“What is the etiquette, if someone is already in an area?” I asked.

“Ah, well, that hasn’t exactly been figured out yet. Normally it is first come first served and sorted out ahead of time. Also people like to camp together for safety,” Sam said.

“You are welcome to stay the night. After that I will have to ask you to leave and put a decent amount of distance between our groups,” I said.

“That is fine, we don’t want any trouble, and this is clearly your area. May we set up camp?”

“Please,” I waved my hand and went to my cart. Nothing was disturbed. I began unloading crystals.

“Have a good hunt?” Sam asked.

“Hmmm, just another day of grinding.” I finished sorting what I needed to and got an apple and a cucumber. I took a seat on a nearby rock and set my helmet to the side, making sure all four of them were within my view. I slowly began to eat.

“This is our first time pushing out so far. We were hoping there was something easier than the scorpions. Any suggestions?”

“To far East and you run into ants. You cannot beat them,” I said.

“The ones that call up more ants?” Sam asked and I nodded at that. “You really have brought back a lot of information. Anything by those rocks to the South?”

“A level 2 dungeon. If you want a free clear, then 50,000 points.”

“You already cleared it?” Sam asked.

“Yes. It contains level 3 monsters. Information, 10,000 points, clear, 50,000 points.”

“Any good skills?”

“Attack and status skill. Any more is information price,” I said.

“Ah, that is a bit much? What do you guys think?” Sam asked his people. They all said no, way too much, even the cost of information. That was there loss, I wasn’t going to lower my price.

“Sorry, but we have to decline.”

“That is fine.” That was when Ruth came into camp.

“Well, hello, who are your new friends?” Ruth asked me.

“Our visitors are staying only one night, and that is Sam from the Union,” I explained. I didn’t know the rest of the names for his team and didn’t care that much to learn.

“Sam, a pleasure,” he shook Ruth’s hand.

“Ruth, a pleasure as well.” Sam then introduced her to his companions, and they began chatting about the landscape, monsters, and general area. Tom showed up and got brought into the conversation. I sat quietly and listened.

“Meerkats, sounds annoying with their teleport. Are you using a skill?” Sam asked Tom.

“No.” I said loudly and calmly. All conversation died. “It is quite rude to ask our team about our skills and capabilities.”

“Ah, my apologies, I was just curious,” Sam said.

“It is said curiosity killed a cat. Who knows what it does to a person not prepared for the consequences?”

Sam raised up his hands. “Peace, peace. It really wasn’t my intention to probe like that. You guys are kind of like legends you know.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but it is mister Champion over there that does all the heavy lifting. I am just trying to do my best,” Ruth said.

“You must have seen some pretty crazy things out here?” Sam asked.

“Well, there was a large, flowered plant bulb with vines. That thing was chasing after us and unleashed an attack that melted the ground with a super laser. Or the floating rock monsters. Those things are hard to defeat.”

“Hah! I can see that. Floating rocks, you say? West?” Sam asked.

“Hmm, yes. So have you figured out which direction you are headed in?” Ruth asked.

“South. We will check out the dungeon by the pillars and then push on,” Sam said.

“Good luck past that. Whatever monster is beyond the venom flies hides really well,” Ruth said.

“Hmm, just need to be extra careful then. Thanks for the heads up,” Sam said. The conversation continued on about the best way to aim Acid Shot. I continued to listen and observe each of them.

“So, watch rotation?” Sam asked.

“I will be taking the full watch on our side tonight,” I spoke up. Ruth and Tom looked at me, but they were smart enough not to say anything.

“If that is what you want, we will do a three-person rotation with one person resting,” Sam said. I nodded at that. I wasn’t about to interfere with their group.

I sat quietly all night and watched them. There person watched me and did the occasional stretch. There was no midnight patrol, and I didn’t do one either. I didn’t want to leave myself open to an attack or ambush. When morning came their group had breakfast and said their goodbyes.

“You, okay?” Ruth asked me.

“I am going to sleep for a couple of hours, can you keep guard?” I asked her.

“Sure. Surprised you stayed awake all night.”

“I don’t trust them. With the number of crystals we have, even I would be tempted to try and fight and kill me while I slept.”

“Rest,” Ruth said. I got a couple hours of sleep. I woke up and stretched. That felt quite relaxing. There was something going on with my stats and sleep.

“Good rest?” Ruth asked.

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“Close enough, Tom?”

“Out grinding.”

“Good, alright, I am going to head South and make sure they made tracks.”

“Good luck,” Ruth said, and I set off. There cart track in the dirt was still there and I followed it. It would disappear after a day, but it made for easy tracking right now. They went to the black oil dungeon but moved on to the South.

I crossed a couple more hills and saw them in the distance. I turned to the East and began killing venom flies and then meerkats. I checked again before I went back to the camp, but they had moved on apparently or looped around since I didn’t see any sign of them or their cart.

Once I returned along with Tom and Ruth, I had us move to the North. It wasn’t that bad since Ruth had already cleared a path. I had Tom pull the cart of course, since he had more pep after a full night’s sleep.

“Why don’t we do watches?” Tom asked as we settled into our new campsite.

“It is pointless unless we are watching for humans. Level two monsters don’t patrol that much, which is why we clear out the nearby areas and then go back to sleep.”

“And we didn’t tell them that, because…?”

“Because it is a weakness against human teams, but a strength for our team grinding monsters. I don’t want other teams to know that kind of detail of how we operate. At least, I am not going to make it easy. Someone has probably bribed Estevo and pumped him for information.” I could only shrug at that.

“Then why let him go?” Tom asked and Ruth looked at me as well.

“Because I was soft. It was a bad decision, but if I killed him, I didn’t want to mess up our group dynamics, with you two always looking over your shoulder at me.”

“Oh,” Tom said.

“Oh, is right. Not like there will be a next time for a situation like that. Also, it is good to let word spread, that I keep my word. That it has value. Still, it is concerning another group ran into us out here,” I said.

“You don’t think it is a coincidence?” Ruth asked.

“Maybe, maybe not. But where there is one group, others won’t be far behind. The meerkats are the only level two monster that can be easily killed with a physical weapon and not a skill. That makes this area the best grinding spot. Once a group can make it past the scorpions, setting up camp out here is what anyone with any kind of sense would do.”

“That is what we are doing,” Ruth said with a smile.

“Exactly, any kind of sense. I was hoping for another monster similar to the meerkat, but nothing. Just pigs, dervishes, rocks, stupid monsters.”

“Hmm, so more exploration once we return?” Ruth asked.

“A job. Eight days. We return day 196. Rest day 197. And leave again day 198,” I explained.

“That will push our supplies to the limit, what is the job?” Ruth asked.

“Two people at least 100,000 points each, a skill point each. Also escorting a cart to New Brasilia to buy up Earth items.”

“The split?” Ruth asked.

“20,000 points to both you and Tom. 20,000 more each if you have to fight people.”

“Alright. That is reasonable and after that?”

“Probably more grinding honestly. I want to aim for 1,000 upgrades total. Get everything to at least 100 upgrades, then dump the rest into Body, Regeneration, Perception, and Spirit.”

“That is a lot of upgrades.”

“It is, but I don’t want to barely make it against a level 3 monster. The idea would to be to find a level 3 grind spot. But I need those upgrades if I am going to be able to make it worthwhile enough.”

“Level 3 grinding, you think there is a place like that?”

“I do. Get far enough, like past those ants, and we will find a place like that.”

“Not more skills?” Ruth asked.

“Upgrades are the key to moving forward after the first couple of skills. You see how much energy the skills cost to use. If I get a level four skill and it costs 500 energy? What am going to do with it without lots of upgrades?”

“That will require a lot of points, but I get it. You sure spreading out the upgrades is smart?” Ruth asked.

“Maybe, it is saving my life. Maybe, it is making things a lot harder. But Mind, Aura, Endurance, and Absorption have to do something. Sleep and other mental attacks aren’t something I can just resist on my own without stats. You have seen that.”

We had run tests with Tom and me with Ruth using the Sleep skill she had picked up. It wasn’t much since she was only able to use it for a second, but there was a much bigger impact on Tom. Still, there were already 8 stats, with who knows how many more with store upgrades.

“It isn’t a bad idea to be well rounded,” Tom spoke up. “With all the different monster types, adaptation is key. But you will have to grind a lot more to get further.”

“Thinking ahead?” I asked.

“Yes, I am going to have quite a large amount of points once we return. I have been thinking how I am going to spread them out,” Tom said.

“And what is your plan, and yours Ruth?” I was curious what direction they wanted to go in.

“Enough energy to use the skill I have, but a heavy focus into Body, until my head can barely keep up with my speed. After that I will see if Mind improves my reactions,” Tom said. That was a decent plan and I nodded at that. It would also provide information if Mind improved reaction time.

“The other direction. A lot more focus into Spirit and Regeneration,” Ruth said.

“Not a focus on skills?” I asked Tom.

“A lot more efficient if you can kill the monsters with a weapon. Just have to get strong enough. Also thinking about combining imbue skills with my Grass Blade.” A Body focused spell sword. Interesting, it had good synergy.

“Alright, just don’t forget Perception and Mind, both of you. The mental attacks are no joke, and the hidden enemies are just plain annoying.”

“Has Perception helped?” Ruth asked.

“Maybe, a bit? I always had really good eyesight and hearing. I have had a terrible sense of smell and taste, but not much to smell and taste out here. It might give a danger sense, maybe.” Honestly the stats were annoying with how hard it was to tell what they did.

“I will have to think on it, Mind is a definite with all the mental attacks,” Ruth said.

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