Chapter 77: Day 197 – A Trip

“Ten chests, 10,000 5-point crystals each. Eleventh chest, 8,000 5-point crystals for 540,000 points. Bob already took his cut. Two contracts drawn up for 250,000 each, already signed, just need your signature,” Laura said. I read them over and they basically said what we had already discussed with nothing extra.

I signed both of them, then the secondary copies for Ken, and then the third copies for myself. “Bob is handling logistics for the six people going with you and that has been taken care of through him. That is it from me, unless you have questions?”

“They know who is going to which dungeon?” I asked.

“Yes, that is already worked out and Bob has been informed as well. They were warned to follow your instructions to the letter.”

“Alright, that is it, thank you for arranging this.” I shook Laura’s hand.

“No, thank you. This is going to reduce the demands for skills for a while and hopefully inject some crystals into the economy once they start killing level 2 monsters.” Laura then walked off.

“Split two chests between you to take out your share.”

“Got it,” Tom said.

One he was done getting his and Ruth’s crystals. I cashed in 380,000 points along with my remaining 148 50-point crystals and 3 450-point crystals. That left me with 404,837 points. I spent 384,750 points on another 100 upgrades.

Body-180; Mind-60; Spirt-100; Perception-100; Aura-60; Rengeration-200; Endurance-50; Absorption-50 for a total of 800 upgrades.

One of Laura’s people took the empty chests away after I turned in the crystals.

I saved last 24,837 points. I would save them for now as an emergency buffer. I preferred to purchase my upgrades in large batches anyways. It made me feel like I was making progress rather than doing it one at a time. Also it hurt my brain less, if I didn’t push the stats up one at a time.

There were two other carts being brought along and Bob was about done loading up supplies. “Alright, listen up everyone if you want to live and get your crystals worth.” Everyone quickly quieted down. I noticed other people listening in and watching, but I didn’t care.

“First rule, listen to what I say, no arguments. I won’t repeat myself. Second rule. If I am not around, listen to Ruth here. She is second in command and if she says something, it is like it came from me, so listen to her. Third rule, no complaining or asking questions. Fourth rule, no wandering off. Fifth rule, you kill it you keep the crystal. Sixth rule, no causing drama. You paid for a service not a nanny.”

“We will be departing in five minutes to the West. Finish what you have to and then I am leaving with or without you,” I finished my speech.

There wasn’t too much scrambling which was good to see. I went over to Bob. “All set?” I asked.

“Just some last-minute checks, but we should be fine.”

“Alright.” I checked my watch and waited the last couple of minutes. “Let’s move.” I set off. There was me at the front. Tom pulling our cart. Then Bob had four guards with two cart pullers, one of the cart pullers being Estevo. Bob himself, who was walking between his carts at the center of our formation. Then there were the six people coming along to get skills at the back along with Ruth.

Ruth was talking and walking with them. Good, she was earning her people wrangler pay. We made our way to the West gate and then I had us set off to the Southwest.

I was pleased to note that my acid wiped out the blue slimes now. Probably the minor death energy or the nullification that was part of my most recent upgrades to the skill. I wish I had thought to test that before the upgrades, oh well, a missed opportunity to learn something. We left the forest and began running into chameleons.

I could feel the difference in my movement with all the upgrades to Body. Everything seemed to be clearer and slower in a fight and my body responded easily. Possibly Mind and Perception, if I had to guess. We reached the black pigs just after mid-day.

One use of Acid Shot from me and they went down. We finally reached the boarder to the Sword Dervishes, and I called it a day there. I noticed Bob had brought a table and chair for himself in one of his carts and I just rolled my eyes at that.

“Any issues?” I asked Ruth.

“Some of them were interested in testing themselves against a pig.”

“You can supervise that if they are interested. Bob will be setting up a rotating watch with his guard. You and Tom can rest for the night.”

“Alright, you are letting him know?” Ruth asked.

“Yes, if there are issues, I need to deal with, let me know.”

“No, they are great people for the most part, it wouldn’t hurt to have a conversation.”

“Maybe, but I am not that interested. We are going to the butterfly dungeon first. You know who is up for that?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I will leave that in your hands. They will have to carry the lantern, other than that, not much they need to do.”

“I will explain that.” I nodded at Ruth and went to talk to Tom and explain how things were being organized. With that done, I got out an apple and munched into it as I watched the sun set.

“Champion Michael, I have an extra chair if you want to join me?” Bob came over and asked me.

“Thank you.” I got up and sat with him. He had a bowl with stew.

“Stew?”

“Thank you but no. My stomach is used to the raw fruits and vegetables while traveling. Can’t afford stomach issues in the middle of a fight.”

“Hmm, your loss. So, two more days?”

“All travel tomorrow. Then we will get to the first dungeon early on day 199. Then hopefully get to the second dungeon that evening. Day 200 we will spend in the city, doing another dungeon that evening and the fourth on day 201. Then two days for to reach dungeon five. Will probably have your guys make camp a ways back so no one dies.”

“Then another two days to clear the sixth and last dungeon. About a day travel after that, putting our return the evening of day 206.”

“Ten days, well supplies might get a bit tight at the end, but we can restock in Neo Brasilia.”

“That is up to you. I will leave that to your judgement.”

“Well, I have quite a war chest to buy Earth goods with. Hopefully I can clear out the entire city.”

“You will have to give me a future discount on watches.”

“Of course, of course. Only the best for my best customer and protector.”

“Not interested in grinding?”

“I will leave that to the young and the brave. Me, I can handle logistics and making sure things run smoothly in the background. Also, it is safer, and I am quite hefty.” He patted his stomach. I blinked at that and smiled to myself. I had come along ways from the rotund blob that had showed up here so long ago.

“That is why I am surprised you are coming yourself.”

“If you weren’t along, I wouldn’t dare risk this trip. With you here, I am not worried in the slightest.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence. If things do get dicey in the city, I will prioritize getting you out.”

“I appreciate that, but hopefully things don’t get that bad.”

“I also won’t hesitate to make a point if people get pushy or troublesome. Just so you know.”

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“I expected nothing less. I plan to say some things and you just need to stand next to me to scare the living daylights out of anyone with an idea to steal or cause issues.”

“That is fine.” We chatted about Purgatory and how it was nice for the city to be moving in the right direction and not devolving into an orgy of violence. Things were touch and go for a bit, but with the guards forcing people out to earn crystals and a path to earn second tier crystals, people were putting in the work. There were still destitute people, and more people would show up. But for now the situation was stable.

There was a slow culture and mentality shift that was still ongoing as people adapted to the new environment, we found ourselves in. With teams capable of killing tier two monsters, the pressure on the crystal supplies in the city were finally being resolved. It wouldn’t last forever, but I could leave the problem for future me.

I went to sleep and woke up in the middle of the night. I checked with Bob’s guard on watch, and no issues. The re-spawn time hit, and I left camp to clear the surrounding area. I returned after fifteen minutes and went back to sleep.

The next day we set off at dawn, mostly to the South with a bit of drift to the West. We ran into the sword dervishes and there were some noises of surprise, but I easily cleared the path. We hit swamp and followed the edge of it to the Southwest.

The swamp turned to forest and the deadlands into grasslands. I let the people clear the grass elementals along with the guards to get some free crystals. It was getting dark, so I called it a day.

The following day, day 199. I had us move to the Southeast through the blue butterfly forest. We ran into our first group, but the three people quickly ran off. We reached the butterfly pit. Ruth had got the lantern ready and the first person.

I plowed my way through the dungeon, since I had already beaten it, I wasn’t that worried. The man claimed the skill point and we left the dungeon. I then had us move West.

That was when a group of five people showed up in front of me. “Champion Michael, I thought we asked you not to return,” Lucas said.

“I never agreed to that. You just assumed. Are you barring the way?” I asked.

“Why are you here and what is Estevo doing with you?”

“Just walking about stretching my legs. Estevo is being paid as a cart puller, but that is between him and Caravan Master Bob.”

“We will have to ask you to turn back or else,” Lucas said.

“I am honestly curious, what is the ‘or else’?”

“We will fight you and defeat you,” Lucas said. He drew a sword and pointed it at me. I looked at it in distain.

“Do you even have skills?” None of them said anything and I shook my head. “It will be a massacre. Even with your four archers and eight fighters hiding in the forest around me.” There was dead silence at my announcement.

“You are that confident?” One of the men asked.

“You are?”

“Jose.”

“Jose, I could kill you all and I wouldn’t even sweat. But then, once it is over, you will be dead.”

“That many people ready to ambush you?” It wasn’t an ambush if you were talking to me idiots, no matter how many people you had with you. Also, you only had people in a 120 degree arc in front of us. No one to the sides or behind as far as I could tell.

“The power of skills makes that big of a difference. This is your last chance to back down.” Jose brought up his sword as a response.

“Air Burst. Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” I burst forward and unleashed Acid Shot at near point-blank range. Jose was killed instantly as acid washed over his head. One of the women with him went down as well as the acid splashed on her. Arrows were loosed but missed me, didn’t expect a movement skill and aiming at a moving target is tough.

I kept using Acid Shot as I wiped out all the attackers. It was over in less than a minute. My new stats gave me too much of an advantage. With my skills, I was unbeatable compared to these people in a straight up fight.

A number of people in the caravan looked ill. I walked over to Bob. “I would say about 1,000 points worth of gear.”

“Ah, uh, ah yes. That is fine. Men, collect the salvageable gear. Avoid anything with acid on it.”

“Good. Put it on my tab,” I said. I went and took a seat against a nearby tree. A short time later the battlefield was picked clean of anything useful while the rest decayed in pools of acid. I noted that Ruth had acted to try and stop people from escaping during the massacre. It would only be called a fight or battle if they had a chance. One still got away, but I wasn’t that worried.

“You, okay?” Ruth came over to ask me.

“Just annoyed. How much warning did those people need? I mean seriously, not even one skill between all of them?” I shook my head.

“They didn’t understand the difference,” Ruth said.

“The person that got away. More problems you think?”

“Just confirmed what they all knew. That you aren’t someone to mess with.” I nodded at that. At least there was a silver lining. We set off again and had no more interruptions by the time we reached the grasslands dungeon.

I quickly cleared it and got another paying customer a skill. The way their sword glowed with a red light, I strongly suspected Imbue Fire.

We made our way to the West gate of Neo Brasilia and found a nearby empty building to spend the night.

Morning came and it was day 200 and we set off for the plaza at the center of the city. We got several stares, but no one came over as Bob got everything set up. He then had a chair set on a table and sat on it. It made me think back to Carlos when he first did that.

“People of Neo Brasilia. My name is Bob, and I am here to trade you your Earth goods for crystals. Lots of crystals. The first three people will get a bonus. Watches, lighters, jewelry, no clothing unfortunately.” There was a long period of silence until an old man came forward with a ring.

A guard took the ring and passed it to Bob who looked at it. “Ten 5-point crystals. Plus, another ten for being the first to step up.”

“Thirty,” the old man said.

“Twenty and that is it. If you don’t want to trade have your ring back,” Bob handed it to his guard.

“Wait, twenty, I will take twenty.”

“Pay him.” His cart puller other than Estevo put the ring into a chest and gave the old man 20 5-point crystals from another chest. That soon opened the floodgates as people traded what they had left of their lives for crystals.

It was honestly a bit embarrassing how much of an advantage Bob was taking of these people, but supply and demand. They had a huge demand for crystals and a low demand for Earth goods. I kept a look out and pointed my club at people who tried to get too close.

Thankfully I didn’t need to make any examples. As the day went past mid-day the arrival happened. Bob made another speech, but the action was dying down.

I walked over to Bob.

“Done?” I asked.

“Yes, quite the haul.”

“Alright then, let’s get moving in five minutes, good?”

“That is fine. Let’s get packed up, you heard the Champion. No cloud watching.” Bob got his people to pack up and secure everything.

We then departed back West. We reached the grass dungeon that evening, and I then got the third person a skill point. The following day we went to the butterfly pit dungeon again and got a person a fourth skill point and began traveling to the Northwest.

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