We entered the city of Neo Brasilia. There was no one grinding the monsters outside of it. That was strange. We kept walking through the streets to get to the plaza without seeing a single person or piece of trash. The first was far more concerning, the second implied no one had passed through the street.
There was a stink as we approached the plaza. As it came into sight, it was a mess. Dead bodies, guts, blood, and half starved people. There were areas covered in shit and piss as well. It was a complete disaster. “Woah,” Naran muttered. Woah was right.
Several people who were still alive, looked at us and shied away. One young man who was skin and bones came over. “Spare a crystal sirs?” He got down on his knees and held out his hands. I nodded at Naran who tossed him a five point crystal.
“What happened here?” I asked.
“People fight to lead. People die. More people come. Kill people who resist. No strength left to fight.” I noted the bloody splotches around his mouth. He had resorted to cannibalism or his gums were bleeding.
“Why not grind monsters outside the city?” I asked.
“People kill if you leave and are caught. No one can leave.” I was wondering who was doing this. I would need to check in with one of the Union teams stationed at the dungeons outside the city to grind up skill points. Naran tossed him another crystal.
We moved towards the store. The young man quickly rushed over and turned in the crystals for points and then food. Quickly scarfing down what he purchased before running off. I purchased 50 stat points for Regeneration to increase my grind speed.
Body-300; Mind-100; Spirt-100; Perception-100; Aura-100; Regeneration-250; Endurance-50; Absorption-50 for a total of 1,050 upgrades.
This choice was entirely to increase my grind speed. It wouldn’t help me in a fast paced fight with the Ritualist. I needed to increase my energy to the point where the limitation was no longer energy, but the time it took to go from level 3 monster to level 3 monster.
Once I hit that point, I would begin to invest in all the other stats. Probably Mind first if I had the time, so I could grind out the mental attack type of monsters and resist the Ritualist’s combined attack better. After that Spirit and Body were high on the list. Spirit to have a larger gas tank.
I needed to be able to spam my skills in quick succession. If I could use Air Burst four times in a row and then spam Acid Shot, I might have a chance at breaking through the defenses the Ritualist would set up around his body. Body upgrades since they were tied into my movement and health. I was concerned how I would handle personal hygiene, which was why I was more hesitant on picking Body. I rubbed my beard and frowned.
Perception would be the next choice. Spotting monsters more easily was critical to avoid being ambushed. Just the basic level 3 monsters tended to blend in. Maybe a similar effect to whatever stopped everyone from perceiving things long distance.
After that were the bottom choices, I felt fairly sure on, but not 100%, of Aura being magic defense, Endurance, probably sleep resistance, and Absorption reduced the need for food and water. This place really needed an instruction manual or a Power Guide. I smiled at the thought people flocking to my future church for actual cheat codes for their lives.
I left the store with around 171,000 points saved up after my stat point purchases. Nowhere close to the amount I wanted to have in reserve for emergency restorations. I was never going to crippled for an extended period ever again. I wouldn’t say I would rather die, not that extreme, but by the Almighty System, I wasn’t going to have to drag myself around. Just no to that.
Leaving the city to the West we headed towards the grassland pit dungeon. It was annoying how there was no dungeon to the Southeast on the way to the new grind spot. It was getting fairly late, and we would have to camp with the other team, if they were still alive.
I noted a cart on a hill and five people sitting around. They noticed us and quickly stood up. No Gertrude and her Emerald Wolves, unfortunately. That would have been a nice meeting.
“Champion Michael,” one of the men spoke up. I tried to recall who this was.
“Sam, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“Yes sir. This is my team, the Black Horned Crows.” I looked over the people, but none of them jumped out to me.
“No problems out here, nothing concerning?” I asked.
“No. The city has been mercifully quiet. Tends to be on the latter half of a deek.”
“Deek?” I asked. I made up terms and words, not other people.
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“Ah, well we operate on ten-day intervals due to the arrivals. So, it isn’t a week, and calling it a decaday is a mouthful. So deek.” That was something.
“The city, what is happening there? The plaza is a mess?”
“Oh. Yeah, we had to show the locals who is in charge you know. Can’t have them disrespecting Purgatory and yourself.” What?! “After you wiped out their leadership, it wasn’t hard to kill anyone leaving the city when we ran across them. Now they kill each other for the most part, less headache for us to deal with.”
I didn’t know what I expected to happen. Not this, that was for sure. Starving people who had given up hope, maybe. “Normally we do a sweep the day after arrival just to wipe out any of the adventurous people.” Stop speaking, this was just getting worse and worse.
“Some of the boys were thinking about having a go at some of the women before they were no good anymore. I wasn’t sure about that, but it would help morale, especially after the Ritualist.” I could tell Naran was staring at me.
Like, I didn’t even order this. Ahhhh! I killed people from other cities left and right. But I had also come down hard on Naran and his people. I couldn’t punish these people either. They would be future members of my Immortal Council and foot soldiers on the front lines against the Ritualist.
On the other hand, leadership started at the top and I was a shit leader. I knew that. I knew that everyone else knew that. Now my men wanted me to condone the rape of people arriving in the city. A good leader never gives an order he isn’t sure will be followed. I hated making this kind of decision, it was a loss either way and I didn’t like losing.
Why did people have to be so frustrating!? Naran’s eyes were gazing bullets into my back, and I needed to answer. “Discipline and a focus on grinding are key to long term success. Getting caught up in pleasures outside of Purgatory is a huge risk. What if one of you is killed? Or an enemy sneaks in pretending to be part of the arrival? Better to not risk something like that.”
I patted myself on the back for coming up with these excuses on the spot. “While it is hard to grind out in the wilderness, it is important to maintain that focus. Work hard, play hard.” There were nods at that. Thank goodness, crisis averted.
“All our energy is needed to focus on improving ourselves and the city in preparation for the Ritualist.”
“Do you think we can win?” Sam asked. Why did everyone have to ask this?
“Of course. He is just a tricky opponent to corner. That is why I am grinding up my stats so I can catch him. Doing the same?” I asked.
“Of course. Us Black Horned Crows aren’t slackers. Also, we lost teammates in that attack. When you go after the Ritualist, well we talked about it, let us know and we will back you up.” It hit me like a ton of bricks in slow motion.
I was the evil side. I kind of knew that, but now I really knew it. No one thinks of themselves as the villain, but I really was one. These people were my future minions. “Thanks. I will need everyone’s support if we are to win. We are going to push on for the evening. Try to cover as much ground as possible before it gets too dark.”
“Well, don’t be a stranger. It is always good to see a friendly face out here,” Sam said. The rest of his companions joined in with smiles. I had fans. Horrible fans, but I had fans who were future minions. I was conflicted. We left their campsite and made our way East.
We got a couple of miles before we called it a night. Naran hadn’t said anything. “Go ahead, say what you want to say. You have earned that right,” I said.
“Not going to say anything. But welcome to the headaches of being in charge. The people with the lowest inhibitions towards violence, tend to have lower inhibitions towards other activities.”
“You were waiting to say that, weren’t you?”
“Yep,” Naran said. “You handled the situation as well as you could have. Maybe, I am no example to go by.”
“Well, I can’t tell them off while asking them to fight to the death. I am horrible at everything else besides grinding.” I let out a long sigh.
“Don’t fall into that mindset. The moment you accept the awfulness of this place, then you become a part of it.” I really looked at Naran. He had been through a mess in Truth. He had some damned good advice. I just needed to accept it.
“Yeah. Just feels like my standards are already at rock bottom.”
“Well, you can always go lower. Trust me. Truth and the Ritualist have proven that true.”
“Am I the evil side?” I asked. Naran just shrugged.
“From a certain perspective, but the alternatives are all worse. Without a strong boot stomping down on people, you will have something similar to what happened in Truth.” I nodded at that. “I gave up on figuring out a solution and accepted your boot as the best one.”
“I can’t help but keep thinking if there is a better way to do things.”
“Who can say? You could do everything perfectly, but one person doesn’t fear you and succeeds in an assassination attempt. Then there would be a power struggle. You can be brutal and string people up by their guts, or feed them to monsters, and then accidentally slip in some blood and crack your head open on a wall.”
“So, you are saying none of it matters.”
“It matters what you make of it. Are you okay with what you have done? I know I hated myself, and that is why I swore I would never lead ever again or go back to Truth. Would rather die, than all of that.”
“No. But, each choice felt like the best one at the time. Now there are trails of bodies behind me, the Ritualist is hell bent on killing me, and the people under my command are becoming more depraved.”
“That is why leadership is tough.”
“I know, but I thought it was just making decisions, even unpalatable ones. This? When I have terrible people working for me. But I need those terrible people to have a shot at winning.”
“You need them? Not a country or army unto yourself?”
“I may say stuff like that, but I don’t really buy into my own hype. The recent losses have put that into perspective. I just feel tired and dirty, and it isn’t the grunge from the wilderness.”
“Well, just don’t die. Otherwise, people might look at me to run things. I am never ever doing that ever again.” I really wanted to put Naran in charge. I could trust him after he saved my life twice and didn’t want to be in charge. He also understood the horribleness of the Systemic Lands in its unfiltered blood splattered detail.
But I owed the man. I owed him in a way I had never owed anyone. I wouldn’t sacrifice my life for his, but I would go out of my way to move heaven and earth for what he had done. The first time he had saved my life, it could be counted as saving his own.
The second time he went out of his way to back me up and risk his life. He was a friend and knew the headaches I was going through.