I immediately got information directly inserted into my brain. Not creepy at all. I took a moment to process what I had learned, and the options presented.

There were four purchase options. The first was a level 1 to 3 Processing Rod for 10,000 points. Upgrade to level 2 processing for 100,000 points. Upgrade to level 3 processing 250,000 points. Double processing tables for a total of 16 tables instead of 8, 500,000 points.

The first step to processing a monster was purchasing a Processing Rod. The second step was the Processing Rod then had to touching a monster when it was killed. No crystal would drop, instead the count on the Processing Rod would increment by one. Kill 8 monsters of the same type, a crafting crystal of a specific type would be produced. The first type set the monster type for the Processing Rod and that was it, no way to cancel or delete saved types off the Processing Rod unless it was to make a crafting crystal.

The third step was to return here and use the crafting crystals for stuff. The only thing the tables in this building allowed for was upgrading the level of the crystal. The tables allowed 9 crafting crystals to be combined to a higher level crystal. It took 8 crystals around the outside of the circle on the tables and 1 in the center. Crafting crystals combined in this way couldn’t be combined a second time. No leveling up infinitely.

I stepped away and let other people get the mental download as I worked through the implications of everything I had just learned. The first and most immediate, was that this would cut into grinding efficiency. One couldn’t use the point crystals for crafting crystals. The monsters had to be killed while the Processing Rod was touching them.

It took 8 monsters to form 1 crafting crystal, which was 40 points at level 1. To form a higher level crafting crystal, it would take 72 monsters, or 360 points at level 1. There was no clue as to how many crafting crystals were actually needed for crafting. My guess was something obscene that would suck crafting crystals into a black hole.

That didn’t even take into account the cost of equipment. It then hit me. The upgrades to the combination tables, were per table not the building. The sheer cost of upgrading everything, made me want to cringe in disgust even more at the shamelessness of the Almighty System.

That brought up the next point. A major point. The mental download indicated each crafting crystal had a type. A type for monster, or something else, wasn’t given. Upgrading crafting crystals was also a way to combine various crystals to form new types of crystals. No clue on how that would work, just chuck in crystals and see what comes out.

There was a good chance one would have to use said crafting crystals on equipment to actually work out what they did. I almost didn’t want to purchase this place anymore, for what a rabbit hole it was. Also, the Processing Rod was stupidly expensive. Not for me, but for regular people.

Only Union teams would be able to afford something like that. If I purchased one and used it for crafting crystals, the speed of upgrading my stats would slow down, with no guarantees on the return of investment.

No actual food or anything like that from processing monsters. I hadn’t been holding out hope. No way would the Almighty System let people escape its grip by giving them alternatives to the store. You don’t set up a bottleneck like that to just remove it later on. Maybe in a game, but for whatever this place was, I didn’t think there would be anything so generous to help handle the astronomical influx amount of people in the future.

From some of the expressions on people who had checked out the pillar I could see there was enough disappointment to go around. Giving up a monopoly on food would be foolish of the system store for its unrelenting control.

“Well, that is something,” I finally said out loud.

“We will have to set up people with Processing Rods and take crafting crystals instead of taxes,” Clarissa suggested. I was more inclined to let people work things out themselves, with the government recording everything. But it would slow things down in terms of research.

I went over to the pillar again and purchased a Processing Rod for myself. There was silence as it instantly materialized above the pillar. I took the Processing Rod. It was about two feet long or a bit more than half a meter. It was slightly thinner than a soda can. It was a perfect gray cylinder. No markings of any kind.

Holding the Processing Rod, I instinctively knew it was a level 1 to level 3 Processing Rod with zero charges currently stored. I just needed to think about the rod, and that information would pop into my brain. Super creepy.

I handed it off to Clarissa and the Processing Rod was passed around. I held back a snicker thinking about people touching my rod and rubbing their hands all over my hard, long, sturdy rod. “Do it on a limited basis and people who won’t lose it. Perhaps the trainers for the rotating groups?” I suggested.

“That can work. I will make arrangements,” Clarissa said. Laura jumped into the conversation.

“When are we looking at purchasing, the Enchantment Hall? That seems like a key component for crafting crystals.” I nodded at that. It was a good suggestion.

“Clarissa will handle future purchases, if I am not here. Let’s put the Enchanting Hall next and then the Alchemical Hall. That will give us a better idea of the entire process and cost. For now, all crafting will need to be recorded, but people are free to purchase a Processing Rod if they want to. That includes myself,” I said.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“The Enchanting Hall costs 250,000 points. We are looking at only five more days or so,” Clarissa said. I frowned at that. I wanted answers now.

“I will give the city a zero interest loan of 50,000 points, which can be paid back when I return. The city has the remaining 200,000 points?” I asked Clarissa.

“Yes, that can work, unless any objections?” Everyone shook their head. Perfect. The Processing Rod was handed back to me, and I passed it off to Clarissa to hold for now. We went back to the plaza and more chests were brought out. It took a few minutes, but I didn’t mind waiting.

I purchased the Enchanting Hall, just North of Monster Processing. The entire group walked over to the new city building. It was very similar to Monster Processing. Double reinforced doors, a large room opened up into the second floor. There were also eight tables around the edges of the room. There was a pillar in the center of the room as well.

I was the first person that went over to it and put my hands on the pillar. My heart almost skipped a beat. It cost 1,000,000 points to upgrade a table to handle level 2 crafting crystals and 5,000,000 points to handle level 3 crafting crystals. My soul began to cry at the cost. The tears were for the sheer number of points that needed to be invested.

I could get 2 people on the Immortal Council for the cost of a level 3 enchanting table. That was my new unit of cost measurement. Immortal Council members, or getting a person to 1,000 stat points, an easy 2.6 million points.

On each table one would place 8 crafting crystals of the same composition along with an object in the center of the enchanting circle. During the enchanting process that object would be either designated as active, passive, or counter. The designation would happen when enchanting an item.

Enchantments could be stacked but not changed or removed, depending on the quality of the item in question. The higher level of item from a system store, meant the more enchantments could be stacked based on material type. That meant with the iron equipment we had access to, up to 3 enchantments could be stacked.

The sheer number of possibilities was headache inducing. What needed to be worked out quickly was if there was any kind of pattern. Also, with monster types able to be mixed when leveling up a crystal, it became even more complex.

Then there were the insane costs. The main issue was that each piece of equipment was treated separately. I couldn’t just toss all my armor into the circle and enchant it at the same time. Each individual piece had to be enchanted separately. What counted as an individual piece was if it was purchased as a single piece from the system store.

I had a helmet, armguards, shin guards, chest piece, waist piece, boots, undershirt, socks, and underwear. Oh, and my sword as the only offensive piece. Might as well make that two swords. That was a total of 15 pieces of gear. I had stopped using my cape for the most part to not get it dirty. It was more of a pillow slash blanket when I slept. But might as well count that as well. That meant 16 pieces of equipment. This was without counting cold weather clothing that I tossed under and over my armor.

Assume 2 enchantments for fine clothes and 3 enchantments for my gear. That was 41 enchantments if my math wasn’t wrong. They would have to be level 3, or why bother. That meant 328 crafting crystals, or 2,624 level 3 monsters needed to be turned into crafting crystals.

That was about 14 days of grinding at my current grinding speed. What I needed was more information. “Processing Rod,” I held out my hand to Clarissa as more people checked the Enchanting Hall pillar. She handed it over. “Time to run an immediate test. It won’t be that long until the reset. I also want to see how sturdy this thing is.” I held up the Processing Rod.

I wouldn’t be able to rest properly thinking about all the possibilities. I needed to have some idea right now. “By yourself?” Clarissa asked.

“It will be good to stretch my legs. We can all come back here tomorrow morning, since I don’t plan to upgrade any crafting crystals.” We wouldn’t be able to use them then was something I didn’t say. “I am thinking one piece of equipment for active, passive, and counter from each of the level 1 monsters around the city. That would be 24 crafting crystals from each type, 192 monsters, and 768 total. Might be a bit later than morning, but I want to see one piece of equipment of each type.”

“That makes sense. Thank you, Champion Michael, for taking the lead on this,” General Gerold said.

“I will hold off on any plans until you report back, and we see the results,” Clarissa said.

“They are crystals, that opens up quite a range of possibilities for research,” President Bob chimed in and I froze. I had completely forgotten about that angle when I had been doing all the mental math.

“Indeed. Clarissa, arrange things for some tests when I return. I will investigate crafting crystals myself tomorrow.”

“I will make arrangement for lab space. Any requirements?” Clarissa asked for clarification.

“We are testing everything that a regular crystal can be used for with a crafting crystal.” She nodded at that. I wanted to try my hand at some research. At the very least I could rule out the simplest ideas, things that had already been done with regular crystals.

I was more and more pleased with my decision to come back. I would have a lot of new things to think on while grinding. I returned to my home and got changed into some simple blue colored clothing, but no armor and nothing fancy. I had an actual wardrobe now and different outfits to pick from. I guess my size was worked out from my city outfits, I wouldn’t complain.

My armor was also gone, probably being cleaned and washed. It was amazing how everything was just being taken care of without me having to micromanage things. I did have a new key just for room and my own personal bathroom.

As I got changed, I enjoyed having a carpet under my feet instead of cold, hard, gray stone. It was tempting to try and bring such comforts while grinding, but I knew that was the path of weakness. If I went down that road and demanded such creature comforts, my grind rate would slow. I would be less inclined to push myself.

The salt that Naran purchased to enhance the flavor of the food we brought was one of the biggest things that had changed, but I couldn’t say no to good food. It was still my secret weakness. Despite all the weight I had lost, I still had the heart and soul of a fat person, wanting to gobble everything up.

It was disappointing there would be no monster meals. Now that was a class and build, I could get behind. Professional monster chef. But that would be broken with summoning. Just add a dash of powder, poof, instant meal.

I finished changing and left my building, rod in hand, and an empty pack on my back. I was going to shove my rod into those monsters and brutalize them. The jokes practically wrote themselves. I chuckled as I raced through the streets.