I raced through the streets, enjoying my speed and how easy it was to move. It was rare that I just ran like this without having to worry about something. I noted I was moving on the front portions of my feet, rather than the back.

That was a change that had happened over time. Now it felt completely natural. I knew how much force to kick off with to move me. I pushed the boundaries of my physicality a bit more than I did when grinding to get a better feel of my movement.

The Almighty System did an amazing job putting the information into a person’s brain or subconscious, so they didn’t slam into a wall. It didn’t optimize movement or give any guidance on high level movement. I could push off the ground harder, but then I had to adjust my pace and focus. It was a weird mix of my actions and what felt natural.

As far as I could tell, the Almighty System brought a person up to a level where they could run and move, without hurting themselves, or falling over. Anything more complex like sharp turns through the winding streets, jumping, or dodging were all up to an individual to figure out.

That was why Ben was able to dodge when he had purchased all those stats with his stolen points. It was why, anyone could buy a large number of stat upgrades and not become crippled. Still, there was a learning curve to get better at moving.

This was an issue that was important to me, since while I would prefer to stand around and be a walking artillery, it was too risky. Death’s speed was insane, and I wasn’t even sure it was a speed focused monster. The higher levels would only get worse as well.

I was putting my hope on equipment to give me a boost up to fight level 4 monsters. If I could grind level 4 monsters, that would be a huge boost to my grind speed. At the very least, I would feel comfortable grinding up more than 1 million points and taking the risk of a visit from Death again.

Hmm, that was an interesting idea. Grind Death to get some Death crafting crystals. Unfortunately, it was a level 4 monster. My current Processing Rod wouldn’t do anything. It just didn’t have enough thrust to it. I chuckled as I zig zagged through the streets, rod in hand. I had a firm grip, so I didn’t lose control.

Even though it was dark out, I could make enough out of the street in front of me, so I didn’t have to worry about running into anything. I eventually reached the gate. Which was closed. “Halt!” I paused and spotted a soldier come out of one of the towers next to the closed gate leading to the tunnel through the wall.

“Identify yourself.” More soldiers in red uniforms came out.

“Champion Michael,” I said slowly and clearly. After a few seconds of staring at me a Captain quickly saluted me.

“Champion Michael welcome. What can the West gate do for you?”

I returned the salute. “I am leaving Purgatory.” I gestured at the closed doors.

“Of course. Open the gate. Now!” The soldiers quickly began to get to work. “Do you require any further assistance, and should we keep watch for your return?”

“I am fine. Just going for an evening stroll to test out my new rod.” The Captain looked at the gray cylinder in my hand. “Crafting is a thing, just going to collect data. I have no doubt there will be an announcement sometime in the next day or so. I will be returning through another gate during the day, so don’t worry about me.”

“Thank you for explaining, Champion Michael. Good luck out there.” I gave the Captain a nod and rushed through the open gate. Monsters should have just respawned. I raced into the forest, a sense of nostalgia hitting me.

Almost a year ago, I had done this to earn my first points. Almost pissing myself every second I was out here. Struggling to breathe like a beached whale. Now I was running through the forest at night without any worry.

Oh, hello there blue slime. I slammed the Processing Rod straight down on top of the monster while keeping my feet back. It burst apart. The remains turned to dust, which was then pulled into the Processing Rod. It wasn’t any longer and there was no visible difference. I instantly knew it had a count of 1 light blue slime. There was no 5-point crystal drop.

I kept racing through the forest, killing blue slimes. Once I killed the eighth blue slime, the Processing Rod glowed white for a few seconds and then a light blue crystal appeared on one end. The crystal was cubical in nature and touching the end of the rod. I took the crafting crystal off without any resistance and looked it over. Nothing interesting from just looking or holding it, unlike a skill point crystal.

I poked the crafting crystal with the processing rod. I knew it was a light blue slime crafting crystal. Interesting, the Processing Rod also doubled as an identification rod. I killed the next blue slime by kicking at an oblique angle to not get any acid on me. It dropped a regular crystal. I poked the regular 5-point crystal with the Processing Rod.

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A 5-point light blue slime crystal. That was all the information I got back. I tossed the 5-point crystal in my pack and kept rushing through the forest. I checked the Processing Rod, but there was no damage from the slime acid.

If this thing truly was super strong, it might make sense to make armor out of Processing Rods. It was just a very annoying size and shape for such a thing, but it would be possible. But not practical, since movement was key to fighting, both monsters and people.

Having armor made of gray cylinders, was not the best option for me. I would wait to see how the equipment enchanting process would turn out. I think realistically, we would test out the level 1 crystals and the results, but focus on level 2 crystals.

There was more leeway at that level for people to spend on other things besides stats and living expenses. Still, that would mean upgrading the tables in Enchanting Hall, at 500,000 points each. It implied a time component to the enchanting process as well as the crafting crystal upgrade process. Otherwise one could just upgrade a single table and not have to worry about upgrading the rest if there was no time bottleneck.

I thought if the city should charge a fee for use, but that would counterproductive. It would be better to make the cost information. Getting a big picture of the outcome of enchanting would be a huge boon. That way I could figure out what would be the optimal level 3 monsters to make equipment from.

By the time I had the information I needed, I hopefully should be able to clear a lot more level 3 zones by grinding up my stats. It would be a long-term project at the start to develop my first set of gear. It also meant that replacements would be a pain in the rear. I would have to have a reserve of crafting crystals to make new equipment if my current gear was damaged.

It was a point sink, a crystal sink, and a headache. This was a moment that I wished I could just go online and click a few buttons on Amazon to order whatever I wanted. Or make it like a game where I could check a strategy guide. Or the crafting process didn’t require such a huge time and resource investment.

At least with the stats, there were only 8 stats at the moment to pick from. Even the choice of skills was fairly limited. Crafting had opened up a world of possibilities and a world of headaches. This hadn’t even touched on Alchemy, since there was an Alchemy Hall.

Then there were all the other buildings that needed to be purchased and possible upgrades of those buildings. Then there was upgrading the store and all the headaches that entailed. They weren’t bad problems to have, but they were still problems that needed to be solved.

There was no optimal answer on the best course of what to purchase next. Well, the next purchase would be a level 2 enchanting table most likely. Since there was probably a time component to crafting and one of those tables was needed at the bear minimum.

After that, Alchemical Hall, Rod of Control, Recycling Center, Airship Port, Training Hall, Regional Map, Prison, and then a City Shield. The City Shield was the only purchase that would hit one million points and would probably be the last purchase. Once the buildings were purchased, upgrades could be purchased.

I didn’t even want to calculate how much everything would cost. I knew that it was still less than getting me to 10,000 total stat points, at its hefty 250 million point total. The idea of purchasing the next upgrade for the store, was tempting, but I was worried.

That million point threshold, was a clear dividing line in my opinion. There also wouldn’t be an option for a city shield, if there wasn’t a purpose for a city shield. The fact that it cost one million points, just like the next store upgrade was sending up all kinds of red flags.

It might actually be worthwhile to upgrade another city’s store and see what happens. It might even be effective tactic to flush the rats out of Truth. I considered the possibility of wasting one million points on a test as I finished gathering up blue slime crafting crystals and moved onto the next monster, brown wolves to the South. I didn’t feel like dealing with the brown slimes in the dark.

I just rammed my rod right into the monster’s heads, which seemed to do the trick of making their deaths count for processing crystals. At least all the blood and gore turned to dust, otherwise this process would have been a lot messier.

Once I had killed enough, I got a brown crafting crystal. Touching the rod to the crystal confirmed it was crafting crystal from a brown wolf. The Processing Rod was working off the same language logic as the store.

People got the same set of information downloaded into their brains regardless of language. The concepts and understanding were the same. Sure, the word might be different or convoluted, but there was no meaningful difference in understanding.

The mental information was giving concepts, not words. The fact that people gravitated towards the same words indicated mental conditioning or the commonality of language. I wasn’t sure which one was true.

It had been such a promising idea when I had it, but nothing came of it. Using language to work out clues of the Almighty System. But it was all a dead end. No easy answers that way.

Now I had another idea to invest my brainpower in. There was a clue or clues in the coloration of monsters and the crafting crystals. I was leaning towards some kind of alignment system.

I knew there was Death energy, along with Cold, Air, and Metal based on the upgrade options I had for Acid Shot. I suspected that kind of thing would play a role in crafting if the color of the crafting crystals was anything to go by.

What was really concerning was the ability to combine crystals of a lower level to a higher level. While it would open the way for higher level crafting, it also meant combinations would have to worked out. A chart of some kind would eventually have to be created.

It made me wonder what kind of elemental system the Almighty System used. I didn’t expect it to be something simple with things like Death, Cold, Air, and Metal. I suspected there was life and hot being opposites to what I knew about. I had no idea what the opposite of Air was, earth maybe, but then there was metal. Would there be plastic monsters?

I wouldn’t put anything past the Almighty System. If there were type interactions, they would need to be carefully evaluated. At least testing or using level 1 monsters was incredibly easy with my stats. There was absolutely nothing to worry about, when thrusting my rod into such weak monsters.

It was unfortunate that the name of Processing Rod was probably my fault for associating those words with the piece of equipment. It processed stuff and it was rod shaped.