“That is quite a bit,” I replied after getting my head around that number and trying to stay calm.
“Yes. It is comparable to what a CEO would make of a top-rated company, based on the value of crystals. Which is about a dollar to point, based on their purchasing power and the rule of thumb most people are using,” Clarissa replied. A good thing she didn’t say she was underpaid, or I would have lost it.
“That means in a 250 days, you will have 1,000 stats,” I said.
“Well, it doesn’t all go to stats, but yes.” She didn’t say anything more as I tried to weigh her salary versus taxes and everything else.
“How much are our guards paid?” I asked to get a better understanding of what was going on.
“They are paid 200 points per day. For non-combat positions, 100 points per day. Researchers and guard captains, 1,000 points per day. Expenses are deducted out of their salary,” That was a lot, but taking expenses made it a bit more palatable.
“Days off?” I asked.
“Yes, and they aren’t paid then. When I get a day off, I will let you know.” I knew she was sassing me a bit, but didn’t point it out.
“I am tempted to have the city invest in myself. What are you pulling in per day for city upgrades? That should be half the tax revenue,” I asked.
“About 100k points per day at the moment,” Clarissa replied.
“And a tenth of that is your salary?” I asked just to confirm.
“Yes. Unless you want to run this city?” And there was the rub. There was no one else. She knew it. I knew it. She could easily be taking more, but I knew she wouldn’t lie. It wasn’t worth the risk to go behind my back. That was why she was upfront about what she was making.
“You don’t think as your boss, I should make more than you?” I asked.
“You are on the board of directors if anything. And while you have close to a 100% controlling majority, there are no profits, therefore no dividends. Everything is being reinvested back into the city. I am your CEO, so I handle the day to day. Which is why I get paid, and you don’t. But you are welcome to change that,” Clarissa said. I took a second to think that over. It made sense, kind of. But I didn’t like it, but could accept the situation as it currently stood.
“No. It is fine. But no more than ten thousand a day. I am serious. I know I haven’t pressured you about what you are pulling in since you do such an amazing job, but no more than that.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” Clarissa said, and I nodded at that.
“What are your stats?” I was curious now.
“Secret.”
“Secret?” I gave her a look. She sighed a bit and looked right back at me.
“Yes. But I have a total of 300 stat points at the moment.” I waved my hand indicating she should keep going, but she didn’t.
“Body?” I asked. She smiled slightly and shook her head. “Wait, you didn’t. Everything into Mind?” I asked.
“The vast majority. It hasn’t helped me think better, but it is hard to say. But the risk of mental attacks is quite scary. Right now, I am spreading them out. It is a work in progress.”
“Well, there is a difference between having stats and being combat capable,” I said.
“I know. Trust me. I just want to be able to protect myself if things get tricky.” Well, she was too critical to lose. So, I didn’t get that upset about taking such a large salary to invest in herself.
“Nothing from the Ritualist?” I asked.
“Nothing. No movement, not envoys. Whatever he is doing, he is holed up in Heaven or to the East as far as I can tell. The big issue is Truth. The skill users there are grinding up points and building up their stats. The Union teams assigned are staying ahead, but it makes it challenging to rotate them out with new teams safely.”
“So, I need to go there and kill them all,” I let out a sigh. “They will just run and hide in the city. Well, we have summoners. We will do a punitive expedition. Let’s plan for day 401 to depart and deal with this. Fifty people capable of fighting, and five summoners at least. Also, people with negative energy sensing. The RMPF has that many?” I asked.
“They do. But it would leave us understrength. Are you thinking about sealing their city and exploring with the summons?” Clarissa asked.
“Yes, purge everyone inside the city. While controlling the gates. Ten people per gate, another ten at the plaza. One summoner per team. Spend two to three days searching the city for anyone. Using summons, it is possible for long range coordination. As soon as a team spots a person with a skill, I would rush in that direction.” I thought how such an assault would go.
“Very well. I will begin making the preparations. Will you be taking command?” Clarissa asked.
“Overall command and for the deployment. Each team should be managed by a Captain, I think. Since, I don’t have time to micromanage things. We can also pull in the Union teams at the nearby dungeons. There are four there, right?” I asked.
“Yes, two per dungeon with how tense the situation is currently. That would give you another twenty skilled people.”
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“I would deploy one team to each gate with the RMPF. That should be enough combat power at each gate to stop a breakout, or a break in. The skill users from Truth are grinding points?” I asked.
“Yes. They are grinding up points. But we haven’t made an effort to hunt them down,” Clarissa replied.
“Why? With some summons it should be easy enough to track their location and pressure them,” I asked.
“While the Union will fight, its members aren’t combatants or soldiers. This has been made quite clear to me. While they will pay taxes, report on things they observe, they aren’t going to rush into battle. That is where they are drawing the line. Also, the people from Truth prioritize escaping over anything else,” Clarissa explained.
“Really? You cut those people from the dungeon list?” I asked.
“Of course. Anyone not willing to engage in combat against hostile forces, is listed as a low priority for a skill point. That means they aren’t getting one.” I would put some fear into them as well. Not too big of a scare but enough to give them a good kick in their butts. I needed to think about this a bit more.
“Good. Organize the punitive force. It will be a good warmup for when we assault Heaven.” What a ridiculous name for a city. Still, the Ritualist earned the right to name his city. He also earned the right to be melted horribly.
“General Gerold will most likely deploy with this army. Will Naran be going with you?” Clarissa asked. I thought about what she said for a moment.
“Gerold can come. He can handle the logistics. I want to make good time to Truth. As for Naran, no. I know him, and he will refuse to go back there. He can take a vacation of a couple of days until I return and act as a deterrent in event of an attack on Purgatory. That reminds me, the meeting with the Ritualist.” I thought about that and then changed my mind.
One thing I knew about management was that you had to make a decision. It could be a bad decision, but a decision needed to be made. You could always change your mind later but being indecisive would create trouble as people began to doubt and question one’s leadership.
“Naran can be the envoy to the Ritualist. His stats are high enough that he should be fine. Arrange the trip with him. Unless Esperanza decided to march all the way out here, that should be all threats accounted for,” I said.
“A team is already ready. I will speak to him about what he requires and the city’s position. I am sure he will probably talk to you himself. Do you want him to speak on your behalf, or use the person I have already prepared?” Clarissa asked.
“He is there as a military deterrent. If the Ritualist complains about me not being there, remind him that I can always go visit him in his city. Also, no crystals or trade. Shut him down hard. If he pushes back, then we can trade him slime crystals at a ratio of two to one.”
“I will pass that message along,” Clarissa said and I nodded.
“We seemed to have gotten off track, sorry about that,” I said and rubbed the back of my head.
“It is fine. I expect it. We have more buildings to look at.” We made our way back to the elevator. It cost 100 points to go back down. “Will need a moment to dispatch a messenger to General Gerold.”
“That is fine.” We went back down with the elevator and exited the tiny tower. That was how I thought of it, not as an Airship Port, due to the massive tower I had seen in the level 3 zone. That one was at least five times bigger and taller.
One of Clarissa’s guards, or my guards left. They needed a name. Something that evoked grandeur and respect for me. Perhaps the Immortal Guard. That sounded grandiose enough. I followed Clarissa to a nearby building that had a large footprint like the Meeting Hall and Airship Port.
Soldiers of the RMPF opened up the double doors and the Immortal Guard stayed outside. “This is the Training Hall.” We made our way to the pillar in the center of the open room. There was nothing else. I put my hands on the pillar.
Point crystals from monsters could be brought here and placed on the pillar. They would be recorded and could then be summoned for practice combat as an illusion. Each session cost 100 points, no matter what was summoned. That was quite cheap. I selected two small wolves. I was prompted to pick where it would appear. I picked the far wall in front of me.
Both materialized along the wall and waited. It would only start moving once I removed my hands from the pillar. I took my hands off and the monsters rushed at me. I moved and delivered a kick to one of the wolves sides. It went flying and then turned to dust, not dropping anything.
The other wolf lunged and bit down on my leg. I could feel pain, but there was no blood or damage. Acid Shot. The monster was killed, and a small part of my boot melted. Not perfectly safe. If multiple people were using skills, there could be friendly fire.
“Interesting. Expensive for training at the low tiers, but good practice for the higher tiers,” I replied.
“It is. The issue is the cost and memory. Right now, it can only store five monster types. Upgrading to ten monster types costs 100k. Upgrading to 25 monster types costs 250k. A level 2 Training Hall costs 500k and a level 3 Training Hall costs one million points,” Clarissa listed out the purchase options that I had noted from the pillar.
“Make this a priority for purchases below a million points. People need to pay 25 points for one hour and can book ahead of time. No cap for now, but that can be changed. This might be the first city building we need to buy a second copy of,” I said.
“If we want one copy of every monster, then yes. I am thinking curating the selection. Whomever runs the place can decide,” Clarissa said.
“Too bad it can’t do level 4 monsters,” I muttered while looking at the pillar in the center of the room. It would be a great way to test my combat ability. There was one other thing I wanted to test. Acid Shot.
The pillar and floor weren’t even damaged in the slightest as the acid pooled on the floor and disappeared after a bit. I looked at Clarissa once the acid had disappeared who was looking at me. “Curious to see how durable the pillar is, if I am going to use this training room,” I said.
“That is fine. This place only cost 250k points,” Clarissa said in her usual deadpan, but I could tell she was exasperated with me.
“Hey, it was a valid test. Better to know now before we upgrade this place,” I said.
“Fine. It is fine. The only building left is the Prison and some minor purchases,” Clarissa said.
“What purchases?” I asked.
“Upgrading a processing table to level 3. It just got some gold and silver mixed in with the wood when it upgraded, but nothing affecting the circle just the appearance. People couldn’t sense anything different about it.”
“I will take a look, but that is minor, what else?” I asked.
“The third floors on several buildings. Your house, the President’s office, the RMPF headquarters, and the city treasury,” Clarissa said. I nodded at that. It had been quite obvious. “Finally, communication stones, between two gates and the RMPF headquarters.”
“That I have to see.”
“Like the pillar, but with a large orb on top. If one person is touching an orb on one end, the other glows. If people are touching the orbs on both ends, they can see a projection of the other person and speak to them,” Clarissa explained.
“How big are the orbs?” I asked.
“About the size of a large beachball and incredibly heavy. Not something that can be easily moved. And the pillar has to be moved as well. Only works inside the city. In time we will have a communication room set up to communicate to any point on the wall. There are discussions of purchasing four more towers to place between each of the gates. Having eight points to get up and down the wall, deploy from, and communicate,” Clarissa explained.
“I will want to check them later, but the plan is fine. I want to stay below the one million threshold for now. So, feel free to make these purchases. So, Prison?” I asked.
“That can wait. Rod of Control first, the prisoners aren’t going anywhere,” Clarissa said. She probably wanted to know what it did just as much as I did.