I checked out the City Shield building. It was a bunker with a single pillar to deposit points into the shield and activate the shield. Nothing interesting no markings. It was built like the Prison with very thick walls, of higher quality material that city purchased buildings appeared to be made of.

After that, Clarissa escorted me back to my home and set me up in a conference room with refreshments. I was impressed she was spending time with me rather than foisting me off on some idiot. I suspected she knew I would object and wanted to avoid drama.

Elliot soon entered the room after I sat down and Clarissa took a seat to my right. He was a bit flustered it appeared. “Um, Chief Administrator Clarissa, Champion Michael, um, well I am here to talk about typing.” He adjusted his fake glasses. I was already annoyed first by him greeting Clarissa ahead of me.

“Crafting crystal types, let’s see the chart,” I demanded.

“Well, the chart hasn’t been worked out yet. But don’t worry! I am making progress,” Elliot quickly said.

“Champion Michael meant you should present what you have discovered,” Clarissa said before I could yell at the guy.

“Ah, yes. My first conclusion is that the type chart is complex. Very complex. It is not based off of any known game system or historical system. It is completely new and unknown. My second conclusion is that the level of the crafting crystal only matters for power.” He took a breath before continuing.

“Doing destructive testing on primed crafting crystals at higher levels yielded the same result, but only stronger than the lower crystals. Based on the single level 3 crafting crystal I have tested, I have concluded the power scales approximately by a factor of ten.”

That made sense with how stats were aligned. But then why the eight monsters to make a crafting crystal, and eight crafting crystals to upgrade to the next level? The Almighty System had weirdly arbitrary points for things to take effect. It would be too easy to think of everything base 10, when crafting appeared to be designed with a base 8 number system in mind.

Were there limits on the System? That made no sense. With the power of everything else, why have 8 crafting crystals, when it could easily be set to 10.

Elliot kept speaking as I thought over what he was explaining. “At the current point in time, the effect of detonating a crystal matches up to the enchantment effects and potion effects. From this we can work out the effect of each crystal type.”

“The next conclusion with crystal combination is that equal amounts of opposing crystal types, cancel each other out. I have worked out the following details,” Elliot said and handed over a sheet of paper.

(1)Blue (Liquid/Melt) – Melts

(1)Brown (Force/Solid) – Generates Force

(1)Green (Poison/Nature) – Poisons, Damage Over Time

(1)Light Red (Fire/Energetic) – Fire

(1)White (Hope/Bliss) – Mental Attack, Lose Focus Daydreaming

(1)Orange (Radiance) – Blinding Light, Damage?

(2)Black (Death/Decay) – Organic Material Rots or Decays

(2)Silver (Construct/Machine) – Physical And Skill Resistance

(2)Clear (Null) – Reduces Stats, Suppresses Skills

(C)Dark Gray (Void) – Dusting

(C)Dark Blue (Ice/Cold) – Freezing

(C)Yellow (Light) – Persistent Light

(C)Dark Orange (Life) – Partial Regeneration

4Blue+2Brown+2Green+XEmptinessX=Void

4Blue+2Brown+2Green+XLightX=Yellow

4Blue+4Brown=Opposites

4DarkGray+4Orange=Opposites

4Green+4Blue=DarkBlue

4Red+4Green=Yellow

4Red+4Clear=DarkOrange

4DarkOrage+4Black=Opposites

4Green+4Silver=Opposites

I looked over the list. “The numbers?” I asked.

“Ah, the level I have seen those crystals come in at. The letter ‘C’ means that I combined other crystals to make those types,” Elliot explained.

“The part with two names for various crystals?” I asked.

“Well, we have a Processing Rod that is used to check crystals. In blind testing, different crystals came back with different words describing them. Hence the dual names that some crystals have,” Elliot explained. That made sense and was interesting.

“Those are the only combinations that have worked? And what is up with those first two combinations?” I asked.

“Those are the combinations that have been found. There appears to be a mental component on some combinations that force them in one direction or another. If the outcome isn’t thought of, the combination process will fail,” Elliot explained. Of course it couldn’t be simple, like one plus one equals two.

It did make sense, since crystals were related to energy which reacted to thought. Still, it was annoying. Instead of chemistry, I got some weird new age crystal mumbo jumbo. Almighty System, you needed more numbers and math, less of this nonsense.

“So, while combinations have been tried, they can’t be ruled out, since the thought may have been incorrect,” Elliot added. Yeah, I got that.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Based on a skill upgrade. Death, Cold, Metal, and Air should all be adjacent to Liquid or Melt. How do you know something is an opposite and just a failure in combination?” I asked.

“Ah, there is a much bigger flash. The assumption is that the energy from the crystals are annihilating each other instead of the smaller flash when the combination process fails,” Elliot explained.

“Also from my travels, there is purple for sound. Bright red for regeneration of some kind. And light blue for force, or something similar. The monster shoots out force walls,” I said.

“Solid walls, or force acting on you?” Elliot asked.

“Solid but invisible walls,” I replied.

“Then not force as it is currently categorized. Will have to think on that a bit,” Elliot said.

“Also hope or bliss for the mind monsters?” I asked.

“Ah yes. That is the experience we have observed when detonating the crafting crystals,” Elliot explained. I guess that made sense. “All mind monsters?” I asked.

“Yes, they produce the same clear type of crystal,” Elliot said. That would be a powerful drug if made into a potion. I shuddered a bit at the thought. I looked over the effects.

“Enchantments can be stacked onto an item?” I asked changing directions.

“It makes the effect more powerful. Without level 2 enchanting, I can’t tell you how the level of enchanting compares,” Elliot said. I looked at Clarissa.

“After the next purchase, Enchanting Hall upgrades. A void based sword stacked with top level enchantments would be a key item,” I said. It would make close combat much easier for Naran. I noted Clarissa make a note about what I said. That was why I liked her. I might say a lot of things, but she actually followed up on all of them.

“What about the counter enchantments?” I asked.

“The opposite effect. But some equipment it doesn’t make sense. Like poison or nature, it doesn’t make people more resistant to poison even with equipment with that counter enchantment. The same for clear or bliss enchantments. Since mental attacks aren’t targeting the weapons and poison doesn’t work on weapons, the enchantment is useless,” Elliot explained.

“Curious how a counter enchantment would work for the silver, clear, and orange crystals. I see a couple different options that would work well for armor. Radiance and light, they seem similar, what is the exact difference?” I asked.

“Radiance deals damage and is instant. Light persists for a while. Counter radiance enchantments, draw in radiance based attacks. Suppressing their effect on their surroundings,” Elliot explained.

“How far?” I asked.

“Only a few inches or centimeters from the object in question. Basically, it would shield that portion of a person’s body from a radiance based attack,” Elliot explained. He had been gaining more confidence the longer the question and answer session went on.

“I am impressed. This is good progress. See to it that he gets the crafting crystals I have accumulated. That reminds me, the striped meerkats, what type of crystal did they drop?” I asked.

Elliot looked at Clarissa. “We haven’t gotten any crafting crystals from them yet. It is difficult to stab them while touching them with a Processing Rod,” Clarissa explained.

“That needs to be priority. The striped monsters, don’t have a clear color, but they can teleport. Make it a priority,” I said.

“I will make the necessary arrangements and give instructions to the teams that will rotate to that zone,” Clarissa said.

“Any idea on the full chart?” I asked.

“Not at this time. With the combination process a headache, it is a struggle to work out new crystal types, without knowing them ahead of time. Testing can get very expensive, especially when level 2 crystals are being combined,” Elliot explained. I looked at Clarissa for more information on this issue.

“For now, we aren’t investing heavily, into crafting crystals. Better to wait and discover new monster colors and their abilities, to work out new crystal types,” Clarissa explained. I let out a sigh and drummed my fingers on the table while thinking.

“That is fine. We need to upgrade the Enchanting Hall regardless,” I needed to think a lot more on the list. “Can I keep this?” I asked, pointing at the list.

“Of course, that was a copy I made with the summarized results,” Elliot said. I nodded at that. I would be spending a lot of time looking over the information, trying to work out the type chart on my own. I probably wouldn’t get anywhere, but it was a puzzle to tickle my brain during dull periods while grinding or traveling.

“Anything else Champion Michael?” Clarissa asked me. I shook my head.

“Nothing I can think of. Thank you for the information, keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing more positive developments in working out the type chart,” I said.

“Thank you Elliot, that is all,” Clarissa said to the man.

“Ah, yes,” he said and adjusted his fake glasses before leaving.

I waited until the doors were shut before asking the question that had been bothering me. “Why the fake glasses?” I asked.

“He likes them. I don’t really know. He is good at what he does. Managing and keeping track of the various city buildings,” Clarissa explained. Still, it was weird, but there were all types of people. He also wasn’t hurting anyone, even if I thought it was a huge risk to wear glasses.

“The real question is how many types? We have thirteen so far and four pairs of opposites confirmed. That means at least five more types for a minimum total of eighteen. But based on the minor effect upgraded, some types are closer than others.” I looked over the notes and thought about the types that had been discovered so far.

It was very unclear and something I hadn’t seen before. No traditional four or five elemental table. This was a very complex type chart. I am sure it would make sense once I saw it, but until then, I felt a headache coming on.

“What do you think?” I asked Clarissa.

“That there is more variety at the higher level of monsters. And that coloration tends to clump together. Another reason might have different types that are more prevalent. It actually opens up the possibly of a trade economy developing. Well, it depends how difficult it is to make certain types,” Clarissa said.

“Regardless, this is important to develop and work out enchantments. I notice that we are getting crystals from Esperanza and Heaven? Also, potions with resistance and imbuement,” I asked.

“Yes. My spy teams are funneling crafting crystals of the level 1 monsters to us. Not a lot, but enough to make use of them,” Clarissa explained. That was when I realized exactly what the spy teams were doing. Oh, Clarissa, why did I ever doubt you.