I waited offset from the stone pillars in the plaza that were used to access the store. Standing on the half wall that had been built around them I looked up at the sky, waiting. Everyone else had been evacuated. I turned to look in various directions. It might not be sky worms and it might be something else. I wasn’t that worried.

I had almost doubled my Body stat and my Mind stat. With my upgraded Air Burst, I would easily be able to handle an aerial battle. I already had the skilled prepped. With the long wait time attached to the second upgrade of prep and hold, I had been keeping the skill in reserve all the time when I didn’t have energy.

Even with the increased cost of 100 energy per use, I considered it my safety net. I doubted anything would happen, but like wearing a seatbelt or brushing one’s teeth it was a good habit to get into. I rubbed my tongue over my teeth.

I was glad my first restoration had straightened them out so long ago. I hadn’t noticed right away since I was physically dying at the time. But it was nice to have perfectly straight teeth and not have to worry about cavities. I was sure that once the Divine Empress was defeated, Clarissa would come up with some kind of toothpaste and toothbrush.

Those small comforts that the store didn’t directly provide would be the real sellers. It would also drive trade. Purgatory could put all the menial manufacturing work in other cities and become a rich trade hub, the center of a trade empire. My empire, also Clarissa’s, but what man didn’t want to be an Emperor? The title alone was grandiose and meant standing atop all others.

I smiled a bit at my flight of fancy. That was probably how the Divine Empress got her start. First she got to be in charge. Took on the title of Empress, then she got a meta-point and declared herself a god. It didn’t escape my notice that the Astrologer had said the other name for meta-points were god-points. That was probably the terminology from the West.

Another factor was that the Envoy had been Asian and I would say it was more than likely he was Chinese. It was clear that cities pulled people from regions on Earth for the arrivals, but that also meant that the Chinese cities would have a huge advantage over other nations.

While China wasn’t perfectly unified, like how America had 50 states, it contained far more people than any other country. Only India had the numbers to compete with China. Even then, it wasn’t a huge contest from what I could recall of Earth demographics.

The main issue was that if cities were divided proportionally, China would get a sizable chunk. Only two US cities had showed up nearby. China could have anywhere from six to twelve cities by my estimate. It would not be easy to infiltrate and work out what was going on. Which was why I was glad Clarissa had prepared the people who would go with me, were people who spoke Asian languages.

My job was to be the muscle and the brains behind working out the Empress’s Empire. I could always outsource to the Astrologer, but that felt like a long-term losing decision. One does not become top dog by running to other people. I would be approaching the Astrologer as a supplicant begging for help, not as an equal.

It really came down to, how tough this Divine Empress really was. That was a question that was not easily answered unfortunately. I saw ten specks approaching from the sky. It appeared sky worms were back on the menu.

I waited calmly as the monsters approached. It was annoying I would be showing off like this, but better to leave an impression in peoples’ minds before I left. To pin their hopes on their missing Champion if they all weren’t killed horribly.

I leapt into the air. Air Burst. The worms were quickly approaching. “Acid Shot,” x5. “Acid Shot,” x5. Two waves of acid shot at one of the worms. It blocked the first one, but was quickly hit by the second and fell towards the ground as my acid melted into it. Air Burst. I soared to the next worm and repeated my overwhelming attack.

With each Acid Shot only costing 20 energy, it cost 200 energy to kill each worm. With Air Burst at a 200 energy, I had around 300 energy left as I landed back on the ground. I had managed to get two in one pass in the air. All the worms having been killed off.

It was surprisingly anti-climactic. That was the thing about fights, they were nail biters or nothing burgers. Not much in between. With the amount of energy I had, this fight was a nothing burger. If they had been able to dodge or resist my attacks better or send in more monsters, then it would have been serious.

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I went around and picked up the dropped crystals. Clarissa could use them to help fund her escape. There was cheering going on and I occasionally waved to people who came out into the plaza as I waited for the upgrade timer to count down.

Clarissa walked out and a space around me was cleared by her guards so we could speak in relative privacy. “Impressive,” she told me.

“Just an overwhelming amount of Spirit. Honestly I should have focused on that stat a long time ago, since just engulfing something in acid appears to be the best way to kill it,” I replied.

“Well it certainly worked out this time. Thinking about making a purchase?” Clarissa asked me. I shook my head.

“I am not dipping into my health insurance plan, ever. While I am not always the safest, I try not to repeat mistakes. Everything taken care of?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, first thing in the morning. You might be the best at killing monsters, but arranging for people to do things is my specialty. When are you heading out?” Clarissa asked.

“Tomorrow probably. I need to grind up a lot more stat points. Want to get everything to at least a thousand and then Body needs to go up a lot higher,” I replied.

“Well people are certainly going to be doing some math on your energy reserves. I can’t stop that from spreading,” Clarissa said.

“I know the risk, but it is my primary combat method. It isn’t going to be a surprise I have a lot of energy.” It still wasn’t good. The clearer picture someone had about my stats, the easier it would be to defeat me. But when I had a tenth of what the Divine Empress had, it wasn’t a huge concern when fighting her. I would either live or I would die. She wouldn’t care about working stuff like that out.

The same way I didn’t worry about the people who wanted to be on the Immortal Council. They were nothing in my eyes. Their base combat ability just wasn’t enough to matter. It didn’t matter what tricks or how you arranged your stats, if you just didn’t have enough to begin with.

“What I can’t wait to see are these airships. I might even be tempted if I can directly purchase one. What about you Clarissa? Anything you are looking forward to with this store upgrade?” I asked to lighten the mood.

“The new food option. I am personally guessing meat. I always enjoyed a good steak,” she said.

“Really, I would have put you as a vegan, gluten free, health focused person,” I said with a grin.

“I might not sound like it, but I grew up in Texas. Steak is a way of life. Medium rare, and you need to get just the right amount of seasoning. A lot of people do to little, but you can do too much. You are a burger guy, right?”

“Good guess. Yes, burgers and tacos. We need to make that a food priority, steak tacos.”

“You don’t ruin good steak in tacos. That isn’t steak, those are meat strips. So close to refining sugar too,” Clarissa said the last part quietly and with a sigh. Now that was the real drug. Everyone wanted and loved anything with sugar on it.

We could sell that stuff by the barrel and make a killing. Since I got a cut of the points, or would if Clarissa had any spare points. With everything that had happened, she was throwing everything into arranging for our escape plan from Purgatory.

Investing in people that could make life difficult for the Divine Empress and supply caches was far more valuable than throwing a pittance my way. It worked out for us in that regard keeping our revenue streams separate. It was annoying to be on the back foot to someone who showed up earlier.

I had been spoiled for so long being the oldest person around. Then that had all been ruined. I apparently wasn’t the chosen or the destined either. That bubble had been popped for a long time now, ever since the Astrologer, Clarissa, and I had talked.

“Airships would be nice, a mobile base,” Clarissa said as the timer was almost done.

“Well, the Astrologer said they attracted trouble,” I replied.

“Maybe, but just fly one out and use it as a command center. You can always retreat or reposition much easier than a buried cart. Also, you can only jump so high with a Body stat, you try to ascend?” Clarissa asked me.

“That seems a bit risky. The height for summons is what, a mile or two?” I asked.

“Yes. Could use them as leverage to go higher. Might find something.” Clarissa had to be teasing me, but I played along.

“Hmm, perhaps the ceiling of this place. Minecraft has a build height limit, so I might find that. Or a sky dragon. Or, even better, an exit,” I joked.

“An exit to the void perhaps.”

“So what do you think the purpose of the Systemic Lands and the Almighty System behind it is?” I asked Clarissa. I was deeply curious about her answer. I considered her smart and intelligent. She was also one, if not my only friend in this place.

“I think it is a simulation. Too many things don’t make sense. From metal that isn’t metal. To food that is just a bit off from real food. Like someone tried to copy Earth but got the overall stuff right, but missed the details. As for the purpose, I think it is an abandoned alien entertainment system. Just floating along and picking up people.”

“We could still be on Earth, and we are just copies. Isn’t that a scary thought?” Clarissa asked me.

“I can’t think like that. I am me. I think therefore I am,” I replied.

“Cognito ergo sum,” Clarissa said the Latin phrase for the saying. “I like it. It isn’t like we will get a redo if we die. Imagine, if all the people who died, just woke up on Earth, and the last person left here win’s some alien currency that isn’t usable. Now that would be the worst joke ever.”

That did sound terrible. But I didn’t believe the purpose behind all of this was so asinine. All the death, the pain, the suffering. It couldn’t be pointless, but it also was a bad idea to give meaning to things that had no meaning. No wonder people got caught up in religion before the internet, since they had to ponder these things all the time.