I didn’t want to go back to Neo Brasilia. I would have rather cashed in my crystals anywhere else since the risk was so high. But, I needed to head East past Purgatory to get a mimic pet. I couldn’t afford to go West and then come back East. Well, I could but it would be a huge hassle.

One thing I noticed was that in a low level zone, all those crystals were disturbing the energy around them. In a level 3 zone, this disturbance was minor. But in a level 2 or level 1 zone it became obvious. I couldn’t afford to be dragging the cart everywhere. Better to rush and cash them in.

Also, I could beat the Envoy. The only real threat was her majesty, the Divine Empress herself. It was just one more critical weak point of an evil empire. You needed people under you who were competent since doing everything yourself was in a pain in the ass.

Still, when the tradeoff was billions of crystals it was quite tempting. Just kill everyone and make them all slaves to empower myself. It was tempting in a way.

Regardless of all that, we were going back to Neo Brasilia to cash in, then we would go through the swamp to the mimic monsters. I would get one as a pet. Then we would head West while I practiced with it. I just needed to somehow control it enough to look like the Divine Empress and figure that out.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard.

We reached the city directly from the South early in the morning, and I saw a soldier in camo at the gate. “Champion Michael?” he called out.

“Yes,” I called back and gave a wave. He approached slowly and I took off my helmet.

“What is happening?” I asked as he got close. He saluted and I returned the salute.

“Champion Michael. Right now, the empire is making a push on Neo Brasilia. We are holding the West wall but barely. I am keeping an eye on our flank. But the battle lines are holding at the wall.” I looked to the West, but I didn’t hear or see anything.

“Anyone at the plaza?” I asked.

“We are rotating people out for restorations, but it is a struggle.”

“And who is the Chief Administrator?” I asked.

“Clarissa is in charge.” Okay, while it wasn’t a full confirmation, but it was enough for me at the moment.

“Keep up the good work, I will assess the situation.” I gave him a salute which he returned.

“Just going to call out the clear shout to the other people. All clear, blue seven!” I noted people on top of buildings after we passed through the gate. I wasn’t that worried about being attacked or ambushed. Bao Wang followed me pulling the cart towards the plaza.

I had us keep up a quick pace. When we got close, I heard moaning. There were people laid out in stretchers. I also noticed the good doctor looking over people.

“Doctor Katz,” I said and went over to him. He looked up and quickly stood up.

“Champion Michael!” he said with a weary face but there was a slight smile to it. “It is good to see you alive.”

“You as well. What is the situation?” I asked.

“The Dragon Empire is making a massive push to take this city after we have stalled them at Purgatory. We rerouted teams here with the plan to fall back after the arrival. But things have heated up quickly.”

“Clarissa?” I asked.

“Managing the strategic picture from her mobile command post.” That was just like her, and I nodded at that.

“Well good for her. Naran made it out of the blast?” I asked. The good doctor’s face fell. “What is it?”

“His team vanished. But the approach from the East and his entire team dead and out of the blast radius that took out Purgatory…we assume it was the Divine Empress, that killed him.” I turned away from the good doctor and closed my eyes.

“He hasn’t turned up and has been listed as dead.” I wiped my eyes. Naran was friend. We may not have agreed on everything and he had taken a step back. But he was my friend. I would trust him with my life.

I turned back to the good doctor. “I understand,” I said calmly, but inside I was raging. I didn’t have many people I could call friend. Now I had one less and the Systemic Lands seemed darker than ever before. “Well, how much to get these people back on their feet?” I asked looking at the wounded soldiers.

“Anything you can spare.” I gave the good doctor a hard look. I wasn’t running a charity. “For this match, probably about five million points.” I let out a long sigh. Curse my bleeding heart.

“Alright, ten million. Spend it wisely.” It wasn’t charity, but to help the war effort. Getting everyone healed up would be a huge boost in morale. I went over to the cart and separated out 10 million crystals worth of points.

The good doctor quickly took charge in getting the points distributed and restorations going. Half the crystals were secured by a small group as I cashed in all my points. I had 70 million left to cash in, so it was only a fraction of my total. There were cheers as people got back on their feet.

I had 11,400 stat points currently and enough points to buy 1,150 more stat points. Body-2,130(+800); Mind-1,050(+350); Spirit-4,000; Perception-400; Aura-400; Regeneration-2,300; Endurance-200; Absorption-1,500; Sense-570 for a total of 12,550 upgrades.

Getting a 1,000 in Mind allowed me to sense mental attacks, their direction and source now. So, all around a purely positive upgrade. The rest went into my Body stat so I could move faster and handle high speed combat.

As much as I wanted to be a static caster, I just didn’t have the raw power for that. Movement was too key for dodging. “Doctor Katz, keep an eye on Bao Wang here. He is a guest from the Dragon Empire and has a lot of information. He should be treated kindly, but not allowed to leave.” I said all of this where Bao Wang could hear me.

“Understood, you are going to the West wall?” the good doctor asked me.

“Yes. I will break the Empire’s forces.” I had some anger to vent and that was productive thing I could do. “I will be back in a bit.” The good doctor gave me an affirmative and I quickly set off to the West wall of Neo Brasilia.

I took to the roof tops, since I could clear the gaps between them now with each kickoff their stone. Naran was dead. I had a hard time accepting that. I had killed people and seen people die. But he was just so…Naran.

It was hard to wrap my head around. But against the Divine Empress, his stats would have been worthless and there would have been no escape. Her power and combat level was at ludicrous levels. There was no fighting a ludicrous level person.

It only took twenty minutes to reach the wall. A far cry from the hours it had taken me when I had first arrived to the Systemic Lands. I saw beams of energy impact the top of the wall which was already pretty charred.

Air Burst. Air Burst. Air Burst.I landed up on top of the wall. The few soldiers nearby startled and then let out relived sighs when they saw it was me. “What is going on?” I asked as I looked at the terrain to the West.

“Champion Michael,” one of the soldiers in camo hurried forward to me but stayed low to the top of the wall. “The Empire has advanced around 500 soldiers to the wall. There are multiple emplacements that unleash beam attacks. They have at least 20 skill users, we only have 3 left. We are holding them off, but there have been two skirmishes at the gate, and we forced them back each time.”

With the height advantage I could see their position. “Don’t get in my way, but feel free to back me up if you can. I am going on ahead.” I kicked off the wall before the soldier could reply. Two beam attacks targeted me mid-air. Air Burst. I easily dodged to the side and the missed me.

Air Burst. Air Burst. Air Burst.I quickly shot forward towards one of the sources of those beam attacks. I saw five soldiers retreat and landed in their mist. I normally wouldn’t use a sword, but there were so many I needed to conserve my energy a bit.

I cut off two of the soldiers’ heads. “Acid Shot,” x3. The other three began to melt. I didn’t wait around to listen to their dying screams as I raced forward.

There was shouting, but I didn’t understand Chinese well enough to make out what was being said. I saw a soldier in black I cut them down if they were close or I was headed in that direction. If they were just a short distance out of the way, I melted them.

I felt five mental attacks strike me and instantly knew where they were coming from. I kicked off the ground and killed those skill users. They had no chance to escape. I saw a soldier try to retreat, but another one cut the man down. He had small golden markings on his armor. An officer.

There weren’t many officers, but I didn’t target them specifically. They had nothing that could stop me. The entire army was on the verge of retreating and I was almost to the supply carts when I sensed energy. I had been keeping my Sense stat active.

There were five soldiers. Four of them in black armor with spikes and I could tell their armor and weapons were enchanted. The white armor of the last person was familiar.

They had counter-force enchantments on the armor if it was like the ones I had taken and the blade had some kind of nasty effect. The two I found had a passive nature-poison enchantments on them. The Black Talons.

The four in black moved directly for me to flank and attack me all at the same time. “Acid Shot,” x20. It was pointless as they were all engulfed. They were too close and too slow to dodge. I shot past their melting corpses towards the last one in white armor.

A beam attack was unleashed, but I saw it coming as he was gathering energy. Air Burst. I quickly dodged as the man tried to track me, but he was too slow. “Acid Shot. Acid Shot,” x5.He dodged my first attack but got caught in the remainder. His armor and flesh melted.

The army was trying to retreat but I saw a soldier and I killed a soldier. I didn’t spare a single one. Each of them was a drop of water on the inferno of my rage. Some tried to plead or begged, but I didn’t care. I killed them all.

I knew they weren’t responsible, but they served the woman who was. Hopefully she was dying slowly wherever she currently was. But here and now, I had no mercy to give. Let their deaths be in honor of a good friend and companion.

There were cheers as the soldiers on my side rushed out onto the battlefield to help chase down the remaining empire soldiers. Their stats were clearly superior. The power of consumption coming through.