Fuyuka said something in Chinese while striding in a circle around our campsite. She was to the right of Abs and I was to the left. She then stopped and said a phrase, while making a gesture. “Acid Shot,” I used my skill. I had Abs nod slightly at the display and turn slightly to look at where a melting corpse would be.

I had Abs start moving first and we continued our trek. The Divine Empress had to be at the front. Fuyuka insisted the Divine Empress would not allow anyone to stand in front of her. Something Bao Wang hadn’t mentioned. That meant I would control the pace and Abs would be taking the lead.

We did another lap around our practice area. “Master Fleshcrafter,” I called out. Fuyuka immediately moved in front of Abs as we came to a halt. I paid attention to any words or sayings. I picked up on one and had Abs make a gesture to the side with one hand before putting it behind its back.

The pretend one sided argument went a bit more and then I heard another phrase. I had Abs point at the ground. That meant the person should kow-tow for showing disrespect. Fuyuka made a gesture indicating the way forward and I had Abs start moving again.

We had been doing this for about an hour when I called a stop. We sat down and had some water. “What do think?” I asked Fuyuka.

“It might work, or we might be attacked. At least our teamwork is quite good. Also the water on the eyes helps a bit,” Fuyuka pointed out. I was glad to hear that. I had very small cavities in the head of Abs, that let the smallest of trickles of water cover the Divine Empress’s eyes. It greatly improved the realism by a large factor.

“We enter from the main gate and move directly for the plaza. You will order them to prepare the treasury for our arrival.” I was going over the plan again just to make sure. I was even getting a bit nervous. Everything was leading up to this moment. “After that we move directly for the plaza, and this is the tricky part. The Divine Empress will order that I get points as a reward.”

“Yes, trying to have both of you touch the same pillar isn’t possible logistically with all the chests that needed to be constantly in motion for the tribute. You will have the Divine Empress right behind you, while I handle any one that questions things,” Fuyuka added and I nodded at this slight change in the plan.

If this was how Earth criminals did heists, then I never wanted to do another one. The stress was making me feel a bit ill. I rubbed my gut. Another restoration was needed. I would grab one once we were in the Forbidden City.

As for the change in plans. The issue with me going first and the Divine Empress being injured, was that people might question that. The answer was to not answer. Her standing behind me and not doing anything would be all the proof people needed that she approved of what was happening.

There was a reason plan A was plan audacity. It was completely relying on sheer bullshit and confidence to just bully our way through. Also, a bit of melting if needed.

“If we manage to get the points without being interrupted, you didn’t mention what happens then,” Fuyuka pointed out. I had been going back and forth on this issue for a while.

“We go for the palace and the library. Anyone we run into I can easily kill at that point. Also, once I get the points I can easily cover you as well,” I said. If we did manage to get that point, I would try to make some effort to get Fuyuka out alive as thanks for the 10 billion points.

She was giving me a look and I just smiled under my spiked helmet. “Fine. So, the palace and the library to steal her books. You know they will probably be in Chinese right?”

“Of course. But I can get them translated easily enough.” Well Clarissa would be able to handle that. “The best option would be to get one large chest, put the books in and then make our way to the airship and then fly away,” I said.

“When she comes back, you are going to die horribly, you know that right?” Fuyuka asked me and I waved her words away.

“With all those stats, I won’t worry nearly as much.” I would have over 60,000 stats. About six times my current amount. Everything would be raised to at least 2,000, with Body getting bumped up to at least 25,000 and Mind being half that.

It wasn’t my first choice, but I needed the speed. I had been completely outclassed in our last fight. It wasn’t even a contest. The Divine Empress just moved so much faster than me, it was like I was standing still. Her speed almost eclipsed my speed of thought which was ludicrous.

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Investing that much into Body, would give me the ability to at least maneuver against her and possibly escape. I didn’t think it was likely, but the chance of survival would go up from zero percent to a tenth of a percent.

The rest would be invested into Regeneration. If this heist was pulled off, I would never get any more stat points for a long time. Well, I would but once I had 60,000 stat points, the next one would cost 300,100 points. At my current grinding speed, I would only be able to get 10 stat points or so a day.

If I wanted to spam my skills, I needed more energy. It had always been my goal to be a wizard and just spam magic from the back row like artillery. Out of the way and not getting up close and personal to dangerous people and monsters.

I could also afford upgrading my skills, specifically Acid Shot. I had no idea what was in the tower, but the Astrologer had indicated it was hard, very hard. I could quickly clear some dungeon by the East Bastion to raise up Acid Shot before going into the tower.

There was a certainty there was a level 5 monster in that tower. That wasn’t even a question in my mind. The real question was if there was a level 6 monster. I had to go all the way up to the 49th Floor to the Astrologer. That probably meant the entire tower was 50 stories. That was going to be a long climb.

I could worry about that later, for now I needed to focus on the heist. “Honestly, once I get all those points, unless the Divine Empress shows up, we will have the run of the place,” I said.

“That is going to be the hard part, getting the points,” Fuyuka muttered.

“Don’t worry, it will be fine. Just have confidence. The worst that can happen is that the Divine Empress is there, takes our heads and makes us scream for all eternity on her throne. On the flip side, she will probably explode with rage when she returns. Maybe that will kill her, pure emotional damage,” I speculated.

“You are the craziest person I have ever met and I have met some crazy people over the years,” Fuyuka muttered loudly.

“That is fine. Look the face is amazing.” I gestured at Abs and Fuyuka looked at the monster.

“It would only fool a child or an idiot. But hopefully no one questions anything or looks at her closely.”

“Well once we liberate the library of its knowledge, might steal some other things and leave a present, then we make our way to the airship and fly away,” I said.

“Hopefully it works out and if we go to plan B?” Fuyuka asked.

“Then I kill everyone and we move directly for the airship to secure it as quickly as possible. But I know you will be able to manage. Just have me melt anyone who speaks up and the rest should fall in line. That is the weakness of evil empires, their lack of ability to challenge an impersonation.”

“No one has had the guts to try anything like this ever. If we pull this off, well without the Divine Empress, the entire empire might just collapse,” Fuyuka sounded a bit hopeful and then shook her head. “Still, it is impossible as long as she lives.”

“Perhaps,” I replied. Getting all these stat points would make me reevaluate a possible fight between the two of us. It wasn’t something I would do, but it would no longer be completely out of reach. I could just come back and rob her treasury whenever I felt like it.

Since Naran had saved my life, and my life was infinitely valuable, I needed to extract infinite revenge on the Divine Empress. Stealing her treasury once would be rage inducing, but three, four, ten times? She would burst a blood vessel.

I know I would, and my treasury got robbed twice for nowhere near that amount. If it had been robbed a third time, everyone would be dead, including Clarissa. That was how to implode the evil empire, make the Divine Empress go into berserk mode.

“Rested enough?” I asked Fuyuka.

“Yes, let’s do some more practice. I want to get everything down perfectly and prepare my lines ahead of time. But what about the Envoy?”

“If he shows up then we are out of luck, and we go right for plan B. Hopefully I can kill him in a single attack so the fight isn’t dragged out,” I answered. “Shall we?” I asked her.

“Yes, let’s do this.” Fuyuka got up and I had Abs lead the map but kept an eye on her in case she changed direction as we moved around our mist covered campsite.

“Gate soldiers,” I said. Fuyuka immediately stepped forward and proclaiming loudly in Chinese something or other. If I had to guess it was all bow before the Divine Empress who has returned and make ready the treasury.

I was leaving all the speaking in Fuyuka’s hands. There wasn’t time for me to micromanage it all. She had to go with what she felt most comfortable with. I had to trust she had that part handled. My job was to pay attention to the surroundings, control Abs, and listen to any key phrases. Fuyuka said something, which meant keep moving.

Abs started moving again. I had managed to get it to move at a brisk walk, while being very careful to stay inside the bounds of the martial arts robe that the Divine Empress had worn when I had last seen her.

“Black Talons,” I called out as the next random event. Fuyuka kept moving forward and not stopping, but she spoke while moving. Unless it was one of the Empress’s inner circle we were not to stop. The longer we stopped the worse our chances became. The best option was to keep moving forward.

We continued to practice as I called out various scenarios. We were getting tired. I was tempted to make a joke like, ‘Envoy proclaims his love for the Divine Empress’, but it was better not to make things difficult.

The stress was getting to me. This was it. If I did this, I would be beyond everyone else except one or two people. Nothing could mess up this heist and I was going to get those 10 billion points no matter what.