I walked through the plaza, surveying the melted buildings around me. There were no signs of life left that I could pick up on. Also, the crazy brain washed women had finally stopped rushing me. What an exhausting slog, but I considered it time well spent.

Going over to the store pillars, I purchased a restoration. The stomach issues I had been having went away. The screaming and pleas were getting to me, and I needed some food. I purchased a tray, some cucumbers, salt, water, and a knife. I used one of the pillars as a standing table to eat.

I poured the water over my hands and set my helmet down on another pillar. I purchased a cloth and wiped my face. Stubble was coming back in since I had pulled out my hairs. I would need to do something about it. Hair pulling was painful, but it cut down on the need for a person to shave at the very least.

Salted cucumbers, the primary food of the Systemic Lands. I should start a restaurant called that since the Gray Duck had been blown away. It had a ring to it. The main appetizer, salted cucumbers. Everyone would eat there since I would own it and would make an occasional appearance.

I purchased another cucumber and focused. I got a spiral shape. Spirit really did allow a person to push the boundaries of what items were possible and how they were shaped. It was a completely impractical shape to cut in half, but it was amusing.

Killing everyone had not been pleasant or enjoyable, but it was something that needed to be done. I focused back on the cucumbers and less on the dressing topic of wiping out a city. I was almost done when I noticed people approaching. It was a group of men, with spears and packs of crystals.

They slowly approached me. Well, they might have some answers since they weren’t screaming and trying to kill me. “You did this?” the man at the front of their group asked me.

“Yes,” I replied and munched on my last cucumber. They cheered.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. It was a nightmare. A bloody wanking nightmare,” the man said with a British accent. I nodded at this.

“So, what happened here?” I asked.

“The women. They kicked us out and if we wanted to eat we needed to get crystals. Fighting monsters and everything. You try and resist you just end up dead. Sometimes they would hunt us for sport and to test their skills. If you killed one, you got tortured in front of others. You catch one, you get one single extra ration, if you are lucky.”

Okay, this city had gone completely crazy. Definitely some kind of cult. “You…you kill them all?” he asked.

“Most of them. Some probably ran off. I am Champion Michael of Purgatory. When my forces come here, I suggest you immediately surrender and you will be treated decently,” I replied. They would be sent out grinding again with a few more supplies.

“Thank you, thank you,” the man babbled. I waved him off.

“Um, do you know what this place is?” Another man asked.

“The Systemic Lands controlled by the Almighty System. I would suggest cooperating with my soldiers once they arrive.” The men nodded at this. I got asked about returning to Earth and told them I had no idea and probably not possible.

I left before I could get bogged down after purchasing a bunch of supplies. They asked questions about the pillar, but I told them to figure it out themselves. I had all the information I needed about Normandy. The city was a disaster, but I had swept out most of the mess.

The few surviving women and men would fight until my soldiers showed up and took control over the city and the nearby zones. Then the men would be right back to grinding crystals, but for me and not some crazy cult of female assassins.

I mean who would call something like that the Council of Shadows. It was like a four year old named things. I wasn’t much better, but it was maximum drama. Call it the Council, no need for more to be added to it.

Might as well put up a big sign that says assassin city, come one come all, meet the assassin who will be your unlife specialist. I thought it was stupid, but that was me. And I had wrecked their city, so I was right, and they were wrong.

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It was the nature of this world. The strong made the rules, and soon I would be the strongest, hopefully. If the super weapon failed, well we were screwed, I was screwed. The Divine Empress would use me as a footrest for the rest of my life.

I left the city and headed North. Time to find the dungeon in a level 2 zone and upgrade Acid Shot. Then two more dungeons in level 2 zones to upgrade my other skills and then onwards to level 3 zone dungeons to get skill points to upgrade my skills. Probably twelve skill points, for four upgrades per skill. I didn’t want another cost increase, but four upgrades would be just right in my mind for the tower.

Then once I left, I would get more upgrades in preparation for my fight with the Divine Empress once she was hit with the super weapon. Then once she was dead, I could take the time to upgrade my skills properly to get the best possible benefit out of them.

They would be near useless until I decided to get a silent and gestureless upgrade, but I figured I could get them up to level 5 when I did that. Once that was complete, I would grind away on level 5 and possibly level 6 monsters while my Empire made me a huge amount of passive income.

There had to be an end to this place. How many levels could there be? With the crystal point progression going 5, 50, 450, and then 3,600 it made it appear that level 10 was the max level. I had been wrong about other things, but this was the only data I had to work with in terms of a trend with an end point.

It would probably take me another couple of years to get enough points to feel comfortable fighting level 6 monsters if there was not another huge power jump like from level 3 to level 4. After that, things would be measured in decades most likely to get up to level 7.

That was the point where I would need to bring all the cities under my control to become the most powerful and get an answer to this place. To find the exit zone. It was probably in some level 10 ultra-hell zone, but that was fine.

I would get there eventually. I had made my peace with meta-points. If I got one, I would get one. If I didn’t I didn’t. I wasn’t going to change my style and though process in order to get one. I didn’t like risk. And I had been taking too much risk lately. It had paid off, but it was time to stabilize things and stay low risk long term.

That is what people didn’t think about. If you only had a 0.1% chance of losing to a monster every time you fought it, that chance would compound until your luck eventually ran out. The tower climb and the Divine Empress were hopefully the last two major issues I would have to deal with in a time crunch.

That percentage needed to be a big fat zero. I needed to confidently beat all the monsters at one level before moving onto the next. The big exception would be testing a level 5 monster before the tower climb. It had been hinted there would be a level 5 monster or monsters inside the tower.

Since the golems that came outside were level 4, that made sense. There might even be a level 6 monster at the top. Still, I needed to get a better understanding of how I stacked up against a level 5 monster before the tower climb in case I needed a restoration.

It would also be a hard fight and I had no idea about the terrain in a level 5 zone. Most likely I would play it safe and fight a level 5 roaming boss monster in a level 4 zone. I didn’t want to get dogpiled by a wave of high-level monsters. That would be a nightmare.

I hadn’t planned like this in a long time. Only near the start of my time in the Systemic Lands. I guess it was due to getting too comfortable and not having information. Now I was uncomfortable with my situation and had a lot of information, so I was trying to fix things in my favor.

It was not going to be easy. But there was a clear path forward. If the Almighty System really was the Avatar then I would be pissed. I had considered them two separate entities, which appeared to be the case. But if Sword Art Online taught me anything it was that creators like to meddle in what they create out of boredom.

Was the Almighty System really content to stay out of the fray? Why did it allow its Avatar to control a faction? That seemed really unfair. But then again, that was the Almighty System to a tee, completely unfair and unreasonable. Also, I didn’t understand its motivations or the purpose of this place.

I might joke with my soldiers and those men, but it was something that had been on my mind more and more. Whatever the answer was, it wasn’t simple, that much I knew. It didn’t feel like a game, but who knows how alien minds think. It didn’t feel like a new world, but a fake one the Almighty System managed.

The void zones were clear evidence of that. That this entire place was limited. One of my big fears was finding out we were surrounded by void, with no way out. If we took an airship, how far could people go?

That kind of investigation would be a huge investment. Millions or billions of points to explore into the void with airships. The cost to fly them, protect them, and crew them. While airships sounded cool, I did not fancy flying in one over an endless black abyss of madness and energy.

It was something I had been thinking about. One wrong move, and you would have nowhere to stand. It also wouldn’t be easy fighting and an airship could leave me behind if I got off. That meant beam cannons, which were pricey.

Still, I would consider it after my empire was grinding level 3 zones and I could kill level 7 or 8 monsters. Even then I would probably want to get stronger and stronger. No sense in taking risks. The idiots could race after the meta-points, I was content grinding my way up to the top, or using passive income.

Both were fine really. I just wasn’t about to risk my life at a chance of getting an attaboy from the Almighty System. It could kiss my ass if it thought I was going to try and suck up. I might call it the Almighty System, but the Avatar had reduced my reverence by quite a bit. I guess that is why there was the saying, about not meeting your idols in person since you will be disappointed.