I was laying down on my inclined resting platform. There was no light, no sound, nothing to distract me. The edges of the room were covered in those enchanted blankets to block out energy. That included the floor and the ceiling.

This was done so I could use my Sense stat to the fullest without being distracted by outside shifts in energy. This room only had my personal energy I drew and the little bit of ambient energy in the air. I would use Air Burst outside the room to drain my energy.

Thankfully the limitation on energy draw was in place, keeping my regeneration down to only 10 energy a minute instead of 100. When the level 5 super slimes had shown up, my Regeneration stat had worked at full capacity.

Another thing I had missed in the moment, but ever since I had been trying to keep the energy out of my body to spot any issues more easily, it was something that had been bothering me. Why was the limit it in place, and why had it been removed during the upgrade? I hadn’t seen any change in the density of energy in the air either. This was critical in some way to a deeper understanding of the Systemic Lands, but I just hadn’t worked it out yet.

It was a subtle clue and one easily missed, but it had been on my mind quite a bit when I wasn’t in my anti-curse box. If I wasn’t spending so much time in this box and tried to keep my energy as low as possible, I might have missed this issue completely. This room was built for a singular purpose, to purge the curses and other nonsense from my body that the Astrologer had left.

Right now I had moved on from my hands and feet and was focused on my gut. Each day, I would identify new issues, then hold the thought and focus needed to adjust my energy in all these spots and the ones I had identified previously.

The problem was, the more the curse damage was fixed, the slower it went to correct the few remaining issues. Getting rid of my energy and being in this room, made it easier to spot any issues inside of me. With my feet, hand, and gut, I could look at them. My head would be much harder to inspect, but I had to do this. Freeing myself from whatever traps the Astrologer had placed inside my body was the single most important thing.

That was why this was my life for five four-hour sessions a day. Constantly focusing everything I had into fixing the energy within my body. There were small, short breaks between each session to get rid of any Energy I might have and to move about.

It was mind numbing to fix curse damage. But this room made it easier, and I could see a finish date eventually. I just needed to get a handle on all the issues within my body and be able to work on fixing them all at the same time. While I wouldn’t want to go rushing into danger, it would allow me to do other things besides sitting here in the dark working on my body.

While I could kind of think on other topics, I had to constantly focus on my energy. I couldn’t risk any mistakes or setback. A soft bell chimed from the guard room. That was the end of this session. I got up and made my way to the door in the darkness. My feet going over the blankets on the floor that were blocking out energy.

I unlatched the door and there were three guards in the room. My personal escort around the city. Five shifts of three people. Food was set out. Two hamburgers with trimmings, fries, and fruit flavored water. The guards were waiting on me to eat.

They all stood up as I entered and gave a short head bow. That was the only thing required for people who fought on my behalf, even though I was Emperor of Purgatory and several other cities. “Any requests for tomorrow’s breakfast and dinner?” Berry, one of the guards asked. I had learned all their names in the past couple of days.

“Nope. I will follow the meal plan that has been set up. You know this. What, you want me to order tacos every day?” I asked and Berry grinned.

“Of course. Tacos are the best.” They were, but I didn’t want to make things difficult or annoy other people. I didn’t want the drama while I was working to heal myself.

“You always want tacos. We need streak. That’s a real meal, let me tell you,” Henderson, one of the other guards said. Technically they were soldiers. The Imperial government had soldiers, and the governors running the cities had guards. It was a difference, since one set were meant to defend and the other to attack.

I just liked to think of them as guards, since they were protecting me. “Its mystery meat. Not steak. Steak comes from a cow. This meat comes from something else,” Julie the last soldier said. I really needed to make sure I got my terminology right, so I didn’t look like an idiot and mess things up.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

One of the many headaches of having an actual administration as Emperor. I couldn’t just randomly do things, otherwise it would cause chaos and drama. Both were things I didn’t want to deal with at the moment.

“It is not mystery meat. You need to get a professional to purchase it. High enough Spirit stat and they can adjust the taste a bit. Soon it will be cow,” Henderson argued.

“Still mystery meat,” Julie countered. The guards weren’t allowed to talk in the waiting room while I was inside, so they didn’t disturb me. That was why they all talked when I came out. It was boring work, but Clarissa had insisted since the Astrologer was still a huge risk. I would have been too vulnerable otherwise.

While the building was secure as the Imperial Palace, there was still a risk even with the constant checks and confirmations of identity. I had been told that everyone was checking all their friends and asking challenge questions just to be sure there wasn’t an imposter. However, Clarissa had done it, I was glad she had created a culture of paranoia to halt any impersonations in their tracks.

This was no Dragon Empire, where a rock monster pretending to be the Divine Empress could just waltz on in and take out the entire treasury. I finished up my meal as the soldiers, not guards, continued to argue about if mystery meat was plant based or not plant based.

It was the stupidest conversation imaginable in my mind, but I enjoyed listening to it. I needed the mental break, so I didn’t go crazy. I had encouraged the soldiers to talk when I came out of my anti-curse box. They weren’t told what I was doing specifically, only that it was very important and that I was delving into the secrets and mysteries of energy.

That was technically the truth, which was the best kind of truth. Clarissa and I had agreed that we couldn’t risk word spreading about my injuries. While a power struggle was unlikely, it might give people some ideas about doing something. Better to not take the risk and keep everything private.

I finished off my hamburgers and fries. I swear the food development had exploded in full intensity after the Divine Empress died. People were probably tired of the fruit and vegetable diet. I didn’t mind it, but it could get boring after a while. Eating breakfast and dinner were the best parts of my day.

While I hadn’t been gaining weight, I was hopeful that I could finally get some abs, once the Astrologers influence and tumor baby were completely removed. I suspected that the tumor baby had been impacting my body. I had discretely asked Clarissa and she had let me know that other people had gotten abs. It would have been too embarrassing for me to go around and ask to see people’s stomachs.

That was why I suspected the Astrologer had done something to my body. I had been minding weird miniscule energy structures in my gut and had been working to remove them. It was a slow process, but there was progress. Even a little bit of progress every day, was still progress. As long as things didn’t get worse, I would be happy.

“Its that time, let’s go,” I said. The soldiers quickly quieted down and got up. They had finished their meals as well. Two fell to either side of me and slightly behind while Julie took the lead. She opened the door with a key and then locked it back up. Once that was done we went through the Imperial Palace to the Emperor’s treasury.

Right now the cities were operating at around ten percent productivity and I got ten percent of that. Ten percent productivity was measured as the number of point crystals gathered from the cities surroundings as part of the taxes. If a city had eight level 2 zones and was grinding them all along with the level 1 zone, they could be earning up to 13,050,000 points a day in revenue.

That was the current standard for productivity. Some cities had less, since their level 2 zones were claimed by another city, or there was a void zone. Out of the theoretical maximum, it was compared to the daily tax revenue and then the projected tax revenue across all cities.

So, while the nearby cities were much higher than ten percent, the final cities in the Dragon Empire were still fighting back and it was a challenge to get everything set up to run those cities efficiently. The final number was still being debated, but Clarissa had set the minimum productivity benchmark at 5,000,000 points per day, to be achieved in the first 200 days.

With sixteen cities at ten percent overall productivity, which was around 8,000,000 points of taxable revenue out of a target of 80,000,000 points. I got ten percent of that 8,000,000. It wasn’t exactly that, but it was close enough and the standard way to judge tax revenue.

In time the cities would have custom benchmarks. More productive cities would be allowed more zones to grind, increasing their overall returns. That was part of the competition between governors and to ensure they did a good job. If they wanted more tax revenue, then they had to deliver on the current tax revenue.

It was a bit complex working out the math and keeping track of everything, but that was what the bureaucracy was for and the audits. That way, each city could be compared on the same playing field, by comparing their productivity. Getting teams grinding level 3 areas, would massively boost tax returns, and allow a city to claim nearby zones and level 3 zones as part of their grinding area.

Some monsters were easier than others. Which was why, getting the best zones was very important. No one wanted swamps as the level 2 zone and frostlands for the level 3 zones were better than the mistlands and stonelands.

I followed Julie as we made our way to the Emperor’s treasury. There was a clerk ready and showed me the amount that had come in today. Only 783,485 points. A bit on the low end, but I had no doubt it would increase in time.

More people were called in and carried out the chests into the plaza, where I cashed in all those points and purchased a restoration. It was only a drop in the bucket for me, but those drops would add up over time. Things were just getting started. Once they took off the points, followed by the stats would come rolling in.