The merged people were quickly killed or removed as people came back to the arena. The good doctor was overseeing the effort. I paused when I saw the group from earlier. I might have been hasty about declaring them my future team, but their teamwork had been incredibly impressive.

“Go into the arena, I will be there shortly,” I told Clarissa, who nodded at me. I kicked off the ground and landed in the stands. I then walked over to the good doctor while looking at the people. Yeah, they were totally screwed.

“Emperor Michael,” he greeted me and bowed. I glanced at the nervous Asian looking man nervously holding the Beat Stick.

“Doctor Katz. Thank you for your timely assistance,” I told him with a head nod.

“After the last brushes with death, I have decided to be more prepared,” he said.

“I applaud that. Dinner tomorrow. I will leave you now to try and help these people,” I said.

“Hopefully we can figure out curse damage better through their treatment,” he replied. I nodded at this. Learning to counter curse damage was important in my mind. I turned away from the good doctor as he saw to the removal of the merged victims. They were one hundred percent screwed from what I could tell, but they would be useful for future research into curse damage. At least that way their deaths would have some meaning.

I then made my way to the two other people standing nervously nearby. Michelle had the two hands on her shoulders. The man had the beat stick and was looking at me nervously. “Emperor Michael,” Michelle said and inclined her head. The man repeated that gesture right away.

“Good job with the assist,” I told her. I was aware my arm was still messed up along with my foot. My clothing and armor were ruined in several places where the black hands had grabbed me. I could have escaped that trap on my own, but their assistance had been quite timely. I would have just sacrificed my arm and then beat everything to death at a distance with my skills.

It would have taken long and have been more painful. But I wasn’t about to let myself die no matter what. After fighting constantly against so many opponents, combat was engrained into me. Along with winning no matter what.

“That was quite brave of you to leap into the arena. Combat level 2, and you went up against a level 4 monster. What is your name?” I asked the man.

“Um, Joyo, Emperor Michael,” he hastily said. “Also, sorry for taking your sword.” He made to hand it back, but I waved him off.

“Keep it. In honor of the man who held the Beat Stick before you. Both of you are invited to dinner tomorrow with me. We have much to discuss.” They both gave an affirmative and I leapt back down to the arena. I was glad the Beat Stick had a wielder. Even if the man was a bit reckless, you had to be to engage in melee.

“All sorted?” Clarissa asked me.

“Invited them to dinner tomorrow. All three would do well on my team,” I replied.

“Poaching my Research Director?” Clarissa asked me.

“Hopefully, maybe. Looking at different monsters and terrain will produce more insights and directions for said research. I am sure there are other capable people out there to grind away at the actual process of doing science,” I replied.

“Hmm, there are. Even the sword wielder?” Clarissa asked me.

“Yes. While he isn’t strong, he was fearless rushing in like that. You can’t train that kind of thing. If there is going to be a melee member on my team, then they need to have that quality in abundance,” I answered.

“You think anyone else is hiding out there?” Clarissa asked me.

“Maybe, maybe not. But they didn’t make their move regardless. That means they either don’t exist or don’t have confidence. The bad news is that if I die, then who knows what chaos will crawl out and make itself known,” I said.

“And if I train up assassins?” Clarissa asked me.

“That is fine,” I replied. I could sense some of her surprise I had agreed so easily. “I am confident in my ability to handle threats like that. I have fended off enough threats and with my passive income, I will pull further and further away,” I explained.

“But the real threat is higher level monsters it appears.” She glanced at my arm. I nodded at that.

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“Indeed. Anyone below combat level 3 is just cannon fodder for the most part from now on. The real challenge will be using mass numbers of level 3 monsters to subdue a level 4. Even then it will be hard to capture them intact,” I replied.

“That does seem to be the case. So, no auctions?” Clarissa asked me.

“Anything I capture, I can kill easily. Also, I can always run away. But people will need to be cleared before getting a level 4 monster. The risk of a mass casualty event is too high. Perhaps stables at the edge of cities,” I replied.

“And you still plan to give Michelle a level 5 super slime?” I nodded at this.

“While I might not be able to beat everything. I am confident in my survival. This attack just solidified that belief. Unless there is a foe like the Divine Empress who is far beyond me, I am not worried. I was never in any real risk in this battle, even if my arm was damaged,” I explained. “What about you? Are you okay?” I asked.

“For the most part yes. But that was too close. I plan to increase my personal security by quite a bit. Some cloaked assassins using the skills around Normandy would be quite useful. Maybe some smaller level 4 summons as well if you capture any. Let me know, I will purchase them directly,” Clarissa told me.

“As well as any other level 4 monsters?” I asked and she smiled at me.

“Yes. Getting my elite grinding teams to kill level 4 monsters would be huge. What I need are summoner type monsters for them. Having meat shields and to wear down the other level 4 monsters. A summoner counter or two for this city to prevent issues and keep on hand. In time we can build up our reserves.”

“Hmm, how much? And at 3,600 points per level 4 monsters, your grinding teams will quickly rake it in. A hundred monsters per day is 360,000 points,” I said. Clarissa considered that question as the arena began to fill back up around us.

“Four million per,” she finally said. “And the Rod of Taming is also paid for on my end.” That meant they would pay a level 4 off in fifteen days of grinding. “You will also be getting tax revenue from their grinding.” I nodded at this. It would be useful.

“Alright. No auctions. But you buy what I bring. Since I am also exploring the level 4 zones. I will have Michelle do a write up on the monsters as well. Keep it top secret of course,” I added, and Clarissa nodded at that.

“I will make sure only the person using that monster knows its abilities. With level 4 monsters we can rapidly expand,” she said and I shook my head at that.

“The real issue will be the stats of the people who have to go into various zones. Level 4 zones are absolute cancer. Level 4 zones are the absolute worst. People going in there will struggle to get back out safely. The one level 5 zone I saw was even worse. There are just too many stats needed at the higher levels.” Clarissa considered what I was saying carefully.

“And if you get level 5 monsters?” she asked me.

“People will have to get to level 5 zones. It isn’t simple. While they can cross the boarder between zones, that is very high risk. Especially once the zone type is the same. It is easy to veer slightly off course or be caught somewhere you don’t want to be. You have no room to maneuver,” I explained.

“What about my idea about tower farming? You see any feasibility in that?” Clarissa asked me.

“Breaking open a tower and farming it constantly is a good idea. The hard part is breaking one open. The walls are thick and very, very hard to damage. If the Divine Empress could have broken in, she would have in my opinion, but she didn’t.”

“And rotating teams up through it?” she asked me.

“Possible. But the issue becomes having a team strong enough to lug all those crystals up. If we had a portable store, then sitting inside a tower would not be out of the question. But that option doesn’t exist. Unless you went with that plan?” I asked.

“Rumors are already being spread that a portable store would be the single best thing to have in this place. It will take time to disseminate, but it would be a massive force multiplier if we had something like that,” Clarissa explained, and I nodded.

Another long shot plan, but if someone got a portable store item with a meta-point, if that was even possible, we could take it and use it for ourselves. Clarissa would have something in case she needed to leave the city against a superior threat. While I could stay out in the wilderness for far longer.

The city store was a choke point in so many ways. Not being dependent on it would increase the number of options we had in case another war broke out. Being mobile and hidden had just too much value to it. Spreading that rumor around was one of the many things Clarissa’s auditors were doing.

Our mutual concern about other meta-point holders was quite high. They were the only thing that could disrupt what we had built. Or another calamity. The problem was, we had no idea what it was or how to counter something like that. I knew Clarissa had been gathering information about the even from wherever she could get it, but those were just rumors and scraps.

The sad part of the Systemic Lands, was that there weren’t many people who had been around longer than me. The Free City of Hong Kong had proved useful for information, but even then, there was only so much that people knew. Everyone was trapped in their own little areas. Well, that was changing. The roads were being built to ensure a wide road network between cities and dungeons as well.

In time roads would be made into level 4 zones and beyond. We would push outwards into the surrounding zones no matter what. The Empire of Purgatory would not be stopped. My Empire would not be stopped.

Looking around at the people coming back. There was a solemn atmosphere in the air. That was fine. It was time to give my closing speech. To inspire them and to solidify my grip on my Empire in a way that only I could.

“I couldn’t have gotten this far without you,” I told Clarissa.

“The same. Thank you Michael for not being exceptionally difficult,” she replied. We each smiled slightly at one another. The trust we had was absolute, nothing would shake that foundation. Clarissa and I had gotten off to a rocky start, but we had shared various difficulties together. The funny part was I had no attraction for her and it was probably mutual.

She was good looking, but our relationship was too complex to risk messing up by thinking such things. It was lonely at the top.