In the end the decision was simple. I was a generalist and had an entire Empire supporting me. Compounding my advantages and spreading them out was the best way to improve. There was a reason why a general stat increase had always been my first choice. It was a decision that would compound over time as I purchased more stats. While I hadn’t been sure before, the ability to stack meta-points on top of each other was something that was incredibly valuable.
Unique skills were tempting, and they weren’t bad options, but the best option was the least exciting option. Stats weren’t exciting, but a large enough difference made a person an invincible existence. They also covered everything. From boosting skill use, to movement, to sensing attacks, and my energy recovery and reserves.
That last bit regarding my energy was the most important aspect in my mind. My Spirit and Regeneration tripling from 20,000 stat points to 60,000 was an immense improvement. I would also be getting 10 energy per second. Acid Shot only cost 20 energy and Air Burst 50 energy. The ability to spam my skills was immense.
While it had seemed like a detriment so long ago that energy increased in a linear matter, that actually made it far more powerful that the other stats which leveled off. My Body increasing from 100,000 to 300,000 was not a three-fold increase. It would be between a 10% and 30% increase. It was a much more logarithmic scale.
There was a rapid increase at the start, with each stat point having a much larger impact. But at a certain point, the linear aspect of Spirit and Regeneration would become superior. That wasn’t to say that I could ignore the other stats, but those two energy focused stats were the real tipping point in my decision.
Radiant Beam and Void Beam both cost 400 energy each. An annihilation attack would cost 800 energy. Before I could use it 25, without taking energy regeneration into account. Now I could use it 75 times in a row. That was my strongest asset, my staying power. I didn’t need to hit harder or be more powerful, but I needed to be able to keep fighting and being able to use my skills constantly.
Even if none of the other stats had been included, I would have still picked the meta-point option for increasing just those two stats over my other choices. I had been hoping for something more amazing in my last two requests, but that was not the case.
The golden cube disappeared in front of me. I didn’t feel different. No surge of power. No flashing lights. But that was the thing about the Almighty System, it was only flashy if it wanted to be. I reached down and grabbed onto the boulder in the level 3 zone. I began to push my fingers into the stone, and it gave way like putty.
I hadn’t been able to do that before. That showed the effects of my choice had already taken hold. I focused on my Sense stat, and the energy around me was crips and much clearer to observe. I held out my hand and expelled some energy and it was quite easy to do.
The airship was finally slowed down and came to a stop in the air next to me. “Was that a meta-point?” Doctor Katz asked me.
“Indeed. No idea why I got one now and not for the Ritualist, or the towers, but I won’t complain,” I replied.
“I don’t suppose you asked why we are all here?” Captain Francis asked me.
“That would have been pointless,” I replied and leaped up to the airship. “At least we confirmed the monster is dead.”
“I am going to release my summons,” Michelle said, and I gave her a nod.
“Back home?” Doctor Katz asked me.
“Yes, this place is going to be complete chaos once the new arrivals travel down the roads to populated cities and they realized this entire area is up for grabs again,” I replied. “I also plan to push into more level 6 zones.”
“We can’t keep up, especially now,” Doctor Katz said.
“Well, I will set a slow course back home, no rush?” Captain Francis asked me.
“No rush. Let’s stay low for the most part. As for the team, you can handle level 5 zones. You can easily camp out in level 5 zones with the Crystal Vortex while I push deeper.”
“Excuse me,” Fiyaz spoke up. I turned to look at him and waved my hand for him to continue. “It might be worthwhile to push to the West to fully map things out. While we have a general idea from the Leader, it would be good to confirm the political situation ourselves.”
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I considered that for a moment and then shook my head. “We will do that after we return. Clarissa needs to prepare things properly so we can construct a portal building, then we will need to upgrade another city in the area as a beachhead. After that we can return. But I am not worried about the other nations anymore. Any threat they might have possessed is now minimal.”
The simple fact was, that none of these people had managed to kill the monster for years. No one had left either to grind out in the wilderness and take the risk the monster would kill them. They had all been content to hide in areas they already controlled.
I had beaten the monster and had gotten a meta-point, which increased my strength massively. If there was something out there that was more dangerous than me, it would have showed up already in my opinion. Even someone like the Astrologer, who could pull techniques out of thin air, stumbled in the face of absolute power.
I was more afraid of Divine Empress type figure, but there would be no one like that going forward. I was that figure now. People would look at me and see an insurmountable obstacle. While I had no doubt that I would struggle against a level 7 monster, I was much more confident about fighting and killing them.
There was even a small bit of temptation to step into a level 7 zone. But I knew that was insane. As much as I wanted to, doing such a thing was too risky. Even with my powerup from the meta-point, it put me at mid to high level 7 if I had to guess in terms of combat ability. I could fight any level 7 monster, but the real challenge would come from a swarm of level 7 monsters.
But I could now grind level 6 zones. There were around 400 monsters per terrain type, based on our estimates, give or take 100. With each point crystal being worth 151,200 points, that was around 120 million points per day.
The cost of stat points had not gone up. I would be paying the price of 1,400,105 for my 280,001st stat point instead of 4,200,100 for my 840,001st stat point. The multiplication did not impact the base price. It was applied afterwards. Another benefit which made it incredibly powerful. One could almost think of it as a price decrease of two thirds.
That meant that 100 stat points would cost around 140 million points at the moment. The tax revenue from my Empire was only 60 million or so per day. I could out grind my entire Empire. It felt silly in my mind, but that was the power of exponential numbers.
Combined, I would have 180 million points per day. Grind for 1,000 days, and that would be 180 billion points, or about 200k which would now be 600k more stat points. As I saw on the deck of the airship, enjoying the wind, I smiled at the immense numbers.
Grinding was much more profitable in my mind compared to before. With the multiplication boost, I needed to work harder than ever before. I needed to be able to take on higher level monsters. Eventually there would be a max level. Based on point progression, the biggest contender was level 10. It was an end and a goal.
I was only three levels away. The gap of those three levels was immense based on the scaling, but it seemed far more doable now than before. That was when I would get answers. That or the towers with the stupid voting option. While tempting to rush to complete more of them, I was concerned a final boss would trigger.
Better to level up as much as I could before the final battle. In a game, people would rush forward regardless of the consequences to get to more content. But my life wasn’t a game. Slow and steady was the best option. There was nothing pressing at the moment, so I was in no rush.
The population crisis was solved. While the sword, Ascalon, was still out there, it couldn’t beat the monster. That meant it was weaker. Therefore, I didn’t have to worry about it that much. Sure, it could be a headache later on, but eventually someone would find it and I would work out how to destroy or use it.
There was also the white glowing floating shards over the void. That was the one big exception to everything so far. It didn’t fit any kind of pattern and was the only time the Almighty System intervened directly. I wasn’t counting the Avatar. She was less than worthless.
For the first time since the Crystal Vortex had been taken out by the blast, I felt relaxed. A tension had left my body, and I was not in panic mode. Long term, it would be a good idea to check out the other nations and locate any and all towers.
The more they could be pinned down, the greater advantage I would have. I also felt strong enough to attempt scaling the outside. I was never going on the inside of one of the towers ever again if I could help it. While easier in one sense, the traps, and monster spawners, was exhausting. The slog up a tower was in some ways worse than dealing with the strong flying monsters the tower spawned on the outside.
It would even be cost effective to fly and crash a small airship on the roof. Get enough speed and launch myself right to the roof before any monsters could spawn. Sure, it would cost a small airship, but wasting a couple million points was nothing compared to being saved from the hassle of a tower climb.
I would have to fight alone, but I was incredibly confident about taking any level 7 monster one on one. If it got bad, I could always jump off the tower. Even if a monster did follow me, retreating to a city or my main airship would be an option. Just blow the monster away with money.
That was the nice thing about not being under immense pressure. I didn’t feel bad about spending money to speed things up if I could. While the vast majority would still go to my stat points, I could splurge on side investments as well. Looking down at the quickly passing landscape, I couldn’t help but feel proud of both myself and my team for having come this far.
It hadn’t been simple or easy, but we had done it, and would keep going further still.