“Survive another day?” I asked as I returned to the cart. Bao Wang looked tiredly at . We had moved East a bit, so while I still grinded the Bulwark Shields he got white lions in the mistlands.
“Barely. I am going through a lot of spears and finding my way back is tricky,” he replied, and I nodded at that. He dragged his foot through the soil and returned to the cart after an hour before going in a new direction.
“There aren’t any other good options unfortunately for that I have ti to investigate. The hard part with level 4 monsters it that they would take multiple Acid Shots to kill while this one only takes one. Also, its attack patterns are perfect,” I had explained this before and he let out a sigh.
“I am only killing around 60 per day,” Bao Wang said. That was 27,000 points per day, or the sa amount as 540 level 2 monsters.
“That is a good amount. What, you thought you were going to make 2 million per day?” I asked him. He looked away and I shook my head.
“That is already very good. It doesn’t seem like a lot compared to . But in 40 days you will have a million points. That is another 150 stat points. Then you will speed up. Get another 150 stat points in 40 days. That is about 750 stat points in 200 days,” I explained to him. We would be on a 40 day schedule or so with the plan to head West after 200 days.
“I know. But after the huge boost at the start, I just thought…” Bao Wang trailed off.
“That you would get carried so more?” I asked.
“Yes. But I know you aren’t going to do that and you have already helped out quite a bit.” I nodded at that. It made sense. Getting 1,200 stat points all at once would make anyone struggle ntally after that.
“It is the grind. You have to work your way up and constantly improve your combat ability. You rembered what I told you?”
“Movent, footwork, and managing one’s force. I am getting better and dealing with the ntal effects of the mist. It just seems like a low amount of points to get.”
“Well, if you were a Lord, would you get this much?” I asked.
“Per day, maybe a bit more. But there would be other expenses as well. Soldiers, upkeep, food, and everything else. But I am not afraid of hard work.” I had helped him out with his first few kills to make sure he could manage on his own and get back to the care safely.
He was doing reasonably well all things considered. He would have about 2,000 stat points once we made our attempt on the Forbidden City. That would ensure he could manage against the other people there.
I would get about 6.5 thousand stat points in that ti period. But here was the thing. If I spent a thousand more stat points on Regeneration after the first 40 day grinding session, then I would earn just under 4 million points per day, instead of 2.2 million.
I would earn a total of around 728 million points in 200 days instead of 440. It was more than the worth the tradeoff with that many points on the line. The issue was if sothing happened before those 200 days that I needed to respond to.
Well, I could beat the Envoy as thing currently stood. The main thing was maximizing my stat point gain before assaulting the Forbidden City. That would be about 9 thousand total stat points instead of 6.5 thousand. The investnt into Regeneration would pay for itself over that ti period.
I had more ti to think about this until our 40 day grinding session ran its course and we returned to Neo Brasilia. It wouldn’t be exactly 40 days every ti, couldn’t be too predictable. The annoying part would be having to wait to boost my other stats.
I would get to around 19,000 stat points total. I thought about how I would divvy them up if I went the Regeneration path. I wanted to bring everything up to a thousand stat points. With the extra thousand going into Regeneration, which would leave with 4.7 thousand stat points.
I would be able to get my Body up to around 4,500 and Mind up to 2,500 each. The Envoy was running around 1,600. So, I would easily outmatch him. With the curve to how stat points worked, I guesstimated I would have about twice the force generation or speed he did.
Visualizing how the fight would go, it would be tricky, but I would have the advantage in speed and energy, allowing to win. I still had no chance against the Divine Empress’s ludicrous level of stat points.
She would still be easily able to catch up with and that all critical number of Acid Shots from a sure hit until my enemy reaches would remain a big fat zero against her.
“We should start our lessons, so I can get so rest,” Bao Wang said. This was worse than grinding.
“Tian hou,” Bao Wang said.
“Tian hou,” I repeated. This ant Empress of Heaven. A common moniker for the Divine Empress inside her Empire. The problem with languages it wasn’t all one to one, especially from English to Chinese.
“More from the nose. Tian hou ming ling.”
“Tian hou ming ling,” I said while trying to speak more from my nose.
“Better. Again.”
“Tian hou ming ling. Empress of Heaven commands.”
“Tian hou ming ling. Empress of Heaven commands.”
“Tian hou ming ling. Empress of Heaven commands.”
I kept repeating it over and over. Trying to say it correctly and ingrain it in my brain.
“Alright. Your phrase to work on tomorrow. Is ‘ni gan!’ or ‘you dare!’ We will include such things as ‘ni g an wei kang’, or ‘you dare disobey.’”
I nodded at this and carefully repeated what Bao Wang was teaching . He let out a sigh. “What is it?” I asked.
“Your speech has too much of an accent. Even with constant practice, it would take years of imrsion and even then, it would linger. You would need a speech therapist.”
“It doesn’t have to be good. The trick is going to be having complete confidence in my actions and killing anyone who looks at funny.”
“It doesn’t work like that in the upper mid-ranks. While the Divine Empress loves to kill people, and the lower ranks are death, everything is frozen in the upper-middle portion of the hierarchy. Everyone has made it, so no one wants to push other people in case they are pushed down themselves.”
“Wouldn’t it be more cutthroat?” I asked.
“For the soldiers yes to cozy up to a Lord. But the Lords ands the bureaucrats running the Forbidden City are assured of their positions. You will not pass yourself off as the Envoy. The best bet is your guard idea if you can conceal your strength and we sneak in with the tribute. I will have to do the speaking. Will pretend to be a Lord.”
“Really? You can do that?”
“I had the position. So, I know what to do. But the hard part would be my city. All of that is recorded carefully and unless I am a Lord of the first rank, I will not be allowed to enter the Forbidden City as a petitioner. So, more problems.”
“I could be soone from another city, who you are bringing to swear fealty to the Divine Empress?” I asked.
“That has its own problems. You would be imdiately detained. If you fought, then you fight as well fight your way through. Realistically we both go in with the tribute and then you fight once we reach the inner ring. But that ans nothing if the Devine Empress is present,” Bao Wang explained the option that had the most chance of success.
“And we will go all the way with the tribute?” I asked.
“Yes. There were incidents in the past where so crystals went missing. Now the Lords’ soldiers escort the tribute all the way into the city and don’t just hand it off at the entrance and ensure the counts match.”
“So right into the treasury?” I asked.
“Right into the treasury. At least the first floor where they process all the tribute. Most Lords send it on a daily basis, to limit the impact of anyone incident. But to the North, they send large caravans that are heavily protected every ten days.”
“Kill a smaller tribute then?” I asked.
“Yes. Nanking to the Southeast would be the best option. It is very close to the Forbidden City. But the hard part will be the tribes around the area. They will be watching it. We take the tribute cart, they will get excited and report us. No way to remove all the prying eyes.”
“Then we can get in close and take the soldiers out quietly?” I asked.
“Still the sa issue. Only First Seoul to the far North has a road that passes through a single level 3 zone. Everything else goes through level 2 zones. But they send large caravans. We can’t hope to pass ourselves using that tribute, since there will be a return group they will et up with.”
This was complicated. The movies never made a heist seem this complicated. “Realistically we need to infiltrate a city like Nanking and kill the guards while they are moving through the city itself. Once they are killed, we replace them and leave the city.”
“Enough dead space on the roads?” I asked.
“Hopefully. We might have to wait and figure it out for two days. But all the tribute carts have the black dragon on them, letting everyone know it is a tribute cart and not to be bothered or else.”
“Are there other carts?” I asked.
“Yes, bringing in crystals from the tribes and supplies to the city gates. Often the tribes will exchange a full cart of crystals for a full cart of supplies, not bothering to unload either of them. At least that is how my city did it, but I can’t say the sa for other cities. Still the tribute carts should be easily spotted, but there might be other people around.”
“That can be sorted. How many soldiers?” I asked.
“One slave to pull the cart, at least four soldiers, and one officer to take responsibility for the count and the paperwork.” I held back a laugh. Even the evil empire had paperwork. Well, it was an evil empire, so it probably had lots of paperwork.
“We can play off the low numbers saying we were attacked. As long the tribute is delivered, there won’t be a huge fuss. But once we enter the Forbidden City we are committed. Well, once you act or we are discovered.”
“Have you delivered tribute before?” I asked.
“Yes, which is the only reason I am going along with this insanity. And it is insanity no matter how strong you are. You still haven’t figured out how we are going to get around the issue of figuring out if the Divine Empress is present or not?”
“I am working on that. With my Sense stat, I should hopefully be able to find her, or tell if she is inside the city,” I replied.
“Hopefully. Even if the Envoy is there, he will block your movents and we will get sward by the Black Talons.”
“I will be able to fight my way through them easily. The Envoy would be an actual fight and could delay . We can over the layout of the inner ring tomorrow,” I said.
“Good, because I need sleep,” Bao Wang replied and settled in for the night. I spent the ti thinking on how I was going to manage the heist and ntally practicing my Chinese over and over in my head. I would probably not need it, but I every bit would be a huge help.
The worst part was, we would have no idea how much was in the treasury. The Divine Empress could have cashed it out the day before. Or the best option, she didn’t bother with it since she had attacked Purgatory.
The billions of crystals would be insane. I had the entrance planned. The initial plan was to kill everyone in the treasury and Bao Wang would hold the single entrance. I would then make my way to the airship, steal it, and fly it over to the roof of the treasury. There he would load everything up while I fought off everyone.
Then we would fly away in triumph. If we managed this, Bao Wang would get a tenth. We had talked it out and he had agreed with that. Since I had invested a lot into him, and I would be doing all the fighting.
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