I jogged to the cart as there was barely any light out. Ruth was arriving at the sa ti as well as I noticed her walking to the cart from the other direction.
She smiled and waved when she saw , which I returned. “Good day?” I asked.
“358.”
“Very good. Picking up crystals and moving about is the most tireso part, right?”
“Yes. How about you? Hit 250?”
“229, and I probably won’t get much higher with the travel ti. I can’t get through the scorpions more quickly and two erkats at once is pushing it. Had too many close calls.” I looked down at my bloody and gnawed on greaves. Those erkats were vicious and quick.
“You want to move camp?” Ruth asked.
“No. This is a good spot in the grasslands. I figure a full 20 days out here. That should give enough for another 100 upgrades with so to spare. That would also get you enough for 100 upgrades as well, I think.”
“It would be quite a bit. Now I really understand why you don’t want to pay any taxes.”
“Well, I have so ideas about that. You probably only have to give up 1,000 crystals at most.”
“And what will those crystals do?”
“Bribing the guards.”
“Really, what about you keeping your word?”
“I can’t help if people have trouble counting really high. They can explain how to count to my face.”
“You are terrible, really?”
“It should work but plans and all of that.” I waved my hand.
“I was a bit interested returning on day 130 for the auction for the dungeon,” Ruth said.
“For pushing out into the wilderness, right?”
“Yes. I can’t keep holding you back and it will be faster.”
“I was thinking that you focus more on upgrades, then you could fight erkats. No skills needed to kill them. Just very good reflexes. That way you can get points a lot more quickly. Going after scorpions is slow and you need a lot more upgrades to make it work.”
“How many upgrades?”
“For the erkats?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I would say 50 Body and 20 Perception to handle one easily. I can handle two barely with 70 Body and 20 Perception.”
“I am at 30 Body. Only stat I have invested in.” Wait, that didn’t make any sense.
“Didn’t you tell 50 spread out between five different stats?”
“Ah, well, I kind of lied.”
“Why? No wait, don’t answer that.”
“It is fine. I lied, because I thought it would make look better. Pretty stupid, but I only have 30 in Body.” Well, it wasn’t like she was catching up with any ti soon regardless.
“I hope you are telling the truth now, otherwise I might make an assumption that will kill you.” I thought of the white tunnel mind slis.
“I get it. But it is a secret right?”
“Of course, never share your stats with people you don’t trust. You shouldn’t even share them with , but it is important if we are going to grind together. I see your grin. You know what I an.”
“I didn’t say anything. That was all you.”
“So, you could probably afford 40 more upgrades when we return. Half into Body and half into Perception. Might be a bit rough but should be doable. Even if you only kill 40 per day, that will put you about even with what you can do with the small wolves.”
“That works. So how many upgrades total if you don’t mind asking?”
“Guess, I am curious what you put at?” I didn’t mind and wanted to build up so trust. If she was sharing her stats and we were teaming up together, then I would share as well.
“With what you have said so far. Hmm. I would say 250 upgrades maybe 280.”
“Try 310 upgrades,” I replied. Her eyes went a bit wide at that and I grinned as I munched on my carrot.
“Wow, you notice the difference?”
“With my skill and energy, yes. Body and Perception a bit. The rest, not really. Still, I don’t plan to neglect any of them too much. I was thinking another 30 into Body and 10 into the rest when we go back.”
“So, 100 Body then if I had to guess, maybe you will get a reward or sothing?”
“I can hope, but I doubt it. This place doesn’t appear to have any cheevos.”
“Cheevos?”
“Ah, a bit of a gaming in joke. Cheetos combined with achievent, cheevos. Achievents that sound nice, but aren’t that filling, cheevos.”
“Cheevos, really, I should have paid more attention to my kids to learn this stuff.” I smiled a bit at what she said. It was nice to have soone to talk to.
“Don’t lose that. I know I keep a small bit of hope alive in my heart. Or at least try to, not like it matters that much.”
“The sa for . I miss them every day, every mont. Nothing I can do but move forward.”
“Hey, no stealing my catch phrase.”
“You have a catch phrase now?”
“No, maybe. Don’t ask difficult questions.”
“Here is a difficult one, food you miss most?”
“Tacos, pizza, no wait, tacos. Tacos, final answer.”
“I should have guessed that.”
“You,” I asked.
“Apple pie with vanilla ice cream with a bit of chocolate drizzled on it.”
“Choosing a dessert, no fair.” Ruth just shrugged and we sat there munching on our dinner.
“Why do you think this happened?” Ruth finally asked.
“No idea. But it is utter stupidity. If it was for entertainnt, then grinding is the opposite of that. If it was for testing, then there seems to be too many variables. My favorite guess is that an alien race created the Almighty System, praise be the System, as an inter-dinsional super weapon and it has gone rouge.”
“That is a…guess. Why the veneration of the system and what is it?”
“That is a bit heavy, you sure you want to know?”
“Well, nothing else to talk about out here. Or do for that matter. I an the weather is nice in the grasslands like the hundred days before.” I ignored the insinuation of the first bit, and I snorted at the truth of her last statent.
“Alright. Well, a God is a being that is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. This place has no limitations since it can spawn in monsters and remove trash, is constantly tracking everything to remove trash, and exists everywhere. Even in our minds.”
“If God was in charge of Earth, the System that runs this place is in charge of the Systemic Lands. It is all powerful, all knowing, and all present. Hence I have recognized its na as the Almighty System.”
“That is what you are naming all of this?”
“It will catch on, trust . I did na the city Purgatory.”
“Fine, the Systemic Lands. So, the almighty system, huh?” I could here the lack of reverence in her voice. Well it was only a matter of ti before she too beca a believer in the one true power that controlled our lives.
“It is my personal reminder of how things are out here and what is truly running this place. Well, we should get so sleep. A lot more grinding tomorrow.”
“Why grinding? This is all new to .”
“Another gaming term. Grinding weapons was boring but necessary, so is repetitively killing the sa monsters. You are honing your skill against them. That was the term people used and it makes sense.” I shrugged.
“Alright, Champion, or should I say professor.” I shook my head at that, and we both lay down to go to sleep.
The next day I woke up quite early and stretched out and checked my gear. I was eating breakfast when Ruth woke up. “How are you up so early with so much energy?”
“Practice. Best ti to get anything done. Be careful out there.”
“You too.” I gave her a nod and set off into the shadowlands once more.
Hello scorpion. “Acid Shot.” Goodbye scorpion. I picked up the crystal and quickly hurried onwards. Once I reached the erkat area, I pushed hard.
Three at once, that saw so bite marks on my greaves and drew blood, but the pace began to pick up. There was less waiting for a singular erkat to pop up. Just had to be aware of how many were in my range, so I didn’t get mobbed.
There was a lot of spinning and stabbing downwards. Once my energy recharged, I rushed to deal with scorpions. Then I went back to the erkats. As evening ca, I made my way back to the cart killing off scorpions along the way.
I arrived first this ti and began counting my crystals as I waited for Ruth. She showed up just as the last sunlight disappeared over the horizon. She appeared fairly worn, but no injuries.
“Long day?” I asked.
“Yes, I pushed a bit too much.”
“I did the sa. Great minds think alike. I got 261. You?”
“About 380, I ssed up my count, but around there.”
“Well, you eat, I will count and pack the crystals away into the spare pack.” Ruth nodded at that. “Might run out of room if we aren’t careful.”
“Problem?”
“No, just will have so very full packs at the end. Good thing, you purchased packs for your supplies as well.” I got to counting. “Well, good news. You hit 391 today.”
“That is good. Just have to keep that up.”
“Well, this is the third day of the grind. So, a lot of ti to improve and hit 400.”
“Thanks, so what are you aiming for?”
“Just to keep up this pace. Honestly it is pushing my limit, will probably go a bit slower going forward. Got nibbled a bit.” I pointed at my bloody greaves and boots.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not much, the erkats were killed quick enough, but in large numbers…well they would be super dangerous.” I carefully pulled off my greaves and took a look at the bite marks. They went through the armor and punctured my skin. Annoying monsters.
“That doesn’t look like not getting injured,” Ruth said.
“A flesh found that a restoration will fix. Honestly didn’t bother much. Might be a side effect of a high Body stat. More annoying that the armor is damaged.” I poked at the slightly bloody holes in the copper greaves. “There needs to be a repair stat to automatically repair equipnt.”
“I don’t think this place is anywhere near that generous.”
“Yeah, still annoying. Everything is wearing out.”
“You can resell your gear, you know.”
“What?”
“I guess you wouldn’t know. There is a resale store. People can sell old equipnt, so they don’t have to throw it away. The owner patches things up and cleans them, before putting them up for re-sale. You won’t get much, but better than nothing.”
“I am missing so much.”
“Well, you rushed to leave the city.”
“Yeah, I kind of did leave in a hurry. But that discussion lted my brain and the entire thing…yeah.”
“The discussion itself wasn’t that bad, and you did pretty well if I have to say so. Not the Constitution, but not half bad.”
“The bad part?”
“Well, you are on the hook for death matches.”
“I know, but after a couple of challengers, I am hoping to make it an honorary position. Step down, but still keep the benefits.”
“Good luck with that. You will need it.”
“Thanks. I will really have to explore what is available when we go back. So much stuff to buy as well.”
“Like?”
“More property to secure my little block.”
“That makes sense. What is that? Six more?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t think small.”
“Hopefully it pays off. Still, the biggest cost will be furnishing the place properly. Most likely just going to leave most of it a shell.” Ruth gave a look. “And a second bed with more lighting. I might need to charge you rent then.”
“I have to pay taxes, you don’t.”
“True, true.”
“Stop looking so smug.”
“Haha.” I rubbed the back of my head. “Don’t worry I will set you up a room.”
“And a key?”
“I have to look into that.”
“It is 10k worth of points. You can add to the permissions as well.”
“When we go back, I will fiddle with the housing part of the store.” I really need to spend a lot of ti looking that over and understanding the exact chanics of how it worked.
“No one has tried to break in?”
“Not as far as I can tell.”
“Trust , as the owner you would get a strong ntal ping. Carlos tested it out quite heavily. You will be woken up as well. Once you get pinged, you can turn if off for a set period of ti if you don’t want to be bothered.”
“That is useful at least. Might use as a long-range alert system. Repair costs?”
“Up to what the item originally cost.”
“Annoying.”
“How?”
“Just an extra expense if people cause trouble and try to wreck my place.”
“I think you will be the last person anyone wants to cause trouble with.”
“Hmm, maybe. You never know. I have thought people would behave one way, then they disappoint . Human nature is fickle. Well, you can get a room since you are part of my team.”
“Are we recruiting?”
“You have soone in mind?”
“Not really, just asking.”
“I…I am very sensitive to expanding our group. There is trust between us after you risked your life to help . With more people, it becos more complicated.”
“I see, but we may need more people later on.”
“When we get to that point, we can reevaluate. I an, catching you up is hard enough. Doing that for more people, isn’t worth my ti. I want to explore new areas and find new dungeons.”
“That is a lot of risk.”
“I know, but that is what you signed up for. Changing your mind?”
“No…no. I just get worried. Fighting, killing, it isn’t easy.” Ruth let out a sigh and looked up at the night sky.
“Hah! It never is. Who uses swords nowadays? Maybe LARPers, but that is it.”
“I am probably going to regret this, but what is a LARPer?”
“A live action role player. They dress up and hit each other with foam swords. Maybe fencing and kendo for weapon experience as well.” I thought back to the athlete I had killed. What was his na? I couldn’t rember and felt a bit bad about that. That had been a very challenging one on one fight back in the early days. I had even given my na. Now I had forgotten that man’s na. Forever to be forgotten on my path.
I wonder if one day that would happen to . To get killed by sobody stronger and eventually forgotten. Life was so fragile, and I broke it so easily.
“Michael. Michael!”
“Yes.” I turned to Ruth.
“Why…? Never mind.”
“Sorry, just lost in a mory. That was careless of . Reminiscing about the past like that won’t lead to anything good.”
“It isn’t good to keep things bottled up.”
“Bottled up? No, just an unending trail of death and calamity. I have made my choices. The more I make, the more my path is carved in stone.” I let out a sigh and wiped my eyes. “Just thinking how far I have co.”
“Well, it seems pretty far if I have to say so.”
“Thanks, but there are many more mountains to climb. This place, if it is the tutorial that I think it is, nothing good is in the future.”
“I am in the future.” I gave her a look. That was way too cheesy. Now I really wanted pizza.
“One good thing. Thanks for coming out here with . It is hard to trust. If you plan to betray , make it quick, my heart couldn’t take it otherwise.” It really couldn’t. If Ruth betrayed now, it would be hard to ntally recover. The battle in Purgatory was still weighing down and how things ended with Carlos.
“And go out there into the unknown and deal with new monsters by myself? Not sothing I am really looking forward to doing on my loneso.”
“We should get so sleep. We have another long day tomorrow.”
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