The Systemic Lands

Chapter 131: Day 275 – A New Zone

Acid Shot. Another living armor carrying a sword melted away. Naran, Aahan, and I were South of Neo Brasilia at coordinates (-1,-3), taking a look at the deadlands.

“Try the East?” Naran asked. It would be a long trek. I looked to the Southwest, where there was a hole in the world and cracks coming off of it. The other side of it was where I had run into Death.

“Yeah, these can’t be killed with a sword.” We went a bit North and then turned towards the East.

We cut through the brown butterfly grasslands and then the green butterfly forest. We reached shadowlands with large green centipedes, about the size of my arm. Checking a bit South in zone (0,-3) there were black centipedes.

We got about 10 miles through the zone with the green centipedes before calling it a night. The gas they released was quite annoying, but nothing too concerning. What really was concerning was my lack of energy.

It was feeling like more and more of a mistake to get that tenth upgrade for my skill Acid Shot. Even though it was really cool to just be able to think and kill anything in my way. More than just cool, it allowed me to react much faster to threats.

I could only hope Purgatory was holding together and hadn’t gone up in flames. Every time I left, I felt I was leaving an irresponsible child behind that would wreck the place in some way. What I really needed was long range teleportation or astral projection. I would take those skills over meteor or dusting.

I did wonder what a higher-level Acid Shot looked like. I knew I wouldn’t be upgrading the skill for a long time. I would rather upgrade Aqua Sphere and Air Burst up to 4 upgrades each. Then I would be able to engage in combat effectively, with defense, movement, and attack.

Maybe a higher-level Acid Shot was an area of effect, like a wall or wave. It could also be a stream, like from a hose. An area of effect attack skill would be useful against swarms and fast-moving monsters. More acid would always be better. But I wasn’t about to give up all my current upgrades any time soon. Still, it was something I occasionally thought about in my down time and made notes in my book.

I still needed a healing and utility skill. A healing skill was a top priority, but I hadn’t seen any monsters healing. This implied it was a very high-level skill or my sample set wasn’t big enough. How big were the Systemic Lands? Did it go forever, or was it truly a flat world?

Pointless questions, in the same vein as to what sent us here and kept sending people. I just had to wait for more information and speculating was a waste of time. I needed to focus on killing the Ritualist.

The next day we kept pushing East, killing centipedes with a sword. After cresting a hill, I saw a frozen landscape. Even at a distance I felt a chill. At least this time I had cold weather clothing prepared beforehand.

Naran and Aahan stayed with the cart as I got bundled up to go into a level 3 frostlands at coordinates (1,-3). I slowly approached the transition between the two landscapes and kept scanning for the monster. I glanced upwards.

Acid Shot! A feathered monster appeared in front of my face and was immediately engulfed in acid. It collapsed to the frozen ice and turned to dust. Before it dusted, I saw it was a striped bird. Nope. I backed out of the frostlands. Teleporting birds would be too much of a headache to deal with. I considered it a possible grinding spot, but sub-optimal.

We checked the zone to the south at (1,-4). I looked at the frostlands and tried to spot the monster. Monster. Kill. Oh. There is something approaching. That is a scary gargoyle. Acid Shot.

Nope! That was a hell nope. I didn’t even bother to pick up the crystal as I quickly retreated. White gargoyles with that much of a mental impact, were way too dangerous. We made our way North just to the West of the transition between the two types of terrains.

The green centipedes turned into brown ones that burst out of the ground. Thankfully Naran was able to quickly kill them and clear a path with Minor Tremor. That confirmed in my mind that each level of monster had a range.

There was no scaling like in games. If you were unprepared, you could easily be killed. A level was just an indication of its innate power and how strong its skills were. I needed more data points for level 4, but abnormal behavior was something I would include as well.

I went to the East again. Slowly moving into the frostlands. The cold was so much it was hard to see with my eyes watering and wanting to close from the biting cold. I could just rest. I had been working hard. But the Ritualist?

Ah, I had time to put my feet up. But I needed to grind. I needed to grind. Kill monsters. Acid Shot.

Nope, white centipedes. Screw these mental attack monsters. Screw them a billion times over. Dammit I had struck out three times. We finally reached swamp and four types of terrain were coming together.

The terrain diagonally opposite were mistlands. That meant more mental effects and getting lost. I wasn’t even going to try it after my experience with this type of terrain by Truth. We set off back South. The path was already cleared so we made good time.

We eventually started running into black centipedes and pushed past them. That was when we ran into large bright red hands crawling across the ground. My acid wiped them out easily enough, but they used their fingers like crabs and weren’t afraid to grab onto a weapon and pull themselves up.

I noted the wounds healed as well. Bright red was the healing color for monsters. Good to know. One of these days I would eventually work out a color chart for monsters. Try to extrapolate colors I hadn’t seen before. Eventually we ran into swamp ahead. I called a halt and saw that the terrain to the Southeast was another intersection of four terrains.

There were the frostlands and to their South were scattered boulders and rocks. Like one of those mountainous areas without plants, just large boulders, large crevices. Moving a cart across that type of terrain would be impossible.

I got bundled up and checked out the frostlands. The cold bit into me as my boots crunched over the frozen ground. I spotted the monster first this time. A blue gargoyle, a lighter blue than the rats. I approached to get in range.

It turned towards me and then leapt at me, using its wings to propel itself forward. Acid Shot. My skill splattered against nothing in the air. The monster was seconds away as my acid fell to the ground ineffectual. Acid Shot.

The monster was almost on top of me when I managed to hit it with my skill. The monster took time to turn to dust as it crashed into the ground. I felt a wall slam into me and went flying backwards. I hadn’t had any warning.

I slowly got to my feet as the blue gargoyle turned to dust and left a level 3 crystal behind. It projected some kind of telekinesis or force ability. While not as aggravating as a mental attack, it was still incredibly annoying.

It was getting dark, and I didn’t want to fight whatever was hiding in the stonelands and those boulders. I made my way back to the cart.

“Good, bad?” Naran asked.

“Level 3 monsters aren’t simple. Those dark blue rats were a lucky find. Everything here is a headache. Also, the third type of level 3 terrain, stonelands.”

“I see. The last one, what was it?”

“A light blue gargoyle with a remote force projection skill. Didn’t feel any danger or anything. One moment nothing. Next moment getting slammed by what can only be described as a wall.” I let out a sigh. Every direction was annoying.

“Those boulders tomorrow?” Naran asked.

“You see a monster there?” He shook his head. “Yeah, that is the problem. I won’t have good footing to maneuver and dodge. Also, those crevices offer a lot of opportunities for attack. Why are all level 3 monsters so annoying?”

“Because they are level 3?” Naran said with a smile. I rolled my eyes. We sat down for the night. At least the bright red hands would be easy to clear in the surrounding area once they respawned after midnight.

“I need a lot more Perception. What do you think Aahan?”

“Dangerous.” That was it. After that he was silent. I couldn’t tell if he was the best cart puller or the worst. The man just did his thing without complaining. I could respect that, since he was probably going to die horribly one of these days.

“Waste more time to grind through the living armor to a level 3 area. And you can’t easily grind the armor.” Naran shook his head as he said that.

“I need more Mind to counter whatever those mental attacks are. A level 4 mental attack would be the end.”

“We can always go back to the dark blue rats to the East,” Naran suggested.

“We could. But it would a long trek back to Neo Brasilia. I don’t really want to go to Esperanza.”

“I would think it would be the opposite.”

“Neo Brasilia was wiped. They can’t even contest their dungeons and are struggling to just survive. Esperanza has an actual government. Also, they know about skills after I showed them.”

“I am still surprised you did that.”

“I don’t like killing people you know. I can see the judgement in your eyes.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“This place is set up to pit people against each other. But people are at their strongest when they work together. However personal power matters a great deal. There are prejudices across various groups, including me.”

“Cooperation isn’t possible you are saying.”

“Cooperation is only possible between equals. With the aspect of personal power, I am a nation and army unto myself. Look at the Ritualist, he killed everyone and replaced them with monsters.”

“I hope you aren’t planning to do that?” Naran asked.

“No. Maybe. I am not sure. Changing directions with my stats and combat focus, would be a headache. The best option is to pick what I am most comfortable with casting. What about you?”

“Me? Counter casting would be the best in my mind. A skill to nullify other skills.”

“If a monster has something like that, it will be tough. I am guessing level 4 or 5.”

“Probably. Until then I will focus on entrapment. It has good synergy with your Acid Shot and can hopefully counter fast-moving monsters.” Naran, take a million Michael points for that.

“Just need someone to focus Perception to watch for hidden attacks.” We both glanced at Aahan who was staring at the sky listlessly. I looked at Naran who shrugged. Whatever happened to Aahan, he seemed in a half dead half alive state. He hadn’t given up, but he wasn’t focused on the present.

I was tempted to pry, but he didn’t complain and the only thing he wanted to do was pull the cart. He probably had PTSD or something similar. If the good doctor had been a psychiatrist instead of a pediatrician, that would have been interesting.