The Systemic Lands

Chapter 196: Day 431 (2) – A Discussion On Power With Pointers

We set up camp that evening. Everyone was sitting around quietly I considered my options and wanted to test something. Also, to spice things up. “Gertrude, up for a friendly spar. No skills?” I asked. I could tell she was considering the option. Naran gave me a look and I just shrugged at him.

She stood up. “Very well.” I got up also and we made our way away from the carts while the rest of our companions got up to pay better attention to the spar. “Rules?” I considered the question.

“No aiming for fatal or crippling blows, no weapons, no skills, but other than that things should be fine,” I said.

“Acceptable. I will enjoy beating you up,” Gertrude said.

“Naran, will you toss a rock to start. When it hits the ground we begin,” I said.

“No problem, Michael,” Naran said and picked up a rock. “Ready?” I nodded at that. “Ready?” Gertrude nodded slightly as well. She was in a boxer’s stance. I could instantly tell she hadn’t practiced superpower fighting.

Naran and I had done far more than just having me throw rocks at him. We had written the book at super powered combat and were still writing it. The key thing wasn’t about protecting yourself but dodging completely and deflecting blows before they could land.

Blocking only made sense when both people had a similar Body stat. If one person had a higher Body stat, they could tank a lot of blows to land blows of their own. Since their attacks were superior, they would win in the exchange. The person with the smaller Body stat, needed to deflect and counter, not attack first.

In fact, attacking first was a bad idea. If Gertrude didn’t have 500 Body, then I would be surprised, and she would suffer. The rock hit the ground. Gertrude ran forward.

Her footwork was poor. I kicked off the ground and went flying forward at a slight angle, with her to my right. Gertrude came to a halt and punched out at me. She punched way too early, with the amount of Body stat she had. I had enough time to react.

I twisted my body to the right, letting her punch sail across my chest. I punched out with my right arm, into the air. She tried to duck, but I lowed my arm and clotheslined her right in the face. I skidded across the dirt as she finished performing a backflip and landed face down in the dirt.

While our Body stats canceled each other out, that did nothing to counter my momentum and mass I had. If she had a higher Body stat, this wouldn’t have worked. But with our Body stats being equal or close enough, the side of my arm hitting her face at those speeds was a massive blow.

In fact, the attack worked better than a punch. Since the side of my arm could take an impact much more easily than my fist and it was harder to dodge. Also, this was a friendly spar, as I gave my junior some pointers.

“What…what happened?” Gertrude asked as she slowly got to her feet.

“I won. In a single blow. Good spar, it was quite informative,” I said and made my way back to our camp to sit down.

“That’s it?” one of the women on Gertrude’s team asked. They all went over to her to fuss over her and her injuries.

“That’s it. She isn’t my match,” I said. As I sat down, I saw Gertrude shaking her head as her group talked in quiet whispers. At least her nose didn’t break. Still, she was clearly out of it after that hit and flip onto the ground. I didn’t rub my shoulder, which was a bit sore from the impact.

High stat combat was mind bending to put it lightly. “Nice job Michael,” Naran said.

“It was informative. About even,” I said and Naran nodded.

“I picked up on that as well. But she has no concept of high level combat or movement,” he added.

“Well, most people aren’t as curious as I am, or willing to train beyond what the stats and skills give them. Debating if I should even bother about tomorrow,” I said.

“It is a risk. You think she will try anything?” Naran asked.

“Not really. I mean, you will be coming with us. We don’t have anything that valuable to steal from the cart. Sure, there are crafting crystals and the Processing Rod, but those aren’t a pile of points,” I said.

“You don’t think they will try anything?” Naran asked.

“What can they do? I mean we are splitting a watch tonight. But none of her team are coming with us,” I said.

“They are sending a summon,” Naran said.

“And? What can that do?” I asked. There was silence at that.

“Aggro,” Naran said. “If the summon pulls all the level 4 golems at the same time.” I frowned at that. But it was possible. But the risk was low.

“That would kill Gertrude as well. Unless she is planning to commit suicide, that doesn’t make any sense,” I replied.

“It doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to be possible,” Naran countered. I frowned as I considered that statement. He was right, the risk of pulling too much aggro was quite large. I could handle one golem, but any more than that was a big risk.

“You watch the summon, they are sending along, I will watch Gertrude and pull with a summon of my own. What are they using?” I asked.

“No idea, but I can keep a close eye on it. You sure about this? It seems like quite a bit of risk for little reward,” Naran countered.

“It is a risk. But I would rather Gertrude try something now, than later on,” I said.

“I would have thought the other way around,” Naran suggested.

“The gap between us is wider at the moment. But if she gets sucked into politics, then it will be her loss,” I replied. “I can’t think of anything else they could do, you?” I asked.

“If they had a larger group to set up an ambush on our return, but we aren’t going to stay here?” Naran asked.

“No. We are leaving right away. Only staying this night. We can night travel if we have to, but not taking the risk of spending another night with these people,” I answered.

Gertrude and her team came back over and sat down on the ground at the opposite side of our little huddle. “Good fight,” she finally said.

“Good fight,” I replied. We sat there in silence as the light source slowly disappeared behind the horizon.

“How did you do it?” she finally asked. I smirked a bit. I had won the silence contest.

“High stat combat is different than regular combat,” I shook my head.

“How?” I wasn’t about to answer that. She could work out the nuances herself. I wasn’t about to teach her.

“I am not giving lessons at the moment. If anything I should charge for that spar,” I replied.

“You…whatever,” Gertrude said, clearly tired. Lady, you need to get your head in the game. You can’t half ass things at this level. Every little detail mattered. That was what people didn’t understand. When you in a panic, or a fight, that was when it was too late to train or be better prepared.

People lacked that constant sense of urgency that they needed all the time in a survival situation. They got comfortable, stopped working to hone their edge. That was why I didn’t like staying in Purgatory for a long period of time.

It would be too easy to go soft. To not constantly think. To not constantly worry. When I looked at Gertrude, that was what I saw. Someone who thought they were trying, but they weren’t really trying. They were doing enough to feel comfortable and that was it.

I hated that mentality. Since it was like a warm blanket. It would make you comfortable and feel safe, but a warm blanket wouldn’t protect you once things got tough. It was a struggle to maintain that mindset near constantly.

That was one reason why Naran and I got along so well. He understood. This lesson had sunk into his very soul and taken hold. After his arrival in Truth, he knew that not doing everything to prepare was criminal.

“So where were you grinding all this time?” I asked Gertrude.

“Some place I could handle,” she replied. I smirked at that. She was returning my sass right back at me.

“Flirting, really?” one of her teammates asked. I looked at her but didn’t say anything.

“That wasn’t flirting,” Gertude countered right away. “So, what is the exact plan for tomorrow?” Gertrude asked.

“Me, you, and Naran, will go out into the level 3 zone, and I will pull a level 4 with a summon. Then it is up to you,” I replied.

“I am sending a summon to keep an eye on things as well,” the flirty comment woman spoke up again. I know Gertrude had introduced her, but I couldn’t remember her name to save my life. It probably wasn’t important.

“The summon won’t go that far. You should know that. The tether length, unless you can survive in a level 3 zone?” I asked. She frowned and looked at Gertrude who nodded.

“I can handle the cold, but it is tough.” Well if she wanted to risk it, that was her choice.

I knew that none of them were Ruth, unless they had a really good and cheap disguise skill. I wasn’t worried about that at the moment. Only Naran could really stab me in the back, everyone else I was keeping an eye on.

As for Naran, I knew how he walked and talked. We had spent enough time together, that impersonating him would be a huge challenge. I figured it was the same the other way, if someone tried to impersonate me.

With the mimics that the Ritualist had used it was a concerned. But the fact he only disguised one as himself meant it wasn’t easy to impersonate someone they hadn’t seen. At least that was my assumption.

That was the big problem with always being on edge, it was exhausting. That was why focusing on self-improvement and maximizing my personal skills was so critical. Worrying and brooding were important to think through situations, but I couldn’t let that consume all my time.

It was going to be a long night. At least with the stats, I could stay awake through a night much easier than before. I felt like I was in college again. I poked my stomach. The flab had long disappeared, but abs were resolute in not appearing.

I was sure the Body stat was screwing things up, possibly along with the regenerations. It was a bit concerning I didn’t know exactly what was happening with my body. I hated not knowing things. Why couldn’t the Almighty System have been based on Google? It was already monitoring everything we did, just needed to add a search function.

Now that would be a useful function. I stretched out slowly. I had developed a stretching routine, for this long downtime while I was thinking. I wasn’t super flexible, but every bit helped. The Body stat didn’t seem to really influence flexibility.

I didn’t pull out my book that I kept my notes and research in. Now they could be after that. All my notes and knowledge. Now that would make sense. Fethee wouldn’t be able to stop something like that and Gertrude’s teammates could easily distract him to pull off a heist.

I would be bringing it along with me tomorrow. It would be a pain to stuff under my armor, but I was not about to risk it. The knowledge in it was incredibly dangerous. I was not about to let the knowledge of consumption get out due to my mistake. Better to be safe than sorry. I was not about to let some idiot steal all my hard earned knowledge. I could only imagine the headache that would happen if I lost my book. In fact, it could be a better target than trying to assassinate me and it was no secret that I had a personal notebook.