The Systemic Lands

Chapter 206: Day 500 – The Chief Administrator Was Administrating

“It was a risk-“ I cut off Clarissa before she could get going.

“Do you understand the threat of a level 4 monster?” I asked harshly. I then let out a sigh and sagged back in my chair. She was quiet as I sipped some fruit juice. Orange juice in fact. It had been so long since I tasted it, the taste took me a moment to place. Actual juice, instead of flavored water.

Clarissa was silent as I thought through the issue. I was frustrated since, a level 4 did not care about quantity, only quality. If a mistake was made and the city was wiped, that would set me back by quite a bit.

“It was a big risk,” I said.

“I know. But it was one worth taking. Especially since with all the people in the city, there are crystal stashes. Any given day, the total point count in crystals in Purgatory exceeds two million by my estimates,” Clarissa explained.

“Not in a romantic way, but I can’t lose you,” I said. Clarissa let out a small exhale at that.

“I know that. But, just as I trust you to come back alive, you need to trust me to manage the city. I judged the risk was worth it. There is a reason I haven’t upgraded the store yet. I am not that much of an idiot. If anything does trigger an event, it would be upgrading the store,” Clarissa explained.

“The City Shield, that’s a building?” I asked to confirm and to move the conversation forward. She took the risk and survived. In the end, she didn’t understand the threat of a level 4 monster. Eventually she would learn the horror.

“Yes it is. Takes up four building plots, like the other big buildings. It can activate a city shield at the cost of one million points for one day, repelling anything at or below level 2. Attacks and people can pass out of the shield, but can’t go back into it,” Clarissa said.

“The upgrades for it?” I asked.

“Twice the length, or two days, is one million, four times the length is ten million, and ten times the base length is twenty five million points. Upgrading the shield to repel everything at level 3 is ten million points.”

“In addition, it oppresses any monsters inside the city while the shield is active. Not clear how it does that. But any monster would be weakened in some way,” Clarissa finished explaining.

“I will want to take a look. But that is quite useful. Can it be run continuously?” I asked.

“Every day active requires one day of inactivity. But points can be stockpiled into the City Shield and triggered when needed. The shield can be turned off, but the full price will be consumed regardless,” Clarissa said. Of course, the Almighty System wouldn’t make it a light switch that could be flicked on and off.

I looked back down at the list of purchases to the next one million point purchase. “The last upgrade for the Rod of Control, tracking store purchases?” I asked.

“As long as the person holding the rod can visualize who they are thinking about then they can check their purchase history from this city. Doesn’t list stuff from other cities. Nothing special about the last upgrade for the Rod of Control,” Clarissa answered. That was disappointing.

The next four items were Energy Gates, four of them at one million points each. “Energy Gates?” I asked.

“Can be activated from the gatehouses once every arrival period at no cost. Basically, they block both openings of the tunnel for one day. Similar to the Prison forcefields for the cells. With the City Shield, we could hold the wall,” Clarissa explained.

“No. Unfortunately, that won’t work on level 4 monsters,” I said.

“The golems you mentioned before, how they shattered the wall and were able to climb over it,” Clarissa said.

“Yes. A level 4 is three steps up compared to the single step up of the previous level. With their varied attacks and increased intelligence, they are no joke,” I explained.

“Well we can resist mundane threats or the Ritualist quite well now. With our summoners we have quite an advantage,” Clarissa explained.

“That can be discussed after the buildings. One thing at a time. The last two purchases were the city map upgrade and people tracker upgrade for the Regional Map at one million points each,” I said.

“Yes. The map building can now be used to see each and every person within Purgatory. No more running and hiding within the city. We can take a look whenever you want,” Clarissa offered.

“I would like that. So, what are the future purchases looking like?” I asked as I pushed the list back towards Clarissa.

“There are three general options. The first is to get every upgrade possible at this level of the store. This includes building roads to the other cities. The second option is purchase the few remaining upgrades at one million points, which are the table upgrades for the Enchanting and Alchemical Halls then purchase the store upgrade. The last option is to purchase the store upgrade in the next few days,” Clarissa said.

“You are thinking the third option, since I have returned,” I said.

“Yes. I know from Naran you are planning to stay at least five full days and leaving on day 505 at the earliest. I should have the crystals ready to upgrade the store to the next level by day 504. If you want to take the risk?” Clarissa asked.

“The biggest issue if there is a constant siege. Can the City Shield be deployed?” I asked.

“Yes. It is stocked up with one million points,” Clarissa said. I considered and weighed the risk. I tried to think in terms of golems. How many golems could Purgatory handle?

Let’s ignore the City Shield for now. Realistically, I could handle three. Naran could delay one. Figure about five from the RMPF and the Union teams present in the city. That would be eight golems worth of fighting capability, maybe.

“What do you think?” I asked Clarissa.

“It would be appropriate, and the timing works out well for the 500 day festival,” Clarissa said.

“Festival?” I asked.

“Yes. It will take place tomorrow after the arrival and last two days. Its not like there are any other holidays around here and no real calendar for holidays unless we make our own,” Clarissa explained.

“What does this…festival entail exactly?” I asked, a bit afraid and a bit curious what she had planned.

“Tours of the city buildings, lowered food prices. And no restrictions on selling goods or panhandling in the plaza. Several other businesses are running promotions as well,” Clarissa explained.

“Nothing from me?” I asked.

“There is nothing planned since I didn’t know when you would return. If you do want to speak, that can be arranged. Some Union team leaders are speaking on day 502 about the monsters outside the city at the plaza. I can put you after them,” Clarissa offered.

“No. Yes. Urg. Give me a moment to think,” I said, and Clarissa just nodded at that. I didn’t want to speak, and it would create more mystique around me. Publicly speaking, would let people know my face and build up my cult of personality as the supreme dictator of Purgatory.

“I will give a speech. Get me my own time block and a good place to speak from,” I finally decided.

“There is a good balcony to speak from that President Bob has set up on the second floor of his office overlooking the plaza. We can have you do the closing of the festival after President Bob instead of me,” Clarissa offered.

“That sounds perfect. I will figure out something to say, don’t worry,” I said.

“I am not worried. Whatever you say will be engaging, that I have no doubt,” Clarissa said with her deadpan voice. I had no idea if she was making fun of me. I narrowed my eyes a bit. Not even a twitch, the woman had great facial muscle control.

“Good job on the flags, it is a nice touch,” I said.

“Thank you. A large effort has been made recently to have a city identity. Having the flag on all our carts and on government buildings helps quite a bit in that regard. The design is simple enough. The store upgrade?” Clarissa asked and I let out a sigh. I was worried.

Perhaps it was all for nothing and I really was one of the first people to arrive and no one was wiped out before me. I found that hard to believe, but it was possible. But there was still the concerned feeling that something could happen. Something that would crush this city.

“Alright, so be it. But I reserve the right to say, ‘I told you so’ if we are attacked by level 4 monsters or worse,” I replied.

“I also reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if nothing happens,” Clarissa said.

“That is one bet I hope you win. Unfortunately, optimism isn’t my strong suit. Urg, then I will have to review all the upgrades afterwards and a new stat,” I said a bit petulantly. Clarissa rolled her eyes at my antics. I wanted to ask about the super squad, but this was a semi-public area.

I had some peeled orange slices. “Do you want me to set up appointments for you, or did you want to relax today?” Clarissa asked me.

“Let’s get it all out of the way as soon as possible. Research into summoning, other research, and crystal types,” I said. While I jokingly complained, I was quite interested in learning everything I could. It was both my hobby and my life.

“Very well. You done eating, we can go to my office to discuss things further?” Clarissa asked.

I stuffed a large piece of butter bread in my mouth and nodded. Clarissa got up and I followed her with my cup of juice in hand while trying to chew and swallow the bread I had stuffed in my mouth. So much better than raw fruits and vegetables with some salt that I had been eating.

We reached Clarissa’s office and entered. I noted two guards outside and they closed the doors behind me. I finally finished swallowing the bread. “Guards?” I asked.

“I keep a lot of sensitive documents in here. I can’t afford to let them get stolen,” Clarissa explained while sitting down at a side table in the room and gesturing for me to take the opposite seat. I am glad she understood my unclear question. This wasn’t just my home, but a fortress masquerading as a home. Like the White House. Clarissa and I lived here, but it was also the center of government.

“So, let’s start with the important stuff. Consumption?” I asked while sitting down.

“Good and bad. The good is, that we can increase stats to around 750 safely with consumption. No clear data on people with lots of stats already. The bad news is the loss of access to the store,” Clarissa said. Now that was interesting.

“Cut off, cut off?” I asked.

“They couldn’t access the store anymore. No regenerations or anything else. We pushed forward on consumption on a couple of individuals after that, seeing if anything else happened. Super cancer,” Clarissa said.

“Super cancer?!” That sounded really bad.

“That is what I call it at least. Doctor Katz has a more science sounding name. Regardless, micro-crystals begin forming inside a person with a high stat count from consumption. This gets worse the more they consume, eventually dying from crippling pain and internal hemorrhaging,” Clarissa said.

“These crystals? Useful?” I asked.

“No. They slowly turn to dust over a couple minutes once removed from the corpse. Also, consumption degrades over a long period of time. The higher the stat count, the faster the degradation. Talking months here, not days. But even with the decay, once system access is lost, it is lost permanently,” Clarissa explained.

“That is a viable way to poison people,” I muttered. Trading one problem for another.