The Systemic Lands

Chapter 225: Day 511 – The Endless Void Of Realizations

Acid Shot. Another one of the leaf beasts died, melted away. I hated this swamp. I really, really hated it. Did I mention I hated it. I would rather give the Ritualist a big fat juicy kiss on the lips than go through the swamp. Well, kissing the Ritualist bit might be too far, but the swamp was quickly ascending up my list of most miserable experiences of my life.

The leaf beasts would burst out of the water or jump down from the towering trees, with little to no warning. Naran couldn’t get proper footing with his massive sword, so I was stuck dealing with all the attacks in the front. It was a slog to move through and there was a smell that lingered in the air.

My armor was slowly getting worn down by the bit of acid that lingered in the water and the constant splatter having to intercept the monsters flying at me. Heba was going to earn her travel privileges by having to clean all this off our clothes. We only had limited water and no way to heat it.

The water was also green, which made it hard to see through with bits of scum in it. There was a reason why I didn’t want to go into the swamps before, this experience kept hammering the point home. What was even worse, was that it would be a nightmare to cross any level 3 zone after the swamp.

We were getting close to the edge of the zone. I could tell since the water depth had gone from around my thighs to below my knees. It reminded me of how the water depth changed at the edge of the swamp and at the top of the cliff.

I shivered a bit. “You feel that? The energy is moving,” Naran said.

“A void,” I replied. I had experienced this before. The tree line ended up ahead and the water ended as well. It came up to about a foot of stone, before that stone slopped downwards into inky blackness. To the left and right there was nothing but blackness. This was the void that the cracks connected to.

I felt a shiver and a cold wind blowing on me. “What do you see?” I asked Naran.

“The energy is coming from the void to the land,” he replied. That was a bit surprising, I expected it to be the other way around. Looking to the left and right, I couldn’t spot anything, like a zone diagonal to this one.

“The effect isn’t as bad as before,” I replied.

“Really, it feels awful for me, there is barely a change,” Naran said.

“Maybe not Aura then?” I suggested.

“Spirit or something else?” Naran asked.

“People went crazy when lowered down into the void, right?” I asked to confirm what Naran had mentioned long ago about what the Lords of Truth had gotten up to.

“Yes, people went insane and tried to kill themselves,” Naran said.

“Let’s say that energy is physcoreactive, which has been proven over and over with crystals and powder. There is energy in the air. Skills disturb the energy, possibly pull it in to supplement them. The void is spewing out energy, but it is damaging like radiation,” I said.

“It is wearing down on people’s minds,” Naran connected the dots I had drawn.

“Yes, but it isn’t the mind or the Spirit, I would say. Since Spirit is how much energy one has. A person’s size isn’t changing, so it stands to reason their energy density is changing. A denser energy concentration would be better able to resist this void energy wind,” I finished my conclusion.

“Will have to check again after you increase specific stats. But the explanation makes sense. But the effect increases rapidly the further out you get,” Naran said.

“That is where airships will come in handy is my guess. A pocket of enclosed energy to survive the void winds. Well, back through the sludge, or South?” I asked.

“South probably to check the corner. The swamp is miserable, I don’t want to do that again,” Naran said. We set off to the South. We both knew that we would be doing this again and again in our exploration of the edges of the Systemic Lands.

At least it was quick to travel next to the void. I noted that Naran kept his distance much more, having an easier time moving through the water with his higher Body stat. There were no monsters nearby either to slow us down.

Edge traveling would be a fast way to travel, but I didn’t exactly like the idea of energy winds wearing down my spirit or soul. We eventually came to a crack extending from the void out into the swamp. I could see the other side, but it was too far to jump.

Even if I could, I wasn’t about to jump over a possibly endless dark void of inky blackness. We ran around the crack. That would slow down edge traveling. It wasn’t that long after that, that I spotted land diagonally to the East. The obscuring effect was quite strong over the void. Perhaps half that of what I had observed for the tower, so about 1.5 miles or 2.4 kilometers.

It was a level 3 zone and frostlands. We came to a stop just as the air started turning cold and the ground was frozen. “Keep going?” Naran asked me. I looked at the sun. It wasn’t mid-day yet.

“I am going to check the level 3 monster, that’s it. Then we turn around and check the swamp to the South as we head back to the West and then North back to the cart. So, a little side trip on our loop here,” I explained. Naran nodded and we went into the frostlands.

The good news was that the run along the void edge had allowed our clothing to dry a bit. The bad news was that it hadn’t completely tried. My legs were cold as the frozen air bit into me. A giant beast that was made up of blue leaves was racing towards me.

Acid Shot. The acid began to freeze before it could hit, but not completely. The monster was still struck and began to melt. It died a few seconds later. Like the blue rats then, but less cold aura and more cold projection.

I killed eight of the monsters and quickly slammed the Processing Rod into them before they died. I got a dark blue crystal, which wasn’t a surprise. I tossed the crafting crystal in my day pack I was wearing.

We left the frostlands and raced back West. The swamp in the zone to the South of where we had initially started our day had black leaf beasts, that gave black death or decay crafting crystals. Nothing that useful or new compared to what was already discovered.

We cleared the swamp to deadlands running into a spotted twisting vine. The bundle of vines had illusionary vines mixed in. Naran wasn’t able to tell the difference and I couldn’t either. Regardless it was only a level 2 monster and gave a light yellow, or sickly yellow crafting crystal.

We didn’t stick around to get more of the crystal type and got back to the cart just as it was getting dark. I was mentally trained from today. Just trying to rush through swamps was completely miserable. I got back to camp and began stripping myself out of my armor and clothing underneath.

I then tossed on a plain spare robe we kept for wardrobe malfunctions that had been stored in the cart. This was why we needed the cart. Just minor things like a robe to wear after a long miserable day, kept me from just heading back to the city.

“Let me help,” I said with a sigh as Heba began to sort out my mess. It was her job, but everything was nasty, and I felt a bit bad.

“It is fine, I can handle it,” she said defiantly and stared at me.

“No problem, thank you,” I replied as she sorted out my armor and began to clean it off with a rag and a knife, while setting out the damp pieces of clothing to air.

I sat down on the ground, Fethee had prepared some fruit which I ate with Naran. “That was a day,” I said with a sigh.

“We will have to follow the swamp line to the South, I am guessing?” Naran asked.

“Yes. But depending on how the swamp curves it may not be possible to see the zone at coordinates (5,-3),” I answered.

“So, follow the swamp, what about South?” Naran asked me.

“If it is open, we go South. If it curves, then another swamp trip, maybe. There will be a lot of them and we need to see if there are level 2 zones and possibly another city beyond,” I explained.

“We need summons to carry us. Winged summons to fly us over these abominations of terrain,” Naran had quickly joined the anti-swamp movement with a vengeance it appeared.

“What, you didn’t get swamps in the city?” I asked.

“That is a bog or something else, not a swamp. There are going to be a lot, aren’t there,” Naran said with a sigh.

“Yes. We need to go around the edge. Personally I would like to try and go through a level 3 zone, but we don’t have the time for that, and it would be high risk,” I said.

“Want to find the Ritualist, I am guessing,” Naran figured out the answer quickly, but it wasn’t a tricky answer to begin with.

“And Ruth. Both are still alive and hiding somewhere. If either of them are caught out in the open and not in a city, they are done for.” I mentally repeated my vow to kill both of them if the opportunity presented itself.

“If they ran through a level 3 zone, it will be hard to find them any time soon,” Naran replied.

“I know. Trust me I know. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret. Now I can just explore, and figure out the best gear combination. Curious to what those light yellow crafting crystals will produce,” I replied.

“Not going to test it yourself?” Naran asked. I munched on some fruit while I considered that. Fethee had sat down with us as well. Heba was nearby working to clean our gear while listening in, gain valuable knowledge.

“No. Better that kind of information is developed within the city. Having a fully flushed out type chart will be huge. The goal being with level 4 equipment, it will be possible to grind level 4 monsters,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t count on that. The enchanting and equipment seems fairly disappointing,” Naran said.

“Ah, but you forgot enchantments can stack onto an object. Just stack up force enchantments on that massive blade of yours,” I countered.

“Maybe. But the durability increase from the next level of gear is what will be the most important. Can use a weapon without it breaking,” Naran said.

“Plan to keep the sword?” I asked.

“Maybe. It is growing on me, but it is a pain. If I am not braced on the ground, I go spinning about, which has its own headaches,” Naran explained, and I nodded at that. It was a weird interaction of weight and momentum acting on a person and not being canceled, unless he was braced. It was hard to think about all the forces and what exactly was happening.

The simple answer was that indirect force and weight would affect a person like normally. While Naran could swing his blade while in the air, the weight of the sword would impact him and not be canceled out.