The Systemic Lands

Chapter 243: Day 531 – Level 4 Poke

We left very early in the morning, all bundled up for the frostlands. The first monster were level 3 yellow foxes. They were quick and fast, and sent out bursts of light before moving into attack. It was disorienting, and annoying, but not hard to deal with.

We kept pushing North. No sign of a tower or any other terrain feature. The next monster was a white fox. Both Naran and myself could easily take their attacks and powered our way through the monsters with ease.

We crested a hill and came to a stop. “Well, I think we just found the third type of terrain for a level 4 zone,” Naran said. The terrain was heavily overcast. The ground, rocks, and everything seemed to suck in any kind of light. The few plants were dark gray, sickly-looking things that I could make out.

“Well it doesn’t look as bad as the jungle or the mushrooms. Darklands, what do you think?” I asked Naran.

“A good a name as any. You want to poke it Michael? Really? And if ten level 4 monsters come out, what then?” Naran asked me.

“I know, I know. But the temptation is strong,” I replied.

“Well resist that temptation,” Naran replied.

“But we could pull a level 4 across. This could be a great grinding spot. Grinding level 4 monsters. Think of the points,” I replied. If I could find a level 4 that could be killed in two uses of Acid Shot, then I could earn around 860,000 points with a day’s worth of grinding.

Such an amount was insane. Compared to the 215,000 points I could earn in a day from a level 3 zone. It was also why I wanted to grind the tower golems after our exploration was completed. As long as a level 4 monster could be killed with less than 8 uses of Acid Shot, then it was economically better to grind level 4 monsters.

“You are letting your eyes get bigger than your stomach,” Naran replied.

“We will have to poke a level 4 zone sometime,” I replied.

“And the Ritualist? I thought we were going to go East?” Naran asked me. That was a good point. I let out a long sigh.

“A poke. And I am running back here,” I said.

“This is a bad idea,” Naran said.

“It is. But I want more of a sense of how my current combat levels match up and to see more level 4 monsters,” I replied. Naran let out a long sigh and then began stretching.

“Fine, but I am keeping watch from here. We don’t want to aggro a horde. Where is your risk sense?” Naran complained.

“Grinding a level 4 monster would be amazing, and these darklands give more than enough line of sight to see them coming,” I replied. Naran waved me away and set off towards the darklands. Time to poke it, very, very carefully, and see what came out.

I slowly went forward, quickly killing any level 3 foxes in my path. The closer I got the more oppressive, the level 4 zone was. The darkness was intense, and it was hard to make anything clearly the further I stared. It was just that dark. “Air Burst.” I prepped the skill just in case.

I stopped a short way from the edge of the darklands and carefully looked for any level 4 monsters. I looked behind me and Naran was there, buster stick in hand. I turned back towards the darklands and began inching my way forward, one small step at a time.

Movement! I stared, but there was just a blur of darkness. I bent down and picked up a stone and threw it into the darklands. The sound was muffled. There was something moving. A lot of something moving. I quickly kicked off the ground and soared backwards.

Out of the gloom, the monster emerged. A whirling cyclone of blades with eyes on the blades. It was hard to tell if the blades were touching each other and their specific orientation with how fast they moved about. They weren’t swords, just sharp flat pieces of metal with points on either end, and eyes in the center.

Some of the eyes were big, some of them were small. Just pale white things with a single black dot in the center that stayed locked onto me despite how the blades moved and spun about. I touched down on the ground and the monster was ripping its way across the ground toward me.

Acid Shotx2. Two of the blades shot out from the monster hitting my attacks and they burst apart like balloons. I kicked off the ground to keep retreating. The two blades impacted where I had been standing. An expanding dark orb emerged from the blades, and the ground cracked around the blades. This was right after the impact and the distance wasn’t much, so it hadn’t been from the power of the throw, but an area of effect attack.

The monster kept racing closer as I kicked off the ground once more. The two blades it had thrown were easily recovered. Time to up the attacks with overwhelming force. Acid Shot x5. I then kicked off the ground to the side as blades shot outwards to intercept my attacks. Acid Shot x5.

Ten blades were used to intercept all my attacks! Acid Shot x3. I used my skill a third time. This time, it didn’t intercept my attacks, but collapsed to the ground in a clatter as my Acid Shots uselessly sailed overhead.

CLANG! A quick glance showed that Naran had slammed his buster stick down on one of the thrown blades. His own massive sword bounced, off but the blade was oozing black blood. The ten blades that made of the main part of the creature rose up into the air again and began spinning about.

Acid Shotx3. I targeted the blades still on the ground, since once they left the main body they didn’t move anymore. The sound of nails scraping across a chalkboard sounded out as the ten blades of the monster when off course, hit the ground and each other. They were connected. I managed to wipe out seven of the thrown blades based on their close placement.

Unfortunately, my energy was at rock bottom. The blades quickly stopped spazzing out and then began to spin towards me. All the eyes locked on me. I kicked off the ground. Air Burst and quickly created more distance before I could be skewered.

Naran was right there. “AHHHH!” He shouted. I saw he had his feet planted and swung with all his might. He struck two blades of the main body and they went spinning away. The rest of the blades flowed around his attack, but he had already leapt away. His superior Body and Mind stat giving him much more leeway than me.

Acid Shot x3. That was the last of my energy. I targeted the main group of blades and aimed once Acid Shot at their main body. They dropped towards the ground. That was when my two other Acid Shots hit all the blades.

I kept retreating and Naran joined me, but the monster had slowed down greatly. After about ten seconds, it turned to dust. I let out a sigh of relief along with Naran. “See easy,” I said. He turned to look at me. “What?” I asked.

“That was effing close Michael. Way too close,” Naran replied.

“It was, but we won,” I replied seriously.

“That…that was insane, compared to the golem,” Naran replied.

“Different. The blades were weak and they had to be recovered, from that skittering bladed horror,” I said, naming the monster.

“I don’t even want to ask. I thought we were dead. You are bottomed out, aren’t you?” Naran asked me.

“Yep, but overwhelming power is still a good counter to level 4 monsters. Just spam my skill. I definitely need more Spirit,” I said as I walked over and picked up the point crystal.

“Well, we would definitely be dead if there was more than one at the same time. And those eyes. Why put eyes on blades?” Naran asked.

“It was a composite body type. Each was a part of the whole. That was why it dusted and was distracted when parts of it were damaged. You managed to dent some,” I replied.

“Dent. Completely useless. Both skills and stats. I thought after the sky worms, things would be different,” Naran said with a long sigh.

“The sky worms were hindered by the city shield. That was why we had such an easy time of them. But we are definitely getting you an enchanted weapon. I like this monster,” I said and Naran just stared at me. “What?”

“You like it?” Naran asked.

“Yes. Since it throws its body parts, it isn’t unreasonable to have someone touch one with a Processing Rod while it is killed off. Also it was pullable from the darklands. Level 4 crafting crystals, I wonder what type? The blood was black that came from the blade and the ground cracked after it hit, give me a second,” I said as I thought it over.

“You want to farm these…these skittering bladed horrors. After giving them such an appealing name? Really, I worry about you Michael,” Naran said.

“Ah! I got it. It is the death type. Really dark black blood and cracking the ground with those blasts of black looking energy. Decay and damage over time. The ground cracked from rapidly aging. Interesting,” I said.

“You aren’t paying attention to me,” Naran pouted.

“I am paying attention, but this is important to think through while it is fresh in my mind. Before I forget or misremember the details. Death and decay energy isn’t that useful, but it would be powerful. Could even get level 5 enchantments out of this monster. One hit kills,” I speculated.

“Alright, that would be impressive, but we would have to kill a lot of these things,” Naran said.

“Still, it would make that monstrosity do real damage. The golems are construct type, that would only make a weapon super durable. Which is also a good option. With level 4 equipment, we could stack on four enchantments. Two level 5 death and two level 5 construct enchantments. The sword wouldn’t break for anything. It would mean a lot of crafting crystals,” I said.

Four level 5 enchantments, meant we would need a total of 288 level 4 crafting crystals, or killing 2,304 level 4 monsters. That came out to 8,294,400 points. A sizable sum and not a simple task. Still, it would be a sword to end all swords.

“Regardless, that is for the future, and that was reckless,” Naran said.

“It was, but the risk was worth the information gained. I know one thing for sure now. If I want to grind level 4 monsters, then I need to upgrade my skill. Acid Shot just doesn’t cut it. Level 4 monsters can block too easily. Or a lot more Spirit. I need to think on this. Still, lots of daylight left, East?” I asked Naran.

“East, let’s see what is in the corner at the very least,” Naran agreed. We moved South, away from the darklands. No need to tempt fate or another bladed skittering horror from emerging. One was more than enough to sate my curiosity.

We raced towards the East. “Michael, there is a void zone,” Naran said. I frowned but we kept going. There was a void to the our Northeast. That meant the level 3 zone to our East was the only way in that direction.

We paused at the edge of the zone and looked at stonelands. I let out a long sigh. I needed a second to think about what I was going to do here.