Chapter 178: Day 399 (2) – All The Buildings (2)

Chapter 178: Day 399 (2) – All The Buildings (2)

“The image is the same, day or night,” Clarissa added.

“Really cool to see the city from above. The streets are a mess.” I kept playing about zooming around. I could even move to a location with just a thought.

I then thought about the purchase options. Getting a city map cost one million points. People tracker, another one million points. Increasing the map to 3x3, five million points. Up to 5x5, ten million points. Then 7x7 was twenty five million points.

Then there were road options. A road in a level 1 zone cost 10k. A road in a level 2 zone cost 50k. A road in a level 3 zone cost 500k. “Have you purchased any roads?” I asked Clarissa.

“No. That is something that needs to be discussed but isn’t a priority. The cost is immense. Each road purchase is about a quarter of a mile. It would take 80 road purchases to cross a zone in a straight line.”

“Hmmm,” I let out a hum as I considered the road options and looked at the map. “Why roads?”

“The best guess is that it removes all monsters nearby. So, roads would be a safe form of travel. They would also cut into grinding efficiency and lead people right to Purgatory. Also, carts would have an easy time,” Clarissa explained.

“That makes sense. No grid pattern, more of a line.” I frowned a bit. Each road purchase was the same as purchasing a tiny bit of line, that could then be slapped down on the map. “I am really surprised that we can effect anything outside the city,” I said as I tried to consider the ramifications about the road.

“A 7x7 view would give us a lot of insight as to what is out there,” Clarissa said and I nodded.

“But that isn’t cheap. The upgrades need to be purchased in sequence like the rest of them. No skipping a level. So, 40 million points. Quite a bit to invest.”The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

“Exactly, this seems like a huge point sink, so I held off on making any decisions for now.”

“Good. I need to think on this and consider where we want roads if any. Probably want to expand the map first and pinpoint the dungeons. I could see it making travel easy through swamps.” The possibilities were already rushing through my head.

If we could connect cities safely, with limited monsters, then we could pressure them. Also, a map and roads might represent control of some kind. What would happen if two cities tried to build roads in the same area?

I would need to think about how I wanted the roads to be laid out. I took my hands off the pillar and the holographic map disappeared. “What’s next?” I asked Clarissa.

“The Recycling Center.” I followed Clarissa out of the Regional Map building, and we made our way around the Meeting Hall further North. I looked at the tall tower nearby. That was probably the Airship Port. That was the next stop. Two soldiers of the RMPF saluted us and opened the double doors. Instead, we entered a large box building.

There was a large spiral pattern on the floor and a pillar next to the entrance. I put both hands on the pillar. Any object put into the center of the spiral could be reclaimed for a quarter of the points spent on the object.

“Earth objects don’t work. Including people,” Clarissa said, which answered an immediate question I had. There were three purchase options. For one million points, half the points would be returned instead of a quarter. Another million points bumped the number of uses up to 200 per day instead of 100 the building was currently limited to.

Finally component extraction could be purchased for five million points. “Enchanted items just return the base cost and not the crafting crystal,” Clarissa explained, and I nodded at that.

I let go of the pillar and went over the spiral pattern. “Not a circle. Try this with the crystals?” I asked.

“Nothing happens. It appears a circle is to release and a spiral is to condense. We have tried placing a monster inside the spiral, but getting one all the way inside the city is impossible,” Clarissa said. I nodded at that. Low level monsters refused to enter the cities and I wasn’t about to bring a level 4 monster here to test this spiral.

Still, I would count it as the second rune that had been discovered. One with limited use, but it was an interesting dichotomy. A circle and a spiral. “Partial items?” I asked.

“Return points based on their volume. With the return penalty, it isn’t worthwhile as a wealth transfer,” Clarissa said.

“We are up to 20. With the rotations completing, there has been a surge in new teams. The standards are kept to 100 stat points and 250 stat points for a Union team leader, but two of the old Union teams split up and the people took up leadership positions of new people. They get a cut of what the new people grind, but the new people have lower stats.”

“How much?” I asked.

“Ten percent. Which is reasonable for them to train up people after they have gone through rotation and take them into the wilderness. We have lost two teams, might be more, but our attrition rate is quite low. Better than just sending out brand new people with no idea about the monsters,” Clarissa answered.

Knowledge made fighting monsters a lot easier. It took away that initial surprise factor when they were the most dangerous. It was a big reason why I kept hesitating about exploring more. There was just an insane amount of risk for each new monster I ran into.

There was a bit more of a breeze up here than on the ground. It was nice. I looked down at the plaza and the mini-wall was arranged in a square, with two gaps, one in the South, and one in the North. People entered by the South and left from the North. It was good way to manage traffic and keep the pillars semi-secure.

“A lot busier in the city,” I commented.

“Yes. Things have picked up since the rotations are finishing and people have points or are pooling points to start businesses. There have been strict crackdowns on vagrants and a mandatory curfew.” That was good. I didn’t want Purgatory to turn into a trash filled slum.

“Any pushback?” I asked.

“Nothing important. The people who caused problems were sent for testing. If they resisted, they were killed. No shortage of people causing trouble no matter how many times things are explained to them. The RMPF is also expanding its numbers as well.” I nodded at that.

“Are people going after level 2 monsters?” I asked.

“Some. One of the issues is people camping outside to get a head start on level 1 monsters and people killing level 1 monsters after rotation. For the first issue, people can do that if they want. For the second, these people are hunted down and killed.” That was quite ruthless of Clarissa.

“Then the problem comes from people after that,” I said, making the next logical step.

“Yes. A permanent camp has been set up to the West to hunt Chameleons. One person with everything in Perception spots monsters, the rest gang up on it. Then split the crystals. No one wants to go to the swamps to the North or South or deal with the scorpions to the East.”

“Good. People can’t just grind level 1 monsters forever. Any idea how long things will be stable?” I asked.

“For a while. New level 2 hunting camps will be set up, with experienced people. They will take a cut and train people to kill level 2 monsters in those zones. Like a franchise model. Camps have to be registered with the city for tax purposes and to secure their area, but it is only a matter of time,” Clarissa said. She really was kicking butt and taking names.

By bringing in hunting camps under the city’s control, we would have outposts in time, or they would act as outposts. This would also create an influx of crystals towards Purgatory while creating a safety net. “I am waiting to see how the first hunting camp does to flush this idea out a bit more. But I am thinking camp leaders would fall under the Union, with the same rank as an exploration team member, but below an exploration team leader.”

“Ranks in the Union?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I liked that idea.

“To clearly define rights and responsibilities. Team leaders have the right to request a meeting with me. Access to information and to pick who is on their team, up to four other people. Also, all Union members get priority as the store. Businesses and individuals have to wait if there is a line. In time the benefits will expand as a smaller subset of the Immortal Council benefits,” she explained.

“Which will only get worse, so setting up privileges like that now is smart. Clarissa, well done. I know we haven’t gotten to everything, but I am impressed. I hope you gave yourself a raise.”

“I gave myself three raises. You don’t want to know what you are paying me. The city is running smoothly and under control.”

“Now I am curious. How much?” I asked.

“Ten thousand points per day,” Clarissa replied. My eyes went wide at that. Ten thousand! A day!