Chapter 203: Day 441 (2) – Back To The Grind

Chapter 203: Day 441 (2) – Back To The Grind

“Surprised you let him take control of the city. It is going to be a cesspool,” Naran said as we left the city back to our grinding spot. I wasn’t going to change it, despite the risk.

“I know,” I replied with a sigh. “Sam and his team aren’t good people, but it doesn’t matter. As long as the crystals flow to Purgatory, that is all that matters.”

“When he becomes another Ritualist?” Naran asked.

“He might become another Ritualist, he might not. But I can say that if manages to not get killed and organizes the city over the next 40 days, he deserves to be in charge. If he fails, then he fails,” I replied.

“And if he uses the city’s income to power up himself?” Naran asked.

“You haven’t been keeping up with the math, I see.” Naran winced a bit.

“You are the one that likes your spreadsheets and tables, they make my head spin,” Naran said.

“I can grind 120,000 points per day. The city can take in 250,000 points per day if they maximize the level 1 zones. With expenses, food, tax, and everything else, he will be doing quite well if he manages to get 20,000 points per day for himself,” I replied.

“And that is after he ramps up. Which would take a while, and by that time the lead you have is even more,” Naran finished.

“Exactly,” I replied.

“There is still the issue of if he tries to cheat the tax or do other things,” Naran said. I nodded at that statement.

“Let him try. He doesn’t have the intuitive genius of the Ritualist,” I said.

“And if he tries to assassinate us, perhaps moving to a new location?” Naran suggested.

“You know the area we have is the best. The mistlands and stonelands are too dangerous or too hard to transverse,” I replied.

“So, we stay,” Naran complained a bit.

“We stay. If we move, you will struggle. The blue force gargoyles are one of the best level 3 monsters you could face. I can take the white mind ones, and the tower is nearby to poke if we want to,” I added.

“Thinking about trying to grind the golems?” Naran asked.

“Yes. But I can’t bring a summon with me, without it being a distraction. Summoning one each time I reach the tower is waste of time and points, that is better spent grinding other monsters,” I answered.

“You might also trigger something new if you poke the golems too much. I don’t fancy another panicked run through the night,” Naran said.

“More like hopping, but yes, I get it. No poking the level 4 monsters until I can solo two of them at once,” I replied.

“Maybe. Predicting what the Almighty System does, beyond the math is headache inducing. It isn’t simple in the slightest. Any time I think it will zig, it zags. Better to not even guess or assume,” I replied.

“Fair enough.”

“What, what were you hoping for?” I asked.

“Well I was thinking I could fly by kicking off the air,” Naran said.

“Nope, that is impossible, well, I shouldn’t say that. But it will have to involve something other than kicking off air. If you are kicking off air, you will be sending out sonic shockwaves at the very least. Our speed is high, but we aren’t fighter jets,” I replied.

“Oh. You think there has to be something else?” Naran asked.

“Some energy nonsense, or a skill. We are probably going to get airships first. Urg, I need to test how far I can fall,” I said with a groan.

“Wouldn’t it be just how high you can jump?” Naran asked.

“No. That is regular thinking. The landings are always rougher and harder to time. You can jump up under your control, but when you land, you need to time that perfectly. That is the same reason we need a Mind stat to go with the Body stat,” I said.

“Fair. I was just thinking of things that I could try,” Naran said.

“Well the real game changer is when we can maneuver in a three dimensional space by leaping off the ground, then landing on the ceiling and leaping off of that. I am not looking forward to practicing that kind of technique,” I said. While I did train, it felt too much like exercise. I still needed to do it in order to fight in an enclosed space with a high Body stat. I thought more about how such movement would actually work.

“It wouldn’t just be one’s legs, one could use their hands as well. Get that Body stat high enough and there is a good chance you can punch into terrain to maneuver. Or use a hand palm to deflect yourself at high speed,” I speculated.

“Like parkour, only high speed, and much more verticality,” Naran said.

“Yes. I really don’t want to train in something like that, but it will be necessary. Fighting in a swamp or boulders, requires an understanding of three-dimensional movement. Also, the interior of the tower will probably be filled with traps and death,” I said. I didn’t want to see what the Almighty System came up with for traps. It would horrible, stupid, and unfair.

“Well, that will be fun,” Naran said. He was a lot more invested into physicality and the Body stat than me. I could speculate, but the higher the stat became, the trickier things would become. It came down to gravity having less and less of an impact on a person’s movement.

It made me wonder if climbing up the tower was possible. I had no doubt that the material it was made of was of the harder variety like the purchased city buildings. So, making handholds wasn’t possible and it was completely vertical. Still, there was the possibility of wall kicking one’s way up.

I thought about that. One would need to kick up higher and as vertically as possible without the wall dragging them down. High quality and possibly enchanted boots would be needed. The big danger was accidentally kicking out too much and then being stuck in free fall.

Also, what was even at the top? I would need to be able to survive terminal velocity, before I even considered something like that. Well, I had Air Burst, I would need to test leaping off of buildings and the Airship Port. Even more reason to have more energy in the tank with the Spirit stat. That was something that could wait for a while.

With everything that had happened, both Naran and myself were focused on how far the Body stat could be pushed. I thought of anime, and it was clear Naran was thinking in that direction as well. While it provided a guideline, there was a lot that was unrealistic, since the powers often worked on super strength, not force generation and nullification.

Regardless of the future, I just needed to take things one day at a time and keep grinding.