Chapter 510: Day 4,801 – Level 6

Chapter 510: Day 4,801 – Level 6

Looking to my right, I could barely make out the massive tower in the distance. The distance blurring effect was so great it might have been my imagination. The towers in level 5 zones, were about 70 floors tall and had a much bigger footprint. Almost four times the length and width of the tower from a level 3 zone.

There was a good chance there was a level 8 monster at the top of the tower, and it had level 7 floor bosses the whole way up. There were construct type shape monsters at the bottom. Various silver golems, like the other towers. They had a consistent theme across them.

But Doctor Katz was right. Going up a tower as a team had been a massive headache. Testing the doors with prisoners showed that once you were trapped outside and they closed, you were screwed. The towers weren’t built with the idea of teamwork in mind. People would need to move togeather through a tower.

The descent procedures began as we closed in on the South edge of the level 5 zone and the shatteredlands below us. The Screeching Glass monsters were dealt with by the Infinite Block and beam attacks from myself. The soldiers used their beam skills as well instead of the cannons to clear the surrounding area.

Since there was a tower in the level 5 zone, there was no boss monster to worry about. My main focus was the exploding superheated rock of the moltenlands further South. Joyo and Michelle cleared the area under and above the airship.

With level 6 monsters are her command, it was easy enough for Michelle to handle most of the monsters facing us. It had been good foresight on my part to grab her up right away during the first monster arena tournament.

Once the monsters were cleared my team and I gathered on the top deck of the airship to discuss our plan. There was silence from all of us, since we all knew it would be a hard fight to come. “So, moltenlands to our South with the Giant Centipedes, but the other terrain are the lavalands with the Hell Lords,” I finally said to start the conversation.

“We don’t know which monster type has the boss monster. Our best bet is to head directly South towards the center of the zone. Use the Infinite Block as a floating base and support fire,” Michelle said.

“I am guessing you want me to come along as well?” Captain Francis asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “Your decay and sensory type skills will be useful against a level 7. Michelle, how well can you handle the level 6 monsters?” I asked her.

“I will need Doctor Katz to support, and Joyo to block anything close range. You want to engage the level 7 monster yourself at first? The testing strategy?” she asked and I nodded.

“Yes. That should give you time to analyze. You will be using ants?” I asked.

“And spiders for disposable skill summons. But I plan to prep some additional level 4 monsters for emergency crystal-based summons,” Michelle explained. “The issue becomes our engagement height, combined with the heat and damage from the terrain itself. I am thinking about this height.”

It was an ongoing headache, that ate up time as we traveled all over the place. Doing it all over again for level 7 skills would be a massive headache. But I had a suspicion based purely on my instincts. Killing a level 8 boss in a level 7 zone should yield something unique.

Skill choice went from two options to one options when going from a level 3 to a level 4 zone. While the boss monsters were level 4 and 5 respectively, the monsters had a skip in ability from level 3 to level 4. If there was a skip in a level 7 monster, which I suspected would be the case, then it stood to reason there would be a skip in the skills as well.

If there wasn’t a paradigm change, then making progress would be measured in centuries. A decade of doing this was almost a fourth of my life. My memories of Earth were hazy. My family...I had let them go in my heart. There were procedures in place to look for high ranking individuals’ family members. But I had no hope and almost felt relieved none of them had shown up in the Systemic Lands.

If there was a skip in level 6 to level 7 monsters, that also made the crystal progression much darker. There would be a skip from a level 9 to level 10 most likely. Monsters that had patience and cunning, the biggest danger.

Well maybe not the biggest danger. The biggest danger were those glowing white shards to the Northwest of Purgatory. I had checked on them again with an airship. The energy was getting thicker I thought.

I never forgot it was one of the only two times I had seen the Almighty System directly intervene. I had made up a list of questions I would ask the controlling intelligence, but thew it out years ago. I wanted to get to the end of this place. To learn the truth. There had to be something out there.

The Avatar had refused to say. Even though her mind was completely broken, and she was a drooling wreck, she still couldn’t go against the will of the Almighty System as she mindlessly did paperwork. Just thinking about her miserable state made me shudder. Turning a person into a piece of furniture would be kinder than the hell I had condemned her too.

I didn’t fall asleep, since I wasn’t tired, but lay there in the dark of my room centering my mind. Focusing on my own energy and confirming my energy was exactly the way it should be. That there was no lingering or malignant curse damage. It was a comforting procedure and allowed me to think about my plans and reflect on my life. Introspection, was difficult. But with how energy could directly impact my thoughts, it is very important that I spend time meditating.

It was a requirement for anyone grinding level 4 zones as part of their anti-curse training as well as mental health counseling. Having a powerful person go crazy was something Clarissa had taken steps to prevent. So far, the number of incidents with level 4 combat level individuals had remained zero.

There had been several level 3 people and more at the lower levels that had mentally snapped. They were quickly killed by people more powerful than them. It was kind of a joke in my Empire, that the only health care we provided was mental health counseling. But the mental health of super powered people was very important to have a stable society.

Also, my existence was a threat and a reminder to people not to cause issues as well. While the Prison might be a building from the store, we didn’t have prisoners in my Empire. There was either fines, death, or human experimentation. The only true prisoner was the Avatar, and her fate was worth than any of the above.

That punishment was called death by a thousand cuts and had taken a semi-mythic status. Since she was publicly chained up, she had become sort of a tourist attraction in the Capital. There were tour groups that entered the inner city to see the various statues, buildings, and the chained Avatar. No other prisoners were allowed. Governors were strongly discouraged from employing prisons for anything but a short-term use.

Soon we would be in the fight for our life. I focused on my breathing to steady myself for the fight to come. I survived quite a bit, I could survive a level 7 monster.