The Systemic Lands

Chapter 12: Day 20 – Clean Slate

I walked into the plaza pre-dawn. No movement, no bodies either. The blood was gone. If there were survivors, they were on their last legs in a hole waiting to die and not near here since all the trash had disappeared. I could only shake my head at that. Disappointed but surprised in how my fellow humans were reacting.

The pillars were a trap. They gave food, but it wasn’t good or filling food. Just fruit. But people stayed nearby out of fear. Then they got weaker and their ability to choose a different path slowly disappeared. By the time most realized, everyone was scrambling over scraps, too tired to think, and dying off.

I turned in my 803 crystals, putting me at 4,105 points. I spent 3,375 for the next set of ten upgrades. I put 6 into Body bringing it to 37, while I increase Mind, Spirit, Perception, and Aura by 1 each, bringing them each to 4.

There were no torches or oil. You couldn’t make a torch by lighting rags on the end of a stick. The cloth would just burn up quickly. Oil or some kind of tar was needed to hold a persistent flame. The fact that there was nothing was annoying. I would have to hold off on the dungeon until the store upgrade. Hopefully that would give me some more options.

I spent 50 points, for new clubs, and fruit. I packed it all away. I then spent 127 points on a restoration. I had been tempted to hold off and save more points, but they were too valuable not to use. That left me with 553 points saved up. Good enough for an emergency restoration or two.

I looked around the plaza again. No one was here or at least no movement. I carefully scanned the buildings surrounding the plaza, but there was no sign of anyone spying on me. Still, it was dark, and I could easily miss someone.

It was time to go hunting slimes once again. Five days, which was what I was thinking. I would spend five days hunting down slimes with the aim of getting 1,000 crystals. That would easily let me afford another ten upgrades and save more points up as well.

If the store was upgraded by then, I would have points to spend on a range of options. I looked forward to reequipping myself with better gear or some soap. My mouth felt disgusting, my hair was growing out, and my clothes smelled like a dumpster fire being attacked by rabid skunks.

I needed something to shave with, or at least a pair of scissors. At least there were no bugs in this fake world. That was a small benefit that made me smile. If I was swarmed by mosquitos, there was a non-zero chance I would lose all hope. I hated bugs. Please no tiny bug monsters. Big bug monsters, fine, tiny ones, nope, just nope.

I kept my belt functional by using a drop of slime acid to add a couple more notches. I promised myself a full wardrobe change once the store was upgraded. Hopefully a decent meal other than fruit. Heck, might as well make it an entire spa day.

I shook my head at the useless thought. That was the danger with the grind I was doing. A lack of attentiveness. I looked around and checked if anyone was following me.

I needed to focus my mind on more productive issues, like the four stats that were still giving me a headache. Well, more like two, since Perception did have a minor impact on my senses from what I could tell. Mind allowed me to focus more easily. At least I thought that was the case. They were harder to quantify than Body.

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Spirit and Aura were the troublesome ones. I had hoped I would be able to sense something, anything, once they were at 4 upgrades each. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

I was putting more and more hope on the store upgrade. But I still wasn’t going to waste points on the upgrade myself. The path forward with the slimes was boring, but clear cut. Once the store was upgraded, I would check out the dungeon and other biomes.

The ease with which I could move my body compared to when I had first arrived was like night and day. I was still fat, but it wasn’t a death sentence like before. Moving was no longer a struggle, my heart didn’t feel like it would explode at any moment after a bit of exercise, and I felt more engaged with the world in a way I hadn’t in years.

The slime grind was the same as always and the dungeon was still in its spot where I had originally found it. I was worried it might disappear or move. Like how the map of Diablo would rearrange itself each instance.

Thankfully that didn’t appear to be the case here. Still, that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen in other areas. One of the more dangerous things was risking my life on an assumption. There were a lot of assumptions since I got here, but I always verified if I could.

There was a game logic to this place, but it wasn’t a fun game. It was the kind of game some edge lord into the Hunger Games mindset would come up with. There was no clear win condition either. I had no doubt that any ability or power granted by the System could be stripped away in an instant.

The only thing I was sure of was, I think therefore I am. I would treat this entire place as a survival exercise and a chance to lose weight. I would take the lemons life had given me and make myself some abs.

It also helped there were no computers, internet, books, or other distractions. If the System was really evil, it would offer more options to waste points. In games there were often useless additions like armor skins, weapon skins, and various things that people could invest in but had little to no impact on the result.

Here, everything was about the result, no exception. Also, this entire place had to be handled with one’s own body. Two-dimensional gaming skills do not translate to a three-dimensional environment using one’s own body. The best Mario Cart driver is not a top tier NASCAR driver or vice versa.

The only thing with any kind of crossover was the weird kind of logic being used. While I didn’t expect to find a dungeon, it wasn’t a surprise either. There was that game logic consistency scattered throughout this entire place. Items disappearing if left alone for too long. Points and upgrades, with an entire System store in the central plaza.

All of it was game logic. If the city were a real city, the pillars would be more spread out, either near the gates, or in key buildings in the city. Putting them in the center of the city in the middle of the only plaza was a clear sign that it was an invitation for conflict and a game mechanic, not logical city design.

That was why I trusted my instincts that said a boss was at the bottom of the dungeon, and it would have good stuff. Monsters, leads to dungeon, leads to boss, which leads to a reward of some kind. That was the logic used in a video game and the logic showed up here as well, at least that was my thought.

The main wildcard was other people. Very few would truly realize the absurd logic governing this place, and fewer still would be able to capitalize on this realization in a meaningful way. One also had to be careful not to over assume, less they got killed off. There were rules that governed this place, but that didn’t mean they were fair rules in any shape or form.

I finished the day with 209 crystals. My speed was getting better, or at least my slime senses were. It was hard to tell, but I wouldn’t complain. That put my rate at about 3.5 minutes per crystal, which included the breaks I took.

It was a good speed, but the number of points I needed was going to be quite a bit. Just even thinking about more upgrades, made my head hurt at the sheer cost. As I made my way back, I considered that specific issue.

With the scaling cost, the upgrade gap would continually shrink as the number of upgrades increased. This meant I would have a greater advantage when the other person was starting out compared to when we both had more upgrades in the future.

This assumed we earned points at the same rate. While I was hoping to increase my rate, saying it was one thing, doing it safely was another. It made me rethink about not looking for any more fights with the third group that should have showed up today.

I slowed down as I approached the gate. I saw four fresh looking people looking out into the forest in worry. Three men and a woman. I had noted that the age range seemed to go from around 16 to 18 all the way up to around a person’s 60s with my group and the second batch.

I hadn’t seen that much of the second group or this third group, so I could be mistaken. But there didn’t appear to be any cripples selected to teleport into this hell. Obviously being fat wasn’t considered a handicap. Thank you, equal opportunity System.

They spotted me and began talking amongst each other. I only counted two clubs between the four of them. Not having a weapon was foolish, but they probably thought to save their points or worse, pacifists. More foolishness.

“Hey there. Do you know what is going on?” one of the men asked me.

“Information costs points. Lots and lots of points. I don’t accept credit. You want to fight?” I gave them my crazy person grin and began swinging my club at my side.

“No, no!” the man waved his arms in front of him. “How do you get points? We need to know in order to pay you.” Smart question and justification. Still, they had to wake up earlier to get one over on me. I decided to throw them a bone and try something different than just killing people now that I could trust in my own strength and abilities to some extent.

“Kill monsters. Risk life. Killing people, no points.” I shook my head and frowned in sadness. “Now, pay or let me pass.”

“How much for you to help us?” The man asked.

“A day of help, a thousand points,” I replied.

“We don’t have that much, that is unfair.”

“What makes you think any of this is fair? I leave people alone, they attack me. Is that fair? I work hard and survive, and you demand things without risking your life. Is that fair?” They all shut up after I said all of that.

“We didn’t mean to offend. We are scared and could use some of your expert guidance.”

“Free advice. Don’t mess with me. Meat is hard to come by.” I began walking towards the gate into the city. They quickly moved out of my way. Hopefully that would start my reputation as a crazy person not to be messed with, which was what I wanted.

“Would you like to share a building with us, we can share our food.” I looked at the woman who asked. I would rate her a 6/10. That wasn’t saying much, since I would rate myself a 1/10 in my current state and ripeness. The grunge clung to me like a miasma of death.

I really considered their offer. “Alright. Lead the way.”

“My name is Amber. What is yours?” Now this was a tough decision. Do I go all edge lord or not? That would be too much and might confuse me.

“Michael.”

“Nice to meet you, Michael. This is Kevin, Ryan, and Jacob, but he prefers Joe.” She introduced the three men. None of them were built like a tank, so I wasn’t worried. Hard to tell if they were some kind of athlete, but Ryan and Jacob were a bit on the heavy side if I had to guess, while Kevin was short and thin. He wasn’t doing the Asian stereotypes any favors.

I just let out a grunt. “Is there a good place to stay?” Amber asked. I just turned and walked away, and they quickly followed like little ducklings. At least this added some excitement to my day. I went to a nearby building and up to the second floor.

I took a corner and sat down. The others sat down in the middle of the room facing me. “Um, do you know where there is a bathroom? I kind of need to go,” Amber said. I pointed at a side room. She nodded in thanks and then quickly came back.

“There is no toilet there,” I just gave her a look and then slowly picked my nose getting good and deep, pulling out a booger. I then wiped it on the wall to make my point. She blushed as my point was clearly conveyed.

“Dude, I think you killed any chance you had doing that,” Ryan said. I looked at him and he flinched a bit.

“If she has hang-ups on stuff like toilets, she is already dead. There is no reason to care about dead people.” There was an oppressive silence after I said that. After a couple of minutes, Amber came back into the main room.

“Well, let’s share some food with our guest.” They got out fruit of the four packs they had. I only took a single piece from each of them and ate away. I saw them giving me disgusted looks at how I gobbled up my food.

“How…how long have you been here?” Ryan asked.

“A while. Everyone else just dies. Or is an idiot and dies. Or is too smart and dies. Or trips and dies. There is a lot of dying.” I then chuckled a bit and grinned crazily. There was visible fear on their faces.

“Is the city safe?” Kevin asked. I turned my head to look at him, not missing his flinch.

“Only danger in city I have seen is people. People get desperate, starve, fight, die. More people show up do the same thing,” I shook my head.

“You said killing people doesn’t give points, right?” Ryan asked.

“If it did, you would all be dead,” I grinned at them. “But not to worry. You don’t attack or steal from me, I don’t eat your flesh.” There were audible gulps at that.