The Systemic Lands

Chapter 17: Day 28 – Store Upgrade

It was late evening of day 28. Carlos had moved the tax area back to the pillars and his crew numbered around 15 people at the moment. I was hoping for a more in-depth update from Evaline in two days. Still there was a reason today was special.

The store had been upgraded today, which had caused people to get motivated to hunt slimes. I always went before dawn, so I hadn’t had issues yet, but with the next group coming in two days it would start to get crowded.

I nodded at the four guards slash tax collectors by the pillars. They gave me a nod back. Carlos’ men and I didn’t have to pay a tax. The rule was half of whatever crystals you were carrying. I was glad I didn’t have to deal with that nonsense.

I checked out the upgraded store. The next upgrade cost 10,000 points. I winced at the cost. It would probably keep scaling by a factor of 10 each time. The next thing I looked for were manuals, hints, or instructions. Nothing came up unfortunately during my mental queries.

I checked upgrades next. The price was still the same, but now there was a sixth upgrade, Regeneration. That was a name for a stat that had interesting connotations. The new stat used the same upgrade pool as the other 5 original upgrades. At 63 upgrades, the price was now 415 points and 4,375 for the next 10.

The walk to the plaza was really boring for the most part, so I had done the mental math. I was sitting on 5,698 points currently. Time to check other things before purchasing upgrades.

There were copper weapons and armor. The scaling was going to be brutal at this rate. A copper sword cost 500 points. I winced at that. It felt like highway robbery. I looked at the clothing. It went from rough cloth to fine cloth at double the price. Pants were 200 points. I looked for a razor blade and soap, but there was only a cobber knife for 300 points.

I checked for light sources, and a fire starter was 100 points and a 30-minute torch 500 points. Yeah, the price scaling was brutal, and the dungeon would have to wait a bit more.

Time to go crazy on a spending spree. Pants, underwear, socks, belt, shirt, copper armguards, copper greaves, and boots. That was 200, 100, 100, 100, 200, 400, 400, and 500 points respectively. That came out to 1,500 points.

I began to get changed right there in the plaza, dumping my soiled clothes to the side of the pillar. I noted the guards looking, but I just grinned at them, and they quickly looked away. If people saw my fat flabby body, I could care less. I went back into the store for my second round of purchases.

Copper knife, copper sword, a sheath for both, circular wood shield with strap, reinforced pack, cloth towel, and club. There were no potions, but the food options had expanded to include vegetables. My purchases this time cost me, 300, 500, 200, 200, 100, 100, and 10 respectively for a total of 1,410 points.

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Oh, there was a container, a copper flask for 100 points. I purchased two and filled them up with water. I then purchased a restoration for 105 points and food for 40 points. The vegetables were similar in cost to the fruit, at 2 points for a small cucumber.

I wasn’t about to buy a pumpkin, the fact there was the option in the store made me smile a bit. That left me with 2,541 points. I spent 2,125 points for 5 upgrades and put them into Regeneration, leaving me with a paltry 316 points.

I equipped my gear, and the guards were looking at the sword I had purchased. The shield was the real game changer in my opinion, but people can look at the fancy sword. I would stick with a club for the most part. A sword was too valuable to waste unless absolutely necessary.

I began gathering up my old clothes and stuffing them into my old pack. “Not going to make you throw out this trash. The smell alone is a weapon.” There were some chuckles at that and smiles. “You can tell people who leave trash here, that if Killer can pick up his shit, they can pick up their shit.” I looked at some of the trash left about.

The guards nodded at that. A small improvement I could leave behind. “Any trouble over the tax?” I asked.

One of the guards stepped forward. “Not since the upgrade, everyone has gotten on board.” I nodded at that.

“Thanks for your hard work. If there is trouble, let me know.”

“Um, we are supposed to tell Carlos,” the guard said.

I rolled my eyes at that. “Since I get to buy stuff without the tax it was just me offering to help with something simple and I am in the area.” I fiddled with tightening the straps on the armguards. “Don’t worry about it.” I just shrugged.

“Well, we were told you are a mercenary?” the guard asked.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t help out as a good Samaritan if there is trouble. Like showing up and scaring some people or just standing here chatting with you. People pay attention.” The guard finally got it and his mouth turned into an ‘O’.

Some people, you could spell it out for them, and they would still have trouble understanding. I was trying to make their jobs easier with the expectation they wouldn’t give me a hard time. The deal I made with Carlos was one thing, but an organization was made of people.

It was the same philosophy that made me treat anyone who made or served me food very politely. Don’t shit where you eat or do business. If there was a serious fight then I would talk compensation, but just showing my support was simple enough. I had already thrown in my lot with Carlos’ faction.

Carlos would have his hands full with new arrivals and having a good impression with the guards was important in my mind. “Any word on how new arrivals are going to be taxed?” I asked.

“Uh, the boss said if they don’t have a pack and turn out their pockets, they can use the pillars for free.” Carlos wasn’t an idiot, which was good to know. You don’t squeeze desperate people with nothing to lose but their lives.

People also needed supplies to hunt and to eat in order to earn crystals. Someone wasn’t going to be able to sneak a large batch through and it wasn’t worth the risk. I was sure people would complain and that was where all the drama would come from later.

Carlos would have to scale up his organization like he was already doing. Then he would have to watch out for internal problems. That was exactly the headache I wanted to avoid.

The trick was if he succeeded and got a large amount of people grinding out crystals. It would have a huge impact on both himself and his men. While the end reward looked shiny, I considered it a lot of tedious work, high chance of betrayal, for little immediate benefit, which is why I didn’t take up such a role.

I finished tightening up the various straps for my gear, feeling worlds better. Still wished there was a spa of some kind. I left the plaza and made my way to one of the buildings partway to the gate. I made sure no one was following me and then began to strip down again.

Once I was naked, I began to cut my hair with the copper knife. It was a pain in the rear. I could only get so much off. The knife was sharp, but hair was trickier. Once I did the best job I could, I used a flask of water and towel to wipe my entire body down.

I then used the second flask to rinse myself off. I then got back into my new clothes and let out a sigh of relief. I no longer smelled like moldy cheese. Now I smelled like slightly moldy cheese.

The next morning, I made my way back to the slime forest pre-dawn. No one else was up this early. Which I didn’t get, since night was so long. Either people stayed in place out of fear or went to sleep later. Idiots, with a poor work ethic. I guess it was the fear of being outside the walls at night.

I got to work clearing out the slimes. I used my club. No need to lose my fancy sword. There hadn’t been any bows, just other copper weapons and tools. No leather armor either. It made me wonder if bronze or iron was next.

If it was bronze, we might get leather as well, but that would mean the scaling had gone from brutal to super cancer. After iron was steel, maybe, and then I had no good idea.

There were hot weapons, chemicals, and larger scale technology if this were a civ building game. That would take millions of points to get there most likely. At that point, how much damage would a gun do if a person had 500 Body upgrades?

I wasn’t at the level of a superhuman yet, but my body was improving faster and was better than it had any right to be after a month of intense exercise. The upgrades did have an impact, just not an easily quantifiable one.

Regeneration, I had some idea what it would do, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. My guess was that it improved my recovery rate, not actually regenerating limbs. Still, it was another guess I couldn’t easily test.

I was getting to the point where I was questioning adding any more upgrades into Body. Right now, I was on a 5/1/1/1/1/1 split. I would make the actual count mirror that split and then decide then. With 43 upgrades in Body and 5 upgrades into the other 5 stats, it would mean I needed 32 more upgrades to bring Body up to 50 and the rest to 10.

I spent a couple of minutes working out the mental math. There hadn’t been a notebook or anything to write with in the store. That would have been useful. My head hurt and I wasn’t completely sure, but I thought 32 more upgrades would cost 16,550 points.

Well, it sounded right at least. Guess I needed more Mind upgrades. Hopefully Carlos or his men would find out something useful. Another reason to get a group farming the slimes. I stood up and drew my sword in my right hand.

It felt light, very light. I wasn’t complaining, but it was probably the muscles I had been building from club swinging. I swung the sword several times and it whooshed through the air.

I had no sword skill, I was not talking about in the game sense, but in the practical sense. A club was far different from a bladed weapon. How the blade was angled, how far it would penetrate. I couldn’t use a jab and push a person back like I did with a club. A jab would jab into a person with a blade and close distance, not create distance.

Also, a sword could easily get trapped in a club if it struck deep enough. The sword was a useful way to scare people and show I wasn’t to be messed with, but I would keep up with the club. There hadn’t been a mace option in the store upgrade, only the base club.

I needed a beat stick. A large steel mace I could whack things with. No finesse, no fancy moves, just brute bashing. I looked at my shield. It was circular and the size of a large serving plate. It would definitely stop an attack or two.

I needed to be sure I didn’t overly depend on it. Dodging was already the better option and the shield as a backup. Take a blow on the shield and then counter with an attack of my own, at least for human opponents. Still a shield offered me a way to defend myself, I didn’t have before.

Monsters would probably be unique, each their own special snowflake. Still, the fact there was no extra abilities listed in the store, classes, or any esoteric powers made me disappointed. That made the dungeon all the more important.

I would rack up my points these next two days. Then purchase three torches and a fire starter. That would give me an hour and a half of exploration time in the dark.

That wasn’t much. Carrying a shield in my off hand would limit the use of my shield. I frowned at that. I needed a Sherpa to carry my pack, like they did on Mount Everest. Less worrying for me would be great. I would have to think on this idea some more.

I put my sword away and went back to my club and killing slimes. I needed to keep up my pace. The next batch of people would arrive tomorrow, and I needed to meet Evaline in the morning. Time to make it a long day today and rack up the crystals.

I put my goal at 300, that would give me enough for three torches. One for the descent, one for the ascent, and one for emergencies. I could also find someone to carry stuff for me. The new group would provide opportunities.

Finally, things were on the right track. I was at the front of the pack and my position was secure. I felt for the first time since I arrived in this place, that I could breathe a bit easier. I didn’t feel a suffocating pressure of do or die every single moment.

While it was great for honing my edge, I was getting close to snapping for real. I just needed to keep myself grounded, and also kill lots of slimes. I could do this, one day at a time.