The Systemic Lands

Chapter 39: Day 88 – Return to Purgatory

I looked at the wall and the gate. It was the middle of the night about to turn to day 89. I pulled my cart into Purgatory. No one, perfect. I made a beeline for the plaza. I had to backtrack once due to forgetting the way there.

Stupid roads not being in a grid pattern. I knew the store had not been upgraded again. I was a bit disappointed, but not surprised. It was a lot to save up 100,000 points.

There were five men sitting near the pillars of the store. I pulled my cart while keeping a careful eye out. I could see a couple of people sleeping outside, but there was no movement to surround and ambush me.

One of the guards noticed me. He just stared at me as I kept pulling the cart. “Sic…Sicario,” he stuttered out loud. The rest looked over and they quickly all stood up.

“Good job keeping this area clean and safe. Keep everyone away until I finish. Here, for your hard work.” I reached into my spending pack and gave them each ten 5-point crystals. They didn’t hesitate in taking them. The captain was someone I didn’t recognize.

“Um, the tax-“

“Doesn’t apply to me, or is Carlos dead?”

“No, no he isn’t dead.”

“Good then there isn’t a problem, is there?” I asked. He shook his head and moved out of the way. “Don’t let anyone bother me.” He nodded and I began to quickly offload full packs of crystals. I kept my pack of 350 spending crystals to the side of the cart.

I had 257 points. I cashed in 15,243 5-point crystals and 256 50-point crystals. This brought my point total to 89,015. I looked around. Some people had come over to look, but the guards were keeping everyone back, good.

First, I purchased a restoration for 587 points. I let out a sigh of contentment as the aches and pains disappeared from my body. I then purchased 90 upgrades for 78,525 points. I put 40 upgrades into Spirit and Regeneration, bringing them each up to 50 total upgrades to match Body. I put the last 10 into Endurance.

Body-50; Mind-20; Spirt-50; Perception-10; Aura-10; Regeneration-50; Endurance-10, for a total of 200 upgrades so far. The price of my next upgrade cost 1,100 points, a frustratingly high amount. At least now I could use Acid Shot 10 times in a row and refill my 50 energy in 100 minutes, so 1E/2MIN. Decent, but nowhere close enough to constantly spam the spell.

That had gone more smoothly than I had anticipated. I began going through the Store and looking closely at outfits.

I spent 1,700 on fine clothes and boots, 500 on a new sword, 100 on a towel, 200 on the same type of wood shield as before, and 7,500 on dark black leather body armor. The big change was that I got shorts instead of pants. I tossed all of my purchases into my cart.

I was a bit short on points, so I pulled out 150 of my spending crystals and turned them to points, leaving me with 653 points and 200 crystals. “Anywhere to sell old weapons?”

“No Sicario, people just throw them away when they break,” the captain said.

“Well, can I give them to you to sell?” He thought on that for a moment. “Take a large cut and bring me the rest.”

“Alright, I will take half then.” I nodded at that and piled up the spare weapons I had. I kept my new sword, my unused knife, unused club, new shield, and got rid of the rest. It wasn’t worth it lugging around junk on the off chance I could use it.

I put my clothes and armor into one of the packs and the empty packs into another pack. I turned to the captain.

“So, what new businesses and buildings are there?” I asked. There was a public bath house slash wash building in the Red Dawn area of Purgatory, which was on the West side of the plaza. The salon and bakery were in the Northwest. A Guild Hall, which was more of a shared sleeping area to the North. The official garbage dump was a building to the South.

There was still the Inn, Brothel, Barracks, Casino, and the Red Dawn Headquarters. The temptation to buy my own building was there, but I resisted. This place wasn’t a monopoly theme game. It was hard core survival. Maybe in a year property would matter, but now, I couldn’t afford to care.

I picked up the cart handles and went over to where I had received a haircut before.

I parked outside of the place and sat against the wall to wait. Several people came by to look at me even though it was the middle of the night before running off. I am sure I stirred up the hornet’s nest with my arrival.

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That restoration had been expensive. Probably all the minerals and vitamins my body was lacking eating just fruit and vegetables. The baker had better be good since there was fresh grain from the Store now.

The sun began to come up and more people began to stir. I noted the short Asian woman come out of the building and look at me. She gave a slight bow as I stood up. “Honored customer, welcome back.”

“Good morning. I require a haircut and beard trim. As short as possible. I trust your skills have remained up to date?” I asked.

“There have been no incidents honored customer. A guard has not arrived, would you like to wait for one?” she asked.

“No, but I will be bringing my packs inside.” It wasn’t a question.

“Of course, please.” She held out a hand and gestured for me to enter the building. I brought in all three of my packs, leaving my cart outside. She had set up a chair in front of the window on the first floor, so I could keep an eye on my cart. I didn’t think anyone would cause trouble, but better to be safe than sorry.

“Still 10 crystals?” I asked.

“Yes, honored customer.”

“Knives?”

“I have shears, but they don’t provide the closeness knives do. Nothing else unfortunately.”

“Knives are fine.”

“Yes, honored customer. Please remain absolutely still.” She tossed a towel around my shoulders and began cutting. I kept perfectly still.

Her skill had improved and slowly my head was freed, and I began to feel like a real person again. She finished and brought out two small mirrors. I would have to check the price of one of those in the store.

She did good work. Still wish there were razor blades and clippers, since my face wasn’t smooth. I paid out 30 crystals. She gave me a deep bow. “Come again honored customer.”

Now that was good service. To the point, polite, and no pointlessness. I put my bags back on the cart and made my way to the public showers. There were two guards standing outside. “I want my cart to be watched.” I pulled out 10 crystals for each guard. “That should do it right?”

“Um, yes, of course. I mean yes Sicario.” I took my packs in with me. A woman was sitting at a table in the entry room.

“Welcome to the public showers and wash house.” There was a wood board next to her outlining the prices.

“I want a private room.” I put down 10 crystals. She moved them to a box next to her.

“Will you require your clothes to be washed or a towel?”

“No just disposed of and no towel, you handle that?”

“That is part of our service. Please place the clothes in the bin in the corner of the room for disposal. Anything placed inside will be thrown out and we are not responsible for any lost or damaged items. If you cause damage, a future fee will be charged for your use of this establishment without exception.”

“That is fine,” I said. She then got up and led me to a room on the second floor, I brought all three of my packs. In the room there was a table and bin off to one side. In the middle of the room there was a drain and above that rope with a shower head.

“There is unlimited water, and the temperature is set at slightly warm and cannot be changed. You have one hour. I will knock on the door if you reach one hour.”

“That is fine.” She then left. I then stripped off my clothes. I set my copper greaves, armguards, and watches on the table. I spent ten minutes under the water. I then used the towel under the shower to scrub my body clean.

I tossed the towel into the bin. I was finally clean in the first time in what felt like forever. I then put on my new clothes. After that came the dark black leather armor. The full set had six pieces. The first piece was the brigandine. At least that is what I thought it was called. Basically, a sleeveless wool tunic that went slightly below my waist. It was meant to stop slashes and arrows, it acted as under armor for the main armor.

The next piece was the main body armor. Thick leather with metal rivets holding it together, covering my torso. The third piece were the pauldrons, or shoulder guards. I noted they had small metal loops on the back for a cloak to clip onto. The fourth piece was the gorget, or neck covering.

The fifth piece was a skirt for crotch and thigh protection. I snugged the belt tight and twisted a couple of times. My movement was unaffected. With everything else about this place, I wasn’t surprised the Store managed to size things perfectly.

The last piece were the leather gauntlets. They were basically palm less mitts with a basic finger covering. I had free movement and my tips were unprotected, but I would have a lot more protection from a glancing blow.

My gut had all but disappeared, but no abs. That was annoying, but something to aim for in the future. There was enough of a gap between the main armor and the skirt, that if I got a short shirt and didn’t wear the brigandine, I could show off some abs. The gap was there for ease of movement, which was critical.

I wasn’t going to do that, but it was still a possibility. I rubbed my hands over my face and grinned. I put my empty armor pack into the pack of packs. Strapping on my weapons, I then picked up my two full packs and left the room. I made it back out to my cart without any issues.

Several people standing around in the plaza gave me discreet looks. I tossed my packs onto the cart and made my way to the Red Dawn headquarters. It was only a short distance away and I just had to pass in front of the barracks.

I stopped at the main entrance, setting my cart down. The guard sitting outside had stood up. “I am here to see Carlos. Watch my cart.”

“Um, I…” The guard appeared to be confused on what to do. That was when Carlos stepped outside.

“Sicario, welcome back, welcome back. He reached out to give me a hug, which I returned. He then whispered in my ear.

“Staying for a while?”

I whispered back. “Just one night, unless something has come up?”

“Your stay is on me. But I want you here for tomorrow’s meeting. No death matches, but I need you next to me to keep the other people in line.”

“I won’t answer any questions.” I could feel him tense up. “For free. We can talk price.” I felt him untense. He let go of the embrace.

“Always focused. It is good you have returned Sicario. The wolves were getting feisty,” Carlos said loudly.

“Thank you Carlos. It has been quite a while in the wilderness.”

“Quite profitable from what I hear. Must have been 70,000 points?”

“Close enough. The upgrades aren’t cheap unfortunately. It is good to be back in Purgatory.”

“Hmm, Purgatory?”

“My name for this place, this city. I needed another name to call it besides city.”

“Purgatory, I like that. Purgatory it is. We can announce that tomorrow for the tenth arrival. Come, come. My office is upstairs.” Carlos turned to a woman in a maid outfit. “Abby prepare a platter and drink for the Sicario.”

“Yes Boss.” She quickly scurried away. We made our way upstairs. He gestured to a cushioned chair next to a table off to one side of the room and took the other chair. Not sitting behind his desk, so a friendly conversation.

“I want to hear it from you. Magic, is it real?”

“Yes.” He let out a long sigh.

“Another headache. What price to spill everything?”

“No one else has magic?”

“People keep talking about doing the dungeon, but after all the teams that disappeared inside, no one is willing to risk it.” Carlos let out a long sigh. “Don’t get too greedy, all this stuff costs crystals. While not trying to overcharge on things like showers.”

“I understand. Still, the information is quite valuable. If I explained things, then it would give you a huge advantage around this place. It would also take away my advantage.”

“I suspect a group will risk it in the next ten days or so. If I really need to, I can just throw crystals at the problem. It will be more expensive for sure, but I will get there in the end.” So, Carlos was showing some teeth and I nodded at his point. There was a knock on the door. “Enter!”

Abby came in and laid out a fruit and vegetable platter. There was also warm sliced bread and two cups of beer. She bowed and quickly left. I picked up a piece of bread, it was delicious. I sipped some beer, far better than water.

It gave me time to do some mental math. I really didn’t want to give a number first, but Carlos had served food and drink, sparing no expense. “Five thousand crystals, that gets you everything.” Once someone got a skill crystal, the mental transfer would spill things anyways. So, it was no use holding anything back.

Carlos thought over the price. The fact he didn’t accept or reject right away, meant that I had selected the right price. Maybe a bit undervalued, still this was the first time for this kind of deal. “Everything? Including exactly what is down there?”

I considered his question for a long moment. I picked up a sliced cucumber with salt sprinkled on it. It was incredibly delicious. I sipped some beer. “Yes. You have the crystal reserves?” I asked.

“It was for the next Store upgrade.”

“Well, everyone will just have to work harder like me.” I picked up a peeled orange and broke off a piece, popping it into my mouth. “I was thinking, the magic or dungeon part. Then I get the crystals, then you get the second half of the information.”

Carlos thought it over for a moment. “Magic part first.”

“Alright. People get skill slots based on their city's upgrade level. With two upgrades purchased, everyone has two available slots. This also implies there are other cities out there. A person can only claim a single skill from a dungeon, no more. If they already have a skill, they can upgrade a skill they have by completing another dungeon.”

“The skill I have is Acid Shot. Basically, dissolves what it hits.” I took another sip of beer. It didn’t taste that bad. Unfortunately, I hadn’t drunk enough beer to know what to compare it to. I preferred Mike’s Hard Lemonade. The sugary sweetness was what got me.

“You had other options?”

“The options you get depends on the boss monsters you clear out in the dungeon. The slime dungeon has two boss monsters. But that is the second part.”

“Alright, let’s get this over with so I can hear the rest.” Carlos left the room and came back a minute later with two guards carrying a wood chest between them. There was no lock. I got up and went over as Carlos opened it up. Urg, I really didn’t want to count it out.

The dimensions seemed about right. Thirty by fifteen by about ten count for the depth of crystals, that gave 4,500 but didn’t take into account their spherical nature. “

“Alright, they carrying it?” I gestured at the guards.

“Yes. Let’s go,” Carlos said. We left the building and made our way to the plaza. I noted two more guards joined our group. We reached the pillars, and the chest was set atop one of the pillars. I put both my hands on top of the chest and it counted for the Store.

It was an exact count of 5,000 crystals and I turned them all into points, putting me at 25,653. We then made our way back to Carlos’ office.

“So, let’s hear the rest.”

“Dungeon has brown slimes in tunnels. Green slimes emit poison gas. Need at least 10 Mind to resist the white tunnel mind slimes. When cut, they spew out blue slimes. Use a sword on the tunnel mind slime, a club on the blue ones.”

“There is a path to the back left after going down the tunnel. Fake lake, that is a super blue slime. Clear the rest in the room first before poking it. It leaps pretty far, and you will need to give up on some swords to deliver some big cuts. Cut away from your body to avoid the slime acid.”

“Down the right path another split. Second right is a dead end. Left path is to the boss room. Super brown slime on the ceiling. Doors shut once it is triggered. Lots of other brown slimes on the ceiling. The roots called forth by the super brown slime will really go for a person.”

“Super blue slime gives Acid Shot, super brown slime gives Entangling Roots. Oh, magic requires energy, one point per Spirit. You regenerate one point every 100 minutes for every point in Regeneration. Acid Shot costs five energy.”

“The big secret is that the dungeon can only be cleared once every ten days to give a skill point.”

Carlos processed the info dump. He then asked several questions, and I explained as much as I could. There wasn’t much else to explain, but he accepted it all in stride, no complaints about the level of information I gave.