SL: Chapter 741 – Day 6,397 – Finally There

Body-900,000 (+0); Mind-495,000 (+0); Spirit-900,000 (+0); Perception-180,000 (+0); Aura-180,000 (0); Regeneration-1,125,000 (+105,000x9); Endurance-180,000 (+0); Absorption-180,000 (+0); Sense-180,000 (+0); Channel-180,000 (+0) for a total of 500,000 total stat upgrades, or 4,500,000 after my two meta-points.

“Any change?” Young Michael asked me. I shook my head.

“Nothing noticeable. But Regeneration has always been a quiet stat,” I replied. I had spent two more long grinding sessions just over 100 days each to get the required points necessary to reach 500,000 before my meta-points.

My highest stat was now Regeneration, which should push my Regeneration to over 10,000 per minute in level 6 and higher zones. It was tempting to add a bit more into Mind to make the numbers all nice large numbers, but that would be wasting too much efficiency. Spending hundreds of days grinding was mentally exhausting.

I wanted to start tower grinding as quickly as possible. Young Michael wasn’t doing that poorly either. He had 120,000 stat points before his meta-point. Still far below me, but he was catching up. He had 10,000 in each stat and was investing more into Body and Mind which were 20,000 each before his meta-point.  

The ten percent he was earning off of me for picking up crystals was quite a bit at 70 million points per day. That was more than the 60 million he could get from clearing a level 6 zone. He had done the math to double check, but he had confirmed that sticking with me was fast for getting points than going off and grinding on his own.

He was also saving points to put towards his stats since I was paying for the airship out of my share. While he handled the supplies, their cost was almost nothing in comparison. It was a fair division, since he handled the restocking and cooking.

I couldn’t help but look forward to grinding even faster now. Breaking through to several billion points a day and going up from there.

Grinding on a tower was purely a question of speed as I zipped around the edges taking all the monsters in the air. I would be able to improve my targeting and working out every possible pattern. Improving my speed marginally didn’t make a huge difference while killing level 7 monsters in a zone since there were a set amount.

But I was looking forward to where my skill actually mattered. Using the smallest amount of energy to wipe out each monster, using the most precise targeting. I would slowly work my way towards the optimal grinding strategy. I had done some of this in level 7 zones, but I hadn’t pushed myself.

While the improvements would be marginal, each day I could compare to the previous about the number of monsters I wiped out. Trying to push myself to go faster in zone clearing would only reduce the time spent, but there was no point rushing off. Since you either fully cleared a level 7 zone or you didn’t. There wasn’t a good mid-way stopping point. But with a tower, it was all about how quickly I could kill monsters until I reached the spawn rate.

“A shame that you didn’t unlock a new ability of the stat,” he replied.

“I always expected that only the base number for the stat mattered for such things. Since the first unlock was at a thousand, the second is probably at a million,” I replied heavily.

“A lot more grinding,” Young Michael said.

“We are just getting started. And there might not even be another unlock even. I don’t hold out much hope for the Almighty System,” I replied.

“Well, over 166 energy per second is quite high. Almost to the point of being able to endlessly spam skills,” Young Michael said.

“Almost, but not quite. Realistically, I would need around 1,600 energy per second. Which would mean 10 million in Regeneration.”

“Just another 4 trillion and change,” Young Michael said in a joking tone.

“Well, now I can finally start grinding on a tower properly.”

“You could have gone sooner, if you weren’t insistent on getting half a million base stats,” Young Michael said.

“Setting goals and sticking with them is important. Especially with grinding goals. Trying to cut corners will lead me down a bad path. I got to set a good example for you young people,” I said, and Young Michael rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, good example. Whatever you say. Going to say hi to Clarissa or stick around?” he asked.

“Bored?” I asked.

“Curious to take a look about the city,” he replied. The guards in Purgatory were watching us at a distance as we held up everyone. No one dared to approach the store pillars with us standing nearby and our airship hovering overhead.

“As long as the supplies are taken care of, we will leave tomorrow morning. Have fun, not too much fun,” I told him. He gave me a grin and walked off with the crowd quickly making way for him. I had some guesses what he was up to, but it was none of my business. I was his employer, and he was an adult. It wasn’t my job to hand hold him through life. Even if he was going to make some bad decisions, that was none of my business.

Romance was something he needed to learn to handle on his own. I didn’t think he would be romanced into staying, but I had warned him. That was the extent I was going to get involved for now. Unless he was attacked, how he lived his life was up to him. At least that was what I kept telling myself.

“Emperor Michael, welcome,” Father John said as he walked over wearing his white robes. I noted he had two guards with more elite looking uniforms nearby. They were around high level 2 or low level 3 combatants.

“Father John,” I replied while turning to face him fully.

“Will you be staying the night?” he asked.

“Yes. I plan to leave in the morning,” I replied, and he nodded.

“Then perhaps you would like to join me for dinner. Our selection and chefs have improved since your last visit,” he said.

“Sure,” I replied casually and we began walking to a more ornate looking building at the edge of the plaza.

“Things are going quite fairly well except for one issue. We have already formed an alliance and territorial terms with three nearby cities.”

“What pretentious name are you using for the alliance?” I asked.

“Just The Alliance. I didn’t want to slap an extra name onto it. Like herding cats,” he replied.

“Defensive alliance?” I asked.

“Yes and agreeing to territorial boundaries and set tax rates per city. Only the city to the West is causing issues. The cartel has taken over.”

“Esperanaza,” I replied. They were drawing from Mexico.

“While they use another name, but yes, that is the name based on your maps. They have been aggressively pushing East towards us,” Father John said.

“And you can’t handle one city with four on your side?” I asked.

“Possibly, but people are hesitant. Also, it would disrupt our grinding strategy.” I shook my head.

“If you don’t have the courage to reset one city, you will have no chance against all the Chinese cities further to the West. You need to harden your heart. Are you asking me to intervene here? I won’t intervene a second time,” I replied.

“Just expressing a concern,” he said.

“I am not some politician. I am the closest thing to a demi-god, the strongest person in the Systemic Lands. If you want me to look down on you, then be weak, complain, and hope that I intervene. But don’t expect subtlety and trickery to work on me,” I replied.

“I apologize, it was not my intention to disrespect you, I was giving you an update on our situation.”

“Then here is some free advice. Gather all your top grinders and kill them in one decisive blow. Kill everyone person in their city and reset it. Take their territory for your people to grind on. Put your people as tax people in the city. Being nice and compromising without strength will only lead to your defeat. This isn’t the modern world, you need to think in feudal terms instead,” I explained.

Father John was silent as we continued our slow walk to his building. He was going through the same realization I had too as well. This wasn’t the modern world where we could have modern morals. It was a created hell run by the Almighty System. Wishful thinking would only lead a person to their death. It was unfortunate, brutal, and uncaring. But that was the Systemic Lands in a nutshell.

If I solved this problem, then I would have to solve the next one, and the next one. I didn’t want to solve such a basic problem. Just have your top grinders kill their top grinders in a mass attack. It was that simple or complicated depending on how you looked at it.

Kill enough people and the other side would lose any ability to resist. Once their top grinders were wiped out, they would be behind and struggle. With the proper controls in place, it would be incredibly hard for the enemy city as a whole to break free from being oppressed unless there was outside interference.

I was the check against outside interference, but the scale of this conflict was quite small. Father John would have to oppress the Chinese cities before another Divine Empress showed up. In fact there might be one right now.

Clarissa had contacted me once every 100 days. There were no major updates and there was no rush to meet in person in my mind. It was better to focus on grinding and getting stronger. I only stopped by Purgatory, since it was stable and decently run. I had a soft spot for the city even if the original had been wiped out.

There was another update planned in three days, but unless there was news about the sword, I was going to tower grinding after a one night rest here in Purgatory. While there was no sense of urgency, I wasn’t about to let all my previous hard work of becoming the strongest go to waste. I would create such a gap, that no one ever had a chance to kill me.

“How are things out there, with your grinding?” Father John asked, restarting the conversation.

“Things are going well. No one has a chance of surpassing me any time soon, or for a long time. Soon I will be earning over a billion a day,” I answered casually.

“My congratulations on progressing so far,” he said. I could tell he was stressed out over that number. Setting a billion points a day as a benchmark was soul crushing. Just getting a million was a struggle for him and his city. But that was the difference between just starting off and someone who had survived this place to rise to the top.

If the Divine Empress or the Astrologer had focused on grinding in the wilderness, then things would be different. If there was no tax revenue, I wouldn’t have been able to steal it. And they would have kept getting stronger and stronger. Laying low until they act and take me out.

Heck with all their meta-points, they could have easily surpassed me if they didn’t request whatever nonsense they had. While the Avatar had shared their meta-points, I didn’t trust anything she said. It was a trap just listening to her. At least she wasn’t around to mess things up.

That was one person I was glad wasn’t around to bother me anymore. If there was a true ultimate evil, the Avatar was it.

“Thank you. But I am one of the few people who has the mentality to get to the end of this place and grind for years and decades. The true weakness is one of mentality, not stats.”