SL: Chapter 720 – Day 5,913 Part 2 – A Lonely Visit

“I love you mom,” I said while looking down at her sleeping form. The energy around her head was incredibly complicated and integrated with her in a way I didn’t understand. Qi Ji Long was a horrible person, who I was glad was dead.

I left the room. “Any thoughts?” Clarissa asked me.

“No. It is complicated, very complicated. You can keep a third in exchange for watching her,” I said.

“A third?” Clarissa asked as we walked away from my mother’s room.

“A third of all the points I bring back here. My grinding speed is going to go up. Earning over a billion points a day is not out of the question. If bring back 30 billion, she would get 20 billion,” I replied.

“That would push her to around 100 thousand stat points. That would is a lot Michael,” Clarissa said.

“And?” I asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

“And it is a lot. But I won’t say anything. A third, that is generous,” Clarissa said.

“You need to occupy her and keep her comfortable. You can put her to work if she asks. But ultimately you are responsible for her safety. I don’t want any mistakes or screwups,” I replied.

“Ah. I will take extra precautions, and no you don’t need to say that you will melt me if I screw up. I already know that,” Clarissa said.

“Are you reading my mind now?” I joked.

“I know you well enough. Don’t worry. I would take it seriously for only a tenth,” she replied.

“A tenth? That is cheap of you,” I said.

“Well I will be taking a third since you offered, but you can grind a lot more nowadays. And even some crumbs is quite a bit. Are you going to try and get a portable store?” she asked me.

“That is a possibility, isn’t it?” I asked.

“It is. Only a thousand days of effort,” she joked.

“Just that, super easy. I will just get it done,” I joked back. “But I can promise I am buying that guidebook for sale,” I replied.

“But it could contain top secret information,” Clarissa said and we both rolled our eyes. If anyone knew more than me about this place, then they could keep their insanely expensive book in the store. The portable store was far more useful.

“Spreading rumors about how valuable such an item is?” I asked.

“My agents know to pass that information along to the local population. How a portable store is the best item ever. If one shows up, then we will hunt it down,” Clarissa replied.

“Let them know, that if they bring one in, I will pay 10 billion points for it.”

“Generous,” she replied.

“Only one percent of its actual value. More like a steal. But it should motivate your people. That many points is quite a bit. At least for other people,” I replied. Inflation for stat purchases was a massive headache.

“Not a 100 billion?” Clarissa asked.

“I am hoping they can do a good enough job manipulating people that one shows up. And 100 billion is a bit too much. I am not going to be working for others. Even for my mother I would hesitate about giving her that many points,” I replied.

“Really?” Clarissa asked with a bit of surprise.

“Really. I love her, but I am not going to just throw points away. While there is no new threat, who knows when the next one will show up?”

“Hopefully not for a very long time. At least your strength keeps going up, I have to rebuild so much,” she complained.

“Well some of your minions survived.”

“The only reason I didn’t give up completely. I can delegate quite a bit of work to them. I am guessing you don’t care about what is happening in the various cities?” she asked me.

“Unless there is a unified government that wants to pay me protection points or someone with a crazy meta-point, not really,” I replied.

“And what would a protection fee look like?” she asked me.

“A tenth of all points going to their store. I would handle serious threats and check once every 500 days or so. But this is all based on us not escaping this place when we check the vote,” I said.

“You don’t honestly think we are going to be able to escape?” Clarissa asked me.

“You and Michelle are pessimists, but I am quite hopeful for something good. A meta-point at least,” I replied.

“Yeah, that is never going to happen. I would be willing to bet on that even,” Clarissa said.

“Ah, no. You are probably right, but I have hope,” I replied.

“Hope? You still have hope. Mine died out after this last calamity,” Clarissa said.

“A silver lining then. People survived,” I replied.

“There is that. But what do you think the vote will be for?” Clarissa asked me.

“I think unlocking a larger area,” I replied.

“Oh, now that is interesting. You think this place will expand?” Clarissa asked me.

“Yes. At least that is my guess. Otherwise it would take far too long to bring the population of Earth to here. I think we are meant to get stronger and survive, building up a civilization. It is just that everything else messed it all up. Like we have been going from one crisis to another. And the strongest people got wiped out by the sphere in a past calamity, or I killed them,” I replied.

“A larger area. Now that is interesting. It would disrupt things quite a bit, and make control a lot more difficult,” she replied.

“But think about it. If every city had a single person working hard, then they would upgrade their city and possibly clear a tower. That would translate into enough votes. One person getting all the votes like I have is unlikely,” I replied.

“That is true, but it you never know about this place. But a larger area. Now that you mentioned it, I can’t get it out of my head. What are you thinking? Four times the size?” Clarissa asked.

“Maybe? Could be ten times, since the Almighty System seems to like that number,” I answered.

“Fair. Ten times the cities. That would be 360. An interesting number. Same as the number of degrees in a full circle.”

“That is a human construct, but it could very well be, since base ten is human. I wouldn’t expect aliens to use the same numbering system unless they had the same number of fingers or are pandering to us like the Almighty System,” I replied.

“You might get some competition then. That many people. Some are sure to be like the Divine Empress or Astrologer, racking up meta-points,” she replied.

“Maybe, but unless they get three and use them all on their stats, I am not concerned. It would be a lot of catching up,” I replied.

“But they could do it,” she replied.

“So, you are against a land expansion if it is one?” I asked.

“Ultimately you are going to decide what is best for you. Also, the issue of population will only be compounded with more cities. And our time might run short,” she replied.

“You think there is a timer?” I asked.

“The sphere was clearly outside the Almighty System and this place. But it could threaten the System. Now what if something stronger shows up? The longer we are here, the more likely that is,” she explained.

“You think the Almighty System has an end planned?” I asked.

“There are still areas that are unexplored, to the Northwest and Southeast. It is highly likely that there is something there.”

“Or a level 10 monster that would wipe me,” I replied.

“Or that. I can’t imagine a level 10 monster being harder than that sphere?”

“I can’t either. You really want to make me nervous before the vote, don’t you? Any other ideas?” I asked.

“A portal to the Almighty System, or a way out of here to someplace else? It really could be anything. Or it might just ask if you want to leave, taking the strongest person to some place else. We have guessed a lot already Michael. We will find out tomorrow. Go rest,” Clarissa said.

“Alright,” I replied and began making my way back to my airship.

Clarissa was right. We would have answers shortly. I was strong, but I wasn’t entirely sure if I could match a level 10. I probably could just from the sheer amount of attacks I could unleash and the power behind them. There was still a lot of room for more improvement.

That was why I kept thinking about future plans. Even if this place expanded and added in new cities. It wouldn’t matter. I would just keep grinding up points. I was strong enough to be able to reach maximum grinding speed.

It would be near impossible for anyone to pick up crystals in a level 8 zone. That meant level 7 zones were the max grinding zone. Clearing four of them in a single day, would be pushing my limits, but I didn’t see how I could get any faster than that. I would be constantly using my skills.

There just wasn’t a way to go faster or be more efficient. I had been thinking about the issue, but I had finally reached maximum grinding potential. With expenses and having someone pick up the crystals, one billion points a day was a good solid estimate.

My base stat points totaled up to 395,000. To get that stat point count up to a million I would need around 2.1 trillion points. That was 2,100 days of grinding. A third of the time I had already spent in the Systemic Lands. It was day 5,913. I wasn’t counting the time confusion nonsense from the rainbow dimension. That would make things too confusing.

That would boost my stats up to 900,000 each after the multiplier was applied. I was leaning more towards leveling them out in relation to each other again, after getting another meta-point. But focusing on a few specific stats could be useful. I just believed there might be a benefit at a million stat points like there had been at a thousand. Perhaps that would be the max count for stat points.

It would make sense in a way. I would have to get Body up to a million first with the multiplier and see if anything happened. And if the stat could go beyond a million. If it couldn’t, that had interesting implications about the limitations of the Almighty System. Was there a strength cap?

I didn’t think so, since the impact of several stats became less, the more they increased, but I didn’t see them stopping in any way. I was still surprised about how the meta-points had multiplied togeather. It was clear that meta-points weren’t used in equal measures in terms of the power behind them. My first meta-point had used less power no matter which way it was looked at.

Did that mean the Almighty System was being cheap, or did it know what I would ask for, and that was why it limited my meta-points. While I wanted to say seeing the future was impossible, I wouldn’t put anything past such a power. At least we were finally going to get an answer as a group tomorrow.