Chapter 441 – Day 866 (Part 3) – Hard Choices
Added 2023-03-31 23:02:42 +0000 UTC“The Avatar can have her three cities. We will leave her alone for the most part. Just one embassy in her capital, with the people rotated out regularly to make sure they aren’t mind controlled,” I said.
“Is that a concern?” Clarissa asked.
“I am not sure, but have whatever ambassador is there switched out every 100 days at a minimum. As for the Protector. Make him a governor and give him the tax rates and our laws. No special privileges as a governor. He wanted to protect, so he can stay out there and protect, but make sure his finances are audited heavily.”
“And if people just give him crystals?” Clarissa asked.
“That is fine. It is their choice. Or not. It could be considered charity. Just put pressure on him and don’t make life easy. Maybe move him to another city to govern and put someone else in charge of his city. He can visit of course, but that should loosen his control,” I said. He didn’t help me, so he wasn’t getting any favors.
I wouldn’t break his Free City of Hong Kong, but he was getting no special privileges from me for his lack of help. I was annoyed by that. I also wasn’t going to allow him to build up strength secretly and create a larger power base.
“Alright, I will move him far to the Southeast then.”
“I doubt he will accept. The man isn’t an idiot. My guess is he will go off and start killing level 4 monsters to get points,” I said.
“Are we taxing those?” Clarissa asked.
“Yes. Anything cashed in at the pillars is taxed at thirty percent, rounded up. We take the first 3 crystals out of every 10 that are brought to the pillars. No exceptions. If someone only brings 9 crystals, we take 3. Let people save them up and use them as currency, but controlling the pillars is key,” I said.
“That would mean the tax rate would be slightly higher in effect,” Clarissa said.
“People will realize how things work right away and only bring crystals in sets of ten once the tax is announced. That is one thing I am sure of. People hate paying taxes as you clearly pointed out,” I said and Clarissa inclined her head towards me.
“No other complaints about the directors or divisions?” Clarissa asked me.
“No. I leave that to you. As long as I get my ten percent without fail, then I have no complaints. Will I need to do anything?” I asked.
“Well, a coronation, victory celebration, delivering terms to the Protector, and crushing the last few Lords of the Dragon Empire to quickly end the war. Other than that, no. The rest is just setting up our new government.”
“So, we are still making the super weapon?” I asked.
“Yes. While I would love to count on you, I would rather have something in reserve.” I nodded at this. It wouldn’t hurt to have a weapon in reserve. There was at least one person out there who was stronger than me.
“I guess that leaves the last couple of issues that are outstanding. The Astrologer and Qi Ji Long,” I said with a sigh.
“The Astrologer, we can watch out for. But with how he can blend in, it isn’t simple to protect against him. The big danger is if he impersonates you or a governor. With his Astral Projectionhe can work his way up the chain of command. Skill checks would be the best way to confirm who people are,” Clarissa said, and I nodded at this.
“That is fine. Skill checks are a good way to ID people and will make it hard for him to impersonate people. We will have to have different high ranking people have different skills if at all possible. Release a semi-public list of those skills so they can be verified,” I said, and Clarissa nodded.
“That would be the plan. It would be the simplest way of verifying anyone in authority. Qi Ji Long…” Clarissa trailed off and I didn’t have a good answer either. The kid was favored by the Almighty System, which meant that killing him was off the table.
I wanted that meta-point so there was no need to cause issues with the Almighty System. But there was also no one his age either. I could easily see him growing up to resent me and plotting things. “Set him up with a therapist at the very least, and other teachers. We will treat him with respect,” I finally said.
“Really? You don’t want to kill him?” Clarissa asked me. That was why I liked her. She was ruthless and didn’t get hung up about silly things like if he was innocent or not.
“The Almighty System apparently wants to monitor him due to his unusual birth, at least that is what the Avatar has told me. While I don’t mind poking the god of this place if there is a good reason, I don’t want to poke god over one child,” I replied.
“Really? There has been nothing abnormal about him when Doctor Katz has checked in on his health,” Clarissa asked.
“To understand the Almighty System is headache inducing. You know my thoughts about the tower and everything else. It doesn’t operate on human principles or morals. Whatever its basis of reasoning is, is completely alien to our moral and cultural framework,” I countered.
“Well, it is a minor expense. Move him to the capital or keep him somewhere else?” Clarissa asked me.
“Move him to the Capital. It will be easier to keep an eye on him. Get monthly reports on his attitude and behavior. If there is anything concerning or if he really does become a threat, we can hand him over to the Avatar,” I replied.
“You want to create trouble for her, don’t you?” Clarissa asked me and I smiled.
“Yes. She wanted to keep him alive, then she can deal with him if he becomes an issue. As for his parentage, we can sweep that under the rug and keep it classified. Let the kid know of course and what his mother did, no need to sugar coat it. But no need to spread it around either in case someone goes after him,” I explained.
“That is doable. It won’t be much of a change from what I have already arranged. That is about it. How are you feeling Michael?” Clarissa asked me and I let out another sigh while slumping in my chair a bit.
“Trying and living one day at a time. My frequent restorations and focus on my energy between each restoration is helping slightly. I can fix things faster than they can get worse. But frequent restorations slow things down but make it safe to resolve all the issues one by one,” I explained.
“I was asking more about your mental health. It can’t have been easy,” Clarissa replied.
“It wasn’t, but I won. Now I just need to fix all the curse damage. Honestly, that is the most annoying part of all of this. I can’t believe the Astrologer was so…betrayal hungry. I had been hoping we could work together,” I said softly.
“Really? After everything he had done?” Clarissa asked me.
“Kind of. It is hard to explain. I know he wasn’t to be trusted, but…it sounds stupid, but it would have been nice to have a friend or a peer. I guess I am an optimist under all my layers of pessimism. I honestly don’t get why he betrayed me before the Divine Empress was dead?” I asked and there was a stretch of silence before Clarissa responded.
“I think it would most likely have to do with over confidence. He viewed himself as the center of everything. Also being trapped in the tower probably made him impatient as well or messed with his mind in some way.”
“Energy is thought, and thought is energy as you have said. What would the tower’s thoughts be? I don’t think it would be about making friends and giving out hugs. His experience could have affected his judgement in complex ways.” I nodded at this. It was a good point and something I hadn’t considered.
“It is a shame we couldn’t work together. His knowledge of energy is quite impressive,” I said with a touch of envy. The Ritualist had been more mad science. The Astrologer, was actual understanding or someone the Ritualist could have been, not counting the personality. Just in terms of knowledge and ability with energy.
I would have even considered sharing some of the passive revenue even. It sounded silly wanting a friend or a peer. After so long fighting to get to the top, I was missing Naran a bit. I had hoped that the Astrologer and I could have worked together.
There was also the safety aspect of having two people check each other’s methods and knowledge to prevent any accidents from happening. But people who reached the top did not want to play nicely. That was the only way to reach my level of power and ability. You can’t become a top level fighter with lots of stats without a powerful ego and mentality to back it up.
People with weak mindsets, would never have the determination to get far enough to be considered powerful. Sure, they could grind away, day after day as wage slaves to become more powerful, but that wasn’t enough.
That was the kind of mindset that created people like the Protector. Useless people who just hid away and didn’t do anything. The fact that there weren’t more people with meta-points running around or coming forward was a clear sign that people had a hard time risking their life and surviving.
Both aspects were critical. The life risking and the surviving. Just the first, meant death. Just the second, meant being stagnant to a degree. I was like that. Which was why I had been going back and forth since my conversation with the Avatar about getting a meta-point.
It was tempting to find a level 7 monster to kill, but it was also a huge risk. I hadn’t even beaten a level 6 monster. The power gap would not be simple or easy to overcome at the higher levels. But it was tempting, but I didn’t like risking my life.
That was probably the root of the issue. While I could be brave and persevere, I tended to fall back into a comfort zone. That was why I had gotten fat. Why I had stopped pushing for a long stretch of time as much as I could have. Now it was the reason why I was hesitating about rushing off to get a meta-point.
“That is life. Not everything works out. At least you survived and carried the day. I am glad you survived Michael and happy to call you a friend,” Clarissa said with a small smile and held out her hand. I took it and held it. We just sat there for a minute in silence as I appreciated her support.
All of this would have been impossible without her. While I didn’t have any romantic feelings for her, I was beyond impressed. She was a friend and someone I trusted explicitly. We had come quite far in our relationship. Honestly it was a bit overwhelming in some regards. I didn’t have her talent for organization and keeping people in line beyond threats.
“Thanks Clarissa. You are a good friend and thank you for keeping everything together. If you need something, let me know, all right?” I asked her.
“I will,” she let go and I let go as well. “Get some rest, we will move out tomorrow morning. I need to make some arrangements for our trip to Purgatory.”
“Ah, about that, I will be upgrading the city two times to the same level as the Forbidden City. Depending on what wave after the sky worms is like I fight challenge the next upgrade after that,” I said. Clarissa looked at me in surprise.
“I see, so hold off then?” she asked me.
“Up to you. We can discuss it more tomorrow. But I thought you should know.” She nodded at that, and I left to get some rest. It had been a long three days tracking her down.
Comments
Sooo plausible and sooo annoying. What a nightmare. This kumbaya friends moment was almost so on the nose that it does make you think she might have been replaced
E
2023-04-02 11:30:19 +0000 UTC“The Avatar can have her three cities. We will leave her alone for the most part. Just one embassy in her capital" "Just one embassy in her capital" Why? just one? and only in her capital? so you have not even basic eyes on two of her city?.... Why does he keep open things on his side and so create potential problems and make it easy for the "enemy" instead of just squeezing all that he can and locking all that he can about them? stop giving them more wriggle room they are no reason for this............ there are no excuse here too of MC, Clarissa is here to look at all the potential implication like MC have said if he misses some obvious one The first thing to discuss between Clarissa and MC is more or less about them (and who will influence also how they will build in some aspect all the rest) so look at their stance vs them to take and the capacity of the "enemy" and obvious problem and threats they will bring (short-medium-long term) and so how to limit their option and wriggle room the max possible and lock things the max they can with what means they have or can build, Avatar, Astrologer (who is alive) and Protector, we seem to have nothing about that (a little about Protector and Astro but Avatar have basically nothing and she is totally free) and MC keep opening things for them making it easy for them and give them wriggle room and so weakening MC side in many aspects.... It feels really off for MC (especially about Avatar) (and Clarissa is here to this time so no deux ex excuse in my view....) we get some moving forward on this aspect/subject in this chapter with Protector here when they will pressure him the max if possible, so why we get basically "nothing" about Avatar and her side???? (no pressure, no lock put in place, no try to give her less wriggle room in every aspect possible, no check on her and countermeasure or etc, basically nothing, she get fully what she wanted and is totally FREE and left alone in basically every aspect, it makes no sense when she is one of the greatest threat (political/influence/society/religion and all others thing), that MC and Clarissa put nothing in place vs that Avatar side when they build their "empire" and put things in place vs things coming in the future is just a no man for me (and when they do it partially with Protector....) so i just don't buy it here at all on this specific aspect "“You want to create trouble for her, don’t you?” Clarissa asked me and I smiled." Only on the Son of DE and only if something happens and in the future.... why nothing about the same thing? before in their talk? and about all other aspects if he has this in mind already, create trouble/pressure her and not let her free? (which is an obvious and a logical thing to do) Okay apart for this specific aspect with the Avatar things who feel really like a hole in their discussion and MC attitude/thought/action, all the rest is quite interesting with how they will build the thing up (i like particularly some details and etc bring into it) ah ! i forget another thing, really wanted to see with how MC is all time in his crystal income thing in his mind, that in their discussion when they look how build things that they talk at some point on the aspect/subject, to get crystal income and flow and control/manage it in the other way than the simple tax, tax is only one aspect of it, and the simple way of it, as a corporation type thing and as a society, they are all the other aspect when the crystal income appear and will flow, and here they can "grab" a lot of other crystal and income too (different than the tax), and this need to be managed and controlled by them, its more than half of the leftover crystal who flow and are here, if he don't like too have only 10% tax for him (and do it because public feeling blabla), get the other crystal income flowing around by creating and owning the businness and etc of his society he build, so double "tax" for him, the official of the government and the one he get out of the benefice businnes and all other thing do/create I find it a bit odd that Clarissa and also MC don't talk about this aspect at all here when they talk about the tax and income subject (when they have done it already in the past before Purgatory city get wrecked, they were having a similar thing/system put in place with business owned by them/government/people that they control) Or Clarissa is trying to digg her hole and card and personal benefice here in this aspect? but i find it bs because MC know of this way to do things (as seen before when they have done it already) so when MC whine about his few crystal official tax income and little % of it, i was really waiting that they bring that thing/aspect and Clarissa use it to convince MC easily, create official tax and they also put a system in place to also "tax"/get income unofficially (with business and etc they own or people "own" in name for them, (all of them if possible?)) and so have the max of the other % of crystal total grinding also going into their pocked with this another way/flow of crystal than the official tax, so a public smoke so to speak (which is why they bother to do this in the first place) and just no way MC accept only 10% tax when he knows what is coming and the threat and etc Honestly, i think its best if you take an extra time to write these chapters about things and detail and how they will build things (so as have the less thing "missed" or subject/aspect not broached or very little and so "all" is well thought out and exposed in length), its more or less a big turning point of the story and important part of it and i think it will gain to be extra on it and take time and length needed for, its also not filler and very interesting in my view, kingdom building and world building part are very good each time you have done them and we get a big explosion of it here in so many aspects (also everyone can have blind spots at some point, and you really go into complex and problematic things now with how your created world and story exploded in so many aspects to take account now, so take your time and the chapter needed for it please, it feel a bit rushed here, a discussion who talk and thought of all aspect who normally is hours or even day to do seem to be done in not even 30 mn here and so miss plenty of thing or broach some of them very very little on, or in not all aspect/consideration of some subject, its the part of the story for a big mind part things here, doing it just in a overall and short way and so "sloppy" doesn't make it well in my view) I talk to much and going to deep for little things, its also mostly just my personnal view/opinion, so if you have others plan or have view on it with others way, just go for it, your the author and its your story in the end, and overall you don't have disappointed at all on it for me
Zarik0
2023-04-01 16:08:32 +0000 UTCYou know what would be annoying? If Clarissa has been killed and Astro boy is impersonating her.
HenryMorgan
2023-04-01 13:18:21 +0000 UTCNot sure what kind of government can be formed when a superpowerfull apereance changer guy can infiltrate anywhere and kill anyone but Michael.
Blas_de_lezo
2023-03-31 23:17:31 +0000 UTCEvery protagonist needs a Clarissa to run things while they do protagonist things. Astrologer better keep his hands off! I can’t wait to see the Astrologer try to start his harem again. I am looking forward to his inevitable meeting with Ruth.
Seth Wilson
2023-03-31 23:17:21 +0000 UTC
