The Systemic Lands

Chapter 441: Day 866 (3) – Hard Choices

Chapter 441: Day 866 (3) – Hard Choices

“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 Projection he 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.