The Systemic Lands

Chapter 442: Day 867 – Returning Home

Chapter 442: Day 867 – Returning Home

Clarissa was in her element getting everything packed up and handing out orders to various messengers, she had summoned after I had arrived at her bunker yesterday.

She was supervising, handing out messages, but she wasn’t doing any of the packing herself. It was a big difference compared to the Rising Sun Alliance in the Dragon Empire. That had been a sad group.

They had completely disappeared. No news, no attacks, nothing. It was a bit concerning but there were limited methods of sabotage or attack. The hope was that they would be grinders for a level 3 zone.

Only by killing me could they hope to destabilize my control over my Empire. But if they killed me I would be dead and it wouldn’t matter. Clarissa was also invaluable but not irreplaceable. Once the government was set up there would be a bureaucracy in place.

That was Clarissa’s true power, delegation. She had a system all set up with messengers sending out orders. The messengers would go to key rally points which would then direct the messengers to their delivery target.

A full recall wasn’t possible, since there was still fighting with the Lords in the Southwest part of the Dragon Empire. Also there was a tense standoff in the Northwest against the Fifth Caliphate.

Only the Commanders and Captains were being recalled since many would become the new Governors or Directors. While the war wasn’t over or won, things would be restructured in the next deek or so.

I was slowly getting used to the idea of calling 10 days a deek. Even if it felt like one of the stupidest words imaginable. Once the Governors were in place things would become easier.

Boarders would’ve drawn up between cities and Governors could run them as they saw fit with some limitations. No slavery, paying taxes, no rebellions, that sort of thing. How they allocated areas for grinding would be left to them with careful and regular audits.

There would be little to no micromanaging by Clarissa. The war had been hard on her. She had more gray hair. Well I had no complaints if she set things up to run with minimal input.

“Not rushing ahead?“ Clarissa asked me.

”In a little bit. Just resting and focusing on my energy,” I replied with a half truth. The real reason was that I was a bit lonely and it was nice to talk with a friend.

While I did need to fix the curse damage, I wanted to see and talk to people after being in that tower for so long.

”Well, we will get there the day after tomorrow. I can’t wait to get a shower,“ Clarissa said. I nodded at this.

“Food for me. We still have bread?” I asked. Long ago someone had arrived while making bread, bringing yeast. Losing that would have been annoying.

”Yes. Getting it up and running as a proper bakery will be tough. So many people have been lost. But once we are settled into Purgatory things will be much easier.” That was good to hear.

I was going to combine a vacation with getting the curse damage under control. I didn’t want to have issues away from a city or an easy restoration.

“I should probably get going,” I said and slowly stood up from my seat.

“So level 6?” Clarissa asked me.

”Probably not. It is tempting but I will get Purgatory up to level 5 at least. It just seems like a risk but there could be a meta-point,” I replied.

I needed to see what the upgrade past the sky worms was like and if there were any patterns. I was confident about beating 10 level 5 monsters and 1 level 6 monster, but not more level 6 monsters.

But I really wanted a meta-point. It would fix so many problems, but it was also a huge risk. Their rarity was insane for a reason. The Almighty System was stingy. I hated risking myself but it appeared to be a critical requirement to earn one.

”Well I won’t tell you what to do, except not to die,“ Clarissa told me in her deadpan voice. I smiled at that.

”I will try not to. I shudder at the t of how much paperwork that would cause,“ I joked back and turned to leave. Clarissa didn’t say anything more as I ran off towards Purgatory. It had been a long time, but now it finally felt like I was going home.

I had passed through before after it was destroyed but it wasn’t the same. This time I was going to take a break, to rest and heal.

While I knew the Divine Empress was dead, there was still that fear, the stress of being weak. That was the main reason I was thinking about pushing the city upgrades. I had to get stronger.

It was probably post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. As much as I hated to admit it even to myself, the constant fighting, near death, and betrayals wasn’t doing my mind any good.

I might lie to others but I refused to lie to myself. The problem with My mindset was the constant stress and worry I felt. While the physical effects were limited I knew soldiers could get messed up from fighting.

There was a slight worry that I might lose it with how on edge I felt. The reverse was that I needed my drive for power and my instincts honed to a razor’s edge to survive.

The only safe rooms were in the tower. I was finding it hard to sleep properly, worried about a sneak attack. That was why I wanted a meta-point. Not just for the power but peace of mind.

I knew in my head that my danger sense should cover for me, but there was a constant worry and fear that gnawed at me. While the Divine Empress was alive I could justify those feelings. Now it was just exhausting.

That was another reason for a break while fixing my curse damage. I needed to detox from the immense amount of stress the Divine Empress had subjected me too.

Perhaps therapy if an actual mental health professional was found. I knew we had one that had been trading others but they were all dead now.

That thought brought out a grim chuckle from me. People liked to talk about the importance of mental health and I agreed with them, but it didn’t matter if you were dead.

But I couldn’t and didn’t want to risk mental issues. With how monsters could impart emotional states with energy based attacks, being emotionally compromised was a huge risk that I couldn’t ignore.

I hadn’t said anything while I had been talk with Clarissa, but she knew. Once Purgatory was upgraded, I would talk with her about locating a therapist.

Also a bunker to sleep in. Double walls, double armored doors, and no windows. I wanted my bedroom to be a fortress.

An interior room would also be great for sensing. Clarissa had gotten some information back from the soldiers. Diviners were given a lot of the sense stat, then put into boxes.

The idea was for them to truly see energy using all their senses. No light, sound, and limited food and water. While I was a bit skeptical it did work.

The Divine Empress had been clever hiding the Avatar. The diviners could sense large energy spikes. But all the information that the Divine Empress gathered could be attributed to them while using the Avatar.

It seemed silly since she could communicate remotely, but the Avatar probably never informed the Divine Empress. If the Divine Empress had known, it would have been simple enough to have someone slap her once a minute to disrupt any skill.

Well it may not have been that easy, but there were ways to make things difficult for the Avatar. She had kind of moved up from mortal enemy, to untrustworthy acquaintance.

That was the good and bad thing about people dying, it simplified things. With the death of the Divine Empress so many plots and plans unraveled.

While I was glad I had finished her off, I would keep the lessons she had taught me close to my heart. Passive income was the best, and launching your enemies into the stratosphere was just as bad as choking them out. Always melt them, no matter what.

She had also taught me how not to manage an Empire. Motivating people through brutality and just killing everyone made for an unstable situation where the other top people would jump ship as soon as possible.

That was why I had accepted the lower tax rate Clarissa had proposed. When I had come up with the idea and name for the Immortal Council ages ago, I realized and understood I was in this for the long haul.

Real power was denoted by how many zones had grinders. The Divine Empress didn’t have people in the level 3 zones which was a big mistake in my opinion.

The trick with nation building games was always the balance between growing the economy or growing the military. Right now the Empire needed to grow the economy by pushing people into higher level zones and funneling back large amounts of crystals.

If the Divine Empress hadn’t been so insane in running her Dragon Empire, her passive income and stats could have been higher with the amount of time she had. Instead she just liked creating as much suffering as possible.

That was her chief exports, misery and suffering. The fact I had killed her didn’t prove anything about me. Instead it proved she had no concept of math, economics, or basic forms of government that weren’t built on a cult of personality and suffering.

Still she had the right idea about passive income and keeping a firm grip on power. One thing I would do that she hadn’t done was upgrade other cities.

After talking with Clarissa, it would be given out as a reward based on tax revenue. People would be motivated for meat. Fruits and vegetables could only take a person so far.

This would also motivate the governors as a way to reward the for good management. Clarissa had informed me my popularity was quite high and the death of the Divine Empress in combat would reach legendary status very quickly.

Morale had sunk and things had come close to falling apart with her running around, but with my victory everything had reversed. While I hadn’t got anything tangible from the top of the tower and the Almighty System, I had solidified my future role as Emperor.

That was incredibly valuable since passive income to boost my stats was incredibly overpowered. It was the first real exploit that wasn’t a trap or monkey’s paw in my mind.

While there might be some hinderance in getting meta-points, that was unclear compared to the overwhelming value and power that passive income represented.

In the past I hadn’t considered it since I was more efficient grinding and thinking at a one city level. But at a multi-city level or an Empire the scale quickly tipped towards passive income and remained firmly in that direction.

With how the Divine Empress had run her Dragon Empire, it was possible to take it over without a lot of resistance. There would be some fighting of course but no one at my level and not enough at level 3 to fight my soldiers.