The Systemic Lands

Chapter 98: Day 220 – Level 3 Area

“Well at least the trees were easy to spot,” I let out a sigh as we hit a swamp. We had headed West from Esperanza, the dungeon pit in the grasslands. Now we were in zone -4,-1 and it was deadlands at first, which turned into swamp.

The only monster so far in the deadlands had been large thick brown trees, which I killed at a distance. Their grasping roots and arms made melee a nightmare. “About to switch to another zone, if I had to guess,” Naran said.

“Is it the lack of trees ahead?” I asked.

“That helps.”

“I am not seeing anything, you?”

“Nope. Just more deadlands.”

“I hate mystery monsters. I really hate them,” I muttered as I looked out over the barren landscape. I was trying to piece what was different about these deadlands than all the other deadlands I had looked at so far.

It was not a simple thing. I shook out my shoulders and made sure my shield was on properly. The dragon motif on the front had already been scratched up pretty badly from all the attacks I had blocked so far. I really need to increase my energy reserves and tank, so I could move away from a shield. A pure mage build, attack from a distance.

I picked up a rock and threw it. Nothing. Shouting didn’t do anything either. I slowly began to advance forward through the deadlands. Naran was hanging back with instructions to shout if he saw anything and point.

A beam of light shot out of the ground. I instantly brought up my shield and head a sizzling sound. I checked around my shield and a yellow hand had burst out of the ground and had formed pistol shape at me. The index finger pointing right at me, with the thumb sticking up. It fired again and I blocked with my shield.

Acid Shot. I killed the monster. I left the crystal on the ground as I walked back to Naran. “So?” I asked.

“It burst out of the ground. Barely any warning.” I thought so. I checked my shield. The burn marks were fairly deep.

“Well, this is a bad area. Ranged attacks, blah.”

“We could push through or cut to the East to the other zone with the bugs.”

“Bugs that swarm. Let’s head South, try our luck on the rats, right?”

“That is what they said, rats to the South.”

“I was hoping the corner would be easy, but nope. Trees, fine. Magic hands, nope.” We got moving back to the South.

“It was a nice attack. Very on point.”

“Don’t try and be punny Naran. Otherwise, I will have to pun-ish you.”

“It is a fairly difficult pun-dertaking.”

“They won’t groan on me.”

“Alright I give up, I don’t have any more.”

“Victory is mine! Let my championship be known for 1,000 years and for my foes to bask in my greatness,” I proclaimed.

“A 1,000 years is a bit much. Let’s go with a 100. It was a pun battle after all.”

“Fine 100 years of greatness. Oh, look a tree.” I melted it and handed the crystal to Naran as we continued our trek South.

It was near the end of the day when we were finally forced by the swamp towards the East and South of Esperanza. We had to cut through a bit of grassland and flowerlands, but we made it to the new area, which was shadowlands, before it was dark.

A striped rat came down from the sky. I blocked the second monster with my shield and stabbed it. I did not shriek like a little girl who had her favorite toy taken away at first and have a new ding in my helmet. That never happened.

“Nope,” I said, and we retreated back to Esperanza’s flowerlands for the night.

“Plan?” Naran asked as we settled in for the night.

“Follow the boarder to the other corner and try to head South there. The meerkats were bearable since they went for the legs and those have armor. I don’t need rats raining from the sky. Just as bad as the cats. Just nope.”

“Well, that is obvious enough. I will regale people with stories of your manly war cry.”

“Hmmm, extra manly”

“Of course, of course.”

We settled in for the night and I did a mid-night clear along with Naran. The next day we began our trek to the East, killing red beetles as they came out from the flowers. I could kill them with my sword quick enough, so we didn’t have to wait for my energy to recharge.

By midday we reached the opposite corner. Checking to the South, there were gray rats. That were really resistant to sword swings but melted to my acid easily enough. Since they could be killed and weren’t overly dangerous or annoying, we pushed South.

It was evening when we came across an orange rat. This one let off a glow that hurt if it got too close. At least they were incredibly easy to spot. I called it a night and we set up camp again.

The next day was day 222 and we continued to push South through the orange rats. About midday was when the terrain finally changed, and I saw the shadowlands turn into swirling mist. A glance to the Southeast, showed an inky blackness.

I felt a chill run through me. Nope. I didn’t want to go near a void hole again. The last one had been disturbing enough. I couldn’t see anything moving in the mist and didn’t want to risk it. Instead, we followed the edge of the zone to the West, killing more orange rats to progress.

After a couple hours of traveling, I saw the shadowlands turn into more swamp. That was annoying, but the mistlands to our left turned into a frozen landscape.

“Finally. I figured there had to be different level 3 terrain types. That mist, is way too dangerous without a high Mind stat or some other stat.”

“I won’t be able to help easily,” Naran said.

“I know that, and it is fine. Just keep an eye out.” All four landscapes made an interesting corner, and I didn’t notice any monsters there. There were the shadowlands, swamp, mistlands, and now frostlands. While there was a bit of a gradual transition between terrain types, the monsters stuck to their areas very diligently. It was something I had come to consider as a rule of the Systemic Lands.

That was one reason I felt confident crossing at the corner as I went from the shadowlands to the Northeast to the frostlands to the Southwest. I spotted a fairly large dark blue rat. It turned its head towards me and rushed forward.

Larger aggro, or aggression, range. No ranged attack. Acid Shot. I was ready to use the skill again, but the one attack killed the monster. I advanced into the frostlands and felt a chill enter my body. It was cold. Incredibly cold. I felt like my breath was going to freeze in my throat. I retrieved the crystal and retreated back to the cart.

I was still shivering. “So?” Naran asked.

“Just…just…ahhhh,” I let out a soft cry of frustration. “It is the terrain itself. The mistlands disorients and the frostlands there, freeze a person to the core very quickly. A human without stats, they would die near instantly.”

“I see.” At least he didn’t ask what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do myself. This was a frustrating situation to be in. If the level 1 and level 2 areas formed a pattern, then there should be a third type of terrain for level 3.

Level 1 had grasslands, forest, and flowers. Level 2 had deadlands, shadowlands, and swamp. Level 3 had mistlands and now frostlands. That should leave one more terrain type out there. The hard part was finding it and hoping it had a monster that was easy to kill and not too dangerous.

Might as well ask for a steak dinner and some fries on the side out here. The large blue rat was easy enough to kill, but the cold. Well, I did have a spare set of clothes. Time to bundle up. I put on every layer I had. Even if the fit was terrible, I wasn’t too concerned. I even wrapped a spare shirt around my face to help keep my breath contained.

Did I really need cold weather equipment? That would make any expeditions even harder, and it made me wonder what level 4 or higher terrain was like. I pushed back into the cold zone. The sky was cloudy and there was a light breeze. Still, everything was clear and crisp.

I took a moment just to stand there. The cold was hard to handle, but I wasn’t about to give in. I glanced at the nearby mistlands and shook my head. At least it was better than being mentally attacked. I checked behind me and Naran was still there with the cart in the distance.

I pressed forward. A dark blue rat, Acid Shot. It died and picked up the crystal it dropped. It was a level 3 crystal for sure, 450 points. A wave of cold buffeted me. There was no wind, but it felt like it was seeping into my bones and core.

I killed another 4 rats before I returned to the cart. I was shaking badly, and the cold didn’t want to leave my body. “Not possible.” I stuttered out. I sipped some water Naran gave me. It warmed me up, even though the water had not been heated up. I was just that cold.

“At least you aren’t a complete idiot. I feel cold just looking at you.” Naran poked my armor. “Yeah, there is something unnatural going on. That big a temperature difference but no wind, weird.”

“Like Minecraft. Self-contained biomes,” I replied.

“Well, it looks like level 3 is off the table then.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Buy winter clothing. Heavy parka to go over my armor. Also, pants, very warm and fluffy pants.”

“Ah. So back to Esperanza?” I nodded, as I finally began to warm up a bit.

“Yes. It is almost dark. We can observe the zone during the night. Tomorrow we will head back, and then return since the monsters will be dead in a single day. Then I can work on clearing the level 3 monsters and you can clear out the orange rats.”

“They aren’t too bad. Still a lot of energy, but I can grind it out.”

“Good. This is going to take a while. Anything else we might need from Esperanza, since I don’t want to have to go back again.”

“Blankets and wood. Just in case we need to start a fire. Also, you should get a restoration, just to see if there is internal damage.”

“Good ideas. Good ideas. I need to kill about 60 level 3 monsters to balance out a grind in a level 2 spot. That should be doable. Hopefully.”

“Upgrades maybe?” Naran asked.

“I would need millions of points. Well not that many, but they are too expensive at the moment with how high my stat count is. 4,100 points per upgrade.” I recalled my stats.

Body-180; Mind-60; Spirt-100; Perception-100; Aura-60; Rengeration-200; Endurance-50; Absorption-50 for a total of 800 upgrades.

“My Body is quite high, but maybe higher?”

“Well, maybe Endurance or Aura?”

“Maybe. Aura though. That is a bit of mystery, any ideas?”

“No, at least nothing to back any of it up.”

“Body is the general body. Mind is speed of thinking, clarity of thought. Spirit is the gas tank. Perception are the senses and possibly a danger sense. Regeneration fills up the energy gas tank. Endurance is probably linked to sleep and Absorption food and water.” Those were my guesses so far.

“That leaves Aura,” Naran said.

“Yes, Aura. My guess is some kind of magic, energy resistance. I haven’t noted my acid or other skills getting any stronger. You?”

“No one I knew touched it after it didn’t do anything. No idea.”

“Well hopefully someone back in Purgatory will have a better idea once we head back.”

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