The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

I followed the young man back towards the plaza. He stopped in front of a building where a guard was standing outside, and I noted another in the window.

Most people would think that I wouldn't go in there. The majority of the time they would be right. However, not going in there would mean I was afraid, and fear was a weakness for these types of people, gangsters. At least that was what my movie and book knowledge told me.

I kept a tight grip on my club and made my way forward. The guard stepped in front of me. "Easy there, hombre. You need to give that up to speak to Carlos." He gestured at my club.

"Then Carlos can come out here and speak to me." A minor power play. Nothing unexpected. Probably had to get through one or two more of these. Come on television knowledge, don't fail me now. We stared at each other and waited.

"Let him up." A voice called out after half a minute. Definite power play. I walked into the building, scanning the corners. There were two more men, but I saw no super brutes. I made my way to the second floor.

There was a man sitting on the windowsill with a thick mustache. A guard was leaning on the wall next to him. "Name's Michael." I introduced myself, wanting to get this over with.

"Carlos." The man smiled and stood up. "You seem to be a long-term resident of this place. I was hoping that me and you could have a discussion." Not a native English speaker from his accent and phrasing, but decent enough for a conversation.

"No food or drink to offer a guest?" I countered with a power play of my own. Carlos frowned for a moment and then smiled.

"That was what I wanted to talk to you about. You seem to know where to get these points."

"Just go out of the city," I said with a smile, and he laughed.

"But no one returns. It makes it very hard to survive here." That raised my concern about the other gates or the lack of competency that other people had.

"Let's say I tell you. What do I get besides your eternal gratitude for helping you out?" I asked, cutting to the heart of the matter.

"Saving a fellow human being?" I shook my head at that question. "Not a philanthropist I see. We could get you a woman or a boy if that is what you prefer." Attempting to appeal to my base desires. If I was an idiot who could be led around by my dick, then we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

"I was thinking a non-aggression pact. See, if I help you know how to get points, then you will quickly take over this hellhole." He gave me a nod to continue. "I am not interested in ruling or collecting taxes. What I am interested in is having a group to tell any other groups that are looking to bother me to go away and no taxes or fees of any kind for me."

I couldn't run a city and gather points. I needed someone to manage things, but I also refused to pay taxes. Let other idiots pay for the store upgrades. Carlos would fit this role perfectly.

Carlos was fairly thin, and about middle age if a bit on the younger side. Might be good living as well. He wasn't well-muscled, and I saw no visible tattoos, though his guard to the side had several tattoos.

"That is quite a hefty proposition. We could probably squeeze your friend, what was her name, Evaline for information." He was quite well-informed as well. I stared at him and considered my options. I stumbled into a much more dangerous conversation than I had initially realized. Like realizing you had pocket kings in poker but thinking your opponent might just be holding an ace.

"Go ahead. I just wanted her to keep me informed of what is going on around here. If she oversteps, that is on her." No leverage there. I was not about to let Carlos get any kind of hold on me that I didn't allow.

"That group, with that Amber chick." Another probe to search for weakness. He was well informed, but not well enough apparently.

"Don't care. Go beat them up and chop off their heads. Doesn't matter." I called his bluff. Still, I didn't raise my club and kept my gaze focused on him.

"Shit, man. You a stone-cold killer, aren't you?" He let out a chuckle. I gave him my crazy grin.

"You asking for a demonstration?" I slowly turned my head to look at his guard who tensed up.

"Nah, no need to fight. I get it. You help my little group here get some points and we will leave you alone. No taxes, no headaches. Comprende?" I nodded at that. Exactly what I wanted, a win-win outcome for both sides.

"Agreed." We shook on it. I saw him wrinkle his nose as I got close enough to shake. "You all coming or just a couple?" I asked. Carlos took a moment to think on that.

"Are more people better?" Carlos asked.

"It all depends. I will show you how to kill the monsters. You get crystals from the monsters. You turn those crystals in at the pillar for points. Bring as many as you want. I don't promise any person's safety."

"Dangerous, hmm, makes sense. Otherwise, everyone would be running out for crystals. Who else knows?" He wanted to know his competition.

"Amber and her group. I don't know about others," I answered.

"You don't mind if…" He drew a line across his throat with his thumb. That was surprisingly ruthless.

"A tax would probably work better long term. A fresh group shows up every ten days. But it is up to you." I offered information and a suggestion to reduce needless violence. But it was no longer in my hands. The moment I decided not to enforce what I wanted with violence, that was the moment my opinion was an opinion and not law.

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"The upgrades? You must have quite a bit to be so confident." I just gave him a smile, and he laughed. "You don't want a share, hmm? Working for me, we can run this place."

"If you want me to do something, we can talk about it, and I will ask for a price. Like a mercenary. Otherwise, we stay out of each other's business. I don't tell you how to run things. If you bring something up, I might have an opinion."

"Mercenary, I like that. So, you have been here a while then?"

"You are the third group. If there were groups before me, they didn't make it. This place disappears things if people aren't around," I explained.

"I noticed. Easy to get rid of a mess, but not much luxury. Alright, we will all go." Carlos began speaking Spanish to his guard. "No Spanish?" He turned to ask me. I gave him a grin before responding.

"Hmm, no. Probably should bring packs, fruit, and clubs. No need to save points now." He smiled back at me.

He brought a total of six men including his errand boy and himself. Carlos and I walked in the lead as we made our way to the edge of the city. They were all geared up as well.

"Big city. Wonder who was here before?" Carlos asked out loud.

"Probably no one." He gave me a look. "All modern cities have straight roads. We were teleported and these buildings are built from a single piece of stone. But the roads are made by a child with a crayon. This entire place is fake."

"Like the Matrix you think?" Now that was the question. What the purpose of all this was, and I didn't think the answer was to use humans as batteries.

"Maybe, but I am not sure about that yet. Some details are missing, but it could be explained by how everything was set up. It doesn't make a difference. Death is final from what I have seen."

"Any clue who is behind this?" Carlos asked, more to pass the time than to pry for information. This was the kind of far-reaching question that didn't really matter for the here and now.

"No. This place is a death trap. Think about it. Only people from the Americas are being teleported here. Right?" I gave him a look.

"Florida," he answered, and I nodded.

"No Chinese, Indians, or other ethnic groups. With how many Chinese there are, if people were taken across Earth equally, then there should be more of them." I was thinking about people from other nations, not the divise group that was being pulled from America into this one city.

"You think there might be other cities then, out there?" Carlos asked.

"There is a chance that the teleportation will change after a month. Maybe we are all teleported to similar but different planets. But the fact is they are not here, and we are. That is the main reason I am willing to work with you."

"You want an army here." Kind of, but nowhere close to the full picture. I wanted a government that stayed out of my way but made large purchases, so I didn't have to. Also, a tax on other people would slow them down while I got further ahead without being encumbered by a tax.

"At least skilled people who can fight and get points. The key is the shop upgrades, but once we unlock them, who knows what will happen? Could activate monsters or quests. No idea, but it is the main path forward that I have found," I speculated.

"The monsters… How bad are they?"

"What we will fight is easy but deadly, and they are slimes. Blobs of acid that move slowly. As long as you don't get their fluid on you, you will be fine. If you do, well you are dead or crippled. Other than that…" I trailed off and let out a sigh.

"In the dead biome past the forest, I saw something that was camouflaged, like a lizard that changes its skin. I couldn't make out the shape, but something was out there. No one has come back from the other gates either."

"So dangerous." Thank you for stating the obvious. I guess that was the requirement to be a gang boss. Just say obvious things. I held off from rolling my eyes.

"Yes, but no idea how. That is the troubling part. If they use magic, mind attacks, or something else, I have no idea."

"Not going to check them out?"

"When I feel I am strong enough to survive and escape. For now, I kill slimes and wait for the store to upgrade." There was silence after that as we each digested what we had talked about.

The danger of another city or even aliens attacking us was not insignificant. While I had no doubt I could eventually reach the peak in this city, there were benefits to a greater organization. Did I think a gang leader like Carlos here was a good leader? Not really, but he was the best there was. He also approached me. For someone like this, I couldn't approach them, otherwise, the relationship would be too unbalanced.

Could I lead people? Yes, maybe, it all depended on the people. Did I want to do it? No, absolutely not. It wasn't a distaste for politics or even talking to people that made me say no; it was the stress that came with the position. I liked to avoid stress, after having a stressful childhood.

I was very sensitive to situations that caused me a lot of stress and avoided them as much as possible. That was a factor in my weight gain. That was the problem with being truthful with myself at all times. The truth hurt quite a bit and was unpleasant.

Now Carlos would run things. The biggest challenge would be in how he managed the slime area. I didn't think being in a gang meant someone was dumb. It just meant they had different priorities. I would even say some gang members are smarter than wage slaves that work at McDonald's.

It all depended on the individual. At least there were no drugs to wreck people around here. But was food much better as something that was consumed? I patted my gut. It was hypocritical of me to throw others under my mental bus. Regardless of my thoughts, people could get in line with Carlos or get killed. I had some ideas on how I would run things, but how I set my position up with him meant I had no say in what Carlos did unless he asked me.

If I tried to be some sort of shadow ruler, it would lead to resentment and betrayal. Taking on a more mercenary and aloof approach was far better long term. I guess that is why I could never be a leader; it was hard for me to trust people. If I misread someone, I had no doubt it would end in tears all around.

This meant Carlos was my buffer and civilization builder. All the first governments started as monarchies anyway, so this wasn't that much different. I just had to be careful to remain a separate but supportive party to his rule.

My hope was that he realized that having someone useful around who wasn't a direct threat to him was a boon, and would allow us to coexist. That was why not saying anything about what he did was important. I had to repeat that to myself silently multiple times to make sure it was ingrained in my head.

We reached the gate to leave the city. "Alright, keep a lookout, and I will walk you through things. Once we meet the first monster, I will take questions afterward. Remember, even if you are talking, always keep a lookout." I looked at Carlos.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Don't go crazy and attack the monsters like a band of wolves. Slimes are slow, but very dangerous. If you get any of their acid on you, you are dead or crippled. That is why only one person to a slime. Let's go." I led the group out into the forest.

We finally found a single slime. "The key is glancing blows. If you hit it head-on, your club will get ruined more quickly." I hit it twice, scraping off the outer membrane and it deflated.

"Don't touch the liquid, since it will mess you up. Once it is all dust, you get a crystal." The monster turned to dust. I bent over and picked up the crystal. I held it up, and they all looked at it. I then passed it to Carlos.

"Not that heavy. How many points?" Carlos asked.

"Five."

"Not that many then. Anything else?"

"There are more slimes the closer you get to the deadlands. Once you spot them, I suggest you don't get any closer. The monster I saw is well hidden. I have no idea if it has abilities or how strong it is. Also, if you go too far North and South, you can run into other forest biomes. That has never been an issue for me, but people haven't come back from those gates," I explained.

"Good, then you are leaving now?"

"Unless there is anything else. Stay safe and good luck." Carlos wished me luck as well, and I left to farm slimes on my own.