The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

I made my way to the road that led to the slimes and picked a wall to lean against. I pulled out my copper dagger and began carefully trimming my nails with it.

Then I just waited and watched people. I wasn't discrete in my conversation with Carlos earlier, so people had overheard. I saw several people give me looks and whisper among themselves.

A large man came up to me. "Are you supposed to be the toughest person here?"

"Yes. Do you want to fight to the death?" I asked. He seemed taken aback by my apparent bloodlust.

"No. I was just wondering if what Carlos said was true?"

"All true. No reason to lie about this hellhole," I replied casually.

"Are you looking for people?"

"I need someone to carry stuff for me. It is dangerous and there is a good chance of death. I go to places that others don't come back from. I am the one who found out about the slimes." He seemed to think about that and just looked at me for a long moment.

"What's in it for me?"

"Twenty slime crystals for each full day. You have to buy your own gear and food. You can keep whatever crystals you get from a kill, but you have to keep up with me. Crystals you earn are crystals you don't get paid. You earn ten crystals from killing things, you only get ten from me. But if you earn over twenty, you can keep the extra. Also, no taxes. So, you get to keep it all."

The man seemed to give it some serious thought. "I won't sacrifice my life or anything like that."

"That is fine, but I need someone with steel balls who can swallow their fear and not run at the first fight. I won't ask you to go first, but I don't want a coward either," I explained clearly, not wanting there to be any misunderstandings.

"How dangerous are the monsters?"

"Slimes are easy, but anyone that has met anything else has died or disappeared. I need someone to carry things for me in the area I want to check out. But like I said, it is pants-shitting terrifying and I need someone with balls of steel." I wasn't about to sugarcoat things and have the person I hired run at the first sign of danger.

"I need to think about it." That meant no. Now go away.

"That is fine. I'm not forcing anyone." The man walked away. Well, that fish slipped the line. Another man and then a woman both came over and I had similar conversations with both of them. In the end, both of them declined.

The fourth person was a wiry-looking chap with glasses. He gave me villain vibes with the suit he was wearing. Like a young wolf of wall street but only nerdier. He would be an anime villain for sure with that look.

"I'm in." I was a bit surprised at how quick his decision was.

"Alright. We are going to hunt slimes for five days to see if you can cut it. You need a pack, a club, and fruit to eat. Don't worry; food doesn't go bad. You might want to see if the restoration from the pillar will fix your eyes as well and how much it costs. I will wait here. Name's Michael by the way."

"Carl Smith." He held out his hand, and I shook it. Why he gave his last name, I had no idea. I guess he was attached to it or something. He bought his gear and then came back.

"Let's go. If you can't keep up my pace, let me know," I told him.

"So how will this work exactly?"

"Well, we are going to go outside the city, and then I will kill slimes. Your job is to grab crystals and toss them into your pack. When you are ready to fight your first one after watching me, let me know. There is a bit of a technique. Whatever happens, don't let any acid get on you. If you do, then you are screwed." I would not pay any points to heal him either.

"How bad is the acid?" Carl asked.

"Eat right through your flesh with a drop kind of bad. The slimes are slow and stupid, but they are incredibly deadly. The biggest risk when fighting them is having them burst on your body or completely ruining your weapon. Body means death, and weapon means a waste of points," I explained.

"I see."

"I doubt that. If you notice anything, I mean anything that concerns you, speak up. I would rather retreat alive, than be stupid and dead. Trust your instincts, always look up, and listen. There isn't very much ambient noise, so breathing is easy to hear."

"What is after the slimes?" Carl asked.

"You keep up, then we can talk. Don't want to scare you off. But if you leave, you get taxed again."

"You are a survivor of the first group, aren't you?"

"What gave it away? Was it the beard?" He blushed a bit at that. I just chuckled. "I am from the first arrival. There was no one here before my group as far as I know. They might have all died. The store wasn't upgraded then so probably no previous group. But even the slimes are risky. So how much was the restoration for you?" There could have been a 100-point upgrade, but that seemed pointless when everyone started with 100 points.

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"1,285 points." I winced at such a high number. That was going to be tough to afford.

"Ouch, that is really expensive. But glasses are a huge liability. Better to fix that so future restorations are cheaper. Worth it over the upgrades," I told him.

"What do they do?" Carl asked.

"Pretty much what you can figure out from the name. If you learn more, let me know."

"No magic, powers, classes, anything like that?"

"You are like me then if you were hoping for things like that. But nope. None of that right now. But this group is the front line so to speak. So, if anyone figures it out first, it will be us. Well, that is, if you don't die."

Carl was quiet as we hurried towards the gate.

We reached the gate and he looked up at the wall. "No way to get up as far as I know. Are you okay to go or do you need a break? Feel free to speak up," I told him.

"Just a few minutes to catch my breath." I nodded at that. It was nice not being the most out of shape person.

"No problem. Just let me know when you are ready to continue. If you need to slow down or stop, let me know. Communication is key if we are going to work together. The goal is 100 slime crystals today."

"100 crystals? That seems like a lot."

"Upgrades go up in price by 5 points for each one you buy. Also, if you want to fix your eyes, you need to get those points." Carl nodded at that. "Focus on your breathing. Keep it steady. If you start gasping like a horse after a derby, the noise will carry."

"Anything other than slimes?" Carl asked. I was happy to answer questions that weren't stupid, and these weren't stupid questions.

"I saw something camouflaged in the deadlands past the forest. We don't want to mess with anything like that right now. We would need to get a bow and some arrows maybe to test or to probe it. Too risky. If you have ideas, or you think something is risky, speak up. I will only get mad if you say useless things while we are in combat," I explained.

"That's all I can think of for now. You are different from what people were saying."

"Like I enjoy bathing in the blood of innocents?"

"Um…no?"

"I have my reputation for a good reason. But this place is tough. If you are going to make it here, you are either a sheep or a wolf. Being a sheep isn't bad, but you don't get the right to complain if you are sheared," I said, sharing some of my philosophy about this place.

"I got my breath back," Carl said.

"Good, then let's go." I headed into the forest with Carl right behind me. After a bit of walking, we came across a slime. No one else had made it out here. They had waited by the plaza for today's show. I can't blame them since I did the same thing.

I quickly went over and swiped my club at its side, ripping it open. I waited for it to die a couple of seconds later and turn to dust, then I gave Carl a look.

"Oh, right." He went over and picked up the crystal and put it in his pack.

"Leave your pack slightly open and learn to put it in without taking your pack off. Let's keep moving, I am going to go faster. Pay attention to me and the surroundings."

"Got it," Carl replied. He was already getting a high score in my book. Asking questions and paying attention to what I had to say. If he was a new employee, I would be quite pleased. Still, I needed more than a drone; I needed someone with balls of steel for what I had planned. That was the only way I could think of to phrase the mentality needed to go into a dark tunnel filled with monsters.

I picked up my pace moving to the high-density slime area, closer to the deadlands, and began killing slime after slime. I occasionally glanced back. Carl was keeping up, but he was struggling, and exhaustion was on his face.

After fifty slimes, I came to a halt. "Keeping up, okay?" I asked.

"A bit winded," he said through heavy breaths. At least it wasn't me dying for once. I couldn't help but smile a bit at that.

"We will take a short break and then keep going. Don't worry, after a couple of days of this, you will be in great shape."

"Don't know how I will manage to kill a slime. You race from one to the next."

"You have to race up there with me. Well, if you want to fight one, I can let you take on the next one so you can get a feel for it."

"Alright. A glancing blow, right?"

"Yes, though you might need more than one. Also, watch where your feet are, so they don't melt off. Slimes are low to the ground, so it is a pain to hit them while not getting your feet melted. Saw it happen before. The man had no real chance of recovery and killed himself after that from the pain."

I saw Carl look nervous at that.

"Alright, let's go." We moved forward a bit and ran into a slime. "All yours."

He went over and missed on the first swing. On the second swing, he managed to hit it, but the slime was only leaking slightly. The third swing hit the same spot and the slime died, but it degraded his club a fair bit.

I walked over. "Don't hit the same spot twice. They leak."

"Yeah, I see that now."

"Well, that is one for you, and no feet melting. Good job. Now let's keep moving." We managed to get around 120 crystals by the time the sun went down. Carl looked completely winded and exhausted.

"Alright, time to head back. Good job this afternoon," I said.

"Thanks. This…is…what…you do…this…every day?" Carl was struggling to breathe from all the exertion.

"Pretty much. But I am hoping to move on to other areas and monsters. It is okay to give up. I won't force you to continue if you don't want to."

Carl hesitated for a bit. "I will let you know in the morning."

"That is fine. Free choice and all that. Well, we should head back. Let's go, unless you want to sleep out here overnight."

Carl gave me a look of terror. "Night…?"

"Yeah. Come on." At least he didn't complain at all, which was a huge plus in my book. We reached the gate as the last bit of light was disappearing. I picked a building about a minute's walk from the gate, and we went up to the second floor. Carl collapsed on the floor, completely tired from what we had done. I checked to make sure we hadn't been followed. I saw no one which was good.

"Eat some fruit, it helps," I told him.

"How?" He was clearly asking how to survive in this place, not about the fruit.

"You just need to have more mental strength than the pain your body is telling you." He let out a groan as he sat up. He brought over his pack and took out an apple. I was already peeling an orange.

"I don't think I can physically make it if we do that all day tomorrow."

"Hmm. Well, you can't get a partial restoration. Like I said, if you want to quit, that is your choice. I had to push through a lot of pain to reach this point. Lots of chaffing, pain, and suffering." I patted my still overly large gut.

"Well, at least it gets easier," Carl mumbled. He was already falling asleep.

I didn't say anything else and let him fall asleep. I waited for a while listening for anyone else but didn't hear anyone before I fell asleep as well.