The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

I pushed the doors open as far as possible without stepping inside. It was a large room, about the size of the room with the large blue slime or a bit larger.

"Light another torch," I said. I took the older torch and tossed it up towards the ceiling in an arc.

There were numerous brown slimes and a single super brown slime on the ceiling. Several of them fell down from the ceiling. What a horrible boss room. There were two ways I could handle this. The safe way would be to leave, get a bow and then come back to this place. I would then force the slimes to drop with arrows and then finish them off.

Then there was the insane method. There had to be something here. I didn't want to drag this out anymore after spending quite a large number of points to get this far already. Also, my recent victory over the super blue slime gave me some confidence. Finally, there was the storm I had started back in the city. I needed an edge over other people.

"Stay here. If the doors close, stay as long as possible. Understand? Light another torch and toss it right inside the doorway, now."

Alex nodded and quickly got out another torch. I left my pack behind with my shield. I would be dual wielding since the brown slimes disabled my weapons. Alex tossed a torch inside the room, and I rushed forward. I had looked at the slimes on the ceiling and had my route mapped out.

As I ran, I slashed or clubbed the brown slimes as more fell behind me. I stayed away from the middle and the large brown slime above that location. The doors didn't close and a couple of minutes later, I was standing near Alex having eliminated the small brown slimes.

"Pack, water." He got it out. I drank some, then handed the flask back to him. I then rushed in again and raced straight under the large brown slime. The doors slammed shut with a bang. Of course, that would happen.

The large slime fell down to the ground and I could feel the ground shake a bit from the impact. If I hadn't seen it beforehand, that would have been an instant death sentence.

I reversed direction quickly and stabbed the brown slide and dragged my blade across it, similarly to how I killed the super blue slime. There were no cut scenes nor did I have time to build-up attacks. This was real-time, and I wasn't about to sit around and let myself get attacked. I almost tripped as I felt one of my feet hit something. I let go of my sword and leapt away.

Roots were emerging from around the brown slime as liquid poured out from its wound. I raced over to one torch and picked it up. I then hurled it through the air towards the boss monster.

It hit the side of the monster and tumbled to the ground next to it. The large brown slime moved away from the flame. I raced to the other torch that was almost out of time. I tossed it on the other side of the large brown slime.

It had a hard time figuring out what to do as fluid still leaked out of it from around my sword. It didn't have acid to dissolve a weapon that was stuck inside of it, which was a huge plus for me. I rushed in and hit the side of the hilt of my sword with my club, pushing it to the side and slightly deeper, enlarging the cut. The roots on the ground were slow, but I retreated after a single hit. If it entrapped me, it would kill me. I had no doubt about it.

The slime shuddered. I went to the torches and kicked them closer. The slime tried to turn itself into a pillar. It worked for a moment and then it collapsed outwards.

Apparently, I didn't think this through enough as both torches were smothered and went out with a hiss. I quickly backed up and listened. My eyes were scanning everything but seeing nothing. It was pitch black, and I waited there nervously, hoping for the large brown slime to ooze out.

The sword hit the ground as the roots stopped moving. I let out a sigh of relief. I had done enough damage to kill the boss monster. That was when a floating diamond-shaped crystal appeared. It had a soft white glow, which lit up the room just barely. I went over and got my sword first, noting a 50-point crystal on the ground. I picked that up and then grabbed the floating crystal.

It was just like the store, implanting information directly into my brain. I had a single skill slot. They tied the number of skill slots to the level of my chosen city. That meant there were more cities out there. Okay, I could unpack that later. The crystal gave a skill point that could not be saved.

I could use it to purchase an available skill from this dungeon by filling in a blank skill slot or replacing a skill I already had. The third option was to upgrade a skill. There were ten upgrades per skill. No more, no less. There were only two available skills. This was a shitty store. One came from the blue boss the other from the brown boss. Defeating sub-bosses unlocked more options, apparently.

Also, there was a ten-day respawn timer on the final boss and only one skill point per kill. Each person could only use the skill crystal from a dungeon once unless the skill someone used it for was discarded. Then a person could come back and get the skill point all over again. Well, golly gee, mister game administrator, thanks for explaining all these limitations. Blessed is the Almighty System.

The first skill was Acid Shot. I would need to shoot some acid away from me since my acid wouldn't hurt me, but could damage my gear. I would have to say words and use specific hand signs to trigger it. The other skill was Entanglement. These were thorny roots that would slowly grow out and entangle something. It had the same limitations as Acid Shot as it required hand signs and speaking.

There was no information on the cost of either skill or how many times I could use each. Well, that was just great. Acid as an attack would be good against most physical enemies, with a weakness to water and possibly fire. That was just my personal guess, since no special information was given directly into my head here that would be useful. I just had to use my game knowledge.

The roots would be a huge boost in fighting single enemies that were quick, like the wolves.

I picked Acid Shot. If there was a defensive, healing, or better utility skill, I would have picked that instead. Right now, I just picked the best of the two options I had.

There was a whoosh as the doors swung open. It was a good thing since the skill point crystal had disappeared along with its dim light. Alex was still there with his torch.

"You are alive." He sounded surprised. Of course I was alive.

"Of course I am. Did you have any trouble?" I asked.

"No. Did you get anything?"

"I got some points." I held up the boss' point crystal. "Well, get to work. The crystals won't pick themselves up." He quickly got to picking the crystals from the small brown slimes up. I put the 50-pointer in my pack and got my shield out again. Alex finished up and lit up the last torch.

I really needed a light spell, but I didn't even want to think about the skill slot limitation. I suddenly felt something and knew I had a second skill slot open up. That was startling. Apparently, I had skill sense now, since it was unlocked.

So, the third upgrade to the store had gone through. There were no slimes blocking our way as we exited the dungeon. No one was around as we left. I had Alex leave the torch behind. There was no need to bring it and we wouldn't be able to reuse it. I wasn't about to lug useless weight around.

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"Are we done?" he asked. I didn't blame him for asking.

"Yes. You did a good job today."

"I picked up 108 crystals."

"And?" I asked.

"Well, 100 of them are mine." I rolled my eyes at that.

"Hmmm, did I ever say anything else?"

"Uh, no."

"Then don't be an asshole and get some class. Do you see me stealing from people or hear about me stealing from people?" I asked. Please ignore what happened to my first team. No one needs to know about that.

"Um, no."

"Then, the only reason you are telling me is to get one up on me and piss me off. Do you want to piss me off?" I asked.

"No!"

"Alright then. Don't worry, I keep my word about payment. I didn't shortchange you on our long trip even though you wimped out a couple of times."

"I could barely keep up and breathe."

"That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem," I explained.

"You are an asshole." I stopped and just stared at him. His face paled. "Um…uh." He raised up his hands.

"I am an asshole, but don't push it. You are only getting off since you didn't panic and listened. Better than all those other useless idiots out here. I was pretty sure you would run off after the doors slammed shut."

He mumbled something. "What was that?" I asked.

"I was afraid there would be something in the tunnels."

"Ha! Well, you did a good job, regardless. You earned your pay."

"You seem like you are in a good mood. Was there anything good down there?" I shook my head at that.

"Alex…if I wanted you to know, I would tell you. If you want to go talking to other people, well, you can start with Evaline."

"Sorry, shutting up now." Someone could take a hint, thankfully.

"I get that you are nervous. Just breathe. Nothing to worry about now." I said that partly for myself as well. That last bit of the boss fight had been incredibly scary when the entire room was pitch black.

I saw a couple of other people heading for the gate as we returned to the city. We got some looks, but they stayed away. I noted a man standing outside the gate duck into the city when he spotted me. Why would someone wait there and then leave once I showed up?

I let out a long sigh as I cut the question with Occam's Razor. I walked to the side of the tunnel and came to a stop, so I could carefully check my surroundings.

"Um, why are we stopping?" Alex asked.

It was kind of cute like a three-legged puppy. Completely ignorant as to how deficient he was. "Alex, stay back and watch yourself. Got it?"

"Sure. Is there a fight or something?"

"Something like that. Just thinking how I want to do things. I think we are going to wait here for a while. If you go in without me, you are probably dead."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. We could head towards another gate, but I feel like the message of not messing with me hasn't sunk into some people's skulls." I looked at a group of three heading back to the gate or tunnel through the city wall.

"You three." They all stopped moving and looked at me in fear. "You aren't in trouble. I want you to go through the gate and pass along a message to the people waiting there. Tell them that their ambush sucks as hard as their mother's mouth. Make sure to repeat that exactly."

One of them chuckled at that and another spoke up. "I don't think whoever we tell it to will be happy about that."

"Well, you can tell them and say I threatened you to. If you don't, then I will kill you all. See, problem solved. Also here, it is worth 50 points." I got out a large crystal and tossed it over. They didn't look happy at that, but they didn't complain. They marched under the wall to deliver my message, and I waited. I checked down toward the gate tunnel. I then moved away from the gate to give myself a bit of room to maneuver and dodge.

It didn't take long for the rats to stir from their nest. Five people came out and apparently it was Evaline with a posse.

"Evaline, you really are second to none getting information," I said.

"You are so dead," she hissed out.

"She has a 200-crystal bounty if you four didn't know. You cut off her head and we don't have to fight." The leader seemed to think about that for a bit.

"After what you said about my mother, for some reason that doesn't seem like enough. You have the crystals with you?" the man asked.

"Left them with one of Carlos's captains and to have him spread the word. Alex here can vouch for it," I looked at him.

"Um, yeah. Paid extra to the Captain to manage it too. A lot of crystals." The man seemed to really consider it.

"Walker, you owe me," Evaline said as I listened in.

"Yes, I do owe you. But this is the kind of fight people aren't walking away from. It also explained why you were so desperate this morning." Evaline said nothing. "Still, I owe you a favor." The man then looked at me.

"Anything to counter—"

Nope. I wasn't about to haggle and let him squeeze me. I had tried the non-violent approach and it wasn't working.

I dropped my club and held out my right hand in an okay sign with three fingers pointed at the man. I then turned my hand ninety degrees to the right and spoke, "Acid Shot." A ball of acid materialized in the air and shot across the space between us. The man had great reflexes and brought up his shield and the acid hit it.

Everyone was staring in shock. I reset my hand position, "Acid Shot." I looked at the man, but my hand pointed at their archer off to the side. She wasn't quick enough to react to the sudden magical attack.

"Ahhhh!" She let out a horrific scream as her torso melted. Blood and guts poured out onto the ground. Her friends looked at her and screamed her name. I didn't bother to pay attention to the name of a dead woman. That was it, unfortunately. Knowledge entered my head that I either needed to upgrade the skill or have more Spirit. Two magical attacks were more than enough to give me an advantage.

I drew my sword and rushed forward. The man had discarded his shield and raised his sword to block my attack. I just slammed forward with my shield, and he tumbled down onto the ground, his sword flying from his grip.

I then stabbed down and cut deep into his lower right leg. You should have purchased some greaves to protect that area right above your foot. I quickly retreated and looked around. The last man was rushing towards his leader. Evaline had run off.

I looked around some more, just to be sure. With one dead, one disabled, and one having run off, I needed to confirm he was the last person. If they were setting up an ambush on the other side of the wall, then it made sense to have someone wait on this side.

There you are, trying to sneak around. I rushed towards him. He was dual wielding daggers, which was only good in a sneak attack. He wasn't faster than me and he turned to fight. I made as if I was going to run into him and he swung wide. No idea what he was doing there, probably over thinking things.

I then stabbed out my sword. His parry was ineffective, and my sword pierced his shoulder. He yelled in pain. I ripped my sword free and stabbed him in the gut. He collapsed to the ground. The last man standing was looking at his downed comrades and then at me.

"If you kill them and then strip completely naked, I will let you go," I said.

His face hardened and he raised his sword and shield. "Screw you."

I gave him a chance, but he didn't appreciate my kindness.

"Well, you people started this. Not me." I advanced on him. The leader managed to stand and get his sword, but he was limping hard. "So, what edgy name did your group have?" I asked.

"The Knights of—" I rushed him and I forced him to shut up and block my attack.

"Acid breath!" I screamed out and opened my mouth wide. He quickly raised his shield to cover his head. I stabbed down into his foot, driving my sword into the ground to pin his foot in place. I let go of my sword and backed off as he screamed in pain. I then went over and picked up my club.

He screamed and pleaded as he tried to unpin his foot. Several people who had been farming slimes were watching in the distance, but I didn't care. I went around and smashed in all their heads for good measure. Once they were dead, I collected their weapons and equipment and put them in my pack. I also got a fifth watch.

"You can use magic," Alex said.

"And you can state obvious things, which might be a special magic you have." He quickly shut his mouth.

"That was impressive," he finally said as we made our way into the city.

"Hmm, well if I couldn't win, I would have run. I am sure you would have slowed them down for me."

"What…But…Let's just get back to the plaza." As we walked back, I could sense my magic power coming back. Well, that was something Regeneration did; at least, I thought so. I got a similar mental confirmation like I had with Spirit. I would recover 10 magic in 100 minutes. The skill really unlocked a lot of information, though I still wasn't sure about Aura.

It was also weird how the information came to me after I had used the skill and not at the start, when I had first touched the crystal. Perhaps the information was put in my brain, but I just needed to think on it for it to pop into my head. That was disturbing.

Spirit was the gas tank, and Regeneration was the pump. 100 upgrades into Regeneration meant 1 mana energy a minute. But in a quick battle, having a large tank was more important. I could also regenerate outside of combat.

100 upgrades into Spirit, meant that I would need a thousand minutes to fill it back up. That was about 16.5 hours. But if I got Regeneration high enough, then a super large tank and investment into Spirit wasn't needed since I could use the energy as it came in.

I was also sure that wasn't all the stats did. Body had multiple effects, which made me hesitate to say any one stat had a single effect. Still, that wasn't a concern right now. I had a magic skill!