The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

I picked a building that was a bit distant from the gate, but close enough to overhear any noise and spot anyone walking around. The position wasn't the best for observation. That was on purpose since the best building to wait in, was one my pursuers would probably wait in to ambush me.

The restoration from the system store at the pillar removed fatigue, but there was a mental part that wasn't completely removed. I set the watch to beep every half an hour. I had tested how far the sound carried, and it wasn't that far despite the silence oppressing the deserted city.

Now I just needed a lot more points. I also confirmed that killing people didn't give me any points. That hadn't been on my mind when I made my decision, but I wouldn't throw away useful knowledge. No matter how upsetting the process to get it was, I could only move forward.

I thought about what to invest in now. Body was okay, but I still struggled. I wasn't hopeless, but I wasn't in the kind of shape that I could run for over an hour. That short escape had been the very limit of my ability and if it hadn't been for the recent restoration, I never would have made it.

It would cost about 3,000 points for the next 10 upgrades and then 3,500 for the following 10. If I wanted to raise each of my four remaining stats to 10, I needed 32 more points. So about 10,500 or so points or 2,100 slimes.

There was no way any of the upgrades were useless. Perception meant being able to see or sense better and Mind probably meant being able to process things better. The details were unknown, but I felt I could work out their potential effect or effects based on their names alone. Spirit and Aura were the big question marks at the moment, but I didn't have a single doubt that they would be any less useful than the other stats listed in the system store.

If anything, they were the most important. Anything that humans weren't used to, like magic, would probably fall under those categories. There was also no way I was upgrading the store. Especially after killing my teammates and the people attacking and chasing me from the plaza. It was a risk I was taking, but I wasn't about to spend points on a store upgrade others would benefit from.

Still, it was clear there hadn't been a mass arrival after five days. So, my hope was on ten days. If that wasn't the case, then the next set of arrivals would probably only happen once everyone in this batch was dead or after a very long time like 100 days.

I was in no particular rush at the moment after what had happened. There was urgency, but nothing more important than waiting at the moment. If it was just me, it would be boring. I could handle the isolation and boredom with no problem. I thought that now, but it was far better than worrying every second of the day if my teammates would kill me for crystals to get points.

I preferred the solitude, the silence, the quiet peace of reflection. I would never say no to a pleasant conversation, but everything so far had been stressful. This was the first moment I had since arriving in this fake game world to just relax.

I clenched my hands. What I had done, had been done. There was no going back. It was either them or me. No, don't lie to yourself. It wasn't them or me; it was a choice. Good or bad, I had to live with it now.

The key thing about these types of games was that they were always zero-sum games. Like a sports game, there had to be a winner and a loser. Killing monsters and getting points was an obvious path forward but also removing competition.

Was it the best choice? Maybe? It was the choice I had made. That was why I would always suck at the prisoner's dilemma. The idea behind it was two people in separate rooms. If both plead innocent, they each get 1 year on a lesser charge. If one person snitched, and the other didn't, the person who snitched would go free and the other would get 3 years. If they both snitched on the other person, then each would get 2 years.

The optimal answer was for both to trust each other and plead innocent. If they both thought that, then the next step in that logic train would be for you to snitch and be free. That is how you end up with the sub-optimal result of both people snitching on the other one.

There had been several studies and papers on the question. To me, it came down to a matter of trust. Do you trust people to do the optimal choice for all parties involved?

My answer was a clear and concise no. To put my life and fate in someone else's hands was against who I was. I would trust a police officer because they get paid and had consequences otherwise. The same with a doctor operating on me. There were societal expectations and other pressures on individuals to work together. This issue was very nuanced, but I was a cynic at heart. I didn't believe in the inherent goodness of people, especially in a place like this.

That didn't mean there weren't good people. But the risk involved was too great for this type of situation. If people could benefit by taking action with zero risk, then even if it hurt others, people would often take this option. Most of the time, this wasn't a concern in a society with rules. But in this place, it was my life on the line. My life was the most valuable commodity, and I was loath to spend or risk it. Still, I clenched my hand in anger and frustration.

My preference would be to not have been forced into the situation. The fact that I thought there was no better path forward was a failure on my part to properly plan. To properly think.

Even though the deed had been done, I had sworn that I would always be honest with myself. That was why I didn't hesitate to call myself fat and recognize things as they were, not as I wished them to be. It came from my fear of hallucinating or losing my sense of self. That fear had been deep-rooted and with me for a long time. I had seen family fall to mental illness, and I refused to let that happen to me.

It was also motivation to invest in other stats besides just Body. I didn't want to be trapped in illusions or think things were there that weren't. I would admit my faults and weaknesses, even if I didn't do anything to fix all of them.

Maybe I could have just killed Jesus and called him out as a thief. That might have been the better move. But once I committed to taking everyone out, it was hard for me to reconsider. That mindset gave me the courage to follow through when I acted, but it also stopped me from thinking the entire situation through and possibly arriving at a better outcome. I mentally sighed. Reviewing my actions was painful, but necessary in order to make better choices going forward.

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I heard people talking outside. I checked my watch, courtesy of Frank. It was just before midday. The days ran about 12 hours long, with about 2 hours each for sunset and sunrise. That was a bit longer than 24 hours, which made it annoying to track the length of the day using the watch.

From what I had found out so far, the length of the day was slowly getting shorter. That meant seasons and cold. At least that was what the group and I discussed. It was complicated since it was the length of the entire day shrinking or being shorter than 24 hours, not the length of time the sun spent in the sky. Now it was just me, and it seemed a distant problem.

It was a problem for future me. I looked out the window. There were five men near the gate talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying. I ducked back inside. The mega brute from before was with them as well. The guy was built like a tank on steroids.

I went back to resting and I would wait the rest of today and tomorrow. None of them had packs. That meant no food or liquid. On the other hand, I was sitting with a pile of fruit. Time was on my side at the moment.

I rested quietly until it was dark. Once it was dark, I got up and walked further away from the gate. No need to make it easier if they searched the nearby buildings.

My new building was like all the rest. Grey stone, with no decorations or furniture. The most intricate thing was the stone steps up to the second floor and the rectangular windows. Other than that, it was completely bland and empty like all the others.

I slept that night but I didn't dream. I had found out that I only dreamt when I felt safe and had a comfortable bed. Any kind of stress killed my dreaming. Perhaps that was related to why I was a light sleeper. Unfortunately, I had never dug into the science behind dreaming. Hindsight was 20/20, and it wasn't a research priority at the moment compared to the world around me and the store. Not like there were any studies or a database to reference in this place.

I got up and enjoyed a couple of oranges. With my meal done, I relieved myself in a side room and went back to waiting. I would give things another full day. This time I would make good use of the day for a bit of exploration.

I left the building and began moving clockwise around the city, following the wall away from the gate. If the gate was in the west at 9 o'clock, I began making my way towards 12. The idea was to do a full loop around the inside of the city, using the sun and shadows as a reference. If I hadn't gotten halfway by mid-day, I would turn around.

Thankfully, the wall was an easy-to-follow guide and there was an unobstructed road between the wall and the buildings. Since the buildings were square and oriented the same way and the wall was curved, the outside street width varied. There were no towers or stairs to go up the wall and the buildings themselves were only two stories tall with no roof access.

I ran across a gate in the 12 o'clock position. I checked outside of it and there was a similar forest to the one out of the previous gate. Still, I didn't trust the area. It could easily have another type of monster.

At the 3 o'clock position was a third gate that had grassland and rolling hills in the distance. I didn't see any monsters out in the fields either. That made me exceptionally nervous. In the 6 o'clock position was more pine forest.

Once I spotted my old gate to the slime forest, I ducked into a building. It was late afternoon, my feet were sore, and my body hurt a bit from all the walking. Still, I did a lot better than I would have before the upgrades.

Also, the information was quite useful. Four gates, three pine forest biomes, and a grass biome. The forests looked similar enough, that I didn't expect anything new besides a different type of monster.

The reason for this assumption went back to game logic. It would do no good to put blue slimes everywhere. Also, other people had to have been desperate and left out of the other gates. The fact that the situation in the plaza was so tense due to a lack of points and food, indicated that there was no known source of points and these people hadn't returned.

That was when I heard laughter and shouting. I checked out the window and saw three people coming back inside the city. I frowned as they probably had picked up crystals from the slimes. It was time for me to act. I couldn't let the secret of the points get away with these people. If I didn't strike now, they would get a restoration and I would be easy pickings.

I left my pack behind and brought only a single club. While it was tempting to duel wield, it would be too easy to get overwhelmed and lose my grip on my weapons.

"We are going to eat well, boys. These crystals have to give points or do something. No wonder that asshole had so much food."

I crept next to the houses. With one house extended out a bit more into the street in front of me, they couldn't see me.

"Finally, some good news. Let's head back."

I rushed out. I counted five, so the other two had probably hung back to try and catch me or something. My first swing hit the closest man in the side of the head, taking him out as he collapsed to the ground.

I didn't hesitate and swung in the other direction while stepping forward. I hit another man right in the face, shattering his teeth and jaw. He fell to the ground moaning and screaming.

"Get them, Frank!" I shouted out, focusing my eyes and head behind them.

The three remaining men, including the super brute, hesitated and looked behind them. I stepped forward and hit the brute on the knee. He stumbled back and fell on his butt letting out a cry of pain. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The other two spun around, rage on their faces at having been tricked.

"DIE!" One of them shouted and rushed at me. The second one rushed in when I swatted away his blow.

I had to move to keep the first man between us, to avoid getting overwhelmed. I parried another of his attacks. They were all exhausted while I had strength and energy on my side. I felt my heart beating rapidly, fear and adrenaline racing through me.

Act! I stepped forward and jabbed out with my club. The blow took him in the chest. He began gasping for air and fell on his butt. The other man stepped past his downed companion and swung.

"Why are you doing this?" he screamed out in rage. His lips were dry, and his eyes were sunken. Probably a former drug user, which made him weak but also unpredictable.

"Magic formation, three. Fireball!" I swung out my free left hand. The man shied back in panic from the cheap trick. I stepped forward and swung through his guard to hit him in the head. He stumbled to the side in a daze. I swung back in the other direction, hitting his head again and laying him out.

"You. You are going to die." The super brute was on his feet, but his knee wasn't looking good, and he was shaky on his feet. I backed up as he advanced, making sure to manage my breathing.

"You look like a person who is the picture of steroid abuse. Do you have a tiny dick?" I asked.

"Ahhhh!" He screamed and rushed at me. I quickly retreated. His leg was in bad shape, and he was clearly exhausted. I led him away from his group as he mindlessly chased after me. Once there was some distance, I went around him and back to the rest of the men I had downed. I delivered a blow to the head of one man who was struggling to get up.

I then kept up the chase. After a minute, the super brute collapsed to his knees and was wheezing. I slowly walked around behind him, circling him like a shark and forcing him to turn and turn. I kept walking around him. The other four men weren't moving at all.

"Why?" he asked in despair. He knew it was the end.

"Why not? This area is mine and the slimes are mine. I won't allow you to steal this opportunity and get revenge." I only spoke so he would waste more breath.

"I hate you," he said that with such passion, I almost felt bad for not caring. The key word being almost. I kept walking, and he kept turning to face me. I then quickly switched directions, and he struggled to change his rhythm.

I rushed towards him and swung at his head. He got an arm up in time. There was a loud crack; I broke a bone for sure. I backed off and began circling him again. He only lasted one more blow, the one after that hit him in the head and killed him. I won. Even with stacking my advantages, it hadn't been easy.