The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

I quietly listened as Amy continued to share everything about her son. I had been negligent in questioning her, preferring to just use her as a chess piece against Michael. But he was proving to be more troublesome than I expected.

"And then he fell off his new bike." I was only half paying attention as I had her narrate his entire life story. I had put quite a bit of fear into her. While she had been hesitant at first, she was not resilient to the blunter methods of persuasion. A shame I needed her healthy and intact to use against Michael.

"He was really upset since the paint had been messed up." I had no idea if any of this information could help me. It was all useless trivia. But I had made errors in judgement twice, there would not be a third time. It was embarrassing. While no one would know, I held myself to a high standard.

"After that he never really liked biking." We were only up to his eighth birthday. While tempting to rush her, I wanted to know everything about him just in case. This little bike story showed that he was temperamental and was willing to abandon things. Perhaps that was why he abandoned Purgatory so easily? I would have to mind a person with a psychoanalyzer profession just to be sure. Jacob was busy with other tasks at the moment.

"We then moved since my husband got a new job." He had a very nice childhood. Like mine had been until he had ripped me away and killed my mother. This woman's voice was slightly annoying. I resisted the urge to mutilate her as an act of petty revenge.

"He really liked his new room, since he had it to himself." He needed to be able to recognize her for the emotional impact to be at its greatest. My mother had made sure I understood the value of patience. Both from her life and her eventual death. No matter how long my revenge took, I would eventually succeed by constantly applying my mind to the problem. Eventually he would make a mistake I could capitalize on.

"The new car we got was much nicer than the old one." I could only hope that Jacob hurried up with his task of locating the Sword of Ascalon. That weapon would indeed be quite a boon if I could point it in the right direction. Also, with how many meta-points it had put into it, it would be quite interesting working to unravel its secrets.

"Unfortunately, the family dog Blackie was hit by a car and died later that year. I think it was confused by the move." I had heard way too much about the stupid dog already. At least it was dead. What was the point of a pet anyways? Summons were far better and they could rip your enemies apart and protect you. It seemed like a waste of resources when they could have been used much more efficiently. At least the dragon mentioned in the name of the Dragon Empire was a powerful creature of battle.

"We had a race and he cut his arm up quite badly when he ran into a glass door." A shame he didn't kill himself as a child. That would have made my life much better. Listening to this woman was enough to put a level 6 monster to sleep from how she droned on. Perhaps I shouldn't have skinned her a bit and then forced her to get a regeneration? Thoughts for the future if I ever had another prisoner which was doubtful.

"He cried when the stitches came out." An old injury that could be used, maybe. But doubtful. Jacob had not seen any weakness like that. He was right-handed, but so was I. It meant nothing except as a minor detail in close combat that he would prefer his right side.

"Enough," I finally said, and her mouth closed. I rubbed the sides of my head and felt a headache coming on. "Take her back to her room. Feed and water her," I told the slave attendant. She was brought away.

It was a foolish idea to listen to facts about Michael's life, but I couldn't ignore a possible resource that I could use against him. Already my forces were moving into position for an ambush. Michael thought he was clever by going West and then cutting back Northeast.

I wasn't going to let him know that I was tracking him. Instead, I was going to prepare a massive attack when he showed up to cash in his points. I would steal his points, the Avatar, and leave him stranded.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The latest calculations from the communications I had with my spy, put his projected total after 100 days at 30 billion points. With that much I would be able to beat him directly. It was the greatest concentration of wealth the Systemic Lands had ever seen. With those points in hand, I would sweep away all opposition.

The entire situation had a certain poetic justice about it. He had destroyed my mother's Empire and I had destroyed his. He had made my mother suffer, and I had done the same. He had robbed my mother's treasury, now I was going to rob his treasury.

"On a knife's sharp edge, memories reflected back, abrupt reversal." My tutor had taught me the art of haiku back in the Dragon Empire. I remembered her fondly. She had been a kind and caring woman while my mother was busy hunting down traitors and enemies.

I brought out a brush and carefully wrote out the words on a piece of paper. It shamed me to say that over the years my Chinese had become poor. But that could be corrected in the future. For now, I contented myself with making the haiku shine brightly on the piece of paper even if it was in English.

Culture was something I would have to make sure the new Dragon Empire had. A large statue of my mother fighting against the legions of enemies that sought to overwhelm her. Michael, underneath my boot, head splattered. It would be a challenge to get the stone just right, but I would spare no expense to remind everyone who was victorious in the end.

Setting my haiku to the side, I considered my upcoming plans. Was there anything I could do better? I mentally reviewed the details as carefully as I could, going through the steps and anything that could occur.

There were failure points, but once Michael was deep enough into the trap, it would become harder to escape. Perhaps another layer with the civilians. Two layers, since after that he would just kill everyone out of suspicion. Portions of the plaza would need to be dug out and replaced. That would take time and leave my preparations exposed. But he was content to remain grinding the last I heard from my spy.

Well it was less a spy and more a compromised individual that I exerted control over. But that did not matter, only the fact that I had someone nearby him. I would commit everything to this plan, including myself. While I could direct things at a distance, there would be too much delay.

I could hide myself easily enough in the city for the ambush. The spy would damage the airship once he arrived in the city, leaving him stranded. Once that happened, I would lose a valuable piece, but place him in check. A worthy sacrifice that I needed to be sure I could capitalize on.

I would place artillery platforms on the walls for long range assistance and to cover some weak areas in the main portion of the plan. Another area that would require a lot of investment of my time to make happen. Also, a Regional Map building, the expense would be high, but Jacob would be returning with points. I also managed to convert a grinding team yesterday to my cause.

Amazing what would happen once you exploded someone's head. They had quite a bit of points saved up as well. That stroke of luck showed that the Heavens were favoring me. Now I just needed to capitalize on what was to come.

The real trick was going to be arranging him to arrive at the city I wanted. He would not pick something obvious either. There were 36 options. I could narrow down the selection quite a bit and then gamble. If I could make the choice between two cities somehow, then I would have him for sure.

But he couldn't know that he was being manipulated. It was going to be the most delicate part of my entire plan. Everything else would hinge on this decision. I wouldn't have time to move all my preparations to another city once he made his decision. I then smiled as I realized what the past way to make him pick would be.

It was an insidious idea, but with my spy onboard, I could slowly manipulate things to go in the direction I wanted to create a natural decision on its surface he would think I would never guess, but in reality, was predetermined by myself at this very point in time. While he might expect a trap, he would never expect all the preparations I had prepared.

Thinking, that was the most important skill one could have. I had learned that from Michael and my mother's defeat. He was a thinker. A planner. Someone who was willing to make impulsive decisions, but he always had his reasons behind those decisions. He thought ahead constantly. Even more so when his life was under threat.

If I could manage to force him to the city I wanted, then I felt confident in my victory. If he went somewhere else, then all would be lost. Everything came down to my ability to manipulate him into thinking a choice that he made was not one I controlled. I felt quite excited by the prospect. It was a true battle of wits, where victory or defeat would hinge on the mental battle we were engaged in.