Chapter 96: Day 219 – I Don’t Communicate Spanish

The white bear sloth rushed at me. It felt prefer it was attempting to drive nails into my head. Acid Shot. The monster melted away. I picked up the crystal, questioning how Ken was breaking them down. I had tried a few issues, however they had been remarkably resilient.

Naran got here up behind with the cart and took the crystal from me. “Ah, so that’s the reason you stopped.”

It was the morning of day 219, our third day trip of Purgatory. We had solely been touring for a short while and I had come to a cease. Forward of me the panorama modified from shadowlands to flowerlands, or flower fields.

The one different place I had seen flower fields was subsequent to Fact. “Properly, town ought to be on the heart of the zone, and there ought to be two dungeons as properly.” I used to be talking extra to remind myself than to Naran. I used to be attempting to consider the rest that is likely to be related.

I superior forwards. I hated new monsters. Essentially the most harmful assault was the one I didn’t find out about. That was after I noticed a bunch of individuals come over a close-by hill, killing blue beetles that rose up from beneath the flowers. The beetles had been the identical dimension because the venom flies. In regards to the dimension of an individual’s head.

I famous the individuals had been wielding golf equipment. The beetles spit out a fluid, acid if I needed to guess. The goal would dodge whereas one other one flanked the monster to hit it and kill it. It was spectacular teamwork with how properly they labored collectively.

I got here to a cease the place the flowers started. The individuals lastly observed me. There was shouting and pointing. They slowly made their method over killing the monsters whereas I waited. Time to stretch my non-existent diplomatic muscle.

They lastly got here to a cease in entrance of me. I spoke up first. “Good day. I’m Champion Michael, from town of Purgatory.”

“Hola no hablar. Español?” Oh no.

“Sorry. No Español. English?” I requested. All of them shook their heads. I knew Naran didn’t communicate some other languages. Properly simply nice. All the things else I knew in Spanish, wasn’t very well mannered, so solely good if I needed to insult their moms earlier than killing them.

Suppose. Ah! “Jefe.” I pointed to myself. I then pointed behind them. “Jefe.” They started to speak in fast hearth Spanish, which I didn’t perceive one bit. After a minute they stopped and gestured for us to comply with them.

I adopted them. “You suppose it’s protected?” Naran requested.

“Sure, and so they in all probability know higher English than they’re letting on. So don’t say something.”

“Received it boss.” A fourth metropolis, at -3, -1. They had been packed in tight within the grid on the map. It made me marvel if there was a metropolis to the East previous the ants. The fights over monsters would shortly choose up as cities tried to push each other out over searching areas.

Properly time to see how a lot of a risk this new metropolis could be. We reached town at mid-day. There have been guards on the gate. The searching group pointed at us and spoke to the guards quickly. Lastly, certainly one of them got here ahead to talk with me.

“Good day. Identify Mateo. Forgive. English not good.”

“Good day. Jefe Michael. I communicate to jefe right here. Higher English?” I requested. The guard winced.

“Only a few individuals, if any English.”

“Jefe? Boss?” I requested.

“I’ll take you. Lengthy stroll.” I nodded at that. Naran and I adopted Mateo by way of town to their plaza. I paid cautious consideration to the route. As soon as there we had been led to a constructing. There have been extra individuals, and several other guards. I famous that there wasn’t plenty of trash or any screaming occurring.

Each of these had been good indicators that this place was decently run. A number of individuals had been looking at us, however nobody got here up. Ultimately Mateo got here again out with three extra individuals.

“Good day. My identify is Luis. That is Juan, the chief of Esperanza. I will likely be translating. Quick sentences please, I’m not one of the best at translating so much or shortly.” No point out about individual quantity three, however in all probability an advisor or one other key stakeholder within the metropolis.

“Now we have beetles and cats across the metropolis. Then there are bugs, shifting timber, giant rats, and large bears within the areas past the grasslands and flowers. Any information from Earth, or a option to go away this place?”

“Nope. Higher get settled in. The final Earth day you bear in mind, September 1st?”

“Sure, similar for you then.” I nodded at that, and Luis let loose a sigh. “One second.” He started translating once more for the remainder of his group. He then turned again to me. “It’s a lengthy stroll to the areas. Do you need to relaxation right here for the night time?”

“No. Let me share one thing with you. They reset as soon as each 10 days with the arrival. That’s the reason I wish to clear them every twice. Then in 10 days you are able to do it yourselves. However we should always get going. Evening journey is much more harmful.”

There was some extra discuss, however ultimately Naran and I left, together with Luis, Juan, the third individual, and three guards. I checked the structure of the packs and our cart gave the impression to be unmolested. “West first?” I requested.

“Cats are the simplest to kill. Simply have to focus they’re a bit difficult. You will need to camp exterior town, it’s protected?”

“A bit, in case you are cautious and don’t transfer round. The monsters come again throughout the night time.” That was apparent to anybody out grinding. The precise timing was one thing I didn’t plan on sharing. The trick of this whole dialog was to be well mannered and appear forthcoming, whereas not giving something helpful away.

The unlucky truth was, the longer this metropolis took to advance, the stronger place Purgatory could be in. With the laborious limits on the variety of monsters and ability factors, particular teams could be dropping out. This was a zero-sum sport.

That meant there needed to be winners and losers. It wasn’t doable to create a steady answer long run that didn’t end in struggling and loss of life. This place was too small, and Earth was too large. The one query I had, was what day was it actually?

It was day 219 for me, however was it actually day 219? Esperanza right here was solely on day 80. What if one other metropolis was on day 500? How highly effective would the individuals in that metropolis be? I wasn’t afraid of somebody catching as much as me, however somebody with a head begin. That may be tough, very tough. I didn’t need to be put ready of weak point once more.

“How far is your metropolis?” Luis requested. I held again a wince on the query. They needed extra info and to dig deeper. I needed to be additional cautious going ahead. Time to launch plan B, for boisterous.

“A few days’ value of journey to the East. Let me inform you about among the fascinating monsters I’ve seen. Blue slimes, properly they’re fairly fascinating. Their outer shell is a semi-solid, however it could leak a bit if struck. The important thing factor is to watch out…”

We saved strolling and I saved speaking about slimes.

“…compared to the brown slimes, you possibly can see a constructive correlation to the biome and the monster kind. Nonetheless, I might be hesitant to name it a direct relationship, extra informal if I needed to guess. Just like how shark assaults and ice cream consumption go up on the similar time. There’s a third underlying issue of summer time. I believe that is likely to be the case right here. By extrapolating the monster sorts I hope to…”

My improved stats allowed me to maintain going and going.

“…the conjunction of the solar, with the horizon, doesn’t show that it isn’t a lightweight supply. The physics of this place could possibly be non-Euclidean in nature, resulting in a bizarre topology. I hope to seek the advice of an knowledgeable on such issues however discovering somebody with a helpful PhD is all all the way down to luck. Nonetheless, I’m hopeful, and it’s one thing I ponder…”

I might inform they needed to interrupt, however I didn’t cease.

“…the purpose distribution is decidedly unfair, however that simply places the potential of additional growth into perspective. I’ve a small quantity of hope that assets may be harvested in a sustainable method, however the timber exterior Purgatory are extremely resilient to break as is the remainder of the terrain. Maybe high-level abilities or stats might make the distinction once you consider instrument utilization. Nonetheless, I’m hesitant to concede that it’s inconceivable to…”

Even my mind started to bleed and cry at this level.

“…astrology is likely to be helpful. Whereas I’ve not noticed any identified constellations, I’ve been hoping to identify a distinction or any kind of clue within the stars. That’s the reason celestial alignment is essential to maintain observe of. I’ve not noticed a moon, or the potential of one other planet, however and not using a telescope I hesitate to make any substantive claims…”

After an hour and a half, we reached the sting of town.

“…that’s the reason you must think about math as a basic type of fight. Through the use of statistical calculations of optimum distribution and tabulating the outcomes throughout numerous areas. You may come to an actualization in regards to the general grind charge. Which is one thing I noticed early on with the blue slimes and proceed to make use of. I hope that helped clarify issues?”