The Systemic Lands

Chapter XIV – Day 267 – City Defense

“Ahhhh!” The two people gripped by my hybrids screamed. I had placed their naked bodies on top of each other and then activated the hybridization process for both at the same time. I carefully observed the energy fluctuations.

When they stopped, I had a deformed werewolf hybrid. It had three eyes, seven fingers on one hand, and the body musculature was off. I consumed the newly formed meat with my other hybrids, enjoying the taste of warm blood and meat.

It had been seven days since the last arrival. My stock of test subjects was running low. The people out hunting could also be working harder. I was intercepting them at the city gates now. My hybrids would move the crystals back to me while moving out food and the occasional bit of supplies. It was annoying how none of them could access the store and I still had to do that myself.

Next arrival I would have to allocate some test subjects to resource gathering. I was running out of ideas to test, but I could always do with a larger army to defend myself. Combinations were one idea, but I was struggling there.

I thought about charging a ritual circle with energy, but not activating it, like a trap. It was something I was thinking quite a bit about and testing when I had an idea. I also wanted new monster types to test and figure out. The more combinations I could figure out, the greater my versatility would be.

There were less crystals brought in. In fact, several of the grinding teams had not come back. That was concerning. I needed more crystals. I needed all the crystals. Equipping people was a headache I didn’t want to deal with.

The tether limit was the big problem so I could start grinding monsters myself. The higher energy density outside the city, just broke the small tethers of level 1 summons. Even level 2 summons struggled and could only go about half a mile from the city.

Nox had left several ant summoner crystals. Those had proven mostly useless. They could make hybrids, but the hybrids couldn’t summon. Also, I could only call forth 10 smaller ants for each summoner and those smaller summons impacted my energy as well.

The summons were weak compared to other level 1 monsters and completely useless compared to hybrids in my opinion. They did have one big advantage. They could call forth monsters quickly and without crystal powder. It was interesting watching the energy gather in the air to form them, but I was only scratching the surface when I tried to figure out that process. Whatever was happening with skills was far more complex than anything I had run into so far.

It just showed me how much further I had to go in my research. I wanted to boost my sensing, but couldn’t risk negative energy training, while keeping control of my army.

The summoners could rapidly form disposable minions to keep up pressure on an enemy. I had a couple positioned at each of the entrances into Heaven and around the plaza. I had been working on my control constantly and had been attempting to control my summons in my sleep. There had been no progress, if I wasn’t conscious giving active orders, they just stood there doing nothing.

Movement. My hybrids at the south gate all looked as one at the approaching figure. It was Champion Michael, and he was alone.

I felt a shiver of fear run through me, but also anticipation. I quickly began maneuvering my forces within the city. Michael kept approaching. I commanded my hybrids to retreat. Come on in and I will finally kill you, I thought with a grin.

My wolf hybrids kept walking backwards as the Champion advanced slowly. He was being cautious. After the last trap, I didn’t blame him. However, I would pull him deeper into Heaven, and then cast him down into Hell.

Why did he stop just before the exit into the city? He just kept standing there and staring at my hybrids. Could he sense the summons and hybrids I was moving into place? Impossible, but maybe. I didn’t think he would survive my trap back at Purgatory, but he did.

Time to probe him. I sent a wave of twenty level 1 black ants from two of my ant summons. He melted most of them and then retreated. Why? He was winning. He should have pressed his advantage. He stopped just outside the city.

Ah, now I realized. He was probing my limitations. He had been killing the teams outside the city. Since they weren’t monsters, he wanted to know how far I could maintain my tether. How annoying fighting someone who wasn’t a complete clown.

It was a standoff. Champion Michael could retreat with ease and break through any blockade I made. Unless he went deep into Heaven, there was no chance of trapping him.

The only option I had to defeat him was to build up my strength and attempt to force a battle with him. I needed to use the arrivals to increase my army of hybrids and gather more crystals. The issue was that he could intercept the teams outside the city like he had done already.

The other issue were the lives and crystals needed for their equipment. A long-term battle of attrition was not in my favor, but I had no idea how to force a resolution.

Where was Nox when I needed her? My wolves on top of the wall watched as he retreated to his cart and two other people. They were at the edge of my tether range for level 1 monsters. I didn’t think they knew, but they could know.

Champion Michael knew the secret of the crystal powder process. Who knew how much he had already reversed engineered? I couldn’t be passive but leaving the city and my new lab was something I couldn’t do.

The risk was too great against someone like him. Even with monsters protecting me, if Champion Michael saw me, I had no doubt he would do his best to kill me. Perhaps I could use that to force him into a trap. Using myself as bait, was risky but doable.

That idea had more and more merit the more I thought about it. The last trap failed, and he was clearly alert to getting surrounded. Even if I showed myself, he wouldn’t rush in blindly anymore.

He would keep picking at my flesh like the vulture he was. Time was not in my favor. I needed to attack, to take the initiative and not stay trapped here. I would build up a force and then attack Purgatory. Champion Michael was one man, and he was out of the city grinding crystals for long periods of time.

Also, I only came out here because Nox recommended it. I had a home built here, but what mattered in the end were crystals and gathering them. After the next arrival, I would use the humans to make hybrids and then set out in force.

I had already rebuilt quite a bit of my army and with hybrids and with monsters that could summon other monsters, I could attack and go on the offensive. I would go into a city and use the people in the city to further supplement my army. I could then move from city to city and not get pinned down.

While moving would leave me slightly vulnerable, it would take a great deal of effort to fight through my forces. I could collect crystals from monsters outside a city as I moved and then gather up more test subjects to fuel my army even more at my destination.

Even if I didn’t visit a city for a while, it wouldn’t matter. They wouldn’t have time to build up a force to resist me. This would force Champion Michael to confront me. There would be no other option. Once he did, I already had the perfect trap in mind to kill him.

I had thought the last trap wouldn’t fail but it did. The important thing was to leave myself an escape route, so I didn’t get pinned down and killed. I wasn’t about to attempt hybridization with myself, but there was always more research to conduct.

There were more monsters to experiment with and hybridizations to try. I had enough crystals for now that I wasn’t too concerned about running out any time soon. Still, I wanted to increase my stats so I could grow my army faster and look at summoning level 3 monsters. Those would be the real game changer.

I had heard about their power. Once I could bring multiple level 3 monsters under my control at the same time, I could defeat Champion Michael in a straight up fight. Once I could do that, no one could stop me.

A smile worked its way onto my face at that thought. I just couldn’t lose sight of my goal. For I would ascend beyond my mortal limits and become a God. It was just a matter of time.