I looked at the airship in front of me. It wasn’t the smallest size, it was one step up. A larger engine, a single forward beam cannon, and two rooms. The smaller front room was the shower, sink, and toilet. The rear room was the sleeping area and kitchen.
It would be cozy like the last airship, but we would have more room to move about, and more space to store supplies. Normally there wouldn’t be a bathroom or a shower, just more beds, but there were only two of us that would be on the airship.
The new airship was floating just above the ground in the plaza with four soldiers guarding it. They all saluted me as I got on board. The Leader was probably trying to leave a good impression on me. Food was already all stocked up on the airship along with what few personal belongings we had.
All the small things had been moved off our previous air boat beforehand when I had made the deal with Hamid. “Not going any bigger?” Dylan asked.
“I thought about it, but it isn’t worth the extra cost. If we are going to be doing this for a long time, then I wanted the ability to stay out for a hundred days at a time,” I replied.
“Well, we should be able to manage. At least we have a proper kitchen and shower now. That will make life a lot easier,” Dylan replied.
“The air boat was small, but it wasn’t a cart,” I countered as Dylan took the controls and I took the seat behind him. We lifted off into the air.
“Back to same spot?” Dylan asked.
“No. To New Kochi,” I replied. He turned to look at me in surprise and I gave him a nod.
“Alright, South it is.” The airship took off. I fired off a beam attack to take out the flying monster that began to descend in our path. “Max speed?” he asked me.
“Standard cruising speed,” I answered. No need to rush right now. I wanted to mentally relax and bask in my victory. It wasn’t a celebration, but it was good enough. I had won in the end.
“You can get a shower, you are still quite bloody,” Dylan said.
“I am, aren’t I,” I said while looking down at my ruined clothes.
“You didn’t even notice?” I could sense the surprise in his voice.
“No, I did not. I am just thinking. I am thinking quite a bit about the future, the past, my choices,” I said quietly.
“You aren’t going to build the Empire back up are you?” Dylan asked.
“No. I am letting it all go. It was a tether holding me back. The Empire did good things. Creating future possibilities for people. But I no longer have any desire for human enemies. The only thing better than a battle lost, is a battle won.”
“Your Empire, might not be the best in some regards, but it brought stability,” Dylan replied. He was right, but also wrong at the same time.
“My Empire. It was only as stable as me. If I go back, I would be the second coming of the Divine Empress. Absolute control over everything. I might not have the human suffering, but it would be a military dictatorship. There is no other way I can rule,” I replied.
“Not going to even try?” he asked.
“I have tried, in the past. Clarissa was the one holding Purgatory togeather. Without her managing everything, it just isn’t possible to continue the way things were done before. Between focusing on grinding, and going back to create a military dictatorship, I can tell you which one I prefer.”
“You can’t find someone? Or a middle ground?” Dylan asked.
“That I would trust to act in my name? To carry out things how I think they should be done? To be worth my time? No. If I did go back I would appoint a General in charge of each city and the tax rate going to me would be fifty percent. That would be around 750 million points per day, once things got back to the level they were previously,” I answered.
“And then people would rebel,” Dylan replied.
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“Yes. There would be a constant rebellion, I could easily quash. Then another one, and another. While I might earn more points eventually by taking direct control, it isn’t good for my mental health to be a dictator,” I replied.
Dylan was silent at that admission. I didn’t want to have to constantly kill people over and over. I could and would do it, but it just felt pointless. Kill one person you are a murderer, kill three people and you are a serial killer, kill a million people and you are a hero.
While I hadn’t killed millions, I had caused the deaths of enough people to reach the point of not wanting to deal with it anymore. I felt apathy gripping me, and I didn’t want that. If I saw a woman being raped, I didn’t want to just shrug. If I was grinding I wouldn’t be confronted with these atrocities constantly happening. I wouldn’t be degrading my motivation to intervene.
“You want to be in charge?” I asked Dylan.
“What me?” he asked in surprise.
“I could name you my successor and ruler. You could go out and put down rebellions. Set aside ten percent of all points for me. And run things however you want. Are you interested?” I asked. He was silent for tend seconds and then a minute before replying.
“It is different when you are confronted with the choice,” he said quietly.
“Indeed. It wears a person down. Life, death, constantly trying to convince people. The people suited for that type of role are the kind of people who view others like numbers or a chessboard. While not a bad mentality, you will end up with a utilitarian kind of government. Then there are hurt feelings and just all the baggage that will come along. Who knows, if you take charge, one day you might have your own Qi Ji Long,” I explained.
“You are serious,” Dylan said.
“I am. This isn’t a test, but a legitimate offer. If you want to be in charge for the rest of your life,” I replied.
“The rest of my life…” his voice trailed off.
“I can’t back a quitter,” I replied.
“Didn’t you quit?” he asked me.
“I am out here planning to go grinding once again. As for ruling, I never took that responsibility on in the first place. That was Clarissa. Not interested?” I asked. Dylan thought about my offer for a couple of minutes before responding.
“I don’t think that kind of thing is for me,” he finally replied. That was disappointing, but not surprising.
“That’s your decision. Being in charge of a nation sounds great, but when you are actually in charge, it is a nightmare. The biggest problem are those pesky morals and opinions people have. Even I have. Which is why I know, if I am in charge, it would be a blood bath of epic proportions,” I replied with a heavy sigh.
There was just no way for me to run a nation without wanting to kill everyone that gave me a hard time, and I would just get worse and worse. Being smart meant realizing when you were going to put yourself in a no-win situation and avoid it ahead of time.
Grinding was the better option. It was the plan to begin with all those years ago. Become strong enough, to get stronger without getting pulled into drama. If I had a portable store, I would never even need to return to any city.
Such an item cost a trillion points in the store along with the guidebook. That would take about 2,500 days or a bit less than 7 years to get enough points. That was also the time to raise my base stat points up to around two million, after my meta-point six million.
A portable store only made sense once I could increase my grinding speed even more and the stat increases were no longer noteworthy. A trillion points was just way too much. Getting drawn into political drama was just asking for trouble I didn’t want or need. Better to avoid it all entirely. Let other people kill each other while they grasped for power. I had power already.
“You could find someone else,” Dylan suggested.
“It is a matter of trust, and I am not interested in taking charge myself. Nations will come and go in the Systemic Lands. True stability will be created by small nations having secure borders and building up strength. And if they are too horrible, then I will erase them. The ultimate check on ultimate power,” I replied.
That was when I realized something. The Almighty System, the God of this place, was just as hands off. Did it experience the same kind of exhaustion and exasperation in regards to dealing with things? If so, then it made a lot more sense why it didn’t get more involved.
Regardless of my supposed insights, it was a bad idea to ascribe human motivations to an inhuman thing. The System was not human and thinking about it in human terms was not a good idea, since it could easily lead me to the wrong conclusion.
“So why New Kochi?” Dylan asked me.
“Personal reasons and to pass the word that Qi Ji Long is dead. Also to reach out to some people I know who will keep an eye on things,” I replied.
“You mean Michelle, since she is alive.”
“Yes. She will be taking a similar path. Getting stronger at her own pace.”
“And your mother?” Dylan carefully asked.
“She will have to chart her own way forward. There is nothing I can do to help her at the moment. She needs to get stats herself.” I clenched my hands into fists, angry at what Qi Ji Long had done. The risk of meeting her was too high. Curse that brat.
My mother, no matter how much I loved her, was an adult. She was not a child for me to hold her hand. While I would try and make things easier for her, it was not my job to control or dictate her life. When she was ready to meet, I would be as well.
Until then I would keep grinding to get stronger and stronger. I would clear the towers, clear the high level zones, until there was not one zone left unexplored. I would find my answers eventually. The stronger I became, the easier the answers would come to me in the future.
I hadn’t been prepared for the sphere, Monster, or Qi Ji Long. While it might be easy to claim excuses, I wanted to crush my future enemies with far more ease. The Sword was out there, and I knew that one day it would be trouble. It would be a reoccurring headache I would have to deal with. I would pass on news that Qi Ji Long was dead and then go back to grinding.