Chapter 73

The LOOONG Grind

353 time records. We managed to set 353 time records in eleven and a half years. Around year 3 Walter noticed that the caverns were on a 7 cycle repeat. No one probably ever expected someone to go through this dungeon enough times to ever notice it. After seven dungeon dives, the dungeon resets the path to the first dive. Once the pattern was recognized and memorized our times became much easier to obtain. In fact, except for the last year, we actually had quite a bit of down time waiting for right time to go and conquer the final boss.

353 double rewards equals 2,118 points. In the 150 years before this I had only earned 1,471 points. The 3 point minimum for zone 8 and the double rewards really added up. I now have a grand total of 3,589 points and I have not even tried to trade in the sets of materials that will earn me a few more points. In fact, come to think of it we have not even looked for the safe area yet. We probably ought to do that next.

Over the next month my team and I leisurely travelled around zone 8 scoping out positions of dungeons and looking for the safe area. When we finally arrived we saw something we had not seen in decades, other people! Now why would zone 8’s safe area have more players than zone 7? In zone 7 I only saw what I thought was one person and they disappeared. Now here in zone 8 I see what looks to be dozens of Great Game players. Something weird is going on.

I quickly recalled my kids and Walter into storage. I did not want to give away any of my trump cards if I did not have too. I approached the safe area cautiously but boldly. I did not want anyone to think I was an easy mark. Several of the people glanced at me and then ignored me. It seems that no one really cares about me or what I do, that makes me feel a little safer. As I head to the center area to find the Great Game kiosk I looked for anyone that I felt seemed approachable. I had questions and I wanted them answered.

I walked up to an elf like person who was leaning against a building in the main square.

“Excuse me, I am rather new to the area. Can you tell me why there are so many people here in the safe area when I saw no one in zone 7?”

“A newbie huh. Well you will find out easy enough so I might as well tell you, the reset is coming and people gather here every time to talk and exchange information.”

“Well thank you for the information, but that just leads to the next question, what is the reset?”

“You really are new then aren’t you? The reset happens every 250 years in zones 7, 8 and 9. Basically every dungeon is reset and switched around for something new. If you are not in a safe area when it happens then you lose all of your accumulated points. No one wants to lose all of their hard earned points so they make sure to arrive early just in case. Most of the time you never see another person in any of the zones, they are just too big and people do not trust each other.”

“So exactly when is this reset scheduled for?”

“Sometime this month. It gets hard to keep track of the exact day or week after a while you know.”

“Thanks for the information.”

I wandered off towards the central kiosk to sell off my dungeon spoils. I had really lucked out this time. If I had stayed any longer I could have lost all of the points I have gathered. I would have made them back eventually, but it would have set me back decades. I walk up to the kiosk.

Welcome to the Great Game Kiosk. Please select from the options below.

A. Purchase Supplies with money

B. Purchase Supplies with points

C. Sell Dungeon Materials for money

D. Sell Dungeon Materials for points

I select D and surprisingly the message has changed.

Zone 7 dungeon materials exchange rate: 5 dungeons for 2 points

Zone 8 dungeon materials exchange rate: 3 dungeons for 2 points

Well I did not expect that. It seems that the higher level dungeons are worth more points. That will help speed up the time spent earning points. Trade all.

Scanning, 353 zone 8 dungeon sets traded for 234 points.

234 points plus my 3,589 takes me to 3,823 points. I need 10,000 to get into zone 9 and a high enough level to stay safe. I was going to grind here for a long time, but with the difference in materials prices from zone 7 to zone 8 I have to assume that zone 9 will give me even better prices. That means I need to move up as soon as I feel safe enough even if it is earlier than the original plan. I probably will still check every 25 years. That will also let me figure out the timing of these resets better so I do not accidentally lose my points.

I spent the next 3 weeks wandering around town and talking and finding out any information I could from those who were friendly enough to chat. It seems I was right about zone 9 paying out better, but most people hunted in zone 8 for safety reasons. After spending the 3 weeks in the safe area, the world seemed to flicker. I can’t describe it any other way. It went on for about 30 seconds. When it was finished I could see all the people in the safe area start to exit immediately. That must be the reset. It sure seemed like a glitch in the programming of a machine to me. I really want to get into zone 10 to see if I can get some answers. Well it was time to start grinding once again. Off we go.

Year 25 after the reset and I only have found regular dungeons. Nothing to exploit like at the beginning. That means I am going to be here a long time. 256 dungeons cleared. Year 50 after the reset and still no exploitable dungeons. I only managed 243 dungeons in this block of time. Must stay focused on goal. Year 75 after reset, nothing new, 262 dungeons cleared. Year 100 after reset, same old thing, 234 dungeons cleared. Year 125 after reset, 277 dungeons cleared. Year 150 after reset, finally found a dungeon that can be semi exploited, or at least I can finish it in a very short amount of time, 312 dungeons cleared. Year 200 after reset, I have spent the last 25 years clearing the quick dungeon and I have to move on for my own sanity. I was able to clear it 536 times. Time to go trade in materials and take a break.

I think after I trade everything in I am going to take a dragon nap and see if that helps me refocus. I will have Walter keep track of the time so I do not accidentally sleep all the way to the reset. After trading in everything at the Great Game kiosk I have earned 3,534 new points bringing my total up to 7,357 points. I should check my level and the level of my companions also.

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 1,675- 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 1,667 - 3% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 1,676 - 30% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 1,679 - 16% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 1,787 - 54% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

Status:

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King

Level: 1,789 - 8%

Unspent Attribute Points: 3,140

Str: 2,821

HP: 28,210

Int: 3,151 +250% MP

MP: 219,570

Wis:3,151 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 2,821

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 2,821 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 2,821

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Huh, I got enough points that I can cross the 3,000 point threshold with every stat. It has been a long time since I crossed over the 2,000 point range and got the title of High god. I did not get anything for 2,500 points though. I wonder if there is something for 3,000. Well let’s find out. I place my points and get this message.

For reaching 3,000 points in every stat you have been elevated to the status of True God. All bonuses will be doubled for your stats.

For reaching true God status before level 2,500 your HP and MP have been doubled.

Granted the title True God + 50 to all stats.

Well that last part about the title seemed a little pointless.

Status:

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (True God)

Level: 1,789 - 8%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 3,391

HP: 33,910 (X2) 67,820

Int: 3,741 +500% MP

MP: 448,920 (X2) 897,840

Wis:3,741 +500% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 3,391

MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.

Con: 3,391 +500% HP/Regen

Luck: 3,391

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Well would you look at that. So if I am understanding this right, my stats are equal to or higher than a normal or above normal level 2,500 Great Game player. It seems like I can just enter into zone 9 or even zone 10 and survive especially with the boost in HP. The regeneration rate and MP boost seems a little unnecessary at this level. No matter your level you should have these rates and MP with those stats, so unless there is something special coming up I do not know what purpose they serve.

No matter how great I look on paper I am going to continue with my plan. I want not only myself, but my family to be safe when I travel into the end zones. The curious thing is the Great Game seems to have been set up and at least theoretically set for people to reach a level such as 2,500. I wonder where I will be strength wise when I finally reach that point. I was going to take a quick dragon nap, but I think I will do another 45 years on my quick dungeon and then sleep for 4 years and the last year I will spend in the safe area. This is to make sure that I will be able to reach 10,000 points after the next reset.

I set off back to my personal quick dungeon for another 45 years of leveling and point earning. I should be able to earn twice as much if I work at it. After 45 years we finish another run through this dungeon. With my levels and power boost from the last time we have been able to cut our time by about 25% on each run through this means that in 45 years we have cleared this dungeon 1204 times. I managed to reach my goal and I can honestly say no matter what the situation I am never going through the Night Hunters Dungeon ever again. In fact, if I never see, smell, hear or have anything to do with Stealth Cats it will be fine with me. They served their purpose and I have to move on. Back to the safe area.

After trading in the materials I have earned another 4, 414 points. With the 7,357 I previously I had I now have a grand total of 11,771 points enough to move into zone 9. With a moderate boost in levels over the last 45 years I think I am going to move up. For my sanity mostly. I need to try a zone 9 dungeon. If I can hack it than the speed of my earning points will sky rocket. Even with the extremely fast pace I have going here in zone 8 it will take another 2,000 years to earn the rest of the points I need to reach 100,000 and make it into zone 10.

I was originally going to create a cave and sleep away a few years waiting for the reset. The rest period is the same, I am just going to do it inside the safe area. I decided to occupy one of the buildings in the safe area. According to the rules, I will be safe here and I won’t screw up and be somewhere else when the reset happens. Everyone is going to stay out and take a shift so we can all get some rest. Elvira is going to watch the first year then wake Azure, who will watch and then wake Bruce, who will finally watch and then wake Esmerelda. Esmerelda will watch the fourth year and then wake me. I will call out Walter at that time and together we will watch the remaining time until the reset. After the reset Walter and I will make our way to zone 9.

When we reach zone 9 I will call the kids back out and we can try one dungeon. If there is no problem, we will start the long grind again for levels and points.

Everything has gone as planned. I have taught Walter how to play several different board games over the last few months and have caught up on some reading. After about a month of watching and talking to Walter I started to get bored as usual and began to organize my inventory. That took me another 2 months. I have stored a lot of random stuff in my infinite inventory over the years. However, I also rediscovered my book section. When I first earned my infinite inventory, I was so stoked to have space for everything that I kind of went crazy. For two whole days I cleaned out the remnants of libraries and bookstores so I would always have something to read and learn.

It only took over 300 years for me to find it again and start to use it. I need to make sure that I make it available to everyone else the next time we take a break. I have also created a new destructive spell. I took the old meteor swarm spell and upgraded it to Primal energy and then compressed it. So far I can control 12 different primal energy meteors. It is an area of effect spell that is frankly on the order of nuclear weapons. Every time I tried it I left the safe area and flew about 50 miles out, set it in motion and then ran like heck. I have it “programmed” for a 60 second delay which at top speed means I am at least 5 kilometers away from ground zero running and about ten kilometers away flying.

I teleported away the first time back to the safe area just to be careful and watched an amazing plume of ash, smoke and mushroom cloud awesomeness. After that I switched to running and flying to make sure that if I ever had to use it in an emergency or in a situation where teleporting was banned, been there done that, I would still be able to survive. It works beautifully, and shall we say it is a good thing everything is going to reset in a few weeks because everything within forty to fifty miles is a barren crater covered wasteland. What can I say, once you figure out a spell like that it is fun to just let loose once in a while.

Other players have been arriving this week and I overhear many gossiping about the strange wasteland surrounding the safe area. It makes me grin on the inside that I caused something that everyone is talking about, even if it is not necessarily a good thing. Just a few days later the shimmer that accompanied the reset occurred. After it was done I was one of the first to exit so I could see the change in landscape. Everything surrounding the safe area was pristine again. It really works.