Mathew drove over to the main building where his office was. He knew there would be a lot of logistics to figure out. He needed to push agendas to acquire food as well as grow it, establish more shelters, and have a steady supply of some sort of merchandise to sell.
Economic systems were one of the few things he knew the best of other than marriage laws. He wasn’t on par with those who worked the stock markets or were board members of companies, but he knew that without a supply, demand did not exist.
If he wanted to bring other people to join Blue Oaks and support him to be World Leader he would need something to bribe people. Right now Blue Oaks had nothing. He had three stores that he didn’t own and did not take a tax for them being here. He also had The Workshop, a place that was taxed. That place he did own, but it wasn’t something people could buy. It was a place to go. People would want to live here near it, not stay in their own zones and help them grow.
One thing he did know was that Dungeons were a source of resources. Their stocks of leather from the colorful dinosaur dungeon were growing faster than they could produce products with them.
The only other Dungeon they had control over was the undead one in New Watago. There were no products coming out of there. Only people with powers that focused on demolishing undead were a product. Which, one could in theory sell and rent out. Perhaps build an entire team that specialized in destroying undead in case of future dungeons of that type.
Mathew entered his office and saw a stack of papers. “Nothing ever changes. Reminds me of old work.” To keep himself company, he summoned both his Wisps. Their added light was just a bonus. The two glowing balls started to slowly dance in the air as if air currents pushed them around.
They couldn’t talk back like Agnox and Cherry could, but the two intelligent summons were off doing their own projects. Which left Mathew alone with his thoughts.
The stacks were organized based on topics. The first stack were law change requests. He pulled the top one off the stack and read it over.
“A request to change the legal age of joining the guard force from fourteen to sixteen. Captain Henderson and others have voiced a complaint that such young people are unable to conform to their standards of professionalism and combat awareness.” Mathew read over the details and data gathered. Anyone under the age of sixteen who joined the guard force had a 42% chance of passing the basic standards.
Mathew knew the standards were most involved with following orders. Too many people were doing their own thing and not listening to those with rank above them. He was impressed by the multiple gathered reports and statistics. Henderson’s signature and date showed this was signed the day she returned.
Nobody had seen her in the past week since she disappeared. Luckily everyone knew she was alive thanks to the Leaderboards. Her level had not increased at all. Mathew was growing a bit worried for her safety. Blue Oaks needed her. She was one of the strongest in the place other than Mathew.
He glanced back at the request and approved it. A blue screen from The System showed the updated law and knew everyone else would receive the same notice.
Mathew continued through papers for the next few hours like that. Law change requests were just a part of it. Other requests such as permit systems were wanted. Mathew was a bit on the fence about that. Since permits would force people to pay to get them would regulate knowing who was doing what, which was a good thing. The downside was that it could cause a future where anyone could be denied a permit for any reason. Just because someone didn’t like them, or a false accusation was upon them.
Yet, with The System, Mathew wondered if there was a better way to fix all of that. For now, he denied the request until he knew of a better way to monitor things. He knew he would need trusted individuals in a chain of command with him at the top. It would be impossible to hear every plight and bother of every person in all the zones he will eventually control.
Several building requests existed as well. Most of them Mr. Melton already approved and was for Mathew to see for his own awareness. He saw an attached sheet of people who have construction-themed classes and professions. The majority of them had earth magic. Yet he saw a few flame based casters and one brawler was listed as well.
He didn’t need to do anything with it, so he stacked it to the side. Mathew looked over at his empty teapot and got up to make himself a pot. “I need to get one of those ghostly servants over here. The one at my house can make tea, but can’t do it how I like it yet. Getting better over time, but not quite perfect. Over here I bet I can get one of them to learn to organize paperwork for me.”
Mathew then missed his old Semi Automatic Smart House. When he appeared in his home on S-Day, he followed the preset protocol for when the world was ending, or as close of a scenario that would occur. He had a preset destination, supplies, and was to delete all of his personal data.
The house automated things like tea making, emails, phone calls, ordering food, and so many little things. It even had the whole house temperature controlled for when he was entering and leaving rooms.
He never made it to the bunker. Blue Oaks was supposed to be the meeting spot for a helicopter that never came. Mathew thought idly about what his life would be if he made it there. Mark mentioned they saw it was looted and destroyed when they were searching for him.
Would he have died? Been captured? Joined the looters? He couldn’t say for sure, just speculate. In the end, it didn’t matter. He was here now. “Am I here because I want to be, or because of Fate? Gaia and others mention it multiple times. Bob has twice. Doozkora hinted at it a few times as well. Like they wanted me specifically. What do I have that they want?”
Mathew paused, his tea forgotten. One thing that he had not questioned was his Bloodline
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He knew it for sure since Mark said they buried their bodies in the family graveyard. “So where did I get this powerful bloodline that boosted my soul? Was this too fate, or something else?”
A dozen thoughts and ideas ran through his mind. Ranging from his parents lying to him, to it being an older descendant, to that one or both of his parents not being his real parents. There was the short question that he acquired it after The System came into his life, but he would have remembered something like that.
The bloodline gave him the cold affinity. Which, most of his brothers had. He recalled each of them that he saw having icy blades, shooting cold bullets, or- Mathew realized Adam didn’t have anything cold related. His was light and healing. That didn’t mean Adam didn’t have a cold affinity, he just chose to ignore it in favor of healing and light powers.
But what about Luke or Ben? Ben was dead, so there was no way to ask him. He had yet to hear from Luke but knew he was alive. Sitting firmly at Level 29 but alive.
Mathew shook his head. There was no way to prove or disprove any theories. The only thing he could do was monitor himself. Once he makes contact with his brothers again, he could question them about it.
He would need to update Garcia on this matter. He didn’t inform her about it, but he did need a proper checkup of his entire capabilities. Mathew would wait for Zack at the very least. He knew the nerd would want to observe his powers and his gains.
He trusted him, but not with everything. Most of his powers were public, but he was going to start keeping things secret. Like his Elementals. Nobody knew about them, and he was going to keep it that way for now. A trump card against future enemies.
Mathew continued making himself a cup of tea once his thoughts calmed down. He had to reheat the water as it had cooled down while he was distracted. The cup of tea further aided him in relaxing and refocusing at the task at hand.
He continued working on paperwork. Several times people have come in to check on him, stating their personal ‘welcome backs’ and ‘glad you are alive’ statements. He put on a fake smile and thanked each of them to pretend he cared. In truth, he didn’t care if they really were glad he was alive.
They’ve done nothing to help him. They were not there when he fought and overcame various challenges. If anything they probably only cared that he was alive to protect them. Which, he couldn’t blame them. If he was in their shoes, he would do the same. Pretend to care about whoever was in charge to stay in their good graces.
A few came with personal motivation. One was direct and to the point. “Mr. McGonald, I want a better job. I’m tired of doing grunt work around here. Before The System, I was an accountant, not a lumberjack.”
Mathew looked the man up and down. He was thin, but muscles were seen bulging through the clothes that seem a size too small for him. He was wearing normal Earth made clothes which was a stark contrast to Mathew’s own magical robes. While Mathew was talking to him, he seemed nervous. There was something off about him as well Mathew couldn’t place a finger on.
“Well Mr….what was your name?”
“Sam Withers.” He glanced up at the bobbing wisps in the air before looking back at Mathew.
“Right, Mr. Withers. I’m sure your skills can be used elsewhere. Did you not properly apply with Mr. Melton and his team?”
“I did! But I was told there was a higher demand for manual labor, and once a spot opened up I could move. I’m only Level 9. I don’t have a class yet because I’m afraid my only options are all physical labor related. My profession is math based. See, It’s called [Mathematician]. It gave me a skill called [Risk Calculation] in which I can guess the odds of me doing something. Generally, the odds are always 75% or lower for success rates. I figured it was due to the skills rank being stuck at Beginner 0 is why there is a large error gap and-”
“Your point Mr. Withers.” Mathew interrupted, not wanting to spend forever getting this man’s entire life story told to him. “Please.”
“Right, sorry. I have other skills and Abilities related to labor work, and I’m afraid to get a class I don’t want. I want- no need a job that values my skill set! You are wasting my potential by hauling wood. When I could do a number of things.”
“If you recall, there are no businesses that need accounting work done. Taxes are taken care of via The System and laws, so we don’t need tax collectors either. We have nothing that needs math to help us I believe.” Mathew stated. He did feel for the guy, but as far as he knew, there were no open jobs for such a skill set.
“You have three businesses actually.” Mr. Withers said as if correcting Mathew. “Why can’t I work for one of them?”
Mathew leaned back in his chair. “Now, that’s an idea.” He didn’t think of having people work for Di or the other two shops.
“Have you asked any of the shop owners?” Mathew asked.
“No? I thought you owned them, and they ran the place.”
“Go talk to Di, say I sent you. Do not make me regret this.” Mathew warned sternly. He was using Sam here as an experiment. “If he says no, then my answer is no. You will be notified if a future job opens up that better fits your talents if you do not end up working for him.”
“Oh thank you Mr. McGonald!” Sam ran out the door before Mathew could say another word.
Mathew looked at a now empty cup of tea, and only half a stack of papers left. He stuck his head out of his office and looked for a nearby worker. “You, come here. Does the name Sam Withers ring a bell?”
“Oh, the wannabe accountant? Yes. He is in here every other day bothering Mr. Melton. The man finally sent him your way to deal with him.”
Mathew grumbled, “Of course he did. Thank you.” He walked down the hallway toward Mr. Melton's office.