Inside, he found Leo with a far off gaze, the sign of someone looking at their menu. Mathew closed the door and went to take a shower. Once he was done, Leo was reading a booklet.
“What are you reading Leo?” Mathew asked.
“A booklet on the different types of weapons. I was looking for something specific, but it does not exist.”
“Looking for an upgrade for Lucky finally?”
Leo shook his head. “No need to, The System approved of it.”
Mathew raised an eyebrow. “Right, you plan on telling me how that was done? You always avoid answering it.”
Leo had a solemn face, as he broke eye contact. Mathew then realized what did it. “Isabell?”
He nodded. “I made an oath, at least that is what The System called it. My [Shotgun] skill is now Beginner rank, by the way. I’m the only person with such a skill. Everyone else with a gun has [Marksman] or some similar generic weapon skill, nothing for their specific firearm.”
Mathew nodded and started to boil water. “That sounds strong. What about your class?”
Leo smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Mathew nodded. “I would, we never talked about it. All I know is you acquired it not long after I did. I was busy grinding levels so I could fight in the Dungeon. Now I can’t.” He said.
“Yea, you finally got your dream Mathew. You get to sit at a desk every day and do nothing but live in safety. While others out there die to grow stronger and defend everyone.” Leo had a hint of resentment in his voice.
“Yes I do, but do you really think I plan to chain myself here for four years never leaving? I plan to get stronger. I have to now.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that? Is Payne making you do it?”
Mathew shook his head. “The System, funnily enough. My bonus reward for slaying that wolf is a Rod that is an open invitation for others to kill me and take it themselves. Including a few other powerful people in our newly expanded universe.”
Leo grew concerned. “Who would want to take it from you? Payne? Melton? Others?”
Mathew shrugged. “I have no idea, currently none of them know about it, or rather what it does. They just know it’s my newest weapon and it’s powerful. I showed off a little bit of it at a demonstration. If it showed up on my Menu, no doubt Payne would have pried it out of my cold dead hands.”
The teapot started to whistle and Mathew pulled it off to steep one of his earl grey bags in the boiling water. It was one of his last ones of this flavor, and he had half a mind to start double using bags.
“Why would you show it off? That’s insane.”
“Actually it’s the opposite.” Mathew clarified. “What sane person would show off a powerful and valuable item? Unless they were a fool, which I am not.”
“You are literally calling yourself an idiot Mathew.” Leo said with a huff. “But it’s not a bad plan.”
“Thank you, I came up with it myself. Plus I’m not an idiot, because my plan is to look like one. I’m playing 4D chess while they play checkers.” Mathew took a sip of the black tea, and smacked his lips realizing it was still too hot to drink.
“Well, you wanted to know about my class right? It’s called Crusader. It was offered by Kur, the God of Righteousness.”
Mathew frowned, trying to think where he heard that name from.
“It’s a class that all his followers receive. Plus, I want revenge against the undead. Once I claimed it as my choice, I received a notification of a series of gods that approved and disapproved of my choice. I had several who disapproved of it, but after talking to Zack he thinks it’s because I picked him over other gods as a choice. All my class options were related to gods, and all were tempting. I actually had Crusader twice, from Kur and another God.”
“So why did you pick Kur over the other?” Mathew asked, then sipped his tea, now that it cooled off enough to drink.
“Vengeance.” Leo said, looking at nothing with a stren face. “The other god was about order. I’ve seen how the law works Mathew, we both worked within it. Too many people win because of legal loopholes, or just pay the fines and still do wrong. I want to keep people safe, people like Madison and my sister.”
“Easy there Batman, the nerd squad will be all over you in a heartbeat.” Mathew joked.
Leo smiled. “I thought the same thing. Zack pointed out a handful and a half of fictional characters to base myself around, but I don’t want to. I want to be me, not someone else. Once I ensure nobody else can become an undead slave, or any slave for that matter, then I’ll do what I can to keep people safe. Maybe I’ll even come back here and say hi to the monkey in his cage.” Leo said, gesturing to Mathew.
“Oh, this monkey is in a cage, but he has the keys to get out.”
“I still think it’s a stupid plan.”
“Didn’t you just agree my previous plan was smart?” Mathew asked with hurt on his face, but obviously faked.
“Didn’t you just call yourself a monkey?” Leo asked with a smug face.
“Touche Leo, touche.” Mathew looked down at his tea before smirking. “So Madison eh? Not Henderson, or any other girl on the base? You have to pick the only sixteen year old you know? I thought you hated pedophiles.”
Leo opened his mouth and pointed at Mathew. “You know damn well that isn’t it. She’s a smart girl and she's the only one I have left that knows of my sister as well as I did. She misses her own family too. We met up for dinner to talk, and just be normal for a little while. She has only fought monsters that got too close to the gates when she had guard duty, so she is stuck at level six. However, most of her combat skills are either high Novice or Beginner. I see her as a friend, or maybe a sibling.” Leo looked down at the ground.
“She reminds me of when my sister was that young and innocent. All before her ex hurt her. It took months, almost a year before she went outside alone. Even longer before she had friends again. Now it’s all taken away. I would do anything to ensure it doesn't happen to anyone else, including Madison, Zack, and even you Mathew.”
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Mathew pursed his lips, but said nothing.
Leo sighed. “Just know you can depend upon me. I was here when you were at your worst, and I’m still here. That’s what friends are for.”
Mathew set aside his cup of tea and nodded. “Thank you Leo. Let’s just hope I’m around long enough for it to count.”
“Knowing you Mathew, you will. I just worry how we will all get there. We have no idea what Dungeons will throw at us, nor do we know what will happen once everything ends. I’m just moving forward with one goal in mind, but after that, what next?”
Mathew sighed. “What we always do when we have no clients. Enjoy the calm before the storm, because at any moment a crazed idiot can come running into the office saying his or her significant other cheated and then starts the months-long shenanagin. Except this time instead of divorce cases we have magical talking puppets.”
Leo shivered. “I hope not. I hate puppets, those beady lifeless eyes freak me out.”
“Well, of course they are lifeless, puppets are not alive. Be weirder if they did have a glint of life in them.”
Leo laughed. “Fair enough. Let's get some sleep, I have to go scouting tomorrow.” He got up and left Mathew alone in his own special room. Alone with only a kettle of boiling water, and a half empy cup of tea.
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The next three days were calm for Mathew. He would wake up and start his day with breakfast and a cup of tea. If he had anything to read, he would do so. Taking his time and enjoying the fact he had no real obligations.
He didn’t wear his combat outfit, since he wouldn’t be fighting. Instead wore the comfortable clothes he purchased. With no staff to use as a walking stick, Mathew looked like a normal person, minus the two floating balls and the knapsack around his side.
Mathew liked having his wisps out. Not only did they serve as a light source, but they helped keep him entertained. Secretly he named them recently. Wispy and Whis. The System even recently updated and changed the spell to include their names.
It made Mathew smile at that, a small personal pleasure he could name his summons. It was as his mother said, “Names have power. You and all your brothers are named after powerful men. We have great hopes for you all. Falter and you will have the name McGonald stripped from you, we don’t tolerate failure in this house.”
Mathew ignored any negative remarks or faces others made at him as he walked. Most people knew he was strong, and kept their comments to themselves. Others would look at him with disdain. General Payne had made it very clear Mathew was one of the important people on his base, even giving him a civilian rank equal to a Major in the military.
That put him higher than Captain Henderson by single rank. Mathew of course knew this was Payne attempting to have Mathew estranged from others on the base. Forcing him to become dependent on the General. It had no real power, since Mathew was the only person other than Mr. Melton had such a privilege.
If anyone started to verbally call him out with remarks like ‘Lazy’ or ‘Freeloader’, Mathew would simply have one of his wisps float toward them threateningly. Obviously he wouldn’t attack anyone, and at the rate the wisp moved, it was no more dangerous than a balloon. However, the others didn’t know that and would move out of his way.
He had no time to explain things to every random person who questioned why he has special privileges. They should have been stronger and worth something like he was. Except he would always be above them. He had a head start, and planned to keep it. Growing ever stronger.
Part of that involved ensuring his bodyguard didn’t pay too close attention to him. The guard assigned by General Payne was the familiar face of Colonel Franks. Mathew was curious as to why such an important person was lowered to guard duty, but it only took him a day and a half to figure it out.
Franks had what was referred to as a ‘Non-Combat’ class. Franks was a glorified secretary. Mathew overheard him talking to seemingly nobody. Mathew talked to Zack in private, they assumed it was telepathic communication of some sort.
A few more clues was the fact Franks carried paper around like Mathew, more likely a Scribe profession. Once Mathew made the connections, he made a few subtle guesses and word play in a passive conversation with the Colonel. A slight guess at his class ruined the poker face Franks had, confirming what Mathew needed to know.
He then spent the time messing with Franks, almost accidentally spilling the beans of his class around Mr. Melton or General Payne. Franks would start to sweat, almost visibly. It was easy to guess that Franks was not to tell Mathew of his abilities, or anyone else for that matter. If either of the men knew Mathew knew of Franks, then he was in deep shit.
Then again, Mathew could use that information to have Franks replaced, but Mathew lived by a famously known quote. ‘Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and the slow ones between you and the bear.’
When Mathew was doing paperwork for General Payne, Mathew was sitting in an air conditioned office with no windows. It was in the secure building that required three different badges or codes. Mathew tried to pay attention to the codes, but realized the numbers changed daily.
He was escorted in by Franks each day, and could only be in three rooms. The office, bathroom, and a break room that had food and drinks. Mathew constantly had either a lower ranked guard or Franks within earshot.
Mathew spent the time working on his [Writing] skill and the ability it provided. After two days, he realized he could do multiple copies at once if he focused more and spent additional mana. A recurring theme. If you wish to do more of something, exert more energy, or in this case mana.
He didn’t let his physical writing and typing skills go to waste, and he spent time working on his contract creation skills. The information he acquired from Di was simple, but enough to get started.
Mathew would spend time copying the contracts Payne requested, occasionally putting an error into the to see if they were checked. Mathew had no idea if any of them were caught, since he was never called out on it. It was his way to lay brickwork for contingencies in the future.
A misspelling of a word here, a deleted line there, and an extra specification of paragraph if he could fit it in easily. It didn’t take long before his [Writing] skill ranked up. Every day he would get one or two rank ups. It wasn’t until he hit Novice 8 that it slowed down.
When he wasn’t doing paperwork, Mathew could be found in the training yard. Here Mathew was kept less of an eye on with his crazed movements. Three times someone came over to offer advice on how to properly fight with a knife, or offer to use a better weapon.
Mathew kindly declined each time, giving the excuse of “It’s to rank the skill up. I’m testing random weird things to see what works.”
Typically that excuse works for most things. People across the base attempted weird actions to unlock a class, or upgrade an ability.
It was a peaceful three days, all ruined the morning of the fourth one.