There was a lot to unpack right now. Two titles, a level up, one of his skills was replaced, or possibly removed out right and gained a new one just as quickly. Then the entire new section called Axioms. He scratched at the bandage covering half his face while he looked it over. Firstly, he wanted to know what happened to his skill. He focused on [Contest] to see what it said.
Contest | Beginner 0
Your ability to haggle out deals in your favor has improved through success. Future deals involving currency will give you a +5% bonus.
Contest: Resistance to mental attacks increased based on Endurance.
“Okay, so it’s the same skill, but why did it upgrade itself? I didn’t do anything when it came to the Hearth Crystal.” He wasn’t outright upset by the new upgrade, yet something about it was different. Then there was the name, Contest. Was it the noun or the verb version?
Mathew prodded the skill with his mana, just like how he can with a few others, but nothing happened as far as he could tell. Then he realized it wasn’t a skill that was activateable, but it was a passive one, something always running in the background, barely draining his mana.
Whether it used more when he was mentally attacked, he had no clue, but he would need to test it out in the future. He quickly moved up to his titles, giving them a look over before going to the one thing that called out to him the most.
Title: Child of Axiom - For being the ninth person to develop a Glint of Truth, you are rewarded +5 to Class related Stats, All Stats +2%
Title: Hearth Crystal Owner - You are the leader of your claimed area. With great responsibilities comes great power. +10% to all stats
“The ninth person to Develop a Glint of Truth? What does that mean?” Mathew thought to himself. The Title for owning a Hearth Crystal was amazing. Yet, it could be taken from him. He would need to guard and take care of what was now his property with care.
There was only one thing that could give him some form of an answer. At first, he focused on ‘Axiom’, yet nothing appeared just like if focused on a stat like ‘Strength’. No blue box to explain what it was.
Next he focused on his only Axiom, and just like a title, a screen appeared.
Glint of Resistance: +15 to Endurance, +10 to Wisdom
Mathew frowned. It didn’t tell him anything, other than why his Wisdom was now higher than his Intelligence. His stats continued to grow tremendously. If he continued like this, his Soloist title was going to get dwarfed. +20 to all stats was amazing, and the 10% boost will always be welcomed. Yet, whatever this Glint was, it seemed to be free stats outside of titles. If he gained more, just how strong could he be?
Taking it all in, Mathew summerized his ‘battle’ with Morthrus was responsible. Something happened during that fight that he couldn’t quite figure out just yet. Hopefully he could get some answers from Agnox. With the shops gone, he was his only outside source of answers for the time being.
Speaking of the little Imp, he took a glance at his newest Summon spell.
Summon Familiar: Agnox | Unranked
You may summon your bonded familiar, Agnox at any time or return him to your soulscape. If Agnox dies, you lose access to this spell. Skill rank dependent upon Agnox’s Level.
Mathew smiled to himself. At first he was worried about the fact it was unranked. He would be stuck with a stagnant familiar’s power. Now, it was the opposite. Agnox could gain levels just like he could. Does that mean he could gain skills? Abilities? What about his own class and profession?
He glanced over at the still infernal. He was still knocked out from whatever happened to him. Mathew caught a glint of silver just below his left wing. “Was that always there?”
“Mathew! Get your ass out of that bed and into my tent. NOW!” The commanding voice of Henderson took him out of his thoughts. He winced and slowly climbed to his feet. It was slow, and he felt sore, but he could move and Henderson knew that.
If he kept her waiting, it would be a much worse time for him. He paused for a moment, glancing back at Agnox. He focused for a moment, and the Imp vanished into a mote of grey light that wooshed toward his chest. It felt comforting for some reason.
He just thought unsummoning Agnox would be like his Wisps or Jeffrey. Just a sudden fade away. With Agnox it was like pulling mana toward him, or something along those lines. It was weird.
He walked out of the medical tent and followed Henderson into her own. Well it was hers now, it was obvious this was meant for Payne.
She gestured to a chair for Mathew to sit, and she took her own seat on the other side of a desk. “You sit.”
Mathew did so, and leaned into the back of the chair, enjoying sitting down and resting still. “So, how can I help?”
She stared long and hard at Mathew. “You are going to start talking for starters. I want to know everything. Everything. Any plans, the full story of you and Payne, why the Dungeon just surrendered. If you think the fact you chose to sit and piss once in your life is important to anything I better fucking hear it. I have to take charge now that Payne ran off like a sissy, and I just know you are chalk full of explanations.”
Mathew sighed, “Just how much do I say?”
As if reading his mind, “If I find out you kept anything to yourself, I will kick you out Mathew I swear to god. I don’t care if you own that Crystal right now, I can take it from you while you sleep, publicly mark you as a criminal, and those who do question it won’t try to object out of fear of ending up like you.” She sighed and rubbed at her head. “Sorry, that sounded wrong. I’m tired of this game. I just need to know things. Please.”
“For starters, if it helps at all, I didn’t mean for anyone else to get hurt.”
“Somehow, I believe that much. You are selfish, but not a villain. That first fight we had together proved that much. So help me help you Mathew. Put all the cards on the table here and now, and I promise you can remain in charge to a degree. I dont’ want that title or power. Never was much of an administrative leader, and I do not want to start now.”
“Everything? Alright, I can do that.”
So Mathew told her everything for the most part. How he planned to trick Payne by poisoning himself. The things Mr. Melton told him. He went on about how Agnox was his familiar, forever bonded to him. He threw a few terms from Zack and silently hoped they remained the same in reality.
He never went as far as to explain his reasoning like he did with Leo. Not only would that paint him as an idiotic dumbass, but it would make him appear incompitent. He needed to not only gain Henderons’ trust, but also make him a valuable asset even more now. Show he is not going to give up his seat of power, even with her claims she won’t take it.
Anyone could, and that is something he does not want to happen. He decided to be extra forthcoming and explained why Payne envied Mathew so much. Between his stats, titles, and the actions his brother took, he too wondered why Payne kept him around. In the end, Mathew assumed there was another angle to it all.
Henderson did her part not to interrupt Mathew much. She did ask a few questions, or further explanations. Anytime she questioned Mathew’s actual powers, he shrugged her off about it. He would be forthcoming on reasons and actions, not how things worked.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He skipped over his meetings with the supposed Gods, or rather their Avatars. Whatever that meant. He then got to the end with his battle with Morthrus. “In the end, I won. I have no idea, nor anything else to say other than it was a mix of luck and a risky play. I’m waiting for Agnox to wake up so I can question him.”
“And you are sure he isn’t a threat?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. He could be, but I have a feeling it isn’t like that. Why would The System give me the power to bond with a familiar just for them to stab me in the back? Seems counterproductive.”
“Fine fine, what about Payne and how he could order people to shoot you? I have dozens of claims they did so against their own intent. You can also expect a few half apologies and at least two actual ones.”
Mathew grimiced, “Might be my own fault. Remember those contracts Payne had everyone sign?”
Henderson rolled her eyes, “you are shitting me. Those papers did that?”
“Contracts made with a person who is stronger than you are apparently very powerful. Agnox half mentioned something that made me start to think. The larger the powergap between two contracted individuals, the stronger the contract is one way. Laws are very literal. I need to get my hands on a book with every law The Council has. Otherwise my ability to make those contracts will never improve.”
She nodded, “Any way you can void those contracts?”
“Not really. Technically only Payne could, however there is a few loop holes I may have slid into them.” He says with a smirk. “All of them have a section that means ‘follow orders from highest commanding officer’. Which is you. We can’t out right deny them following Payne’s orders. However, we can just have them stay away from him, and avoid contact as a traitor.”
Henderson’s eyes widened, “Wait, did the contracts tie them to any governing body?”
“The New American military, why?”
“Payen gave you a rank too didn’t he? Higher than my own. You could give the order out as well, and if we can promote you, void Payne’s privileges outright.”
“How can we promote me? I want nothing to do with those sacks of shit. I didn’t even want the rank in the first place! It makes others seem like I'm getting a free ride around here.”
Henderson chuckled, “Damn you can’t make up your mind. Do you want to be in charge of power, or not?”
Mathew rolled his eyes, “I want things because I got it now. Sure a few months ago that was different, but that was then. Now I’m far stronger. I can do magic for fucks sake, and I want to do more.”
“Me too Mathew, me too. Let's get everyone back to base. Assess the damages there, and get Mr. Melton looped in on the situation.
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Mathew was in a truck heading back to the base. As the truck rolled through the gate, he was able to fully take in the damage. It was honestly not as bad as he expected. The Infernals were strong, but not destructive. Several buildings were scorched with fire, while some were burned down to ashes. Dozens of windows were destroyed as well.
The truck pulled up infront of the same building Mathew left Mr. Melton behind at. The two bodies he killed were gone, but the dried green blood was still there on the ground. Mathew started to walk in but stopped. He looked at his summons and decided to perform a test.
The hallways had less debris, and upon reaching the top floor, he noticed the makeshift barricade was taken down as well. Mathew walked into the meeting room he has been in a few times and saw the head chair was empty.
In the room were all the people who he imagined to be there. Mr. Melton, Captain Henderson, Sergeant Franks, Leo, and Holly who walked in behind him. Mathew took a seat and breathed out as he sank into the chair. It was nice to relax.
All he needed now was a cup of tea.
“Alrighty, now that we are all gathered here,” Mr. Melton started, “It’s time to lay out all the cards on the table so to speak. First I say we should talk about the Dungeon.”
Henderson sighed and stood up. “After we went to check it out, it’s just how the Goblin Dungeon was when we defeated it. Everyone who participated in the attack was rewarded to some degree. As Mathew can explain, he had no option to let it be. He just automatically claimed it as Payne did with the Goblin one once Damien released custody over to him. We are in the process of bringing everyone back here, and hopefully we can finally rest with no nearby threats.”
Everyone nodded. Mathew took a glance at Leo, and saw his face was sunken. Bags were under his friends eyes, yet he seemed stronger. An aura surrounded him as well, far stronger than that of Henderson. Mr. Melton started to talk, but Mathew ignored him.
He noticed the aura was trying to push against him, but not forcibly. Like a bad fart, it just slowly spread across the room. Yet it stopped when it reached Mathew. It was confusing and distracted him as he focused on it.
“Mathew, hello?” Mr. Melton said and a hand was waved to get his attention.
“Huh? Sorry, I’m just tired. What did you say?”
“I just told them what I told you about Payne, and how I helped you out, along with the agreement we made. You are going to be in charge now, for better or worse.”
“Why him?” Sergeant Franks questioned. “Henderson, or hell, even you should be in charge. Someone in the military.”
Mathew was curious as to why Franks was still around. He had him pegged as Payne’s pawn from day one.
“He has a set of skills best suited for it. Which we can go ahead and go over. Mathew, go ahead and focus on your connection to the Hearth Crystal, you should be able to pull up a menu. Payne was able to, and I can still do it.”
Mathew nodded and did so. It took him a few tries, but it wasn’t hard. A menu showed up, showing him a few interesting things. Firstly it was the same menu he always saw when he placed a hand on the Crystal, with a few more things. A shop, information about allies, enemies, and so much more was shown. It was like a diagnostic screen for a computer.
There was another tab called ‘Laws’. Clicking on it showed an empty screen with a single tab called ‘Create Law’.
“Mathew here can enact order to our safe zone. Creating laws, rules, and anything else we want to help keep a sense of peace here. Of course, they can’t be enforced without the police to do so. We need to take stock of who we have here left. Resources, and so much more. Become a true safe zone. I talked to Zack and the rest of our research team including Lindsey on their opinions. One thing they both said was that preparing for the future is important. Foundations are created now not tomorrow. That is why we are here.”
Several nods around the table were seen although a couple were hesitant. Mathew agreed with the short man. He couldn’t have said it better himself. “Where do we start? If we just throw down laws without public input, it will be received poorly.” He said.
“We can start to talk things out. We can start to establish ground work. Anything you want to start with?” Henderson asked Mr. Melton.
While they were talking, Mathew looked over the menu again and saw a tab called ‘Resources’. “Is this some base building game? I swear if I need 1000 wood to build a wall I’m going to quit.”
He clicked on the tab and read it over. It seemed to be a tallied list of actual resources, not video game lingo. Guns, tanks, food stocks were all listed. Mathew imagined this is a list that has to be updated by someone, more than likely Mr. Melton himself. As he continued to scroll down a single item caught his eyes and he started to laugh out loud.
“If I may, I have the perfect place to start. Melton, is this Currency listed here yours, or does it belong to someone else?”
Mr. Melton frowned slightly. “It is a collection of funds and money Payne started to save. He left it there in case I needed to buy something while he was out of range of the Crystal. I honestly forgot it was there during this whole fiasco.”
“Wait, we can still buy things?” Leo asked, speaking for the first time. “What else did Payne lie about?”
Mathew started to go through the menu, getting a hang of it. “Let’s fix that problem, shall we?”