Mathew had finished his fourth loop in his left leg by the next morning. Bob spent the evening filling Mathew in on nuance details of how the world worked and more about stats. Zack and his team of nerds were correct.

Stats were not a base of how strong or fast one person was. They were amplifiers, using ambient energies. It’s what also helps you level up. If one were to kill someone, or something, stole a piece of their experiences, and applied them to yourself.

It’s why killing things stronger than you, gave more experience and helped you level up more. While easier efforts were less rewarded. Bob half mentioned The System was involved with what classified as an ‘experience’. He just told Mathew to not think about it too much, save himself a headache.

Dr. Garcia finally let Mathew loose to go and continue his duties. The first thing Mathew wanted was a shower followed by a cup of tea. “God it’s been two days since I had a cup, and all this stress is getting to me. Making me feel old.”

Mathew paused, looking down at his body. “Not even two years till I die, unless I can fix this. Bob isn’t lying. Not that he has been trying, but he really can’t help me much more than he has.”

Entering his place of living, he threw everything onto his bed, stripping down to his bare body, and stood in a hot shower for nearly half an hour. The entire time his mind continued to bounce between idea to idea.

He realized how much shit he had to take care of before the World Quest. The sad part was he couldn’t trust too many people to help. He had to talk to Melton about the status of Blue Oaks, and the two new zones acquired. Talk to Alan, Henderson, Leo, and so many people.

There was all the training, studying, and practice of his magic. All just to possibly die in two years? He could stop. He’s given up once before, and he enjoyed life up until he ended up in that gray room.

Squeezing his eyes as a wave of pain washed over his body, Mathew took a steadying breath. “No, I can’t give up now. Too much work, too much effort, just to give up? Nah, I’ll figure it out. I just need time. Ranking up can give me more time, that should be my main focus.”

Mathew mentioned just buying a random Ability from Di or another shop. If Bob could slap Mathew, he would have.

“Are you mad? Unranked powers are TRASH!” Bob looked heavily offended that Mathew even suggested such a thing. “They are the main reason the strong end up stopping their paths to power. Even a single unranked technique can prevent you from becoming a god!”

Mathew didn’t inform him he had two unranked powers. His language skill, and the one to summon Agnox. Yet, he felt as if the one related to Agnox was different. Agnox wasn’t like Jeffery or his Wisps. It was nothing like the undead that Bob controlled, or the rare other summoned creatures that existed within Blue Oaks.

Agnox was free spirited. Jeffery was close, but Mathew could feel he had full control over the wolf ever since he dominated the canine.

Mathew turned off the water, and toweled himself off. He threw on a fresh pair of clothes he purchased from Di a while back. No armor today.

Once dressed, he put on a pot of water, letting it warm up to a boil. While he waited, he pushed his mana forward, summoning his familiar.

He noticed a subtle difference in the cast. Agnox never took long to summon, just a handful of seconds. For sure not usable in a battle, but easy to do before one started. Same with the mana cost. Agnox used barely any mana compared to his other summons and combative spell.

This time, it was effortless. Mathew noticed a lack of push needed, and the mana flowed so easily, he almost didn’t realize the spell came to be. “I guess Bob has already proved his worth. I wonder how easy other applications will be?”

Agnox manifested on the kitchen table with his arms crossed. Visually, the imp looked nothing different. Same small frame and even the brand on his wrist looked the same. Yet, Mathew could instantly tell on another level Agnox had changed.

“About time you brought me back out. Three days is a long time inside of you. Especially after the specter almost killed us.”

Mathew shrugged, knowing Agnox wasn’t really annoyed. “Been busy. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Agnox started to take all his armor off. It was odd how summoning and unsummoning him applied to items he carried. Mathew planned to abuse that fact eventually.

“You went down. I killed the big ghost with Jeffery. That big human guy was a good chunk of help actually. He threw himself in front of you, ensuring the specter didn’t kill ya. He deserves a raise.”

Mathew was glad to hear Agnox praise Alan. Even though the imp isn’t loved by many, if Alan heard the praise, it would spread. “Okay, what about anything else?” Mathew wanted Agnox’s unbiased opinion. In case he did do something to his soul.

Agnox finished removing the armor and sat it to the side. “Zack can fix that up for me later. Now, honestly? I don’t think so?”

“Any emotions? Feelings? What about levels? Skills? Stats?”

Agnox opened his menu and hummed. “My flaming sword ranked up. I’m Level 15 now, so I can go visit the crystal to see if I want to take any free System skills. Although, I want to ask. When we almost died. Did you do anything with the spell to summon me?”

Mathew walked over to the whistling pot and removed it from the flame. “Maybe. Why do you ask?”

“Ugh, I hate these games.” Agnox flopped onto the couch. “I don’t know. I remember being angry. Very very angry. I typically don’t get angry. Upset? Sure. Annoyed? Absolutely. But pure rage? I haven’t felt that in forever.”

“Was this before or after I unsummoned you?”

“Oh it was before. I wasn’t knocked out all the way. I saw you beating the deathly piss out of Bobby.”

Mathew pursed his lips in thought. “Okay, I’ll tell you everything that happend…”

Agnox listened intently. Mathew poured them both a cup of tea as he explained everything. He even included the information Bob told him. “Which is why I wanted to know why you didn’t tell me half the things he did.”

“Oh, well, I kinda forgot… Not including the fact it just never came up. Although, the mana channel thing is new. I don’t think infernals use that technique.”

“Then how do you use magic?”

Agnox was about to say ‘we just do’ but stopped to think about it. “Depends upon the spell. Fire based ones come super easily. Same with any necrotic spells. Which aren't necromancy spells. It’s just spells that affect the body more easily. Decays it even. Any other spell or technique that doesn’t use those two elements is just how they are.” He shrugged. “I’d be willing to learn how to make mana channels. It sounds useful.”

Mathew nodded, taking a long sip of his tea. “We have work to do. I have a limited time to fix my soul. I have no idea what the effects other than waves of pain when overworking myself, or at random times are. It could very well make it harder to level up, rank up my powers, or interfere with my cultivation.”

“So you finally figured out your path, eh?” Agnox said smugly.

Mathew narrowed his eyes, “What do you mean?”

“Cultivating requires you to figure out how you wish to mold yourself. I mentioned this before. Your path to godhood requires you to cultivate. Do you build upon your prowess over knives? Summons? Contracts? You have two ‘cold’ elemental spells, but also two fire summons. You could be an elementalist. There could be dozens more I don’t know of though. Just what little I know of.”

Mathew summoned the book he was given as a reward. “And what do you think this is?”

Agnox raised an eyebrow in confusion, “A book?”

Turning the book around so the imp could read it, Agnox seemed interested. “A cultivation manual? This was the reward you received, right? I have no clue how one works.”

“I haven’t read it yet. I plan to do it this evening before bed. I need to play the leader for the rest of the day.”

“Works for me. Mind if I shuffle off on my own? Take my armor to Zack, and do some work of my own? Including stopping by the HC.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You don’t need me for that part?”

“Nah, only rank ups for my levels. You forget, I was Level 15 before you and I bound ourselves together.”

Mathew’s focus faded away from the conversation. “Bonded ourselves…”

“Agnox, when I did that binding spell on us. Do you remember a chain connecting us?”

A shiver ran down the familiar's body. “Not really. I was in so much pain, I couldn’t focus on anything.”

“I saw it again. It was tied around this red energy that reminded me of you. When I brough that piece of you into me, it felt right. The chain remained behind, and I used it to grab the soul out of the rod and into me.”

“Sounds dangerous.”

Mathew nodded, “I was desperate. If I didn’t do it, I was dead. The problem now is, was that Droozkora’s soul? Or someone else? Not to mention why it fit inside of me like yours did. Was it because we were soulbound?”

“Maybe.” Agnox sipped at his tea. “I’m kinda growing used to this tea stuff. Which one is this?”

“It's a lemon tea. More citrusy.” Mathew finished off his cup, and stood up. “Meet me back by the office building. I’ll probably be there with Mr. Melton for hours.”

Agnox gave a two finger salute. “Got it boss. Mind if you summon Jeffery as well? He deserves a treat for saving our asses.”

Mathew smiled, “Sure. And I agree, he does. What do infernal wolves normally eat as treats?”

“Meat. Preferably the higher quality kind. I doubt we have the same animals, but meat is meat last I checked.”

“Stop by Di’s or the crafting area. I’m sure some hunter is selling meat there.” Mathew summoned Jeffery in record time. The ten minute time was reduced to six. The red fured wolf stretched with a yawn. “Stay out of trouble you two. Plenty of people who would want you dead. Luckily, you are both on par with the normal fighters here, so I doubt anyone can take the two of you out in a fair fight.”

Mathew walked outside. He was disappointed there was no golf cart waiting for him to drive across the old air base. “Fine, guess I have to walk.”

Several minutes later, Mathew walked into what was becoming the headquarters for Blue Oaks. In just the short week and a half, the place has been fully repaired since he last saw it. All the damage from the Infernals are but a memory now.

Mathew walked inside and made his way upstairs to Mr. Melton’s office. He knocked twice before entering.

“Mathew! I thought you were still in the hospital? Should you even be out of bed?” Mr. Melton seemed both pleased and surprised to see Mathew out and about.

“All is well Mr. Melton. I am alive and well. How are the two new zones we acquired? Is everyone settling okay?”

“Ahh-, getting down to business already? Come sit! We don’t have to just talk about the state of Blue Oaks all day.”

Mathew did sit down, “I have very limited time, if I could I would. We have the world quest soon. I have training to do, and preparations to make. The sooner I can take care of the state of my zone, the sooner I can take care of myself.”

Melton rolled his eyes but nodded. “Open the menu, we can go over things.”

Mathew did so, not for the first time in the past couple of days. He had an idea on the state of things, yet he was not in the thick of it. “Right, I wanted to ask about the huge jump in resources.”

“That’s easy to explain.” Mr. Melton said with a wave of a hand. “The System seemed to absorb New Watago and the other one into our own. So all three areas are considered Blue Oaks. Everything the other two had saved up is now ours.”

Mathew was surprised to hear that’s how it worked. He honestly believed the other zones would be his, but separate until he did something to unite them. “Okay, that’s great to hear. Did our Hearth Crystal upgrades expand as well?”

“Take a look at the map.”

Opening the map. Mathew saw the areas between the three zones had filled in. Mathew was now the owner of several miles of land. The warning system for any intruders was also expanded. “This is amazing! I didn’t think we could acquire this much land so easily.”

“There’s more. With the two extra Hearth Crystals, we can acquire the upgrades you wanted. The one that amplifies mana in certain areas, along with a few quality of life upgrades.”

“Like?”

Mr. Melton opened a new tab on his menu, directing Mathew to do the same. “I was looking at some of the locked options. We can see the names, just not what things do. One of them is a teleporter.”

Mathew blinked. Teleporting? The idea seemed both realistic and science fiction. Then again, he literally summoned creatures to fight for him. Moving people wasn’t that far fetched. “What about our unlocked options?”

“There are several defensive weapons we can use that are tech based and magic based. With access to the two new shops, we have several new ways to defend ourselves. We’ve been lucky so far. With the World Quest, I imagine our luck will run dry.”

Mathew nodded in agreement. He eyeballed the structures that he could buy. For the magical ones, they were called Arrays. Similar to how he established Di’s shop. He would use stakes to mark an area to set up a magical area. The cheaper ones were small defensive shields. The more expensive ones covered large areas.

The tech based options were more offensive, with a few utility options. One was a weather blocker. No rain falling for publicly dense areas. There were also turrets similar to what he seen Bob used listed as well.

“How are we doing for money?”

“The economy is on the up and up. People have been traveling to trade. I visited Di yesterday to talk to him. He wants you to visit by the way. He has been very pleased with the increase in business. I’ve had reports from the other two shopkeepers were pretty neutral about the new people however.”

Mathew nodded understanding. “Let’s go ahead and get the mana condenser upgrade. Place the zones in places of importance. Hospitals, guard towers, this building, The Workshop, and anything else important.”

“We will have plenty of Mana Cores to power other things. The other two zones were barely using theirs. If you converted the Undead Dungeon, we would have more power.”

Mathew shook his head. “No, we are keeping it as another training area. Plus, I wouldn’t be upset if we had necromancy specialists. Those undead were dangerous. I want people to be ready to fight against them.”

Mr. Melton shrugged, “I guess that makes sense.”

“Of course it does, I was the one who said it.” Mathew said smugly. “I also received a reward from The System. It’s an upgrade for the zone. I’ll go and claim that later at the HC.”

“We need to go over some paperwork as well. New positions of authority need to be approved for your laws to work. They do right now, but people are signing up to be guards and more.”

“Has anyone named Q been mentioned?” Mathwe asked.

“Once or twice. He signed up to be a guard for the City Hall area.”

“Make him in charge of the whole place. Similar to Henderson.”

“Why?” Mr. Melton questioned.

“He’s a good guy. I trust him enough to handle the position. We need to reward good people and behavior.”

“I suppose.” Mr. Melton muttered. “But everyone else needs proper vetting. If anyone who gets on your good side gets a promotion, everyone will be…and I see what you are getting at now.”

Mathew smirked. “Glad you caught on. Now, chop chop. Papers to be signed. Where is Henderson at by the way? I need to visit her.”

“That you do.” Mr. Melton said with a nod. “She is not happy with you right now.”