Mathew sipped his fresh cup of tea, looking out the recently replaced window of what used to be General Paynes office. He could see repairs across the place were starting well. Access to Di’s shop gave everyone access to a lot of resources, yet a few people decided to make or harvest their own. It’s only been two days, but progress was booming.
“Mathew, Mr. Melton is here.” Agnox said, floating from the door.
He turned to see the bald fat man. His beard seemed recently trimmed, but Mathew didn’t care enough to notice. “What now?” He had wanted to be involved with every step of rebuilding the military base to what it once was, and beyond. To create a proper town even.
Di offhandedly mentioned something about calling this place a town instead of a base. It got him thinking that they needed to start focusing on themselves and not reuniting with the rest of society…yet.
Mr. Melton has been phenomenal with helping Mathew understand how to run large scale operations such as a military base. Payne did it for years, nobody realistically expected Mathew to pick it up quickly. He himself however did.
“Henderson came back with the numbers for troops. She divided them up into two groups. Adventurers and Guards. Guards are people who are under her direct command, and will purely focus on typically militaristic roles. We are going to have a quota of getting everyone Level 10 then focusing on equipment.”
“As for the Adventurers, those groups are on their own. People like Leo, Zack, yourself even. They can grow however they want, but their duty is still protecting our assets and removing any hostile threats. In total we have 227 troops, with 100 of them being guards.”
“A nice round number. How feasible is it to properly keep us safe from outside threats like the Infernals?” Mathew asked.
“Not very. This place used to have over five thousand troops in it. Add in their families and you are looking at over twelve thousand. That number does not include all the contractors, veterans, or visitors. We are barely hitting that two thousand number with everyone here as we are. This place is large, and the chain fence did nothing to stop the Infernals let alone the Imps.”
Mathew nodded and pulled up his menu. More specifically the one he had access to thanks for being a Hearth Crystal owner. In it he could see the population of people, supplies, and most importantly the abilities and upgrades the Hearth Crystal provides. Things like Di’s shop was a single purchase item. Granted it cost him 35% of the UC saved up, but it was a fantastic purchase.
Other things he could buy were passive buffs generated by the Crystal. One of which would improve the growth rate of farms. Another improved the mana density within the claimed zone, increasing mana regeneration for everyone. One that Mr. Melton had continued to push for, was a threat detector. A cheap upgrade UC wise, but it required Mana Cores to run constantly or people to charge with their own mana.
Mana cores were the most valuable items Mathew had currently. Di himself could not purchase any till The System ended it’s integration phases. Even then, they were horribly expensive for the good ones. Luckily, Mathew had a way to procure his own. The Goblin and Infernal Dungeon cores were probably two of the most valuable things Mathew owned. Outside of his staff and Hearth Crystal itself.
It took a while, but he soon figured out they grew Mana Cores themselves or could act as extensions to his own territory. Payne had the Hearth Crystal absorb the Goblin Dungeon allowing it to grow Mana Cores and then just feed them back to the Core.
Payne only purchased one upgrade for the Crystal, but it itself was selfish. It allowed the Hearth Crystal owner to be aware of the Crystal's position, status, and who was near it. The bastard really was paranoid, yet Mathew couldn’t blame him. It was an upgrade he too would have acquired for himself. It was an expensive one to run, using all the power the Goblin Core would produce for it.
With the Infernal Core, Mathew had two choices: Absorb it for more upgrades to the zone they all lived in now, or extend their area. Sadly, there was only one true choice, and that was to absorb it. Having a Beginner tiered core would be valuable. It wasn’t a simple double in power compared to the Novice tier of the Goblin one, in fact it was triple. Di thankfully had plenty of information on how it all worked. Cores were exponential in power output.
“So we absorb the core, then purchase that warning system? Can we get anything else to help people? What about an actual wall?” Mathew asked.
“We can build walls. I’ll talk about that later. I want the warning system, but also the silent alarm perk. It’s an item people wear and alert only those who wear it when the system goes off. I say we buy enough for the important people. You, Me, Henderson, and all the guards who would be on duty. Then rotate those out. That way a loud alarm doesn’t go off and the element of surprise is on our side.”
Mathew liked that plan. Yet it seemed wasteful. He opened the shop and scanned over things. Certain big upgrades had smaller perk upgrades to better enhance how you want things to work. For example, he could purchase that upgrade that enhances mana in the zone. A perk he could choose was to limit where that mana regeneration was at. The downside was areas not selected had lower mana, but the areas chosen had even higher mana destiny. Putting it where people rested would recharge them faster, but out in the streets, it would take longer to recover.
He paused for a moment seeing another perk. “What if we did the silent alarm, but also bought the veil one. If we want to keep the element of surprise of course.” The perk he was talking about was called [Paddom’s Veil]. Mathew had zero clue what Paddom was, but he could see what the upgrade did anyways. It made the upgrade invisible to anyone who could detect the alarm. Mathew didn’t know of anyone who had such an ability, but acquiring it now was far better than later. Especially if neither of them told a soul.
Mr. Melton nodded, “That sounds great, good catch. I’ll let you make the purchases, and I’ll let Henderson deal with the items to detect if the alarm goes off. I’ll then input the list of names that won’t trigger the alarm if they go by. That will take me the rest of the day most likely.”
“Sounds good. I need to do some personal stuff anyways today.”
“Going to talk to Leo are you?” Mr. Melton asked carefully.
With a sigh, Mathew nodded. “Yea…I need to.”
With no further response, Melton walked out.
Agnox floated into view, keeping silent the entire time. “You don’t seem happy about talking to the guy you claimed to be a friend.”
“It’s not that, just…I hate doing this. I know what he will say, what I will say, and what the end result will be. I’ll try to be apologetic, even if I’m genuine with my words, he will think I’m bullshitting him, cause I normally do. Yet, this is different.” Mathew looked down at his empty cup and sat it on his desk.
“Want me there for moral support? I’ll have you know, I am a very good listener.”
Mathew shook his head, “I really doubt having someone who was buddies with the guy that killed Madison is a smart idea.”
Agnox just shrugged, “Suit yourself. Beam me up Sarah!”
Mathew groaned in annoyance. Agnox had started to pick up on a few sayings, but he either said them wrong on purpose, or just didn’t understand them. He didn’t care to correct the Imp and just mentally absorbed him.
It’s an odd feeling having Agnox unsummoned. Compared to the Wisps or Jeffrey, it was like letting go of something he was holding. While with Agnox, it was like holding a brick out away from him, then carrying it in a bag on his back. The weight still existed, but was much easier to manage.
Agnox said he ended up inside his soul. Mathew refused to get more elaboration on it currently. Meeting the supposed Gods was one thing, talking about souls was another tier of crazy he didn’t want to deal with right now. Agnox did admit he didn’t know much. For him it’s like a nap. He just knew where he ended up thanks to his first master.
Mathew left the building and headed to where he expected to find Leo. He went to the place he had been staying at, one of the renovated hotel rooms used for visiting Officers and their families. Several knocks later, nobody responded. Mathew just assumed he was out again, doing whatever it was he has been up to.
He sat down on a nearby bench and decided to wait. While he did, he passed the time looking through the items he could purchase through the Hearth Crystal. It didn’t take long before Mathew heard someone walk up next to him.
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“What are you doing out here?” Leo said.
Mathew closed the menu and looked up. “Wanted to talk. If that is okay with you.”
“Just you? Nobody..or thing else?” Leo scanned around, obviously looking for Agnox.
“Nope just me.”
Leo sighed, and opened his door. “No tea, but I have plenty of booze.” Inside was the start of a trashed room. Mathew saw dirty and bloody clothes stacked in a corner. Random wrappers or containers for food piled up near an overfilled trash can. It wasn’t unfixable, but it was near that tipping point.
Mathew properly looked at his friend. It’s been two days since the end of the battle, and nearly a day and a half since he last saw Leo. He looked both fantastic and horrid. His eyes were dark, and lonely. His expression showed he had turned into an emotionless husk. His body looked great. Not a single blemish or scar. Yet his clothes were bloodied and tattered.
Leo threw his weapon on the table and walked to a cabinet to pull out a half full bottle of vodka. Mathew glanced at the weapon, somewhat surprised at it’s look. What once was a shogun named Lucky had somewhat gone through an evolution. Firstly it had an ax head attached to it on the side of the barrel. If held properly, it could be used as an ax. The weapon’s wood was no longer cracked and brown, but perfect and blue. The greysteel had small golden embellishments across it. While the axehead itself was a shining gray. The edge looked sharp and deadly. As if freshly sharpened.
“I see we both gained something from that fight.” Mathew said offhandedly.
“Yet, you only gained things, while I lost more. More people died, all that happens is people dying. It’s because I’m not enough. How can I help people when I can’t even protect ONE fucking person.”
He popped the lid off the bottle and took a long drink. He handed it to Mathew who politely declined. “Yet you killed Pittridux. I was told how the fight went, and ended. You did that in the end. You saved dozens, possibly hundreds of others, and helped turn the battle in our favor.”
“Yet, I got Madison killed. Other people died because of you and Payne squabble. If you just got along with him, you could have been there! Help us and others!”
“And if I was there, this base would have been destroyed. The Crystal was truly stolen, and we would be worse off than before.” Leo was about to say something but Mathew interrupted him. “I’m not saying Madison’s life is worthless. Instead of looking at that you failed, think of how her sacrifice helped others.”
“Nobody cared about her other than me and Zack. Even you didn’t care about her, yet she thought you did. She bragged about you a little bit. Helped her get stronger.” Leo just stared at the bottle before taking another drink. “How can I just do nothing about that? Want me to not feel anything? Think she was a weak nobody like you do to others?”
Mathew took a deep breath. He needed to play this better. “No I don’t. She was strong, and missing her is going to be horrid. Listen, I plan to tell everybody everything later, but what if we built a memorial. Not to just her, but everyone. The world. People dying in this mayhem. We can put Madison, and Isabella there.”
“Maybe my own parents. Even though mom probably didn’t deserve it.”
Leo sat there and thought about it. “Why? Why pretend you care?”
Mathew leaned back in his chair. “I don’t even know if I’m actually pretending here. I promised myself when I came to talk to you, there would be no bullshit. You even helped me with my stupid plan to trick Payne. Now, I’m here for you. What friends are for, right?”
Piercing eyes looked at Mathew. Trying to find the lie. Mathew was good at that, lying. It's what made him a good lawyer, he could twist the truth and find a new perspective on a law or a certain event. Right now, Leo couldn’t find any hint of a lie. Part of him wanted to believe Mathew honestly felt for Madison and himself.
“What do you want?” Leo asked, skeptically.
“What do you mean?” Mathew asked, somewhat confused.
“You want something from me. Why else would you be here?”
“Only thing I want is to help you. Having you like this,” He gestured to the dirty room, “Is no help to anyone. I want your help with everything. This base, the world, hell even understands the entire universe. Something I figured you would be for.” Mathew stated.
“Damn right. I want to slaughter every last one of those Dungeon fuckers. Shit, I want to kill that Imp of yours as well. He is just as guilty! Why even form a deal with him? So he can stab us all in the back later!”
“Shit, not the direction I wanted to go in.” Mathew glanced at the bottle, and took it from Leo before taking a burning drink himself. He didn’t handle alcohol well, being a lightweight. Yet, he couldn't feel that buzz even after a large drink of straight Vodka. Another benefit of being higher leveled and stats? Constitution maybe?
“Listen, I bound him because I was desperate. That was a spell I hadn’t used and couldn’t afford to let it sit and gather dust. We need to push ourselves further now, and it feels like every day one step forward is three backwards. I keep learning more about this new world we are a part of, and I needed to figure out something. I was desperate, everything has been an act of desperation. Taking that crystal from Payne was that too, okay? Feel better now that I’m admitting it? Want to throw both of us a pity party?”
Leo scoffed, “Sure, more lies I’m sure.”
Mathew clenched his teeth, but said nothing. Leo wasn’t thinking straight. Either drunk of booze, or emotions. “Where have you been?” He asked, changing the subject.
“Training, unlike others. If we want to kill those bastards, I need to get stronger and learn how to control the gifts Kur gave me.”
“A God’s blessings?” Mathew asked.
“Yup, let me guess, you took one as well? More free power for Mathew McGonalds eh?”
“Nope.” Mathew took another drink. “I refused the blessings, took a quest though. I get to summon a bush if I complete it.” Mathew chuckled at realizing the reward. Yet, he felt that reward was more so something extra. The real reward would be completing those tasks.
“Right, sure you did. The guy who was going to risk his life for power gave up free power from a god. I know you are pretty atheist, but come on.”
“I did. Took a quest from Gaia, she was the third to visit me. It is a whole lot to unpack I can explain later. What did Kur promise you.”
Leo’s eyes harded. “Vengeance. For both Madison and Bella.”
Mathew glanced at the gun, “His doing as well?”
“Yup.” Was the only answer before Leo took back the bottle and downed another drink.
The two sat there for several moments in silence. Both men are thinking of what to say next, if anything. Mathew wanted to try and convince Leo he wanted to truly help. While Leo wanted Mathew to fuck off, but secretly was glad he was here.
The tension finally broke when a knock sounded at the door followed by Henderson's voice from the otherside of the door. “Hey if you two are done playing make up, I want to join in.”
Leo nodded at the door, for Mathew to open it. He did so, seeing Henderson holding up two bottles, both whiskey. “It’s not a pity party unless we are all here.”
Mathew was going to question how she knew they were both here, but decided to not care. Soon the three of them continued to share drinks, and laughter sounded not too long after.
It was good the three of them got to bond like that. Mathew had a sneaking suspicion Henderson was sent here by Melton, or had been talking to Leo herself. Either way, they grew a bit closer. The walls of coldness Mathew had fallen away a bit. Leo promised to clean his place up to Henderson. And the two of them learned that Henderson had been severely stressed out.
Reclaiming a sense of order with those who swore allegiance to America when there was no longer an America was difficult. Mathew assured her they had no plans to rebel or form their own country to such an extreme. Right now they simply were trying to survive.