Mathew closed the little blue box that informed him the contract both he and Major General Payne had signed was officiated. He kept his neutral face, not showing even a hint of relief. It was just over four hours of debate, and going back and forth on the contract and a few changes. In the end, the few pieces of text he cared about the most remained unchanged.

At one point, Mathew just stood up and acted like he was going to leave. He made it to the front building doors before he heard shouting for his return. To top it off, his [Negotiation] skill increased in rank, along with his [Writing] skill. He had no idea why the latter increased, but he assumed it was because the contract was changed a few times.

Payne instructed Mathew to meet with his new team, and established two days each week for Mathew to work on contracts. Apparently Payne had plans to re-recruit his entire military under him. Mathew summed it up as he would increase his [Writing] skill and get paid for doing so as an extra bonus.

Mathew walked into the armory where he received his original gear from Captain Henderson. In the back was a team of five people. After a few pleasantries were exchanged, Mathew noticed the team was a perfect example of what Zack said a team should consist of.

There was the now old team lead, Holly. She fought at a distance with her rifle, clearly one purchased from the shops. She said her skills revolved around sight and enhancing her marksmanship with her guns.

Then there was the team's tank, nicknamed Tank, whose real name was Hubert. He carried a sword and shield, similar to the one Zack had. He also wore armor that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie,with what looked like hard plastics and a few metal sections.

Next up was the team's healer who goes by her last name, Samuel. As her role suggested, she healed, like Brown did. She boasted about her class ability to diagnose people simply by examining them. Claiming it will be a life saver for everyone

The team had their own mage, who instead of DPS, was a debuffer, as Zack called them. Washington was an ex-nuclear and chemistry expert before The System showed up. Those skills reflected his choices, and he could inflict effects on enemies. His skills in poison creation were just starting.

Lastly was another melee fighter, who had two short swords. His leather armor reminded Mathew of a pirate. His name was Lucas.

All of them were either still serving the military, or retired. All of them had special forces training, and had served with or under Payne command at one time or another. When pressed as to why Payne made them his ‘special team’ they shrugged.

“We all either appeared at this base, or close by and came here instantly day one.” Tank explained. “Samuel luckily, is a huge nerd, and filled in what was appearing as similarities to her games and now real life to General Payne. On that third day, we started to train as a team, and selected our roles. Since then we have been on the grind.”

Mathew nodded. “Well, how do you normally operate things? I don’t want to change things up to the point we have to start over.”

“Pretty straight forward as the other teams,” Holly said. “Fun fact, they are actually all a mock versions of ours. We go out into the wild, kill shit, get stronger, repeat.” Holly said.

“Simple enough,” Mathew said. “I need to work on improving my current skill set. Buddy of mine suggested I shouldn’t out pace myself. Some of my skills are lacking compared to my Level.”

“A smart friend.” Lucas commented as he sharpened his blades.

“Anyways, have you all fought the Infernal Wolves yet?” Mathew asked.

“We have.” Holly said. “We have used them all to train the last few days. There is a cave they come out of, but have not gone in yet, seems like suicide.”

“I agree.” Mathew said. “For now, we train. I want to try and kill things myself as well.”

“Pft, suicidal bastard.” Washington muttered under his breath. However Mathew still heard him.

Mathew chose to not take it to heart and playfully retorted back at him, “Well if I die, you don't have to worry about me anymore. So let’s go out and kill some shit.”

Major General Payne looked at Mathew’s entire menu. “The fucking bastard had a few secrets. That’s why Jerry nor any of the other legal experts could get that damned Contract Scribe profession. Not to mention his stats are higher than anyone else's. His extra titles are borderline cheating.”

Payne couldn’t really complain. He had his own special title:

Hearth Keeper: For being the first ten people to claim a Hearth Crystal, you gain +10% to your stats.

It was the sole reason he acquired his own personal profession that enabled him to hand out quests. Even better was the fact the rewards never came out of his own pocket, it came from The System. He gave out minor quests to his trusted men and women to kill wolves or fulfill other tasks, and grant them bonus experience, Currency, and on one occasion, an item.

He was only Level 8, but since hearing about everyone else’s classes and the huge power they grant, he couldn’t wait till he too had a class. First things first, was a video conference with the Secretary of Magical Affairs.

He turned on his computer and joined the video chat. The internet was shut down for the entire planet for the most part. For the upper ranks of the American Government, no such issue was a problem for them.

He was the second to join, with another General being the first. Five minutes later, the video conference was full of other Generals or high positioned Civilians, including the President of the United States.

“Gentlemen and Ladies, I am glad you all made it today.” Mrs. Smith said. She was the newly appointed Secretary of Magical Affairs. This would be her third conference since acquiring her position two days after The System had shown up.

“Let’s go over what we learned the past few days. First things first, I believe congratulations are in order for the President who recently acquired Level 10 and his Class, an Epic rarity at that. This is the third one that we know of that has been acquired.”

Everyone clapped as the President waved and smiled. General Payne could see the President looked visibly younger on the screen. Either a perk of reaching Level 10, or something else was involved.

“As many of you are aware, “Mrs. Smith continued, “people across the country and world have started to show unique abilities, skills, spells, and other oddities. One of which Major General Payne has discovered and will start implementing to his base of operations. General, can you please discuss your plans.”

Payne sat up a little straighter and put on his showman voice to really show off his plans. “Well, to what I can say, the civilian known as Mathew Valrix McGonalds used to be a lawyer in his previous life. His life skills manifested themselves to the point he can make magical legal documents. All those who agree to them are forced to uphold the contract, or suffer penalties. I will start testing how far these contracts can go, and re-recruit all my Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Seamen that are on my base to be under my command, and in turn under the Presidents.”

“Once that is complete, I will start an operation to have Mathew go from base to base to pump out more contracts. My goal is in eight to ten months to have all military members resign their contracts at all Hearth Crystals safe zones under our control. After that, aid President Bari on reestablishing order to America, then the world. If we can have all life agree to laws that we create, America will continue to be the powerhouse of the world.”

Payne sat back in his chair after giving a brief description of his plans. He already sent a fully documented one to both Mrs. Smith and The President. The video conference was next filled with further updates from other commanders and people of importance.

A base near California has seen a startling rise in seismic activity, which led to assumptions of an underground Dungeon. As well as reports from other countries reported dungeons of ranks from Novice to Apprentice. So far, they seem spaced far enough away that each Hearth Crystal had no more than three near them.

Prisoners who escaped after S-Day, or System day as has been the official name of the first day The System arrived, have been slowly recaptured or killed. Both the CIA and FBI have worked together constantly to find the higher risk targets. Serial Killers, Terrorists, and worse were all out there in the wilds. It was one thing to know where they were at, worse were the ones they had no intelligence on.

It was one thing to have them loose, it was another that they had access to magic and far scarier resources. Payne gulped when he first heard of the incident. He had a few enemies of his own out there in the wild now.

“Vice Admiral here. I am here to update on our projects to reinstate our naval forces using the shops provided by the aliens.”

“Admiral, we don’t use the term Aliens.” President Bari said. “We will use the term Off-Worlders”

“My mistake, Sir. We have finally acquired enough funds for the cheapest battleship. It can crew 100 men comfortably. I hate to admit it, but it far outclasses all previous works of machinery we had, both the experimental and working vessels.”

A schematic of the ship was pulled up for all to see. “As you can see, it has both cannons and torpedo launchers. Along with energy shields, decoys, an enhanced radar that can detect things out to 50km, and it all runs off mana provided by the crew. It can be powered by electricity as well for emergency use. We do believe there should be other power sources available like a battery, we discover a few hollow sections near the engines that look like something should be placed there.”

“Current speeds at max efficiency has it at least thirty knots faster than our battle cruisers could pull off going at max speed. She’s a beautiful ship, and has been named ‘Wayfinder’ by the ship's captain.”

Once the final brief was completed, Mrs. Smith spoke up next. “Everyone, you have America’s thanks for the work you are doing. Continue your work. We have less than twenty days till the Dungeon’s open up. Myself and POTUS want nobody to die if they can help it. We have made great progress these past days, let us continue to make more.”

Mrs. Smith ended the video call and let out a long sigh. She instantly took off her blazer and let her hair down. “Fucking hate this shit.” She said as she poured a glass of brandy. Ever since she was put in this damned position she has been working herself to near death.

Smith looked down at her naked legs, “Thank god I didn’t have to stand up, otherwise those old geezers would get to see more than they probably have in a long while.” Her video camera only showed her body from the torso up. She honestly really hated being forced to look fancy

A knock on her office door sounded. “Come in.” Smith said.

Her assistant came in, and once she noticed her barely clothed Secretary she found the floor to be very interesting. “Mrs. Smith, your husband is here.”

“Sue, you don’t have to be formal. Nobody here cares. Not like my uncle is here. My husband is allowed in my room anytime, be weird if he isn't.”

“Of course ma’am.”

She was using the computer in the corner of the very large bedroom. So large in fact, the office was part of it. She glanced over at the bed that hasn’t been made yet. She refused to let the maids in her room. If she was going to be forced to live a lavish life, she would be damned if they took away that small bit of privacy from her.

Smith’s husband came in all dirty and had some blood on his clothes. “Betty, you won’t believe the day I had!”

“Oh yea Christian? I bet it was fun.” Betty was the nickname her husband called her. Since Beatrice was too long and she hated it.

“Don’t let your panties stay all twisted,” Christian said jokingly. “How long was the video conference?” He walked into their bathroom and started to strip to clean all the grime off his body with the shower.

“Just over two hours went better than I expected it to be. I just wish my uncle didn’t make me do this. I enjoyed being a lowly bureau board member. Just because I’m a huge nerd didn’t mean I was a perfect fit for this position!”

“Well honey, you can’t win them all. Plus the perks are really nice! We were able to move out to the family cabin, and I can go fight monsters. Real monsters! Oh it’s a dream come true!”

“Please Christian, you don’t think I want to do that? I was strong armed to pick this damn profession that makes me sound like an old hermit. While you get to swing your metal stick all day and level up!”

“First off, it’s a mace. We’ve been over this. Secondly, we are still working to be in full control of the Dungeon, there are a few mobs still running around, but I promise tomorrow I’ll take you out to fight.”

Smith walked into the bathroom and saw her husband's naked body. She could see several wounds that were slowly healing up. Blood pooled in the bottom of the shower. “Promise?”

“When have I ever lied to you dear?”

She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “When you lied about stealing that dragon egg.” Her sassiness was showing.

“Oh please. First off, I didn’t lie, I just didn’t tell the truth. Secondly, our Dungeon Master encouraged it! I got an ominous message from my patron and everything. Travis 100% wanted us to fight that mama dragon. We got a cool pet out of it!”

She rolled her eyes, “Yea, and guess who had to make a new character because she died. ME!”

“We literally resurrected you two sessions later.”

“And what did I get out of it?”

“The loving embrace of meeting your father one last time in the afterlife?” Christian said with slight hope that it was the right answer.

Betty pursed her lips. “True. I’m still mad. Too bad this shitty world turned into a living table top game before we could finish up the campaign. Did you guys ever figure out where Travis was? He and Ernie are the only two that didn’t live in the states if I remember.”

Christian shook his head. “No, sadly not. Knowing those two, they are probably already Level 30, and have a corner market selling magical sticks and debating on whether the Dungeons are more important or the Hearth Crystals.”