Mathew was sitting in his own home at a desk. He was allowed to leave the hospital just hours ago, but had to promise Garcia he would stay home for at least another day to ensure he was recovered.

Half a dozen blue screens were in the air around him with three stacks of paper on his desk. His [Mana Text] skill was being used to its fullest. Numbers followed by lists of categories were written across the documents.

He was counting up the current count of citizens within Blue Oaks. Then the number of people living in the zone. After that, he was cross referencing those numbers with roles, jobs, and who was actually contributing to the city. Mathew had finally admitted it was a city. It was weird to keep calling it a ‘zone’.

Mathew had a giant pile of materials, weapons, and armor he acquired inside the world dungeon. 60% of it was going into the guard force that Henderson was leading. The other 40% was going to unique individuals who were outstanding in their roles.

For example, Damien. He didn’t go into the World Quest Dungeon. He stayed behind and was manning the Blue Oaks Guild Hall. Keeping it running during the day, and ensuring people were following rules. When Zac and Lindsey were gone, most of the old ‘Nerds’ started to take over, but ran it like a video game. Not thinking of the people. Damien stepped in and everyone voted him as the official Adventuring Guild Hall leader.

Another person who Mathew didn’t know about until recently was one of Henderson’s new second in command. While everyone was gone, he stayed at New Watago and helped defend the area from looters or people who were stealing from others' hard work. Q and several others were doing fantastic work over there as well. Nearly the entire city was cleaned out now. Food, weapons, and raw materials were all accounted for.

Majority of old Earth media and culture was sold to Di. Alien factions loved collecting odd things from newly integrated planets. Mr. Melton didn’t sell off everything. Just enough to acquire a large sum of Universal Currency to get things moving. He kept anything important or monumental.

Speaking of which, Mathew checked the current status of Blue Oaks as a whole. They had four Hearth Crystals in total. Three were connected together, covering over 5,000 square miles of land. It was a drop in the bucket. Barely the size of two counties, maybe three smaller ones.

Their fourth HC was all the way where his family mansion stood. Far to the north east up in Massachusetts. Mathew was in the west part of West Virginia. His first goal was to expand Blue Oaks out. Find pockets of humanity and swallow them politically speaking.

That would take a long time. Maybe less depending on if they can find a way to travel quickly. Vehicles that could be bought were slight upgrades to the old Earth standards. All of them ran on mana or a form of electricity created by ambient mana or Mana Cores.

Speaking of, Mathew was ecstatic at the yield of Mana Cores they were pulling in. Not only were the Dungeon’s Mathew cleared out added to Blue Oaks, but those of everyone else. In total they currently had: ten Novice Cores, five Beginner Cores, and one Apprentice Core. Which put them in an amazing state of mana production.

Before they only had three Novice and one Beginner Core. The difference was beyond his mathematical knowledge of the percent boost. They were able to purchase upgrades to the zone and set things up with little worry about powering them all.

Mathew did order a percentage of Mana Cores to be harvested for crafters. Obviously the crafters had to buy them from Blue Oaks. Those who were citizens received a discount. They could buy some from the Magic store in New Watago, but Mathew wanted to keep things as internal as possible. As they continue to clear out more Dungeons across Earth and take in other Hearth Crystals, they will find their production of cores to skyrocket.

Ensuring an economy existed within Blue Oaks was important. It would motivate people to contribute. To make. To discover. To train. Anything to earn money that will cycle back into Blue Oak’s coffers.

Taping on the screen only he and Mr. Melton could see, Mathew looked at how Blue Oaks was doing with their current situation overall. A crude wall was built right now using a chain link fence. Sentry towers dotted around the old air base. The towers were outfitted with both guns and other magical devices to ensure any threats were properly dealt with.

Only three gates in and out of the area existed. Each with guards. As more and more techniques were discovered, roles and builds started to appear. As people gained classes and professions, the knowledge of what each gave spread. According to Captain Henderson, roughly 43% of the guard force had the same class and nearly 70% had the same profession. The profession was called: City Guard.

This was thanks to the laws Mathew enacted. Lindsey and Zack believe that environments and knowledge are what allows new classes and professions to be taken that didn’t exist back in that first month.

Mathew had to agree, but also told them that more factors could contribute as well. He knew his own Axiom’s were starting to influence things about his rank ups, upgrades, and new class choices.

Surrounding the area, further away from the fence, was the silent alarm Mathew had purchased a couple months ago. Now upgraded and integrated to who was a citizen. His Profession allowed this to happen surprisingly enough. Another hidden perk to his rash choice.

Mathew really wanted to finish The System quest that gave him a title related to being the leader of Blue Oaks, but he needed one more Hearth Crystal.

There were other things he could purchase from The System store through his city’s shop. He for sure wanted to finally get the mana zone upgrade. Which would focus mana within certain areas instead of dead space like city streets, alleyways, or just empty land.

By doing so, areas can then be denser in mana, improving mana regeneration and passively charging things that ran off of mana. The hospital and the Workshop were two key places he would beef up.

Over in New Watago, he would probably place one or two where most people were staying. He had no clue what that area would turn into. Majority of the old infrastructure was still standing. However, with magic and a profession dedicated to construction, who knows what could be built.

Mathew rubbed his eyes. “So much to do, such little time.”

He was going over everything more than because it’s his job. The reason was the damned preacher of Varlin, the God of the Iron Heart.

The preacher was going around convincing people Mathew didn’t care about his people. Hiding upgrades for how they could live. Saying technology can safely be implemented how people dreamed in the old world with no repercussions.

Mathew had no problems with that. He knew certain upgrades existed, but mostly the magical ones. Technological upgrades existed too. Such as robot sentries, automated farming bots, and even rail systems.

It was the fact the preacher was saying Mathew should be replaced by another for these mistakes was the problem. Not everyone even after four months is still agreeing that magic, let alone The System, was something people should just accept.

Again, Mathew agreed with them. But, what other choice did they have? Ignore the gift of power and just die? Let others fight for him?

The old Mathew would have done exactly that. He would have sat in an office and let others suffer for him. Now he didn’t do that. He took pride in his work. He wanted to ensure things were done correctly. To be strong enough that nobody messed with him, and he could relax.

His plan to combat this guy was to not only talk to him directly, but also start handing out gifts. Going around to the public figures that everyone looked toward and ensured everyone was on his side.

Many people who used to follow Bob back in New Watago were starting to hang out around with this new preacher.

If it wasn’t for that he was preaching about his God, Mathew would ignore him. But, Mathew didn’t like that only Gods were making their name known around. Not only did he have the statues Mr. Melton built, but he had Gaia’s child with him, and now a new preacher.

An idea came to Mathew. Something he recalled from his earlier days as a lawyer, even before he met Leo. He closed his menus and slowly stood up with a groan.

“Lisa, where are you? I need my robes.” Mathew asked to the empty air around him. A ghostly figure appeared, carrying a set of dark blue robes. She held them out to Mathew, who took them and put them on.

“Thank you Lisa, continue your duties.” The ghostly maid bowed and left. Leaving Mathew alone to put on his [Robes of Eternal Dawn]. He hadn’t had a chance to see what they did, but one obvious feature was that they fit perfectly.

The robes were a dark blue, almost indigo in color. The edges had a strip of gold silk that reflected the light softly. The robes were layered into three parts. With the second layer showing through the front in a light blue color. The under layer was a simple black. It was the thickest part of the robes, and Mathew could tell it was some sort of protected padding. The pants matched the outer layer of the robes. It was styled like something someone from the middle east used to wear long ago, but a modern twist to it.

It was nothing he had ever seen on Earth, but he thought they looked great. Even greater when he wore them.

Mathew snuck out of his home, getting onto one of the smaller personal vehicles that Mr. Melton got for him. He drove over to where Bob lived. Mathew ensured the necromancer wasn’t intermingled with the majority of people. He lived in a nice large home alone with frequent visits to Garcia for training her and allowed access to other sites around the area.

Bob opened the door after Mathew knocked on it. “I thought you were supposed to be resting?”

“I don’t have time to rest. I need to talk to you.” Mathew said as he walked in, not waiting for Bob to invite him.

“Oh, this will be interesting. What is it? Need another heart?” Bob asked jokingly.

“I’m tired of only seeing Gods around here.” Mathew said as he crossed his arms. “What are some other powerful entities I can invite the presence of to keep competition? If I have everyone fighting each other, then nobody is happy, which makes me happy.”

Bob seemed caught off guard by the question, not expecting it. “That’s an odd thought process. Can I ask why? The Gods are not evil. Well, not all of them.”

Mathew sat down, he knew he was still resting, and didn’t want to stay standing for too long. “Simply put, why does anyone with such power care about us? They have billions, trillions, probably more than that followers across the universe of varying power. Why Earth? Why these low leveled and uninformed nobodies?”

“You answered the question yourself. They are low leveled and uninformed, easier to manipulate and bring to their cause. Why not have more followers in new areas of the Universe they never had a presence in before?” Bob explained. “Dozens of Dungeons will have people just to spread the word of their God.”

Mathew grumbled. “How do I prevent it? Any entity I can use to keep things neutral?”

“This is about that tarnic isn’t it? I never liked the technomancer people.”

“Tarnic?” Mathew asked, ensuring he heard Bob correctly.

“It’s like a cleric, but instead of divine followership or magic, it's technology. There is a reason I hid behind a persona that hated magic. Makes it easier to hide my powers.”

Mathew nodded, “Yes, it’s about him.”

Bob shrugged, “Just ignore him. He isn’t going to overthrow you. He can’t.”

“Last I checked, he was threatening to do exactly that. At least, that is what Mr. Melton told me.” Mathew pointedly said.

“Ugh, I forget you don’t know things. Okay, how did you take Blue Oaks from that general guy?”

“He broke a contract between us, which triggered a clause that gave it to me.” Mathew said, remembering one of his luckiest blunders.

“Exactly. There are only three ways to gain ownership of a Hearth Crystal.” Bob held up three fingers. “The first and easiest is to give it to you willingly. The second, is for it to be passed down to the next heir in case of death. The last, is to take it by force by placing a hand on the Hearth Crystal and waiting for a long while. The stronger the HC owner, and the larger the claimed area, the longer you have to wait. For planets, invaders have to wait weeks if not months to properly claim them.”

“Your contract was a fourth way, and there are other technical ways, but those three are the baseline version. Anything else is a slight variation of those three. The tarnic can’t take it from you, unless you die, give it, or he tries to take it from you.”

“My laws allow people to challenge me for leadership.” Mathew said. “He is probably going to try and vote me out.”

Bob shrugged, “I doubt it. He won’t have the voting block. He barely has a sixth of the people listening to him, and less than that actually supporting his claims.”

Mathew rolled his eyes. He knew Bob couldn’t lie to him thanks to the contractual oath he forced Bob to agree upon. “So Mr. Melton is blowing this out of proportion? Bastard. Why is he doing that?”

“My guess? If you recall, he was the one who established those twelve statues, perhaps it’s not him, but someone else who doesn’t like what is going on.” Bob smiled at the thought.

“Which brings us back to my original question. Is there anyone out there I can have show up here and stomp around with their own followers?”

Bob thought about it for a moment, “Any reason why you don’t use your connections to The Council to fulfill that purpose?”

“I didn’t think The Council was someone I can bring here like a God. They are just a governing legal body that controls The System.”

“But they hold legal power through the system. It’s why Blue Oaks is doing so well. Your laws have power.”

Mathew thought for a moment. “Could I just build something and have a representative come here? A lawyer, or a councilor of some kind?”

Bob shrugged, “No idea.”

Mathew opened his menu, and scrolled through his options of things to buy. Buildings of various uses went by. Libraries, apartments, kitchens, laboratories, various kinds of shops, medical professionals, the list was seemingly endless. Most of the options were starting off in the 5 digit range to purchase.

One thing he became apparent of, were the options that were grayed out. Saying he didn’t meet the requirements. They didn’t say what the requirements were, just that he lacked them. Mathew had a strong feeling what one of those could be.

“I’m going to need that title aren't I?” Mathew realized that completing that quest did more than just give a title. It opened up new options for his growing city.

Mathew closed the menus and leaned back into his seat. Bob said nothing, sitting with a slight grin as if he knew something Mathew did not.

“I need to get going Bob. Thanks for the insight.”

“Anytime Mathew. I am here to serve.” He said with an over enunciated tone. “If I think of any options, I will be sure to let you know.”