Mathew sipped at his cup of tea, enjoying the bitter taste. He reminisced in the warmness that came from it. His robes repaired themselves over the last several days since he cleared out the Parasite Dungeon, returning to the perfect condition as if they were brand new.

Both of his wisps floated in the air above him, dancing around each other giving a lighting effect like that of a fire flickering. Mathew had taken the past couple of days easy. Mainly so Dr. Garcia didn’t throw a fit at his health.

She meant well, but Mathew was going to get tired from her over-protectiveness. “Not like Cherry is any better. If anything, I’d say Cherry was jealous. I pay more attention to others than I do to her when I need help with something. Not to mention I send Agnox to fetch me people instead of her.”

There was one thing Mathew spent time with Cherry on, and that was rituals. She was curious about implementing a few around the shrine toward Gaia she was building. Mathew internally sighed as he remembered the recent event with the shrine.

“No no. I said she could build it. I expected this. I can’t take back my word. That will just make me look bad. I need to play around the long game. Pit people at each other and make it seem like I care about them all equally so I receive none of the blame. I have to remain the neutral party. Even if I don’t care about anyone’s desires to interact with the Gods, Fae, or whatever the fuck else is out there. Their happiness means better morale. Better morale means I can get away with more with laws and once we start expanding and taking over other zones.”

The wall that surrounded Blue Oaks was officially finished. There is talk about building a second wall that would surround Blue Oaks and New Watago. It would be massive, with a lot of empty space inside that could be filled over time with various things.

“Keep the people distracted and motivated. Pushing through toward a perfect civilization of my own liking. That should be easy to do.”

A knock on his door caused Mathew to abandon his thoughts. “Come in.”

A secretary came in carrying a stack of folders. “Here are today’s reports you need to sign sir. Also, I was told to remind you to talk to Zack today. Something about one of your personal projects.”

“Good. Thank you. Just leave them on the desk and I’ll have them done in an hour.”

Mathew couldn’t help but smile. Once the secretary had left he waved a hand using his [Mana Text] skill to start signing things off. The paperwork was related to three other ongoings within his safe zones.

The first was approval for funds to be spent on System buildings that were needed. Housing was becoming a future problem. People were getting tired of sharing cramped living areas and wanted their own homes. Several people started to make their own using magic. However, this caused zoning issues, and Mathew had to employ help on how to solve those issues.

A trip back to Watago to raid old courthouses to find some references on how to do things properly. He created a quick and simple law for building regulations and how far things should be from each other. He also had to consider defenses.

Blue Oaks will be attacked again, he knew this. It was only a matter of time. They needed to place things in proper places, creating districts. Housing in one area, crafting in another and farming and medical in their own sections.

Even with magic, construction still took days if not weeks. Of course, he knew this. One of his personal projects involved building a personal home. Not just any home, but a cultivation area as well to finally focus on his own path.

He even included areas for both Agnox and Cherry. They both had their own interests since they were their own people. Agnox wanted a training place to work with Jeffery more on their tag team tactics. Cherry wanted a grove. A literal grove. Mathew sectioned off extra space to build things later. If he were to gather more soul-linked individuals, they would need their own space.

“I just hope I don’t need something giant in size. Like a dragon or dinosaur. I don’t care what Zack wants, I don’t want a dragon even if I agree it would be nice to have a flying partner who can carry me and others.”

The other two problems were more things that needed to be done. Actually paying people money was difficult. Killing one of the Volkar gave someone between ten to fifty UC depending upon the level difference.

So, they used that as wages originally. The higher your level, the higher you got paid. That started an outcry by those who were high-tier crafters, but low in level.

It was annoying, but eventually, a temporary payment scale was set up. Mathew was ever thankful for Lindsey and Zack. Even if he hated to constantly use fictional games and stories to help build a society, he can’t say it wasn’t working.

Various forms of tiers were created based on a color scale. Starting with Emerald all the way up to Diamond. Mathew didn’t get why using gemstones and colors as a grading scale, but Zack was adamant about it.

Over the last week, most things were given such a rating. Even the Adventures guild used it for their various protocols and missions.

Finding new Dungeons and those that were trying to take the Volkar Dungeon were of utmost importance.

They only had two Novice Dungeons and one Beginner dungeon. Anyone over level 25 was finding it hard to gain levels. There was a lull in progress for the people of Blue Oaks.

It was even more adamant as people watched the world leaderboard as various people of different levels continued to grow in power.

Mathew was holding his spot in the top ten, but he couldn’t help but inwardly worry as the distances continue to grow. Zachary Mann was now Level 74. Nearly fifteen levels higher than he was.

He finished signing the papers, not carrying for the third topic. It was related to more grunt work, and he had trusted individuals to take care of who to hire for what job.

The documents were restacked and he tapped his fingers on his desk in thought. “I need to fight something. I want to try and recreate that giant ice spear again, but I haven’t done it yet. Using two Axioms at the same time is still impossible for me. Nobody else can do it as far as I know. But I know it’s possible. I did it to kill the giant Anubian. I can do it again.”

Dr. Garcia would scold him for thinking about pushing himself to the brink of permanent harm again. “But what’s the point of staying weak? If I need to nearly die to continue to get stronger, then so be it. I haven’t lost yet, and I don’t plan to.”

Another knock was at his door, this one more urgent. Mathew didn’t even get a chance to say ‘come in’ as the door was opened and Damien walked into his office with another person behind him.

“Mathew. We found them.” Damien said with a slight worry in his voice. He pointed to the younger person, “Go on. Tell him.”

The young man was probably barely eighteen. Maybe younger. Mathew could see some acne along his jaw and a few puffs of hair.

“Uhhh. Mathew! It’s so awesome to finally meet you in person. I’ve heard only great things about you, and how great you are!” The teen bowed.

Mathew snorted, “I kinda like the groveling. It feels good to be respected.” He cleared his throat and sat up a little bit more. “Go on, tell me why you are here.”

“Right! I was able to find the enemy zone that was trying to steal the Dino Dungeon. Before you ask, I know because they are going to try to steal it again. They are three days of sprinting through the forest away from here. There is a town they are living in. I don’t know what it’s called, but I saw an old highway sign that says it’s about two thousand miles away from Watago City.”

Mathew furrowed his brow, “You traveled two thousand miles in just three days?”

“Well, that’s by road. Plus I didn’t sleep much. I have a Vitality score of over a hundred. Which, I imagine much lower than yours! It’s not like I’m bragging or anything!”

“You said they are going to try it again. What do you mean?” Mathew asked, he glanced at Damien who just mouthed the words ‘already done’ knowing he would want to start Code Shield.

Aaron took a deep breath, “Let me start from the beginning.” Then he told everything he just told Damien an hour ago.

Mathew kept his face neutral the entire time. When the teen started to talk about the weird-looking humans, Mathew stopped him.

“Olive color skin? Taller and slimmer than normal, and only use bows?” Mathew asked.

“Yea…wait, how did you know about the bows. I didn’t say that part yet.”

“Shit, the elves are working with them!” Mathew pulled out the information crystal he purchased from Di and handed it to Aaron, “Put this to your head. Tell me if they looked like these people.”

Aaron did so, “Oh this is one of those information crystals!” His eyes fluttered for a moment and once it was done, he grabbed his head, “FUCK! That hurts!”

“Low intelligence gives you a horrible headache from large information piles. Yes or no. Do they match?”

“Yea!” Aaron groaned. He sat down on a nearby char. Damien put a hand on his shoulder to help steady him.

“Damien, what’s the second highest color? Ruby?”

“Already did it. Word is spreading.” He said with a nod. “Damien said there are at least forty of them.”

“Damn it.” Mathew cursed. “Get everyone ready for a giant battle. It’s going to be bloody.”

“You know who those people are, don’t you?” Damien asked.

“I do. I talked to Zack to see if they are referenced in any of his stories. To his knowledge, Elves are typically a nature-loving and high-magic type of race. They live for thousands of years and appreciate beauty. My research says otherwise. They do live a long time but are more cutthroat. They take no bullshit. Many of the other clans and factions do not get in the way of an Elf clan because it means you will lose.”

“Why not just give them the Dungeon? It’s only Novice, and we can find another one.” Damien suggested.

“Blue Oaks doesn’t give in to the demands of others,” Mathew said sternly. “I won’t give them the time of day.” He was about to leave the room but looked back at Aaron. He sent him the payment for the mission, plus a bonus. “Tell the kid to spend it wisely.”