Mathew collapsed onto his bed feeling truly exhausted. “Being leader is taxing. I have had barely any time for my own projects. Just running around, meeting people, shaking hands, kissing babies. Yet, the rewards continue to speak for themselves.”

He rolled over and pulled out a bottle of wine and a glass from his personal storage. Was it a waste to use the precious space for things like this? To him, it was worth every inch. He poured a small amount into the glass and sipped the red liquid. “Hmmm, sweeter than I typically like. Yet, I can’t complain that much.”

It was a bottle that Tyrone had stashed away. The man was hoarding fancy items like wine, jewlrey, art, and anything worth something. Granted, the majority of that is useless now. Power is everything today.

“As long as I stay strong, I’ll stay in charge. I won’t let anybody threaten what I’ve worked so hard to obtain. Who cares if I was lucky. Luck is part of life. Born poor? Sucks to suck. Born with a physical defect? I guess fate just wasn’t looking out for you.” Mathew needed to constantly remind himself of the real reason he was doing everything.

It wasn’t for the benefit of humanity. It’s because he wanted it. None of it was given to him for free. Not like his brothers who accepted the handouts from their parents. Primarily their mother.

“Crazy bitch is dead. I wonder how they are all doing. Still alive last I checked, yet something tells me they are hidding behind closed doors. Sucking their thumbs as magical beasts knock on the oak doors of home.” He poured a second glass and chuckled at the mental image.

“Then again, they are gaining levels, getting stronger. Mark is already Level 25. The others are all right here next to me in Level other than Luke. He’s barely 20.”

Rolling his eyes, Mathew pulled out [Trinity’s Manual] and stared at the cover. “Do they have something like this? Then again, I could be the first. This can be my way to solidfying my power.” Mathew shook his head, “No, this will be it. Di said it was unique and not common. Nothing I’ve done so far was the ‘normal’ way. Underhanded tactics using my contract powers. Cheating. Lying. Even my class is unique. Nobody else is a simple summoner. That I know of anyways.”

Mathew glanced at his bedroom door. Agnox was out in the living room reading a magazine. He continued to be fascinated with human culture. Having him was his cheat card. An ally he can wholeheartidly trust that had the potential to be as strong as he was.

In the old world, trust was something that can never truly exist. You needed insurance. Blackmail, bribes, or sometimes a literal smoking gun. Mathew never needed to resort to the latter. But the other two? Even today he used it.

There was nothing worth blackmailing for, but every day he continued to bribe the hearts of his people. He would take care of them, so long as they in turn took care of him. A relationship that has continued to grow. They were his people. He wouldn’t do anything to damage them unless it was for the highest of rewards.

“Just like this book. I had to kill, betray, and lie for it all. I guess I should reap what I've sowed.”

Mathew opened it, half expecting something to happen. When no flashing lights, blue screens, nor an appearance of a god to signal something, he started to read. It has been a while since he read a book for anything other than for his job. He never saw the entertainment in reading for fun. Music or movies were more his avenue for spending his free time. That or experiences. Dinner parties were his favorite.

The book was half written like a scholar's notebook, and a published paper. It covered the process of meditating, something Mathew was already familiar with himself. The basics of cultivating required him to do three things.

The first, was to consolidate what he’s done. To reflect back on his actions. How to improve every part of himself. If he slashed with a weapon, how can he improve it? Use more power? Move faster? Less power? What about his footing?

If he were to make a choice in the heat of combat, did he react too slowly? Too hasty? Was it the right choice? Was there another option he could have selected?

Dozens of things he needed to think back on. This was to help improve his future actions. To reduce unneeded movements. Wasted energy made his chances of fighting and winning decrease at every moment.

If his choices were wrong, he needed to figure out what he could do better. Plan better for possible futures as well. Did he bring the wrong tools to a fight? What if there was nothing he could do at all other than what he did? Was it the best choice, or the first choice?

Mathew’s mind wandered to his past few months. Primarily his largest fuck up was the contract with Payne. He was cocky, greedy, and made it too complicated. His reasons to do it were not wrong.

His intention was to paint Payne as a bad guy. Someone who tried to kill Mathew who has worked to paint himself as an upstanding guy. Yet it failed because the cups got swapped around.

Then there was the plan in itself. He could have taunted Payne instead. He was already an older man who’s own selfish goals stood in the way of Blue Oaks. He thought himself as a true American, yet he was a traitor. Selling secrets to other countires in hope to spark a war.

Mathew almost pittied the man. There were better ways to go around bringing people under the same banner. A common enemy worked almost every time. Mathew thought about how he was working compared to Payne when it came to Blue Oaks.

The Dungeons were enemies of Earth. That was the current picture painted. Then he thought about Bob. Someone who fled here to avoid a punishment for something he thought bettered his people.

Were all Dungeons invaders, or were some possible allies? Mathew pursed his lips at this thought. Agnox mentioned how Morthrus was sent here to gain experience. Experience to be a leader. Then she wanted more than that.

If Mathew could find others like that, he could possibly bribe them. Create boundaries and trade. He didn’t need to resort to violence for every answer. There are better ways to solve issues.

Choosing to kill someone for bad advice, like the father from so long ago was another comparison. Did Mathew make the right choice in that instance? Disarming him, tossing him aside like trash?

Mathew took a shaky breath. No he didn’t. Yet, at the time, he had no authority. If he was leader, he would have listened to the man. Not pretend to be his friend. There was a better way to turn that man into a potential strong soldier than a broken hearted prisoner.

Pain flushed over Mathew’s body as he opened his eyes. His body was covered in sweat and every breath was heavy. “What was that?”

Igorning the wine for now, Mathew went to the bathroom to get some water. Looking at the clock, it was almost three hours later. “I barely was focusing. Why did I trail off so easily like that?”

Mathew gulped down the cold water and shook his head to focus. He went back to the book to look for an answer.

“Don’t surround yourself with distractions. Reflections are meant to be literal. Don’t allow your mind to wonder. Keep it focused at each event until you are sure there is nothing more to learn from it. Don’t be afraid to come back, but stay focused.” Mathew read to himself.

“Basiclly don’t let my own thoughts lead me down a rabbit hole. Easy enough.” Mathew muttered half confidently.

There was something different about what he was doing. He’s talked to a therapist before. Even today he continued to practice the methods he developed with her. Putting unneeded emotions into a box to be resolved at a later date.

She was under the impression Mathew had anger issues, yet it wasn’t that. Mathew rarely got angery. He just needed help untageling how he truly felt about things. Putting things into a box resolved that issue in most cases.

Yet now, he was forcing himself to go back and relive those emotions. Mathew decided to move on to the next step. Just in case it oculd help him out.

As he read on, the manual went over the other two steps. Practicing and Living. The latter was the most obvious and difficult to train. It was to create and live new experiences. As he lived life, he would encounter new events to make him a better person. True battle was the best teacher. Mathew’s greatest gains were always through combat. It was always the thing that pushed him over the edge.

Practice was something he could get behind. Train yourself daily to be prepared for the fights of tomorrow. The manual went over the three steps and heavily emphasized to do so all the time. If at any time, Mathew experienced a truly powerful moment, he would need to instantly go into seclusion to meditate on it.

This was primarily for his Axioms. Mathew was surprised the manual suggested incorperating those three steps to his Axioms. As unveiling truths would strengthen his mind. A whole third of what he would be building and strengthening.

Mathew was curious what could be applied to the other two parts, his Soul and Body. He assumed Axioms would apply to everything. As his [Resistance] now can protect his body lightly. Yet now that he thought about it, the Axiom primarily protects his mind. Any weaker mental manipulation skills would have a harder time affecting him.

[Piercing] on the other hand is truly an external Axiom. He saw zero uses for it on himself. Mathew glanced at the book in his hands. “Or, I don’t see a use right now. Maybe I could find a way to use it differently. Maybe a ‘Piercing Gaze’ and enhance my vision? My thoughts to make them stronger? No, that makes no sense.”

Mathew went back to the manual’s core purpose. The first section was covering the basics, as if whoever were to read this, had no clue about cultivation. It brought up a section on culviation chambers. To surround yourself with what defines you as a person.

A few examples were listed. For a swordsman, to at the minimum have his weapon near him. It mentioned a culviator who would dabble with nature to have flowers and trees within it. For a cultivator of life or death, to have similar themes as well near you.

Mathew paused to think about what he would cultivate. What his true path would be. So far, he is a Summoner. His summons support him in battle, covering his weaknesses. What were his strengths?

All he can do is stab, throw with a mediocre aim, and hurl bolts of icy mana. However, he was the leader. Creating plans, directing the flow of battle, and ensuring everyone does their role. How would he create a chamber revolving around that?

With a confused face, Mathew realized something very important about himself. Compared to someone like Leo, he had no power himself. Leo had the ability to enhance his body with more power, a ranged and closed range attack with a single weapon. Plenty of passive skills and abilities to further improve his prowress in combat.

What did Mathew have? A single attack spell, three summon spells, and a novice ranked melee passive. Everything else was utility, related to crafting, or him encountering other people. Mathew opened his menu, and he was faced with a harsh reality.

He wasn’t made for combat. He performed well because of his summons. Primarily Agnox. [Mana Bolt] was powerful, but what if he ran out? What about someone who was resistant to it like the giant undead?

He glared at the missing spot for his final ability. Mathew was now determined to aquire something related to combat for that slot. Whatever it was would be something he can use for himself, his summons, or something. He refused anything but the best now. Especially since he knew so much more.

Mathew took a deep breath. He couldn’t get worked up about it. That’s the point of the first step of cultivating. Looking at the past and seeing how he could improve. Sand down the roughness and reveal the smooth texture of perfection.

He closed his eyes and spent over an hour focusing on his past and how to improve his future. Mathew mentally set aside his problem of his class and its lack of combat orientation. Whether or not he would pick up a necromancer themed ability would wait for the future.

Right now, he has a year before ranking up. After that he could look forward to almost two years. Plenty of time to figure something out. People lived for thousands of years if one were ranked up high enough. Mathew didn’t want to stall out because of a rash choice today just to live for an extra year.

He would push forward as if nothing was wrong. Starting with bringing all his powers up to standards. Just a week and a half. Mathew was slightly worried if he could do it. He would need to continue to push himself.

The real question was where to start. Mathew didn’t rank up any of his powers after defeating the Undead dungeon. They all got closer to the limit, with his [Staves] and [Summon Whis and Whispy] techniques being the two closest, both at Beginner 9.

There was his [Channel Mana], [Share Sense], [Piercing Weapons], and [Rituals] techniques that were all stuck at Novice still. Plenty of directions to grow. All of it just required him to do it.

Mathew pulled out his notebook and started to write down his plans. He had twelve days for his personal deadline with Bob to teach him, giving him just three more days until the Dungeon opened up after that.

Fifteen days in total to be not only Level 25, but ready for whatever laid inside.