CH 42

Matthew felt the growth of his mana when he put all the stat points into his Intelligence. Tiger had said that it was a good investment if you feel like you want to grow stronger exponentially. Though this only worked for those with low intelligence points in the first place.

'Why did I only get 1 point in intelligence?'

Matthew was wondering while chewing his pieces of apple. When he reached out and saw that the plate was empty, he looked towards the direction where a snoring sound was coming from.

'Oh, I need to take care of her first.'

A sleeping Kylie was lying on the couch. Her beautiful face was giving off a radiant smile as if the weight on her shoulders have significantly been lightened. The presence of Matthew had done that for her, now, she wasn't alone anymore.

Matthew was about to stand to try and place a blanket over her sleeping body when he felt nothing when he tried to move his numb left leg. He remembered the talent he had, something that might be amplified due to the presence of the Stone of Life in his heart. He used the mana scattered all over his body and put some pressure on them to make them materialize and copy the normal flow of mana in his body that he had long memorized.

When he continued to compress the mana, the path that seemed to have stopped flowing suddenly looked as if it was back to life. The path of mana in his body had returned to its original self. It was only a matter of time before he was back to full capacity.

'When the stone reaches its maximum capacity, I'm hunting those fuckers down!'

He had left the three men alive, he didn't get to finish the three before having to leave to get Billy help. But that only made him more excited, now he got to do it right. He'll make those fuckers know just how much they fucked up when they started this war.

...

Back to the present, Zel and Emilia have returned back to Cina. Their first order of business, to take care of a problem that arose when they left.

It's only been a few days since Matthew and Billy met with the Zel, but a lot has happened. Especially for Billy, who can't even speak anymore. Or move, for that matter. But Matthew was getting crazier by the day, though he never showed it back home. He was away from home most of the time anyway, so Kylie can't even see him.

It's late at night as Matthew took a stroll through the empty streets. His eyes were now blazing as the fight he just had was giving him more motivation to end these bastards once and for all, but alas, he was no army. If only he had enough power, just enough to take those bastards down.

'I need to level up and get more skill points!'

The system had given him a sense of strength that had become more reliable than the thing in his heart. It's lack of means of control made the thing act more like a lucky charm than a real weapon like the system. If the thing could be controlled though, then he could probably get something out of it.

Matthew finally arrived home and opened the door. The usually occupied chair had no one on it and he couldn't help but feel a little empty.

'No, I want her to not care about me.'

He convinced himself that what he was doing was the right thing, no, he knew it was the right thing. Having her involved would only complicate the situation. After what happened with Billy, he cannot have anything happen to her. He'd be letting both of them down if he did.

It was when Matthew looked towards the door of Kylie's room that he had a sense of crisis come over him. Matthew was able to sense a massive amount of mana from inside Kylie's room. He knew that she had no one over so that only meant one thing.

'Enemy ranker!'

It wasn't common knowledge that killing rankers would make them drop equipment and give out Exp Points, but since he had done so a few times, he knew that it was an enticing and lucrative way of getting stronger. Though he had reasons for his 'murders', they were still, at the end of the day, murders. This was something he had chosen to accept, he wanted to do this.

'Please! Don't hurt her!'

His mistakes should not be paid for by the girl whose family had made him whole again. The only family he has left. She wasn't even involved with anything, why are they targeting her?

'Is this my punishment?'

He was wallowing in defeat even before opening the door. Scenarios that got worse every time he thought deeper kept him locked on the ground. His expert hands trembled in fear as he began wondering if he was too late. It was only when he took out a knife and a pistol that he held one over the other that he finally had some sort of semblance of reality come back to him.

'Bastards! I'll fucking kill you if you dare...'

He didn't let the thoughts continue and instead went closer to the door slowly. He was going to try and overhear through the door and make his next decision from then on. He placed one ear over the door and focused.

"Haha, yeah. That's the guy."

Kylie's voice sounded out. It was a voice filled with joy unlike what he had heard for a long time now.

"I knew it! I liked the song "Someone You Loved" so much I asked Zel to come with me on his concert last week! It was held in Dragon, USM. You should come with us next time!"

Another voice sounded out from the room. It was a lovely voice, gentle and sweet. He could imagine the owner of that voice being a beautiful woman.

"Really!? Oh, ummm, can I take a person with me?"

Kylie seemed to respond with glee during the first half of her sentence but it turned shy around the end.

"Ohhhh... Does little Kylie have a boyfriend?"

The other voice now sounded a little teasingly as the tone was conveying a rather goading expression as if wanting to know more details.

"N-no! It's a friend! and he's a nice person so... I just want for us to be close again..."

"Come in, Matty."

"Brrr." Matthew couldn't help but feel his body tense up when he heard another voice coming from inside. The deep voice was familiar and yet it didn't bring him any comfort as he felt something else.

'It's him, he's the ranker!'

The door opened as Matthew still stood like an idiot. He placed his hands behind his back while putting his weapons inside the storage ring. He saw Kylie's inquisitive gaze and he replied with a strained smile. He used minute eye movements to see who else were inside and he couldn't help but wonder why they were here.

"Boss?"

Matthew was unable to understand why the boss would come here. Though it made sense now that he thought about it, the man who helped pay for Billy's hospital bill and was keeping the man alive. Who else but the boss would care enough for an outcast like Billy?

"You finally came back! Mr. Huertazuela and Ms. Emilia were talking about daddy and how he was going to be healed! I couldn't believe it myself!"

Matthew was looking at the rejoicing Kylie and his eyes watered when he saw her smile like this again. He was going crazy on finding out who did that to Billy when he found a few clues on why it happened in the first place. But that was nothing but a distraction from what the real problem was, he lost Billy.

'But the boss is saying he can be healed?'

"How?" Matthew knew more than Kylie what kind of man the boss is, even if it's just a little more. The man had the system before him and knew about Billy's identity before he did as well. The connections this man has, how could he possibly try to fight back if he had bad intentions?

"Zel's not like that, you should know about him by now. You think your family was leaving you alone all this time just because? You ever wondered why the whole city of Linghua seemed to be free from their control? That's all Zel."

'But that doesn't mean he was a man that I can tru-'

"He's also Tiger."

"What?" The shock from finding the man who basically taught him more about the system than anyone else was something that Matty couldn't hide. His face which was always frowning now only had a gaping mouth that didn't close for a few seconds.

"Snap." Just enough for Zel to take a picture.

It was only then that Matty finally returned to his senses. He checked out his surroundings and saw that all three faces were now laughing at him as if they planned this beforehand.

"Never thought he'd be able to make a face like that." Zel was looking at his phone while clicking away. It was after he stopped that the phones of the two other people buzzed, and they checked it only to find a copy of the photo he had just taken.

"Aw, I gotta make daddy see this when he wakes up."

"Don't worry Kylie, your father is going to be fine." Emilia took out a bottle filled with blue liquid. The bottle was then given to the confused Kylie who looked at Emilia with inquisitive eyes.

"Drink it, it's not something bad. I promise!" The ever-cautious Matthew was about to protest when he felt that the bottle was familiar.

Then he remembered the things in the store that he saw a while ago. That bottle was the thing in the store.

'Something from the store should benefit a person, I have no reason to stop this.' Matthew gave a nod when he saw Kylie looking his way. This prompted a smile to appear on Zel's face as he wondered exactly what happened between these two to get so close with each other. The last time in his dreams, they haven't even met yet. It seems he's already changing the future again.

Kylie drank the mana potion in one go, as Emilia had instructed her. It was a good thing she was already sitting on her bed so the soothing effect of the potion that made one sleep inducive was already solved by just lying on the bed.

"When you wake up, we'll tell you everything." Emilia covered the girl with a blanket as she watched her eyelids drop and eventually close. The girl looked so calm and peaceful in her sleep that it only made her beautiful face more attractive.

"The girl will be a beauty when she grows a little older." Emilia couldn't help but compliment the girl, she was kind, beautiful and talented. She had even promised to teach her how to cook in a later time, so they were already friends at this point.

"Matthew, you rest too. We'll talk tomorrow when we get Billy healed and able to hear this too."

Zel and Emilia walked out of the room, leaving only a rather silent Matthew who contemplated about what his next actions would be. But even after a while, he found out. He had no other choice now.