Matthew woke up with a knock on the door. He took a look on his phone, it was 9AM he had 3 messages from his mother. "Come in." He said while cleaning the dust from his eyes.
Eric came in dressed in black leather pants with metal plates sewed in protecting its vital spots, a breastplate engraved with a jade stone in the middle and a black leather jacket with metal plates similar to his pants.
"I’m sorry to wake you, kiddo. But I need a favor."
"Sure, what do you need?" Matthew said getting of off bed.
"Can you keep an eye on Katia? She wasn’t feeling well and didn’t go to school and I need to hop in a dungeon with my party today. Vanessa left for work early and won’t come back until 5."
"Sure, whatever I can do, I’ll do it."
"Thanks a lot! There’s food in the fridge and money on the kitchen counter for lunch."
"Sure, thanks."
"Sorry to drop it on you like that, but I can’t bail on them today. We have this planned for a long time and we won’t get another chance soon."
"It’s alright Eric, you and Vanessa done a lot for me. It’s the least I can do."
Matthew followed Eric into the house. Katia was sitting on the couch watching TV wrapped on a blanked and hugged with the pink teddy bear that Matthew bought.
"She’s a good girl." Eric said. "Just keep an eye on her and order some food for you both. She’ll eat anything." Then he knelt in front of his daughter, kissed her forehead and said: "Papa is going to work now princess, uncle Matt will take care of you, ok?"
Before leaving, Eric showed Matthew the kitchen and said in a low voice so his daughter wouldn’t hear: "You seem like a good kid and Vanessa took a liking to you. That’s why I’m trusting you with my daughter. But if anything happens to her... I’m a level 25 adventurer."
Matthew swallowed hard and forced a smile: "I’ll protect her with my life."
Eric than laughed loud and slapped his back while saying: "I’m counting on you. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but Vanessa will be back at 5!
Eric, then, walked towards the kitchen door that led to the garage driveway, opened a secret door on the wall next to it and took a huge sword out: "There’s all kind of weapons in here. Don’t let Katia near it, but feel free to use anything if you need."
Outside he hopped on his black and green fat boy motorbike, put on a metal helmet that looked like a centurion helmet with a green comb: "If you need the car keys are also on the counter. Eat some breakfast, there is some coffee in the machine. See you latter kiddo."
His bike was as loud as he was. Matthew only took a couple of juice from the fridge. The medication was working, he felt very little pain, but his body was tired.
He sat on the couch beside Katia. She was focused watching the TV and barely paid him any attention. He took the time and sent a message to his mother, that he was at a birthday party and ended up sleeping there. Now he agreed to babysit his friend’s daughter while he went to work.
"Katia, want take a picture for my mom to see you?"
Katia agreed and struck a pose trying to look mature, but only made her cuter. Matthew’s mom instantly fell in love with the little girl.
After answering a couple of more questions his mother asked him, he now took time to go over his levels again. He reached level 3 after fighting against the goblin horde and killing a hobgoblin. Level 3... It was calculated to be similar to kill about 20 normal goblins, or 20XP. He didn’t even remember how many he killed.
Now his new class, Gunner. It also wasn’t a class he intended on getting originally. He figured most classes he will take will not be on his original build. But gunner was a great class for him who fought with a gun. Gunners could pick one of three skills.
Target: It placed a mark on a creature or a place or a thing. The user would then always know where the mark was. A skill many considered useless without the Mage’s skills Project Mana, which allowed spells to be cast from afar and Lingering Mana that allowed spells to linger without the user having to constantly supply it with MP. Without those skills, Target would be limited to a place the Gunner could be constantly touching it. Not many uses for that.
Homing: A complementary skill to Target. Objects imbued with the user’s Mana are automatically attracted to the Target. A very powerful skill. However, only useful with the Target skill that, itself, is only useful with Project Mana and Lingering Mana.
Then the only skill that would be useful for Matthew was the third. Boost Gunpowder. A skill the infused substances with Mana to make them more reactive. Meaning, if used on the gunpowder of the bullets, would make the explosion stronger and in turn making the bullets faster and hitting with more power. It was perfect for him.
Now, the question was how to spend the stat points he earned? As his build was all over the place and having no clear pathway going forward. The Gacha system wouldn’t let him focus on being a warrior or a mage or support... So, the only way he could take advantage of all his skills was to pick a balanced approach. Then he decided to even out his stats.
"Matthew Lordstone – Level 3
Doctor – Level 1
Warrior – Level 1
Gunner – Level 1
Stats
HP = 5/ VIT = 5
MP = 5 / MAG = 5
STR = 8 / AGI = 8
MIN = 4 / CHA = 4
Skills: Anesthesia (E), Imbue Mana (E), Boost Gunpowder (E)"
Katia wanted to eat pizza for lunch, and since Eric didn’t put any restrictions, Matthew asked some for both. And ice cream with gummy worms. And chocolate. And caviar.
"Do you even know what caviar is, Katia?"
They had fun together. They played some games, Matthew pretended to be her child on house play. By the time Vanessa came home, both were already best friends.
They had dinner together, proper food that Vanessa prepared herself. She was surprisingly a good cook.
"Thank you for taking care of her." Vanessa said, while saying goodbye at the door. "You sure you don’t want me to take you home?"
"Yeah, I can take the bus home, it’s not that far from here." Matthew said putting his backpack on. "Also thank you for washing my clothes and for taking me to the hospital. My mom would kill me if she saw the state I was."
"You’re not healed yet. Don’t let her see you without your shirt on. And no going into dungeons until next week. It takes a while for the healing potions to heal bones."
"I know Vanessa. Thank you again. For everything. Truly."
Vanessa hugged him and said: "You’re welcomed kid. But never do something this stupid again."
"I won’t."
"Were they cute?" Vanessa gave a devilish smile.
"Who?" Matthew said confused.
"The girls you risked your life for."
Matthew’s face got red and he was out of words.
Vanessa laughed, patted his head and said: "I’m sure they see you as a hero now. Now get going kid. Your mom must be worried."
He thanked her again and left to the bus stop. Eric, Katia and Vanessa showed him that adventures could have a normal life not much different than his parent’s. He was smiling on his way home despite his injures.