Monarchs of Above and Below (On Hiatus)

Chapter IV: The System

Matthew looked down at his hands. They were still shaking, he couldn't believe what had happened. He was sure he'd been crushed by the statue of Jesus in the double dungeon he and Luke had wandered into. He should have died.

Matthew's eyes went wide. He should have died. Just then he heard another ding directly in front of him.

He looked ahead to see a much smaller screen, identical in design to the one he'd seen in the sky, hovering a few feet in front of him.

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[Assessment of Matthew Adams is a success]

[Profile Available]

[You have 1 quest in your inbox]

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. . .

"What?" That was all he managed to say.

Another light ding rang out as a slightly smaller screen appeared next to the previous one.

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[Would you like to view the quest in your inbox?]

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Matthew knit his brow. "Um.... sure." He said.

. . .

Matthew lightly waved a hand through the message, his hand simply phased through the screen as if it were air.

"Yes.... yes I would like to view the quest," Matthew said, slightly louder this time.

Both screens quickly faded in a brief flick of light. However, another appeared as quickly as the others had vanished.

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[Quest: Rehabilitation]

[Rank: E-]

[Objective: Heal your body back to its proper physical condition]

[Progress: 71/100]

[Reward: random miscellaneous healing item]

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"It's like a video game," Matthew muttered under his breath. He wasn't exceedingly familiar with video games, although he did play them from time to time. But he never imagined anything similar to what he sees on a screen to really exist.

Matthew simply watched the 'progress' number. Despite the medicine and several medical procedures he had more than likely gone through he found it odd it had only cleared 71 percent of the injuries to his body. While that was surely higher than if he'd been left within the gate, with all the medical marvels the world had manufactured since the opening of gates, few injuries couldn't be relatively quickly solved. Then again, that was assuming one could afford such a procedure. He also didn't know how long he'd been unconscious. For all he knew it could've been only a few hours.

Then he remembered something the screen had mentioned before.

"Can you show me my profile?" Matthew asked.

Suddenly, another screen appeared in front of him with much more text than he'd expected.

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[Name: Matthew Adams}

[Level: 1]

[Job: None]

[HP: 50/50]

[MP: 25/25]

[Strength: 10]