Gains and Another Loss

It had only been one day since they left TJ's house. But the gains in levels and stats did not disappoint. There were even some unexpected extra sources for Magnus' DP. Which, of course, he more than welcomed.

First off, TJ had gained three levels. The guy had thought his limit for that day was Level 4. However, as soon as he arrived at Magnus' location after defeating the ammit, he received another level-up notification that neither he nor Magnus had expected. For now, his Status Window looked like this.

[Status Window

Name: Tyler John Haysmith

Race: Human

Author: Magnus 2.0

Alias: Death

Age: 18

Title(s): None

Level 5

XP: 240/500

HP: 530

Mana: 810

Strength: 80

Agility: 62

Perception: 60

Stamina: 64

Skill(s): Rejuvenate, Ignite (Lv. 8), Flamethrower (Lv. 6), Swordsmanship (Lv. 6), Death Flame (Lv. 4), Decay (Lv. 3), Wind Bullet (Lv. 4), Pain Resistance (Lv. 6), Line of Fire (Lv. 1)]

Killing five harpies earned him 400 XP, with 80 XP each, and contributing to defeating the ammit granted him 130 XP. It didn't just end there, though. TJ told Magnus that he had received a notification saying he had 'successfully protected everyone', giving him an extra 450 XP. Plus, all three Teams had inadvertently come together to develop a new Reality, granting the Team leader another extra XP. The Devastators, TJ's Team, apparently contributed the least, with only 180 XP as a reward.

Still, a little extra XP was still XP. TJ couldn't complain.

Now, about that notification telling him that he'd protected everyone, Magnus had to wrack his brain around what it meant.

And then it dawned on Magnus, that he had unpurposely given TJ, and also Summer, an Objective. It was when he had told them that he'd 'leave everyone' to them back when he was about to lure Dazhbog away to Lake Michigan.

Before arriving in the copied Universe, he had removed the Objective feature from the system, since he didn't want to feel as if he was a commander giving orders to his soldiers. Besides, he didn't want to do things the way the gods did. He had planned to always give his Protagonists a choice to voluntarily do tasks in order to level up. He didn't want to just order them around.

But it turned out, even if he hadn't meant it, the system still counted his casual order as an Objective. This did not apply to every one of his orders, though.

He understood that an Author's command, even if it wasn't registered on the Objective list‒since the list had been scratched off the system‒counted as an Objective as long as it benefitted the Author and their Protagonists.

Moreover, TJ and Summer were not the only ones receiving such an unexpected boon. After the funeral, Lisa and Mrs. Wang had approached Magnus. They told him that they had received a notification congratulating them for 'finding a shelter'. For that, the system had bestowed upon them each 200 XP.

This got Magnus thinking. Did he tell them to seek a safe place everyone would be able to take shelter at?

He did.

Did he think he was giving them an Objective?

Nope, he didn't.

But apparently, the system was like, "Oh! This sorry excuse of a host has just created an Objective for his Protagonist's Supporting Characters!"

Magnus wasn't even the Author! It was his copy! It made sense that TJ and Summer received a legit Objective, since it had been Magnus 2.0 who told them to protect everyone. However, it was not the case with Mrs. Wang and Lisa. After discussing this with Magnus 2.0, the guy was only able to come up with one answer.

'Maybe the system thinks of us as one person. I mean, our thoughts are pretty much in-sync most of the time, anyway. So the system probably counted your order as mine too, since I would've said the exact same thing to Mrs. Wang and Lisa if I had a mouth.'

Even though Magnus wore a dubious expression at this theory, he had to admit it was plausible. Sort of.

What was more surprising was that Summer didn't even get any XP for her Team members' accomplishment!

'I mean, we literally didn't involve her at all when giving an order to the Wangs. So it makes sense,' Magnus 2.0 reminded him.

The fact that an Author was able to issue an Objective to Supporting Characters while excluding their Protagonists was definitely news to him. As far as he knew, the gods would always create Objectives to their Protagonists, never the Supporting Characters. And while sometimes they would include phrases like 'Maximum number of Support: 5', the Objective was never given out without the Protagonist's involvement.

Of course, due to the high number of Objectives, especially for high-leveled Protagonists, they couldn't always participate in every single one. Sometimes, they would command their Supports to complete a few Objectives on their behalf. However, at the end of the day, the Objective itself was always issued through the Protagonist, and they would always be the one deciding which of their Supports would embark on the mission. Ultimately, the Protagonist would still be the one in charge.

But after thinking about it for a while, Magnus could see that it made sense. Unless it was necessary, the gods would never think of leaving their Protagonists out of the Objectives. By always including them, the total DP the gods gained would be higher than in the case where the Author only relied on the Supports.

On a side note, there was a disparity between the amount of XP received by Protagonists and the one received by Supporting Characters. Protagonists received considerably more XP. This was not something new to Magnus. He had always known that when a god gave out an Objective in which multiple Supports were able to partake, the Protagonist always received more rewards than the Supports. After all, the gods didn't like giving too much to their Protagonists' Supports. Due to the fact that they weren't able to manually narrate Supporting Characters, there was always a chance of betrayal.

All this talk about Objectives made him think, should he revive the Objective feature? As an Author, being able to directly talk to his Protagonists and Supports certainly made this whole deal regarding Objectives a little confusing. He couldn't tell which one of his orders would count as an Objective. Well, he could guess, but his mind sometimes slipped. He knew he was terrible at both planning ahead and being careful with his decisions in general.

The gods didn't have this problem as they were only able to communicate to their Protagonists through the system.

Magnus then opened Summer's Status Window.

[Status Window

Name: Summer Murphy

Race: Human

Author: Magnus 2.0

Alias: Glósóli

Age: 17

Title(s): None

Level 5

XP: 50/500

HP: 200

Mana: 220

Strength: 30

Agility: 71

Perception: 27

Stamina: 37

Skill(s): Rejuvenate, Lesser Heal (Lv. 4), Earth Bullet (Lv. 3), Rapid Growth (Lv. 1), Glowing Sun (Lv. 1)]

Magnus grinned proudly at the fact that his girlfriend had caught up to TJ in terms of Level. This was, for the most part, thanks to the system considering her Team as the main contributor to the new Reality's creation. For that, she was granted 350 XP.

Plus, her self-learned [Glowing Sun] gave Magnus an extra 240 DP.

When it came to stats, Summer had chosen to allocate all the bonus stats to her Mana, while TJ focused more on his Perception.

When Summer had come to him to report all of that, Magnus couldn't help but notice her downcast expression. He could tell she was blaming herself for losing one member of her Team, also known as The Murphies & Wangs. And so, for the rest of the night, Magnus never left her side. She ended up sleeping in his arms. In her bed.

Unfortunately, while his mind wasn't that of a teenager's anymore, his body sure was. Therefore, being physically very close to her made it hard for a certain part of his body to calm down. Damn hormones.

To distract himself, he decided to check out his current status.

[Status Window

…Divinity Level: 8

DP: 6010/8000

AP: 800…]

It definitely wouldn't be long before he leveled up, especially with a plan he was going to enact to his Protagonists once they got over today's events and got back in the groove.

The biggest contributor to his jump in total DP was the reward he got for creating a new Reality. After accumulating the DP he received from the achievement made by all three Teams regarding the new Reality, he counted a total of 1400 DP. Besides that, he had also gained 700 DP for defeating Dazhbog's vessel. Adding the points he earned from TJ's and Summer's accomplishment, he was now only 2230 DP away from the next Level. He wouldn't gain a fifth Protagonist slot when that happened, though. He could only gain a new slot every two levels.

Closing his Status Window, he let out a sigh. Maybe it was thanks to his experience, but by now he was already over the deaths of Luna and Mrs. Liu. As much as the guilt was still slightly weighing down on his heart, he was able to set it aside and focus on the tasks at hand.

And seeing everyone's progress, he was not disappointed. They might have been able to level up faster if they hadn't flocked together to defeat the monsters; they were basically sharing XP. However, Magnus knew he couldn't just throw them straight into the fire pit separately and expect them all to survive. Today was their first battle experience, after all. As much as he wanted them to quickly adjust to the changed world, he wasn't willing to be unnecessarily harsh.

Besides, circumstances had forced him to separate from everyone, and the result had proven to him that small numbers equaled losses on his part. He probably should've sent Summer to go with Mrs. Liu and the Wangs.

Magnus shook his head. He had to stop himself before going down that rabbit hole of regrets again.

Suddenly, his sharp hearing perceived the sound of footsteps and the front door opening. He was already somewhat familiar with everyone's footsteps. And he recognized the owner of the ones currently heading outside the apartment. That person was pausing at the door, sounding as if he was hesitating.

Should he follow him?

Magnus decided he didn't want to take any risk and got out of the bed, careful not to wake his girlfriend. After reaching the front door, he saw Matt about to close the door behind him.

"Matt," Magnus called out calmly.

The guy in question didn't seem surprised that Magnus had noticed him leaving. In fact, he looked as if he had expected his friend to show up. He quietly pushed the door ajar so he could look at his friend.

"Where are you going?" Magnus asked.

There was a conflicted look on the big guy's face. He was silent for a long minute before he let out a heavy sigh. "I‒"

"Stop," Magnus cut him off, knowing what his friend was about to say. Well, he didn't know for sure, but he was able to take a guess. And he didn't want to give his friend the chance to say it before it was too late. "What made you change your mind, Matt?"

Matt was slightly stunned for a second. However, he soon chuckled bitterly. "I guess I can't really hide anything from you, huh." He sighed again before continuing. "I got this dream, Magnus. I know that it was probably a god's doing. But he said he specialized in dealing with souls. And he told me...he told me he could bring my mom back."

Magnus frowned. He was able to guess who the Protagonist responsible for the dream was. It was most likely the person whose Alias was 'Painter'. The exact same person who had used the skill [Dream Painting] on Magnus back in the original Universe, just before he was recruited by Atlantis. Magnus knew the guy was based in Chicago, so it wasn't a surprise that he had approached Matt.

However, there was a little incongruity here. Painter was supposed to be Atlantis' Protagonist. However, judging by the fact that he'd relayed a message to Matt saying his god specialized in souls, he was clearly not Atlantis' Protagonist in this Universe. Why had it changed?

Oh, and Magnus knew full well who this god was. There was only one god who excelled at giving false hopes to people: Azrael. It was true that the scumbag did indeed specialize in all things related to souls. However, he was either unable to or unwilling to bring back the dead. At least Magnus had never heard about the guy performing such a miracle.

"Trust me when I say that it's all a sham, Matt. Not even a god is able to bring back the dead," Magnus said in a firm tone, showing that he knew what he said to be true.

However, Matt was desperate. And his desperation was preventing him from accepting what his friend had said. "I don't know, Magnus. I feel like I should take this chance. I may end up as this god's puppet. But I'm willing to risk anything to be able to see her again."

Seeing the tears that started to well up in Matt's eyes, Magnus' empathy flared up. He could feel the despair in his friend's heart. However, his expression was unchanging as he said, "There was no chance to be taken to begin with, Matt. If bringing back the dead was that simple, I wouldn't be here right now."

Matt was confused for a moment. Hadn't Magnus told him that he had been sent back into the past? What did that have to do with bringing back the dead? "Umm, didn't you say you were dea‒"

"Matt," Magnus interrupted, not wanting to give away too much information to the gods. Some of them were clearly watching him right now. "Please. Your mind is muddled at the moment. You're not being reasonable."

"Well, I kind of don't wanna be reasonable right now. You see, I failed to see the point of carrying on living without her, and, and…" he stuttered before taking a deep breath. "Please don't stop me, Magnus. I'm leaving," he said with a tone of finality.

Magnus knew he couldn't stop his friend. And he didn't want to force him to stay, either. If he had to remain, Magnus didn't want the guy to feel like he was being shackled. And so, he could only look at Matt Liu's back as he closed the door behind him and left.

That night, Magnus lost another member of his Team.