Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-seven. Going Native.

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-seven. Going Native.

Bob didn't like Lt. Colonel Smith. The man had a right to be angry about being reincarnated without having the process explained to him, but that didn't excuse him for being a dick. Bob hadn't started the process of saving the Earth to deal with the same bullshit that had plagued him before.

"And he's a kitty hater, buddy," Bob murmured as he scratched under Monroe's chin, "can't trust someone like that."

Monroe purred loudly in agreement with that statement. Bob was going to attribute the purr to agreement anyway, regardless of the actual intent.

He'd known from the start that he was the wrong person for the job. He not only lacked a useful skillset, but he was also aware that he wasn't good with people, and the task of saving Earth was mostly about people. He'd been grateful when Mike had started getting things moving with his Marines, but he wasn't thrilled with the idea of bringing the actual Marine Corps. The people he'd restored to full health were indebted to him, doubly so because he was allowing them to prepare a place to shelter their loved ones. Active duty military personnel were likely to be a different story entirely.

Dave had told him that he expected to pull a solid one hundred D&D players over on the weekend, but that was a drop in the bucket.

Bob sighed as he slowly ran a hand through Monroe's fur.

He had to wonder, did it really matter? Military or civilian the government was going to get involved, and soon. He'd wanted to have had a working model in place to demonstrate how things could be done, but realistically, his only applicable skill set was building Dungeons. The buildings that they'd raise over them were something other people could handle.

If he stood back and let things progress, he had no doubt that the military would be overseeing the project with a bit of civilian oversight of their own. Bob could simply focus on driving the Dungeons deeper and deeper each day. When some likely candidates for becoming curators were found and carried up to their tier cap, he'd teach them how.

Bob shook his head. He needed to level up as well. There was no point in sitting at level thirty-two. He needed to reach level thirty-six and then devote enough time to understanding how magic worked.

He picked Monroe up off the table and slid him onto the Makres before dropping through a portal into his Arcane Depths.

Jack smiled at Eddi. "Believe me, you're going to love this," he promised the young man, who had been a little hesitant about the project at hand.

The U.S. Dollar was, in less than two years, going to be worthless. He'd slaved away for longer than that, making only a few dollars an hour, enduring the shame of homelessness, eating shitty food, and not getting nearly enough sleep.

Jack had made it. He'd earned his payday. And of course, because 'Fuck Jack,' he'd never get to really enjoy it. Fuck that. Thayland was a nice enough place, especially once they got a bit of infrastructure up and running. It was a little funny that all the apocalypse books he'd read featured technology becoming useless when the real thing appeared to not give a single solitary fuck.

He had a plan. A few of them, in fact, but they all hinged one single component; steady, reliable electricity. He was reasonably confident that there would be people who took the Path of the Endless Swarm and learned how to summon gasoline or diesel. He was equally sure that he could avoid a few steps. The answer was a steam-powered generator. Most commercial power generation was steam-powered, be it by burning oil, coal, or nuclear. Water was superheated to steam, the pressure turned the turbine, which created the electricity, and the water finished its trip by condensing back down to water before making another trip through the loop.

Having a large quantity of water flashing to steam wasn't an issue with magic, nor was condensing it back down. This was an area where magic and technology synergized perfectly. He'd need to feed the whole thing mana crystals, likely by the shovel full, but if he was successful, he'd have them.

"Are you sure I should be here?" she whispered to Carrie, "I don't have portal yet."

"Sure," Carrie replied happily, "none of these guys have portal either." She lowered her voice, "besides, Jackson," here she nodded to an older man, black hair given almost completely over to gray, "offered to take me to a store while they are loading up the trucks."

"What kind of a store?" Nora asked curiously. If there was one thing she missed about Harbordeep, it was Kathaleen's. Holmstead didn't have a book store at all, only a few hundred volumes in the Adventurers Guild Library, and none of those were the sort of books you'd read for pleasure.

"He called it a 'mall' and said it was actually a bunch of little shops under one roof," Carrie smiled, "I traded him some mana crystals for earth currency, so we should be able to pick up a few outfits."

"Maybe a few books?" Nora asked cautiously.

"I don't see why not," Carrie leaned forward and poked Jackson's shoulder. "Hey," she said in English, "how much are books?"

Jackson looked back and shook his head with a smile that reminded Nora strongly of her father. "For the cost of one outfit, you can purchase four, maybe five novels," he said with a smile.

"I called my daughter," Jackson continued, "and thanks to a suitable bribe, she'll be more than happy to show you around the mall for an hour or so while we load up these trucks."

He chuckled, "She'll have you out of that armor and blending in."

Nora looked down at her armor. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't flattering either. She'd had Gary retool it with a full set of enhancements and enchantments, and it served its purpose, but it couldn't really be considered stylish.

Carrie gave her a commiserating look. Her armor was a deep crimson color, which went nicely with her auburn hair but had little else to recommend it.

"Just make sure you kids stay out of Victoria's secret," Jackson wagged a finger at them, "Elaine's mother lets her shop there, against my wishes, and she might try to drag you in there," he shook his head, "do an old father a favor, and keep her moving along."

"Sure thing," Carrie agreed happily.

"And don't let her tempt you into the food court," Jackson continued, "we're all stopping at Thai place that Evans says is to die for, right?" He nudged the man driving the truck.

"And be resurrected for another taste," Evans agreed, not taking his eyes off the road. "The good Lord knew what he was doing when he put together the spice pallet over there."

Now that was something she'd really missed. The Tavern in Holmstead served quality meals with healthy portions. But they didn't have a lot of variety. Kevin stuck to boar and bear for the meat dishes. The other places where people who didn't delve the Dungeon were only slightly different, adding beef and occasionally chicken to the menu. Harbordeep had a dozen excellent restaurants, and Nora really missed fresh seafood.