Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-One. Convincing Arguments.

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-One. Convincing Arguments.

Bob looked around the tenth floor of the Dungeon sadly. He was feeling conflicted. It was going to require another five-fold ritual to complete, as it was just too large for him to create the entire thing in one sitting. However, by splitting it up, his matrix wasn't screaming nearly as loudly.

He'd decided to have the cooks and butchers take the Endless Swarm path. It would ultimately benefit them, and if he ran into the situation where he had open slots, he'd have people ready to fill them.

The day was looking to be awfully full. He'd started the tenth floor, and now he was going to burn through twelve hours of shepherding. He planned to push them to the fifth floor today, grinding out tremendous experience for their Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell.

Then he was going to have another conversation with Nora to make sure she was alright.

He already felt uncomfortable.

Time and events were moving quickly, and he knew that he was going to be relegated to an advisory role while building Dungeons as quickly as he could. Which wasn't to say he was terribly unhappy about that prospect, as he was aware of his limits. He just didn't want to see everything turn to shit.

Bob shook his head. His thoughts were running in circles lately, no doubt fueled by anxiety.

He stretched for a minute, then concentrated on the mana flowing through his matrix. He let it flow out, guiding it until it covered his body like a sheath. Sweat beaded on his brow as he concentrated on the feeling of the mana rather than seeing it. He focused on the mental image of the mana sinking into his skin, renewing and rejuvenating his skin, muscles, ligaments, and tendons. The mana flashed and ignited, causing him to gasp a warming sensation spread throughout his body.

'Congratulations,' Trebor said, 'you succeeded on your fist attempt.'

Bob groaned as his stiff muscles relaxed. Everything felt better. "It seems to work better than Anima Blast," he noted.

'Of course, Anima Blast seeks out injuries and repairs them. The effect you created was directed and all-encompassing,' Trebor replied. 'It also took you nearly three minutes,' he finished.

"It'll get fast if I use it every day, though," Bob said.

'Indeed it will,' Trebor responded.

Bob nodded at that and headed up to grab his people for another twelve-hour delve.

Jack grinned as Eddi stared intensely at the screen of Jack's laptop for several seconds as the credits rolled.

"That was AMAZING!" Eddi exclaimed, "The way that T-rex ate that guy, just chomp-chomp!"

"Are there more of those?" Eddi asked desperately.

"There are several more of them," Jack replied, "as well as thousands of other movies and television shows."

"And you're going to build a place where we can watch them?" Eddi was almost vibrating in anticipation.

"I am," Jack confirmed, "although you'll be watching them on a screen that's twenty feet tall and thirty feet wide, with speakers placed so you can feel the T-Rex's footsteps. All while your sitting in a comfortable chair with Wayna next to you, sipping on a cold beer with some french fries to snack on."

Jack hid his grin as he watched Eddi. He was definitely sold on the idea.

"And that's the stuff we brought back today, right?" Eddi jumped up and reached for his staff, "I'll go talk to Stavin right away; I can probably get him to build it in a day, maybe two."

Jack shook his head, allowing a smile to cross his face, "There is going to be a bit more to it than that," he said, "I've got the plans drawn up, but I'll need to get an electrician in to do the wiring."

Eddi frowned, "That's right, the lightning through copper wires that powers your stuff," he mumbled.

"Pretty much," Jack agreed, "like everything, it's a bit more complicated than that, which brings me around to something I wanted to ask you if it isn't considered rude. What build do the Endless use?"

Jack wasn't just flattering him. The Path of the Endless Swarm was clearly overpowered, but beyond the basic skills required to take the path, things got a little fuzzy.

Eddi brightened immediately. "Oh, I've got it right here," Eddi fished around in his satchel before producing a thick piece of paper.

Level One - Magical School of Summoning

Level Two - Summon Mana-Infused Creature (Use Affinity Crystal to get the ten level bonus!)

Level Three - Barrage

Level Four - Effect Over Time

Level Five - Persistent Effect

See one of the Council about borrowing the Pathing Gear to have enough mana to take the path!

"This is a cell phone," Jack pulled a small shiny card out of his satchel and handed it over.

Thidwell inspected the device. It was a thin rectangle with a glass-like surface. A painting of a waterfall, remarkably life-like, was displayed on the front, glowing as it emitted light.

"With this tower, anyone with one of these devices can speak to each other from anywhere within Holmstead and the surrounding valley," Jack explained, "here, let me show you."

Thidwell grinned at the man's caution as he poked at the flat surface.

"Here you have a list of people, and you simply select who you want to speak to, and then push the call button," Jack continued, "the person on the other end hears a ring, and the phone vibrates, at which point they can answer it, and the two can speak. If you aren't in a position to answer the phone, it will stop ringing after thirty seconds, and the person calling can leave a message that the person they called can listen to whenever they'd like."

"Further," Jack was invested in his pitch now, moving closer to Thidwell than most would generally be comfortable with. "You can send out a written message if you don't want or need to talk to them, just to send or request information. You can do this for entire groups as well."

"How do you notify people when there is a wave?" Jack asked.

"There is an enchanted bell that carries across the valley," Thidwell grunted as he inspected the tiny device.

"That's good to know," Jack said, "but with these, you could send a warning to everyone in the valley at once as well, which would be another way to ensure that no one is left behind."

Thidwell mulled over this information while Jack stood quietly. At least the man knew when to shut up.

"What would be the cost for these devices?" Thidwell mused.

"They aren't inexpensive," Jack admitted, "figure one hundred crystals for the device and a five crystal a month fee for the service."

Thidwell raised his eyebrows. "You're talking about four hundred thousand mana crystals for the devices and a twenty thousand mana crystal upkeep each month," he growled.

Jack blanched and hurried to explain. "Please understand that these devices were not free; you can ask Bob how much they cost. Also, there will be men monitoring and maintaining the equipment, and they'll need to be paid each month."

Jack shook his head, "If you consider the phones a one-time expense, and with repair spells, I imagine they will be, the cost to benefit ratio for having the ability to communicate quickly and easily with anyone is worth ten times the monthly fee."

Thidwell considered that statement. Having the ability to summon someone to see him rather than having to track them down would be convenient. There were undoubtedly time-saving aspects to consider. Still, he knew the man had something else up his sleeve. Probably more than one something.

"What else?" Thidwell asked pointedly.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked in what he probably considered a smooth manner. But Thidwell had dealt with the bastards in Harbordeep for years.

"You've got something else planned for these things," Thidwell waved the device, "and I'll know what exactly you intend before I agree."

"Well," Jack hedged, "I don't have the details nailed down at the moment, but I'd also like to provide a subscription-based service to allow people, for another monthly fee, to stream movies and television or to rent books."

Thidwell looked down at the device again, his mind switching gears. If this device could hold entire books, it would revolutionize how information was shared. "How many books could this hold?" He demanded.

Jack shrugged, "I don't know, it's got thirty-two gigabytes of internal memory, figure a book is four meg so... eight thousand or so?"

Thidwell frowned, using his reflexive and most common expression to mask his surprise. "Could you place a number of books on each device before selling them?"

"Sure," Jack replied agreeably.

"And could these books be updated from here?" Thidwell asked.

"Yeah, I don't know how that works, but I know we can do that," Jack confirmed.

Thidwell tapped the device on his cheek. "Ten percent," he growled after a few moments of consideration. "That's ten percent of your gross, not your net, and you'll need to allocate another ten percent in the same fashion for the King."

Jack winced. "Ten percent is a little bit much, given that the venture only becomes profitable after it's widely adopted."

"Ten percent," Thidwell repeated, "and I'll make it a requirement for everyone in the Guild over level ten to have one on them at all times."

Thidwell smiled as Jack grimaced and nodded reluctantly.

"Now, what is a 'Movie?'" Thidwell asked.

Jack pulled a much larger rectangle out of his satchel and set it on Thidwell's desk, opening it to show a larger screen. Clicking the bottom half, without the screen, Thidwell was surprised to see a stunningly real image appear as sound rose from the device.

He sat down in his seat and leaned forward to see it more clearly.