Chapter Two Hundred and Forty. Catching up.

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty. Catching up.

"I guess I can see that," Bob said thoughtfully. "There are much worse ways to use that power."

"It turns out that the vast majority of the country hated the Cartels," Dave grinned.nove(l)bi(n.)com

"Anything else crazy going on back on Earth that I haven't heard about?" Bob asked.

"There's a video of Harv ripping the souls out of like half a dozen people," Amanda offered.

"Saw that one already," Bob shrugged. "He might have overreacted, but to be fair, they were pointing weapons at him," he shook his head.

"The disappearances are starting to make the conspiracy sites," Jessica added cheerfully. "The Queen of England, Prince Phillip, a whole regiment of SAS, our station here, and every disabled vet in the states. Folks are starting to notice."

"Events are starting to progress more quickly," Bob reached down to scratch Monroe's ruff, "in a way, I'm grateful that I'm not in charge of the nightmare ahead."

"It's weird," Jessica mused. "I'm sort of done and over Earth, yeah? But it's not like I'm over Earth, really, just over the society."

"I feel the same way," Bob confessed quietly. "In a lot of ways, I'm discovering the wonders of Earth after I've given up on it. I think that a lot of the people we are bringing over now will end up going back to Earth after the integration is complete."

"Will you?" Jessica asked, with Dave and Amanda turning their attention toward him as well.

"I don't know, but probably not," he admitted. "I might not be able to stay here on Thayland either," Bob sighed, "the truth is I don't know where I'll end up. Probably someplace where it's too inconvenient for the people who foster ill-will toward me to track me down."

"We've got a group of players who are planning to do a bit of Dimension hopping, looking for a universe with an uninhabited Earth," Dave offered.

"They'll be waiting a bit for that one," Bob grimaced. "It's easy to get back and forth to Earth right now because it doesn't have any active mana. Once it's integrated, it'll take a fairly significant bit of power to punch through."

"Is that going to have any impact on getting people back home?" Amanda asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Well, it means that we'll either be using Dimensionalists with an affinity or higher-tiered people to open the portals," Bob replied. "In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it'll make much of a difference."

"It means popping back and forth will be significantly more difficult for the rest of us," Dave frowned.

"I'm pushing for tier seven, and I plan to use a Dimension Affinity Crystal, so I'll be able to punch through," Bob said reassuringly.

"Not being able to pop back and forth easily is heavy," Jessica observed.

"Nothing for it," Bob said, then tried to change the subject. "D&D tonight?"

Harv grimaced. "It's a curse, one carried by family," he explained again. "When something triggers the curse, the effects are greater or lesser depending on the trigger, and when something trips pretty much every trigger, I become a little unhinged."

"All of which are easily preventable by simply not stealing from him, trying to restrain him, or pointing weapons at him," Elli chimed in.

"They were going to fire," Elli replied. "We've been friends for two decades, and I've never seen your curse trigger when a fresher accidentally hit you with a weapon or a spell. They meant to harm or kill you, and the curse reacted. They died because of their own actions, not yours."

"I know, but knowing is different from knowing," Harv muttered. "The worst part of it is, someone brought the video over here," he sighed. "I actually had one of the Endless kids come up to me and ask me if I could teach him how to be a Necromancer and rip the souls out of monsters."

"Did you explain to him that monsters don't have souls?" Elli asked, and Harv could hear the grin on his face.

"I did," Harv muttered. "It didn't do much to deter him."

"Between the cure, and the video, you might end up with a whole flock of new Necromancers," Elli said consolingly.

"Somehow, I think the people working on the cure have a better motivation," Harv grumbled.

The problem with plans was that at any point in time, something could disrupt them.

Thidwell looked at the tower thoughtfully. He'd completed the first eleven floors of the Dungeon beneath the day before the Endless had finished construction. He had his shepherd academy ready to go, but his instructor was making himself annoyingly scarce.

He wasn't sure why Bob felt the need to push to tier seven, but the task occupied almost all of his time. Leaning on him was an option, but Thidwell didn't want to stress their relationship. He was effectively out of leverage, and with Bob's recent donation of Affinity Crystals, the balance between them might have tipped in the wrong direction.

Maybe he could get him in for an hour a day. Have him teach a different batch of shepherds every morning, and then have other, trusted shepherds continue the training, along with classes on Dungeon design, Dungeon resources, and monster behavior. That would give the academy the prestige of having its shepherds trained by Bob without burdening him too much.

His mind rolled through a roster of likely victims. He needed someone Bob knew and liked and who would want to become a shepherd, following in his footsteps. He smiled predatorily. Nora. She'd renounced her nobility, choosing to follow her own path, and had been the first person Bob had shepherded. She was rather enamored with the man, and a request that she join the academy as one of the instructors would likely be accepted. Then he'd just have to have her ask Bob about giving it legitimacy by teaching for an hour a day.

Having both of them there would solidify the need for security, he mused. Between Bob's position as the liaison between Earth and Greenwold and Nora's as the person responsible for collecting the King's tithe and lease from the Dungeons in Glacier Valley, they were both tempting targets. There was no doubt in his mind that some of the Nobles in Harbordeep were plotting to usurp one or both of those positions as a way to line their pouches with a small fraction of the incredible wealth being generated. That request could also flow through Nora.

Unforeseen circumstances might disrupt plans, but the key was the ability to adapt them. Thidwell smiled and began heading back to Holmstead.

Elania smiled grimly as another monstrous boar fell before her. Well, before the group of soldiers escorting her, but locationally, before her. She'd ignored the suggestion to spend the first five levels beating monsters to death with a stick and had leveled up to five, using her Affinity Crystals as she went. She'd used the Water Crystal first, granting her the school, taking the Fire School with her skill point. At the next level, she'd taken Fire Blast, applying a ten level bonus to it while using the Fire Affinity Crystal. The next level, she'd used the Air Crystal to grant her the Air School, while her skill point went to the Earth School. Fourth level saw her taking the skill Summon Earth Elemental and using the Earth Crystal to apply a ten level bonus to it. Finally, she'd used her Plant Affinity Crystal to grant her the Plant School and her skill point to take Ritual Magic, which allowed her to take the Curator path.

Her advisors had suggested that she'd have a great deal of versatility, with a powerful summons and a powerful damage spell. Accepting a Divine Blessing from the god of magic, Logos, had been deeply uncomfortable for her, but the harsh truth was that Divine magic was gated by having a Divine Blessing. To be honest, being able to read any language was rather impressive.

Now she was leveling up her spells. Her Earth Elemental, which was shaped like a small boulder with vaguely humanoid features, wasn't too impressive at the moment, but she'd been assured it would be quite powerful if she spent the time to level it up. As it represented a valid defense, she'd taken her advisors to heart and was leveling it up first. Fire Blast could wait.

She stretched a bit, marveling at how good she felt. The increases to her attributes were extraordinary, and she'd spent a solid five minutes in front of the mirror after gaining her levels, inspecting the changes. While others might not notice, she knew where the wrinkles had been.

The soldier pulled another boar, and she set her Elemental to attack it. The whole process was honestly boring. She had a team of soldiers with her, one dedicated to 'tanking' the boar, with another shooting it, while two others watched from just behind them, ready to jump in with a shield spell or a heal. They'd determined that if they healed only between fights and things went smoothly, this was the best way for her to earn experience.

As they pummeled down the beast, Elania considered the rush she'd felt when she'd reached level five. She'd tried cocaine at a party back in college, and it had nothing on this. She didn't feel any cravings or compulsions, but she also wanted to experience that feeling again. It was something that was acknowledged but not spoken of.

Shaking her head to refocus her thoughts, she directed her Elemental at the next boar. According to the reports from the Marines, with the enchanted equipment she was wearing, she was already effectively immune to small arms fire, although military rounds still posed a threat. She hadn't been surprised to discover that the jarheads had tested this theory at each level of Endurance by shooting each other in the leg, with a healer on hand, just in case.

Elania checked her watch. Four more hours of boar slaughter remained, then she'd be back to work. She'd allocated eight hours a week to level her skills in Thayland, and there was a small voice in the back of her head, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, increasing her overall level wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. After all, it was much easier to use makeup to cause someone to appear older rather than younger. If she were higher level, that voice suggested, she'd be able to shield and heal, which, when combined with her new resilience, would serve to protect her from the inevitable unrest when the plan to take refuge on Thayland was unveiled. Just a few levels.