Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-Seven. GW Please don't sue me.

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-Seven. GW Please don't sue me.

The whole change to natural Dungeons had its ups and downs, but if Bob had to point to one single aspect of that change that annoyed him, it was that the Dungeon didn't change as you leveled. Sure, the monsters would become more powerful, adding new abilities as you leveled up that you'd have to account for, but that was it. The scenery never changed.

The scenery in the Hidden Dungeon was actually quite pleasant, and ideal for their current underground existence, but from his experience on the Eire seedworld, Bob knew he'd get sick of it sooner rather than later.

He'd met the system qualifications to set his delve for monsters at four levels over his own, but he was another six delves from being able to increase that again. Jake was happily tearing through the Gwarli, while Monroe was demonstrating his hit-and-run tactics, darting in when the monsters were distracted, delivering a devastating blow, and then dashing away. Bob was letting Jake tank the monsters, the UtahRaptor's superior level, allowing him to soak the damage, although Bob did have to drop and recast the summoning spell at the end of each fight.

At tier eight, the cap for gaining experience when fighting monsters over your level was eight, allowing him to eventually maximise his experience gain at seven experience per monster. At the moment it was three, which meant that this delve would generate over nine thousand experience towards leveling his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell, which would push it well over the cap, requiring him to advance to level two and use the skill point to advance the spell past the first threshold. That would mean choosing a threshold bonus for the spell, which at this point was somewhat limited as he simply didn't have many skills, let alone ones that would synergize well.

Still, assuming he waited long enough, he would have a mind boggling twenty-four thresholds for the spell.

Not that he was going to level the spell up to one hundred and ninety-two. Therein lay the path to madness.

He would probably be offered a cost reduction, which he would happily take. He'd been able to leverage barraging his UtahRaptors to great effect, and he fully expected to do so again. The cost of the spell increased with each additional monster, so the more he could discount the cost, the more raptors he could have out.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

Bob had a few years of adventuring under his belt, and if there was one thing he'd learned, it was that the more overwhelming violence you could bring to bear, the more quickly and safely you could complete a delve.

He was shaken from his thoughts as the fight in front of him ended, and he received the notification he'd been waiting for.

Congratulations! You have advanced your spell, Summon Mana-Infused Creature to the peak of the first threshold. Thresholds occur at each multiple of your tier, which for you is eight. You must allocate a skill point to advance past this Threshold. Doing so will allow your spell to advance to the peak of the second threshold, while also providing a Threshold Bonus. You have no available skill points to allocate.

The next thousand or so monsters wouldn't do anything to advance the spell, although it would feed into the School, which was nearing its first level. He knew he'd apply the first threshold bonus from the School to the Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell, boosting it by sixty-four percent. He wasn't one hundred percent sold on using the second threshold bonus the same way, as the boost stopped at one hundred percent leaving with a loss of twenty-eight percent disappearing into the void. Realistically, he didn't think he'd push his spell that far, and level one hundred and fifty-seven seemed like further than he'd go anyway.

He idly dismissed Jake as he walked towards the next patrol, summoning him back out a second later, uninjured and ready for battle.

As frustrating as it could be at times, the System provided him with endless possibilities, and Bob had become comfortable with the fact that he was a bit of a power gamer.

"Why is that every time I either interact with Yorrick personally, or hear about his interactions with others, I'm feel dirty?" Elania asked.

"Well, his assistance will mean that we'll be able to repair our infrastructure more quickly," Taylor offered.

"I know," Elania waved her hand. "Objectively, it's a good thing. Taiwan gets back on their feet more quickly, which means they can start shipping components more quickly, which means we can rebuild more quickly, which is all great. But I have to wonder who in the Republic of China's government signed this thing," she pointed to the document on her desk. "It's like they didn't take into consideration that not only is Yorrick's 'Terran Confederation' likely to continue growing, but there is an entire other universe."

Taylor opened a folder for a moment and flipped through a few pages before replying. "Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia have either made overtures or entertained embassies from the Terran Confederation," she reported.

"Granted, none of those nations would have been significant buyers, but the world is in flux. We've already seen countries split apart, and smaller nations band together to form new, significant powers. Who knows just how large the Terran Confederation might become?"

"Exactly," Elania sighed. "At least our ambassador is keeping us informed."

Taylor laughed lightly and shook her head. "According to Roger's report, it's the easiest posting he's ever had. Yorrick briefs him once a week on what the Confederation is doing, and if something important happens, like the agreement with Taiwan, he brings him in right away. Apparently Yorrick has repeatedly stated that he'd like to see the Confederation enjoy the same special arrangement that the United States has with the United Kingdom."

Elania winced. She was well aware of how much Yorrick liked her country. He'd waxed rather eloquently on the subject of just how closely her population's values aligned with those of the dark pantheon.

"He's going to end up taking over half of Africa," she muttered.

"More," Taylor agreed.

"And again, I can't find any fault in what he's doing," she complained.

"It's just that he says the quiet part out loud," Taylor agreed.

"That's not copyrighted," Waters offered.

"Fuck," Mike sighed. "There's a big part of me that doesn't want to know, but I still have to ask, why?"

Waters rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, becoming a paragon and pinnacle is more than a little bit like becoming an-"

Mike stopped him with a glare. "Don't you fucking say it," he warned.

"Transhuman?" Waters offered.

"As does everyone under the System," Mike replied. "That doesn't make you special."

"No, but unlike everyone else, we have a purpose beyond just tiering up and getting more powerful," Waters argued. "We stood against the waves, and we'll stand against the tide."

Mike opened his mouth to respond but stopped as a column of men, and possibly women, it was impossible to tell under the massive bulky armor, thundered by.

"Kill the unending Tide, Burn the ceaseless Wave, Purge the Dungeons!"

He glared at Waters.

"It's a work in progress?"

"How. Many." Mike ground out.

"About five thousand?" Waters replied. "They only get to train together twice a month like this, so they're always excited when it rolls around."

Mike let out a breath. While five thousand sounded like a lot, there were over four million members of the Old Guard. "Well, that's not that bad, I suppose," he grumbled.

"They are recruiting. though," Waters said cheerfully. "Apparently there are a bunch of kids on Earth who are very excited about becoming paragons, and they let them record some promotional material of them handling the last wave for a couple of villages."

"I don't know what's more disturbing," Mike muttered. "This, or the kids trying to turn Bob into some sort of god."

"Come on LT, everyone loves Bob," Waters said happily. "No one is going to forget what he did for us. When the Endless kids wanted to put up that statue everyone agreed it was too small, so we setup a donation box to make sure it was the right size."

"Not one of those 'He who walks before' statues?" Mike asked with trepidation.

"Yep," Waters replied. "It's actually just inside," he gestured towards the front doors of the Redoubt.

The city had been carved out of a plateau, with an eye towards durability. He'd been part of the planning process and had to google the term 'megalithic construction.' The end result had been structures that could withstand the mightiest wave, and repel even a minor tide, not that the Old Guard would ever let those events go unanswered.

The doors leading into the Redoubt were huge, fifty feet tall and double that across, opening into what was effectively a marshalling yard that stretched another five hundred feet back. It was a massive room, and at the very back, looming imperiously, was the iconic image of Bob, with Jake at his side and Monroe on his shoulders. This one just happened to be seventy-five feet tall.

Mike ignored waters as he walked up the massive edifice. There was a plinth in front of the statue, where a tablet sat, proudly listing Bob's accomplishments, then switching to one of the video's, then showing the divine blessings offered by 'He Who Walks Before,' then going back to his accomplishments.

"You know, a lot of the guys feel like he's kind of one of us, you know?" Waters said quietly. "The world abandoned him, too. Despite all the shit the world piled on him, he saved us all, I mean the entire fucking planet, when most people would have just let it burn."

Mike nodded. When he'd first met Bob after reading his file, he'd expected a bitter, angry young man. He'd found instead a man confident in himself, who'd overcome challenges and struggles, learning his own worth. He hadn't expected what had followed, the revelation of magic and the impending apocalypse, but his first impression hadn't changed. Bob would have made a good Marine.

That said, Bob wasn't going to be happy if he ever saw this particular statue.