Monroe

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen. Thidwell isn't evil. Honest.

Bob considered the addendum to his pamphlet.

How to delve without suffering from negative effects brought on by the disparity of mana density.

It is possible to create a barrier of your own mana that will prevent the ambient mana from pressing down on you.

Doing so requires you to have the following skills: Matrix Manipulation, Effect over Time, Persistent Effect, Shadowmancy, Mana Shaping, Mana Sight, Mana Drain, and some sort of shield, be it from the Protection school or the Abjuration School.

You will need to project your matrix outside of your body, using it to feed into a combined shield/Mana Drain effect. Achieving this requires the use of Mana Sight and Mana Shaping. With Mana Sight as a persistent effect, you must cast Mana Drain, Mana Shaping, and your shield spell. Bring the Shield spell and the Mana Drain spell together by Mana Shaping the flows until they are compatible.

Once you have accomplished this, you must then use Matrix Manipulation to push your mana out of your body, while at the same time using Mana Shaping to move the ambient mana away from you.

This is not an easy process, and it took me quite a while to succeed. Do not give up.

You will know when it works, as the effect will reserve quite a bit of your mana into a persistent effect. My experience is that it reserved sixty mana.

Once you have this in place, you may delve as deeply as you'd like for as long as you'd like, without the physical effects impacting you. The psychological effects of constantly fighting for your life are another matter entirely, and it would behoove everyone to ensure that they have friends who will tell them when they need to slow down or take a break.

It looked good enough, he thought.

His eyes shifted to Monroe, who was enjoying an early morning nap on the bench in the sun room, basking in the rays of the rising sun.

"Are you a well-baked loaf, buddy?" Bob murmured as he scooted forward in his seat, reaching out to dig his fingers into Monroe's ruff.

The big Maine-Coon's fur was very warm, and Monroe quickly started to purr, the rumble filling the room.

"You are a well-baked loaf," Bob said quietly, "an economy size loaf even."

"Come on, buddy," Bob said as he first stood up, then leaned over and carefully slid Monroe into his inventory.

Taking a moment, Bob watched the sunrise strike murmuring falls, casting myriad rainbows across stones.

With a soft smile, he dropped a portal under his feet and fell through.

"Listen up!" Bob's voice boomed through the tavern as he addressed his freshers.

"I have curator work to attend to for a bit, so I've asked Harv and Elli," Bob motioned to his friends, who were standing slightly behind him, "to attend to another portion of your training."

"These two," Bob's voice cut through the muttering of his freshers, "quite literally taught me EVERYTHING I know about delving and are the only reason I'm standing here, alive, in front of you!"

"Pay them attention, and pay them respect, or I'll know the reason why," Bob said fiercely.

"Now," Bob said, his voice shifting to a friendlier tone, "these lessons are going to take place outside of the Dungeon, and since none of you are ready to delve without someone to shepherd you, you'll not be gathering crystals, so I'll be paying for your lodging and meals."

With that, Bob headed out of the tavern and up the stairs towards Thidwells office, where Alli waved him through.

As Bob stepped in, Thidwell stood up, a smile creasing the hard planes of his features, emerald eyes glinting.

Bob looked at him for a moment in silence, then started casting the spells necessary to create his matrix-fueled mana-draining shield.

Thidwell's eyes flashed silver as he brought up his own mana sight and observed.

After two minutes' worth of effort on Bob's part, the effect snapped into place.

Thidwell let out a low chuckle, and his smile twisted into something cold and cruel, on a face well suited for cold and cruel expressions.

Bob stepped forward and handed him the sheet of paper that he planned to add to his pamphlet.

Thidwell read over it carefully, and then laughed again, this time a sinister sound that was foreboding, and carried the promise of violence.

Not for the first time, Bob considered that Thidwell would make an excellent villain. With his slicked-back mohawk, the rest of his head shaved, his sheer size, and the raw malice the man exuded...

"Well done," Thidwell rumbled as he handed the sheet back to Bob.

"So you're prepared?" Thidwell asked.

"Ready to go," Bob confirmed, "I'll keep the Dungeon under control while you reincarnate towards greater power."

He couldn't help himself. If someone were to ever see or hear this scene without context, Bob would clearly be the trusted lieutenant of the Evil Overlord.

If only Thidwell were a cat person, Bob mused, having him stroking a massive Monroe would really be the icing on the cake.

"Excellent," Thidwell said, his loud, gravelly voice resounding with a tone that could only be construed as unholy joy.

"Be about it then," Thidwell ordered as he reached into his desk and pulled out a blackened metal box.

He flipped it open and regarded the Affinity Crystals nestled in their black velvet sockets with an expression of hunger.

"I shall arise again, with power beyond the dreams of those fools," he rumbled, his voice low and sinister, as Bob backed out of the room.

Closing the door behind him, Bob took a moment to mentally review what had just happened.

Shaking his head, Bob headed downstairs, getting ready to start his first shift curating the Dungeon in Holmstead.

Thidwell wasn't really evil.

He was pretty sure.

"I'm Harv, and this is Carson," The man with the staff said, indicating an adorable puppy that was giving his boot an experimental nibble.

"I'm Elli, and this Red Fang the Mighty," the other man with a sword belted at his waist intoned, raising his hands to present a tabby patterned kitten, who appeared to be sleeping.

Harv shook his head with a sigh, and continued, "Bob has asked us to give you a few lessons while he's tied up, so we'll be going exploring a bit."

"We'll leave after breakfast, and be gone most of the day," Elli warned, "so be sure to ask Theo to have Kevin make up a cold lunch for you."

The two returned to a table with their pets, and Nora looked around at her group.

Her friends, really.

"What do you think Bob's doing?" she asked as they sat down at their table.

"Eddi told me that he was going to be handling the Curators duties while Thidwell was reincarnating," Wayna replied quietly, "down on the thirty-fourth floor."

"Bob hasn't tiered up past level twenty-five has he?" Charn asked.

"I don't think so," Orson responded, "he hasn't changed at all since we met him, except for being a little more relaxed once he came home."

Nora considered that for a moment. Everyone changed when they advanced to the next tier. They either became larger, or grew scales, or took on some elemental aspect, or something.

Bob hadn't. He still wore the same mottled green armor and cloak that she'd seen him in on that first rainy night in Harbordeep when she'd ran away from her family, and their terrible secret.

He carried himself differently here in Holmstead, his back straighter, his shoulders no longer hunched, but nothing had actually changed about the man.

"Level twenty-five, and curating a thirty-four-floor deep Dungeon," she shook her head.

"I'm sure we all noticed the kitten and the puppy," Nora said as she glanced over at Harv and Elli, noting that another one of Bob's friends had joined them, a stunningly beautiful young woman with flowing blonde hair and piercing gray eyes, graced with a brilliant smile.

The slender beauty had brought a tiny white kitten of her own to the table.

"Arcane Familiars," Wayna said certainly.

"What?" Wayna continued defensively as everyone turned to look at her, "I've spent a few meals with Eddi, and he told me that everyone with Arcane magic is going to be taking the familiar skill, and then they will level up their familiars to take the Path of the Arcane Familiar. That's what he's doing with Reximus," she finished.

Nora suppressed a shiver.

She'd seen Eddi riding an adult version of Reximus through town, and that monster was terrifying.

"I think," she said carefully, "that I'm going to do the same, although that is a few floors down."

"How long do you think it will take Thidwell to reincarnate?" she asked her friends.

"Eddi said that it'll probably take close to a month," Wayna replied.

Orson snickered.

Wayna rounded on him, "Look, Eddi is nice, and funny, and not all concerned with anything besides keeping Holmstead safe, and growing powerful enough to protect everyone during a tide," she said fiercely, "so yes, I do spend time with him."

Orson raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Just find it funny because you rebuffed every lad I knew in Harbordeep," Orson grinned, "they were all certain that you delved for the other team."

Wayna huffed, and sat back in her chair, arms crossed.

"So," Nora tried to retarget the conversation, "what do you think they meant about exploring?"

"This," Nora panted, "wasn't what I was expecting."

Behind her, Charn grumbled his agreement.

Harv and Elli had guided them out of the city, up the muddy road, and into the hills, and then the mountains.

The freshers were filthy and tired.

The ground had altered between patches of snow, saved from the oncoming spring by virtue of being in shadows, mud where it had melted, and leaf-covered mud, which was even more treacherous.

The two men had taken turns showing them dry places that would make for good campsites, carefully pointing out what to look for to find them, as well as a variety of roots that were edible.

Game trails, the tracks of the animals that used them, and how to find the streams that traced the landscape, were all lessons heard by the freshers.

And mostly forgotten already, Nora admitted to herself.

It was mid-afternoon when Harv and Elli finally stopped in a clearing that was blessedly dry, the grass exposed to the sun having begun to regain its blue-green vitality.

"That was a lovely stroll," Harv said loudly as he addressed the group, "and we've found a nice little clearing, so let's go ahead and eat lunch, then Elli and I will take turns quizzing you on what you've learned today."

Elli and Harv smiled as the group let out a collective groan, and slumped down onto the grass.

Rogard leaned back into his chair with a grimace.

He'd attempted to perform his due diligence, but there was nothing on Holmstead.

Seeking to assuage his wife's concerns, Rogard had sought out the Church's records, as well as those kept by the Adventurers Guild.

Finally, he'd turned to the King's tax records.

There he'd discovered that Holmstead exported lumber, grain, meat, hides, and ore.

Further investigation revealed the name of the Merchant Company that imported the goods, as well as the quarterly schedule for opening a portal to Holmstead, and then back to Harbordeep.

It was this information that graced his desk.

There would be a portal to Holmstead opening in another three weeks.

He was absolutely certain that he would need to go check on his daughter.

His inability to discover any information about Holmstead had Natalie worried sick. She hadn't been happy when Nora had stormed out of the house, and her concern for their daughter had only grown. If only to soothe his wife, he'd need to go to Holmstead.

Fortunately, neither wave nor tide was due, and the walls were in perfect repair, so his absence from the city shouldn't be noticed.

He pushed himself back from the desk and stood up.

Hopefully, the knowledge that he had a plan in place to check in on Nora would improve his wife's mood.

Ellen slumped at the table, exhausted and frustrated.

Unlike the kids around her, she was quite knowledgeable in regard to woodland survival.

Having to pretend otherwise was irritating.

Harv and Elli had grilled the kids after lunch, quizzing them on the things they'd shown them earlier.

She'd had to feign ignorance, as it was quickly apparent that the freshers had only managed to retain bits and pieces.

So Ellen was stuck playing the fool, while a prime target of her investigation disappeared.

From what she'd overheard, Bob was curating the Dungeon for the next month while Thidwell reincarnated.

She could only assume that the man was reincarnating to take advantage of the Affinity Crystals, although she suspected that he likely knew of a more powerful curator path that required them.

Regardless, she was stuck going through wilderness survival training while Bob curated the Dungeon, and Thidwell raced to regain his former level.

Thidwell was clearly a paragon and would advance much more quickly than the other Paths of Apotheosis.

While a month seemed awfully ambitious, it wasn't completely outside of the realm of possibility, she mentally conceded.

The delay was just another irritation.