Roy

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It took another half a day for Dave to talk me out of jail or file paperwork. I'm not really sure what he did. Not important. I'm sure he'll let me know how much trouble I'm in later. For now we were milling around the lobby while Dave talked with reception.

The good news was that he was willing to give me a ride back home. Or, I suppose to be more accurate, the core. Dave doesn't need the specifics on what I call home.

We can take a tour of the facilities and I can talk to him about coming on as our lawyer. He seemed interested back in holding. But before I go on a car ride with him I want to speak with Nola. She is right outside the station on the road buzzing. I can feel it getting stronger, she knows I'm getting out and is excited as well as anxious. She'll have plenty to talk about. It will be awkward to have that conversations two feet away from the lawyer.

"Dave can I have a second to get a snack at the gas station, prison food was... not great" I can get away from him, have the conversation and have a quick snack. I can grab a few for Nola too. A little coming home present.

"I hear that. If the coffee is anything to go by I would definitely prefer to eat anything else. I'll meet you over there and we can go see your site. Just give me a minute to finish up some paperwork"

"No hurry. Do you want anything?" I asked trying to not look like I was in a hurry to leave

"I'll pass. I'm full of terrible coffee."

I controlled my speed as I headed out into the first sunlight I'd seen in 3 days. Bright and sunny day, perfect weather. 3 double rows of cars and a sidewalk separated me and Nola. A fact our bond made entirely too clear. I needed to move or she's gonna explode. I almost jogged through the parking lot, the connection getting stronger with every step. It wasn't just the road leading to the station. We were surrounded. More than that. Rings within rings. Side streets and main streets. Everything around us felt like dungeon.

How much had she grown? It's only been 3 days? Did Tyler get some sort of garbage contract while I was out? No, this is too much for matter absorption. This would be... just un imaginable amounts of matter.

I stepped to the sidewalk and hit the cross walk button. After I did I stepped to the edge of sidewalk and touched one toe to the road. Connection re established.

It felt like I had been punched in the face. My head whipped back but I focused on keeping my foot in place. I should really be more prepared for this feeling. The mental whiplash keeps happening every time we do something different.

I really wish I had listened to that tutorial.

I am so glad you are back!

"Me too. You feeling ok? I could feel how you felt the whole time. It wasn't good"

I feel better now that you are back. I.. felt like I was not all there when you left. Like I was going away.

"Nola.." I started to say

And it's not co dependence. We are linked. It's not like with people. I only started being after we linked minds, I stop being when you leave. I don't like it, and I am afraid if you are gone too far or too long that I will go away. Also, you have a walk signal.

I looked up and saw the signal on. Thanks. "I don't want to leave. We will work together to make sure that we don't have any more of these separations. I've got a lawyer now, that should help with any future legal stuff. We can figure out anything that comes next." I got to the sidewalk on the other side and realized a problem with that last statement.

We both need to work on planning ahead. I survived 3 days, just be quick on the trip. We have more to discuss. And grab me a slice of their pizza. I've only ever gotten crumbs and boxes.

"Will do" I broke the connection and moved quickly into the store. My selections inside were mostly random, except for the pizza. I came out as fast as I could and made the connection again. I was ready for another punch in the face, but this time it was more of a love tap as we re connected. Good to know. Time and or distance affects the reconnection.

Aaaand he's back. It is much better on short trips.

"Agreed" I said as we waited for the light to change again. I pulled the pizza slice out of the bag. A quick look around showed no one obvious looking at us. So I dropped it on the street. It disappeared into the ground without even slowing down. Still not used to that. Even though it makes less sense I still expect the ripples.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I told you that was a smart way to absorb things. And you said that looked weird too.

"It does look weird. Magic is weird. Was the pizza any good?

I've had better. But it is nice to put a slice to the crumbs.

"We will get something good for today to celebrate. But for now we need to talk about you. How big are you now?

See for yourself. Then I'll tell you

I expanded my mind to sense the limits of my dungeon. Unlike before where I had a nice box with a small patch of road out front, now.. well now I had a web.

Miles and miles of web. Big thick strings on highways shined the brightest in my mind. Hundreds of miles worth in either direction. We might even be outside state lines at this point.

We are. Cheyenne to Vegas, and everything in between. And still growing. Keep looking

After the highways there were the major city streets coming out from highways. I might not know all the city names, but I knew for sure where each and every one was and how they were laid out. There were gaps, everywhere. Spots where the streets just ended as far as the dungeon was concerned. Why is that?

Neighborhoods, blighted areas, low density agriculture areas. They aren't worth as much as a well traveled road, so I de prioritized them. Closer to the core I filled in more, but for now I am focusing on getting all the commuter delvers I can.

"They're worth a lot?"

Yes. I can hit them with bugs the whole time they are driving. And not just flying ones, no one even notices the ones they hit with their wheels.

"And you only have to give them a little bit of energy potion in return"

I stopped doing that actually. Too expensive, and most of the modern delvers are happier with the current delver reward. Guess!

Happier with the reward than a magical energy boost? Well, I guess they'd have to notice and know that was related to the dungeon to like it.. What else do we have? Oh no.

"You didn't" Cash. She's giving out cash

I did for a little bit, but that would be too obvious. I stopped doing that pretty quickly when people started talking. I do still leave the occasional quarter in the cars though.

Ok so it is something less obvious, but still valuable to people. What else do we have?

Gas, diesel and electric charge. That one's the best. They never notice the charge go up and its the cheapest to give out.

"Nola, people are still gonna notice that." My head started spinning with all the possible un intended consequences of this reward

Its usually less than a gallon. Nobody has put it together yet. Or at least they haven't said so while delving.

Well that's good. Wait. What does usually mean?

The longer the drive, the longer the delve. The longer the delve, the bigger the reward gets.

"I bet long haul truckers are having a field day."

They are. The longest ones still get the energy boost. I know filling an empty tank would be suspicions.

I was almost afraid to ask the next question. "How many delvers are you getting a day"

Every day is different with how I have been growing. Today I had a little over 8 million. Only about 3.5 million unique ones.

Wow. An unsuccessful delve is 300 pounds of stuff, a successful delve is somewhere near 1000. If we are no longer blowing most of our earnings on energy gifts for successful delves.... Even at the low end that is 2 billion pounds of stuff

2.8 billion, and a good amount of the delves were successful. They got some monster kills and traveled far. We got about 5 billion tons worth, but I spent all of it expanding and such

"That's insane"

"What is?" Shit, my lawyer.

"I was reading the label on this can." I held up the can from my bag. Coke. Quick come up with something. Ummm

39 grams added sugar. It's as much as 3 doughnuts, 1.5 apples, 5 slices of bread or a full sized snicker bar

Why do you know this?

There are a Lot of labels in the garbage.

Way to go. you can be my nutritionist.

"There's a lot of sugar in this. More than the candy" I said to Dave

"Something's gonna kill you, might as well chose something fun. You ready to go see your site?"

"Absolutely"