Bob smiled as he spotted Jakob sitting at his desk and headed over.
"Good morning, Jakob," Bob said cheerfully, "could you switch over to looking for solo slots for the twenty-seventh floor?"
Jakob cocked his head to the side for a moment before replying, "Are you sure?"
Bob nodded as he reached up to scratch Monroe's ears.
"Alright," Jakob said slowly, "I'll probably have something available for you tonight, as the twenty-seventh floor is in much less demand the twenty-sixth."
"Great," Bob responded enthusiastically, "I appreciate it," he slid forty mana crystals onto Jakob's desk, "for this morning and this evening's Shepherding," he finished.
Bob hurried out of the Guild, his mood dampening slightly as he walked outside into a snow storm. Winter had apparently arrived in full force, and the wind whipped up the streets from the harbor, carrying a blast of flurries with it.
He tightened his cloak and leaned against the wall for a moment as he cast a pair of persistent effect spells, one for resist cold and the other a control air spell that stilled the air around him.
Monroe's tail was twitching as he watched the snow swirl around the corner of the Adventurers Guild.
"We'll make time to play in the snow," Bob promised the big Maine-Coone. He headed down the boulevard towards the outer city, intent on getting to Kathaleen's Books and back to the Under Cathedral before the kids got there.
It seemed that few of the city's residents were up this early, or they were choosing not to brave the snowstorm, as the boulevard was mostly clear, allowing Bob to make excellent time as he hurried towards the bookshop.
Upon arriving, he was pleased to see that the shop was open, a warm light shining out of the glass door and into the early dawn gloom. Stepping inside, he was greeted with the tantalizing aroma of fresh-baked scones and tea. Bryant nodded to him from the bar as Bob approached.
"Good morning," Bryant said quietly but with a smile, "what can I help you find, or are you looking for a quick bite to eat?"
"The first volume of Dhoakes Dungeon series," Bob replied.
Bryant nodded and disappeared through a door into what was presumably the kitchen.
Two minutes later, he walked back through the doors and placed a familiar-looking book on the counter.
"The first volume is twenty-five mana crystals as well," Bryant advised, as Bob started pulling crystals from this satchel.
He dropped twenty-five on the counter for the book and then another as a tip.
"Thanks, I'll no doubt be back at some point," Bob smiled with a hushed tone, turning and heading back out into the cold.
Seeing no one around, Bob fell through a portal and reappeared just around the corner of the Adventurers Guild, twelve feet up to avoid any possible collisions.
He needn't have worried, as not a soul was in sight.
Bob rolled his shoulders as he headed towards the Church. He missed being able to use his magic freely, but he hadn't seen anyone else portaling or even teleporting around, and while he'd been told it wasn't illegal, he'd drawn enough attention to himself already.
He nodded to the Priestess on duty at the door but didn't break his stride as he headed down to the Under Cathedral.
Bob was pleased to see his freshers waiting eagerly next to Annisa and Voren, looking far less intimidated.
"Good morning, everyone," Bob said as he strode across the marbled floor.
"Bob," Annisa said warmly as the kids stood up straight, and Voren nodded to him.
"Are you ready to put in the work?" Bob asked his group firmly.
They responded with a resounding "Yes!"
Bob grinned, "You have us down from eight till noon, right, Voren?"
Voren held up his ledger before opening it and marking the delve in the book.
"We're off then," Bob said as he gestured for the freshers to precede him down the staircase, "we'll see you in four hours."
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"This," Bob said loudly, holding up his new book, "Is Dhoakes Definitive Dungeon Delving Directive, Volume One."
"Despite the alliterative name, it is something that your group should purchase before you start your career as Adventurers," Bob continued, "as it contains detailed information for each floor of the Dungeon, the layout, and the monsters."
Four sets of eyes were locked on the book as he waved it. Bob suppressed a grin.
"I picked up this copy from Kathaleen's Books for the low price of only twenty-five crystals," Bob was half shouting now, "a price that I feel is an absolute bargain."
"Can any of you tell me why the book is a bargain and would be at a hundred crystals?" Bob bellowed.
"Rule four!" His freshers shouted back.
"That's right!" Bob yelled, "Never delve blindly! This book will save your lives by providing you with detailed information on what you'll be facing!"
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He lowered the book and opened it to the second floor before turning and offering it to the kids.
"Now, who wants to learn about what we are going to be dealing with on the second floor!"
Bob didn't even try to hide his smile as they crowded around him.
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Spiders. Four-foot-tall spiders. The second floor layout was very similar to the first, with alternating patterns of light and pools of shadow. They wouldn't need to go far, as Bob had once again investigated and discovered the respawn rate was identical.
Bob watched as the freshers beat the spiders into submission. Charn, Wayna, and Nora were all using staves, while Orson was using a spear.
The spiders were tougher than the centipedes, requiring three to four hits each while also being faster.
Bob winced as a fang skidded off Charn's armor as the aspiring priest failed to dodge.
Fortunately, the armor was sufficient to resist anything except for a direct bite, and even a failed attempt to dodge seemed to allow the kids to shrug off the blows.
"Strike, move, strike!" Bob yelled, "These monsters aren't that bright, so while you can fall into a pattern, that is a bad habit to get into!"
"Nora, you're always moving to the right," Bob bellowed accusingly, "I want you to make a conscious effort to move to the left more often!"
"That's right, Orson," Bob called, "if you end up too close for your spear to be effective, a well-planted kick can help you gain the space you need!"
"Flexibility!" Bob shouted, "it's easy to fall into a pattern when you're fighting the same monster for hours or days!"
"Learn from my mistakes!" Bob roared, "I fell into a pattern, and a rat the size of a small house nearly killed me!"
"Keep moving, keep striking," Bob said as he noticed the kids starting to slow down, fatigue setting in after their second hour of killing spiders.
"Remember ABK - Always Be Killing!"
He watched carefully as his freshers stepped up their pace.
This was when mistakes might be made, and he was ready to toss a heal or a shield, or both, depending.
He hadn't needed to cast anything on the first floor, but he was well aware that despite having taken their first level, the kids didn't have any actual skills yet.
Bob wanted to flip open the second volume and check on the twenty-seventh floor in detail. He'd glanced at it when he'd purchased it, but he was eager to see just what he'd be up against.
He winced as Wayna backed up to close to a pool of shadows, which caused another spider to scurry forward and pounce on her as she finished off her current opponent with a two-handed blow. She was fortunate that her final strike came with a half step forward, and the arachnid behind her only grazed her flank.
Bob couldn't help but wonder if this was what Harv and Elli had felt like as they shepherded him.
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Bob stepped through the portal and onto the twenty-seventh floor of the Dungeon, where he found himself in a frozen forest.
Frost rimed the skeletal branches of the trees, and there was a crust of snow on the ground, crunching under each step. Clear paths spread out from the clearing where the Gateway stood. Annisa had told him that there were only half a dozen Adventurers on the floor, so just follow a path until he found an empty clearing.
His breath puffed into the crisp air as he headed down one of the paths. He could hear the distant sounds of battle, men and women shouting, and the snarls and growls of some fell beast.
He took the first right off of the path, following a twisting path through the trees. A minute's walk later delivered him to a clearing.
Bob paused at the edge of the clearing and mentally projected the pattern for his mana sight spell before pumping mana into it as an effect over time. Ethereal streams of mana wove through the trees, twisting and winding before spilling into four pools along the sides of the clearing, two left and two right.
He could clearly see the shapes of what the book had unimaginatively called 'Winter Wolves' lurking in the pools, which just so happened to be copses of evergreens.
Once his mana had recovered, he summoned three thirty-second duration effect over time UtahRaptors and sent them darting for the pool.
They were fifteen feet away from the copse when a cone of razor-sharp ice shards blasted the raptor pack. A massive wolf, ten feet at the shoulders, rushed out of the copse, chasing the blast of ice. Shaggy gray fur with glacial streaks of blue, purple, sea-green, and white covered the powerful frame, while deep blue eyes tracked the movement of the pack, a snarl of fury exposing eight-inch fangs.
The lead raptor suffered the worst of the blast, but the damage didn't deter it. It hurled itself towards the Winter Wolf, successfully focusing the beast's attention on it, as the other two UtahRaptors darted in from the sides.
The lead the raptor feinted and managed to dodge most of the snapping bite the Winter Wolf sought to deliver, one of the beast's fangs catching the raptor's flank. The other two raptors lashed out with their scythe-like talons, tearing awful rents in the Winter Wolf's hide. Rather than hot blood, icy water spilled from the wounds, freezing to ice as it fell.
The Winter Wolf turned and snapped at the UtahRaptor to its right with a howl of rage, allowing the center raptor a clear shot at its neck.
Bob watched as his raptor pack finished the Winterwolf.
It took them six seconds in total and the center raptor who had led the pack and taken the brunt of the icy cone needed to be summoned anew.
Bob summoned another effect over timer UtahRaptor and then loaded it with an effect over time Eldritch Shield before turning them loose on the next copse.
The Eldritch Shield absorbed some of the damage from the blast of ice shards and then prevented the fangs from reaching the UtahRaptor's hide entirely.
Bob found the time to toss an Eldritch Blast at the Winter Wolf, and then he tossed an effect over time Anima Blast on the lead raptor as well. The fight ended the same way, in the same amount of time, but Bob had the Winter Wolf's measure now.
He cracked his knuckles and leaned on his staff as a smile crept across his face. He reached up and scratched Monroe under the chin as he surveyed his killing grounds for the next three hours.
"Time to put in the work," he murmured to Monroe.
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Annisa smiled as Bob walked up the stairs. She knew he'd just pulled another long day, shepherding a group in the morning, another in the evening, and then delving for himself afterward.
"Another long day for you," she said as Bob gave her a weary grin and counted out mana crystals into his hand.
"A little yeah, but it was productive," Bob replied, "I gathered eighty-two mana crystals, which is seventeen for the king, four for the church, and three for you," he finished.
Annisa accepted the crystals before marking them down in her ledger as she said, "The twenty-seventh floor is quite lucrative."
She saw Bob nodding out of the corner of her eye.
"The coalescence ratio is high," he agreed, "likely due to the manner in which the mana streams entwine and tighten around each other where they pool."
"I wouldn't know," Annisa said wistfully, "my path doesn't include Shadowmancy or Mana-Sight."
"If you ever have room in your path, it's worth it," Bob advised, his eyes becoming distant for a moment, "for all the trouble it causes, mana is beautiful," he finished.
With a shake of his head, he seemed to pull himself back together.
"I'll be back in the morning to Shepherd the kids again," Bob promised as he turned to go, "have a nice night."
"Vi'Radia, light your path," she replied as he headed out of the Cathedral.
Pulling out a separate, smaller book, she noted down that Bob had Shadowmancy and Mana-Sight.
She nodded as she reviewed the page. Bob had all the earmarks of a curator, although his choice to use Abjuration for shielding was odd.
Perhaps he belonged to one of the sects of Oren that renounced the use of the Divine School of Protection, she mused.
Of course, taking Abjuration in its place wasn't something you'd expect a devout priest to do.
She shook her head and tucked away the book.
Voren was still going over the agents they had available to see if any of them were suitable to attach to Bob, at least temporarily.
Annisa wasn't sure if, or how, Bob was important, but he was definitely an unknown, and that bore investigating, even if she felt confident that he wasn't a cultist.
She stretched and rolled her neck. Five more hours.