Bob noticed the increase in the number of people in Holmstead as he walked towards the tavern that evening.

He'd spent his formative years growing up in Watts and had developed the necessary ability to see people without seeing them that you must have in order to live in a densely populated city.

His time at Fermilab and now in Holmstead hadn't been enough to wear away that conditioning.

But now that he knew, he could see.

Hundreds of people flooded the streets of Holmstead, shopping, talking, laughing.

Shaking his head, Bob reached up to scratch Monroe's chin.

The big Maine-Coone had been quite pleased with Bob's increase in size, as Bob's shoulders were now broad enough to support his full body, rather than having paws hanging off.

Bob walked into the tavern carefully; one hand reached up to balance Monroe.

He'd gotten so used to the Makres system that he'd almost let the super-sized floofer fall off earlier that day after he'd parted ways with Bailli and headed home.

Looking around the tavern, Bob didn't see Eddi, so he moved over to a table and carefully poured the liquid Monroe onto the table before gingerly taking a seat himself.

Bailli had stated that she'd join them for dinner, but he was a little early.

Running his fingers through Monroe's ruff, listening to the big cat's rumbling purr, Bob started to consider what sort of path would suit a smith like Alder when a voice jerked him out of his thoughts.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Amber said in shock and English.

----------------------------------------

Amber slouched out of the tavern kitchen, feeling drained.

She'd made an arrangement to keep Kevin supplied with fresh vegetables, in quantity, in exchange for mana crystals.

He'd been happy to accept a hundred pounds of fresh vegetables for a crystal, stating that the Guild really needed to employ a Druid, or someone on one of the other Plant School paths that Bob had figured out, as come spring, they rarely had much left in terms of vegetables, and little of it fresh.

That wasn't why she was tired, as she'd made that arrangement quite some time ago.

No, it was the camp outside Holmstead, where over a thousand people waited for their turn to take advantage of the new paths and crystals, hoping for a new life.

They'd arrived in good order, and the sea of tents were well organized, each person having brought what they would need for an extended trip with uncertain results.

No one had come without the crystals to go back.

The good news was that they weren't penniless refugees.

The bad news was that Holmstead was ill-equipped to provide for a fifty-percent increase in population, not only in terms of housing but in terms of food, especially in the early spring.

She'd heard several people talking about the scarcity of food. To their credit, no one in Holmstead had raised their prices as the supply had grown thin; they'd simply sold until they were out.

So, she'd approached the camp with an offer. They provided the crystals for the Early Harvest Ritual, as the locals called it; even though it was just a ritualized Plant Growth spell, they harvested the crop under her guidance, and she'd provide as much food for them as she could.

She was giving serious consideration to increasing her level if only to enlarge the area she could affect with one ritual.

Still, no one was going hungry.

Stepping into the tavern, she turned to head home when she caught sight of someone she initially thought was Thidwell sitting at a table.

Her eyes darted back over to the impossibly large figure.

Thidwell wasn't blonde and wasn't often seen with a huge gray cat lounging on his table.

Stalking over, she looked at Bob and exclaimed, "What the fuck happened to you?"

Bob opened his eyes, his face growing guarded as he recognized first her voice and then her.

"Tier six," he replied, "you didn't think Thidwell was just a big guy, did you?"

His voice was much the same, a trifle deeper and louder, but nothing like Thidwell's.

"Sit," Bob gestured to a chair, "I needed to have a word with you anyway, so this is as good a time as any."

She slid down into the chair, wondering what Bob would want to talk to her about. He'd been making an effort to avoid her since she'd arrived on Thayland.

Bob slid his cat closer to his own chair and seemed to focus on giving Monroe a good solid petting for a minute or two.

She waited patiently. Or as patiently as she could when she was this tired.

Her therapist had been right; she realized that now, more than ever. Over the past few months, she'd talked to a lot of people, mostly the Adventurers who worked out of the Guild, and she'd heard stories. Apparently, Kelli had read Bob's mind when he'd first arrived and had seen quite a few of Bob's memories. And he wasn't completely circumspect when talking amongst friends.

Things had been overheard, rumors exchanged.

It was such a good story, after all. Everyone loves an underdog, and they'd seen his heroics for themselves. The Adventurers of Holmstead were quite proud of Bob.

They'd been leery of her at first, as Bob clearly had no use for her, and with her hesitation when it came to killing monsters...

Well, she'd managed to fit in eventually, although she'd eventually realized that vegetarianism wasn't likely to find a foothold here, let alone veganism.

"I'm sure you remember the reason I gave you when I told you that you couldn't go back to Earth?" Bob asked suddenly, not taking his eyes off his cat.

"I do," she replied, "you said it would start the process of integrating the system into our universe, which, once finished, would cause a mana tide that would wipe out humanity."

"Precisely," Bob continued with a grimace, "however, I regret to inform you that someone else has taken that step, and the countdown has begun."

Amber's thoughts raced. There had been other reasons that she couldn't go home. First and foremost, she'd escaped, even if unintentionally, from her cell. She wasn't certain what the charges would be, but she did know that if she ever went back to Earth, she'd need to have another identity and avoid anything that required fingerprints.

Then there was the bit about kickstarting the end of the world.

"How?" She asked.

Bob sighed softly and looked up from his devotions.

His eyes looked haunted.

"Apparently there are species across the many universes governed by the System that feel the need to explore," Bob responded quietly, "and when I was forced into this universe, and my mind was pillaged by the System during the integration process, all the knowledge I possessed about our universe became available, through the System."

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He gave a guileless shrug, "One of those exploratory species hoped over to take a look."

Her heart beat faster, and she found herself taking quick, shallow breaths. Her parents. Her friends. Everyone.

"Relax, close your eyes and take long, deep breaths," Bob suggested gently, "it hasn't happened yet; apparently, it takes time to energize every particle of mana in a universe."

Closing her eyes, she tried to calm her breathing. There was still a chance; they weren't gone yet.

"When?"

"Seven hundred and five days," Bob replied.

She felt a wave of relief wash over her. She had time.

"So what happens next?" She asked.

"Well," Bob began slowly, "I had planned to recruit a number of people from Earth, with the understanding that they would help me build a large Dungeon, which we would then use to recruit more people, at which point I would have hopefully found someone to take over the project and lead it."

Amber shook her head, trying to focus but feeling like she'd missed something.

"What project?"

"Moving as many people as we can to Thayland until the Tide is over and they can go back to whatever safety they can find or create," Bob replied.

"We can do that?" Amber asked, before answering her own question, "Of course we can; you opened a portal to bring me here. Of course, you can open a portal to bring others."

"Let me think for a moment," she said as her mind whirled.

The best thing to do would be to inform the government immediately of the impending disaster. You'd have to start at the bottom and work your way up, convincing each individual. Probably by bringing them to Thayland.

Once the government was convinced they could bring it to the other heads of state, and things would begin to snowball.

She could see one huge, glaring issue.

"Where are we going to put everyone?" She asked.

"I've thought about that quite a bit," Bob admitted, "and the best solution I could come up with was to have a three-foot crate for every family, spatially expanded. Open the lid, climb down the ladder," he explained, "and then just stack them up like bricks."

"How many mana crystals would that take?" she asked, her mind reeling away from the enormity of that idea.

"Hundreds of millions, maybe billions," Bob replied, "There are just so too many variables, but I know I can't do it alone."

"Alone?" she asked incredulously. "Of course, you can't do it alone; you'll need a small army of people constantly delving for crystals and another small army of people working on housing for the refugees."

"Which raises a question," she said as her thoughts found a hard point to latch onto, "how long will they need to be on Thayland before they can return to Earth?"

"One hundred and ten days from the moment of integration," Bob responded, his voice heavy and tired.

"That's..." She trailed off, "four months."

Bob nodded silently.

Amber shook her head. "We'll tell the government, it'll take a bunch of meetings, and we'll have to bring them to Thayland to show them, but they'll be able to put together a plan."

She could see his expression darken.

"Look," she said in what she hoped was a conciliatory tone, "this is too big for anyone but the government to handle."

Bob sighed, "I'm a dead man, and you're an escaped prisoner," he said, "and while that might actually work in our favor when the government finally takes the whole thing seriously, in the meantime, being on Earth is going to be difficult."

"And what was your plan, exactly?" Amber asked, letting a touch of frustration slip into her voice.

"I'd start with the D&D crowd," Bob replied, "show them a fireball, and they'll jump through the portal. Then I was going to hit the VA, VFW, and the American Legion, regrow a few missing limbs and organs."

Bob shrugged his shoulders and continued, "I'm sure with enough minds working on the problem, we can find a solution."

He flashed a grim smile, "There are a lot of ways I could recruit people to help us. I could ritually summon a literal ton of gold and hire people."

Amber closed her eyes and reminded herself that Bob wasn't well adjusted or likely even mentally healthy.

"That's one idea," she said diplomatically.

"One of many," he agreed, "it's all still in the planning stages, with the exception of my needing to build a Dungeon for the recruits to delve into in order to gather crystals and level up, given that Holmstead is now well and truly booked."

"Anyway, I wanted to let you know, in case you wanted to level up and take the portal spell so you can hop back over," he shrugged, "it's not like it matters now."

His face brightened as his gaze shifted over her shoulder, and he gave a little wave.

Amber looked over her shoulder and saw Bailli and Eddi approaching.

She quickly stood up, opened her mouth, and then realized she didn't have anything to say.

Closing it with a click, she settled for a nod towards Bob, and then she made her escape, avoiding Bailli, who held a grudge from Amber's part in the accident that sent Bob here.

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Bob smiled at Bailli and Eddi as they approached the table.

Icing Death was sprawled across Bailli's shoulder, while Reximus was scampering alongside Eddi, sniffing the air constantly.

"Good evening," Bob greeted them as they took a seat at the table.

"Hey, Bob!" Eddi said enthusiastically, "You tiered up, right? You're as big as Thidwell now, or almost anyways," Eddi's eyes lit up, "your level cap is thirty-six now, so that means your UtahRaptor's maximum level is..." he trailed off as he did the math, using his fingers.

"Eighty-two?" Eddi asked breathlessly.

"That's right," Bob agreed approvingly.

"What was it like, tiering up, I mean?" Eddi asked eagerly, "I'm level twenty-three, you know, and I've had the crystals for ages, but Wayna is still leveling, and while we haven't talked about it yet, I don't wanna tier up without her or into something she doesn't tier up to you know?"

Bob opened his mouth to respond, but his number one fan kept going.

"It's not like we're engaged like Bailli is," he nodded to Bailli, who seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, "but I really like her, and she said she likes me, so I'm hoping that maybe later, once we've been together for a while, we'll get to that part, and I don't want to mess things up before then by tiering up."

"I'm glad things are working out with Wayna," Bob responded hesitantly, not sure what to say.

This was a part of the human experience he'd quite cheerfully forgone.

"So, what was it like?" Eddi asked again.

"It didn't hurt," Bob said slowly, "but it took a little while to get used to being bigger; I almost tripped over my own feet when I stood up from the ritual circle."

"I can't wait to be tier six," Eddi said, his distant, "Rexxy will be huge!"

"She will be," Bob confirmed.

"Eddi," he began, "I have to ask you for a favor."

"Sure!" Eddi replied excitedly, "Anything you need!"

"Hear me out first," Bob admonished, "I'll need to explain a little."

"Ok," Eddie said agreeably, smiling happily.

"So, you know I'm from another world, where we don't have magic or skills or mana, right?" Bob asked.

"Yep," Eddi confirmed.

"Well, it turns out that mana is going to be 'waking up' in my universe soon, and when it does, there is going to be a mana tide that lasts one hundred and ten days on my world," Bob continued, noting that Eddi's face had paled slightly at that news, "and with everyone there at level zero, they are all going to die."

"That's awful," Eddi gasped, "but what can I do? Rexxy is awesome, but she can't take a whole tide by herself!"

Bob waved his hand, "No, I don't need you to go fight monsters there; I need you to fight them here."

Eddi frowned, "How will that help?" he asked.

"There is no way to save them from the tide on Earth, so I'm going to bring them here, to Thayland, to wait out the Tide and then go back home once it's done," Bob went on, "But in order to do that, I'm going to need to bring a bunch of them here, and level them up so they can help level others, and delve for the crystals we'll need to save as many of them as we can."

"What can I do to help?"

"I had planned to bring some people over, and run them through the Holmstead Dungeon to get them leveled up, then bring over some more, and then have the first batch start working on a huge Dungeon, not deep, but broad enough to let a huge number of people delve at once, maybe only ten levels deep," Bob sighed.

"That's not possible with all the people that have flooded Holmstead now, so I'm going to have to start building that Dungeon now, and the truth of the matter is that I just don't have the crystals to do it," he finished.

"You just need crystals?" Eddi asked incredulously.

"I've got crystals," he continued confidently as he dug into the satchel at his side before pulling out a badly stitched leather pouch, which he slid across the table to Bob.

"I'll grab some more for you tomorrow morning," He grinned, "I only keep a thousand on me, but I've got probably thirty-three thousand or so at home."

"I'll tell the rest of the Endless; we'll get you more mana crystals than you can use," Eddi promised with a huge smile.

"The Endless?" Bob asked, trying to process the fact that Eddi had thirty-some-odd thousand mana crystals.

"Yeah, it's sort of like our Guild within the Guild," Eddi explained proudly, "you have to be on the Endless Swarm path to be part of it, and I'm the leader."

Bob looked at Bailli helplessly.

Bailli was still smiling and not being helpful in any way.

"There's forty of us now, and while I can't speak for everyone," Eddi's tone was apologetic as if he should have been able to speak for his entire group, "I know that the First Six will do anything we can to help."

"The first six?" Bob asked, trying to figure out where he lost control of the conversation.

"We were the first ones to hear you talk about the Path of the Endless Swarm," Eddi said with a note of reverence that Bob was not at all comfortable with, "and we know you didn't do it to try and have people owe you anything, but the fact is we owe you everything," he empathized, his expression serious, "and if you need some mana crystals," he chuckled.

"We've been pulling four hour days, every day, for months gathering more Summoning Affinity Crystals," Eddi continued, "all of us have the crystals we need to tier up and push to level twenty-seven, and a pile of them that just keeps growing," he explained.

Eddi frowned for a moment. "If we'd have known sooner, we wouldn't have paid upfront for the Summoners Tower," he muttered.

"Summoners Tower?" This time it was Bailli who asked.

"We paid to have a tower built up on the hills to the east," Eddi replied eagerly, "It's going to be a hundred feet across and two hundred feet tall!"

"That's where we're going to have our headquarters for The Endless; we decided to set it up kind of like the Adventurers Guild, we'll have a tavern on the bottom floor and an arena in the basement where we can have our summons fight each other, and then we'll have offices on the first few floors, then we'll have apartments, and the roof is going to be a huge ritual circle!" Eddi's eyes were wide and his smile slightly manic as he described his Summoners Tower.

Eddi shook his head, "We paid for all the construction and spells to have the tower built; everyone chipped in twenty-thousand crystals to get it started because we figured we didn't need them."

"But I'm sure we can pull together a hundred and fifty thousand crystals or so, and we'll just keep adding to that until you've gotten what you need," Eddi assured him.

"Ok then," Bob said slowly.

He hadn't seen that coming.