"Is that Meluben?" Lara asked quietly as she pointed at the ruins, barely visible through the jungle.
"It is," Bob replied. "I know it looks rough, but with a few levels, the right skills, and a pile of mana crystals, it'll be better than new."
"Everyone is still in that other space, yes?" Gualla asked.
"They are," Bob nodded. "We'll get them out soon enough. First, we need to teach you two how to delve, although the first few levels aren't that hard, just tiring and painful."
"My husband, he died buying us time to run to the temple," Lara shook her head.
Bob frowned. "Was that before or after you received the message that the integration had begun?"
"After," Lara replied.
"I'm sorry," Bob said simply.
He felt that he'd gotten a little better at interacting with people but consoling someone from an alien species and culture was beyond him.
"We do need to get going, though," he continued as he pulled up the screen on his armband. "It looks like we have maybe another sixteen hours before the monsters from the Dungeons surrounding us arrive here."
He tapped his armband to turn off the display and then opened his interface. He set the Dungeon level to tier six, level one, and then tapped the entrance to the Dungeon while at the same time sending group invitations to Gualla and Lara, who blinked in confusion at the notifications.
"You can either say yes or think it," Bob said helpfully.
Their names appeared on the far left of his vision, displaying their relative health, mana, and stamina.
"Alright, follow me," he instructed as he entered the Dungeon.
----------------------------------------
Bob frowned as he looked around.
This was not the Dungeon he'd cleared with his friends.
Instead of Meluben, he was standing in a dense jungle with a well-worn path in front of him.
He checked the quest.
Dungeon 4578G8249N98ISS2PM3D.
Capacity 84%
User tier eight, evolved, level forty-two. User grouped with two other sapient beings, tier six, level zero.
Dungeon level has been set to tier six, level one.
Rewards have been reduced due to tier and level disparity.
New Quest!
The jungles surrounding Meluben have become infested with Quaors!
Kill Quaors, 0/3000
Kill Quaor Brutes 0/600
Kill Quaor Spikers 0/600
Kill Quaor Lancers 0/600
Kill Quaor Carvers 0/600
Kill Quaor Terrors 0/600
He turned to Lara and Gualla.
"Alright, so this is different than the quest we completed," Bob began. "It looks like you'll only be facing one kind of monster, although it will have different flavors."
He pushed his mana into the pattern of a persistent effect Summon Mana-Infused Object spell and handed the weapons to the Urlinad.
"What you need to do is walk forward slowly," Bob instructed. "When a monster attacks you, and they will, beat it with the stick I've just provided. If something goes wrong and you get hurt, I can heal you."
"Just like clearing out rats," Lara muttered as she tightened her grip on her staff.
"Exactly," Bob agreed. "These aren't real creatures, they are balls of energy that have been stuffed into a mold to look like something that is alive."
He was surprised that of the two, Gualla was more hesitant. During their conversations, she'd often taken the lead. He wasn't sure if it was because she was older, or if it was because she was higher up the social hierarchy, but Lara had shown defferance.
The two Urliand shuffled down the path slowly, clearly anxious. They made it thirty feet before one of the Quaor rushed out of the jungle.
It was one of the Quill-beasts Bob had fought. It was significantly smaller and slower, but it looked more or less the same.
It had appeared from the side nearest Gualla, who let out a panicked roar as she stumbled back, swinging her staff wildly.
Lara was equally eager to retreat as she turned and ran back to Bob.
Gualla only had to shuffle back six feet before she arrived at the Dungeons 'safe' zone, and the monster lost interest, turning and shuffling back into the jungle.
"Ok," Bob sighed. "No one got hurt," he said encouragingly. "Unfortunately, that does include the monster."
"I'm sorry," Lara whimpered miserably. "We don't fight things. We built walls and cleared the land so that we could present a group too large for predators to target."
"It was a big change for my people, too," Bob assured her. "Millions of people on my world had never struck anyone or anything in anger."
He didn't think expounding on the murderous nature of the human race would be particularly useful at this juncture.
"Let's try this again," he encouraged, "we know where it's coming from now, so both of you can hit it with your sticks until it stops moving, ok?"
----------------------------------------
Two hours later......
Bob was pretty sure it was instinctual.
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Science hadn't yet been able to unlock the mysteries of instinctual behavior, but it had clearly documented its existence.
He wasn't sure if it was just his bias showing, but Bob had always assumed that the sapient races he encountered in the multiverse would always be either omnivorous or obligate carnivores. It made sense, scientifically, for the apex predators of any given biosphere to have the best chance to survive and evolve.
The Urlinad had forced him to revise his assumption. They were herbivorous and clearly had a predisposition to living in large groups. He didn't want to say the evidenced herd behavior, but it was really hard not to.
He wished that he had brought one of the men with him to see if they displayed any sort of protective instincts because Lara and Gualla were fucking awful.
While two people out of what he assumed would be hundreds of thousands were not something he could even consider a sample size, Pew Research Polls aside, he was leaning heavily toward the Urlinad becoming spell casters.
The Strength and Coordination Affinity and Penalty really did even out, with the Urlinad swinging more slowly and missing more often, but the hits they did land were quite strong. It was their reaction to melee combat that had Bob leaning towards keeping them at a distance from the monsters.
He waited for them to finish beating a monster to death.
As it dissipated into silvery mana, they rushed back to him.
They were both panting from stress and exertion, covered in grime, sweat, and blood.
He refrained from launching into a repetition of the rules. He'd quickly learned that the Urlinad were not his target audience when it came to his normal shepherding technique.
"Alright, you've done for sixty monsters," Bob forced a smile. "I feel like all three of us have learned some valuable lessons."
"We already knew that we weren't good at fighting," Gualla muttered.
"I think it's less that you're not good at fighting and more that you're not good at melee combat," Bob said. "You're actually very good at supporting each other when you are, as Mike would say, 'decisively engaged.' I can't say anything for certain, as I only have you two to go off, but I believe that you should pursue magic."
He summoned Jake, the UtahRaptor letting out a furious honk. "After all," he pointed, "with the right kind of magic, you don't need to be the one getting up close and personal."
Both of the Urlinad had seen Jake before, but they still moved back and behind Bob.
He gestured, and seven of his mosquito swarms poured out of his satchel, a dark cloud of high-pitched death. Both Jake and the swarms rushed down the path. A Quaor Brute ran into the path and became a cloud of pink mist as one of Jake's feet landed on it.
"So, let's talk about magic for a bit while the boys take care of the monsters," Bob said.
"There is a lot of magic under the System," Bob began. "However, at its core, there are three spheres, Divine, Arcane, and Psionic. Each sphere is further divided into Magical Schools. Divine Magic contains the Magical Schools of Elemental Air, Elemental Fire, Elemental Earth, Elemental Water, Plant, Animal, Divination, Protection, Invocation, Animancy, Necromancy, Shadowmancy, Invoke Netherworld, Invoke Sanctum, Order, and Discord." He smiled and shook his head. "I know that's a lot. The Elemental schools are exactly what they sound like. Creating and Controlling those elements. Plant and Animal are much the same."
"Does Divine Magic allow us to commune with the gods?" Gualla asked.
Bob winced. "So, the answer to that question is complicated because it may require a radical reinterpretation of how you define 'gods.'"
Gualla stared at him.
One of the things Bob had noticed about the Urlinad is that they seemed to need to blink less often than humans did.
He took a deep breath. "Gods are beings that have advanced through the System until they exceeded tier ten. Those beings decided to accept the responsibility for one or more aspects of divinity. What is important to understand is that they don't necessarily operate on a universal level. The god of Fire on Thayland is not the same god as the God of Fire on the Eire world. They have the same responsibilities, but they are completely different entities. Further, as a newly integrated universe, you don't actually have any gods yet. This is important because in order to access Divine Magic, you need to accept a Divine Blessing, which is exactly what it sounds like, the Blessing of a god."
"The gods are real," Gualla said firmly.
"I'm not going to argue with you," Bob replied. "If you open your interfaces and select the 'Magic' tab, you'll a section that says 'Divine Blessings.' There will be three categories, Vi'Radia, Mor'Noctum, and Logos. Full disclosure, I don't have a complete understanding of the System." He shook his head. "And this is one of the parts that I'm particularly unsure of. Those three beings are the exceptions to a lot of the rules when it comes to gods. First, they are present in every universe. By that, I am including universes where the System has not yet integrated, which shouldn't be possible. Further, they offer not only their own divine blessings but also the divine blessings for any faith that doesn't have a god shouldering that responsibility. Finally, they don't respond. I have spoken to quite a few priests and priestesses, and with the exception of those three, the gods respond to prayer."
"You're here," Lara breathed.
"No, I'm not," Bob shook his head again.
"Yes, you are," Lara projected her interface.
Ancestral Blessings Available.
Robert Whitman, He Who Walks Before, The Reef, The Redeemer, Light Bringer, Lord of Blight.
Venerating this being allows you to allocate skill points to share in some of his skills.
Mana Sight
Mana Manipulation
Enduring Sphere - Arcane
Summon Mana-Infused Object
"The fuck?" Bob muttered.
He was well aware of Anni, and to a lesser extent, Sereh's efforts to enshrine him. He wasn't happy about it, but he'd realized there was no real way to stop them, so he'd accepted it.
He knew he should have stamped down harder on the whole 'Reef' thing sooner.
Bob had absolutely no idea who had decided to call him 'The Redeemer' or the 'Light Bringer', but he did have a sneaking suspicion where that whole 'Lord of Blight' thing had come from.
"I am NOT the Lord of Blight," Bob said firmly.
"It does say the Lord of Blight," Lara replied nervously. "You did say that the System doesn't ever lie."
Bob pinched the bridge of his nose. "It says that," he began, "because you called me that. In front of a bunch of other people. I'm pretty sure if I talk to everyone who heard it, I can get the System to remove that part."
"You're still here," Lara said. "Does that mean you're a god?"
"No," Bob shook his head. "I am not a god. Ancestral Blessings are just a way for the System to officially recognize someone that a lot of people like."
He brightened. "In fact, if you look a bit further down, you'll see Monroe! Now I love my kitty more than anything, but Monroe, despite being both benevolent and wise, isn't exactly a deep thinker. He's sentient, not sapient."
Lara didn't stop sharing her interface as the entry for Monroe appeared.
Ancestral Blessings Available.
Monroe, Divine Feline Overlord, The Mightiest Hunter, The Softest, He Who Naps In Sunbeams, Lord God Almighty, Kessen.
Venerating this being allows you to allocate skill points to share in some of his skills.
Enduring Strength
Enduring Coordination
Naptime
Bob blinked.
"I've got to start keeping my eye on these things," he shook his head.
"Ok, so, you are aware that everyone loves cats," Bob began.
Gualla and Lara both nodded. "Kessen is universally revered, and his children are sacred."
"Fuck," Bob grumbled. "On the planet I come from, we have the ability to send each other images instantly. We can send an image to almost everyone on the planet all at once. As you might imagine, being able to do this has resulted in people sending each other pictures of their cats. Monroe has always been a handsome boy, but as he leveled up and ascended to tier seven, he evolved to become the gorgeous kitty you've met. People took pictures of him and shared those images until over five hundred million people had seen those images. The System recognized the sheer number of people who liked him. That's it. I'm sure some of those people called him silly things. I've told him that he's the mightiest hunter and the softest kitty ever, so I don't doubt that others have done the same."
"It says 'Divine Feline Overlord, Lord God Almighty, Kessen,' Lara replied.
"He's not a god," Bob shook his head. "Ok, Ancestral worship aside, you can pick up a Divine Blessing from one of the big three and gain access to the Divine Sphere. At that point you can allocate a skill point to unlock a school, and then allocate another skill point to unlock a spell."
He took a deep breath as he tried to get the conversation back on track. "Alternatively, you can choose the Arcane Sphere, which does not require a Divine Blessing to access. The Arcane Sphere contains the Magical Schools of Summoning, Dimension, Transmutation, Abjuration, Conjuration, Illusion, and Chronomancy. I'm a Summoner myself, while Bailli specializes in Conjuration, specifically, Lightning. Harv uses transmutation, which is what he used to make the block appear and disappear."
Bob sighed. "There's actually a lot to it, so why don't we head out and get cleaned up," he suggested.