Bob left the meeting with the King of Greenwold in a daze.
Out of everything he'd been afraid the King might want to talk to him about, he hadn't seen this coming.
The problem was, the King was right. Bob owed him.
He could argue that the King got the better end of the deal, convincing so many people from Earth to stay on Thayland, collecting literal tons of crystals from leases and taxes, as well as achievements.
But the truth was that Bob knew that the King hadn't had any way of knowing how things would turn out when he'd offered his aid.
He doubted that things would have turned out as well as they had if the King hadn't stepped up.
Telling Bob that his path wasn't great was just twisting the knife, as the King was well aware of how badly his own skills had been scattered before he'd been able to correct them.
He'd been planning to rush to tier ten anyway. There were over a hundred planets with first clear bonuses just begging to be collected. He hadn't been able to pick up the rewards for a planetary first clear bonus, let alone a solar system first clear, but he was more than eager to see them. The Eire and the Irth weren't in a position to claim them, so he fully expected that he and his friends would claim them.
He had planned to be on Thayland during the next tide, as he still considered it his home, and he had friends and acquaintances here that he would face the tide alongside. He hadn't really planned on staying too long though. Of course, the King did sleep between tides, so maybe he could just pop in once a month to make sure everything was ok.
Bob found himself in the Adventurer's Guild, looking down at a chair that was far too small. He summoned his own, and sat down, his table serving more of a coffee than dinner function.
"Bob?" A voice drew him out of his thoughts.
Bob looked up and saw Frank, although it was clear that Frank had tiered up to six at some point.
"Hey Frank," Bob said, blinking has he tried to focus less on his thoughts and more on the world around him.
"I thought that was you," Frank smiled, "but I didn't see your feline overlord, so I wasn't sure."
"He got big too," Bob replied, "carrying him can be a bit of a challenge," he sighed. "I do kind of miss getting that free point of Strength each level," he confessed.
Frank snorted as he took one of the chairs across from Bob, tossing the towel he'd been holding over his shoulder. "On the whole I'm pretty pleased with how things have shaken out. You do know you can double the attributes you don't invest in with an enchantment, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't know anyone working with tier eight equipment," Bob replied.
That had been a particularly unpleasant discovery. Nikki and Gary were pushing for tier eight, but they hadn't gotten there yet. It turned out the System would let a lower tier person use higher tier gear, but not the other way around.
"Barduk's does," Frank said. "Even the Noble houses, the lesser ones anyway, go to him. He's been tier eight for a long time, but never wanted to play the noble game, just loves making shit. Story goes, when the city expanded, he moved the inner ring to the outer to make sure anyone who wanted to could get to him."
"I'll have to check him out," Bob shook his head. "Hopefully he's not too busy."
"I doubt it," Frank gestured to the mostly empty tavern. "That last update that reduced the rewards for clearing the Dungeon hit everyone pretty hard. I wouldn't say people are hurting, but they are being a bit more mindful of their spending. Sixth rule conflicting with the fifth rule and all that."
Bob nodded, then paused. "Where did you hear about the rules?" Bob asked.
"Bunch of those summoner kids, the Endless they call themselves," Frank replied. "They were passing out pamphlets to all the people from that other world, and directing them here." Frank shook his head. "Shit got crowded pretty quickly, let me tell you. But those rules are damned accurate. I even had them put on the back of menus," he finished, pulling out a menu, and holding it out to Bob, who noted that it did indeed list the rules out, although it thankfully lacked the bit at the bottom about 'He Who Walks Before.'
"Hopefully people follow them," Bob said as he flipped the menu over to inspect the lunch options. He wasn't terribly hungry, having enjoyed Renee's tacos not long ago, but he had a stasis box, and he wasn't sure he was going to feel like cooking dinner.
"They seem to be," Frank shrugged. "I hear people checking them all the time."
"Any chance I can get a couple of meals to go?" Bob asked, indicating the steak dinner and the broiled fish. "Fish in a bowl for his imperial majesty?"
"Sure can," Frank nodded standing back up. "It was good to see, maybe you can stop by some evening after eight with that handsome kitty of yours, we can catch up."
"Sounds good," Bob replied as Frank strode back into his kitchen.
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Bob was back in the Hidden Dungeon, slaughtering Gwarli. He wouldn't say it was his happy place, but it was so familiar that he could let his thoughts roam while he went about the ever important business of leveling up his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell.
Hitting level one hundred inside of ten years was a big ask, no matter how Kellan put it.
The thing about summoning was that ultimately, second by second, he did less damage than spellcasters who just blew shit up. Bailli was a perfect example of a dedicated blaster. She could deal significantly more damage than his monsters could, assuming equal levels. Summoning had the advantage of keeping the monsters away from him while his summons slugged it out with them.
That said, his monsters could take out even groups of higher level monsters while he stayed safe. He was still working out the math to determine if Jake could actually take out a level one hundred and twenty monster at level one hundred and fifty, assuming the monster was tier sixteen to Jake's tier eight.
A tier sixteen monster had, quite literally, twice the attributes as his summons did, level for level. That mean that at level 120, a monster would still have attributes that were twenty-five percent stronger than Jake. If his path wasn't going to be giving him another thirty percent damage and damage reduction, it wouldn't be possible at all.
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Still, dropping a monster that was eight tiers and sixty levels above himself would generate over fifteen hundred experience for each kill, which was the only way he was going to be able to level his spell.
Before the King had told him that he could exceed the previous limit on how much experience you gain from each monster, Bob had resigned himself to spending a very long time capping his spells. His very tentative, never spoken aloud, plan had been to cap his spells before evolving to tier nine, where he would do so again, before evolving to tier ten and completing the process.
He hadn't planned his future beyond tier ten. He knew that tier ten wasn't the end, thanks to the Eire, but it seemed like tier eleven was a break point of some sort, and he didn't know enough to plan for it.
Besides, he'd figured on a couple of hundred years between capping tier eight and tier ten.
He didn't have all the information. He needed to know if he could even delve a Dungeon at tier sixteen on Thayland, which capped monsters at level ninety-six. The King had intimated that it was possible, but as he couldn't delve that deeply yet, he couldn't even test it.
He would though, as soon as he could. He had every faith in pitting Jake against a tier sixteen monster that was level twenty-six against Jake's fifty-six. The fact that doing so would net him a tidy five hundred and twelve experience had him nearly salivating.
One of the upshots of the whole thing was that given the number of monsters he was going to have to kill, he would end up with an actual pile of Attribute Affinity Crystals. He'd also have a small hill of regular Affinity Crystals, and the process would generate literal mountains of mana crystals. Of course, he'd still somehow end up perpetually broke, but that was rule six for you.
Unfortunately, he needed another four months of constant delving to finish the quest. The good news was his friends had already completed theirs, so they shouldn't have any problem catching up to him. Silver linings.
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"All hail Prince Bob!" Amanda cheered.
"I am not a prince," Bob said, again. He'd explained his meeting with the King to his friends over breakfast the next morning. Rather than the trepidation he felt, they seemed to view is as a terrific opportunity for humor.
"I'm not surprised," Harv said. "You're well known, and well liked by everyone who isn't a member of the Nobility."
"And some of those who are," Mike interjected with a grin. "Even after you dumped all that work on her, Nora still has a crush on you."
"After the integration, Thidwell and the other guild leaders started spreading the word that you were the one who figured out the crystals and paths," Harv continued. "They explained that Thidwell had taken the credit to prevent retribution against from the Nobles, but now that the update gave everyone the same access you had, it wasn't necessary to keep up the lie."
"I didn't know that," Bob muttered.
"That would be because we ran off for ten months, then you disappeared for another four after we came back," Eli pointed out.
"I can see it," Dave agreed. "Everyone knows about you, and they've all heard or seen the lengths you went to save the people from Earth. Everyone also knows you have absolutely no interest in being in charge of shit, so as a temporary leader, you're pretty much perfect."
"He's not even from 'round here!" Jack shouted in a terrible English accent.
He looked around the table quizicaly. "No one?"
He shook his head. "It's a Japanese peace lily?"
"None of you appreciate fine cinema," he grumbled.
"Anyway," Bob continued, "the King also told me that there aren't any more experience caps, once you finish the quest to delve deeper. Have you noticed that?"
"Maybe," Dave said thoughtfully.
"Most of us were pretty well capped when we hit forty-nine," Jessica offered. "Only Dave, Amanda, Bailli, and Eddi had double affinities, and Bailli was forever holding us up while she kept her Lightning Blast spell leveled up."
"Those last couple of levels did go pretty quickly," Dave mused. "I thought it was because the experience was being funneled to just a couple of us as it didn't have anywhere else to go."
Bob snorted. "That's not the System I know."
"In retrospect, no, it isn't," Dave agreed, "but at the time it seemed like a reasonable explanation in the absence of any other."
"Well, now you know," Bob said. "To be clear, I don't expect you to join me in the rush to level one hundred, but knowing this will help you get there sooner."
"Bob," Amanda shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, your royal highness, of course we're going to join in the rush to one hundred."
"Strewth, I'm not keen on being left behind, yeah?" Jessica added.
"At tier ten, with a triple affinity giving twenty levels each to the maximum level, and a hundred percent bonus from the first school threshold, and a ten level bonus from the second school threshold, I'll have a level three hundred and forty T-Rex," Eddi said dreamily.
All eyes turned toward Eddi as he continued. "Nothing will stand in the way of the inevitable domination of the Endless!" He stared off into the distance with an unnerving smile.
"He get's like that sometimes, usually when he's thinking about a really big t-rex," Wayna whispered to the table as she nudged Eddi in the ribs.
"Huh?" Eddi asked, looking around the table.
"You sort of went full on villain, sweetie," Wayna told him.
"There's nothing wrong with having a dream," Eddi said defensively.
"I think it's the 'inevitable domination' bit that seems just a little concerning," Mike said carefully.
"Well, the Adventurer's Guild is great and all, but really, every town should have an Endless Tower, and should rely on the Endless to protect the town during wave and tide, because summoning is the best," Eddi explained.
"Yes, but to people who don't know you, it sounds like you goal in life is world domination," Wayna said. "It's fine when it's just us, but you shouldn't get into the habit of talking about it, because you might slip up and scare someone who doesn't know you like we do. You wouldn't want to hurt the Endless' reputation, would you?"
"No," Eddi sighed. "That wouldn't help," he agreed.
"More to the point, yes, you would have level three hundred and forty T-Rex, and yes, Bailli would have a level three hundred and forty Lightning Blast," Bob continued, ignoring the beatific smile on Bailli's face, as well as the lightning she was idly arcing from one finger to the next, then back again.
"That's some crazy shit," Mike shook his head. "But that's how life under the System goes. You either die a hero or live long enough to become a demi-god."
Dave shook his head sadly. "That was bad, and you should feel bad."
"Kind of true," Eli said. "My family teaches that it's all about momentum. You can't ever stop pushing, or you'll end up getting complacent, and then you'll end up stuck. But as long as you keep going, you'll keep going forever."
"Once you have your Endurance Affinity Crystals and reincarnate, you'll all be staring down the barrel of a two thousand year life span," Bob said. "You'd think it would be hard to wrap your head around, but something about the reincarnation process sort of attunes your mind to it. It's like, before all this, I would have looked at ten years and considered that a major commitment. I mean, we're talking about a quarter of my working life. But it's more of a 'holy crap that's not very long at all!' sort of feeling. It's weird," Bob finished uncomfortably.
"We get it," Jessica reassured him, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "I mean, we're not packing that Endurance Affinity, yeah? But we're still looking at like seven hundred years. It's definitely changed all our perspectives when it comes to time," she squeezed again and then let go.
"Which does sort of bring up a point," Bob smiled. "I know we're sitting on quite a few affinity crystals, has anyone checked out the market for them?"
"Yeah, it was pretty solid, until the update," Harv said. "Mostly people trading for something they didn't have, but the Endless," he nodded to Eddi, "were selling anything except a Summoning Affinity Crystal for a thousand mana crystals, and they were buying any Summoning Affinity Crystals they could get their hands on for ten thousand mana crystals."
"We can't farm them now, so we need to make sure our reserves don't run low," Eddi said defensively.
"I'd ask how many you have, but I'm not sure I want to know," Bob shook his head.
"At the moment, very few people have completed the quest, so the market is sort of frozen until they start coming in again," Harv finished.
"We're going to end up with piles of Attribute Affinity Crystals," Bob said. "I mean, ten years of fighting monsters that drop them? I'll keep a couple of full sets for myself, and I'll probably give some to Nora, Kelli, Austan, Theo, Nikki and Gary. At some point we'll have given them to everyone we know, and we'll have to ask ourselves if we're going to sell them."