"Well, I suppose it could be worse," Bob sighed, then frowned as he did the math. "It is pretty bad, though."

His end reward for completing the Dungeon had been one hundred and twenty mana crystals, instead of six hundred.

Jake had picked up another three levels, and was now level seven. The difference was significant, the UtahRaptor's sickle-like claw splitting the Gwarli's sternums so deeply that you could see their spinal columns, effectively one shotting them. Bob hadn't gotten hurt at all this delve, although he could attribute part of that to regaining his Matrix Manipulation skill. It didn't really matter that Jake was also Fading when he was the one who was attacking the patrols, with Bob hiding in the back.

He'd spent a little bit of extra time testing out the Harvesting skill. He'd been able to collect apples, pears, and what he thought were blackberries, but he wasn't going to eat them without making sure. Fishing was also an option, although without any equipment he'd been reduced to sending in Monroe, who wasn't good at fishing. Jake had been more effective in gathering a fish, but less so in leaving it in a consumable condition.

For the moment, he was sitting on a large boulder next to the stream that ran alongside the third Gwarli outpost. The sun was shining, or whatever facsimile the System had in place, there was a mild breeze, and the sky was clear. Monroe was sprawled on sandy bank, soaking up the sun in an effort to become a well-done loaf. The base for the Hidden Dungeon was entirely underground, so the fact that the Dungeon itself offered the reprieve of a sunny day was a welcome relief.

Bob was contemplating his build. He would be able to pick up Dimension and Portal for free, thanks to his Pedagogue and Academic achievements, the question was did he want to use those two achievements to pick up anything else. He already had access to Shadowmancy, along with Mana Sight and Mana Manipulation thanks to his Paragon and Pinnacle achievements. He could check Matrix Manipulation off the list, which left him with five free skill points, assuming he used three skill points, to push his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell to level twenty-four, which at level eight was more than enough. At level eight he'd have a sixty-four intelligence and a one hundred and ninety-two wisdom, courtesy of his first threshold bonus, giving him a mana regeneration of just over twenty-five points per second. He didn't have to pay for any of his enduring skills, which was an incredible bonus, worth just as much as the skill points.

The question was, what did he want to spend those points on? The skills he selected would shape the paths he was offered, and while it was tempting to go with armor, armor spec, and dodge, he didn't want a path that focused on his own personal defense. He would definitely be buying those skills, and even paying the threshold costs to advance them, but that could wait. He knew that he'd be casting rituals, which meant he would need Effect Over Time and Persistent Effect in order to take Ritual Casting. That left for two more magic skills. It was tempting to take barrage, given the massive level advantage his UtahRaptor had. At level eight, he'd be able to have three level sixteen Jake's out, and with his Attribute Affinity Crystal boosted stats, he'd be able to pay the ongoing mana costs. Considering that he'd yet to enter a natural Dungeon where he'd been able to fight monsters one at a time, having his own personal party would be awesome. That left one more skill.

"Trebor, what are the magic modifying skills?" Bob asked idly.

'This is for sorcery,' Trebor brought up a list.

Penetrating Spell Still Casting Spell Conducting Storm Spell Collusion Subduing Spell Silent Casting Energy Specialization Energy Mastery Hidden

Manifestation Unbreakable Dweomer Spell Sculpting Vicious Spell True Name Spell

Chanting

'And this is for rituals,' Trebor continued.

Fast Cast Overpower Ritual Runes / Potions Insidious Spell Named Cursed Enchantment Increase Effect Glyphs Loyal Enchantment Bloodline/Association Pause Ritual Increase Range Sigils Increase Area Stasis Askew components Soul Bonded True damage

"That's... a lot more than there was before," Bob muttered.

'There are a few additions, but the vast majority were available, but not of any use to you,' Trebor explained. 'You aren't a ritualist in the classical sense of the word. You make use of them, incredibly frequently, but you don't use them in combat, nor do you use them to create magical items, which renders the majority of the ritual modifiers useless. Sorcery is similar in that you don't rely on direct damage, which makes skills like Energy Specialization, Energy Mastery, Area of Effect, Spell Sculpting, Vicious Spell, Spell Conducting, Storm, and Penetrating Spell irrelevant, while you also aren't an assassin, rending Silent Spell, Still Spell, and Hidden Manifestation a waste of skill points as well.'

Bob nodded slowly. He could absolutely see Bailli going completely nuts with Energy Mastery and Energy Specialization, but he didn't need them. "What about Chanting?"

'Chanting allows the user to modify the spell by requiring a verbal chant. The amount of time required to complete the chant increases the power of the spell by fifty percent per second, while also multiplying the cost of the spell by two, with the multiplier incrementing by one for each additional second, while the power increases by an additional fifty percent.' Trebor explained.

"So not something you'd really use in combat unless you were in the back delivering big hits, or it would be something you'd open up with," Bob mused.

'Precisely,' Trebor agreed.

"What exactly is Spell Collusion?" Bob asked.

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'It allows you to handoff the targeting of a spell to another member of your group, causing the spell to emerge from them,' Trebor said.

"Neat, but not useful."

'Precisely.'

"What about defensive casting? I do like not dying," Bob said.

'Defensive casting allows you to add ten percent of your total spellcasting value as an enhancement to your armor. This may only be used when casting or channeling a spell, and increases the cost of the spell by fifty percent,' Trebor continued. 'This is something you might find useful, although ideally you'd never need it.'

"But, if I end up with a spellcasting value in the six hundreds, that's an extra sixty armor, which is half of my amazing first clear generated and enhanced Living Stone Scalemail," Bob nodded. "What's more, I can tie it to a persistent effect, which will cause it to eat the mana out of my pool, not out of my regeneration."

That skill was definitely one he'd be purchasing.

"What about fast casting?" He asked.

'Reduce the time needed to cast a ritual by one second at a one percent penalty to your spellcasting value, up to ninety-nine percent, allowing you to cast a ritual spell in a single second,' Trebor replied.

"That's... impressive," Bob considered the math for a moment. "Assuming I end up with a spellcasting value around eight hundred, I could pull off a successful ritual in twelve seconds, at least for anything that didn't have any resistance and just needed a successful casting. I wonder why more healers don't take that."

'Most people are rather cautious when casting ritual magic as failure can be rather catastrophic,' Trebor explained. 'Your ability to cast ritual after ritual, hour after hour, is considered extraordinary.'

"I imagine people would be less impressed if they knew you were doing a lot of the heavy lifting during those marathons," Bob muttered.

'I merely provide the pattern,' Trebor disagreed, 'which is an advantage, but your focus is still a rare talent.'

"Either way it's not really a good fit for me. I need the spellcasting power to punch through two dimensional membranes, and we've covered the reasons why ritually summoning Jake would be a bad idea," Bob said.

'Might I suggest adding the Summon Mana-Infused Object spell, rather than another modifying skill? It has been the skill you have cast most frequently outside of combat by a considerable margin, and you've praised it as the quintessential adventurer's spell,' Trebor continued. 'I'm not able to predict what path the System will offer you, but I can assure you that it takes into consideration your current skills and the actions you've taken in the past. I believe the saying is 'to thine own self be true.''

Bob nodded. Out of every skill and spell he'd ever used, Summon Mana-Infused Object was, by far, the most useful. Given the choice between losing access to his inventory and losing access to that spell, he'd need to sit down and think about it, long and hard. Fortunately, his inventory was a reward from the System for surviving the blast that sent him into Thayland, and as such was considered Enduring. The rest of the group had not been happy to learn that they'd need to clear out their inventories before reincarnating, as the change to their matrices would destroy the ritual effect. Amanda had been particularly vocal in her displeasure, informing him that he needed to level Dimension, Spatial Expansion, and Spatial Reinforcement as soon as possible.

No, he would take Summon Mana-Infused Object, he decided. Be it bedsheets, towels, plates or cutlery, there were just so many little conveniences that he'd rather not live without.

He slid off the boulder and walked over to Monroe, who let out a low rumbling purr as he dug his hands into the massive cat's fur. "Time to get going, buddy, we've got to get in another run before we can level up, and if Bailli catches us pulling sixteen-hour days she'll yell."

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

"You should have told me," Annisa repeated softly.

"You were beholden to the Church, and at the time, the highest ranking member of that Church was using their spaceship to shoot giant beams of light at us," Mike reminded her. "If that man had given you an order, would you have been able to defy him?"

He left unsaid the question of if she would have defied him, had she been able.

"No," Annisa admitted quietly. "He could have forced it out of me through his Fidelis blessings, and I am not strong enough to resist him, or at least not as he was then."

"Which is what I thought, so I didn't tell you what exactly where we were going or how long we'd be gone, although to be fair I didn't know the exact answers to either of those questions myself," Mike explained.

He'd known the conversation was coming, but that hadn't made it any more pleasant. Annisa was as beautiful as ever, although she'd also changed. She seemed less zealous, and somehow more vulnerable.

"You've returned, and I can sense you are nearing the peak of tier seven," Annisa said. "I know that some of your trepidations were rooted in the difference between our tiers."

"I suppose, but your faith also posed a barrier," he said gently.

Annisa shook her head. "His Majesty has put paid to that," she sighed. "From what I've been told, after the update, the High Priest from Parceus took a purely melee path, and after capping his skills, attacked his Majesty."

Mike shook his head slowly. Intellectually, he knew that there had to be more powerful beings than the King of Greenwold. According to Bob, the Elloirial he'd met with had been tier fourteen. The fact remained that he had a hard time imagining anything more terrifying than the Dragon. "Considering the King is still on his throne, I'm guessing that went about as well as I would expect?"

"His Majesty was not pleased," she shuddered. "I don't know how, but he somehow severed the connection to the Seven Gods of Light. I can't even cast their invocation spells. It's not confined to Greenwold either, one of the technicians working for the Karcerian Empire confirmed suffering the same issue on their continent."

Mike frowned. "That's a big deal, right? I don't know much about invocation. I was focused on the Arcane schools when I was a spellcaster."

"It is," she confirmed. "If the Church of the Light hadn't been disbanded here by the order of the King and his disabling of all their divine blessings, it would certainly fall apart now."

"How are you handling it?" Mike asked.

"Considering I rededicated myself to Vi'Radia when the update arrived, well enough," she smiled. "My duties haven't changed in substance, although I find myself casting fewer reincarnation rituals now that evolution is an option."

"So are the changes I've noticed about you related to that?" Mike asked.

"In no small part," she agreed. "I no longer have the lure of virtue," she lowered her eyes coquettishly, "so any draw you feel to me is entirely natural."

"Oh stop that," Mike grumbled. "You're over a hundred years old, you don't get to play the blushing maiden."

Annisa laughed, a rich, pure sound. "We both know I'm no maiden," she said, her voice low and teasing. "My question is, do you want to pursue this, now that you can be assured that your attraction is entirely natural?"

"You're a tier eight angel," Mike muttered, forcing his gaze to remain locked on her eyes rather than being drawn to the delicious curve of her lips. "I'm pretty sure that there is still some sort of system fuckery going on. No one should look this good."

"Is that all you see?" She asked, and Mike wasn't sure if she was faking the sadness in her tone or not.

"No," he sighed. "You're an amazing woman, looks aside. Your zealotry was the real hangup."

Annisa shrugged. "While I'm a devout priestess, I believe that without the constraints and influences of the Divine Blessings I had, you'll find I'm more..." she licked her lips, "palatable."

Mike took a page out of Bob's playbook, closing his eyes and counting down from ten. It did seem to help a bit. "Stop that," he said. "We're trying to have a serious conversation, and the innuendo is every bit as distracting as you're no doubt intending it to be."

She laughed again, then reached across the table to take his hand in hers. "Mike, I love that I have that effect on you, all the more because I know you don't see me as an object of lust," she lowered her voice, "or at least not exclusively so. Still, it's been a long and lonely ten months."

Mike was very aware that it had been a long and lonely ten months. He'd stayed busy, but it turned out that having the body of a nineteen year old did have a few downsides, one of which was a rather more active libido.

"I'd be happy, hell anyone would be happy to have you in their lives," Mike replied. "But with my other commitments, I'm not sure I can be as involved as you deserve."

"Well, we will just have to make the best of what time we have then," Annisa said, leaning across the table and drawing him into a kiss.