Bob picked up the Summoning Affinity Crystal while his UtahRaptor tore apart yet another pair of monsters. He'd agreed to help the Old Guard with the Dungeons on top of the glacier, but he wasn't willing to completely stall his own progression. The days were long, but he was spending two hours a day in his Arcane Depths.
He spent an hour in the mornings practicing his system-less magic, which was coming along nicely. He was feeling fairly confident that he would be able to recast his Arcane Depths ritual or at least a modified version of it. Even if he just created the extradimensional space, as long as it pulled mana in, he could make it work.
If he didn't have the schools and spells for the elements, he'd have to spend exponentially more time and crystals building out the Dungeon, but it would still be doable. He'd done a little napkin math and the tier seven cap, which is when he'd expect to cast the ritual, he'd be sitting at around a seven hundred point base casting score. As long as he was able to cast the ritual without the system, he'd be able to fill in the rest.
He picked up a mana crystal.
Tomorrow was the big day. Or at least the start of the big weekend. Eddi had come through in a big way, with the Endless donating a staggering five million mana crystals. That equated to fifty thousand rituals, which wasn't anywhere near enough, but Mike had a plan for that. The one hundred single-floor Dungeons on the glacier would be occupied twenty-four hours a day, every day. They'd only been able to dig them out to support twenty-five people at once, but still, twenty-five hundred people delving would generate a lot of crystals awfully quickly.
Bob had reminded Mike that they needed to hold back the King's ten percent. There were plans to request volunteers for the Curator and Druid paths, so hopefully, building out the rest of the Dungeons on the Old Guard's plateau wouldn't be an issue, along with growing enough food to feed that many people.
The logistics of it all gave Bob a headache, and he was grateful that his part of this particular project was due to end after the last regeneration ritual had been cast. He needed to check in with Aussies, as well as the D&D crew, and then he needed to pound out some long days in his Arcane Depths.
Time was flowing, and nineteen months remained before the Earth was integrated, and the system update was applied.
"Trebor, when the system updates, what happens to the folks who are, for example, in the middle of a fight?" Bob asked as Jake eviscerated another monster, taking a nasty scythe blow to the chest at the same time.
'Updating the System requires a tremendous amount of energy,' Trebor replied, 'as every living being will suddenly be operating under a new set of natural laws. I believe the saying, in for a penny, in for a pound, applies in this instance. The update will carry with it a chronomancy effect that will place users in a time dilation effect, where they will have the opportunity to adjust their skills to reflect the changes.'
Bob let his UtahRaptor drop and summoned a new one a second later as he pondered that statement. "That's insane," he muttered, "so people will be fighting monsters, and they'll just get a blue box stating that the update has occurred, and they have however long in the dilation to rebuild their paths and adjust their skills."
'They shouldn't be, but the time dilation effect is in place for that situation,' Trebor explained. 'There will be a notification sent prior to the actual update advising of the date and time when it is expected to occur, advising all users that it is highly recommended that they be in a safe place at that time.'
"Ah, ok, that makes more sense," Bob nodded.
'Despite your animosity towards it, I continue to reassure you that while the system may not concern itself with individuals, or nations, or planets, or even solar systems, the overall productivity of the population of the universe is a priority,' Trebor stated.
Bob shook his head. "So, is there anything else you can tell me about the update?" Bob asked. "Specifically, anything that might change my current plan of pushing to tier seven before it lands."
'The system is still gathering data from the various inhabited worlds of your universe. It might interest you to know that your planet was due to be struck by an asteroid in another three hundred and twenty-eight years. Based on the size and velocity, it would have effectively ended all life on the planet,' Trebor said cheerfully.
"Is the system going to divert the asteroid?" Bob asked.
'No, halting the expansion of the universe won't change the trajectory, not over such a short period of time,' Trebor replied, 'but by that point, there will be a full pantheon of gods, and collectively, they'll have the ability to deflect it. Or, alternatively, as has been done in the past, collect it as a new moon.'
"Are you sure about that?" Bob asked worriedly. He'd gone to the government with his concerns about one extinction-level event already, and he was not at all confident that they would take him at his word that another was coming.
They would doubtless want to know how Bob knew about an asteroid that wasn't due to arrive for another three hundred plus years, and he didn't have a good answer that wouldn't result in some agency or another wanting to stick him a room and use him as an interface for the system.
'Absolutely,' Trebor replied. 'There are several high priests poised to make the transition to Earth as soon as the initialization occurs, at which point they'll shoulder the burden of their religions divine portfolios.'
"Is there any other data that has been gathered that I might be interested in?" Bob asked.
'Well, thus far, Earth is the only planet that has sapient life,' Trebor began, 'which is fairly standard. Previously integrated universes trended towards having two or three sapient life forms, although evidence suggested that hundreds of sapient species had arisen before becoming extinct.'
"What about the system? The update? Any new additions or changes?" Bob reminded himself that Trebor was a very direct and literal A.I.
'Stellar data is discerned from extrapolating spatial data based on the energies acknowledging the instruction set,' Trebor replied, 'which is unlikely to have any impact on the update. The information being gathered by integrating the people who have come from Earth, as well as the data they're bringing with them in the form of books, is much more comprehensive and has resulted in a vast number of changes.'
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"Which changes will impact humanity, as far as the trajectory of their lives, being born, growing up, living day to day?" Bob asked.
'I would say that the changes I've previously listed remain those that will be of the greatest concern, although please understand that until the update is finalized, there will be factors of which I'm unaware, as that is an ongoing process, rather than historical data. Changes that have been determined are stored as data, which I have access to, but changes still being tested via simulation are contained by another process,' Trebor explained.
Bob nodded. He was more than a little concerned about the update. The change to paths, skills, monsters, affinity crystals, and mana crystals, when taken as a whole, was going to shake things up.
"You said the system was running simulations on the changes," Bob said slowly. "And that it was concerned about the productivity of the universe. Does that mean that the overall productivity of mana circulation will be improving?"
'It will,' Trebor confirmed. 'The energy requirements of maintaining a heads-up display and an active link to read information for skill descriptions will require species to circulate quite a bit of energy. That constant usage will help to alleviate the issue of individuals not utilizing the energy they store in their matrix.'
"Wait," Bob had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "What does that mean, numerically, for me? Does my mana pool or stamina pool become smaller?"
'No, the capacity of your matrix will remain the same, the change will be expressed in your regeneration rate,' Trebor explained.
"Ok, so that's actually a change that would have drastically impacted me at lower levels, based on my skills," Bob said.
'To be fair, your experience was both unique and sub-optimal based on your damaged matrix,' Trebor replied. 'The data suggests that less than a thousandth of a percentage of individuals would have faced difficulties based on this change. The fact of the matter is that even when fighting monsters well above your level, you only use a tenth of the mana you regenerate, and that's taken as an average. Second to second, you use one mana out of thirty-eight regenerated.'
"How will it work?" Bob asked.
'Each feature of the system that is active will require energy to utilize,' Trebor explained, 'the HUD will be the feature that requires the largest amount of energy to maintain, while each skill chosen will require a fraction more as the link for the description of that skill is maintained and kept up to date based on changing circumstances.'
"Bottom line up front," Bob said, "I'm level zero, how much of my non-existent mana regeneration do I lose?"
'None, as the system won't begin the draw until you are producing two mana or stamina per second,' Trebor replied.
"What about right now, as I am?" Bob demanded.
'Assuming no changes to your current path and skills, which isn't possible, but assuming nonetheless, you'd be down to one mana per second. You have an absurd number of skills and spells,' Trebor said.
Bob paused. He really did have a lot of skills, some of which were redundant, others which weren't even necessary.
At level thirty-six, under the new requirements for unlocking thresholds, he'd have a lot fewer skills. He'd done a bit of math, and all told, he was unlikely to have more than fifteen.
'You would likely still have half of your mana regeneration,' Trebor stated.
"So many changes," Bob grumbled.
'Yes, there will be,' Trebor agreed. 'What you need to understand is that as it stands, the most successful civilizations are prone to stagnation, which isn't good. The least successful civilizations are prone to losing their tenuous grip on survival and therefore suffering extinction, which is even worse. This update will seek to redress the imbalances that have created these circumstances.'
'Regardless, historical data suggests that you will succeed and even thrive after the update,' Trebor finished.
"That's reassuring," Bob mumbled.
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"It worked!" Carol-Ann shouted excitedly as she burst into the hotel room shared by Harv and Elli.
"The test came back?" Harv was grinning.
"Of course it worked, we knew that from the first test," Elli added. He'd been disappointed that the first test hadn't been accepted, and another test had been ordered for confirmation. He was not a fan of the scientific method.
"The second test confirmed no evidence of cancer whatsoever," she beamed. "Do you know what this means?" She asked.
"That I'm going to get a lot of practice making that particular potion?" Harv suggested.
"Well, yes," she conceded, "but more importantly, there is a cure for cancer," she shook her head. "While there are likely to be some hurdles to overcome, namely the fact that it isn't FDA approved, and the delivery method is a bit bizarre. I can't imagine any stage four cancer patient turning down the chance at an actual cure, especially if we treat a large enough number of people who are terminal to use as evidence of its efficacy."
"I have ninety-nine doses left," Harv gestured toward his briefcase. "Any reason not to get started right away?"
"I wouldn't mind going home for a bit," Elli said quickly.
Harv nodded his agreement. Elli had seemed to have enjoyed training with the two swordsmen he'd found, but he'd voiced his displeasure at the lack of mana. A sentiment Harv agreed with wholeheartedly. Having to restrain himself from casting a simple spell was an irritant that had become infuriating. They'd discussed portaling back home and then returning but hadn't wanted to expend an extra two hundred mana crystals, only to gain a few hours worth of delving.
Harv knew that as soon as they returned to Thayland, they'd be shepherding freshers within the hour.
"I've got our next ninety-nine patients ready to go," Carol-Ann said, "the hospice isn't lacking for men and women in desperate need of a miracle."
"Let's go," Harv grabbed his briefcase, "we'll treat them, and then Elli and I will head home for a bit." He paused. "Are you coming with us?"
"I want to, but I can't," Carol-Ann replied with a sigh. "The facility, not to mention the families, are going to be looking for answers, and while I can't tell them everything, I need to tell them something."
"Shouldn't the only question be 'Where can we get more of that stuff?'" Elli joked.
"You'd think so," Carol-Ann agreed, rolling her eyes, "but I'm afraid some of the questions will be a little bit more accusatory."
"Well, I'll pop over next week," Harv offered, "take my Earth cell and leave it plugged in at your place. I'll check for messages there, and if you're in trouble, we'll come to get you."
"I appreciate that, although I hope it won't be necessary," Carol-Ann walked them out the door.
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"They're like three-foot-long mozzies," Brad, one of the ranchers, was complaining to Jessica about the monsters that had attacked him while he was bringing in his sheep for the evening.
"Good thing I had the boys with me, or they would have got me," he shook his head. "We ought to put out a warning that if you go past that second creek to the north, you could run into them."
"We'll do exactly that," Jessica agreed.
They'd been fortunate so far. The corner they'd selected was monster-free, but a quarter-mile to the east, there were eight-legged monstrous feline insect hybrids, while to the north, there were bat-winged rat-like creatures that sported a proboscis.
"We're going to lose people otherwise," Brad sighed. "We've been lucky so far, as I know my boys have crossed that creek once or twice."
Jessica could only nod. The ranchers were used to managing a huge range. They'd only brought the livestock they'd had penned up, which represented a tiny fraction of their total her. Keeping the herds close wasn't too difficult, although there were already mutterings about having the druids regrow some of the pasture or letting the animals roam further. The real difficulty was in convincing a small horde of free-spirited ranch hands that wandering wasn't safe.
She wasn't sure if it was better or worse after they'd gotten a few levels in. The ability to throw lightning, or whatever monster-killing skill they had, gave them a sense of self-confidence that was helpful for delving the Dungeon, but not so much when it came time to follow her suggestions.
They were going to lose people. That was inevitable. She just wanted to prolong the time before those losses, and minimize them.
"We'll announce it at dinner tonight, and we'll get some signs posted up around the camp," she promised.