Monroe

Bob woke up to a huge paw gently batting at his face.

"Monroe," he grumbled, "I'm trying to take a nap, buddy."

He checked his clock and discovered he'd managed an entire forty-five minutes of sleep.

Monroe was sitting beside his bed, clearly intent on waking up his human-servant.

Bob sighed and sat up, swinging his legs over before looking down at Monroe.

"Long days and short nights, eh buddy?" Bob said as he reached down to rub the big cat's ears.

Monroe pushed his head into Bob's hand, indicating that more affection of the same nature would be well received.

Bob decided to put off his shower for a few minutes in favor of kitty worship.

He let himself slide down the edge of the bed until he was sitting on the floor, and then he pulled Monroe onto his lap, where he began to alternate between rubbing his ruff and giving him long, slow, full-body pets.

"We found the first affinity crystal we need," Bob told Monroe, "and it didn't take nearly as long as I had thought it might."

Monroe's purr filled the room, a rumbling sound of contentment.

"We just need to get the other three, and then we can go back to Holmstead," Bob murmured as he let his thoughts drift, enjoying the soothing vibrations of Monroe's purr.

He could freely admit that he didn't fully understand the economics of Thayland, either in Holmstead or Harbordeep.

Mana crystals and ritual magic effectively eliminated resource scarcity.

Granted, you had to risk life and limb for those crystals, but honestly, if you had a decent path, farming for crystals an hour a day, five days a week, wasn't that dangerous, especially if you followed the rules.

As Bob saw it, the problem was that Harbordeep was either overpopulated in terms of residents who wanted to delve into the Dungeon, or alternatively, the Dungeon was being mismanaged by the Adventurers Guild.

Given the blatant tierism Bob had seen and experienced, he wanted to blame it on mismanagement. But the truth was, he didn't know how many people were even in the city, let alone how many could or would delve into the Dungeon, given the opportunity.

Holmstead was much more relaxed, possibly because it hosted a much smaller population.

Bob had seen more than a hundred different people coming in and out of the Dungeon in Holmstead.

"Trebor," Bob said quietly as he stroked Monroe, "how far off base am I, in regards to the economics of Harbordeep and Holmstead?"

'You aren't terribly far off,' Trebor replied, 'the System does eliminate resource scarcity for an organized society.'

'The Adventurers Guild in Harbordeep has restricted knowledge of certain paths, which in turn has reduced the effectiveness of those not only denied the knowledge of those basic paths but also of the advanced, more specialized paths,' Trebor stated.

'For example, Bailli's original path is well built, and without an affinity crystal is certainly an excellent choice for anyone seeking a path to deal damage as an arcanist; however, the book detailing that path and its requirements is restricted to the tier six library,' Trebor finished.

'In summation,' Trebor added, 'the Dungeon in Harbordeep, under your ideal of a one hour delve each day, could support roughly half of the tier five residents delving one floor above their level.'

"What about the Dungeon in Holmstead?" Bob asked.

'Thidwell designed levels five and six to support rapid monster generation in order to serve those who were preparing to take their path and those who had taken their path and weren't in a hurry to increase their level,' Trebor replied.

'As such, the Dungeon in Holmstead is able to accommodate double the current population, should they wish to delve in one-hour increments, following the current level allocations.'

'If the level allocations of the town were to shift significantly, changes would need to be made to the Dungeon,' Trebor said.

"I was thinking about bringing the freshers back to Holmstead to finish their training," Bob said, "is that feasible?"

'You would need to make several stops as your Portal spell isn't high enough level to traverse the distance in a single cast; however, there isn't any reason you couldn't take a number of people with you,' Trebor advised, 'in regards to the Dungeon capacity in Holmstead, you are unlikely to exceed it unless they were all to reach level five at once.'

Bob nodded as he considered the idea.

It wasn't just the schedule, or the King's tax, or the increased cost of equipment and living expenses, or the fees charged by the guild, but rather the combination of all of those things that served to keep people from becoming Adventurers.

Holmstead was a much better environment for freshers.

He'd like to be able to tell the freshers about the better paths, but he couldn't take that risk. Not here in Harbordeep anyway.

If he could get them to Holmstead, he could tell them without having to worry quite so much.

Bob let out a sigh and hefted Monroe into his arms as he stood up before depositing the liquid feline onto the bed.

Reincarnation was cheap.

The kids could delve for mana crystals in Holmstead much more easily and then just reincarnate to take advantage of the better paths.

Bob turned on the shower and sent his shorts and shirt into his inventory before stepping under the hot water and lathering up.

He needed to wake up, eat breakfast, and then work the kids to the bone on the first floor of the Dungeon again.

Nora was practicing her breathing as she waited outside of the shop Orson called home.

She'd agreed to meet up with everyone before they went back down into the Dungeon with Bob.

"Good morning!" Wayna's cheerful voice pulled her out of her reverie.

"Good morning to you as well, Wayna, Charn," Nora replied with a slight bow to her follow freshers.

"Orson should be out soon, then we can grab a quick breakfast down the street before Bob works us to death," Wayna said enthusiastically.

"He's a kind man," Charn said in his deep, quiet voice, "even if he seems harsh."

"He's like no one I have ever met before," Nora said.

"For all the disdain he puts on the word 'Hero,'" Orson's voice joined in as he stepped out of the shop, "I don't think I've ever met anyone else who embodies that idea more than he does."

"Come on," he continued as he pulled his cloak tight around himself, trying to ward off the chill that had already seeped into the others, "let's go eat and have that conversation we've been putting off."

Nora followed him down the street and into a bakery that also served tea and ale alongside freshly baked scones, where they all settled down at a table.

"So," Wayna began with a smile, "as you've no doubt realized, the three of us," she gestured to Orson and Charn, "have known each other since we were little."

Nora nodded.

"We've always talked about forming an Adventuring Party together," Wayna said, "although I know that I was starting to think it would only be talk until you came in and told Orson's mom that there was a shepherd in Harbordeep."

"What she's working around to saying," Orson said as he elbowed Wayna playfully, "is that once we have our paths, we're going to start delving the Dungeon as a team, and we would like you to join us, assuming you don't have any other plans," he finished.

"You hardly know me," Nora said in surprise.

Charn and Wayna exchanged looks while Orson shrugged and continued, "We know enough; you're the daughter of a Noble family who left to make it on her own; that much is obvious."

Wayna added, "You clearly don't have their support any longer, but you're a hard worker," she said.

"You struck all of us," Charn gestured around the table, "as a good person, and being as you're also training with Bob, we thought that you might like to continue working with people who had the same training you've had."

Nora opened her mouth, then closed it. She thought for a moment, and the others seemed to be content to let her take her time.

"You're right in that I was a member of a Noble family," she said slowly, "and the truth is that I'm going to have to make my own way in the world, and I haven't exactly worked out what that looks like yet."

"Despite all the yelling, I think that I want to be an Adventurer," Nora said, "although I have to warn you, I'm not at all certain what path I am going to take."

"That's one of the things we wanted to talk about," Wayna said eagerly.

"I'm going to take the Armsman path," Orson said, "which will allow me to be a Guardian."

"I'm going to take the Druid path," Wayna said, "which will provide for healing and environmental control."

"I've given it a lot of thought," Charn rumbled, "and I feel the call of the priesthood, but also the call of battle, so I'm going to seek out a shrine to Maelstorm," he went on, "I expect I'll be both a reserve Guardian and a reserve Healer."

"So the question is," Orson said, "what do you want to do?"

"I think I'd like to be an arcane spellcaster," Nora replied, "although the only path I've been able to find any information on is the Path of the Arcane Step, which frankly doesn't sound that good."

"Ask Bob," Wayna said confidently, "I'm sure he knows a good path for an Arcane spellcaster."

"So, have you taken your first level yet?" Nora asked cautiously.

"No," Orson stated, "we wanted to make sure we all knew what we were doing first, and also," he grimaced, "that we were prepared for the next floor of the Dungeon."

"What do you mean?" Nora asked.

"Well," Orson began, "from what Bob has said, the monsters will be harder to kill and will be more likely to hurt us, and we won't really have any skills until our second level."

Nora nodded slowly. When you took your first level, you took a primary school, and then you could take skills within that school.

"So I'm not going to have my sword skill until level two, and these two," he nodded towards Charn and Wayna, "aren't going to be able to cast a spell until level two either, so we are going to be stuck smashing monsters with weapons until then."

"We're hoping Bob won't mind if we follow rules five and six," Wayna said with a grin, "and make sure we have weapons."

"Being as we will need them to fight once we have our skills, it wouldn't hurt to be practiced in using them before them," Orson said, "or at least that's the argument I'm planning to use."

"I'd be happy to Adventure with you," Nora said, "and I'll ask Bob about a path."

Bob trudged into the Under Cathedral, trying and failing to conceal a yawn.

Monroe was padding alongside him for a change, seeming content to wander alongside his human-servant.

"Annisa, Voren," Bob said tiredly, "time for another exciting morning of shepherding the freshers."

Annisa favored him with a brilliant smile, while Voren said, "It's a kind thing, shepherding the children, and it is to your credit that you do so while only asking for enough crystals to cover the cost of the delve."

Bob shrugged and replied, "I'm just paying it forward."

"Paying it forward?" Annisa asked.

"Yeah," Bob said as he stifled another yawn, "you know, you do someone a favor, show them a kindness, in the hope that they will do the same for someone else, and then that person will do so for another and so on and so on."

"You pay it forward, not expecting anything in return, just hoping that your actions carry on, bringing more kindness into the world," Bob finished.

"That is a beautiful way of working with the world," Annisa said warmly, "and if you don't mind, I'll borrow that phrase and the idea behind it."

"By all means," Bob replied with a smile, "spread the good word of paying it forward."

Before the conversation could continue, his freshers hurried into the Cathedral.

"Once more into the breach," Bob muttered before looking over at Voren, who had his ledger out.

"I'm down for eight to twelve on the first floor with them, right?" Bob asked.

"You are," Voren confirmed, marking Bob's delve, "and then you're due back from eight to midnight for the other group."

"Indeed," Bob sighed, "well, I'm off to shepherd them; I'll see you in a few hours, Voren, and you in a few more, Annisa."

Voren nodded while Annisa replied, "I'll see you this evening," before she turned and gracefully walked out of the Under Cathedral.

Bob turned and gestured to his freshers.

"Alright, let's get moving, Bob's a little tired this morning, so I'm going to need to see some real effort from you, as I'm not going to have the energy to search for it," Bob said loudly as he ushered them down the stairs.

As he walked behind them down the stairs, Monroe padding along beside him, Bob mustered the energy to bellow, "Alright, let's see if you've learned anything over the past few days!"

"What is the first rule?" Bob yelled.