Bob had decided that he absolutely, positively loathed the swamp. When he got home, he might just figure out a way to somehow drain the Everglades, as a sort of symbolic vengeance.

The day had started off fine, breakfast, clean armor, and the realization that four frogs were worth one experience point. Having dealt with twenty-four of them yesterday, he'd gained six experience. It wasn't much in relation to the 10,000 fucking experience he needed to level the summoning school, but seeing the bar on the summon monster spell increase ever so slightly was something.

He'd been so optimistic about the day, he reflected bitterly.

He was currently sitting on a half-submerged log, engaged in a war of attrition with what seemed like half the swamp.

He'd decided, upon reaching the third level, to try and summon out Jake with just an effect over time, going with the assumption that it was the ten times multiplier that had driven the persistent effect's cost into the stratosphere.

And it had worked. Just under four mana summoned out a half powered Jake for three seconds, who was still more than capable of taking out a frog. If he just sat or stood there, he regenerated enough mana that he could keep popping out a UtahRaptor every three seconds.

They only lasted three seconds, which was problematic, but with three of them out each second, even if one disappeared and was replaced by a new one, he was able to sit there, like a bump on a log, contemplating how much he hated the swamp as a steady trickle of frogs assaulted him, and were dealt with by a Jake.

He forced himself to keep his eyes opened as he contemplated the nature of effect over time. One mana for three seconds. He mentally projected the pattern, a summon mana-infused monster spell with a battery of effect overtime wrapped around it. He channeled mana into the pattern, and another Jake popped out.

He started the process again.

'Trebor,' he mentally projected, 'is there any reason I can't enlarge the mana pattern for the effect over time skill to make it last longer?"

'You can,' said Trebor, 'however the pattern loses efficiency, and each additional second beyond the first three requires one additional mana.'

Bob considered the idea as he kept looking around, looking for a swirl in the still water that would identify a submerged amphibian in need of murdering.

He created the pattern again, and this time expanded the mana battery pattern of the persistent effect to allow for three additional mana, which should allow him three addi-

"Fuck," he muttered. If he'd needed more proof, the spell that ought to have cost five mana had cost him nine. He had a six-second Jake, but it wasn't sustainable.

He revised the pattern, expanding it for two additional mana. His mana dipped ever so slightly.

He could summon out eight raptors at five seconds each, then one at four, and as long as he stayed seated, he would regen mana enough to be at full.

He sat, contemplating how much he hated the swamp, and kept summoning Jake as the frogs kept coming.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"How did you get your effect over time to last longer?" asked Harv as they entered the fourth level of the dungeon. They'd been on the third level for four hours and one hundred and sixty-seven frogs, bringing Bob to a total of eighty experience, before Elli and Harv decided that Bob didn't really have anything more to learn from the swamp.

"I pushed more mana into the puzzle piece," Bob replied, using the terminology Harv had used, "it turns out that for an additional mana spent you gain an additional second."

He shrugged and said, "Not terribly efficient, but my resting regen was high enough to use it."

Harv looked thoughtful as he said, "Never knew that. Might be worth looking at what Effect Over Time could do for me."

Bob felt a sinking feeling and desperately hoped he hadn't just revealed some hitherto unknown aspect of the system.

'You're fine, this is a documented if not widely discussed aspect. It's hardly a secret,' Trebor informed him quietly.

Bob let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"So," he said, "what do I have to look forward to on the fourth level?"

"A break," answered Harv with a smile.

"Tranquility," Elli added.

They activated the Gate and walked through, leaving Bob to follow.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob stepped through the gate onto a stone ledge that looked over a serene valley.

The ceiling of the cavern had to be hundreds of feet high, and the artificial light that shone down was so close to sunlight as to make no difference. A stream flowed through the center of the valley, twisting and turning through green and yellow grass, mixed with wildflowers. Pine trees, in that sightly too bright and every so subtly shaded with the blue color of green that seemed to be the Thayland norm, rose from the edges of the meadow to the cavern walls.

Bob swallowed, as a wave of homesickness washed over him. That could have been any meadow in southern California.

He saw rabbits, and a few deer, as well as a badger. Butterflies flitted about, and birds sang from the trees.

He cleared his throat and turned to Harv and Elli. "Monsters?" Bob asked.

"You can fight the deer if you want to," said Elli, "but there isn't anything aggressive in here."

"How?" Bob asked.

"Thidwell says that mana has different types, and you can sieve them out somehow," Harv said, "he said that the reason levels three and five are so awful is that he had to sort of strain the angry out of the mana to make level four as it bubbled up from level five, and then when it got to three the stuff he hadn't been able to strain out that got suppressed boiled over."

Harv gave a shrug, and finished, "Curator stuff, all I know is that level four is a sort of rest stop for us. You can hunt, fish, pick wild vegetables, and basically enjoy yourself. There are a couple of folks who actually live here, though by a common agreement if you want to camp in here, you keep your tent in the trees to the left, so as not to spoil it for everyone else."

Elli nodded and gestured out to the meadow, "I'm told that this is similar to what the Dungeon in Everdeep has. Thidwell said there is another one on level fourteen as well."

Bob nodded and sat down on the ledge, content to just look out over the meadow and feel the light breeze playing through his hair.

"And you can just come here anytime you want to?" He asked.

"Yes, you can," said Elli.

Bob leaned back and closed his eyes, enjoying the sunlight however artificial it might have been, on his face. In his mind's eye, he could see Monroe chasing the butterflies and rabbits. He smiled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Half an hour later, Bob followed Harv and Elli through the Gate to the fifth level of the Dungeon.

The change from the tranquil, wide-open cavern was jarring. Bob found himself in a short, wide tunnel, constructed of packed dirt, with the same roots and moss he'd seen on the second level.

"So," he said heavily, "rats."

"Rats," Harv agreed with a nod.

"Also, darkness," said Elli, drawing Bob's attention to the fact that the tunnel was only illuminated by the rapidly dwindling light from the gate.

Harv pulled out a leather ball from his backpack and stuck it over the end of his staff. It burst into light, illuminating the tunnel for twenty feet. He pulled out another from this backpack of holding and threw it to Bob. Bob turned it over in his hands. It looked like a stuffed leather ball, with a hole on one side to stick his staff in.

Adventurer's Guiding Light

- Invocation of Vi'Radia

- Creates sunlight in a twenty-foot area.

- Requires one mana crystal to activate, duration of light is equal to ten minutes per level of the crystal.

- Crafted by Austan Tyber

He blinked. Shit. From the conversations he'd had, or overheard, magic items that produced effects all required crystals to activate. He'd hoped to avoid needing one, as it was going to eat into his crystals.

"Austan makes these," said Elli helpfully, "nice little side business for him, and they are a lifesaver on the dark levels. Just press a crystal into it and it'll light up."

"How much do they cost?" Bob asked he reluctantly fed a crystal into the ball after placing it on the top of his staff.

"Hundred crystals," said Harv calmly. "He sells them at cost, so most folks toss him a few dozen extra crystals."

Elli nodded and said, "Austan is a good man, when we delve for crystals we always make sure to pass him a handful on the way out."

Bob considered that. Someone had to be paying Austan to sit up there and keep track of everyone. "Doesn't he get paid to watch over the Dungeon?" He asked.

Harv shrugged and replied, "He's a priest of Vi'Radia, but aside from housing him in the church, I think the Guild is the one who pays him, not that it matters. He's always looking out for people, so we try and help him out when we can."

Bob nodded. He'd never had any use for religion, but Austan had seemed a decent enough sort, and if he sold those magic light orbs at the cost to make them, he was certainly making a solid advertisement for his faith.

Bob had long had a policy of 'Deeds, not words' when it came to people. He'd spent too many years learning the hard way that when someone was talking about how something was a change for the better, it generally meant a change for the better for everyone but Bob.

"I'll follow suit once I start earning some crystals," he said, which seemed to please Elli and Harv, who both smiled.

"So," Bob turned the conversation back to the more immediate topic, "besides the fact that there are rats, what should I know about this level?"

Elli replied, "Pretty much just rats. They like to hide in smaller tunnels off the ones we can fit in, and attack you from behind. They are sneaky and vicious, and their bite is venomous."

Bob shuddered. Venomous rats. Great.

He'd done a bit of math while he was enjoying the sunshine, which he already missed, on level four. He could keep three-second Jakes almost indefinitely while walking. He'd have to stop every nine minutes and rest for thirty seconds.

He'd keep one behind him, and one on each side, he decided. They could rotate to the front if he actually found a rat that wasn't trying to sneak up on him.

He took a deep breath and started creeping down the tunnel, carefully searching for rat tunnels or just rats waiting to pounce on him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Die Motherfucker Die!" Bob screamed as he pounded a rat with the non-glowing end of his staff.

It turned out that he could skip a summon to smash a rat and deliver a fully powered smack, which for Bob was a pretty damn good hit.

You have dealt 137 points of bludgeoning damage to [Rat]. Damage reduced 32 points by [Rat]'s armor.

Of course, the problem was that the rats weren't dying in one hit. He'd had to adjust his strategy, summoning one Jake that lasted six seconds, which he would cast every third second, effectively keeping two Jakes out and giving him a round to smack rats with his staff while Jakes held them back. He would have liked to have used two rounds, but it turned out that hitting things, parrying, and moving all required stamina which was also a finite resource.

He'd definitely hit the wall. Jakes could only take one bite from the rat, the second bite killed them. Or three seconds later the venom did. It also took Jake three bites or rakes to kill a rat.

The difficulty jump on the fifth level was huge.

Jake tore into the rat's spine with a massive chomp, finishing it off.

[Rat] has inflicted Necrotic Venom on you for 25 points of damage. You resist 18 points of damage with your [Body Save]

He grimaced. His armor was a lifesaver, he only took eight points of damage when a rat managed to bite him, but then he took another seven every second for three seconds.

He'd been fighting for what seemed like hours. He didn't deal well with rats, but he managed to keep track of his healing potion supply. He'd started with nine, and he was down to three. Each potion healed fifty-eight points of damage, was close enough to a full heal for Bob. He didn't let himself drop below 20 health.

Glancing back, he could see Elli and Harv's in a circle of light a hundred feet back.

With a grimace, he started working his way back towards them.

Every five feet, another rat appeared and had to be dealt with. He could only move at a crawl, or he risked being overwhelmed.

He finally reached their circle of light and watched as Elli idly skewered a rat.

"You make that look awfully easy," he grumbled, as Elli smiled, and Harv blasted another rat with a bolt of fire.

"You've done fairly well," said Elli as they hustled to the Gate, an area that apparently the rats didn't come near. Elli and Harv devasted the few rats that appeared on the way.

"Take a seat and have a rest," said Harv once they reached the Gate. Bob nodded gratefully and slumped down, finally seeing his stamina and mana raise back to full.

"You went slow, you managed your stamina and mana, and you stayed aware of your health, managing it with potions," Elli said.

"You learned the lessons the previous levels had to teach you quite well," said Harv, "although you're about to learn the hard lesson the fifth level has to teach you," he finished with a smirk.

"What's that? That rats suck, and venom is bullshit?" Bob asked tiredly.

"Nope," laughed Elli, "although all that is true. No, what you're about to learn is that fighting in the Dungeon on a level equal to your own is expensive."

Bob blinked.

"How many crystals did you feed into your light orb?" asked Harv.

"Fuck," Bob muttered. How many had he used?

The answer was forty-nine. He'd been on level five for a bit over eight hours. And now he only had twenty-six crystals left.

"And how many potions did you use?" Elli followed up.

"Six," Bob replied.

"If we weren't shepherding you, and you had to buy those on your own, at five crystals a piece, you'd be out another thirty," said Elli.

"Well, eighteen," said Harv as he nudged Elli with an elbow, "we'd sell 'em to you at cost, but still," he said.

Bob blew out a breath.

"Still, I have to say that especially given that you only have one spell, you were an absolute monster yourself out there," Elli said proudly.

"Eight hours of solid rat killing," Harv said nodding, "That had to have increased the level of your spell."

Bob looked at his experience bars for the first time since he'd come down to the fifth level. He'd entered with eight experience. His Magical School of Summoning bar was over a quarter of the way full. His Summon Monster bar was almost completely full.

'Sorry,' Trebor murmured, 'These don't show up when you're in combat, or in a Dungeon.'

Your Summon Mana-Infused Creature Skill has reached level 1. Your Summon Mana-Infused Creature Skill has reached level 2.

Bob smiled. Progress.