"So, what do you think I should summon?" Eddi asked.

Bob looked over at Harv and Elli.

They were talking to the sisters, and didn't seem to notice his plight.

"Look, Eddi," Bob said, "I think you should summon whatever you like. I like dinosaurs. You might like bears or wolves or tigers. I went with something that could deal a lot of damage, which suits the Endless Swarm Path."

"I've only been here for a month," Bob said, "I've spent my entire life in a place that didn't have mana or monsters. So keep in mind that I am coming from a place of almost complete ignorance."

Bob took a deep breath then began, "With all that said, here is what I think you should do. Here is what I would do if I were in your position."

Eddi leaned forward and Bob went on, "First thing, and this is the most important," Bob pointed to Harv and Elli, "you listen to what those two have to teach you. They'll not only tell you what to expect on each level, but they'll explain the lessons that Thidwell built into each level, and help you learn from them."

Bob was in the zone as he delivered the lecture of what he wished he had been able to do.

"Next, you level up and learn the Arcane School of Summoning. You level up again, and learn whatever summoned monster spell you chose, and use the affinity crystal that we're hoping Thidwell will give you to increase the maximum level of the spell by ten."

Bob didn't notice that Harv, Elli, and the sisters had stopped talking and were listening to him.

"Then you stop. You're level two. You go down to the second level and you start murdering newts like it's your job. Because it is. You're going to keep killing newts for much longer than you want to. Because," Bob gestured to the paper on the table, "you've got an edge, but only if you use it. You're going to keep killing newts until your summon monster spell is level five."

"Then, you're going down to level three. And you're going to stand in a sticky, nasty swamp, and level your summoned monster spell to level ten."

Bob waved a hand to stall Eddi's question.

"By that point your summoning school is level one, making your summoned monster ten percent stronger. And you've earned enough crystals to jump to five, which you're going to do," Bob said, "then you're going to get back to work, killing rats on level five, as a newly minted Endless Swarm Path."

Bob pointed to the paper again as he continued, "Of course, your swarm is going to be useless at first. You'll have four, level one point two five summoned monsters, and they won't stand up to a rat on level five. But the thing is, you don't need them to."

Bob leaned forward a bit as he said, "You're going to use effect over time to summon level five monsters to tackle the rats head to head, and keep your swarm back near you to keep anything that gets through occupied."

He made an expanding gesture with his hands as he went on, "And you're going to stay there until your summoned monster is level fifteen, which believe me is going to take some time," Bob had a note of sympathy in his voice, "By that point, you'll have your summoning school leveled up to three and half of the way to four, which is a thirty percent bonus to your summoned monster's attributes."

"Then you're going to learn to love bacon, because you'll head down to level six and start killing boars, and there you will stay until you have enough crystals for a full set of enchanted gear, and a comfortable cushion to live on as well," Bob said.

"Along the way," Bob continued with a sigh, "you'll have leveled the summoning school to four. With a full set of gear, you'll take level six, and you'll head down to level seven."

"And that is it," Bob sat back, "you'll keep going like that, stopping every five levels to purchase new gear to stay current. By the time you're level ten, between your summoned monsters level being at twenty, your summoning school level being at seven, and the Endless Swarm path skill penalty reductions kicking in, you'll have two endless swarms out, at five monsters in each, each monster only at level four, but with a seventy percent increase in their attributes and the added bonus your casting power lends to their damage, they'll be a force to be reckoned with."

"On top of those ten monsters, you're still summoning a fully powered level twenty monster, with a seventy percent increase in its attributes," he finished by adding, "I'd wager Thidwell would be happy to have you on the wall."

The table, in fact, the entire tavern was silent.

"You're not wrong," a gravelly voice said from directly behind Bob.

Bob turned to see Thidwell standing a few feet behind him, massive arms crossed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob sat in a chair in front of Thidwell's desk while the big man settled down on the other side.

Thidwell had tossed a Summoning Affinity Crystal to Eddi before beckoning Bob to follow him.

"First," Thidwell grunted, "I'd like to thank you for standing with us against the wave."

Bob blinked, mentally shifting gears. "I owe you that and more," Bob said slowly, "it would have been easy if my damn matrix wasn't all fucked up, and my spells didn't cost two point two times the mana they ought to."

"Second," Thidwell continued, "you gave an excellent if impassioned lecture down there."

Bob shrugged and said, "It's what I would have done if circumstances were different."

Thidwell nodded and said in his rough voice, "There were quite a few others down there that might decide to go down that path, now that you've explained it."

"All the better," Bob said, "I've given it a bit of thought, and with just eight level twenty-five people who took the Endless Swarm Path, you could defend Holmstead without any lives lost."

Thidwell shook his head and replied, "There aren't currently eight Adventurers over level twenty in Holmstead, and if I had more, I'd have them in the Dungeon with me during a wave."

The huge man sighed and leaned back, his chair creaking. "You're getting a taste of the Dungeon, but you're still in the learning levels," he said tiredly.

"Things get harder the deeper you go, and the blade's edge between life and death gets a lot sharper," Thidwell finished with a grimace.

Thidwell crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I'd like you to talk to Austan tomorrow, about the church and what spells and skills it has to offer."

Bob gave another hard blink, and he mentally shifted gears again, "No disrespect intended, I like Austan, but I'm not religious," Bob said carefully.

Thidwell waved a hand as he snorted, "No, I'm not pointing you towards joining the church, but it occurred to me that as an order focused on healing, amongst other things, they might be able to provide some more insight on your damaged matrix."

"That would be nice," Bob said quietly.

"And finally, being as you've taken an interest in them," Thidwell said, "take one of these."

He pulled a crystal out of his belt pouch and tossed it to Bob, who caught it.

Bob looked at the crystal. In size and shape it appeared to be an affinity crystal, although instead of the swirling rainbow of summoning, or the stary void of dimension, it shifted from solid red to solid blue, to solid white, to solid yellow, and so on.

"Conjuration," Thidwell said, "I've gotten level thirty-four up and running, and I picked up a couple of these."

Thidwell stood up and said, "Maybe you can figure out a Path that could make good use of these, if they are anything like the Summoning and Dimension crystals, I'll end up with a few of them."

Bob nodded and stood up as well, automatically catching Monroe as the big cat started to slide off his shoulder.

Thidwell waved him out, and Bob headed back down the stairs.

Talking to Thidwell was always a little weird.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob woke up the next morning, and after a quick breakfast, he headed over to the Dungeon entrance to see Austan.

He found Austan seated in his chair, with an extra chair next to him, which Bob found himself waved into.

"Good morning Bob," Austan said cheerfully, "Thidwell said you wanted to talk to me about matrix damage?"

"Yeah," Bob said as he shifted Monroe and poured him into his lap, "when I was blown into this world, I suffered some damage to my matrix, and it's making life a little rough."

Austan looked Bob over. "Well, it doesn't look like there is anything physically wrong with you," Austan said with a smile, "just how bad is it?"

"Well," Bob began, "when I first arrived I couldn't cast with my right side at all, and my spells cost about twice as much mana as they should have."

Austan let out a low whistle, "That's pretty bad, I don't think I've heard of anyone suffering that sort of matrix damage before," he said.

Bob grunted and went on, "Well, when I summoned my buddy here," he jerked his chin down to indicate Monroe, "it damaged it further, and now my spells are costing me two point two times the original cost."

Austan winced and replied, "I'm guessing you used Ritual Magic to summon Monroe?"

Bob nodded, and Austan shook his head, "Ritual Magic requires you to channel mana throughout your whole body, not just an arm."

"Yeah, it hurt like hell," Bob agreed.

"Normally," Austan started, "matrix damage that isn't physical will recover and repair itself over time."

Bob shook his head, "Because I'm not from around here, I'm given to understand that this won't happen unless there is a person brought here, from where I originate, in order for mana to map out a whole, undamaged matrix," he said.

Austan grimaced and leaned back into his chair, "Summoning people without their permission is a bad thing," he said.

Bob grunted. He didn't want to go into just exactly why Amber deserved whatever happened to her.

Austan started juggling a ball of sunlight as he sat lost in thought.

Bob rubbed Monroe's ruff and wondered if there was someplace he could get a comb. He didn't recall seeing them at the supply store Keilli had taken him to, but he hadn't been looking either.

Austan sat up straight and let the ball of sunlight wink out. "Do you think you could hold on until you're ready to tier up?" Austan asked.

"You mean hit level twenty-five and then go up to twenty-six?" Bob replied with his own question.

"Exactly," said Austan excitedly, "when you reach the next tier, depending on what choices you make, your matrix may be completely rewritten."

Bob gave a slow blink. "How, exactly?"

"Well," Austan said, "let's say for example, that you are a humble priest of Vi'Raida," he gestured to himself, "and you've managed to reach the point where you can tier up. You might choose to take on an angelic aspect, and infuse yourself with Holy Light, gaining a natural affinity with it, which would rewrite your matrix."

"Has anyone ever done that to repair a damaged matrix before?" Bob asked.

Austan shrugged guilelessly, "I've never even read about persistent matrix damage - normally the physical damage is healed or the psychological damage is worked through," he said.

"Let me think about this for a minute," Bob muttered and closed his eyes.

'Trebor,' he mentally projected, 'would that work?'

'Depending on the apotheosis you chose, significant changes to your matrix are certainly possible.' Trebor replied.

'Is there any reason you didn't mention this as an option?' Bob asked hesitantly.

'Several,' Trebor replied, 'first, the odds of you surviving to reach that point are not enough to be able to be expressed as a whole percentage, second, as Austan mentioned, this hasn't been done before. And in this, his knowledge is accurate. The System doesn't have a record of anyone of any species suffering persistent matrix damage and managing to increase their tier. It may work if an extreme enough rewrite is required. And finally, summoning another human from your universe would provide the System with more data, and also present another opportunity for one of you to bring the System back into your universe.'

Bob felt his stomach clench.

'The System wants to enter my universe?' Bob asked.

'The System should be present in every universe Bob,' Trebor said blandly, 'the fact that your universe has gone as long as it has without being introduced to the System is an anomaly, and one that should be rectified quickly, and I expect will be by either yourself or whomever you summon.'

'But won't the System then start moving around mana in my universe, causing monsters to appear and, not to put too fine a point on it, start killing everyone?' Bob said with trepidation.

'Yes.' Trebor replied.

'You can see how I might have a problem with that?' Bob said a trifle heatedly.

'Why?' Trebor asked, 'Everyone there treated you quite terribly.'

'Because I'd rather not be the person who ended civilization,' Bob snapped back.

'It is of course your decision,' Trebor said calmly.

'Simply keep in mind that in the end, someone will bring the System to your universe,' Trebor finished.

'Fuck!' Bob mentally cursed.

The System wanted to spread to every universe. Of course.

And Trebor had led him down the garden path towards portaling home and doing exactly that.

Had the mirror protocol been subtly manipulating him towards that end from the very beginning?

'No,' Trebor said, 'the summoning school of magic truly was the only way to save Monroe, and you did need the dimension school to pull him here. To be fair, your damaged matrix wasn't caused by the System, but rather by the explosion that brought you here, so the need to summon another human from your universe can't be laid at the feet of the System either.'

'I'd rather you not respond to my thoughts,' Bob mentally projected.

'You were expressing concern that I'd been manipulating you,' Trebor said, 'I want to assure you that I haven't. While I would prefer it if you saved your universe, I certainly won't stop helping you in any way I am able, should you choose not to.'

Bob sighed and opened his eyes. "Can you tell me more about tiering up?" he asked Austan.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob wandered towards Nikki's to pick up his freshly repaired and newly enchanted armor, his head spinning.

Apparently increasing your tier, which Austan referred to as 'Apotheosis', had a near-infinite number of methods.

Austan knew quite a bit about the subject and had indicated that he could go down an elemental path, eventually becoming an embodiment of that element, or he could start working towards becoming a higher tier creature. Apparently, Dragons and Sphinxes were especially popular.

He had plenty of time to decide, Bob thought bitterly.

Common gossip indicated that it had taken Thidwell, who was widely regarded as a prodigy, who exhibited equal amounts of extreme talent and dedication, just over twenty years to tier up. Further gossip indicated that he was becoming a Paragon.

Technically, he had the time. He'd laid out the plan for Eddi. He could just keep grinding his summon UtahRaptor spell to its maximum level, and then rely on it to carry him through. He wouldn't be anywhere near as potent as someone with the Endless Swarm Path, but he'd lucked into increasing the max level of his summoned monster, so even crippled as he was, he could still do it.

Bob shook his head. It didn't matter. Unless something happened that drastically increased the urgency in regards to fixing his matrix, he could wait.

He wouldn't mind wrecking Amber's life. She had it coming. But while he was pretty sure he could resist the temptation to go back home, as hard as that was going to be, he didn't have any illusions that he could convince Amber to do the same.

She probably had friends and family that she'd want to get back to.

And she hated him already, so she wasn't likely to listen to him if he told her that she was going to doom the world.

Finally, Bob wasn't willing to kill her. Fuck up her life? Absolutely. She deserved it. But if it came down to killing her to stop her from going back home, Bob didn't think he had it in him.

And no one else in this universe would care if she went back.

Bob shook his head, trying to break himself out of his thoughts.

'Monroe,' he mentally projected, then let an "oof!" as the big fluff monster materialized out his inventory and onto his shoulders.

"Hey buddy," Bob said, as he gently rubbed Monroe's ears and cheeks.

"I might be stuck here," he said as the Maine-coon's purr motor rumbled to life, "but at least I've got you."

Bob leaned against the side of a building and closed his eyes, letting the deep purr wash over him as he engaged in a little light kitty worship. Petting Monroe always made him feel better.

After a few minutes, Bob had managed to clear his head.

"Let that which does not matter, truly slide," he said quietly to himself and continued on towards Nikki's.

Bob entered the shop a few minutes later and stopped to take a deep breath. It had taken a few visits, but he kind of liked the way the leather shop smelled.

He was ambushed before he could reach the counter by Gary, and a short, stocky woman, who, with her full head of hair and fair skin provided a nearly perfect contrast to him.

"Bob!" Gary greeted him enthusiastically, "perfect timing, Nikki just finished the enchanting on your armor."

Bob smiled and offered a hand towards Nikki to shake. She shook it and delivered a beaming smile as she nodded towards Monroe and said, "He is a handsome fellow isn't he?"

"And he knows it," Bob confirmed, turning his side towards her and crouching down ever so slightly to allow Nikki to reach up and pet Monroe, who accepted the attention as his rightful and just due as the most handsome kitty in the world.

"Making something to keep him in place was a challenge," Gary said happily, "and I ended up going a different route, but I think you'll be pleased."

Gary turned and beckoned him to the counter, then indicated that Monroe was to be deposited there.

Monroe had no objections, and he lounged in indolent splendor, tail slightly swishing as he surveyed his domain, generously accepting the poor offerings of petting that the human-servants offered in reverence.

"So," Gary said as he reached under the counter, "I figured that you wouldn't want him to fall off, but you also wouldn't want him stuck in a sack."

Bob nodded and continued to pet Monroe.

"Behold!" Gary exclaimed, holding up what appeared to be several leather strips attached to more leather flaps.

"I'm not sure what I'm beholding," Bob said finally with a helpless shrug.

"I'm calling it a Makres," Gary said, "Which is short for Magnetic Kitty Retention System."

Gary began to slide straps around and over Monroe, who ignored the indignity visited on his person, proving that he was both benevolent and kind to the lesser beings who served him.

A few short seconds later, and Monroe was wearing a leather harness with several stiffened leather flaps that covered him in a sort of armor but still allowed his skin and fur to move freely.

Gary then hurriedly shoved Bob's armor into his hands, "Go ahead and put your armor on," he said excitedly.

"He's been like this all day," Nikki said to Bob as he took his armor, "the man can't stand still when he's built a new project to test."

Bob pulled his armor into his inventory and then equipped it. He smiled.

"Wasn't sure if that would work, but apparently it does," Bob said as he tugged the armor, making sure everything was still snug and fitted him properly.

"Good, good," said Gary, "and now for the test of the Makres," he said happily as he picked up Monroe and deposited him on Bob's shoulder.

A "clink" noise was heard, and Bob turned his head to look at Monroe.

Monroe pushed his paws against Bob's shoulders and back as he tried to understand why his belly was stuck to his human-servant.

With a slight effort, Monroe unstuck himself and immediately latched on with his claws to avoid falling off his perch.

"So," Bob said, "Magnets in the shoulders of my armor, and magnets on the underside of the harness?"

"Magnets all the way across your back actually," Gary corrected him happily, "but yes."

Monroe had discovered that he could lay down on Bob's shoulder, and then drag himself along the back of Bob's neck to the other shoulder.

"Hey buddy," Bob said softly as he rubbed under Monroe's chin, "I'm gonna move around a little bit, just to make sure you're going to stay put."

Bob started walking slowly around the store while Gary followed him, and then began walking normally, and then quickly, and finally a few seconds of jogging, and while jogging was not a Monroe approved activity, at least while he was shoulder riding, it didn't result in the big cat moving at all.

Bob made his way back to the counter with Gary in tow, and reached out and shook his hand.

"Thank you," Bob said with a genuine smile, "I'll feel much better knowing he isn't just bouncing around in the hood of my cloak."

"It was my pleasure, I love a challenge, and now I have another product to offer," Gary beamed.

"Let's get that armor attuned to you so you can go show it off," Nikki said.

"Attuned?" Bob asked.

"First enchanted item eh?" Nikki said kindly, "Not to worry, we are all freshers at first"

"Unbuckle that bracer," Nikki said, indicating the left bracer, and look at the inner lining.

Bob did as instructed, and found a pattern of tiny copper wire forming symbols of some sort.

"Just push some mana into the pattern, like you would a spell," Nikki instructed.

Bob did as instructed and then gasped as an all too familiar fire pulsed along the right-hand side of his body.

"Fuck!," he gasped as the sensation passed.

Nikki was holding him up, and looking at him with concern. "I've done hundreds of enchantments and I've never had that happen before," she apologized.

"It's not your fault, this is just an extension of a problem I'm suffering with my mana," Bob grumbled.

She inspected him carefully before nodding and letting him stand on his own.

Monroe nuzzled Bob's neck in sympathy.

Bob checked his mana. "Motherfucker," he muttered. Sure enough, the two point two penalty seemed to be applying to the enchantment, but Bob had to make sure.

"The enchantment is supposed to add seven mana right?" He asked.

"Yes, although as I understand from Elli, you're only level six, you'd only see a six-point increase," Nikki replied.

Bob ground his teeth. Yep, he'd gotten a whopping two point seven boost to his mana.

"I'm guessing all enchantments for attributes work the same way?" he asked with a touch of resignation.

"They do," Nikki confirmed, "now keep in mind that you'll need to sit down with me and learn how to recharge it, or let me recharge it, every seven months."

"What?" Bob asked.

"The enchantment," Nikki said, "it was done with level seven crystals, so you'll need to charge it with seven crystals that are level seven or higher, every seven months."

Bob sighed. 'Of course, enchantments aren't permanent,' he thought to himself. That would be silly. Although ritual magic implied that some of them were.

"I'm guessing no one mentioned that?" Nikki said with a frown.

"No," Bob said, "No they did not, but seven months is a long time in terms of delving the Dungeon, so it isn't that important I suppose."

"Not really," Nikki agreed, "although someone," she shot a look at Gary, who appeared to be drawing up a sign advertising 'The All New Makres! Keeping your familiar safe and secure!', "should have told you."

"I figured Harv would have told him," Gary said absently as he carefully drew a smiling cartoonish cat underneath the lettering of the sign, "Bob has his old staff after all."

Bob pulled his staff out of his inventory and looked at it carefully.

"Harv likely charged it before he handed it off to you," Nikki said, "although you can ask him."

Bob nodded. In the grand scheme of things the cost to recharge enchantments seemed pretty minimal.

"Well," he said as he slipped his staff back into his inventory, and slid an unresisting Monroe over to the shoulder, "I'm off to test out the new armor, I'll be back soon enough for some more enchantments."

Gary nodded and gave him a wave as he continued to work on his sign, and Nikki shot him a smile and disappeared towards the back.

Bob walked out of the shop and reached up to scratch Monroe's ears. "Let's go burn an hour or two killing monsters," he said and headed towards the Dungeon.