Bob stopped on his way down the stairs, Monroe on his shoulders, and paper in hand.

He wasn't sure what to do with the paper. Thidwell had given it to him though.

Bob opened it.

It was a letter to Kelli, directing him to have all the freshers gathered in the morning.

Bob continued down the stairs before looping behind them and knocking on Kelli's door.

"The door is unlocked, come in," Kelli's voice called out.

Bob opened the door and stepped inside the tiny office to find Kelli sitting behind his desk with three tall piles of paperwork stacked up on his desk.

"Bob!" Kelli exclaimed happily, "have you come to save me from this mess?" he asked as he gestured towards the stacks of paper.

"Actually," Bob said with a tiny smile, "I've come to add to it."

Bob then presented Kelli with the letter.

Kelli opened it and quickly read it before blowing out a long breath.

"So 'The Reef' is holding another lecture on taking a path," Kelli said with a grin.

Bob squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head as he muttered, "Not you too."

"Oh you better believe it," Kelli said gleefully, "when I heard about your antics I was trying to figure out who you were until they described your dinosaur."

"And then a couple of weeks later, you give a passionate speech about how the only right path to take is the path of Dinosaur summoning," Kelli continued as he stood up and scratched at the stubble on his chin, "and then you've got freshers running around with monsters like yours."

Bob sighed and said, "Yeah, well the reward for a job well done is more work, so Thidwell wants me to do it again tomorrow morning if you can get them together?"

Kelli nodded and said, "Sure, just after daybreak?"

"Works for me," Bob replied, "I've got to get going, Thidwell has some other things he wants me to do, but we should catch up at breakfast tomorrow after I talk to the kids?"

Kelli's grin widened and he said, "Sure, we haven't talked in a while, in the meantime, I'll start hunting down your new batch of victims."

Bob raised his hands in surrender and left a chortling Kelli behind.

It was time to do a bit of shopping.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob's first stop was just across the plaza, at the mausoleum like entrance to the Dungeon, where he found Austan leaned back in his chair, aiming beams of sunlight at the ceiling.

"Austan," Bob said as he walked in.

"Afternoon Bob," Austan said as he straightened in his chair, "isn't it a bit late for you?"

"No delving for me today," Bob replied, "although I'll be making that up shortly. No, I'm here to finally buy one of those light orbs from you."

Austan grinned and started rooting around his backpack as he said, "Heading down to the eighth level of the Dungeon then?"

"Post haste," Bob agreed, "Thidwell needs me to push some levels, and apparently I made the worst choice possible for crystal gathering when I parked on level seven."

Austan pulled out a familiar-looking orb and tossed it over to Bob.

Bob pulled a hundred crystals out of his inventory then frowned as he passed them over to Austan.

Austan took in his expression and asked, "What's wrong?"

Bob hesitated his eyes glazing over as he looked into his inventory.

"I think I'm missing some crystals," Bob said slowly.

Bob quickly reviewed his last crystal count.

He should have had four hundred and eighty-two crystals.

His inventory only held four hundred and forty-two.

Bob blinked, then squinted. He was also missing the Conjuration Affinity Crystal that Thidwell had given him.

Bob frowned. With his recall being damn near-photographic at this point, he still might have lost track of forty crystals, but he only had one Conjuration Affinity Crystal, and it was pretty fucking distinctive.

No, he thought, something was wrong.

"I'll figure it out," Bob said to Austan, "regardless I have enough to get done what I need to be done today."

With a reassuring smile, Bob headed back to his room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monroe had, on occasion hidden things in his litter box.

The most memorable of which was a USB stick which contained a paper Bob needed to print out for a professor who was a particular flavor of Luddite.

After completely clearing and cleaning his inventory, followed by a thorough search of his room, Bob had to admit that he was missing forty mana crystals and one Conjuration Affinity Crystal. They were just gone.

Bob had just reseated Monroe onto his Makres, when a thought occurred to him. The floofball was bigger. Jake got bigger when he leveled.

Bob started rubbing Monroe's ruff and mentally projected 'Status'.

Name: Monroe Tier: 4 Size: 3 Skills: Conjuration (Affinity Crystal) Level: 1 Weapon Hardness: 22 Hide hardness: 15 Strength: 9 Mana: 7 Armor: 36 Coordination: 9 Stamina: 13 Claw Damage: 70 Endurance: 7 Health: 28 Bite Damage: 57 Intelligence: 5 Movement: 21 Wisdom: 5 Dodge 15 Beauty: 10 Summoning Mastery 1.5

"Oh buddy," Bob muttered.

It was right there. Somehow Monroe had managed to level up and use the Conjuration Affinity Crystal.

Bob shook his head.

This was a situation he'd have to deal with later. He pulled his mana crystals out, and stuffed them into his satchel, then put them back in, hoping that if they were in a bag, Monroe wouldn't be able to use them.

"Not that I'll have any after I visit Gary and Nikki," Bob grumbled.

He headed back out of his room, having at least solved the dual mysteries of where his crystals had gone, and why Monroe was bigger.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob hurried into the leather shop as the afternoon started to fade into evening.

"Gary," Bob called as he approached the counter.

A glint of light caught Bob's eye as he turned to see Gary approaching from his right, a smile on his face.

"Bob," Gary greeted him, "how are you doing this lovely afternoon?"

"Busier than I want to be," Bob said as he moved Monroe over to the counter and swapped out his armor for regular clothing before handing it to Gary.

"I need level seven enchantments for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Endurance on this, as soon as you can manage," Bob said as he struggled to keep Monroe from flopping down on the armor that was now on the counter.

Getting the big Maine-coon off the Makres when the armor wasn't on Bob wasn't a task Bob wanted to undertake again any time soon.

Gary ran a hand across his head as he looked at Bob.

"You in a bit of a rush?" Gary asked inquiringly.

Bob nodded grimly and said, "Thidwell told me to get moving on something, so I'm doing just that."

"He's a little intense," Bob muttered as he finally managed to drape Monroe across a shoulder again.

"You must mean Thidwell," Gary said with a smile, "as I can't imagine Monroe being intense."

"You've never seen him during playtime," Bob said ruefully.

"Well if Thidwell asked you to have it done," Gary said, "I imagine that Nikki can have it sorted out by the day after tomorrow, as she's already mapped the armor once already for enchantments."

Bob nodded and juggled Monroe as he pulled out his satchel, then pulled out all but ten of his remaining crystals.

"Three hundred and thirty for the three enchantments right?" Bob asked.

Gary swept the crystals into his pouch and nodded, "Exactly right, although you might want to check out the new Makres line in the meantime," he gestured proudly to a display just to the right of the entrance.

Bob walked over to it with Gary in tow.

"I've made casual clothing," Gary waved a hand at a rack of shirts, "and leather armor like you favor," he gestured towards a suit of armor that looked identical to Bob's except in dark blue, "And of course heavier armor," Gary finished by placing a hand on what looked like bronze splint mail.

Bob looked over the racks of merchandise, and then looked up at the sign advertising 'The All New Makres! For the familiar owner who cares!' which had a very nice drawing of Monroe's face under it.

"I'm strapped for crystals right now," Bob said as he fingered a dark red shirt, "but once I'm flush again I'm going to pick up a couple of these shirts for when my armor is in the shop."

Gary slapped him on the back and said, "I've only sold a couple so far, but word is getting out! Don't worry though," he assured him, "I'll hold one for you."

Bob nodded and said, "I'll see you in two days then," and headed out of the store and into the failing light.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob stared in the mirror. He was clean-shaven, and his hair was as combed as best it could be given how short he kept it.

Bob took a few deep breaths. He hated public speaking.

He picked up Monroe and draped the feline of crystal consumption over his shoulder as he made his way out of his room.

He walked into the tavern and was immediately flagged down by Kelli, who appeared to have been waiting for him.

Bob handed him a sheaf of papers he'd written the evening before, that outlined his plan concisely.

Attributes allocated as follows at every level. One Endurance. Two Intelligence. Two Wisdom

Level One - Conjuration Skill.

Level Two - Conjuration Blast Skill (Choose the element you like best, can never use another element.) Use Conjuration Affinity Crystal to increase the Maximum Level of the Conjuration Blast Skill by ten.

Kill frogs on third floor of the Dungeon until the Blast skill is level twelve.

Level Three - Conjuration Aura Skill (Same element as blast).

Level Four - Conjuration Weapon Enhancement Skill (Same element at blast).

Kill rats on fifth floor of the Dungeon until the Blast skill is level fourteen.

Level Five - Conjuration Backlash Skill (same element as blast.)

Allocate Path bonus to Wisdom.

Choose the Path of the Savant for the chosen elemental type.

Kelli guided him over to the far side of the tavern where three rows of eight chairs had been arranged, almost all of which were occupied by kids.

Well, Bob considered them kids. Anyone under twenty-one was young to him, and anyone under eighteen was a kid.

Bob dropped Monroe off on a table and walked forward and stood in front of the assembly. Kelli took a seat in one of the few spare chairs.

Bob cleared his throat and said, "Thidwell asked me to speak to you this morning."

"Some of you have heard about my plan for the Endless Swarm Path," Bob said haltingly.

A couple of the kids tittered, and a few nudged each other and grinned.

Bob felt a stir of anger, and instead of crushing it down, he embraced it.

"Thidwell asked me to talk to you about something else," Bob said forcefully, glaring at the kids, "he asked me to explain to you, in short, simple words that you can understand, how to become a hero."

"You all know me," Bob said harshly, "despite my best efforts you've heard about 'The Reef'," he spat out the name.

"What you likely don't know, is that a week before the wave, I was right where you are now," he pointed at the center of the group.

"Level zero," Bob said loudly, "no skills, and I'd never even seen the Dungeon."

"A week later, and I stood tall on the wall," Bob said, "I saved lives, at great personal risk."

Bob shook his head and barked out, "And for that, they gave me a name and called me a Hero," he scoffed.

"So now I'm asked to talk to you lot, a bunch of kids who want to be heroes," Bob shook his head in disgust.

"I don't think any of you have what it takes," Bob said in a low steady voice as he started to pace back and forth in front of the kids.

"You just see the end result, and you want that, but what you don't see is the sweat, the pain, and the blood that it took to get there," Bob shook his head again, "no, you just see the destination, without understanding the journey."

Bob stopped suddenly and pointed at a young man in the front row, "You," Bob said, "How much time does an Adventurer spend in the Dungeon each week?"

"Uh, five or six hours?" The kid answered hesitantly.

"That's right," Bob said, "And do you know much time I spent in the Dungeon in between the start of the week when I was level one and the end of the week before the wave?"

Bob didn't wait for anyone to answer and said, "Seventy-three hours."

A couple of the kids gasped, but Bob ignored them.

"I spent more time in the Dungeon in a week than most Adventurers do in two months," Bob said fiercely.

"I was tired, and sweaty, and bloody and hurting, but I kept pushing," Bob said.

"All of you want to be Big Damn Heroes, but none of you know the costs," He stated coldly.

"But for some reason, Thidwell thinks you deserve this chance, so here it is," Bob said.

"Here is what you're going to do," Bob started, "you're going to take the Magical School of Conjuration when you achieve level one."

"You're going to allocate your attribute points in this order at every level. One in endurance, two in intelligence, and two in wisdom," he said flatly.

"At level two," he continued, "you will take a conjuration blast spell of the element of your choice," Bob paused momentarily, "enjoy that moment, as it is the last choice you'll be making for yourself for a very long time."

Bob went on, "You'll then use a Conjuration Affinity Crystal to increase the maximum level of that blast spell by ten," he glanced across the audience, noting that he had their complete attention now.

"You will then take the Aura, Weapon Enhancement, and Backlash spells for the element you selected at levels three, four, and five respectively," Bob said.

"At this point, you will choose the Path of the Savant for your element. You will allocate your attributes in the same fashion as you have been, five to endurance, ten to intelligence, and ten to wisdom," Bob said sternly.

"And then," Bob said with a cold smile, "you're going to put in the work."

"You're going to be fighting boars every day, for hours, until you can't even stand the smell of bacon in the morning," Bob said with relish, "and then you're going to fight them some more."

"Once I let you take level six, you'll purchase the Barrage skill," Bob said, "then, and only then, will you be worth putting on the wall."

"If," Bob stressed, "If, you make it, then you'll get the chance to be heroes."

Bob started pacing again.

"In the world I came from," Bob said, "I spent my entire career, indeed my entire life, working with numbers."

"So understand that when I lay out numbers for you," He glared at the crowd, "I'm not guessing. These are absolute."

"The damage of your fire blast will be nine hundred and seven points of damage," Bob said sharply, "you will split your cast three ways, each barraged, resulting in nine fire blasts, each one dealing one hundred and fifty-one points of damage, which is more than sufficient to kill a level three monster."

"At nine monsters a second, for sixty seconds, you're killing a hundred and eighty monsters a minute, which is ten thousand eight hundred monsters an hour," Bob said loudly as the crowd in front of him, and one that had apparently gathered behind him as well, both burst into whispers, "ten thousand eight hundred monsters," Bob repeated, "that are not breaching the wall and killing your family, friends, and neighbors."

"You want to be a Hero?" He asked them, "then this is your chance, and you'll never have another one like it." Bob promised them gravely.

"You'll have an impact like never before," he said quietly as the crowd in turn quieted to hear him.

"But," Bob said warningly, "I promise you that you'll pay for that power with your own pain and suffering."

"It won't be easy, and you'll have to live with the pain, stress, and fear," Bob said sternly, "you'll have to live with the fact that your choices aren't your own, that you don't have the freedom to choose your own skills and path."

Bob came to a stop directly in front of the crowd.

He took a minute to look each one of them in the eyes.

"You want to be heroes?" Bob asked, "Fine. If you've got what it takes, stand up and form a line against the wall."

As one, the twenty-five young men and women stood up and started to move towards the wall.

"One final warning," Bob called loudly, and they froze.

"If you can't keep up," Bob said coldly, "Don't step up, you'll only die."

"Kelli will sign you up," Bob finished as he turned away, and scooped up Monroe before heading back to his room.