Bob finished vomiting and wiped his mouth.

He hated public speaking, he hated throwing up, and he hated it when people laughed at him or snickered about him behind his back.

The first and the third tended to coincide, and the second often followed.

Monroe was sitting on the bed, watching in silent solidarity.

At least Bob took it as solidarity.

He decided to take a shower, then brush his teeth, just in case.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob walked back into the tavern thirty minutes after he'd left it and tried to sneak over to the table Kelli had occupied.

His attempts at stealth utterly failed as the tavern fell silent when he reemerged and began to quietly buzz as he made his way over.

Bob sunk into his chair and pooled Monroe onto his lap.

"Well," Kelli said, "that wasn't quite what I was expecting."

Bob shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably and replied, "I'm not good at public speaking, I'd have preferred to just hand out the guidelines, but Thidwell wanted me to talk to them."

Kelli reached over and squeezed Bob's shoulder in a gesture of support and said, "You certainly got the job done, all twenty-five of them were eager to join the guild and prove that they had it what it takes to be a hero, like 'The Reef'," he grinned.

"You already had a reputation," Kelli said with a smile, "and now," he gestured around the tavern, "you're building a legend."

Bob shook his head and said, "I'm not a hero, and I don't want a reputation," he ducked his head down and started using both hands to pet Monroe, "I only did that because Thidwell asked, and I owe him."

Kelli looked at Bob for a long moment, then decided to shift the conversation and asked, "So what prompted Thidwell to ask you to do this?"

Bob continued to pet Monroe for a few seconds as he considered his answer.

Kelli had always been honest with him, even if some of his perceptions were skewed by growing up and living his entire life inside the Adventurers Guild. He'd been helpful and kind, even when he hadn't had a reason to be.

So Bob took a deep breath, leaned forward, and said, "I explained to Thidwell that this world is a complete shit show and that it didn't have to be, but certain groups of people are stopping humanity as a whole from growing and thriving."

"Okay," Kelli said slowly, "I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I'd like to hear how your reasoning came about."

Bob shook his head as he looked around the tavern.

"Not here," he said, "after breakfast, we'll take a walk and I'll explain, as I'm not sure how, when, or even if Thidwell wants to disseminate this information."

Kelli nodded and sat back as Theo arrived with two steaming plates of eggs and sausage, and a bowl of meat chunks.

Bob lifted Monroe onto the table where he immediately paced over to his bowl, gave it a few sniffs, then settled down to delicately eating the humble offering provided by the human-servants.

"So how is level ten treating you?" Bob asked as he speared a sausage link.

Kelli grinned widely and exclaimed, "Oh it's been fantastic! It may have taken a long time, but my path is finally paying off."

"I'm glad to hear that," Bob said a little awkwardly, "I know you'd been plowing along and waiting for things to come around. Are you running solo on level ten or are you grouping up?"

Kelli shook his head as he swallowed a fork load of scrambled eggs, "Bob, no one solos the Dungeon," he said, "except for you of course."

"No," Kelli continued, "I was going to work with Elli and Harv a bit, but Thidwell saddled them with shepherding duty, so I'm just sort of hanging about at the moment, jumping into any group that has an empty slot you know?"

Bob shrugged, as he did not, in fact, know anything of the sort.

"Thidwell told me to hit level ten in the next week," Bob said, "so I'll be pushing some hours in the Dungeon."

Kelli whistled softly and said, "That's a big push, you're only level six right?"

Bob nodded as he continued to work his way through his eggs.

"How are you going to manage that?" Kelli asked.

"Well," Bob said as he gathered the remaining eggs onto his fork, "I figure it'll take me four hours or so to get the crystals I need to level up to seven, so I'll do that this afternoon."

"Thidwell said that if your endurance is double the level of the Dungeon you are on, you don't suffer from the anxiety that the mana density generates?" Bob said in an inquiring tone.

Kelli held up his hand and tilted it back and forth in a side to side motion as he chewed. Once he had swallowed, he said "That theory is still somewhat controversial, although there is some evidence to suggest that it's true."

"Some people are either more brave, or less wise and feel less anxiety than others when they encounter an area where the mana is significantly denser," Kelli continued, "and conversely, others are more cautious and more risk-averse."

Bob nodded and looked at his last sausage link for a second before deciding to slide his plate over towards Monroe.

"Well," Bob said as his feline of mass consumption accepted his offering, "Thidwell seems to believe it, and with what he's asked of me, I'm willing to allocate a few attribute points into Endurance in the hopes of being able to Delve for longer periods of time."

"Besides," Bob said with a sigh, "it's not like raising my mana does me much good, as I'm a long away from having enough to hang a persistent effect."

Kelli nodded thoughtfully, as he considered that having Bob deliver a lecture to a group of people about taking a path might be considered a trifle cruel, given Bob's circumstances.

Not that Thidwell would have ever considered that.

"So, what skill do you plan to take at level seven?" Kelli asked.

"Barrage," Bob replied instantly.

"With my UtahRaptor at level twenty, if I barraged the spell I could have three of them out at level ten, and while it would cost me five mana per second, I have enough regeneration to keep up," Bob said with a grim smile.

"I forgot to ask Harv and Elli, but I'm sure you'll know," Bob said, "what exactly am I facing on level eight of the Dungeon?"

Kelli made a face and shuddered as he answered, "Well, first off it is as dark as the stones down there, and there are these seemingly random pockets of explosive gas that appear, which means that you can't have an open flame or cast fire spells, and also that you can't just stand in one place, because the gas will eventually appear and choke you."

"And then," Kelli said with a look of disgust, "you have the monsters, which are huge five-foot-long insects with almost a hundred legs that come up out of the ground to attack you, which they do in groups, and to top it all off, they are venomous."

"I did not," Kelli said conspiratorily, "enjoy level eight."

"Well luckily for me I'm only staying there until I have the crystals to take level eight," Bob said.

Kelli shook his head and asked, "How many hours a day do you think you're going to spend Delving? I know you'd been following Harv and Elli's lead and only spending one?"

Bob shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I'm not sure, I guess it depends on a few factors. I know I'll have to stop on either the tenth or eleventh level to grind my Summon Monster spell up, as the experience requirements are starting to get a little crazy," Bob shook his head.

"Eight thousand experience to level the spell once," Bob said.

"And don't even get me started on leveling the actual Summoning School," he grumbled, "I'd expected it to go to twenty-thousand a level, doubling the cost of the first five levels, like spells did, but a hundred a thousand a level?"

Kelli nodded sympathetically and said, "There is a reason that people who have level ten in a spell school are called Master's Bob."

"Yeah," Bob agreed grudgingly, "they've definitely earned it."

"For you to have reached Journeyman is pretty impressive," Kelli said, "most people take a year at least to reach that point."

"Yeah, well," Bob muttered, "most people have more than one spell."

"You ready to take a walk around Holmstead?" Bob asked, gesturing to Kelli's empty plate.

"Sure," Kelli said, "it looks like all three of us are finished."

Bob picked up Monroe and draped him over a shoulder.

"I miss my Makres," he said as he adjusted the big cat, and he headed out of the tavern.

As they walked through Holmstead, Bob explained his realizations about the population, how nobles and royals knew about the uses for affinity crystals, and how they kept that information suppressed to ensure that they stayed in power, to the detriment of everyone else in the world.

He finished by saying, "Life on Thayland doesn't have to be as hard or dangerous as it is, Kelli. If everyone just used one affinity crystal before they took their path, in conjunction with a skill, delving the Dungeon would become a job, like any other. Not particularly dangerous, just one where you need to be alert. Waves would become contests to see who could kill the most, the quickest. I've never experienced a Tide, but I can only think that the dangers they pose would be much more manageable."

Kelli walked along beside Bob in silence.

"So," Kelli said a few minutes later, "that's why Thidwell pushed you to talk those freshers into using the affinity crystals and taking a path," he went on slowly, "he wants to have everyone who doesn't have a path yet doing that, figuring that if it plays out the way you think, the success will spread the method like a monster wave, and everyone will start doing it, Nobles and Royals be damned."

Bob nodded.

"I wonder why the affinity crystals act so much differently at level five and below," Kelli mused.

"I've actually thought about that a lot," Bob said, "and I believe that this is a case of it being exactly what it says on the tin."

"What it says on the tin?" Kelli asked.

"Yeah, what it - oh," Bob paused as he realized this was another one of those admittedly rare instances where the translation between Thaylan and English didn't quite line up.

"The contents of the book match what it says on the cover," he corrected, before going on.

"Semantics aside, I think that the Affinity crystals do exactly what they say - they establish an affinity within your matrix for that school of magic, which gives you additional options for customizing your skills, and selecting your path," Bob finished.

Kelli nodded thoughtfully and said, "And once you've taken your path, the affinity crystals can no longer offer an affinity, so they offer either the school of magic or if you already have it, a spell from that school."

Kelli smiled crookedly and ran a hand through his hair as he said, "It almost makes me want to reincarnate," he laughed.

Bob looked at him blankly.

Kelli noticed the look and asked, "What?"

"When you say 'reincarnate', do you mean die and be reborn, possibly at a higher or lower tier based on if your actions in this life were either karmically balanced towards good or towards evil?" Bob asked.

Kelli shook his head and said excitedly, "Is that something that happens in your world?"

"No," Bob sighed, "that is a tenet of a religious philosophy and the generally accepted meaning of reincarnation."

"Oh," Kelli said, and Bob was once again struck with how good of a teacher he would have made back on Earth.

"Well," Kelli explained, "reincarnate is a ritual, which strips you of your path, your attributes, and your skills, bringing you back down to level zero," he frowned, "it's not something that is done often, as you can lose years of work and thousands of mana crystals, but occasionally someone will decide that they need a complete change."

Bob came to a complete stop.

"Do you mean that for a hundred crystals, someone at, oh say, level six, could reset themselves down to level zero, and take their path and skills all over again?" Bob said with an intense look.

"Yes," Kelli said slowly.

"But again," Kelli said, "that person would be out three hundred and fifty mana crystals worth of leveling, a hundred mana crystals for the ritual, and all the time spent leveling their skills," he cautioned.

"Wouldn't it be worth it," Bob said, "if that person could then use an affinity crystal, one that was perfectly suited for their path?"

"Well," Kelli conceded, "I suppose for the right person, under the right circumstances, especially if they were already on the path you described..."

Kelli trailed off as his eyes went distant for a second before snapping back into focus.

"Bailli?" Kelli breathed.

"Bailli," Bob said with a smile.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of the downsides, Bob mused, of having near-perfect recall, was that when something got stuck in your head, it could be anything.

As Jake slaughtered another pack of wolves, Bob contemplated the fact that he didn't really have any particular genre of music that he was enamored with. He'd never spent much time listening to music when he was young and preferred a quiet environment for studying and later working.

He had, however, heard a great many songs of various genres over the years. Which was why he had a Taylor Swift song stuck in his head.

Despite never having consciously listened to it, he could recall it perfectly, in maddening detail.

He was fairly certain that the reason he had a song stuck in his head was that his mind was attempting to cope with the anxiety of being down in the Dungeon for almost...

Bob checked his mental clock. Six hours.

No wonder his mind was wandering and his stomach was grumbling.

Collecting a crystal that had dropped from the last pack, Bob portaled back to the gateway, where he sat down with his back against the cool metal, and counted his earnings.

He'd killed four thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight wolves, which had earned him a hundred and twenty-five crystals. Twenty-six bears had wandered by, yielding another two crystals, and bringing his pile to a hundred and thirty-seven, although he did have his daily expenses, a crystal to Austan, one for his room, and another two for meals for both Bob and Monroe.

Still, he'd pick up his newly enchanted armor from Gary and Nikki tomorrow afternoon. He didn't feel comfortable tackling a new level of the Dungeon without it.

Bob pressed his token to the Gateway and activated it, heading for the entrance.

~ ~ ~ ~

The following afternoon, Bob staggered into the tavern and slumped into a chair next to Kelli and across from Bailli.

Monroe slid out of his inventory and into his lap, where the Maine-coon started to purr.

"You look a little rough," Kelli said as he took in Bob's torn shirt, streaked with blood.

"Losing your focus after several hours is a real issue," Bob admitted wearily as he looked down and started stroking Monroe.

"How long were you down there?" Bailli asked.

Bob looked up and replied, "Nine hours, give or take."

Kelli shook his head and waved Theo over.

"That's a little bit much don't you think?" Kelli said.

Bob gave a slow nod and said, "I think so," he poked at a hole in his shirt, "I should have taken a break halfway through for lunch."

"But," Bob said with a tired smile, "I'll get my armor back after dinner, and I'll level up tomorrow morning."

Theo had made his way over to the table, and Bob asked for a double dinner for both himself and Monroe, as they'd skipped lunch.

"So," Bob said as he lifted Monroe off his lap and poured him onto the table, "Bailli, did Kelli tell you the plan?"

"What plan?" Bailli asked as Kelli echoed, "We have a plan?"

Bailli and Kelli looked at each other, and then looked at Bob.

Bob nodded and waved a hand at Kelli, "You know, the reset thing, with the crystal."

Bob crossed his arms on the table and laid his head down on them.

Apparently, when he was a teenager, one of the neighboring apartments had been occupied by a little girl, who had watched 'Frozen' every single day for a year and a half.

The song "Let it go," had been stuck in his head for the past seven and a half hours.

"Ah, no," Kelli said, "I hadn't yet discussed with Bailli the idea of reincarnation in order to utilize a Conjuration Affinity Crystal," he went on, oblivious to Elsa singing in Bob's head, "I had thought that as you have the plan for those kids, you'd be the best one to explain why she might want to do that."

Bob didn't bother to raise his head, but instead pulled a piece of paper out of his inventory and shuffled it over towards Bailli.

Monroe took Bob's reticence to move as an invitation and sauntered over to curl up on his arm, leaning against his human-servant's head.

"Reset to level zero, take conjuration, take level two, take lighting blast, use conjuration to boost lightning blast max level by ten, then do everything you did before over again," Bob mumbled, "Cost you a little time, but you'll end up being Super-Bailli."

Monroe repositioned himself, draping himself over Bob's head while he purred loudly.

Bailli scanned the paper and then looked at Bob, with his Monroe hat.

"Is it really worth losing all the time I've spent leveling my skills?" Bailli asked worriedly.

She'd spent enough time with Bob to know that he was absolutely brilliant with math and that he liked to count and calculate things that most people wouldn't ever bother with.

"Can't hear you," Bob mumbled, "Purrmuffs."

Bailli turned to Kelli and said, "He talked to you about this?"

Kelli nodded, resigned to having to explain this without Bob's help, who may have actually started falling asleep given his steady breathing.

"Bob did the math, and he figured out that at level six, you'd be doing nine hundred and seven points of damage with the affinity crystals combined with the Savant path," Kelli said, "as opposed to four hundred and eighty-three points without."

Bailli blinked and looked back over to Bob.

She'd be the first person to admit that Bob hadn't ever looked like much.

He tended to hunch his shoulders and slump like he was trying to make himself seem shorter and smaller, less noticeable.

When he spoke he always kept his voice low, and he rarely made idle conversation.

Harv and Elli had brought him back from wherever they'd found him, and he'd looked truly awful, with his scruffy beard and mismatched clothing.

Those first few weeks he'd seemed almost manic, and it was only after he'd started carrying around his cat that he'd seemed to calm down.

Up until he'd offered to help her gather the crystals she'd needed to regenerate her arm, she'd only had one real conversation with him.

It turned out Bob judged people entirely on how they interacted with Monroe.

She had felt a touch guilty about the following thought, that it was a good thing because Monroe had better people skills than Bob did.

Her week in the Dungeon with Bob had let her get to know him a little bit, and she'd learned that he was quite brilliant in a very math and detail-oriented way.

So if Bob was telling her she could almost double her spell damage, at the cost of four hundred and fifty mana crystals and a few months of work, she felt she could trust that he was right.

"Alright," Bailli said, "But I'll need to gather three hundred and fifty mana crystals to pay for the ritual and get myself back up to level five."

Theo arrived with their food, and Monroe flowed off of Bob and headed over to his bowls, whiskers twitching.

Bob raised his head and blinked his eyes blearily, before grabbing one of the plates and pulling it in front of him.

"Kelli explained?" Bob asked between mouthfuls.

"He did, and I'll do it," Bailli said, "I'll just have to gather the crystals first."

Bob dropped the hand that wasn't holding his forkful of mashed potatoes into his satchel and pulled out another bag, which he slid across the table towards Bailli.

"Here," Bob said, "two hundred crystals from today, should get you started."

He took a drink of water, then said, "Dunno how many of those Conjuration Affinity Crystals Thidwell has, so I figured sooner is better than later."