Bob was tired of the tenth level of the Dungeon.

He was tired of the heat and the sun and the constantly blowing wind.

All told he'd been delving twelve hours a day, every day, for thirteen days.

And he was heartily sick of it.

Monroe also didn't appreciate it. The big Maine-coon had taken to hiding in his inventory whenever he got near the Dungeon.

Despite the bonanza of experience and crystals, Bob was ready to be done with it.

And it had been quite the harvest.

Ninety-seven thousand, nine hundred and twenty scorpions had yielded three thousand and thirty-four crystals.

His Magical School of Abjuration was now level four, and his Eldritch Cube spell was level nine, which gave each side of his cube seventy-three essence. Bob had cast it a few times, and it effectively forced a scorpion to split their attack, which drastically reduced how hard they struck.

His Dimension School had reached level five and offered him his threshold bonuses.

Magical School of Dimension Tier threshold reached. Dimension Affinity Crystal detected, redefining parameters. You have reached your tier in the Magical School of Dimension. Please select from one of the following: All Magical School of Dimension Skills increased by ten percent. All Magical School of Dimension Skills costs reduced by ten percent. All Magical School of Dimension Skills maximum level increased by ten percent. (Dimension Affinity Crystal). Magical School of Dimension maximum level increased by twenty-five percent. (Dimension Affinity Crystal).

Bob had chosen the ten percent increase to the maximum level of all Dimension Skills.

He'd started working on Shadowmancy, and discovered that mana sight was effectively useless as a persistent effect.

System Help, Divine School of Shadowmancy Skill: Mana Sight Mana Sight allows the user to perceive mana in its natural state. The user is able to see the ebb and flow of mana as well as its density out to a range equal to the user's caster value divided by 10, measured in feet.

It was the range that killed it. He'd managed to level his Shadowmancy School to level two, and the spell all the way to nine, but between effect over time and persistent effect, he was just barely at nine-feet. If he cast the spell and maintained concentration he could see nearly forty feet.

The ebb and flow of the mana flowing the Dungeon had been hypnotic when he'd cast the spell and maintained concentration. He could see where the mana pooled, and he knew that scorpions spawned there.

Mana itself looked like pale, ethereal silver light.

Once he was level twenty-five, and both the Shadowmancy School and the Mana Sight spell were capped, he'd be able to use persistent effect, and still have a range of over eighty feet.

The Mana Sight spell had capped out long before the School had, so Bob had decided to level up his Mana Drain spell.

System Help, Divine School of Shadowmancy Skill: Mana Drain The Mana Drain Skill allows the user to directly drain the Mana from a creature's pattern. This effect drains an amount of mana equal to the user's caster value, divided by sixteen, and it returns the user's caster value, divided by thirty-two. This is direct essence damage and is resisted by the creature's Spirit.

He had cast the Mana Drain as a persistent effect on himself, which after all his modifiers, failed completely to drain any mana from him. His Wisdom attribute provided his Spirit resistance, and it was much higher than the two point five mana that spell attempted to drain from him. Even after the School of Shadowmancy had reached level two, and the Mana Drain spell had reached level eight, it failed to drain any mana.

Bob wasn't sure how useful the Mana Drain, Health Drain, and Stamina Drain spells were going to be, but he needed all three of them along with Mana Sight to be able to take Mana Manipulation.

His thoughts rumbled along, and Bob paused to wonder just how badly fatigued he was. It was rare for him to not feel clear-headed.

Slouching through the Gateway and into the mausoleum, Bob left the tenth level of the Dungeon behind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob woke up the following morning feeling lighter. Just knowing he wasn't going to be stuck in the sand brightened his day.

When Bob designed his Dungeon, it would be a pleasant place.

Yes, it would be filled with monsters trying to kill you, but it wouldn't be a chore to spend time there.

Bob was pretty sure there would come a point in the immediate future where he'd be spending a lot of time in the Arcane Depths Dungeon he was eventually going to create.

Laying in bed with Monroe curled up on his chest, Bob planned out his day.

Breakfast, hopefully with Elli and Harv, or Bailli or Kelli, or some combination thereof.

Then he'd pick up his new armor.

He also wanted to find a staff, as he could now use two hands, and he wanted the full bonus, which he wasn't getting from the one-handed sword Thidwell had given him.

Harv or Gary could likely point him in the right direction.

That should take him on to lunchtime, and if not, he'd take a walk around town with Monroe.

After lunch, he'd go for a hike. The mountains to the east had some lovely canyons, and he had spotted a waterfall that he wanted to take a look at.

He'd have an early dinner, and get a good night's sleep before tackling the cockroaches on the twelfth level of the Dungeon again.

Bob started scratching Monroe's ruff and smiled as the big cat's purr motor rumbled to life.

It was going to be a great day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob walked into the tavern with Monroe on his shoulders, and immediately spotted Harv and Elli taking their seats at a table.

He hurried over and let Monroe flow onto the table in between himself and Elli as he sat down with them.

"Good Morning," Bob said cheerfully, sliding Monroe a bit to the right and center to ensure he'd have room for his breakfast.

"Morning Bob," Harv replied with a smile, "Haven't seen you for a week or so, how are things going?"

"I'm so glad to be done with the tenth level of the Dungeon," Bob grinned, "you have no idea how happy am," he shook his head, "the crystals are nice, but I'm ready to not have sand everywhere, you know?"

Harv nodded and nudged Elli, who was slumped over in his chair and hadn't reacted to the appearance of his Divine Feline Overlord.

"Whasit?" Elli grumbled without opening his eyes, "Tel' Theo big breakfast,"

Bob chuckled and said, "Monroe is here to see you."

It took a moment to register, but Elli cracked an eye, and then reached out to start rubbing Monroe's chin.

He cleared his throat and said, "Haven't seen you two around, been busy?"

Bob nodded and waved to Theo who had just emerged from the kitchen, before saying, "Yes, we've been keeping the sands of the tenth level of the Dungeon scoured of the hordes of scorpions."

Elli made a face and opened both eyes as he said, "Hope you got one of those pavilions from Gary, that heat is brutal."

"I made it one day without," Bob said as Theo approached, "and then I bought one, along with a canteen just like yours."

"Good call," Elli grunted, as Theo looked at the table and asked, "Eggs and Bacon all around?"

Receiving confirmation, he hustled back to the kitchen, pausing first to give Monroe a quick scritch on his ears.

"So are you delving further down today?" Harv asked as Elli started playing with Monroe's toe tufts, an activity that appeared to be currently permitted.

"No," Bob shook his head, "I've got a new suit of armor to pick up from Gary, fully enhanced for level ten, and then I'm just going to take the day off, go for a hike, clear my mind."

Elli nodded and said, "Good, I know you've got things to do, and precious little time to do them, but you've been down there for over ten days that I know off, and that can lead to serious fatigue from the mana density."

"Oh I was feeling it yesterday," Bob admitted, "one of the reasons I'm taking today off."

Theo returned with their breakfast, and Bob gave in to the tiny nudge of his conscious as he asked, "So is Amber still terrorizing the kitchen?"

Theo shook his head smiling and replied, "No, Kevin is letting her cook once a week, and he freezes enough of it in the Larder that she can eat her weird vegan diet without inflicting it on the rest of us."

"Sounds like she's finding her niche as a part-time cook," Harv suggested as he tore into his scrambled eggs.

Bob shrugged uncomfortably and said, "I do feel a little bad about pulling her here, although to be fair, she accepted the summoning spell willingly."

Elli freed a hand from kitty worship, and clasped him on the shoulder as he said, "The fact that you feel bad about it, makes you a good person."

Harv nodded, and picked up a piece of bacon, carefully eyeing Monroe who was addressing his bowl of meat chunks, and said, "I haven't heard of her refuting anything you said about stealing your work and blowing you into our universe, so I'm going to say that she got off lightly."

Bob nodded and sighed.

"Maybe I should give her the crystals to get to level five," he said, "it's not like I don't have plenty of them, or that I can't get more."

"At least then she'd have the same chance I had," he finished.

Elli snorted and said, "Except you arrived in a Dungeon, and spent two days fighting rats with your bare hands before we found you."

Bob shuddered, "Yes, except for that," he said.

"And having to hike to Holmstead in those ridiculous shoes you were wearing," Harv chimed in with a smile.

"What was it," Elli added, "four days before you could actually speak Thaylan?"

"Now Elli," said Harv who was grinning broadly, "I rather enjoyed trying to figure out what Bob was saying."

Elli was laughing now as he choked out, "Do you remember when we told Thidwell we'd brought back the anomaly, and he told us to bring you in?"

Harv was wheezing with laughter as well as he finished, "And you told him, 'Bob, the uh, anomaly. His name is Bob,' "

The two were laughing uproariously.

Bob shook his head and grinned.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob had wrangled the location of a weaponsmith who might have, or could at least craft, a staff that would suit him before Harv and Elli had left to meet up with their newest batch of freshers.

And so Bob found himself ambling into Nikki's, where he was immediately ambushed by Gary.

"Bob!" He said, his grin already wide, "and your feline master, Monroe!"

"Let's get you into your new armor," Gary said excitedly as he walked Bob to the counter, where Bob slid Monroe off his shoulders in order to facilitate donning armor.

Gary reached under the counter and pulled out Bob's new equipment.

Bob laid a hand on it, then willed it into his inventory, before willing it onto his body.

A heavy, comforting weight settled over him.

He looked down at the various straps and tugged them into place buckling himself into the armor, before pulling on his cloak and satchel and stepping in front of the mirror next to the counter.

Bob had to admit, he looked impressive. The progressive green of the scales went quite well with the green leather, and the overall effect was a pattern of mossy greens that Bob felt would allow him to blend into the woods quite easily.

Bob unbuckled a bracer and traced the intricate pattern of metal that was embedded in the leather.

Unlike his previous armor, this set had the pattern leading up, and presumably across and throughout.

Bob started to slowly feed mana into the armor, and after several seconds, he felt a ripple pass through him, like a cool breeze.

Bob's Acid Python Scaled Armor.

- Leather harness and backing.

- Acid Python Scale Hide, Hardness Forty.

- Stone Scarab Beetle Chitin Impact Plates, Hardness Eighty.

- Magnetic Kitty Retention System.

Crafted By Nikki and Gary Elmund

- Magical and Professional bonus to Strength Attribute - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Coordination Attribute - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Endurance Attribute - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Intelligence Attribute - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Wisdom Attribute - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Health Essence - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Mana Essence - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Stamina Essence - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Armor - 10/10

- Magical and Professional bonus to Dodge - 10/10

Professional Bonuses by Gary Elmund.

Magical Bonuses by Nikki Elmund.

Bob whistled and pulled up his status.

Name Bob Level 9 Tier 5 Size 5 Armor Hardness 60 Weapon hardness 40 Str 32 Armor Style 1.04 Weapon type 1.5 Cord 32 Dodge 59 Spell casting 1.5 End 32 Int 75 Wis 59 Beauty 14 Health 331 Mana 85 Armor 120.44 Mana Regen 13.4 Spell casting w/Familiar 180.96 Damage 175.5 Spell Casting 174 Arcane Familiar Bonus 1.04

"Damn," he muttered.

The increase in his attributes amazing.

Gary watched him, a brilliant smile on his face.

"We don't often get to do a whole suit at once," Gary said proudly, "it's normally piecemeal, folks adding enchantments as they can afford them."

He sighed happily. "Being able to do them all at once, fully integrated with each other was a pleasure."

Bob reached out and clasped Gary's shoulder as he said warmly, "It's amazing, truly the work of a pair of artists."

"I'll be back in before too long to get a fresh suit of fully enchanted Makres armor for Monroe," Bob said with a smile as he picked up his kitty, and slid Monroe onto the Makres of his new armor.

"As is only proper," Gary said with a smile, "after all, you have to keep your owner safe."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bobs next stop was the weaponsmith Harv had told him about, which was located just across the river from the sawmill.

It was a sprawling stone building, with a smelter or a kiln of some sort off to the side, and a set of huge double doors standing open, revealing several anvils, troughs, and forges, although only one forge was currently glowing with the dull yellow of hot coals.

A short, stocky man was pumping the bellows methodically as he turned a short bar of metal over in the coals.

"I'll be with you in a moment," he addressed Bob in a deep but melodic voice.

Bob stood patiently at the entrance to the smithy, taking in the workspace.

It was neat and well organized, every tool hung up in what Bob assumed was their proper place. The floor was stone and swept clean.

There was a small counter to the left, opposite the smelter outside, and a rack of weapons was displayed on the wall behind it.

Bob's attention was pulled back to the forge as the smith pulled the metal bar from the coals, a gentle yellow fading to orange and then red coloring the bar.

With the sharp sound of metal striking metal, the smith hammered the short bar, shaping the metal with each strike, sparks flying.

Seconds later, the smith slid the bar back into the coals and turned to face Bob.

He had a broad, friendly face, with a nose just a touch too large, and a bristly beard the same auburn shade as his hair.

His brown eyes had laugh lines at the corners, made more pronounced by the soot from the forge that had settled in them.

He smiled at Bob and pulled off his thick gloves, tucking them into the apron he wore.

"Welcome to Alder's Smithy, some of the sturdiest weapons you'll find in Holmstead," he said, "I'm Joseph, what sort of weapon are you looking for?"

Bob nodded his head and replied, "My friend Harv recommended you to me, I'm looking for a staff suitable for a spell caster."

Joseph cocked his head as he looked Bob over, or rather Bob's armor over.

"That's some heavy armor for you caster types," He said as he turned and headed to the counter, "but then again I've always counseled the use of the heaviest armor you can manage to walk in," he chuckled, "it's often that hit you don't see coming that lands and all the movement and speed in the world won't save you then."

He stepped around the counter and turned his head towards Bob although he was eyeing the weapons rack.

"What level are you looking for?" Joseph asked.

"Level ten," Bob replied.

"Hmmm," Joseph let out a breath as he turned to face the rack.

There were a few staves displayed there, although Joseph seemed torn between two of them.

Finally, he pulled them both down and turned to lay them on the counter.

"Alright, I've got two options, though neither of them are level ten," Jospeh said.

He pointed at the staff to his right, which was a dark chocolate color, with streaks of lighter honey running along the grain.

"This is black walnut, with a tempered bronze core," Joseph said as he ran a hand along the staff, tracing the grain.

"It's been crafted for level twelve, which won't matter much if you're actively delving for levels," he continued.

"Now this one," he turned to place a hand on the staff to his left, "is hickory, and I crafted it for level fifteen, again with a tempered bronze core."

The hickory soft was a warm tan color, with swirls of pale yellow and darker red that followed the twisting grain.

"Either one will do for you, although you'll be feeding a lot more low level crystals into this one," he patted the hickory staff.

"Or," Joseph said, "I could do you a custom staff for level ten, so you're not wasting crystals at all, but that'll take a couple of days."

"May I?" Bob asked as he gestured towards the staves.

"By all means," Joseph said with a smile, "I'd not take your crystals or coin without you getting a feel for it anyway."

Bob picked up the black walnut staff first and slid his hands along its length. It was smooth and cool. He took a quick swing with it and was pleased with its balance.

He placed it carefully back on the counter, and then picked up the hickory staff. It had a slightly rougher texture, but the wood felt warmer somehow. Bob swung the staff and found it to be balanced perfectly.

Bob ran his hands along the staff, feeling the grain twist and turn and swirl.

"This one feels right," Bob said slowly.

"You'll pass it on to your kids one day," Joseph said, his grin widening, "it's all yours for just five hundred crystals."

Bob leaned on the staff and pulled out a pouch from his satchel, then counted out five hundred mana crystals from it.

"Use it in good health, and come back to see me when you've outgrown it," Joseph said as he turned back to his forge, once again taking up the bellows and rhythmically pumping them, bringing the coals to life once more.

"I certainly will," Bob said as he stepped outside the shop and took a good look at his new tool.

Calico Hickory and tempered Bronze Core Staff

Plant-Shaped Staff

- Hickory Hardness Thirty.

- Tempered Bronze Core Hardness Seventy

Grown and Shaped by Helen Alder

Tempered Bronze Core by Joseph Alder

- Magical and Professional Bonus to Spell Casting - 15/15

Professional Bonus by Joseph Alder

Magical bonus by Helen Alder

"Oh my," Bob muttered.

He checked his status again.

Name Bob Level 9 Tier 5 Size 5 Armor Hardness 60 Weapon hardness 50 Str 32 Armor Style 1.04 Weapon type 2 Cord 32 Dodge 59 Spell casting 2 End 32 Int 75 Wis 59 Beauty 14 Health 331 Mana 85 Armor 120.44 Mana Regen 13.4 Spell casting w/Familiar 280.8 Damage 254 Spell Casting 270 Arcane Familiar Bonus 1.04

"Between the enchantments on the armor and the new staff I've nearly doubled my spell casting value," he muttered.

He might need to reconsider the values he'd proposed for the paths, as apparently with a full set of at level equipment, it was possible to eke even more out of them.

He shook his head. They'd already seen the value, a bit more power wouldn't matter.

Bob headed back to the tavern. He might grab a sandwich or two and just eat lunch on his hike.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob walked into the tavern was immediately ambushed by an excited Eddi.

"I did it!" Eddi was practically vibrating, "I got my Summoning School to level five you like said, and I took the option to boost Rexxy's maximum level by twenty-five percent!"

"Well done," Bob said as he started walking over to an empty table with Eddi in tow.

"It's amazing," Eddi gushed, "I'm on level six killing boars and Rexxy is just obliterating them."

"I can imagine," Bob said, "Rexxy is level capped at level twenty, how close is she?"

"Eighteen," Elli said proudly.

"Good work," Bob said, "although I should warn you when Rexxy hits level twenty-five, the push to get her to twenty-six is going to be three hundred and twenty thousand experience."

Eddi's blinked and shook his head.

"That is a lot of monsters," he said solemnly.

"Yes, yes it is," Bob said with a sigh.

"I haven't gotten Jake through it yet, although I'm probably two-thirds of the way there," Bob confided, "So just be aware of that challenge coming up."

Eddi shrugged and said, "I'll get there, Rexxy is the best."

Bob stifled a chuckle.

"Can you let the other Endless folks know? Grayson, Carri, and the others?" Bob asked.

"Sure," Elli said eagerly, "we're all delving on the sixth level of the Dungeon, close enough to each other to help, but not so close as to get in the way."

"Not that we've needed any help," Eddi was quick to add, "but Elli and Harv always say that it's better to be safe than sorry."

"And they are absolutely correct," Bob agreed.

Bob waved Theo over, accepting that he wasn't getting out the tavern any time soon, and settled down to listen to the thrilling tales of Rexxy, the greatest Boar hunter to ever live.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An hour and a half later, Eddi was headed back to the Dungeon for another hour of delving, while Bob was headed east, looking forward to a nice relaxing hike.

Getting out of town wasn't a problem. His portal spell had a range of half a mile, which allowed him to portal out of town and into the woods where he'd last followed a trail that had led him into the mountains.

Bob stepped out of the portal, and stopped, taking a deep breath and enjoying the clean smell of the forest. Holmstead wasn't bad, in terms of odor, and was certainly leaps and bounds over his old apartment building, but this...

Bob carefully brought Monroe out of his inventory and settled the drowsy kitty onto his Makres.

Monroe would no doubt be happy to be in the forest, once he finished waking up.

Bob closed his eyes for a second, just taking in the sounds of the forest.

Opening his eyes, he started to walk up the trail, his new staff making an excellent hiking pole.

It was clearly a game trail, but it was the easiest way to get up into the mountains a bit without magic, which Bob was out here to get away from.

He needed to decompress.

He followed the game trail for half an hour before it split.

A few weeks ago, he'd taken the trail that climbed higher, but today he decided to follow the road stayed even.

He was walking through a copse of birch trees when he heard the distant sounds of falling water.

He smiled as he automatically checked to make sure Monroe wasn't getting into any trouble.

The big cat had a tendency to chase small wildlife, and Monroe had nearly succeeded in getting a squirrel.

Bob kept walking, and the trail started to become steeper, while the now discernable sound of the waterfall became louder.

And then as he stepped around a boulder, Bob was greeted by a swiftly flowing stream that cascaded down a series of short waterfalls before ending in a narrow canyon below.

Bob climbed up onto the boulder and leaned back with his arms behind him as he slowly swept his gaze down the canyon, across the stream, and further up the mountain.

Monroe took Bob's sudden stillness as an invitation and hopped up onto his lap, turning twice before settling down.

As Monroe's purrs rumbled in harmony with the waterfall, Bob considered that he needed to make sure he took time to decompress more often.