Bob was in the tavern eating lunch and going over his math.

Four hours on the twenty-third floor of the Dungeon had netted him only one hundred and fifty-four crystals.

He had managed to increase the level of his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell to level forty-five.

Bob shook his head.

He needed to at least push himself to level eighteen, which at eight hundred crystals would take him six days.

The truth was that while delving five deeper than his level was optimum for generating experience, which was terribly important given the wall his UtahRaptor would need to push through at level fifty, it didn't generate a lot of crystals as it severely limited the amount of time he could delve for.

Assuming he delved for four hours a day, every day, and only advanced to level eighteen, he would need twenty days to push his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell to level forty-nine.

The breakthrough to fifty would just have to wait. In those twenty days, he could expect to generate around three thousand mana crystals.

Bob was going to need thirty-two hundred crystals to increase his level to twenty-two, at which point he would be able to spend eight hours a day on the twenty-third floor without suffering any mana density related issues.

He should be netting three hundred or more crystals a day at that point, so he would need fourteen days to gather the four thousand crystals he'd need to have a new set of gear crafted and enhanced, as well as the eight hundred crystals needed to take twenty-three.

At that point, Bob expected to be able to delve to the twenty-sixth floor of the Dungeon and kill several thousand monsters to see if there were any Affinity Crystals on that level.

If there weren't twenty-seven and twenty-eight awaited him.

It was still better than a month out though, and Bob was aware that he needed to get things moving along.

The good news was that his pamphlets should be finished by the time he was delving for Affinity Crystals.

Bob was taking another bite of stew, lost in thought when Bailli sat down next to him and reached out to stroke Monroe, who had finished his lunch already and was lounging in the middle of the table.

"Afternoon Bob," Bailli said, "this is your first day delving again, right?"

Bob smiled at Bailli and nodded, "It is, and thank you again for the advice," he replied, "I'll be careful not to delve too deeply for too long."

"Although," Bob sighed, "it's going to be another month before I'm able to start delving for Affinity Crystals."

Bailli smiled back and started rubbing Monroe's cheeks as she said, "You do know that there will be other people delving for those Affinity Crystals as well?"

She shook her head still smiling, "The Endless Swarm Pathers are leveling quite quickly as a group," she switched to rubbing Monroe's ears, "in fact, they are on the thirteenth floor right now, leveling up their Summon Monster spells."

Bob nodded as he pushed his now empty bowl away and joined Bailli in proper Monroe veneration.

"Those kids are going to be devastating," Bob said with a shake of his head, "I've done the math, and while they won't have the same versatility of power when it comes to killing monsters, they are going to be peerless."

"I've been meaning to ask," Bailli said quietly, "why didn't you take the Endless Swarm path?"

Bob replied in an equally low voice, "Thidwell asked me to take a Curator path so that I can watch the Dungeon while he reincarnates on a tier six path with Affinity Crystals."

Bob leaned forward and continued, "I owe him, and this is what he asked me for."

"Besides," Bob smiled, "the path I took is powerful in its own right."

He leaned back and let out a sigh, "Or it will be once I level up all my other spell schools and spells, something I'll have plenty of time to do while I'm gathering Affinity Crystals given their one in a couple thousand coalescence rate."

Bailli nodded sympathetically and replied, "It's going to take a while," she acknowledged, "but every person who gets an Affinity crystal is one person who is going to be gathering them."

Bob nodded in agreement and said, "I know the number of people gathering them is going to grow exponentially, it's just getting enough of them to start that trend."

"I'm sure you and Monroe will manage," Bailli said with a smile, "although sooner is better than later, you know I'm looking forward to having a kitty of my own."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Six days, twenty-nine thousand and fourteen Rhinogators, and nine hundred and fifty-seven mana crystals later, Bob was stretching after increasing his level to eighteen.

He'd regained Summon Amber, which he no longer needed and didn't particularly want, as well as Spatial Enlargement, Size Alteration, Bands of Confinement, Root, and Eldritch Aura.

System Help, Magical School of Dimension Spatial Enlargement Skill. This skill allows the user to increase the internal area of an enclosed space by the user's caster value divided by ten and expressed as a percentage. The enclosed space can be of any size as long as it has defined boundaries and be closed off. The mana cost for this spell is one mana per second System Help, Divine School of Animal, Size Alteration Skill. This skill allows the user to increase or decrease the inherent bonuses granted by size to movement, reach, health, and melee/missile by the user's caster value divided by sixteen. This skill can never reduce a target to a size smaller than one. The mana cost for this skill is one mana per second System Help, Magical School of Conjuration, Bands of Confinement Skill. This skill allows the user to project a set of bands of Eldritch Force, which entangle the target with a strength score of the user's caster value divided by five. The bands are physical projectile of force that can be dodged, however attempting to parry the bands ensures entanglement. The mana cost for this skill is one mana per second System Help, Divine School of Plant, Root Skill. This skill allows the user to root themselves, if they were not already able to do so, providing them a bonus to the user's Endurance and Strength attributes equal to the user's caster value divided by eight. User's already able to naturally root may use this skill to increase their natural bonus by the amount listed above. The mana cost of this skill is one mana per second. System Help, Magical School of Conjuration, Eldritch Aura Skill. This skill allows the user to surround the target with an aura of Eldritch energy, damaging anything that touches the target. The damage dealt is equal to the user's caster value divided by two, and is kinetic energy. The mana cost of this skill is one mana per second.

Keeping his spells up to level was going to take a long time, and require the sacrifice of millions of monsters.

Fortunately, Bob was going to need to kill thousands of monsters to obtain a single Affinity Crystal, so he planned to take that opportunity to make sure all of his spells were leveled up.

Those weren't the only gains he'd made. By sitting on his terrarium during combat, he'd managed to eke a small amount of experience towards the spells.

Enough to reach the first tier threshold, which generated a series of System prompts.

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

Bob had chosen the option to increase all the skills maximum levels by ten percent.

He'd be able to increase it again when the schools reached level ten, and then a third time when they reached fifteen, although that was admittedly a terribly long way away.

Considering Jake had reached level forty-five and was quite close to forty-six, Bob wasn't displeased by the progress he'd made.

He'd developed a pattern of having lunch with Bailli one day, then Harv and Elli the next, and Kelli the following.

It was nice to have someone to talk to, Bob thought as he walked towards the Dungeon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob was so very tired of killing Rhinogators.

Twenty more days had passed, and each day was the same.

He woke up before dawn, showered, cooked breakfast, fed himself and Monroe, and then cleaned up after himself.

He would then portal down to the plaza and enter the Dungeon for four monotonous hours of Rhinogator eradication.

Then he'd enjoy lunch with one of his friends before portaling back home and printing out pamphlets until dinner.

After dinner, he and Monroe would go for a hike until the sun started to set, at which point Bob would portal home and settle down to sleep.

Killing Rhinogators was boring.

Throughout the twenty days, Bob had kept a Spatial Enlargement spell cast on his satchel, while rotating through all of his other spells in an effort to increase them to match his level.

It had been quite effective.

His Mana Sight, Health Drain, Stamina Drain, and Mana Drain Spells were level eighteen, as were Size Alteration and Polymorph, although Root had fallen a touch short at seventeen.

He had managed to increase his Spatial Enlargement and his Eldritch Shield skills to level twenty-five, as was his Summon Mana-Infused Object skill.

All of this paled in comparison to his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell reaching level forty-nine.

Summon: UtahRaptor(Jake) Tier: 5 Size: 5 Level: 49 Weapon Hardness: 32.4 Hide hardness: 21.6 Strength: 334 Mana: 237 Armor: 1621 Coordination: 334 Stamina: 721 Claw Damage: 2978 Endurance: 224 Health: 26138 Bite Damage: 2816 Intelligence: 110 Movement: 1473 Wisdom: 110 Dodge 1654 Fleetness 2 Beauty: 116 Summoning Mastery 2.16 Caster Value / 2 210 Arcane Familiar Bonus 0.16 Natural Attack 2 Abjuration Affinity Dimensional Affinity Natural Armor 2 Reinforce Armor Disruptive Strike Dodge 2 Eldritch Shield Flight Toughness 1.1 Teleport

He'd picked up an additional three thousand seven hundred and twenty-six crystals, which left him with a tidy three thousand five hundred and eight level twenty-three crystals in total, more than enough to increase his level to twenty-two and leave him working towards his new suit of armor.

As Bob watched the sunrise, he contemplated the upcoming wave.

The leaves had started to turn weeks ago, and the mornings had passed from brisk and into the realm of cold.

His evening hikes were ending earlier and earlier, and chatter in the Adventurers Guild was that with the equinox coming, they were only a couple of weeks away from the wave.

Bob was pretty sure that he wanted to be on a floor that was known to have Affinity Crystals when the wave rose.

In this case, that meant the twenty-seventh floor of the Dungeon and Summoning Affinity Crystals.

Of course, he would want to have a freshly enhanced suit of armor to help keep him safe.

That meant raising his level to twenty-two this morning, and then spending eight hours a day gathering the crystals he would need for the armor, and to level to twenty-three.

"Just a few more days of Rhinogators," Bob muttered as he hauled himself out of the chair.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

System Help, Divine School of Elemental Fire, Create Fire Skill. This skill allows the user to create Fire. The Fire created behaves as if it were natural Fire. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second. System Help, Divine School of Elemental Water, Create Water Skill. This skill allows the user to create Water. The Water created behaves as if it were natural Water. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second. System Help, Divine School of Elemental Earth, Create Earth Skill. This skill allows the user to create Earth. The Earth created behaves as if it were natural Earth. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second. System Help, Divine School of Animancy, Anima Blast Skill. This skill allows the user to repair damage dealt to living creatures. This spell can only replace missing materials when used with a number of seconds equal to the tier of the caster. Ritual Magic does not have this restriction. The effect of the repair is equal to the user's caster value divided by two. The mana cost for this spell is one mana. System Help, Magical School of Abjuration, Resist Fire Skill. This skill allows the user to reduce the amount of Fire damage taken from either direct or environmental effects. The value of the damage reduction is equal to the user's spell caster value divided by two. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second. System Help, Magical School of Abjuration, Resist Cold Skill. This skill allows the user to reduce the amount of Cold damage taken from either direct or environmental effects. The value of the damage reduction is equal to the user's spell caster value divided by two. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second. System Help, Magical School of Abjuration, Resist Acid Skill. This skill allows the user to reduce the amount of Acid damage taken from either direct or environmental effects. The value of the damage reduction is equal to the user's spell caster value divided by two. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second. System Help, Magical School of Abjuration, Resist Lightning Skill. This skill allows the user to reduce the amount of Lightning damage taken from either direct or environmental effects. The value of the damage reduction is equal to the user's spell caster value divided by two. The mana cost of this spell is one mana per second.

Bob reviewed his new spells.

He'd picked up the Divine School of Animancy, because being in a world where you could heal, and choosing not to have that capability was foolish.

He'd also picked up Area of Effect and Spell Sculpting, the former allowing him to blanket an area in a spell, and the later allowing him to shape what parts of that area were impacted.

The elemental creation spells would be important when the time came to build his Dungeon.

Trebor had advised that the elemental resistance spells would be absolutely necessary.

Just a few more days of Rhinogators.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It had taken more than a few days.

Nine days later, with eighty-seven thousand six hundred and two Rhinogators killed, Bob had finally activated the gateway to leave the twenty-third floor of the Dungeon for the last time.

He'd gathered three thousand and sixty-six mana crystals, which placed him at four thousand one hundred and seventy-four crystals in total. Eight hundred to level to twenty-three, and thirty-two hundred to upgrade his armor, and he'd still be sitting a bit under two hundred crystals.

Bob nodded to Austan as he headed across the plaza.

He was headed to see Gary.

Bob hurried to Nikki's and stepped into the shop and heading towards the counter where Gary was talking to a young woman about a satchel.

Waiting a few paces away, Bob reached up to pet Monroe, who had come out of his inventory now that they were out of the Dungeon.

Monroe had been more than a little tired of the twenty-third floor as well.

Gary finished up his sale and waved Bob and Monroe forward as the young woman slung her satchel over her shoulder and headed out of the store, whistling something light and airy.

"Gentlemen," Gary said jovially as he stretched across the counter to rub Monroe's ears.

"Good afternoon," Bob said with a weary smile, "I've come for an armor upgrade."

"Really?" Gary said happily, "what level crystals do you have?"

"Twenty-three," Bob replied.

"Well, that will be quite the jump for you," Gary said, "are you looking for a completely new suit, or do you want us to upgrade the one you have?"

"I have to warn you that with the wave coming up, we may not have enough time to finish a new suit," Gary warned, "but I know we can have your current armor upgraded by the end of tomorrow."

"I'll upgrade," Bob said and he slid Monroe off the Makres and onto the counter, where Gary was quick to reach down and rub his cheeks.

Storing the armor in his inventory, Bob equipped one of his Makres shirts, and hefted Monroe back up before dumping his armor out of his inventory and onto the counter.

"Same enhancements just at twenty-three?" Gary asked.

Bob nodded and shuffled a pouch with thirty-two hundred mana crystals in it onto the counter.

Gary swept both the armor and the pouch up and shot Bob and Monroe a grin as he said, "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon," before heading towards the workshop.

Bob gave him a smile in return and headed for the door.

He was going to enjoy dinner at the Adventurers Guild with Harv and Elli this evening.