Bob awoke suddenly as a massive paw experimentally tapped his face.

Monroe sat up like a gopher next to his bed and had reached out to paw at Bob gently.

"I'm up, I'm up," Bob muttered as he sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed to place his feet on the floor.

Monroe chuffed, a new habit he'd developed after reaching his level cap, and hopped up on the bed, paced back and forth twice, and then curled up in the warm spot where Bob had been laying moments ago.

"Good morning, buddy," Bob said as he reached out and scratched the back of Monroe's neck.

Standing up, Bob stretched as he walked to his sunroom.

He'd definitely overslept.

The warning bell had rung at just before two am, and by the time he'd gotten home, it had been after four-thirty.

Bob settled into a chair and kicked his feet up on the railing, basking in the warm sunlight.

He wasn't sure how many monsters he'd killed yesterday.

When everything was said and done, he'd picked up eight hundred and ten mana crystals and seven Summoning Affinity Crystals.

His experience bar that tracked Jake's progression to his next level was almost at a fifth.

At least now he knew the trick to have Jake do more damage. And at some point, take less.

He knew that he should go down to Holmstead and check in with his friends, but he wasn't quite ready to give up his nice warm chair in the sun.

With the wave over, he knew he needed to head to Harbordeep and gather the Affinity Crystals for Thidwell.

Bob wasn't really looking forward to that. It was amazing how comfortable he'd become with having his home. It hadn't even been two months yet, and he was going to miss it.

He closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift.

They drifted towards his plan to save the population of Earth.

He'd wanted to place people in orbit, where negligible gravity would prevent monsters from spawning, even during the tide that would erupt when the System finished integrating into his universe.

But the logistics weren't working out.

So he was revising his plan.

People couldn't stay on Earth; that was a death sentence.

Orbit wasn't an answer, not with that many people.

So, Occam's razor.

He would need to bring them to Thayland, temporarily, to ride out the wave.

While he would need to ritually open many portals from Earth to Thayland, not needing to deal with the rigors of space would significantly reduce the mana crystal requirements.

He was still in the planning stages, but his current idea was to find a valley somewhere further east and build a massive but shallow Dungeon and a town made up of Spatially Enlarged crates. He was still in the daydreaming stages in regards to the town design.

In his mind, he had a warehouse carpeted with crates, each one opening from the top, and having a ladder descending into the vastly expanded living space. With walkways and multiple levels of the warehouse, he could house a lot of people. Each crate would still need an air, water, and temperature charm as well.

It would take a long time if he didn't have any help.

Bob had thought of a way to recruit some help.

It wouldn't take too much to determine an amazing path and then offer the secret of that path and the affinity crystals it would require in exchange for working on his project for a while.

If worse came to worse, and the countdown started, he could always open a portal to Earth and recruit there.

At some point, he was going to have to do so anyway.

There was no way that he would be able to portal back to Earth and convince seven billion people to follow him through a portal.

He would need to grab some charismatic leaders, maybe some celebrities, show them Thayland, and explain what was coming and what they needed to do.

Bob had resigned himself to recruiting some people from other countries and letting them handle things.

He knew that he wasn't going to be able to save everyone.

There were still too many parts of the world where global communications didn't exist for the population at large. They wouldn't know.

There were still a few large theocracies, and they weren't going to accept what would be heresy to them. They wouldn't believe.

And then there was the fact that he was telling people to leave their entire lives behind them based on his word alone.

No, he wasn't going to be able to save everyone. He'd be doing well to get half.

He wasn't even sure he'd get that.

He might not need that many crates.

Bob shook his head and opened his eyes, trying to pull himself out of his thoughts as they took a dark turn.

He stood up from his chair and went to check on Monroe.

A little playtime with his buddy would chase away the grim thoughts.

~ ~ ~ ~

Bob walked into the tavern two hours later and spotted Harv, Elli, and Bailli sitting around a table.

He angled over and claimed the remaining seat.

Monroe pushed himself off the Makres, stepping gingerly around plates and mugs before flopping bonelessly down on the tabletop.

"Glad to see everyone is safe and whole," Bob said as he reached out to scratch Monroe's chin.

"And you," Harv said as he pulled his plate a little closer to himself.

"It was a clean wave," Elli grunted between bites.

Bailli nodded and took a drink before adding, "We didn't lose anyone; Austan said no one even had to come to the plaza for healing."

"I had a bit of a tough time on the twenty-seventh floor," Bob admitted, "but part of that is my own foolishness."

Elli cracked a smile and asked, "How so?"

"When I first started looking into summoning, I was told that the summoned monsters would only have access to the skills that I had," Bob said ruefully, "but in all the hurry and rush and stress," he smiled at Bailli, "and yes the incredibly long delves I was putting in, it sort of slipped my mind."

"I never picked up the melee skill," Bob finished.

Harv and Elli both laughed while Bailli looked at him in astonishment.

Bailli shook her head and said, "I can't believe you've gotten this far without that."

Bob shrugged and replied, "It would have been important to have, but I'll pick it up shortly."

"In the meantime," he grimaced, "I'm hoping that all the kids who took the Endless Swarm path knew to take that."

"They did," Harv confirmed, "I talked to Eddi, and all of the kids took that at level seven."

"Figures," Bob muttered, "I've just been brute forcing it."

He shook his head and dug into his satchel, pulling out a Summoning Affinity Crystal, which he slid across the table to Elli.

"I imagine you'll need one of these if you and Harv are going to reincarnate soon," Bob said.

Elli palmed the crystal and then pocketed it with a nod of thanks as he chewed.

"That we will," Harv said, "in fact, we were planning on doing so tomorrow."

Elli took a drink and added, "Thanks Bob, I don't think Thidwell has any more of these."

"I have seven more of them," Bob said, "which isn't nearly enough, but I'm pretty sure Thidwell wants me in Harbordeep immediately, so I imagine I'll be heading there soonish."

Harv leaned forward a bit and quietly asked, "You're going there for the Elemental Affinity Crystals he needs, right?"

Bob nodded.

"According to him, they're on the twenty-sixth through the twenty-ninth floors," Bob said, "so once I pick up the ones from the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh floors, I can advance to twenty-five, where I'll pick up the melee skill."

Harv shook his head, "It's mad that you've advanced so quickly," he said.

"Have you given any thought to your path of apotheosis?" Bailli asked.

"Path of apotheosis?" Bob asked quizzically.

"When you advance to tier six," Bailli said.

Bob looked around the table.

"I thought I just advanced to tier six by absorbing a truly ridiculous number of mana crystals," Bob said hesitantly.

Bailli looked over at Harv, who shrugged and said, "We didn't really cover it."

"No path, Matrix damage, had to save this handsome fellow," Elli added as he reached out to give Monroe a nice slow stroke, "we didn't really see him reaching level twenty-five this rapidly."

"Alright," Bob said, "so what exactly does advancing to tier six entail then?"

"Well," Harv said, "as Bailli said, you have to choose a path of apotheosis, as you are effectively working towards changing yourself into a higher tier species."

"Hold up there," Bob said as he raised his hands, "are we talking about becoming a dragon or something?"

"That's not an uncommon path," Bailli said, "mostly because although they are tier eight, they have a bonus to their life spans, which starts to show when you reach tier seven."

"So people actually turn into dragons?" Bob asked deadpan.

"If you choose that path, then at tier six, you'd start to take on some Draconian characteristics," Harv said, "scales, maybe a tail."

"Wings," Elli said absentmindedly as he ran a comb through Monroe's coat.

"Yes, those as well," Harv acknowledged, "as well as an increase in size."

"Once you reach tier seven," he continued, "you'd be a Draconian, with wings, horns, a tail, and scales."

"Tier eight would see you shift into a Dragon," Harv finished.

Bob looked down at his hands.

"But I like having opposable thumbs," he muttered.

Shaking his head, he asked what seemed to him to be the obvious question.

"Can't I just be a tier six human?"

"That would be a paragon," Harv said, "which is an apotheosis available to any species; it simply makes you... more."

"Thidwell is a paragon," Elli said as Monroe's purr rumbled across the tavern, spurred on by Elli's faithful application of the comb.

"I'm not sure I want to be... more," Bob said.

Bob was pretty sure that being a human being was one of the cornerstones of his identity.

The way his friends talked about just changing who they were was a little unnerving.

"I'll have to give it some thought," he said.

"You've got time," Bailli said, "you'll need sixteen thousand level twenty-six or higher mana crystals."

Theo arrived with a plate of... kebabs?

Chunks of meat interspersed with pieces of onion and something that looked like peppers, skewered on a wooden rod.

"Kebabs?" Bob asked Theo as he placed a serving bowl filled with raw, steaming meat in front of Monroe.

"That's what she called them," Theo said, "although the ones she made had potato rather than meat."

"Ah," Bob muttered, "Amber."

"Exactly," Theo sighed, "why anyone would want to eat camp food when you have a fully stocked kitchen, I'll never know, but she went a little crazy grilling the peppers and onions, and it would have been a waste not use them, so..."

Bob nodded.

Theo gave Monroe a quick head scritch, then hurried back to the kitchen.

"Skewers aren't anything new," Elli said, "but it's pretty odd to have them in a tavern."

Bob took a bite, chewed thoughtfully, and swallowed.

"Tastes fine."

"Back to the more important matter, what do you know about Harbordeep that I should know before going there?" Bob asked the table.

"We've never been," Harv nodded towards Elli, "but I understand that it's the only place to find tier six craftsman and enchanters."

"I've never been either," Bailli admitted, "But Erick says that it's very expensive to live there, with lodging being especially hard to find."

"Doesn't the Adventurers Guild have rooms to rent, as we do?" Bob asked.

Harv shrugged and said, "Best to ask Thidwell; maybe they have a waiting list or something."

"Although," Elli added, "if it is anything like Holmstead, I expect that with the wave over, they'd have room."

"So it's expensive, and I might have trouble finding a room," Bob said.

"Erick said the Cathedral is amazing; you should make sure to see it while you're there," Bailli added.

He shrugged.

"Sounds straight forward enough," he said, "I'll check in with Thidwell tomorrow morning."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later that evening, as Bob lounged in his favorite chair, watching the last rays of the sun skitter off the waterfalls, he decided to do a little research.

"Trebor," Bob said, "please explain all the relevant information regarding paths of apotheosis."

'As you know,' Trebor said, 'advancing to the next tier requires you to make fundamental changes to your species, as by reaching the level cap, you've reached the full potential of your species.'

'The simplest option, and the one that is available for all species, is to become a paragon of your base species,' Trebor explained, 'which provides no bonuses beyond a slight increase in size, and the next tiers attribute bonus and level cap.'

'This can be done once again. However, you then reach a limit, and your third tier advancement would require you to choose another species,' Trebor said.

'Beyond this, and perhaps the most relevant information, is that not all species are created equal,' Trebor stated.

'Any species may have a number of natural affinities equal to their tier, divided by two, plus one,' Trebor said.

"So there are species out there that are tier five, with three natural affinities?" Bob asked.

'Yes,' Trebor replied.

"But humans don't have any," Bob said, "doesn't that make us kind of... weak?"

'From one perspective, yes, it does,' Trebor said blandly, 'however, there is an aspect of natural affinities that must be taken into account.'

'For each natural affinity a species posses, the number of mana crystals required to advance to the next level is doubled,' Trebor said.

"So if I had three natural affinities," Bob said, "which I'm just going to assume are the same thing as the affinities you get from affinity crystals, except you're born with them, it would have required one hundred and fifty mana crystals for the first five levels?"

'Correct on all points,' Trebor said pleasantly, 'and you would need forty-eight thousand mana crystals to advance to the next tier, rather than sixteen thousand.'

"That is..." Bob paused to consider.

On the one hand, a natural affinity made life awesome. You built around that affinity, and you were much more likely to succeed in comparison to a human.

On the other hand, Bob loved math, and he'd done his. The push to tier eight was going to be two million mana crystals. Even at a hundred mana crystals an hour, grinding it out at one level over for maximum kill speed, eight hours a day, every day, it would take twenty-five hundred days to amass that amount.

The guy with the free affinity from birth was going to need twice that.

'That is the reason why humanity is the most populous race in this universe,' Trebor said, 'first and foremost, you can advance much more quickly, and further, by not having a natural affinity, humans are more versatile.'

"When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," Bob said quietly.

He could see that.

If a race had a natural affinity for Elemental Earth, their entire species would focus on that, likely to the detriment of other skills.

"So going paragon keeps the advancement rate nice and fast," Bob said, "while apotheosizing into a species with natural affinities slows you right down, although it provides a power boost."

"And a tier six species could have four natural affinities?" Bob asked.

'Yes,' Trebor replied, 'tiers six, eight, and ten are regarded as the breakpoints where additional affinities are gained.'

"Hypothetically," Bob said slowly, "is there a tier six species with four affinities that is indistinguishable from a human?"

'No,' Trebor stated calmly, 'although there are quite a few that are quite close in appearance.'

"Can you give me an example?" Bob asked.

'Close your eyes,' Trebor instructed.

"Okay..." Bob closed his eyes.

An image of himself appeared in his mind.

Bob frowned. He needed a haircut. Again.

'This is you, as you are now.' Trebor stated.

'And this,' the image's appearance shifted slightly, 'is how you would appear if you apotheosized into the Orl'ind species.'

Bob inspected the image closely.

His facial features were the same, although... no, there were a pair of ridges hidden in his hair, running back along the sides of his scalp and terminating at the base of his skull.

There was also no indication of facial hair.

The rest of his body appeared to be the same, although his fingers may have been just a touch longer.

"And what affinities do they have?" Bob asked as he moved the figure around, checking it from all sides and angles.

'Melee, parry, endurance, and coordination,' Trebor said.

"Wait, you can have affinities for attributes?" Bob asked incredulously.

'Yes,' Trebor replied, 'endurance is one of the most sought after natural affinities, as it effectively doubles the species' natural lifespan.'

'The Draklain engineered the Orl'ind species to be gladiators and soldiers,' Trebor said.

"Engineered?" Bob muttered.

'Yes,' Trebor went on, 'over the course of several thousand years, they provided the humans who populated several of the worlds they ruled over with affinity crystals.'

'Over time, when couples with the same affinity crystal had children, the minimal chance that the child would have a natural affinity based on the affinities the parents possessed bore fruit.'

'Then those humans were bred with other humans who had that natural affinity, and a new affinity until that bore fruit, and so on and so on,' Trebor said.

'From a base population of one point five billion humans, over the course of eight thousand years, the Draklain produced a viable population of just over five hundred thousand Orl'inds,' Trebor finished.

"Alright," Bob shook his head, "So this species has four affinities and looks mostly human."

"How exactly does an attribute affinity work?" Bob asked.

'It doubles the base attribute and any points allocated to it,' Trebor replied.

"So a tier eight species could conceivably have a Strength, Coordination, Endurance, Wisdom, and Intelligence affinity?"

'Yes, although there are less than a dozen species with those natural affinities and none of them humanoid, let alone human.' Trebor stated.

"And where do you find Attribute Affinity Crystals?" Bob asked.

'They coalesce from monsters that are two tiers higher,' Trebor replied.

"So at level twenty-five," Bob said slowly, "I'd need to fight level thirty-seven monsters?"

'Yes,' Trebor stated.

Bob drew in a sharp breath then let it out.

If he somehow managed to cap his Summon Monster spell at sixty-six, once he had the melee skill...

"Does anyone on Thayland know about Attribute Affinity Crystals?" Bob queried.

'No,' Trebor answered, 'the few who know about Affinity Crystals have discovered that the experience gained towards your skills is capped at your tier over your level, so they never had a reason to push themselves so hard.'

'Further,' Trebor continued, 'the coalescence rate for Attribute Crystals is exponentially worse than Skill Crystals, so those monsters slain in a tide haven't provided any either.'

"Alright," Bob said, "back on topic."

"Can you provide a list of tier six species that appear to be human, or very close, with four affinities, one of which being Endurance?" Bob asked.

'I can and have,' Trebor said pleasantly, 'shall we begin?'

Bob smiled and pulled a sheaf of paper and a charpin from his satchel.