"I thought he loved fresh cod?" Sally said sadly as she rubbed Monroe's ruff.

"He does," Bob assured her, "but given his recent attempts to steal my steak, I'd like to have meat chunks instead this evening."

"You just want a little variety, don't you," Sally cooed at Monroe as he began to purr, as if to indicate that he did indeed want a little variety.

"I'll have it right out," Sally said as she gave Monroe one last rub and headed towards the kitchen.

Bob leaned over onto the table, resting his head in his hands, his face inches away from Monroe's.

"I know, buddy," Bob said, "you're the best kitty in the whole world, and you deserve to feast on whatever you'd like."

Monroe crawled forward a bit and nuzzled Bob, rubbing his cheek against Bob's face.

Bob buried both of his hands in Monroe's ruff and nuzzled right back.

"You two are so cute together," Sally said, having returned in record time with their food.

Bob sat up and replied, "He's more majestic than cute," nodding towards the big Maine-Coon, who was stretched out across the table, purring loudly as Bob provided the worship he so justly deserved.

"Seeing you two makes me want to take the Familiar skill," Sally said with a sigh, "but I have to wait until after I have my path, and honestly, a few levels afterward before I'll have the skill to spare for it."

"You don't have to have the Familiar skill to devote yourself to your feline overlord," Bob said with a smile, "I had been Monroe's humble servant for six years before he decided I was worthy of having him as a familiar."

Monroe had sat up during this exchange, his tail swishing and his whiskers twitching, ears perked forward as he regarded the smell of delicious meat chunks wafting from Sally's tray.

"I would love a kitty," Sally said as she deftly slid Monroe's serving bowl in front of him and then served Bob his stew.

She delivered a quick ear scritch to Monroe and headed over to the next table.

"That's right, buddy," Bob said between bites, "we will convert them to the worship of their divine feline overlords, one person at a time."

Bob leaned on his staff as he delivered another trio of raptors directly above an Acid Shambler.

He was focusing on delivering his UtahRaptors via Portal, tossing an Eldritch Blast spell at each Shambler, and rotating an effect over time Anima Blast along with an effect over time Eldritch Shield on each raptor.

His kill speed had become a little irregular, but he was leveling his spells up rapidly. When cast as an effect over time, his Anima Blast was restoring four hundred and sixty-five points of health per second. While not nearly as effective as his Eldritch Shield, which simply absorbed over twelve hundred points of damage, it was a start.

If his math was right, he should be able to reach his first threshold in Conjuration before he finished his delve tonight.

Bob grinned savagely as he saw an Earth Elemental Affinity Crystal on the ground.

A few more days on the next floor down, and he'd be headed home, where he didn't have to worry about random people beating him down because of some perceived social slight.

In a lot of ways, Harbordeep reminded him of Watts, at least from a societal standpoint. Gangs, or Noble Houses, had run rampant and were effectively a law unto themselves. Disrespecting the Gang, or the Noble House, was a sin that was met with swift, violent retribution. And you never quite knew what the capricious Gang members, or Nobles, would consider disrespect.

He'd run afoul of the gangs in Watts a few times, but as he'd been a local resident of no consequence, he'd just been beaten up. Given that most of the gang members who had beaten him had been classmates of his, the difference between a beating at school and a beating on the way home hadn't seemed that terribly different to him. It was only in retrospect that he was able to recognize that the incidents outside of school had had the potential for much more serious consequences.

Bob kept casting steadily, watching as his mana level flirted dangerously with the bottom of the meter.

Just a few more days.

"My mum is alright with it, and she'll convince my dad," Orson told the group as he sat down at the table.

"My parents haven't said it, but they'll be glad to have me out from underfoot," Charn admitted gloomily, "mom is pregnant again, and while I earn my keep, there isn't much room as it is."

Wayna huffed, "My dad is happy to have me out of the city," she grumbled, "I'm convinced he only moved here to make my mother happy, but she wants to meet Bob before I leave."

"I've no one to please but myself," Nora said quietly.

"So we remain in agreement?" Orson asked, "We are going to follow Bob back to his hometown and form an Adventuring party once he's finished shepherding us?"

Charn, Wayna, and Nora all nodded.

"I tried to do a little research on Holmstead," Nora said, "but I wasn't able to find much. It was founded three centuries ago, and it exports lumber, meat, and grain."

"Sounds like we won't be going hungry," Charn smiled, his quiet voice holding a trace of humor.

"What do they import?" Wayna asked.

"Nothing that I could find," Nora replied.

"That's odd," Orson mused, "from what I understand, all but a few of the towns are beholden to Harbordeep for some manner of goods or services that they aren't able to provide for themselves."

"Bob did make some excellent points," Nora said, "being able to keep our expenses low while we equip ourselves, in accordance with rules five and six," she finished with a smile.

"Can you imagine where we'd be if Bob hadn't become a Shepherd?" Nora asked.

"I sort of stalked him, you know," she admitted with a blush, "I saw him outside the Adventurers Guild, and after watching him for a minute, I approached him."

She sighed before she continued, "He was waiting for a party of tier six Adventurers to clear the door, and I told him off for not just moving past them."

Charn and Wayna chuckled while Orson rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know better now," Nora admitted, "but at the time, I was just off my parents' estate..."

She shook her head.

"Anyway, I followed him into the Guild, and when I found out that I'd need a shepherd, I approached him while he was eating dinner and asked him," she finished.

"I would have been in a bad place," Wayna said softly, "my parents are a few years out from having enough crystals for me to take a path, and then where would I be?" she shook her head, "Fighting monsters on the sixth floor of the Dungeon for Crystals, no equipment, skills completely unleveled, with no idea how to fight, let alone any knowledge of what I was fighting."

Orson grimaced and added, "I would have had equipment, but I'd also have unleveled skills and no experience."

Charn nodded, giving silent assent that he wouldn't have been in a better position.

"I looked it up," Nora said, "while I was researching Holmstead, I looked up the survival rate for new Adventurers on the sixth floor of the Dungeon."

"Excluding major merchants and Noble houses, it's forty percent," she frowned, "or I think it is. I was going through the Church's records and looked at those who don't come back up from their delves."

The group sat in silence for a moment as each of them considered that number.

You have reached your tier in the Magical School of Conjuration. Please select from one of the following: All Magical School of Conjuration Skills maximum level increased by ten percent. All Magical School of Conjuration Skills costs reduced by ten percent. Magical School of Conjuration Skill "Eldritch Blast" maximum level increased by twenty-five percent (Conjuration Affinity Crystal). Magical School of Conjuration Skill "Eldritch Blast" costs reduced by twenty-five percent (Conjuration Affinity Crystal).

Bob mentally selected the option to increase the maximum level of his Eldritch Blast by twenty-five percent.

He wasn't sure if he'd ever manage to push the skill that far, as his summoning skill took the lions share of his experience in combat, but even if he could just get at or slightly above his level, he would be able to fill in as a nuker in a pinch.

"Annisa," Bob greeted her, "I had an excellent delve, two hundred and twenty-one crystals, which means forty-five for the king, twelve for the Church, and as always three for you, with my thanks for your diligent vigil over us."

Annisa shook head as she favored Bob with a brilliant smile, "You do almost as well as some groups," she said teasingly, "what is your secret?"

Bob leaned forward, looked around exaggeratedly, and whispered, "Keep all of your skills at their maximum level, and make sure you have good equipment."

Annisa laughed lightly as she asked, "That's all there is to it?"

Bob shrugged and then replied with a question of his own, "How much mana do you have, and what is your mana regeneration?"

Annisa blinked, not expecting him to have taken her question that seriously.

"Let's say over three hundred mana and forty or so," she answered.

Bob blinked and looked at her in surprise.

"I'm not tier five," Annisa said with something that sounded, to Bob, suspiciously like a giggle.

Bob shook his head and replied, "Well, consider this - I utilize the effect over time to skill to summon an animal to fight for me, pushing enough mana into the skill to allow it to continue for forty seconds or so."

"I bring out four of them, and then I place an effect over time Eldritch Shield on them, for only slightly less duration, then an effect over time Anima Blast, again for a slightly lower duration, then I have them attack the target while I cast a damage spell, or directly heal them as needed," Bob explained, "if I time everything correctly, the group can clear a few monsters before they disappear, and during that time I'm standing there, regenerating my mana, tossing a few spells, and starting to summon another pack."

"That's a rather advanced use of effect over time," Annisa said, "as well as an excellent use of multiple lower-level summons to worry down a monster."

"The Curator path offers so many skills," Bob admitted, "and while I admit that it is challenging to keep them all leveled up, if you're patient and follow the rules, a Curator is incredibly versatile."

"I've heard a little about your 'rules,'" Annisa said, "would you mind explaining them to me?"

"I suppose," Bob said, clearly a little uncomfortable with where the conversation was going but not seeing a good way out of it.

Annisa reminded him a bit of Austan, and she seemed to like Monroe.

"The first rule," Bob said, "is caution. You can't let your guard down, or your attention waver in the Dungeon, or the monsters will kill you."

Annisa nodded encouragingly.

"The second rule is humility," he continued, "Don't ever fight when you aren't absolutely certain of winning. Better to retreat than to risk defeat. The monsters will be there tomorrow; they reappear. Dead Adventurers don't."

"The third rule is of delving is skill," Bob went on, clearly warming to subject matter, "If all of your skills aren't fully leveled, you don't delve deeper into the Dungeon, period. Better to fight monsters that won't coalesce into mana crystals than to fight with underdeveloped skills."

"The fourth rule," Bob said enthusiastically, "is knowledge. Never delve onto a floor of the Dungeon without knowing exactly what to expect in terms of flora, fauna, and environment. Someone has been there before, even if it was just the Curator, so arm yourself with that knowledge, as it is every bit as important as your weapons."

"The fifth rule is equipment. Delving without a fully enchanted and enhanced suit of armor and equivalent weapons ought to be grounds for being dismissed from the Guild," Bob stated firmly, "doing so leaves too much on the table in terms of your survivability."

"Finally," Bob continued, "The sixth rule of delving is that you can never, will never, have enough mana crystals, so it's important to delve every day, not only to keep your skills sharp for the inevitable day when only you stand between your loved ones and a wave, but also to keep your equipment as close to equal to your level as you can. It all comes down to putting in the work."

Bob was smiling widely and speaking loudly as he finished, "Those are the six rules of safely delving the Dungeon."

Annisa nodded and said, "We're taught something similar here in the Church, although I don't think I've ever heard it stated quite so concisely before."

"Have to keep it simple for the kids," Bob said agreeably, "their attention span tends to run a little short."

"I've noticed," Annisa replied with a chuckle, "would you mind if I wrote down those rules?"

"Feel free," Bob said, "spread them around; the more kids follow them, the better."

"I'll mark your delve complete," Annisa said, pulling out her ledger, "thanks for keeping me company for a bit; it gets a little dull here."

Bob sketched a half bow, "Any time," he said, before pausing to amend his statement, "or I should say, anytime that I'm not running on three hours sleep and having committed to shepherding two groups that day."

Bob walked out of the Under Cathedral with a smile on his face.

Jakob had hinted that afternoon that he'd be able to arrange for a delve on the twenty-ninth floor tomorrow night.

It wouldn't be much longer before he was back in Holmstead, watching the sunrise from his sunroom.