Bob was watching his freshers battle rats on the fifth floor of the Dungeon.

All three groups had taken their third level, and they were working on increasing their skills in accordance with rule three.

Honestly, it was quickly becoming too easy for them. The Conjurers were killing rats in one blast, the Summoners monsters were stronger than the front line fighters, and the Abjurers shields were so strong that even if a rat hit them, they didn't take any damage.

Bob really wanted to move them down to the boars or even the wolves. But they didn't have enough crystals for a full set of enchanted gear yet. Once they had that, and their skills were capped, he'd be moving them down.

Ideally, with a group, Bob wanted to see them fighting monsters five levels higher. He knew that he'd likely have to wait until they reached level five and had their paths, but he fully intended to have them sweating on the sands of the tenth floor when they were level five.

He wondered how many of them would follow rule four and show up with at least a canteen.

Every single one of them had a lantern on a tripod with them today.

Bob shook his head and refocused his thoughts.

"The first rule of delving is caution! Everything in the Dungeon is here with one single, mindless purpose - to kill you, as quickly and painfully as possible!" Bob said.

"The second rule of delving is humility! You can't win every fight, and a dead Adventurer means civilians will die as well! Don't fight if you won't win!" Bob went on.

"The third rule of delving is skill! If your skills aren't maxed out, focus on them until they are!" Bob kept bellowing.

"The fourth rule of delving is knowledge! Others have gone before you and paid in blood to ensure that you know what you're going to be facing! Don't cheapen their sacrifice by rushing down to the next floor without finding out what's there!" Bob continued.

"The fifth rule of delving is equipment! While I'm glad to see you all at least have armor and weapons, without enchantments, you're still effectively naked! By the stars and stones above, you won't leave this floor until you've earned enough crystals for a fully enchanted set of equipment!" Bob shouted.

"And that leads me to the sixth rule of delving! The golden rule of being an Adventurer! You can never have enough crystals! You'll always be scraping by, which circles back to Bob's basics - ABK, Always Be Killing!" Bob roared.

"You seem to be having too easy of a time!" Bob shouted, "so how about you move down the tunnel another twenty feet, so you can fight them on two fronts!"

Bob cackled gleefully as the kids groaned in unison and started fighting their way down the tunnel.

Bob walked into the tavern, his exhausted freshers leading the way.

Having them move to where they were attacked from both sides had been a great idea. They'd had to split their line, with the summons having to act as a floating tank. The casters had been caught off guard a few times by rats that slipped by the abjurers, and he'd had to drop a shield on them.

Their kill speed had also gone up, which meant more experience and more mana crystals. He figured another two to three weeks would see them set on skills, and they'd be close on crystals. Maybe.

He spotted Harv and Elli sitting at a table and headed over to catch up with them.

Bob reached the table and was sliding Monroe off the Makres when he paused.

There was already a cat in the middle of the table.

Well, a kitten, really, but definitely a small furred mammal of the feline persuasion.

A tiny red tabby cat with huge amber eyes was batting excitedly at a piece of string that was being moved to and fro by Elli.

Bob sat down, lowering Monroe into his lap as he said, "I see you've found your Divine Feline Overlord."

Elli grinned while Harv rolled his eyes.

"I have been chosen by Red Fang the Mighty as her personal servant," Elli said grandly.

Harv sighed and shook his head sadly.

"You should have gotten a dog," he muttered.

"Oh, like you don't attend to his every whim," Elli chuckled.

"Only because he's a good boy," Harv said, lifting what, to Bob's untrained eye, looked remarkably like a golden retriever puppy from his lap.

"So I take it you two are getting ready to reincarnate?" Bob asked.

Harv nodded as he scratched behind the puppy's ears.

"The last batch of freshers finished today," he said with a tired sigh.

"Well, the last batch except for yours," Elli added with a grin.

"We've been hearing stories," Harv continued as his smile grew wider, "about Bob the Shepherd and his Rules for Delving the Dungeon."

Elli pulled out a piece of paper and cleared his throat before intoning solemnly, "The First Rule of Delving is Caution."

"Everything in the Dungeon wants to murder you!" Harv finished, reading from his own paper.

"The Second Rule of Devling is Humility!" Elli stated firmly.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Bob asked.

Harv and Elli both burst into laughter as they handed over the sheets of paper, upon which were clearly written a version of his rules.

"Eddi," Harv chuckled, "he heard that you had rules for delving, so he talked to your freshers and wrote them down."

"I think he wants to have them carved into the wall here in the tavern," Elli agreed happily.

Bob shook his head.

He wasn't comfortable with the whole hero-worship thing.

Bob was well aware that he was, in many ways, broken. Having a kid hanging on your every word was disconcerting.

"So," Bob sighed, "I take it you're both going to accept your... furry overlords and guide them down the path of the Arcanists Familiar?"

"Yep," Harv confirmed, "the benefits are significant, and the truth is," he lowered his voice, "Adventurers often spend a lot of time alone, and having some company is reassuring."

"I know what you mean," Bob said as he looked down at Monroe, who had turned into a puddle of happiness while Bob had idly petted him.

"I missed Monroe so much before I was able to summon him here," Bob said quietly as he focused his attention on Monroe's chin.

"Oh, we know," Elli assured him, "you were more than a bit manic about saving him."

"That's because you're the puuurrrrrrfect kitty cat, aren't you, buddy?" Bob said to Monroe as he moved to rubbing his ears, which finally started the purrmotor as if to confirm that Monroe was well aware of the fact that he was the perfect kitty cat.

"So I was wondering if you two could run my freshers through some basic exercises for a few weeks," Bob said, "not shepherding them, just basic life lessons," he hastened to add.

"I'm going to be covering for Thidwell, and I have a feeling it's going to eat every moment I have," Bob confessed, "and while I don't mind giving the kids a break, I'd like to not have the time wasted."

"What did you have in mind?" Harv asked cautiously.

"Take them hiking, teach them a bit of woodcraft," Bob suggested.

"They all came from Harbordeep, and I doubt they've been out in the woods before, and given that from what I've seen, the vast majority of the continent is forest..." Bob shrugged.

"If they ever find themselves outside the city, it would be nice to know they can not only find their way back but survive for a few days if necessary," he finished.

"I don't see why not," Elli said, "we're only going to be in the Dungeon for two or three hours a day, so we'll have a bit of free time."

"Thidwell signed them all up to stay through the next wave," Harv added thoughtfully, "and to pay back fifty affinity crystals each, so they'll likely be here for a few months beyond that. Might be a good idea to have them get the lay of the land."

Bob nodded his agreement, "I know Thidwell is always looking for Adventurers, and given the conditions in Harbordeep, I can't help but think that some of these kids might decide to make their homes here."

Theo arrived, his tray laden with plates and bowls.

Bob moved Monroe over to the spare chair in front of the serving bowl filled with boar chunks.

Red Fang the Mighty ate in the middle of the table while the unnamed puppy was served on the floor.

Bob set to work on his ham steak.

Bob watched the sunset over murmuring falls.

The ice had started to break up, and the icicles draped over the falls were melting.

"Spring is coming, buddy," Bob murmured to Monroe, who was draped across his lap.

'Trebor,' Bob mentally projected, 'I've been trying for two days now to merge my Eldritch Shield, and Mana Drain spells. What am I missing?'

'The effect you are attempting to achieve relies entirely on your own mana. As you've seen, when you cast a spell, it interacts with and integrates with the mana around you. You need to keep your mana from mixing with the ambient mana,' Trebor advised, 'in short, focus on your matrix manipulation to concentrate your mana, and then use that same skill to ensure your mana doesn't become contaminated.'

'You are trying to project your matrix while protecting it from external effects,' Trebor finished.

Bob frowned.

He cast a persistent effect Mana Sight spell.

Then he cast his Eldritch Shield spell and his Mana Drain spell while focusing on his matrix manipulation.

Sweat beaded on his brow.

It was the mental equivalent of trying to solve two equations at once while driving down the interstate.

After two hours and eight attempts, Bob finally saw the two spells slide into place and immediately felt a massive draw on his mana.

He was shocked to see that his mana bar was down by almost a third.

Equally surprising was that it acted very much like a persistent effect once it was in place, reserving a portion of the mana in his matrix.

'Congratulations,' Trebor said, 'you've taken another step into the wider world of mana.'

Bob shook his head, "That wasn't easy," he muttered.

"And it certainly isn't fast," he added, "I'm glad it's a persistent effect because it took me ten minutes to put it up."

'As you become more practiced, it will be quicker,' Trebor said, 'although historical data suggests that you'll never be able to Mana Shape effectively in a combat situation.'

Bob nodded thoughtfully.

"What about Mana Manipulation? Or even Mana Tracing?" he asked.

'Assuming you spend a great deal of time practicing, you'd be able to use Mana Manipulation in a combat scenario, although the time spent doing so might be better spent on other actions. It would be situational at best,' Trebor advised.

'Mana Tracing would only take an extra second, perhaps two, with skills you'd practiced extensively with, and thus could be quite viable in combat,' Trebor finished.

"So when you told me that using Skills granted by the System, I was using a crude form of magic, you meant this?" Bob asked.

'No,' Trebor stated firmly, 'you are still using Skills created by the System.'

"So, what is the next step?" Bob asked after a deep, calming breath.

'You need to extend your mana out of your matrix, integrate it with the ambient mana, and then form your matrix into the desired effect, thus igniting the mana with your intent and causing the ambient mana to respond in kind,' Trebor explained, 'although you'll find that task quite difficult with the shield you have active that restricts ambient mana from interacting with your matrix.'

"So," Bob said, unwilling to give up on this line of questioning, "In order to cast an Eldritch Blast, I would need to use matrix manipulation to extend my mana out of my body, which I managed to do with the shield, and then blend it with the ambient mana, and finally mentally project my intention through my mana?"

'Yes,' Trebor replied.

"That doesn't sound too hard," Bob said as he slid a sleeping Monroe into his inventory and stood up.

Bob yelped and frantically started casting regenerate on his hand, desperately hoping to regrow his fingertip without having to resort to ritual magic.

As it turned out, trying to integrate your mana into the ambient mana, was in fact, quite hard.

But that was subtraction when compared to the calculus that was pushing your intent through your mana.

He'd finally managed to merge his mana and the ambient mana and then had lost a finger when he tried to shape the mana into the energy needed for an eldritch blast.

An hour and a half later, he was down four hundred mana crystals, but he had all of his fingers back.

"Ok," Bob panted as he admired his freshly regrown fingertip, "What am I doing wrong?"

'Nothing,' Trebor replied, 'you simply need more practice. You are very close to real mana utilization.'

"I'm close?" Bob asked, feeling a surge of excitement.

'Allow me to restate,' Trebor responded, 'When I stated that you were close to real mana utilization, I was referring to the fact that you are only relying on the System for Mana Sight. Once you eschew that and successfully create an intended effect by utilizing your mana and will, you will have truly utilized mana.'

"Oh," Bob groaned.

He'd really thought he'd been close.

Trying to do it without being able to see his mana interact with the ambient mana sounded... well, it sounded absurdly difficult.

"I'll keep working on it tomorrow," he muttered as he headed for the shower.