"Alright," Bob addressed the group, "it's time to start killing monsters."

He looked over at the group carefully. They looked ready, armed, and armored.

"Follow me," he said as he walked down the stairs.

Descending the stairs, Bob was pleased to see that the first floor of his Dungeon was almost as he'd left it. The only thing that had changed was that the floor was now covered in a soft carpet of moss, which crept up nearly a foot on the columns.

That, and the Doberman-sized tusked squirrels.

"Dave, as the DM, you're first up," Bob bellowed.

Dave walked up next to him, shifting his staff from hand to hand.

"You see that monster over there?" Bob asked, pointing to his left where a monster idly paced between a column and the wall. "I want you to go over there and beat it to death with your new stick."

"Just hit it with my staff?" Dave asked.

"Nothing to it," Bob assured him, "probably take three of four good hits. Try not to get eaten, but if it does eat you, I'll heal you up," he promised.

"Right," Dave muttered, "don't get eaten." He walked cautiously over towards the monster; his staff held warily in front of him as he advanced.

The moment he was within ten feet of the monster, it whirled to face him, let out a furious squeal, and charged him.

Dave froze for a crucial moment before pushing his staff in front of him to fend off the monster while taking a step to the side. The monster barely noticed the staff in its way and very nearly caught Dave's leg with a vicious tusk. It stopped its charge a few feet past Dave and swiveled, lunging forward and lifting its head in an attempt to catch him in the groin.

Dave pivoted on his rear heel, spinning away from the blow and bringing his staff down in a two-handed overhead blow that landed solidly on the monster's back. The monster staggered, and Dave stepped forward, placing himself alongside the of it, where he delivered a brutal kick that sent the monster to the ground, where it slid a few feet away from him. Taking advantage of the space between them, Dave lunged forward as the monster struggled to its feet, delivering a devastating blow to its neck, knocking it flat again.

Keeping his distance, Dave delivered a pair of quick blows to the head that kept the monster reeling before it fell flat upon the floor.

Dave cautiously poked at the monster with his staff.

"Come on back," Bob boomed as Dave stood transfixed as the monster dissipated into nothingness.

"Good job," Bob congratulated him as he walked back over to the group where Amanda quickly latched on to him, squeezing him tightly.

"That was scary," Dave admitted.

"That's going to be a common theme," Bob replied, "I've told you all about the powers you're going to possess, and I'm sure you've all imagined how amazing that will be."

He waved his arm towards the Dungeon. "But this is the price," Bob growled. "Every monster you kill down here is one less monster that appears in someone's basement or under someone's bed. We aren't doing this recreationally or for fun. We're doing it because we all have someone we love that we don't want to see eaten by monsters."

"This is the harsh reality of living under the System," Bob raised his voice, "the sure and certain knowledge that if Adventurers don't keep mana free and circulating, by killing monsters, that their community will suffer as their friends and family are slaughtered by monsters."

He drew in a deep breath and continued, "I wish the System wasn't coming to Earth. But it is! There is no escape, no respite to be found!"

"You have all volunteered to step forward and stand tall, paying the price of blood so that others might live," Bob bellowed, "this is your first step of many. You just saw Dave handle a monster, so pick one and start killing!"

The group scattered, each person moving towards a monster. He noted that for all his bluster, Jack was hesitant, as was Lakisha. Fortunately, the monsters they approached had no such reluctance.

Amanda was gasping for breath as she brought her staff down, crushing the skull of another monster.

Bob's voice boomed across the Dungeon. "Strike, move, strike! Keep moving!"

She would have groaned as she lifted the staff that had seemed to have developed a core of solid lead, except she didn't have the breath to do so.

Amanda had no idea where the awkward, socially anxious Bob had gone, but he'd been replaced by some sort of demonic drill instructor. "The only pain that matters is the pain you inflict!"

She stepped to the side and brought her staff around in an underhanded blow, lifting the freshly spawned monster that was charging at her off the ground with the strength of the blow and knocking it onto its side. She slammed her staff into the monster's skull twice in rapid succession, killing it.

Turning, she took five steps forward, drawing the attention of the dobber squirrel boar hybrid next to the nearest pool.

She'd mentally dubbed them Doarrels. It charged towards her with a barking squeal, tusks lowered. She took two more steps forward, bringing her staff around for a mighty two-hand swing.

Amanda couldn't help but think that she was getting rather good at timing her swings, despite her tired muscles. Shortening her last step ever so slightly, the bronze shod end of her staff cracked into the side of the monsters head, knocking it off its course and allowing her to spin out of the way, bringing the momentum of the spin into the next blow, the force of the blow shattering ribs and knocking the Doarrel down. Another pair of quick strikes to the head, and she was heading back to the first spawn point where another Doarrel had just formed.

"The first rule of delving the Dungeon is Caution!" Bob bellowed.

She let out a groan. Bob had to be using some sort of magic. There was no way he could have kept bellowing that loudly without tearing his chords.

As Bob went through another repetition of his rules, she kept swinging her staff. A Doarrel had caught her earlier, a sharp tusk slamming through her thigh, and she had no desire to repeat that experience. Bob had healed it in an instant, but the memory of the pain was still fresh.

"ABK!" Bob screamed, "Always Be Killing!"

She wanted to laugh; she really did. She just didn't have the breath to spare.

Sometime later, she didn't know if it was minutes or an hour, Bob's endless repetition of the rules, exhortations to kill monsters to save their loved ones, and catchphrases ended as he bellowed "Back to the entrance everyone, disengage carefully!"

Amanda could weep for joy if she had any moisture left in her body. She staggered back to the entrance where Bob was standing.

She and Dave leaned against each other for support. Her entire body was screaming at her to lay down and rest.

"Head on upstairs and clean up; we'll meet in the tavern in fifteen minutes," Bob smiled, stroking his enormous cat.

Dave's groan echoed her own.

"You all did fairly well," Bob said as the group took their seats around a table, eagerly downing the glasses of water laid out for them.

"There was some hesitation and more than a few mistakes, but I think a big part of that is cultural. I know when I first started delving the Dungeon, the fact that I hadn't been a physical fight for a decade was a hindrance," Bob shook his head ruefully. "Ideally, as spellcasters, you won't be taking hits from the monsters, but the mistakes happen, and seeing your guts looping out of a gash across your stomach is something that society has told us is a deathblow."

He leaned forward, rapping a knuckle on the table for emphasis. "That's a mindset you need to discard. You can heal from just about anything here."

"Hell," he chuckled, "if you pick up Rise from the Ashes, literally any blow is survivable."

"So let's review," Bob pointed at Dave, "Dave, what did you do wrong, what can you do to improve?"

"I was indecisive," Dave replied, "it took me a dozen monsters and a nasty gash to my arm to really commit."

The group nodded as one. "Also, while I did spend a few years learning Tae Kwon Do, I'm hardly a trained fighter," Dave continued, "I was just swinging my staff like a huge stick."

"As for how to improve, I guess more practice fighting monsters to work past that hesitation, and a bit of training on how to use my staff as more than a club," Dave finished.

Bob nodded, "You'll have plenty of practice killing monsters," Bob stated firmly, "and while I'd like you to learn how to use your staff, the truth is you're going to be killing monsters with your summoned creatures starting tomorrow morning."

"Really?" Jack asked eagerly.

"Really," Bob confirmed. "I need to have you working at grinding up your Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell as soon as possible because that is the key to both leveling and survival all wrapped up in one."

He tossed a pouch in front of each member of the group. "These are the mana crystals you gathered today. The average for the group was one hundred and twenty-three, with the lowest being one hundred and twenty and the highest being one hundred and twenty-nine. That works out to about 10 crystals an hour, which isn't bad for beating the monsters to death with sticks."

"Those," he gestured to the pouches, "represent your first two levels, and half of the cost of your armor, even after paying the King of Greenwold his ten percent."

He grinned widely, "Not bad for your first day's work, eh?"

Bob leaned back in his chair. "That being said, I kept you down there longer than you should have been. By the end, you were probably starting to experience a low-grade headache, elevated heart rate, and perhaps a touch of nausea?"

"I thought I was just exhausted," Tony admitted.

"You definitely were," Bob replied, "But more than that, you were experiencing the effects of continued exposure to mana density greater than your own."

"Realistically, for every hour you spend in an area with mana density greater than your own by one level, you need to spend two hours recovering outside of it," Bob explained, "so if you delve for eight hours, you need to spend sixteen hours out of the Dungeon before you go back in."

"This gets worse as you delve deeper. If I had you delving another four levels down, you'd need to spend six hours recovering," Bob continued, looking at each member, in turn, to make sure he had their undivided attention. "This can kill you," he said seriously, "you can have a heart attack or stroke out. It also manifests as psychosis, which can lead to ignoring the symptoms."

Bob shook his head, "Take it from someone who learned the hard way, don't ignore the necessary downtime."

"Twelve hours was a bit much," Lakisha agreed.

"Ok," Bob's demeanor brightened, "let's talk about leveling up!"

Jack and Vera both cheered.

"So, attribute distribution!" Bob grinned, "The Path of the Endless Swarm doesn't have any attribute requirements, but it does require you to have your tier, or five, Mana-Infused Creatures summoned with persistent effect."

"That means that you're going to need a shed load of mana to qualify for the path. Mana is an aggregate of Intelligence and Wisdom, so you'll want to raise both of those, but at the same time, you can't neglect your Endurance, as it plays a role in your ability to resist the effects of mana density disparity, as well as your health, which keeps you alive," Bob paused for breath.

"I recommend placing one point in Endurance, and four points in Intelligence each level until you reach five," Bob continued, "when you reach level five, allocate your twenty-five point bonus to Wisdom, and going forward from there, you can assign one to Endurace, and two to Intelligence and Wisdom each level."

"Now you may have noticed that you will have thirty-two mana at level five with this strategy," Bob went on, "which isn't enough to summon out five monsters under persistent effect. You'll need to borrow some gear from me that increases your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Mana."

"Buffs!" Tony chuckled happily.

"Yes," Bob acknowledged, "you're able to utilize both a professional and magical enhancement up to your level. So that's ten points to each of those or twenty total points of mana. By casting your Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell with barrage and effect over time, you're using three points of mana. Casting it as a persistent effect locks away the cost of the spell times ten, so you lock away thirty mana."

"If you spend another two points of mana in barrage, you increase the cost of the spell to five, and thus the persistent effect to fifty, but you gain another pair of monsters, one for each point of mana you placed into barrage, and you then meet the requirements to take the path," Bob finished.

"How the hell do paths even work?" Dave asked wearily.

"That's a complicated answer for another day," Bob replied, "I found the Path of the Endless Swarm in a book."

Dave nodded as he slumped forward, leaning his head on his hands.

"So, starting with Dave before he passes out," Bob joked, "what are you planning to summon for your Mana-Infused Creature?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Dave grumbled as he sat back up wearily, "what do you use?"

Bob's grin turned sharp as he gestured to his right, bringing out Jake in all his level sixty-two glory.

"Jesus Fucking Christ!" Tony yelled as everyone scrambled back out of their chairs.

Jake looked around at the group hungrily.

"This is Jake, my UtahRaptor," Bob motioned to the raptor, standing and reaching up to smooth Jake's plumage.

"He's a very clever boy."

"Forget summoning a bear," Jack breathed, "I'm summoning a T-Rex!"

Bob started laughing, leaning against Jake. "Oh," he wheezed out, "I've got to introduce you to Eddi."