"There is one more thing," Bob continued, pulling out the Endurance Affinity Crystal from his satchel and passing it around the table.

"It looks like an economy size Affinity Crystal," Dave observed.

"It's an Endurance Affinity Crystal," Bob explained. "It doubles your base Endurance. So if you're tier five, at level twenty-five, instead of your base endurance being thirty, it would be sixty."

"Where can I get a full set of these?" Harv asked before passing the crystal over to Elli.

"Make that two," Elli agreed.

"These coalesce off monsters a full two tiers plus your level over you," Bob explained.

"Those are challenging fights, even for those of us with Affinity Crystals and Arcane Familiars," Bailli said with a grimace.

"And they appear even less frequently than regular Affinity Crystals," Bob shook his head. "I've been grinding for months, and I just found that one."

Dave frowned. "I'm not sure it's worth burning the time to get those before tiering up," he said slowly.

"Maybe gather them on the trip to tier six and then tier seven, so when you reincarnate down at tier seven, you'll have them for it," Amanda mused. "With the increase in mana crystals required to level and tier up at tier seven, assuming two natural affinities, the trip from seven to eight is going to be long."

"Another minor detail," Bob interjected, "is that mana crystals are going to coalesce less frequently. I'm not sure how much less, but less. Also, you won't need to seed Dungeons with Affinity Crystals anymore, they'll appear naturally, and randomly, whenever you're fighting monsters a tier and half your level above you."

"So, once we hit tier seven and head for tier eight, it'll take four times the crystals to tier up, and we'll be earning fewer of them," Mike shook his head and sighed. "Not like it's going to stop us from doing it, but damn."

"How much of this can we share, exactly?" Elli asked.

"About a month before the update, the System is going to send a notification to everyone stating when the update will occur, as well as advising that everyone will need to be in a safe place when it occurs," Bob replied. "I'd say at least wait until that happens, and whatever you do, please don't tell anyone the information came from me."

Harv smiled grimly. "I've developed a bit of a reputation as a researcher, so while still unusual, it'll be somewhat believable," he said. "Which reminds me, Thidwell is starting an academy to teach Shepherds how to train freshers. He built a shallow Dungeon at the edge of Holmstead, complete with a small tower above it with classrooms and a mess hall. Apparently, the legend of Bob has given rise to a whole segment of the younger population who want to be trained by Bob or, barring that, trained by someone who was trained by Bob. He'd like to have you spend an hour a day teaching a class," he finished, "and said he'd be happy to compensate Monroe with free meals for the day from Kevin's kitchen and that he'd work something out for you."

Bob shook his head. "You two did fine teaching me the ropes," he protested. "I know I'm not good with people, and there have to be other competent shepherds besides the two of you."

"It's the Harbordeep effect," Bailli interjected. "What happens in Harbordeep sets the tone for the rest of the Kingdom. Harv and Elli, Corlos and Vivian, they were some of the only active shepherds around. Or at least the only ones who were offered through the Adventurers Guild, and even then, they were just here in Holmstead and part of Thidwell's schemes. There hadn't been a publically available Shepherd in Harbordeep in a decade. The fact you not only didn't charge anything extra was unheard of. Then you didn't just escort them into the Dungeon, you took the time to actually teach them how to not only survive but thrive with your rules." Bailli shook her head. "You don't appear to understand just what that meant, so I'll lay it out for you. More than half those kids you shepherded would be dead by now, were it not for you. They would have scraped up the crystals to pay for a slot and gone in on their own because they couldn't have afforded to pay for a guide. They would have gotten in over their heads, and some of them wouldn't have made it out. What you did started a sort of revolution, where young people aren't willing to start adventuring blindly. Quite a few of the folks who flocked to Holmstead did so because it was where you were from."

"And they've been insisting on 'Bob Trained' shepherds," Elli interjected.

"I'm not saying you should do it," Harv raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just explaining what's happened and why Thidwell is asking you to."

"The thing of it is, once the update hits, Delving is going to change," Bob grumbled. "People will have to retrain themselves to adjust to working in proper groups."

Elli shrugged. "The good ones already do that," he said. "I know you met and worked with a group in Harbordeep that followed the Beacon, Healer, Killer layout. It's widely understood that to progress safely down the deeper floors of a Dungeon, you need a balanced group. Or at least it was until Affinity Crystals became common knowledge."

"Even now, with Affinity Crystals, dedicated Adventurers usually work in groups," Bailli added. "Your insistence on delving alone is an exception to a rather firm rule."

"I'll consider it," Bob replied. "I've been putting in the work, but I'm burning out a little, and it might make a nice break. Back to the matter at hand. The other major change from the update will be a significant reduction in mana regeneration. The System is going to have a customizable heads-up display and a 'Help File' for attributes, attack and defense values, as well as skill descriptions. All of this will require mana to maintain, so part of your regeneration will go towards that. This will have the beneficial, in the eyes of the System, side effect of forcing us to use more mana than we regenerate, thus emptying our matrices and ensuring more mana is circulated."

Bailli winced and shook her head. "That's going to be a problem, or at least an adjustment."

"Believe me, I know," Bob agreed. "I think that the System is going to use one point of regeneration for each school, spell, and modifying skill you have, as well as one for the heads up display."

"Which is what, exactly?" Elli asked.

"Glad I'm not the only one who didn't know," Harv mumbled.

"It's a semi-transparent overlay that appears as part of your vision," Eddi blurted out. "It can show you your health, mana, stamina, and any buffs or debuffs you're currently operating under."

Bob turned to look at Eddi, as did the rest of the table. He wilted under the pressure of their combined gazes. "Wayna is helping her Grandma after her reincarnation, and I started playing some video games," he mumbled.

"As Eddi said," Bob continued, "with the addition that if you're in a group, you'll be able to see the rest of your group's values as well, which will let you know, without having to ask, how much mana or stamina someone has available, as well as if anyone is hurt."

"That's very useful," Bailli conceded.

"It is," Bob agreed, "Although I'm realistically looking at losing more than half of my mana regeneration, all of which leads to the next change, and it's a big one."

"Please tell me there are going to be patch notes," Amanda muttered as she continued to type without looking up.

"I think there will be," Bob admitted. "I know the System is going to message everyone beforehand, and I think it's going to message everyone when it happens, laying out the changes."

"For all we know, that might be standard procedure," Mike shrugged. "It's millions of years between updates, right? So it's pretty unlikely that anyone on Thayland has any record of the last one."

"You're not wrong," Bob nodded. "The big change, mana wise, is that while spells and skills will still require one mana to activate, each Threshold will require an additional mana."

"Stars and stones," Bailli cursed. "That pushes my base cost for Lightning Blast to eleven mana. With my twenty-five percent cost reduction, it'll drop to eight but still," she shook her head. "I normally barrage the spell at my maximum regeneration," she complained.

Bob winced and shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, so there's another thing," he began. "In much the same way that Persistent Effect is capped at a number of uses equal to your tier, the number of times you can apply a modifier to a skill or spell is going to follow that same rule."

"Fuck," Bailli muttered, slumping back in her seat.

"Just remember, it was some weird planeswalker guy who hopped over to Earth and started the process of integration who is to blame for this," Bob grinned. "What I knew wasn't enough to kickstart this update."

"Mate," Jessica flashed him a brilliant smile, "I'm pretty sure some cunts are going to blame you anyway."

"It sounds like the System picked up on the idea of game balance," Amanda grumbled.

"That and it appears to have deduced that humans suck when we don't have to struggle, at least a little bit," Bob explained. "Apparently, once societies reach a certain tier and level threshold, they tend to stagnate. Stagnation does not equal mana circulation, which is the whole point of the System, so it's decided to make sure the struggle stretches across all tiers."

"Ehh," Mike drew the sound out. "Magical healing, reincarnation, effective immortality, and superpowers," he waggled his hand back and forth, see-saw style. "Honestly, what the fuck does it matter if we have to specialize a bit, work together, and work a bit harder for it? If the drop rate on crystals is cut in half, and I need a group of four people to gather them, further reducing my acquisition rate by three quarters, I'm still only going to have to delve for like sixteen hours a week to maintain a rather luxurious lifestyle. I was putting in sixty plus hours a week back on Earth as a detective, and some of my guys were working eighty in order to take care of their families and still barely making ends meet."

The table was silent for a few moments as everyone digested Mike's opinion.

"That's pretty much how I see it," Bob agreed. "I'm a simple man with simple needs, and Monroe is both benevolent and kind enough to overlook the humble nature of my offerings."

Monroe's ears flicked slightly at the sound of his name, but he remained curled up in a purrball, his face covered by his thick fluffy tail.

"Is there any payout?" Dave asked.

"Payout?" Bob asked in return, confused.

"Yeah, payout. If we're spending an extra mana per threshold, and our spells are a lot weaker, overall, what are we getting for that extra mana," Dave expounded.

"Ah, yeah," Bob nodded, "you'll be able to select threshold bonuses. It could be a one-level boost to the spell, or extra damage, or additional effects."

"Do we get to select threshold bonuses past our tier cap?" Bailli asked. "Because at the moment, my cost reduction per threshold caps at tier five, despite my spell being tier eight after my affinity and Icy as my Arcanists Familiar."

'Trebor,' Bob mentally projected, 'is that going to change?'

'No,' Trebor replied. 'The ability to push a skill or spell past the tier cap is so powerful that the addition of threshold bonuses would make the skill or spell overpowered. There have to be diminishing returns of some sort, and this is one.'

"Nope," Bob relayed, "if you want to be capped at tier seven with a level one hundred and thirty-five spell, you'll still only get seven thresholds with it, and yes, you'll pay twenty-one mana to cast it."

He grimaced. "And let us not forget just how much time it takes to grind out those levels," he shook his head. "It took almost a year of sixteen-hour days to grind out my summon monster spell past the tier seven threshold. I don't even want to do the math for what the push to tier twelve as a tier seven would be."

Amanda looked up from her laptop and sat back, her face thoughtful. "I think tier seven is going to be a breakpoint," she mused. "If you do it right, you'll have a triple affinity for whatever you're going to specialize in, which means not only will it take an enormous number of mana crystals to level up, but you'll also have to grind that spell out. You'll have the time to do so, assuming you invest at least one point in Endurance at every level. Like, seven hundred and fifty years. That's also the last tier where you can have kids pretty easily, right?"

Bob nodded.

"I think that the folks who embrace the system and go all out are going to wind up holding there for a while," she finished.

"Any other massive, path-altering revelations?" Bailli asked.

Bob thought for a second. He was pretty sure he'd covered everything. "Nope," he replied, "that's basically it. I'm sure you'll all be busy practicing System-less magic right up through the update."

"Not all of us have mana-sight," Mike shook his head. "Honestly, if you aren't planning to build Dungeons, it's not necessary, and it's not like the Shadowmancy brings a whole lot else to the table. The drain spells are shit, and even the geekiest amongst the Old Guard haven't figured out a way to make them useful in combat." He sighed. "Not that I'm not busy enough as it is."

"How was your date with Annisa?" Amanda asked curiously. "She said you were taking her to Paris," she fanned herself with a hand. "So romantic," she laid another hand across her forehead, and mock swooned into Dave's side.

Bob was surprised to see Mike blush slightly. Despite his reincarnation, Mike still projected the image of the hard-bitten, world-weary detective.

"We visited the Louvre and saw the Eiffel tower all lit up at night," Mike replied. "We ate a meal that cost over a thousand dollars and made me a believer in the hype about french cuisine."

"Why Mike, I never had you pegged as a closet romantic," Jessica grinned. "Good catch on that one, mate, she's a looker."

Eddi looked at Mike with wide eyes. "You were playing hard to get," he said slowly, "playing the long game, they call it."

"No," Mike grumbled, "I was not 'playing hard to get,' I was busy working, and I didn't, and still don't, have time for a relationship, but she ate enough of my time bothering me that I realized it would be less time-intensive to just go on the date."

"I think that's an example of the whole double standard thing," Dave mused. "She got away with her behavior because she's pretty."

"No," Mike replied, "she got away with her behavior because she never crossed the line into actual harassment, and she was useful enough that her presence always came out as a net gain in the wash."

"Or that," Dave agreed with a grin.

"She cast a lot of reincarnation rituals for us," Mike sighed. "And honestly, the date was nice."

"Are you going on another?" Amanda asked.

"Why the interest in my love life, or lack thereof?" Mike asked suspiciously.

"I've got a hundred crystals on you going on three dates before becoming a couple," Amanda replied with a grin.

"I'm at two hundred on four dates before the integration," Dave added.

"You're wagering on my relationship with Annisa?" Mike shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh, he's admitting it's a relationship," Jessica said gleefully. "I got in late, but I got great odds on two dates and more than six months before the integration."

"Are all of you in on this?" Mike asked suspiciously.

Bob raised his hands defensively. "First I'm hearing about it," he said in denial.

"I heard about it, but I didn't bet or anything," Eddi added. "Didn't seem right."

"We both went in on five dates, after the integration, for a hundred crystals each," Elli said, nodding to Harv, who grinned.

"Same," Bailli shrugged. "Word gets around, and betting on the newest noble is entertaining."

"Woah, hold up," Dave said, looking at Mike. "You're a noble?"

Mike grimaced. "The King gave me some writ of nobility, basically making me responsible for the Old Guard and the Redoubt, which I'm responsible for anyway," he shrugged, "didn't seem too important to me."

"As much fun as it is to hear about Mike's love life and his foray into the Thayland political landscape," Bob tried to shift the focus of the conversation away from his friend, "what are we doing about the tide?"