Summon Mana-Infused Object was sort of an odd spell. The hardness of the material was determined by his spellcasting value, but it was also determined by how large the object he summoned was. Stainless steel silverware hadn't been a problem, despite his spellcasting value not being quite up to the task, but a block of steel wasn't possible. He'd had to suffer with an incredibly comfortable mattress on a rather delicate bedframe, which creaked alarmingly whenever he or Monroe shifted.

The practical upshot was that it was a relief to push the spell through the next threshold.

You have allocated a skill point to increase the Threshold of your Summon Mana-Infused Object spell. Please select from one of the following bonuses.

Skill increased by one level.

Resource requirements for this skill are reduced by one percent for each threshold this skill reaches. This bonus is cumulative.

Synergy with Summon Mana-Infused Creature. Armor or Weapons may be summoned with the Creature with a casting value of 8%, doubling the cost of the Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell. This Synergy must be selected separately for Armor and Weapons, and may be selected multiple times, increasing the value by 8% each time.

He nodded to himself. He'd expected to see an option that fed into his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell, although he hadn't expected it to be quite this good. Initially, it wouldn't help at all, as his monsters claws and hide would be harder than what he'd be able to summon, but if he stayed with just Weapons, and put every threshold bonus into it, he'd end up with claw and fang coatings that were significantly harder than what they boasted naturally.

It might even be worth activating his Enduring Summoning and applying it to his Summon Mana-Infused Object for an extra sixteen levels to the spell.

That was something he'd been holding off on. There was no point in applying another Affinity to his Summon Mana-Infused Creature, as he doubted he'd ever cap the spell as it was. While he hadn't quite reached the first threshold bonus for the Summoning School, he knew he'd find a sixty-four percent increase to the maximum level of his summoning spell there, which would push the maximum level of his spell from ninety-six to one hundred and fifty-seven. Taking the second bonus the same way would see him lose out on part of the bonus, as he would cap at a one hundred percent bonus, not the full one hundred and twenty-eight percent. He was already sold on the idea of using that second bonus as a cost reduction instead.

He could see a different path now. If he activated his Enduring Affinity bonus to Summoning, and select the option to gain an extra threshold for the entire school, he could use all three Threshold bonuses to increase the maximum level of every summoning spell by thirty-two percent for each threshold, for a total bonus of ninety-six percent. That would give his Summon Mana-Infused Creature Spell a maximum level of one hundred and eighty-eight, and his Summon Mana-Infused Object Spell a maximum level of one hundred and twenty-five.

It would also provide all his summoning spells an extra eight percent bonus from the extra levels added to the Summoning school.

Bob selected the Synergy option, then navigated through his System interface to his Affinities.

User Affinities.

Species:

Arcane School of Summoning

Arcane School of Dimension

Divine School of Shadowmancy

Crystalline:

Arcane School of Summoning

Arcane School of Dimension

Attribute - Intelligence

Attribute - Endurance

Enduring:

Arcane School of Summoning (Inactive)

Divine School of Shadowmancy

Attribute - Wisdom

Magical School - Arcane

He selected his Enduring Summoning Affinity and activated it.

Congratulations! User has an Enduring Affinity for the Arcane School of Summoning!

Arcane School of Summoning previously obtained.

Please select from the following bonuses.

Obtain a spell or skill from the Arcane School of Summoning.

Increase the maximum level of a single spell or skill from the Arcane School of Summoning by 16 levels.

Increase the maximum level of all spells or skills from the Arcane School of Summoning by 8 levels.

Increase the maximum level of the Arcane School of Summoning by 8 levels.

He selected the last bonus, and closed his interface.

At level nine, he had spent his skill point to push through the next threshold for his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell, allowing it to advance past level thirty-two, capping it at level forty. He'd just reached level ten and spent his skill point on his Summon Mana-Infused Object spell, as he'd been frustrated by limitations of it being such a low level.

"Just have to grind out the levels," he muttered to himself as he pulled a sandwich from his inventory. Opening the container, he was pleased to see that his sliced oxcipine was intact. He'd decided to try being sneaky, and had applied a generous amount of horseradish mustard to his meal the previous day. He knew from experience that Monroe was somewhat alright with small amounts of mustard, but didn't care for horseradish at all. While his oxcipine had indeed been stolen the day before, it was intact today, leading him to believe that Monroe had decided not to risk a mouthful again.

He glanced over at his buddy, who had sniffed the air hopefully when Bob had opened the container, then crinkled his nose in distaste. "Don't worry, buddy, I brought you some lunch too," he assured his feline overlord, before pulling out a massive bowl filled with diced fish.

Monroe sniffed again, his eyes widening, before he pounced on the bowl, his purr motor instantly revving up.

Warm-sun-happy-food.

"We should catch him and drag him to dinner," Jessica argued.

"You want to just wait by the Dungeon entrance for hours?" Dave asked.

"If that's what it takes," Jessica said stubbornly.

Amanda shook her head. "We'll just leave him a message, which should catch up to him when he comes out and his armband reconnects to the network."

"It's not like we're going to be gone for long," Dave assured Jessica. "We're just going to pop out visit Glacier Valley, touch base with our folks, then Holmstead. We could always stop by the Thayland Outback, if you'd like."

"I wish people would stop calling it that," Jessica complained. "It sounds like there's a franchise of that yank nightmare over here."

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure is was the Aussies that started calling it that," Amanda grinned.

"Nah, it was some yank transplants," Jessica disagreed. "It just sort of caught on."

"Regardless, we'll record a message for him," Dave said firmly. "We're level twenty-four, which is about the halfway point, and more than strong enough to take care of ourselves. I know that Amanda and I desperately need to get out of this hole for a little bit."

"We all love Bob, but he's a monster when it comes to delving," Amanda agreed. "We should have known that if we let him start soloing again, he'd delve like mad."

"We shouldn't stay away for too long," Bailli joined the conversation. "I suspect he's probably level eleven or twelve now, and if we have any hope of catching up once we push through to tier eight, we can't waste too much time."

Dave nodded. They'd compared their delves against Bob's the last time they'd had dinner together, and the results were compelling. Despite having six people in each group, they were advancing much more quickly. As soon as they'd gained their paths, their clear times had decreased dramatically, which increased the experience and crystals they gained. Only having a single natural Affinity helped as well, reducing how much of each resource they needed when compared to Bob. Dave's Acid Blast spell was level fifty-one, and he was one shotting the level thirty monsters they were fighting. He wasn't even sure what he would do with a triple Affinity, which was what he would have once the capped and reincarnated back down at tier eight.

"Alright, I'll record a message," Jessica said, a wicked smile creeping across her face. "Just give me a few minutes."

"We've all hit level twenty-four, and we need a break from being underground," Jessica said. "The Dungeon provides sunlight, which is great, because we'd have driven up to the surface a lot sooner if not, yeah?"

She tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear, smiling. "I know you've got a lot of leveling to do, but you should come out of the Dungeon more often. I promise I won't bite." Her smile turned devilish. "Unless you want me to."

She leaned forward, presumably to turn off the recorder, and the image cut out.

Bob shook his head. He didn't know if he'd ever be ready for what Jessica was clearly offering, but he couldn't deny that she looked amazing. She'd decided to wear a skin tight shirt and slacks for her message, and even to a mostly disinterested party, he'd had to admit that his eyes had been drawn to certain curves.

He tapped out a message of his own, to the entire group, letting them know that he'd reached level ten, and his summon spell was over thirty.

With a sigh, he touched the entrance to the Dungeon.

You have entered The Hidden Dungeon.

Capacity 52%

Estimated time until overflow 183 solar cycles.

User Tier Eight, level ten.

Dungeon set to Tier Eight, Level Sixteen.

He was transported into the Hidden Dungeon, where the sun was always shining, the sky was always clear, and an eternal light breeze whispered through the trees.

He needed another six delves to enable delving seven levels above his own.

He needed another twenty-one delves to cap his Summon Mana-Infused Creature Spell at level forty.

"Just a bit over three days," he said to himself as he summoned out his UtahRaptor defender.

It was time to put in the work.

"I would say I'm surprised that Bob isn't with you, but that would be a lie," Thidwell rumbled.

"You know what he's like," Bailli agreed.

At some point, Thidwell had either reincarnated again, or evolved.

Bailli was going with the later, as he didn't appear any younger.

"It would be nice to see him again, and more importantly, for him to be seen," Thidwell said. "He holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Holmstead."

Bailli wasn't entirely sure that was true, at least not anymore. She knew that there were definitely some groups who remembered Bob fondly, especially those who frequented the Adventurer's Guild, where Bob's six rules for delving remained emblazoned on the wall.

Holmstead had changed, though. It wasn't just the influx of people from Harbordeep, but also a large number of people from Earth who had decided they'd wanted to integrate into the culture of Greenwold. Those people had happily assimilated, but they'd been unwilling to leave certain aspects of their lives behind. When combined with the efforts of Jack Scalligo, Holmstead had almost as much of an Earth feel as it did a Thayland.

The biggest difference, by far, were the roads.

Holmstead had always had good roads. They were shaped stone, slightly pebbled for traction, and were broad. There were no narrow alleyways in Holmstead, or any muddy streets, Thidwell had made sure of it.

The roads had changed. They were now separated to allow traffic to move smoothly in both directions, with sidewalks on either side, and raised walkways to allow foot traffic to cross the street. The traffic that flowed down the roads was no longer groups of people with the occasional wagon or cart, but cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

Jack had been of the first people to design a method of using magic, fueled by mana crystals, to power the engines and motors that were so integral to life on Earth.

He hadn't been the last, nor had others rested on his laurels. There were hundreds of designs created, which gave rise to over a dozen shops that offered their services, converting vehicles, generators, and appliances from Earth, as well as custom designs, built from the ground up.

It was something that Bailli thought about quite often. She'd been included in all of the group's conversations, even if she hadn't always actively participated, and she'd come to a stunning conclusion.

Humans from Earth were different from humans from Thayland. Not just in their upbringing, but in their nature. She'd since learned about the nature versus nurture argument, but she wasn't sure it necessarily applied here. People from Thayland were, for lack of better words, hardy. From what she could tell, they suffered fewer illnesses of the mind, and were better able to recover from emotional trauma. They were resilient in a way that people from Earth were not.

Humans from Earth, though, they possessed a spark of creativity that seemed lacking in her own race.

She'd heard the arguments that Earth just had more people, and lacked the threat of monsters, which was why they'd come so far in developing their sciences.

Bailli disagreed. There was a sawmill in Holmstead, although that crazy little pyromaniac wasn't running it anymore, which had a massive round sawblade. Why hadn't anyone looked at the process that caused that blade to spin, and then applied it to the wheels of a wagon? They'd had centuries to do so.

They hadn't, but the people from Earth certainly had.

Then there were the 'improvements' that Bob had made to the Paragon and Pinnacle advancements for the Humans from Earth. It had made the differences more pronounced. No one had mentioned it, and she wasn't sure if Harv or Eli realized the difference, although she suspected that Harv did, but as the group from Earth had tiered up to Paragon, then Pinnacle, she'd been able to see the changes. The way they used their skills, the questions they asked about the System, and more importantly, the way they cared for one another.

She'd closed herself off after the death of her parents, with only Erick finding a way through her walls. Empathy wasn't one of the qualities she would use to describe herself. The humans from Earth had been a bit different, but with each tier they advanced, it became more pronounced. They were more caring and shared themselves more easily.

Bailli admitted to herself that she wanted that. It was something she'd been thinking about for a few months now, and she'd decided that once she was ready to tier up again, she'd advance down the path of the Earth humans. She just needed to talk to Erick about it.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Thidwell's gravely voice.

"You'll always have a home here," he said. "It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Most of your group has deep ties to Holmstead, and from what I've seen and heard of the rest, they'd be welcome here as well. I know you're young and eager to advance, but when you need to take some time away from it, Holmstead will be here for you."

Bailli nodded. It still felt odd to be treated like an equal by Thidwell. She'd grown up here, and the head of the Adventurers Guild had been a legendary figure who cast a long shadow.

"I'll always consider this to be my home," Bailli replied. "I'm sure I'll have others, but Holmstead will always be special to me, and I intend to visit whenever I'm able."