Bob grimaced as he went through his mental checklist.

Monroe had been fed and played with, perhaps to excess, which meant the super-sized chonk would be sleeping it off for a while.

He had arrived in Holmstead late in the evening and had managed to fly under the radar, for the most part. Thidwell and Kelli were aware that he was here, but no one else had recognized him. As such, he expected to be uninterrupted.

He had half a million mana crystals, of which four hundred thirty thousand and eighty would be required to take to level sixty-four, and then evolve to tier nine.

His friends had all supported and encouraged him to take this step.

It felt a little bit like cheating, jumping twenty-two levels at once. Intellectually, he knew that it wasn't. He'd been punching two tiers and sixteen levels over his own, and he'd earned those crystals the hard way.

Still.

He shook his head, closed his eyes, and took a series of deep breaths.

Amongst other motivators, he absolutely did not want to see Kellan again without having made any progress.

His true trepidation came from knowing that he would evolve without having spent all of his skill points. He didn't have that many skills waiting for a threshold to unlock, and he wasn't certain what impact that would have on his evolution.

That was one of the reasons he'd jumped back to Thayland.

While he had the crystals he needed, he wasn't going to evolve to tier nine. He was going to use enough crystals to reach level sixty-four, the cap for tier eight, and then he was going to grind out his skills.

He had nine days until he was due at the United Nations. Hopefully, he'd be able to grind up his skills and push to tier nine, but even if he couldn't, he could certainly get started.

Bob rolled his shoulders and began to cycle mana through his matrix and into the mana crystals.

System notifications appeared and disappeared in rapid succession. At each level, he allocated three attribute points to Intelligence and Wisdom, along with two to Endurance. He hadn't seen any reason to change that strategy, and when he reached levels forty-eight, fifty-six, and sixty-four, he split his threshold advancements between Intelligence and Wisdom. It was another twenty-four points into each, which would enjoy the doubling effect of his natural affinities.

He could feel the changes to his body and his matrix as rapidly advanced.

When he finished, he let out a slow, shuddering breath and moved carefully as he stood up, stretching slightly. He stepped out of the ritual circle before opening a portal into his inventory.

He needed a shower.

"We're delighted to be able to assist our neighbors," Yorrick beamed happily, an expression that was not mirrored by the delegate who sat across the table from him.

"While we appreciate the fairness of your terms," Prime Minister Ulgalwy began, "it is a blow to our people to send much-needed crystals outside of our borders."

Yorrick nodded, still smiling. "It's a temporary setback," he said reassuringly. "Yes, you're spending crystals on food that your people could grow themselves, but the sad truth is that your people aren't yet powerful enough to grow enough food. That isn't a situation that will last for long. You've given delving priority to those who have chosen Druidic paths, so sooner rather than later, they will have the power to do so." His smile broadened, and he gestured, his palms up and open. "You have eternity if you only strive for it. While this first decade or so will be forever remembered as a challenge, it will quickly be relegated to the pages of history as your people and your nation rush into a new era of prosperity."

Ulgalwy nodded shortly.

He was not, Yorrick reflected, particularly skilled at the game of politics and statecraft. Still, the man had been a respected emergency room doctor before arthritis had driven him into administration and eventually politics. His ascension after the System Integration had been meteoric as he latched on the opportunity to heal the injured once again, delving with group after group, again and again.

Kellan had done an excellent job of eliminating the warlords and petty tyrants who had pretended at being heads of state before the System Integration, and with that memory fresh in their minds, the people who might have attempted to carve out a Kingdom for themselves had held their ambitions in check.

Instead, the leaders that had arisen had been chosen rather more carefully. Ulgalwy was a prime example.

Even if he was a bit of a curmudgeon.

Considering that his druids would be producing more than twice the food for the same crystals, and at cost no less, Yorrick had hoped for a more positive reaction.

"An eventuality we look forward to, eagerly," Ulgalwy replied. "I won't keep you from your duties," the man continued. "We will join you at the United Nations next week."

Elania looked down at the planet with a smile.

She was looking out from the observation deck of the United States of America's first orbital platform, the USOP Endeavor.

It had taken millions of mana crystals, but they had managed to establish a platform that could do double duty as a colony ship if necessary. A sphere five kilometers in diameter, it was an astonishing combination of magic and technology and could house a hundred thousand active people, with cold storage available for half a million.

She'd opposed the idea of building it initially, but she'd been convinced by her Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who had made the argument that the orbital platform would be reusable and that it would allow civilians to arrive at Nerth in a 'safe' environment.

While she still wasn't sold on the idea of reusing the platform, having done the math and coming to the conclusion that they wouldn't be pushing that monstrosity through a portal until someone managed to reach the mythical heights of tier ten, she did agree that having a safe place in orbit for people to arrive, and perhaps more importantly, to retreat to.

The planet was definitely more geologically active than Earth. There were more frequent hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. While people were infinitely adaptable, having a safe haven to retreat to in the face of an impending natural disaster was invaluable peace of mind.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Her job, as she saw it, was to preserve and protect the citizens of her country, and she was willing to go to any lengths necessary to do so. She'd already failed too many of them.

She'd had her doubts both before, during, and after the System Integration that had forever changed not only her country but Earth itself.

Was she the right woman for the job? How could she ensure not just the survival but the prosperity of the people who had elected her to lead the country?

There had been some dark days, especially a few months after the integrations was complete, and the stark realization that the utopia of a post-scarcity civilization wasn't going to happen. The System made everything so much easier, but it brought its own bottleneck. The problem wasn't the lack of crystals or even the number of Dungeons and their capacity. No, ultimately, the issue was the amount of mana the planet pulled down to itself. She'd presented with a document outlining a hypothetical array that might redirect the mana being pulled down into a more concentrated area, specifically, the United States of America, at the expense of the rest of the planet.

That particular paper had been destroyed, and she'd set four separate agencies to the task of completely scrubbing it. She was sure that a few copies still existed, but it wasn't something that anyone was likely to stumble across.

In the end, it had been Robert Whitman who provided the answer, freely offering the Dimension Ritual he'd created, allowing for rapid exploration of the multiverse, which had led to NASA's discovery of the planet below her.

It currently lacked a name, although it was being informally referred to as Nerth, something that she suspected the Marines of coming up with, a shortened version of the already unimaginative 'New Earth.'

She'd had to shut down dozens of people who had argued against her inclusion in the process of clearing Nerth, but she'd overridden them by virtue of not only being the President of the United States of America but also by the Hierarchy of Tiers.

There was no way she was going to pass up the opportunity to pick up a planetary first clear.

It wasn't purely selfish, either. After her successful reelection, she'd gained another achievement, the reward for which would make her inclusion not only worthwhile but almost mandatory.

New Achievement!

Leadership

You have been elected to lead more than three hundred million users after successfully organizing them to efficiently circulate energy within your territory.

The reward for this Achievement has been increased due to your insistence and free and fair elections, as well as the actions taken to preserve the lives of the people you led, knowing that these actions would be unpopular.

The reward has further been increased due to your Savior Achievement.

Reward: User may add an additional number of members to their group equal to their tier without a Dungeon increasing the number of manifestations.

It hadn't taken long to realize what the reward actually did.

Under normal circumstances, and she still had trouble believing that normal circumstances now involved stepping into extra-dimensional rips in the fabric of reality and fighting to the death against monsters, you could have a maximum number of people in a group equal to your tier. Once you exceeded that number, even just by one person, the number of monsters attacking you doubled.

That was a well-understood fact that people had accepted with remarkable equanimity. You went into the Dungeon with a full group because you all received the same reward despite there being only one person, or five. Or six, if you'd reached tier six.

At tier eight, that meant that she could have fifteen other people with her while still only fighting the base number of monsters.

The mana crystal rewards from the quests remained consistent, which led her to conclude that the elusive first clear rewards should as well.

As far as Elania was concerned, it would be downright irresponsible for her not to be involved in the group that completed the first clear of the Dungeons on Nerth.

It wasn't as if she was a burden.

Path of the Neophyte Elementalist.

Path created for user Elania Hartford.

This User has focused entirely on the Schools of Elemental Fire, Elemental Earth, Elemental Air, and Elemental Water, forgoing all other schools of magic. User has focused on the myriad methods in which these energies could be manipulated and applied, demonstrating mastery of the Barrage, Effect Over Time, Persistent Effect, Swarm, Chant, and Ritual skills.

This Path has been enhanced due to the user's achievements.

The Path of the Neophyte Elementalist provides the following benefits.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Fire School, or a Spell within it, increases the spell casting value of spells within the Elemental School of Fire by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Earth School, or a Spell within it, increases the spell casting value of spells within the Elemental School of Earth by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Air School, or a Spell within it, increases the spell casting value of spells within the Elemental School of Air by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Water School, or a Spell within it, increases the spell casting value of spells within the Elemental School of Water by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Fire School, or a Spell within it, decreases the resources required to cast a spell involving the Elemental Fire School by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Earth School, or a Spell within it, decreases the resources required to cast a spell involving the Elemental Earth School by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Air School, or a Spell within it, decreases the resources required to cast a spell involving the Elemental Air School by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Elemental Water School, or a Spell within it, decreases the resources required to cast a spell involving the Elemental Water School by 1%.

Special skill 'Elemental Conjunction' granted. This skill allows the user to expend a number of energy crystals equal to the amount of energy spent to combine the effects of all four Elemental schools into a single spell. This negates the need to cast all four spells simultaneously, utilizing the entire spellcasting value rather than one-quarter of it.

Special skill 'Compound Form' granted. This skill allows the user to expend a number of energy crystals equal to the maximum number of thresholds reached in the Elemental Schools and Spells within those schools, altering the user's physical form to that of an Elemental comprised of all four schools. This form allows the user to travel throughout these elements at their normal speed while also adapting them to those elements. The user gains elemental resistance to each element equal to the maximum number of thresholds reached in the Elemental Schools and Spells within those schools.

Additional Bonuses, granted by achievements.

Special Skill 'Neophyte' granted. Once per solar cycle, the user may choose to negate all damage from a single elemental attack on a target within the user's tier² in feet.

She fought by either summoning Elementals if she was alone, delivering Elemental Blasts if she was in a group that needed firepower, or using the Elemental Control spells for crowd control.

In short, she wasn't being carried.

She was eager to see what the reward would be for a planetary first clear. Bob's group had provided a large amount of data to DARPA, and she'd taken the lessons they'd learned to heart.

The Marines had seemed equal parts relieved and disappointed that they wouldn't have to clear the planet of the monsters crawling across the surface, but she was one hundred percent grateful that it wouldn't be necessary.

They'd drop down and clear each Dungeon, leaving another team behind them to keep it locked down before moving on to the next. It would take three months, but once they were done, the planet would be clear.

She was assuming that they would be able to replicate Bob's feat of creating a Dungeon inside of a Dungeon.

That was a trick she hadn't known about but explained a few of the mysteries she'd wondered about.

They would also need to close the Dungeons that were underwater, moving them to land.

To be fair, they were also going to be closing some of the Dungeons on land, relocating them as well.

The downside of the System arranging the Dungeons in a neat little grid was that it didn't take into account where Humans would prefer to live, which wasn't at the ice caps, nor would it be that close to an active volcano.

Still, they knew how to do it.

"Madam President," a voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she turned to face the Marine Lieutenant.

"It's time?" She asked.

"Yes, Madam President," he replied with a nod. "If you'll follow me, your team is assembled at the drop ship."