Bob slid Monroe off the Makres with the customary series of clicks and poured him onto the table.

Harv, Elli, Bailli, and Erick were already seated, having apparently prepared for his arrival by pulling over another table and a chair.

"Evening," Bob said to the table at large before taking his seat.

Elli and Bailli were already providing Monroe with the worship he so justly deserved, in the form of cheek rubs and ruff scritches.

"Evening," Harv said with a smile, "I take it you had a productive day?"

"Mostly," Bob replied with a sigh, "shepherding takes a lot of time, something I know you're all too well aware of."

Elli chuckled as he ventured into the perilous belly region, "That we are," he agreed, "day in and day out, it never ends."

"It's good of you to shepherd people," Bailli said, "I've been far too focused on leveling my skills to take on that sort of task."

Bob reached out to pet Monroe as he turned to Bailli with a smile, "I couldn't help but notice that you reached twenty-five, congratulations," he said.

Bailli's smile was brilliant as she rejoined, "Thank you, I'd say it was a lot of work, but with an Affinity Crystal, and the Path of Elemental Conjuration, it's been almost too easy," she finished with a shake of her head.

"I've already traded around, and I have my Conjuration, Summoning, Dimension, and Abjuration crystals," she enthused, "now I just need to find a kitty of my own," Bailli cooed the last as she rubbed Monroe's ears.

Bob nodded sagely, "Remember," he cautioned, "to be chosen as a servant of your Divine Feline Overlord is an honor beyond compare, but you must allow the kitty to choose you," he pronounced.

"I'm confused," Erick said as Elli and Harv both chuckled at Bob.

"Place your hand on the kitty," Bob instructed grandly, "and accept your feline overlord into your heart. Pet the kitty, for to feel the purr of a kitty cat is to touch divinity."

"Everyone knows that cats are the masters of all they survey, and we are just their humble servants," Elli mumbled as he turned his attention to Monroe's toe beans.

Bailli leaned against Erick and kissed his cheek.

"There is a path called the Arcanist's Familiar," Bailli whispered to Erick, "if you have a familiar, you can guide it to the path, and it provides some pretty potent bonuses, in addition," she nodded to Monroe, who was lounging indolently, accepting the worship of his human-servants, "you have a life long friend."

"Or," she laughed lightly, "as Bob likes to say, a feline overlord."

Erick shook his head, "So, you're going to give these Affinity Crystals to a cat?" he asked.

"Yep," Bailli said, popping the 'p' on the end.

"You know how much I miss having a kitty around, and if I have a familiar, I'll never have to worry about them getting old," she said brightly.

"I like cats too," Erick said slowly, "but from what you told me, these crystals are important; shouldn't they go to people first?"

Bob shook his head sadly as he grinned at Theo, who had arrived at the table.

"Double helping of whatever for me," Bob said, "and make it a double for his imperial majesty as well."

Theo nodded, and the rest of the table indicated their desire for dinner as well.

"The thing of it is," Bob said to Erick, "that getting the crystals actually isn't that hard. Bailli has retrieved how many crystals in the past month?"

"Just under two weeks," Bailli replied, "and I've gotten one Summoning, one Dimension, and twenty-two Conjuration crystals, although I traded one of them for an Abjuration crystal."

"And all that took was one person with a Conjuration Affinity Crystal and a path to match," Bob said seriously, "and apparently Eddi has gathered even more."

"No," Bob shook his head, "all it takes is for people not to be greedy, selfish assholes, and the whole world can improve, drastically."

"Preaching to the choir," Harv said, raising his hands in mock surrender. Elli just nodded, his attention firmly focused on the dangerous task of ensuring Monroe's toe tufts were perfectly arranged.

"I read the pamphlet," Erick said, "and it sounds good, but they are really that much more powerful?"

Bob smiled and nodded to Bailli, "What level is your Blast spell at?" he asked.

"Fifty-two," Bailli said proudly.

"Damn," Bob said, "well, I'm guessing you're calling over eight thousand points of damage per spell?"

"Over eleven," Bailli agreed with a smile, "I can throw out thirty blasts per second as a barrage, doing well over five thousand a blast."

Bob let out a low whistle.

Bailli favored him with a brilliant smile before giving Erick a hug, "It turns out," she said happily, "that the elemental form provides a twenty-five percent bonus to electrical damage dealt, and the same for resisting electrical damage."

Erick shook his head as he glanced at his fiance.

"That's incredible," he mumbled.

"That is how we are going to take on a mana tide without losing a soul," Bob said firmly.

"There are twenty-five freshers with that path," Bob said, only to be interrupted by Harv.

"Forty now," Harv chimed in, "we picked up some more after the last wave."

"Imagine two hundred of them," Bob said softly to Erick, "each one pushing out a hundred and fifty thousand points of damage per second."

Bob turned his focus to stroking Monroe as he finished, "That's how we win."

Erick looked at Bailli, who beamed at him, then at Harv and Elli, who just shrugged and nodded in unison.

"If it's this easy, why isn't everyone doing it?" Erick asked.

"Because the knowledge of how to gather and use Affinity Crystals has been hoarded by the Noble Houses and the Royal family," Bob spat angrily.

"They've kept Greenwold on the brink of disaster for millennia because they didn't want to share the power with the people," he went on.

"The Church doesn't know anything about this, do they?" Erick asked, his voice troubled.

"Not that I know of," Bob replied.

"Good," Erick said with a tone of relief, "I'd hate to think the Church was allowing people to suffer and die when simple knowledge would put a stop to it."

Bob shrugged, "Austan is a great guy, as is Clyde, and the two I interacted with in Harbordeep, Annisa, and Voren were also solid folks," he said.

"And of course," he nodded towards Bailli, "as Bailli's fiance, I can safely assume that you are also a good person."

"I try," Erick said humbly before receiving an elbow to the side from Bailli.

"He's a great guy; that's why I'm marrying him," Bailli grinned.

"So," Erick said, trying to regain control of the conversation, "you're going to hand out pamphlets?"

"No," Bob shook his head, "not just pamphlets. I'm going to visit every town with an Adventurers Guild and show them how the paths work, providing them with some Affinity Crystals to get started."

Erick let out a low whistle.

"That's ambitious," he said.

Bob nodded, "Necessary," he stated flatly, "the Nobles might try to wipe out a town or two to keep this knowledge contained, but I can't see them wiping out all of them."

"I don't suppose," Erick said slowly, "that you've found any Invocation Affinity Crystals?"

"Strike, move, strike!" Bob bellowed, "remember your ABK's! Always Be Killing!"

Ellen crushed another beetle under her staff.

Bob had taken everyone from Harbordeep to meet a weaponsmith, Joseph, and purchase weapons if they didn't have them already.

She'd been fitted with a five and a half foot white oak staff, capped with bronze on both ends.

It was a damn fine piece of craftsmanship.

"The only pain that matters is the pain you inflict!"

She lurched to the side to avoid a set of grasping pincers and delivered another crushing blow to a second beetle.

Bob had moved them further into the first floor and had them fighting three beetles at once.

Ellen blinked sweat out of her eyes and kept moving.

She'd been delving Dungeons for more than sixty years, and this was the first time she'd ever encountered a training regimen like this.

"If you can't keep up, don't step up!" Bob shouted, "Not only will you get yourself killed, but your failure will also cost other, competent adventurers their lives!"

Another beetle down, another coming in from the left. Strike, move, strike.

"You all want to be Big Damn Heroes, but you don't understand what it means to be an Adventurer!"

She gritted her teeth and kept moving. Bob's style of training was likely to be very effective when delivered to his target audience.

She was three times his age, and she'd forgotten more about delving than he knew.

Ellen shook her head. She needed to focus. She was just another kid, another fresher in desperate need of a shepherd.

"The first rule of delving," Bob yelled.

She focused on the beetles. Just kill the beetles and ignore Bob.

Bob stood in front of the Gateway on the twenty-eighth floor. He took a deep, calming breath and allowed himself to actively feel the weight of the mana surrounding him.

He then cast Mana Shaping. He pushed mana into the pattern of the spell and was shocked when it failed to snap together.

Bob frowned and attempted to cast the spell again, this time targeting the mana around him rather than the mana inside of him.

His eyes widened as his mana shaping spell activated, and he barely managed to maintain concentration.

He could feel the mana in the air all around. It was as if he touching every mote of it at once.

Shaking his head, he allowed the spell to end.

Bob cast an effect over time Mana Sight spell, and then he cast Mana Shaping again. Now he had a visual reference for what he was feeling.

He tried to reach out and take hold of the motes of mana, but while he could feel them, he couldn't seem to manipulate them, his attempts only resulting in the motes of mana moving away.

"Okay, Trebor," Bob said, "What am I doing wrong here?"

'You are assuming a degree of control that you do not have,' Trebor responded, 'instead of trying to interact with a clump of mana, instead attempt to funnel an area into a stream or a puddle.'

Bob looked at the mana around him, and this time, instead of attempting to grasp the motes, he imagined a funnel, catching the mana and allowing it to run down to pool at his feet.

Slowly, the motes of mana that were raining down fell into the mouth of his funnel, and he could see a steady trickle of silvery mana in front of him, twisting down the spiral he'd imagined in his funnel and pooling at his feet.

Then his effect over time mana sight ended.

Bob shook his head and cast his Mana Sight spell again, this time as a persistent effect. He watched the mana that had pooled at his feet slowly trickle across the ground and join a nearby stream.

"Alright, so I have a hammer, not tweezers," Bob said, casting his Mana Shaping spell again and this time having it act as an umbrella over his head.

"So, what now?"

'I suggest that you cast another spell while at the same time maintaining your concentration on your mana shaping spell,' Trebor suggested.

Bob frowned.

He knew that you could split your spell casting like that; Harv had explained it to him on the first or second floor of the Dungeon. He'd just never been able to do so; his matrix damage hadn't allowed for it.

He'd accepted that and simply cast a single spell, barraging it if needed.

It appeared it was time to try that again.

Bob summoned a UtahRaptor, and he gasped as he not only saw but felt the mana leave his matrix and ignite, expending its energy as his spell formed, bringing Jake into being.

He could see and feel a tiny stream of mana linking him to his summoned monster; silvery mana tinted blueish black, the same shade as his Portal or his Eldritch Blast.

The stream of mana wasn't a straight line; it was kinked and curved at random intervals.

He'd never noticed that before, despite having summoned Jake while having his Mana Sight up.

'Mana Shaping,' Trebor said, 'is a refinement tool. It works in conjunction with Mana Sight to allow you to correct the course of a stream to the desired destination, rather than simply throwing a stone in a pond to ensure that a particular stone on the shore gets wet.'

'Now,' Trebor instructed, 'cast another spell, one to enhance your summon mana-infused creature in some fashion.'

Bob considered that for a moment. What did Jake need?

He cast an Anima Blast spell, targeting Jake and channeling the spell.

Another stream of mana and another ignition as the mana was expended to create the effect.

'Use Mana Shaping to merge the two streams,' Trebor said.

Bob concentrated on bringing the two streams together. Each stream had its own individual kinks and curves, and they were not at all complimentary.

He shook his head.

One step at a time.

First, he had to straighten the streams, which was much easier said than done. It was like bashing mud with a hammer. He went slowly, correcting each kink and curve in the mana stream supporting his UtahRaptor. Seconds passed, then minutes. Finally, Bob stopped and looked at the result.

It was mostly straight. There were dents and dings and bulges that he just didn't have the control to fix.

Bob now had a much better understanding of why the mana streams in the Dungeons looked the way they did if this was the tool they had to use.

Ignoring the sweat beading on his brow, Bob refocused his energies on the steam of mana that carried his Anima Blast and began to work on straightening it.

This went slightly more quickly as Bob started to become more practiced in shaping the mana flow. A few minutes later, he deemed the stream to be as straight as it was likely to get.

Wiping his face, he concentrated on moving the streams together.

With both of them mostly straight, he was able to push them together, merging both streams into one larger flow.

Bob sucked in a breath as he felt the mana flowing out of his matrix and into the stream increase, and he watched in fascination as the two streams merged fully, carving out new little kinks and curves, although nothing so bad as the spells had shown before.

'And there you have it,' Trebor, sounding satisfied, 'For many species, you aren't considered to be using skills properly at all until you are able to merge two of them. Well done.'

"And what, precisely, have I done?" Bob asked as he watched the mana flow into Jake.

'You've combined your Anima Blast with your Summon Mana-Infused Creature, resulting in a spell that is greater than the sum of its parts, albeit for a much more significant expenditure of mana.' Trebor replied.

"That much I can tell," Bob mumbled, noting that rather than expending one mana on each spell, the cost had risen to six.

He could see the occasional mote of mana escape his mana flow and drift away.

'When casting both spells at once, they are reduced by fifty percent,' Trebor explained, and Bob nodded, quite familiar with that math, 'however, when cast together in this manner, they are reduced by only twenty-five percent.'

Bob's eyes widened as he considered that statement.

"That's pretty impressive, given that at this point, paying six mana a second isn't a strain at all," Bob said quietly, before sighing,

"It doesn't really impact my tactics for killing monsters at the moment, though."

He cut the flow of mana and watched the stream fall apart, leaving only a few motes of mana to drift to the ground. As they fell, Bob watched the blueish black tint fade away, leaving only ethereal silver behind.

"So, how do I create that mana density reducing bubble of Thidwell's?" Bob asked.

'I would suggest using Eldritch Sheild as a base and combining it with Mana Drain,' Trebor said helpfully.

Bob nodded and got to work.