At Laurence's insistence, they did go to a second dungeon, though this one was only a level 1 and no one leveled up as a result. They did continue to increase their stock of items, with the addition of two more health restoratives, one each of mana and stamina, a Destruction token to add to their growing pile, an elixir base which could be used to make custom restoratives, and a storage bag.

This bag had a much larger capacity than anything else they'd received so far. Levi gratefully transferred all the larger items from the bulky backpack he'd been storing them in to the new bag. Even after moving everything, they still had enough room to fit everything from the car and then some.

"There's no way that's natural," Gordon commented, as Levi stuffed object after object into the small bag.

"Is that a real live bag of holding?!" Laurence ran over, so Levi let him take it. First he peered in, staring in fascination into the dark depth, then turned it upside down to shake - spilling their treasures all over the floor in the process. "It's not bound? That's a shame."

Levi started picking things back up and returning them to the bag, and Laurence sheepishly joined in.

"Sorry."

"No problem, just be a bit more careful in future." Levi thankfully hadn't put any of the more fragile items in the bag - the vials were safely stored in the pockets of his smaller storage belt.

"I guess it's time we go back now," Laurence said, as the sun began to rise. "I wish we could keep going."

"There are only so many dungeons within reach," Levi pointed out. "If you go through all of them too quickly, you'll have nothing to do next."

"We could go further. Keep going. There are thousands of dungeons, you said. Even if there are a few hours of running between them, we can find enough to just keep going forever."

Levi chuckled. "That is true. I was planning to create a loop like that myself. But right now I have bigger obligations. If the two of you want to continue fighting, I can leave some of the minions with you, but I don’t want anyone going in dungeons alone. Even if they seem easy, they’re still dangerous and merciless.”

“No thanks, I’m ready for bed,” Gordon said.

Laurence looked at Frosty, who looked equally dejected, then at Levi’s group. He rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “How many minions would I need to make the run safely?”

“If you stick to level 1 dungeons, you should be fine with a group of three or four. Did you learn mana ping yet?”

Laurence nodded. “It was easy, just like you said. Once I got the hang of reading it.”

“You willing to send Frosty with him?” Levi asked Gordon.

Gordon shrugged. “If she wants to keep fighting, I don’t mind. Just be careful.” This directed at the spider in question. Frosty jumped up and down, her crystal legs clicking against the pavement, then ran over to Laurence’s side. As usual, Frosty carried Plus and Shadevine with her, seeming to have adopted them as her personal charges. “You’ll go with anyone to find a fight, huh?” Gordon chided, fondly.

“Cen, Becca, can you keep him company and look out for him? Try not to interfere in his fights too much unless necessary, but he’s a squishy mage so it’ll probably be necessary. Don’t hesitate if it looks like he’s in any danger. And if he tries to go in a level two dungeon alone, stop him.”

“Hey!” Laurence protested.

“I’m serious,” Levi said. “Stick to level 1. They’ll be sufficient until you reach the second threshold, even if it’s slower. And check in with me when you get back." He turned to go, then thought of something and turned back. "Here.” He offered Laurence the storage bag they’d just received. “Might make looting easier.”

Laurence accepted the bag as though he’d been handed the holy grail. “Thank you! I promise, I’ll bring it back safely with all the plunder of my journeys!”

“Good luck,” Gordon called as the team split up. With half the minions following Laurence as directed, it left Levi and Gordon with the novel opportunity to drive back into town together, Flomper, Gremlin Two, and Centoo in their usual places in the car.

“How long are you planning to stay up here?” Levi asked, after they were well underway. “I’m back to Irene now, you can resume your own life if you want.”

“Well, I’m likely to end up fired for ignoring work so abruptly, even if I did cash in all my vacation time. And… I don’t know if I could go back. Even knowing someone could take care of it all, I’d never be able to forget. It just wouldn’t feel right to walk away, you know? Even if you don’t need me, I want to be part of this.”

“Have you thought any more about my proposal?”

“Which one is that?”

“To retrieve your son.”

“Oh, god, that.” Gordon didn’t say more for a long time, as they drove down the winding road. “I… I can’t decide yet. Give it more time.”

“I’m not going to do anything unless you want me to. It’s your family.”

“I’ll think about it.”

The rest of the trip was quiet, and only as Gordon dropped off Levi and his minions at Gayle’s house did he turn to speak again. “We should go talk to Nancy. See if she can be reasoned with. Even if …”

Levi nodded. “Give Irene the address. We’ll schedule a trip.”

Gordon pulled out his phone to text Irene while Levi opened the door for Two and Centoo. Centoo immediately scurried to the house and crawled up the side to the window Levi recognized as belonging to Peter's room. A moment later, Skarm's face appeared in the window as he waved a happy thumbs-up to Centoo and Levi, then mimed someone sleeping through exaggerated arm motions. Centoo settled half curled around the window, while Two humphed and crossed his arms.

Levi considered ordering the centipede to the ground, but decided that Centoo looked more like a house ornament than anything. As long as he remained still he'd be in no danger. Besides, who would shoot at a house? Even if they did think he was a threat, they'd be more likely to call animal control or a park ranger. Assuming anyone even noticed his presence at all.

Still, Levi looked in on Peter himself before he did anything else, just to reassure himself.

Peter slept peacefully. Henry lay curled at the foot of Peter's bed, the frills on his neck fluttering as he slept, and Skarm sat watch on the dusty toy chest by the window.

Levi nodded approval to Skarm, who saluted silently. Then he closed the door and headed back downstairs. He wasn't going to disturb Irene this early, but he may as well get started on breakfast.

It had been a long time since he'd done any of this, so though he had distant instincts telling him how long everything should take he got out one of Gayle's simpler cookbooks to double check everything. He checked the fridge and found it well stocked. Deciding on bacon and eggs with waffles, he nodded to himself as he began assembling everything he'd need, confirming with the cookbook any time he ran into a snag.

In the end, he had a harder time locating the right utensils in the unfamiliar kitchen than he did in mixing up the waffle batter or frying the bacon. He did just a bit of each first, to be sure he'd gotten it right, and immediately wondered where his life had gone so wrong that he'd forgotten how amazing bacon tasted.

Not to dismiss the sausages the day before, they'd been perfectly good, but not life-redefining. Thick, freshly-cooked, sizzling hot bacon... this was life-redefining. He'd have to find a way to save refrigeration if only so fresh bacon would still be a thing he could cook after the invasion.

Everything ready to go, he still had some time to kill before anyone would start waking up, so he got on Gayle's old desktop - careful to keep as far from the tower itself as possible - and visited some internet forums to see if he could start the process.

Instead he found that there were plenty of already-existing ways to preserve food without electricity, time-tested and everything, just a bit more finicky and less convenient. He started printing out articles, amazed by how much information was freely available at the push of a button, and added a few more items to the order he saw Irene had already begun.

He really needed to talk to Laurence and Cassandra about figuring out the system's sharing options. If they could port the internet into the system before losing power, then all this knowledge didn't need to disappear. This time they might be able to preserve it all.