Amanda watched as Bob rubbed the bridge of his nose.

She'd been friends with him long enough to know that he'd probably just discovered some piece of information that he was going to berate himself for not already having known.

"Bob's got that look," she said as she nudged Dave.

"Think he's figured out that there's no way we can burn down the capacity of the Dungeons?" Dave asked.

"Maybe," Amanda mused as she snuggled into him.

They were sitting on a backless bench between a pair of blossoming trees. The bench was a little short, but it was still nice.

"I think that we might have to clear all but one of them for the quest, then start burning through them," she said thoughtfully. "Assuming that they go back to normal like the first one did, we can run through the capacity pretty quickly at tier eight and a few levels over."

"We'd only have to deal with one overflow at that point, and the monsters would be spread so thin that it wouldn't really matter," Dave nodded. "That could work."

"Did you level up your blast spell?" Amanda asked.

"Level ninety-three," Dave replied with a smile.

"Me too," Amanda ran her nails across the back of his head, causing him to shiver.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "We need a public display of affection on alien worlds accord," he murmured, giving her ear lobe a little nip.

It was her turn to shiver. "Maybe," she said slowly.

"Once we finish up this quest, we'll have a proper date night," Dave murmured.

"We'll go all out," she agreed.

"Dinner in Paris," Dave suggested. "With these collars, we could watch the northern lights in the Arctic."

"Maybe we could dive the barrier reef," Amanda offered.

"Would be easy enough, and Jessica said that it's not only recovered but it's actually grown larger since the integration," Dave nodded.

"Something about the way mana interacts with plants and animals," she replied.

"That sounds like a date, then," Dave smiled.

"Just another eighty-two of these Dungeons to clear, then we have to burn all eighty-four to nothing, and make sure the Urlinad aren't going to get wiped out right away," she sighed.

"True," Dave agreed. "There is no way that 'Shepherd Bob' is going to just walk away without making sure they can look after themselves."

"Naturally? No, we can't breathe underwater, however, we do have magic to make up for that lack," Bob rubbed the bridge of his nose.

The underwater Dungeons suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Do you have cities under the water?" Bob asked.

"I've never been to one, but I know that we do," Gualla replied. "There are areas of the ocean where volcanic vents contribute to incredible growth, and some of those areas are just deep enough to not be impacted by the storms, and shallow enough that the pressure isn't unpleasant."

"Okay," Bob sighed. "We'll deal with that when we have to. I'm going to play with Monroe for a bit and try to relax. We're not going to have any time to delve this Dungeon because of how long it took us to clear it, so we'll be moving on to the next. If you can wrangle up Lara and Laura and meet me back here in two hours?"

Gualla frowned. "I can," she said. "Isn't it important that we go into these Dungeons to become more powerful?"

"It is, but we need to see if the first Dungeon was a one-off, or if this one was," Bob replied. "If more of the Dungeons are going to take as long as this one did, we're going to have to change our strategy. But we need more data to make that decision, so we're off to the next one."

"Very well," Gualla replied. "I'll make sure to be back here in two hours."

Bob spotted Dave and Amanda canoodling on a bench nearby and decided to leave them to it rather than interrupt.

He didn't have any healthy relationships to draw on, but Dave and Amanda had been together for a long time, and he had, once or twice, wondered what it would be like to be that close to someone.

He walked the other way, heading to a park or possibly an orchard that he'd seen earlier. Either way, it would be a great place for a game of tag with Monroe.

Bob ran like the hordes of hell were on his heels, Monroe right behind him.

They dashed through the streets, dodging around, and in one exhibition of feline athleticism, jumping over startled Urlinad.

His heart sank as he saw his party on the other side of the aqueduct. He'd gotten turned around somehow.

He could hear them, the heavy roar coming from behind.

Knowing he had no time to spare, he leapt, first touching down on the railing, then using that as a springboard to propel himself over the aqueduct.

Sailing through the air, he could sense that Monroe was right beside him.

He landed a few feet away from his friends, scrambling as he bled off the momentum.

They backed away.

"Monroe?" Jessica asked, looking at the huge Maine-coon.

Bob pulled on the knot of mana that held the persistent effect in place.

He stood up, dusting off his hands on his pants. "Time to go! Everyone into the portal!"

A portal opened, and he rushed through it a split second before Monroe did.

Jessica shook her head. Intellectually she knew that Bob could, and occasionally did, turn into a cat in order to play with Monroe. He'd mentioned that the big cat absolutely loved it, and she knew that as Monroe's humble servant, there was no way that he didn't indulge the uber-floofer.

It had been a while, though, and seeing two massive felines leaping over the aqueduct had been disconcerting.

"What's this about?" She asked the group.

"I think it might have something to do with that," Mike pointed at the bridge that lead over the aqueduct.

"Bloody hell," Jessica muttered.

There was a veritable avalanche of Urlinad kids pouring onto the bridge.

"Ok, portal," she said as she backed up, then darted through it.

Bob had opened the portal to his inventory, and it quickly became crowded as the entire group, plus Gualla, Lara, and Laura, filled the space.

Jessica twisted her way through the group.

"What was that about?" She asked.

Bob turned from Gualla. "Monroe and I were playing tag, when some kids showed up. They joined in, and everyone was having fun, but then more of them came, and then more, and then it started getting rough."

He rubbed his lower back, shaking his head. "Don't ever pull on a kitty's tail, it can really hurt," he advised.

"Anyway, I didn't want to turn back, because they probably wouldn't have handled an alien very well, so we decided to leave. Unfortunately, they must have thought we were still playing because they chased us," Bob continued. "More of the kids joined the chase as we ran back, I think we must have had every kid in the city after us."

"You would think, with as large as Monroe is, that the kids would have been scared," he finished.

"That might have been our fault," Lara interjected. She looked down at Laura, who had tried to wrap her arms around Monroe, but was stymied by the sheer volume of the Divine Feline Overlord.

"I brought Laura to play with the other children, and she told them all about how Kessen, the Storm Princess, and the Lord of Blight had come to the city to save them," Lara explained.

Jessica laughed as Bob put his head in his hands.

"You just can't get away from it, yeah?" She asked.

"I'm going to get us back up to the Freedom," Bob muttered, falling through another portal that opened at his feet.

A moment later, another portal opened and Bob stepped through. "Alright, everyone out," he said.

Jessica shook her head and exited the portal, finding herself in the spatially expanded space they called the Garden.

"Summoner's Switch?" She asked.

"Yep," Bob nodded. "Saves around fifty mana crystals using that instead of a ritual."

She considered just how much utility Bob had.

Path of the Early Dawn.

Path created for user Jessica Wright.

User has recently devoted herself to the Divine Schools of Animancy and Protection. User has demonstrated exceptional skill when ensuring that other users complete Dungeons in good condition, ensuring that energy continues to be circulated. User has demonstrated extensive use of the Anima Blast, Divine Shield, Regeneration, Effect Over Time, Chain, Barrage, and Ritual skills.

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

The Path of the Early Dawn provides the following benefits.

Each Threshold reached in the Animancy School, or a Spell within it, increases the healing of both Anima Blast and Regeneration by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Protection School, or a Spell within it, increases the value of the Divine Shield skill by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Animancy School, or a Spell within it, reduces the resources required for the Anima Blast skill by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Protection School, or a Spell within it, reduces the resources required for the Divine Shield skill by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Animancy School, or a Spell within it, reduces the penalty from Effect Over Time, Barrage, Chain, and Ritual magic, when applied to any Animancy skill by 1%.

Each Threshold reached in the Protection School, or a Spell within it, reduces the penalty from Effect Over Time, Barrage, Chain, and Ritual magic, when applied to any Protection skill by 1%.

Special skill 'In this together' granted. This skill allows the user to duplicate an Anima Blast, Regeneration, or Divine Shield skill, including all modifiers. The skill effectively activates twice. The cost for the initial skill is tripled.

Special skill 'Not on my watch' granted. This skill allows the user to expend a number of mana crystals equal to the maximum number of Thresholds reached in the Protection School, and the spells within it, placing a Divine Shield on the target that will activate when the target reaches a user-defined threshold of damage. This Divine Shield has its value increased by a factor of ten.

Additional Bonuses, granted by achievements.

Special Skill 'Sunrise' granted. This skill allows the user to completely restore a target to full health. This skill requires no resources to use. This skill is exempt from the normal order of operations that requires damage to be healed within a number of seconds equal to the tier of the target, instead requiring damage to be healed within a number of seconds equal to the maximum number of Thresholds reached in the Animancy School, and the spells within it. This skill may be used once every solar cycle.

Her path wasn't bad, not at all, but she'd dabbled a bit during the early levels before she'd decided to focus on healing.

Most of her path bonuses passively made her better at healing and shielding. When it came to her active skills, she'd yet to see 'Not on my watch' go off yet, as it was placed on Mike. 'In this together' was an absolute mana hog, but she'd found herself using it occasionally now that they were fighting tier ten monsters.

She hadn't needed to use Sunrise yet. She should have used it on Jack when he went down, but the problem with not using it was that it didn't spring to mind. The cooldown had her saving it.

She knew that Dave, Mike, and Jack were all in the same boat, having started off with summoning.

According to Bob, who was their source for all System related questions, the longer they spent focusing on one thing, the more focused their paths would become.

He had said that at tier ten, they'd have to evolve their species again, and they'd also be able to either select a new path or evolve the one they were on.

She fully intended to maintain her focus.

Branching out was for people who didn't learn how to cast System-less magic.

The Old Ways.

You have successfully formed energy patterns without the aid of the System. You have successfully formed persistent energy patterns without the aid of the System. You have successfully formed semi-permenant energy patterns without the aid of the System. You have successfully formed self-sustaining energy patterns without the aid of the System. These actions have significantly increased the value of this Achievement.

Reward: Increases the user's spell-casting value when forming patterns without the aid of the system by a percentage equal to the user's tier²

She was rather proud of that achievement.

It was also nice to spend a little one-on-one time with Bob. He was a good teacher, possessing that most important of qualities; patience.

Sadly, he was currently exhibiting another of his qualities, that being single-minded determination, which meant that until they finished their quest, she wasn't likely to enjoy any time with him.

"We're over the next Dungeon," Bob reported.

"Great," Jack yawned. "Here's to hoping that this one isn't a twenty-hour slog."

"Amen," Mike agreed fervently.

"Bailli, switch us over, and I'll open the portal," Bob said.

They'd realized that they weren't utilizing Bailli's 'One for all' skill.

Special Skill 'One for All' granted. The user has demonstrated steadfast loyalty to the few who have earned her trust. By reserving her tier in mana per person, she is able to share her Body of the Storm skill with others.

It did lock away a third of her mana pool, but it allowed people to control their descent, whereas Bob's summons had to be controlled and directed by him.

Dropping through the portal, the group looked nothing so much as like a wispy cloud descending rapidly toward the Dungeon.

Bob got a closer look at the monsters outside the Dungeon, and he shuddered. They appeared to be locusts, although he didn't think locusts normally had quite that many limbs.

He touched the Dungeon.

Dungeon 4578G8249N98ISS2PM9D.

Capacity 100%

User tier eight, evolved, level forty-two. User grouped with eleven other sapient beings, tier six, level zero.

Dungeon level has been set to tier ten, level fifty-two.

New Quest!

Kulaod has been overrun by monsters! The Urlinad have barricaded themselves in their temples, praying to their gods to save them. Unfortunately, their gods are not real, but the monsters are. It falls on you to save them.

Kill the monsters, 0/210,732

Locate the Temples, 0/160

Protect the Urlinad.

"Fuck," Bob groaned as he looked at the city in front of them.

"Too right," Jessica agreed.

"That's a lot of monsters," Mike grumbled.

"At least they'll be easy to find," Eddi offered. "And we know how to handle this scenario."

"I hope the blocks are a lot thicker on these temples," Harv said. "Because I don't think we can clear a hundred and sixty of them in less than two hours."