Monroe

Chapter Four Hundred and Seventeen. A new agreement.

Bob was in the zone. He could feel it.

He'd dropped his swarms of mosquitoes in favor of a pack of UtahRaptors. He wasn't facing off against tier ten monsters, so he didn't need the vicious damage.

He liked to think that he was directing his summons like a conductor guiding an orchestra, except his symphony was one of furious honks, screams of pain, and the wet, squelching sound of torn flesh. On second thought, it might not have been the most favorable of comparisons.

As he moved through the clearing, intent on his next batch of monsters, he was surprised by the sudden reappearance of Trebor. He had already discovered that he couldn't communicate with Trebor when he was controlling a summons inside a Dungeon while Bob was outside, or vice versa.

He knew the experiment was a success, evidenced by the steadily increasing experience bar at the corner of his vision that indicated Trebor's progress. Knowing that clearing out the Dungeon, which held over three thousand monsters, would likely push the skill past the next threshold, Bob had given Trebor permission to allocate the skill point to advance it, as well as to select the threshold bonus.

It made him uncomfortable to make decisions about the AI without discussing it with him, so relinquishing that control had been a relief.

'I selected a Threshold bonus that would extend our ability to communicate,' Trebor stated. 'It functions by further developing a matrix of my own while keeping said matrix in synchronicity with yours.'

"That somehow lets you work through the dimensional membranes of Dungeons?" Bob asked, automatically directing his pack of Eternal Servant UtahRaptors, alongside Jake, to engage another group of unwary monsterous hunters.

'As it turns out, no, no it does not, although I believe that further Threshold bonuses may allow for that,' Trebor replied. 'We appear to have been mistaken in our understanding of how System generated Dungeons function. We had believed that they were dimensional spaces, akin to your Arcane Depths ability, but we were wrong.'

"How do they work then?" Bob asked, ignoring the honks of rage that surrounded him.

'The entrances are gateways to another plane entirely,' Trebor said. 'It's not another dimension, it's something else.' The AI sounded frustrated. 'I don't have access to any information on it.'

Bob nodded.

When he'd initially been linked to the AI, who was programmed as a Mirror Protocol to guide him through adapting to the System, Trebor had almost unlimited access to the System.

He'd been terrible when it came to providing that information, proving over and over again that the System had been created by entirely alien minds, but even as the worst search engine ever, the access was there.

That had all ended with the System update which had determined that the Mirror protocol was unnecessary. Bob had saved Trebor by allocating his skill points to keep the AI active, in return for which the System had converted Trebor into an AI assistant, but had stripped the AI of most of his access to the System.

Bob had submitted an anomaly report and the System had relented, allowing Bob, through Trebor, to restore access to the System by way of leveling the AI up as a skill.

He didn't want to say he was disappointed with the results so far, but aside from Trebor's ability to pilot Bob's summons, he'd only been able to provide basic information on the monsters in the Dungeons.

Still, Bob had high hopes.

"How far along are you?" Bob asked.

'A few dozen monsters short of the halfway point,' Trebor replied. 'Based on the damage taken so far, I believe that this vessel will complete the Dungeon with two to three percent of its health remaining.'

Bob nodded. It had been four hours, and he was nearly done with his second delve. "Sounds like you'll be able to do two runs a day," he murmured.

'Yes,' Trebor agreed. 'Assuming we stay on a sixteen-hour-a-day schedule, that should equate to eighteen delves. I should reach my next threshold, my fifth, on the next delve, my sixth at the end of tomorrow, my seventh at the beginning of the third day after that, and final threshold during my seventeenth delve.'

Bob let out a breath. "Yeah, it's going to be close, but I shouldn't complain." He shook his head. "I'm talking about leveling a skill from level twenty-seven to level sixty-four in just over a week."

As he guided his murder-dino's to the next camp, he took a few moments to consider his leveling speed on the whole.

The Queen of England was quite public about her level, hosting an afternoon tea with the local leaders of whatever city, town, or village that she was delving on that day. She was level fifty-nine and working diligently, keeping her skills capped.

In contrast, Bob had forgone leveling all but the most necessary of his skills, focusing on his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell to the detriment of all others. While that meant that he was now forced to play catch up with other skills, he was able to lean on the undeniable power his level one hundred and twenty-eight spell provided.

He was going to beat the Queen to tier nine, of that he had no doubt. He was level sixty-four, and only needed to finish leveling up a few more of his skills, specifically his portal, armor, armor specialization, melee, natural attack, and dodge skills.

His Summon Mana-Infused Object spell was currently level one hundred and fifty-three, thanks to the sixty-four free levels he'd picked up from his Reclaimer achievement.

Not for the first time, he questioned his decision to apply that achievement to his Summon Mana-Infused Object spell instead of his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell. After all, Jake would have been level One hundred and ninety-two, with a cap of level two hundred and ninety-one.

But, he'd had to ask himself if he needed more personal power. Hell, he was waltzing through a tier nine Dungeon at tier eight, fighting monsters that were ten levels over his own, like Fred Astaire on a particularly good day. He could open portals from one dimension to another with ease and required fewer resources to do so than all but the most dedicated of dimensionalists.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He wanted more personal power to ensure that Monroe and his friends would never be threatened again, but did he need more?

One thing he was absolutely certain of was that the people he'd never met who, for some reason, believed in him, needed the Summon Mana-InfusedObject spell. One skill point, and they had access to a level sixty-four spell, and not just any spell, but arguably the most powerful utility spell in the multiverse. Sure, they couldn't actually cast the spell at full power until they had nine mana to pay for all the thresholds, but there was nothing stopping them from casting it at the power level they were capable of.

He was also certain that he wasn't going to grind the spell up to its new cap of level two hundred and forty-five before the tiered up.

If he understood the process correctly, and he'd be checking with Trebor once the AI had reached his level cap when he evolved, his path would gain another ability, and it was possible he might pick up another skill from his achievements. He doubted that a few extra levels in his already double-the-normal level cap spells would make a difference in how the System viewed his focus, and he wasn't going to go looking for another achievement.

Unless Trebor told him that he needed to. Which he hoped he wouldn't.

Authors Note. It is important you go to the tube of you's and listen to this as you read the following scene. /watch?v=SrZrRkLDSuY

"Where are we going again?" Amanda asked.

"It's a surprise," Dave replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice. She had to because she was currently riding in the back seat of a limousine with Dave at the wheel, but all of the windows and the partition between them had been completely blacked out.

"I hope this 'surprise' falls within the guidelines of the Surprise Stipulation of Twenty-Nineteen," she teased.

"Chapter and verse," Dave promised.

She smoothed down her dress and made sure the straps of her bra were still taped in place, keeping them beneath the straps of the dress.

Despite how amazing he really was, Dave was a guy, and he probably wouldn't have noticed, and even if he did, he wouldn't care, but she did.

Dave had provided the dress as part of the surprise. It was a deep, dark wine color, a simple yet elegant pattern with thin straps and a modest bodice but a deeply dished back that dipped down to just above her ass. He'd even included matching shoes. The dress seemed familiar, a style she'd seen before, but she couldn't place it. It was probably something she'd had before she'd tiered up.

Amanda sighed. One of the more pleasant rewards from her occasional work as a model had been that she'd been able to keep a remarkable amount of the clothing. Sadly, her advancement through the tiers had rendered her impressive wardrobe obsolete.

She wondered just what Dave had planned for the night. After a decade and a half, she knew him better than anyone else in her life, all his faults and his graces, the latter vastly outnumbering the former, at least as far as she was concerned. One of the areas where he excelled was affirming their love. When he planned a date night, his meticulous nature shone through, leaving little to chance. In all their time together, they'd only had two date nights go awry, once when dry lightning had set a forest fire and once when a careless driver had run a red light and rear-ended them. Even then, he'd salvaged the second. Somehow, instead of being annoyed with the interference, he'd managed to get the EMS and police on his side in a matter of minutes, calling in help from one of their friends who had worked as a server at their Denny's to pick up their meal from the restaurant they had been heading to, and set up a table and candles for them on the sidewalk.

She was pulled from her thoughts as the limousine slowed and came to a stop. She heard the driver's door shut and the suspension shift as Dave got out before he opened the door, offering her his hand.

Amanda accepted his hand and stepped out, looking around curiously.

"Dave, sweetie," she began, "why are we at UCLA?"

At some point, the buildings had been repaired and were easily recognizable.

She blinked. "Also, I feel a little overdressed," she murmured as she tucked her arm under his as they began to walk across the campus, gathering more than a few stares from students who gawked at the tier-eight pair.

Dave was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and a plain green t-shirt that brought the flecks of green in his hazel eyes.

"You're dressed perfectly," Dave assured her with a smile.

"Did you donate enough crystals to get a library named after me?" She asked curiously.

"No," Dave laughed, shaking his head. "Also, you're not supposed to guess, remember?"

Amanda pouted. She knew that letting him include that restriction in the stipulation agreement had been a bad idea, but he'd been distracting her at the time.

He didn't lead her to a new building, but instead toward the cafe, a place they'd frequented often over the years.

"I'm definitely overdressed for the cafe," she murmured.

Dave held the door open, gesturing her inside.

The cafe was exactly as she remembered it.

Which wasn't right. She frowned.

At tier eight, everything should have been too small. She turned back to Dave as he let the door close behind him. How had she not noticed that the door was sized for her as well?

Also, the cafe was empty, except for one table, three-quarters of the way back and off to the right. That table had two trays on it.

She let Dave lead her to the table, handing her into the seat before moving around the table and taking his own.

Looking down at the tray, she found a sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of Snapple. All appropriately sized for tier eight.

She poked the sandwich with a perfectly manicured fingernail.

"Don't worry, they held the onions," Dave assured her with a brilliant smile.

It clicked.

She lifted the sandwich, pulling the top slice of bread off, then set it back down. She then picked up the bottle of Snapple. It was Peach Tea.

She looked down at her dress, then at Dave's t-shirt.

"Our first date," she murmured.

She remembered now. She'd been nervous and had spent hours agonizing over what to wear. Dave was funny and smart and didn't stare at her legs or chest, actually listening to what she had to say. It was just a lunch date, but he'd been clear and confident that it was a date. So, she'd worn the dark red dress that had been part of the set for Teen Vogue but hadn't been included in the actual spread.

He'd dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, but he'd still walked her to the table and handed her into her seat like a gentleman. She'd been surprised that he already had their food and then delighted that he'd paid attention to what she'd ordered when they'd met up to study earlier that week.

Dave had complimented her on the dress, and then they'd spent an hour over a simple ten-minute lunch as they tried to learn everything they could about each other.

"Our first date," Dave agreed. "I knew by the end of it that I was done," he smiled gently. "You were the one."

Amanda nodded. She'd felt the same. She'd gone back to her dorm and drawn the ire of her roommate by squealing into a pillow for five minutes.

He slid out of his seat and knelt beside her.

"For the past fifteen years, I've fallen more and more deeply in love with you," Dave confessed, producing a small velvet box and opening it up to present a ring to her.

Amanda sat perfectly still.

"We've always had our treaties and agreements," Dave continued, smiling mischievously. "Now I'd like to make another. Amanda Rigosi, will you marry me?"

She stood up at the same time reaching down to pull him up and threw her arms around him. "You're my always," she whispered in his ear as tears began to flow. "Yes, forever, yes!"

They pulled apart, and Dave extracted the ring, sliding it onto her finger.

"Through sickness and health until the end of time, which is almost enough time for me to show you just how much I love you," he began. "Through Waves and Tides, in this universe, and any other we might find ourselves in, I'll stand by your side for the rest of eternity, you and I, together against anything and everything, protecting each other and the people we love."

"Because that's what Adventurers do," Amanda replied.

"Because that's what Adventurers do," Dave agreed. "We'll do it all together.