Monroe

Chapter Seventy-one. Murmuring Falls.

Bob was sitting on his sandstone slab, petting Monroe as he finalized the location he planned to ritually prepare for his cabin.

He didn't have a lot of room to work with, as he was effectively at the mouth of a gorge that fell into another gorge.

With a shake of his head, he decided to get started.

"Trebor," Bob said as he started pulling out mana crystals, "is there anything I need to do besides sitting here with mana crystals and visualizing?"

'Assuming you intend to include Monroe in your efforts,' Trebor said, 'you'll first need to retrieve him from the stream, and then provide him with one hundred mana crystals as well.'

Bob blinked and looked over at the stream.

Sure enough, Monroe was perched on a boulder that rose slightly above the water, eyes fixed on something beneath the surface, tail swishing.

'That detail aside,' Trebor continued, 'you'll simply need to mentally project the parameters for the ritual, and allow the mana stored in the mana crystals to flow through you.'

Bob nodded and headed over to collect Monroe.

"Alright buddy," Bob said as he settled down in the circle he'd chalked out, "I'll need you sit on these," Bob deposited Monroe onto a pile of mana crystals, "and just hold on for two minutes."

Bob mentally projected his feelings of patience-love-warmth to the big cat, then closed his eyes, a pile of mana crystals on his own lap.

He imagined an area of earth, thirty feet to a side, the final side only a few feet away from the edge of the ridge, flowing like a liquid, becoming perfectly level and flat. Then he visualized five rows of five holes, twelve inches in diameter and five feet deep appearing. Finally, he focused on the earth crystallizing into sandstone, forever changed into a perfect slab.

Bob felt the mana crystals start to disentegrate as their mana flowed through them, empowering the ritual.

For the first time, Bob cast a ritual without pain.

The flow of mana ceased and Bob opened his eyes to find that the area just to the right of his slab had turned to the same reddish-brown sandstone, perfectly flat and level, with holes for the support posts spaced perfectly.

He picked up Monroe and scratched his ears as he stood up and moved to inspect the area more closely.

"You did great buddy," Bob said softly as Monroe's purr motor rumbled to life.

Monroe seemed pleased, although that may have just been his general disposition.

"This is where our house is going to be," Bob said to Monroe as he looked out over the series of falls, "and I think this is where I'll put my chair."

Monroe twisted and turned, rolling over to expose his belly.

Bob carefully applied the four pets, no more, no less, that Monroe wanted.

That was another lesson learned from long practice.

"Now we just have to bring some people up here to help us put it together," Bob said to Monroe as the big cat scrambled up his arm, locking himself into place on the Makres.

Bob smiled.

The new armor Gary had made for Monroe was fantastic.

Gary had essentially taken a Makres harness, sized for the newly leveled Monroe, and placed all the enchantments on that.

The armored plates and panels attached to it through a series of buckles and snaps that would only have taken a few seconds to put on, had Bob not discovered he could equip things to Monroe if Monroe was touching Bob and said things were in Bob's inventory.

With his heavily enchanted Makres harness and the summoning mastery bonus, Bob wasn't quite sure who was whose familiar.

Name: Monroe Tier: 4 Size: 3 Skills: Conjuration (Affinity Crystal) Dimension (Affinity Crystal) Summoning (Affinity Crystal) Abjuration (Affinity Crystal) Animancy Level: 16 Weapon Hardness: 30 Hide hardness: 20 Ritual Magic Eldritch Blast Teleport Summon Object Reinforce Armor Anima Blast Strength: 72 Mana: 136 Armor: 252 Effect Over Time Flight Eldritch Blast Eldritch Shield Coordination: 104 Stamina: 176 Claw Damage: 310 Persistent Effect Portal Ward Endurance: 72 Health: 2328 Bite Damage: 268 Intelligence: 68 Movement: 218 Casting Value: 316 Elemental Earth Elemental Air Elemental Water Elemental Fire Shadowmancy Wisdom: 68 Dodge 240 Control Earth Control Air Control Water Control Fire Beauty: 104 Summoning Mastery 2 Plant Plant Growth

"Yes, you're the most handsome kitty ever," Bob crooned as he scratched under Monroe's chin.

Monroe continued to purr as he accepted his humans offering of affection.

"Time to get back to Holmstead," Bob said, "but we'll be back tomorrow, and hopefully by the end of the week, you'll have a place to nap in the sun."

A bluish-black portal twisted into existence, and Bob stepped through it.

~ ~ ~ ~

As it turned out, the crew of workmen the carpenter had gathered were mostly people who had taken the Laborer path.

Bob started his morning by delivering several awkward 'You're welcome's to the individuals who recognized him as 'The Reef'.

Then he spent another fifteen minutes regretting his off the cuff comment to the man who'd said he wished he could have taken another path, as he explained that they could reincarnate and take another, more Dungeon oriented path.

It took almost an hour to get everyone together. Fortunately, the lumber was packed into two large shipping crates, that Bob highly suspected were dimensionally augmented.

With great relief, Bob opened his portal to the site he'd prepared for his cabin, allowing the seven men and women to precede before him.

Once they'd arrived, it had taken half an hour before any actual work was done, as everyone took a few minutes to appreciate the view, and then the crates had to be unpacked.

But soon enough posts were lowered, beams were placed, and a frame began to emerge.

Bob opened a portal back to Holmstead for lunch, which was appreciated by all.

As the sun started to set, the construction team called it a night, leaving behind a skeletal frame.

Bob was fairly certain that even with power tools, houses weren't erected this quickly back home. As much as being a Laborer wasn't a great path, it was impressive to see it in action.

A few of them had told Bob that they were going to work until they had the resources to reincarnate and take a more combat-oriented path.

Bob opened his portal, pleased with the overall progress that had been made.

~ ~ ~ ~

Bob settled into his chair for the first time.

Seven days had passed, and the labor and materials had wound up being fifty crystals more expensive, alongside the twenty-crystal tip he'd given to the work crew, but it was done.

Jimmi had provided the furniture, which had cost him another two hundred crystals.

Kitchenware, sheets, drapes, and a dozen other small items had added up to forty crystals.

As Bob looked out over the gorge, the morning sun casting rainbows alongside the falls, he decided then and there it was well worth the thousand crystals it had wound up costing him.

His sunroom was a delicate latticework of bronze reinforced wood, with one-foot square panes of glass. The panes were framed, and the frames were hinged, allowing him to open them to let in a breeze.

Given the morning chill, that would be reserved for summer afternoons.

Still, he had a long padded bench running up against the glass for the length of the porch, which would hopefully provide Monroe with a number of adequate napping positions.

He had stepped planters, three of them, that were three feet wide and five feet tall where he hoped to grow spices and vegetables.

He'd been able to obtain those for only a crystal each.

He'd placed five pairs of chairs between the planters, which should allow him to find a spot with the optimal amount of sun as well.

Bob stood up and stretched. He'd woken up in his new bed, cooked himself an omelet on his stove, and taken a shower, toweling off with an effect over time summoned fluffy white bath towel, which was his answer to a laundry service.

He stepped out of his new home and walked over to the stream before turning to admire it.

The logs were a golden tan, and the shake roof was a light red. It looked warm and cozy, and just right.

He smiled and adjusted Monroe on his shoulders.

The big cat had worn himself out last night as he zoomed about the new cabin, exploring every surface he could reach.

Bob had helped by guiding Monroe through casting a persistent effect flight spell on himself, which allowed the huge Maine-coon to reach the top of cabinets, windowsills, and other places that were harder to reach, even with his impressive vertical leap.

Monroe had been reluctant to leave the bed and had only done so when bribed with scrambled egg yolks, which he'd devoured quickly.

But the sun was fully risen and Bob had a few other things he wanted to pick up for the house.

The stove was very nice, and a level ten mana crystal would power it for ten days, but as evenly as it heated the skillet, and as warm as it kept the air, the floors had still been a bit chilly this morning, so Bob was going to purchase a few rugs to both liven up the floor, and keep his feet comfortable when he got out of bed or out of the shower.

He reached up and rubbed Monroe's ruff, then opened a portal to Holmstead.

~ ~ ~ ~

Bob was waiting in the tavern for Harv and Elli.

He spotted them as they strode in and waved them over to his table, where a lounging Monroe was being attentively petted by Bailli.

"Afternoon," Bob said cheerfully.

"Bob, Bailli," Harv nodded as he sat down.

"Monroe," Elli added as he took his own seat and reached over to rub Monroe's ears.

"How are you two doing?" Bob asked.

"Still tired," Harv grunted, with an accompanying nod from Elli.

"I was just telling Bailli that my cabin is finished," Bob said proudly.

"That's great," Elli said as he decided to test Monroe's affinity for toe-bean petting.

"And fairly quick," Harv added as he signaled Theo.

"It certainly was," Bob said with a shake of his head, "but it's done and I wanted to invite you two up to take a look, and being as I was going to show Bailli as well, I figured after lunch I could give all three of you a tour."

Harv smiled and replied, "We'll have an hour or so after lunch, and we'd love to see it, right Elli?"

"Yeah," Elli muttered as he carefully played with Monroe's foot, attempting to judge if the extending and receding claws were happy feet or the precursor to deployment of the toe-bean defense mechanism.

"So you're really settling in then," Bailli said with a smile as she rubbed Monroe's ruff.

"I am," Bob agreed, "and I'm also taking your advice to heart."

Bob sighed and said, "It's been a week since I've been in the Dungeon, and I'm sleeping better, I feel less anxious, and just generally feeling much better than I was."

He shook his head, "I imagine after a full month I'll feel amazing."

Harv smiled and lightly clasped his shoulder, "I'm glad Bailli got through to you," he said, "sometimes the paranoia makes it hard for people to take good advice when they hear it."

Bob nodded and slid Monroe forward slightly.

Upon reaching level sixteen, Monroe had reached the size of a lynx and occupied a significant chunk of real estate, table-wise.

Bob wasn't sure how he was going to handle that, although the easiest choice was just a larger table.

Theo had returned with their food, and everyone set about eating lunch, which was a cream of potato soup with, Bob was pleased to see, chunks of ham.

~ ~ ~ ~

Upon finishing their lunch, the four humans and their feline overlord exited the Adventurers Guild, and stepped through Bob's portal, arriving alongside his sandstone slab.

"Stars," Bailli breathed as she looked over the cabin, then turned to survey the stream tumbling down the series of waterfalls.

"And stones," Harv and Elli both echoed.

"You were right," Elli said as he stood up on Bob's sandstone slab, "this is a beautiful view."

Harv and Bailli both nodded.

"Would you like a short tour of my very small cabin?" Bob asked.

"Lead on," Harv said as the three of them followed Bob and Monroe into Bob's humble abode.

"Cozy," Bailli remarked as they entered the combination kitchen/dining/living room.

"Bathroom is through there," Bob gestured, "and my bedroom is over there," he pointed to a door in the corner.

"But here," Bob lead them out into the sunroom, "is where I suspect I'll spend my waking hours."

"This is nice," Elli said as he flopped into a chair.

Harv sat down next to him, while Bailli sat down next to Bob.

Monroe slid off Bob's shoulders and jumped over to the padded bench where he circled twice, and then curled up in the sun.

"Definitely a fantastic view," Harv agreed.

"And designed with Monroe in mind," Bailli said.

"Of course," Bob said, "Everything I do is designed to please my feline overlord."

"Safest course of action," Harv grunted as he settled deeper into the chair, "especially with him getting as big as he has."

Bailli grinned as she stretched a foot out to try to nudge Monroe and said, "He's huge now, and even more handsome."

"I helped him level up to sixteen," Bob said, "so I don't expect him to grow any larger."

He stretched his shoulders and grimaced, "Which is a good thing, if he gets much bigger, I'll be the one riding him."

Elli grinned and sank deeper into his chair.

Bob had opened a few of the upper panes, so they could hear the sounds of the stream running over the falls.

"You really did find a great spot," Harv said, his eyes closing as a smile stretched across his face.

"Perfect," Elli echoed him, propping his feet up on the bench.

"They're going to fall asleep," Bailli warned him with a grin.

"I'll wake them up in time to get back to their afternoon delve," Bob said.

"Well in that case," Bailli kicked her legs up and pulled out a book from her satchel, "just nudge me when it's time to leave."