Monroe
Chapter One Hundred and Eighty. Guess who's coming to dinner.

"The King is coming here?" Bob asked.

"I don't think that he's angry," Nora offered.

Bob took two deep, calming breaths. The King was coming to Glacier Valley. He would need to keep Lt. Conolel Smith away from him, which shouldn't be too difficult, as Bob had been successful in his avoidance of the grumpy newly-reincarnated man.

He knew the King probably wasn't going to burn Glacier Valley to cinders. The problem wasn't so much the would, as the could. If the King was delving the deepest floors of the Dungeon in Harbordeep, that would put him at level eighty-three, which was tier nine territory.

"Ok," Bob muttered as he reached up to stroke Monroe. "I'll talk to Mike and make sure no one is around. Can you do the same for the Endless?"

"I can try," Nora said doubtfully, "but I think if they knew the King was coming, they might all want to try and get a glimpse of him."

"Just how big is he?" Bob asked suddenly. "And how is he getting here?"

He might have to tell the Marines not to shoot at the huge Dragon. He buried his fingers in Monroe's ruff.

"I think the Gateway at the Temple?" Nora offered.

"As long as he's not flying in," Bob shook his head. "Did I not give him enough crystals?" Bob asked rhetorically.

"Maybe you gave him too many," Nora replied, "he asked if you knew that you only had to take his tax out of the crystals you collected, and when I explained that you were collecting all of them, he asked how people were leveling up."

"So I told him you were giving people the crystals to level, but you were making sure you paid all your taxes on the crystals that were collected," she finished.

Monroe had begun to purr under Bob's idle petting, and the rumble helped to soothe Bob's frayed nerves.

"He said tomorrow at dawn?" Bob wanted to confirm.

Nora nodded.

"Alright, well, here is to hoping he doesn't wipe us off the map," Bob grumbled.

"So, Chris agreed to come to do the setup, although I can't nail him down on staying to run it," Jack sipped his wine.

"I'm glad to hear that," Oscar replied, "it's always nice to work with people you already know."

"Speaking of which, you should have received the funds for the equipment purchase an hour or so ago," Jack tugged at the collar of his shirt. He'd gotten used to the much cooler temperatures in Holmstead and Glacier Valley. Springtime in LA could get rather warm.

"I did, and I've managed to arrange to take some time off for the project in a week," Oscar replied, "which raises the question of if you'll have the tower up by then?"

Jack frowned. The impending wave had put that plan on pause. Well, that and the job of building the first tower in Glacier Valley, but he was pretty sure that Stavin was almost done there if he hadn't already completed it.

"There is a sort of flood that happens twice a year, which is due in a couple of days," Jack hedged, "the locals are used to it, and they keep it contained, but it does pretty much put everything on hold for a few days before, and the day after. Construction and hangovers, respectively," he explained. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴøvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Let me know by the end of the week, yeah?" Oscar offered, "If it's not finished, I'll spend a few days in Vail."

"Sounds good," Jack agreed.

He looked his friend over. Oscar had been a friend ever since Jack had been in college. Despite being a good twenty years his senior, Oscar had a zest for life that resonated with him, and they'd gone skiing, surfing, hiking, and even hang-gliding together. They'd had a brief fling, but they were both too dedicated to their work to make a real go of it, and they'd parted as even better friends than they'd been before.

It hurt seeing the grey at Oscar's temples.

While Lt. Colonel Smith might have been a whiney little bitch about it, he had a feeling that Oscar wouldn't have any issues with reincarnation.

"Well," Jack stood, "I'm off to pick up a few more theatre screens," he blew Oscar a kiss.

Oscar chuckled and made a shooing motion. "I'll talk to you in a few days, have fun setting that up."

Jack walked to the curb and slipped into his truck. He'd paid an obscene amount of money for a couple of spatially expanded crates, but the end result was that he could just take his truck to the warehouse where the projectors, screens, and sound systems were waiting for him. There wouldn't be anyone there to see just how the materials left the building.

And if there were, then hey, more recruits.

He hadn't mentioned anything to Bob because the man was clearly trying damned hard, but Jack could easily see the Military, followed by the Federal government taking over in Glacier Valley.

It would be prudent to have a number of regular people working to bring people over as well. He knew that Dave and Amanda had their D&D crew running, but they were a little focused on the whole magic powers bit and a little less so on the End of the Fucking World bit, which Jack couldn't help but feel was not the correct order of priorities.

He'd brought Raul over, and then Raul had brought a couple of his friends over. He planned to sneak a request for them to be able to level up in the Dungeon into a conversation with Bob. In the meantime, he'd given them the mana crystals they'd needed to hit level five, which had made them positively gleeful, and one hundred percent committed.

Jack had a plan, and while it could dovetail nicely with Bob's, it wasn't Bob's plan. He was going to build his own city. He'd have a single central Dungeon, with a nicely arranged, modern city overhead. He envisioned a square mile surrounded by a hundred-foot wall, with half a dozen apartment buildings soaring five hundred feet tall. Wide boulevards, parks, open-air markets, with more permanent shops set up in the first few floors of each apartment building.

The seat of government would be located above the metroplex, where you would find restaurants, the movie theatre, an art gallery, and at least one venue for live music.

He'd already reached out to a few electrical engineers who had worked on municipal plants, and he hoped to recruit at least two or three. The powerplant would be part of the metroplex, which would be centrally located. Having a ready-made city with all the comforts of home would draw in the right sort of people. Setting aside the impending apocalypse, who wouldn't want a vacation home in another world? The prestige alone would ensure that the city filled up quickly, which would fund the next, and the next.

Jack didn't expect it would take long before he had people clamoring for the chance to purchase a unit in one of his pre-planned communities.

He'd already contacted a city planner who'd worked in Dubai. It wouldn't do to have every city the same after all; they each needed their own unique personalities. Not too unique, though, they'd need to carry a sense of familiarity to ensure that when you visited another, it put you at ease while still showing you something extraordinary. It was a delicate line to walk and definitely required the touch of a professional.

Pulling up to the warehouse, he couldn't help but wonder how many people might simply stay on Thayland when everything was said and done. Assuming that events proceeded the way Bob predicted, LA might be completely wrecked, leaving his wealthy residents with little to come back to. If transportation across dimensions was inexpensive enough, people might commute back to Earth for work and then return home each day to their cozy, comfortable units on Thayland.

Jason's arm shot out, and he made a twisting motion. The Oxcipine's feet were encased in stone as its momentum continued unabated, driving its face into the floor. With another gesture, raising his hand up, a thin wall of dirt rose in front of him as a volley of quills flew from the Oxcipine towards him. As soon as he heard the impact, he dropped the wall and yanked his hand down in grasping motion before thrusting it forward.

A stone spike with wicked barbs along two sides rose like a spear from the floor, thrusting deeply into the Oxcipine, further anchoring it to the ground. The monster bellowed in hate as it struggled to reach him, but Jason made another pulling motion, and the spear jerked back into the ground, dragging chunks of Oxcipine that had caught on the barbs with it. One more spell and the Oxcipine shuddered, then stopped moving.

He wiped his brow. Bob had explained that the curator path, while powerful in terms of the sheer number of skills he would have, was incredibly weak at early levels. So much so, that beyond making sure you were familiar with how to wear your armor and use your weapon, there was no reason not to simply jump straight to level five and start beating level six monsters to death so that you could push to six, and learn an actual combat skill.

Jason had chosen Earth Bending, or Control Earth as they called it here. He'd been leveling up the skill for the past day, and he was quite pleased. Initially, he'd been forced to pull the monster with an Earth Spike, then melee it down as his spells lacked the punch they needed. Soon enough, his spell had reached his level and then crept beyond it.

Bob had taken him aside and handed him four Affinity Crystals, one for each element, and explained to him how to use them. Without a specific spell to focus on, Jason had done as instructed and selected the five-level bonus to all spells from the school. That choice was paying dividends as his Control Earth was nearly level ten now and required only two spikes to take down an Oxcipine.

He'd learned through painful experience to bind it and let it get off a volley first; otherwise, it would volley after his first spike, and he might, or might not, be able to get a wall up after casting the second spike. If he just brought up the wall, the Oxcipine would close the distance, burst through the wall, and try to skewer him. It was a little slower this way but much safer.

Once he'd capped his spell, he was going to continue until he'd reached the first threshold of the school. Bob had indicated that would be another bonus to the maximum level of the spells in that school, although this one was percentage-based. His path forward was clear. He would level Earth to its maximum on this floor, then move to the next, where he would continue raising Earth back up in conjunction with his new school and spell. He would follow that pattern, capping each school and skill at each level. Based on what Bob had indicated, he would technically be able to build a Dungeon at level ten, although Bob had also indicated that the degree of complexity he intended to incorporate would require him to have skills that wouldn't be auto granted by his path until he was much higher level. To that end, he had simply taken Effect over Time at level six as his bonus skill. He would take Persistent Effect next, and then Shadowmancy, Mana Sight, and Mana Shaping.

Then the real fun would begin.

Mike didn't know exactly when his life had started to suck this badly, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with when he'd met Bob.

He was sitting at a table in the Tavern, watching the Secretary of Defense scowl at a bowl of Oxcipine stew.

Mike nearly sighed in relief as Bob slumped down at the table. SecDef had been waiting for almost forty-five minutes, and it was clear that the man wasn't used to having to wait for other people.

"Mike," Bob acknowledged him with a nod as he spooned up a mouthful of the stew from the bowl he'd brought with him to the table.

Mike had finished his own bowl half an hour ago and grinned at the happy grunt Bob exuded.

"They really stepped it up with the spices brought over from Earth," Mike agreed, "it's a lot less bland, and that rosemary brings out the flavor of the Oxcipine."

Bob nodded as he finished chewing and swallowed. "It's delicious," he agreed before turning his gaze to SecDef. "I'm guessing you're the Secretary of Defense?" Bob asked.

Mike was pleased to note that there wasn't any hint of animosity in his voice. He'd been a little worried that Lt. Colonel Smith had soured the well.

"I am," SecDef responded with a forced smile, "and I gather you're Robert Whitman, the man who made us aware of the upcoming trouble?"

Bob nodded, spooning up more stew.

"I was hoping to ask a few more questions, pick your brain a bit," SecDef said, and Mike was surprised to see how... engaging the man was being. He still showed traces of annoyances at having had to wait, but it was clear he was able to set that aside in order to have a civil, possibly even friendly conversation with Bob.

Bob made a motion with his empty spoon for SecDef to continue.

"So, I've accepted that this 'Magic' is real, and I can clearly see how it will result in a post-scarcity economy," SecDef began, "setting aside the issue of individuals accumulating real, actual power, I have to ask this one question." SecDef leaned forward slightly. "How do you know not only that the Apocalypse is coming, but exactly when it's going to happen?"

Mike saw Bob wince. The man would make a terrible poker player.

"I was born in Los Angeles," Bob paused, and then said, "I was born a woman."

Mike grimaced as he felt the wrongness of that statement as if the universe itself was shouting that Bob was lying.

"What the hell was that?" SecDef asked as he shook his head.

"I've under a magical effect that prevents me from telling lies," Bob explained, "or rather, it makes certain that people know when I'm lying. So understand that when I say the sky is lime green," Mike and SecDef both winced as that feeling returned, "I'm doing so to illustrate that I can't lie to you."

"That being said, I'm not going to tell you how I obtained that information. I will share the information itself," Bob clarified, "but not the source."

SecDef leaned back, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Alright, so let's say we take on faith that you're correct, or at least that you believe you are," SecDef began, "I've been appraised of your plan to bring people over here from Earth to wait out the monsters. You've provided extraordinary evidence to back up your claims, so I'm willing to move forward with the assumption that you are right."

"Your plan, if viewed from your background, is wildly ambitious," SecDef continued, "however, when viewed from the perspective of the United States government, it's far too little." With a shake of his head, SecDef went on, "Even with the ability to stack people up like bricks in stasis, this valley and its attendant monster farms represent less than a tenth of the population of the United States, to say nothing of our allies around the globe."

SecDef leaned forward again, attempting, and Mike noted with amusement and failing to pin Bob with his gaze.

"How large is this landmass?" SecDef asked.

Bob finished chewing slowly, his mind working. "I'm not sure," he confessed, "I know we're about two hundred miles to the east of Holmstead, and a hundred miles to the north, maybe. I know Holmstead is three hundred miles or so away from Harbordeep, which is the capital of the Kingdom that holds claim to the continent, and it's on the coast, and maybe another hundred miles to the south."

SecDef grimaced. "Yes, this 'Kingdom,'" he said, "I understand from Sergeant Hanson that you've entered into a leasing arrangement?"

Bob nodded. "Five percent of the Mana Crystals pulled from the Dungeon are the King's rightful due, and I've arranged another five percent as a means of leasing the land we are building on."

"Not being fully versed in an economy where the currency is not only fungible but is actually consumable, I'm not sure if that is inexpensive or highway robbery," SecDef muttered.

"Well," Bob hesitated, and Mike narrowed his eyes, "the King is coming to see me tomorrow morning, so if you'd like, you can meet him?"

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