Monroe

Chapter Two Hundred. The gears begin to move.

It was amazing how quickly things could move when you had effectively unlimited resources. Bob looked across glacier valley. He'd just finished training another fifty Curators, and he'd been told that the next batch, which would be ready tomorrow, were going to be trained by top ten Curators from the first group he'd trained, and it would be appreciated if he could observe, and provide feedback afterward.

The United States military did not fuck around. There was now a forty-foot-tall wall ringing the area designated for the Dungeons, and five of the skyscrapers were complete. This was clearly a necessity, as the Marines had truly moved in, and it looked like they'd brought the other services with them. In front of each of the skyscrapers was a flag pole, and while the United States flag waved proudly at the top of each, below were the flags of the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. While the Marines were the most numerous, the Army wasn't far behind, and there were easily a couple of thousand members of the Navy and the Airforce. He wasn't sure about the Coast Guard.

Shaking his head, Bob flew down to Adventurers Guild he'd built, which seemed so much smaller now that multiple skyscrapers were nearby. He hadn't stopped into the tavern in a few days, and he was hoping to run into Mike. He needed a larger hydroelectric generator for the reincarnation hideaway, and while he could have gone back to Earth on his own, the truth was he didn't have any money.

He hoped to see if he could summon out more copper and ask for a percentage of the profit from selling it. It was increasingly likely that he was going to want quite a few of those generators, as well as manuals and detailed specifications for the components. He was certain that at some point in the next few hundred years, he'd be summoning replacement parts.

Mike wasn't in the tavern, but Nora was, and her face brightened as she caught sight of him.

"Bob!" She squealed happily and stood up, motioning for him to join her table.

"Good morning," Nora smiled as she sat back down, "I heard you were training another bunch of Curators."

Bob sat down across the table from her, then produced Monroe, placing the feline of mass consumption on the center of the table. Monroe languidly stretched, sniffed the air, and sneezed twice before settling down into a purrball, his tail covering his eyes.

"Morning, and yes, I had another class of Curators this morning," Bob replied, "who were much better prepared; I think they did some prep work beforehand."

"It's crazy how many people are here now and how fast things are happening," Nora gushed, "I mean, from what Mike has explained, there are now twenty thousand marines here," she shook her head. "That's the same number of people who live in Harbordeep!"

"I noticed the other services have started operating over here as well," Bob noted as he waved a hand, attracting the attention of Talima, who was acting the part of waitress and hostess this morning.

"Bob, it's so good to see you," Talima called out with a smile as she walked over to the table, "what can I get for my favorite healer? I know Monroe will love the Oxcipine we've got diced up for him."

"I'm guessing you aren't having to feed everyone?" Bob asked, having noted that the ever-present and eternal line of Marines cycling through the tavern for their meals was missing.

"Gaia be praised, no," Talima laughed, "once they had that skyscraper finished on the inside, or finished enough anyways, they moved out there, where they have a proper commissary." She shook her head and reached out to give Monroe a long, slow stroke. "It's a good thing too, the kitchen here is wonderful, but we were working twenty-four hours a day to keep those boys fed."

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"Gaia, eh?" Bob asked curiously.

"Well, once I'd had some time to think about everything, I decided that I'd take the Floral Adept class, and with that plant affinity crystal, my plant growth ritual is just amazing, but without earth magic, I was having trouble keeping the soil healthy," Talima explained. "It turned out that Gaia offers a divine blessing that keeps the soil of any plant you grow, magically or otherwise, healthy, although it does cost a fair bit of mana," she smiled gently. "When I use the blessing, I can feel the warmth of the sun on my shoulders and the cool earth beneath my feet, a gentle breeze across my brow. It's subtle, but it's reassuring to know that there is a god looking out for me after all."

"Well, I'm glad you've settled in so well," Bob replied, "I guess I'll have steak and eggs?"

"Coming right up, sweetie," Talima said, then looked over at Nora expectantly.

"Oh, I'll have a breakfast burrito and a side of sausage," Nora offered.

"So, how many people from Earth do we have here now?" Bob asked Nora as he reached out to scratch Monroe's ruff.

"Mike said there were ten thousand grunts and five thousand flyboys, squids, and coasties," Nora scrunched her nose, "although I'm not sure what all that translated right."

"No," Bob shook his head, "from what I've read, grunts are United States Army, flyboys are United States Airforce, squids are United States Navy, and coasties are United States Coast Guard. I have no idea where those nicknames came from."

"It's intimidating to see so many people; your military is more than twice as large as our capital," she shook her head in wonder.

Bob blinked. "Nora," he began, "I don't know if anyone told you, but being as you're technically the Noble in charge around here, it's probably worth making sure you are aware that there are over a hundred and eighty thousand active-duty Marines. I believe there are almost half a million active-duty United States Army, and the rest I don't recall. But I remember the total number of service people, including the reserves, adding up to like three point two million."

"That numbers just too big," Nora muttered, "will all those people even fit in the towers?"

"Skyscrapers," Bob corrected idly, "and no, I laid out glacier valley to support forty Dungeons twenty-six floors deep; if they go down any further or build the floors any larger than what I had planned, there won't be sufficient mana to support them. If they follow the plan I laid out, they'll end up needing two hundred and forty Dungeons to handle the population of the United States, which to be fair is only about four and a half percent of the total world population."

"But, they might not even follow my plan past Glacier Valley," Bob said, "they have people who are smarter than I am and have the right skills to plan out the best way to handle this."

"I can't imagine anyone smarter than you," Nora beamed at him, "you're the smartest person I know."

Bob smiled awkwardly. "With so many people on the planet, you'll inevitably have a larger number of truly brilliant people," he replied. "On a different note," Bob sighed, "I know taxes are due in a few days; however, I still need to find out how many crystals the new Dungeon is producing."

"Dungeons," it was Nora's turn to correct him. "Each of the skyscrapers has a Dungeon underneath, ten floors deep at the moment."

"Having fifty Curators does move things along," Bob mused.

"Mike said that each branch was going to pass ten percent of the crystals gathered to you, but you'll have to ask him about that," Nora reached up and tucked an errant curl behind her ear.

Monroe's tail twitched, exposing his face as he sniffed the air and then sat up primly, his eyes locked on the entrance to the kitchen, where a second later, Talima emerged holding a tray.

She dropped of their meals, pausing to scratch Monroe's head before hurrying back.

The three of them focused on their meals for a few minutes as appetites were sated.

"So, I've been thinking," Nora began, "what happens when everyone from Earth goes back home? There are going to be all these skyscrapers and all these Dungeons, just sitting there, empty."

"I've given that a little bit of thought," Bob replied after he finished chewing his last bite of Oxcipine steak, "and I think that there are going to be a small number of people from Earth who decide to stay. I don't know how many, but I think there will be a few. Also, I imagine that there are probably a number of people who wouldn't mind stepping into a lightly used skyscraper with a Dungeon beneath it."

"With the knowledge and availability of Affinity Crystals, you might see a population boom," he continued, "for damn sure it won't hurt that people aren't going to die in waves anymore."

"How many skyscrapers do you think there will end up being?" Nora asked.

"If they build them the way I set up Glacier Valley, I'd say about five thousand to hold the entire population of Earth, but even with the United States buying in, I'm still pretty sure we're going to lose a huge percentage of that," Bob said sadly, "my best case scenario is that we manage to save fifty percent, so call it twenty-five hundred towers."

"That's if they do it my way," Bob added, "they might build a much larger tower with a much deeper Dungeon."

"Everything is going to change," Nora's voice was quiet.

"For a little while, yes," Bob agreed. "But I think most of the people will want to go back home once it's safe, so in the end, Greenwold will gain a few new skyscraper cities, and there will be empty ones scattered about, a testament to how the people of Greenwold opened their arms and homes to the refugees from an imperiled world."

Nora sighed, a little smile teasing the corners of her lips. "You make us sound so nice," she said.

"I can only speak for myself, but I've been happier here than I ever was on Earth," Bob replied.

"This is perfect," Eddi shouted as he rushed from the living area and down one of the hallways to investigate the suites.

Bob sat down in one of the chairs that were scattered around the room, most of them around tables, but this one, along with a few others, sitting along the wall with an end table next to them.

Jimmi had been happy to provide the furniture, although he was a little disappointed that Glacier Valley's Dungeon didn't have any room. He'd always wanted to be a Conjuration specialist, and he'd jumped at the chance to reincarnate and use an Affinity Crystal, but sadly, he was still on the list, waiting for a chance to live his dream. Thidwell was following a policy that favored the people who were camped outside the walls, which Jimmi had admitted to understanding. He was doing just fine at the lumbermill, better than fine actually, as business was booming with all the new people, and the people outside the walls really did need the opportunity more quickly than he did. House Crenshaw had taken a page out of Amber's book and built a spatially expanded greenhouse with vertical planters, allowing them to sacrifice one of their fields inside the wall on the altar of housing, and there were a dozen three-story buildings in various stages of construction where it used to be.

According to Jimmi, who had been contracted for most of the furnishings, thanks to spatial expansion, each floor of one of the buildings held twelve units suitable for a four to six-person family, with corner units coming in at a premium, and able to hold eight. Ultimately, those buildings alone would be sufficient to house all of the current refugees, although they were strictly housing, a stark difference from most of the buildings in Holmstead, where the bottom story held shops. Where all these people might practice their trades or go to work was still up in the air, although Jimmi had confided that once he had reincarnated, he'd only be doing woodworking for fun. He was planning to be a full-time Adventurer.

The one thing the place lacked was electricity, but he hadn't caught up with Mike yet. He'd left the walls bare so that he could install the wiring and the outlets once he had the supplies. Still, he had light balls in place of lamps, and he'd cast the five-fold ritual to pull mana down into it and use the flows to maintain the environment. At the moment, he had a very small space excavated at the center of the future first floor, and he expected that he'd need to deal with that issue shortly, as there were no doubt a metric ton of level one monsters down there, packed in like sardines. He'd have to expand the floor rapidly and then cast the ritual, but thanks to the smaller size, it wouldn't be that difficult.

Eddi came bounding back into the room. "Perfect, just perfect," he beamed.

"I'll need to buy some actual cookware," Bob replied, "as if everyone is reincarnating, no one will be able to summon it, which means I should also get some towels and sheets," he frowned, "maybe a washer and dryer wouldn't go amiss either, it's always possible that no one will actually have all four elemental control spells and persistent effect."

If there was one thing that would serve to keep him a summoner, it was the insane utility of the Summon Mana-Infused Object spell. It was honestly so good that he had worried that the impending update might nerf it a bit, despite Trebor's assurances that the spell was to remain unchanged.

"This is really great," Eddi smiled as he flopped down into a chair on the other side of the end table. "Those rooms are nice, and I checked up top, and you can't even tell there is anything here."

Bob nodded. "If you were looking with mana sight, you'd be able to tell that mana was being pulled down, but you'd have to be actively looking."

"Tremor sense would probably pick us up as well, but what are the chances of someone landing on this plateau, in the middle of nowhere, with tremor sense active?" Eddi shrugged. "Next to nothing," he continued, "so I'd say this place is just about as safe as it can be."

"I'm not sure if I can ward against tremor sense or not," Bob mused, "although I'll certainly find out."

'You can,' Trebor advised, 'that task will be accomplished by the protective ward.'

"So, how quick can you build the Dungeon?" Eddi asked.

"It depends on the other demands on my time," Bob replied, "I'd thought I'd be needing to help the Australians, but they seem to be quite happily camped out in Harbordeep."

"I talked to them this morning, and they're doing fine," Eddi explained, "they're taking it slow but steady. It'll probably be another two weeks until they have the portal spell."

"Well, given the size of the floors, I can probably knock out two a day," Bob said thoughtfully, "so figure maybe three weeks? As long as I don't get pulled away too often," he cautioned.

"Are you going to reincarnate right away?" Eddi asked.

"I think I'm going to push to tier seven," Bob admitted. "I had a few plans that involved a lateral apotheosis at tier six, but I'm not really sure that's worth it anymore."

Especially not when the System update would provide easy, customizable natural Affinities.

"That'll take a few crystals," Eddi shook his head. "How about we pop into your Dungeon for a few hours?"

"Sure," Bob nodded and opened a portal that would take Eddi to the thirty-second floor of Bob's Arcane Depths. "I'll pull you out in two hours."

Eddi grinned and fell through the portal.

Bob pushed the mana through the pattern for his portal spell again, targeting the fortieth floor. He might as well farm some Affinity Crystals while he gathered the mana crystals he'd need to tier up.