Monroe

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Five. Beautiful Vistas.

Watching the sunrise over the crags and canyons was remarkably peaceful. Bob had woken up as soon as the sky had begun to lighten, and he'd quietly climbed out of his swag, a sleepy Monroe over his shoulders. He'd walked through an empty campsite opposite their own, this one facing east, and had settled down on the picnic table, enjoying the cool morning air, a light breeze flowing over him, promising to provide some relief from the inevitable heat of the day.

They'd agreed that today would be a solo exploration day, where they'd strike out on their own or as couples. Due to their vastly increased physical attributes, they could range much further, enjoying effective immunity from any hazards. Snakes weren't a concern, and the Old Guard had proven that a fall from fifty feet was trivial. So they had planned to go out and look for amazing vistas, hidden gems that few people would have seen. Then they'd guide their friends to them over the next few days.

It had been Dave and Amanda's idea, but Bob thought it was brilliant. It also gave him some much-needed alone time. He needed to decompress a bit. The long days in the Dungeon had made him a bit twitchy and anxious. It wasn't a symptom of mana density sickness, just the result of fighting monsters for so long. There were a few wispy clouds on the horizon, painted in shades of purple, violet, and pink as the sun threatened to crest.

Monroe was curled up next to him in a purrball, not quite ready to be awake yet, and not particularly interested in the majesty of the sunrise. Bob felt melancholy as he took the time to appreciate the beauty of the world as it awoke. He'd spent almost three decades of his life putting in the work, and in doing so, he'd deprived himself of the joy of actually living. He shook his head. He needed to hit tier seven. Once he'd done that, he could reincarnate back down. He'd also reincarnate Monroe at the same time, which would serve to help him remain innocuous. It was well known that Monroe was huge, and he'd noticed quite a few people with kittens on their shoulders these days. It wouldn't be hard to blend in.

He was on his way to living a more leisurely life, where he could appreciate the beauty that the world had to offer. At tier seven, with seven affinity crystals and a well-built path, he'd be safe from almost all the natural hazards of Thayland, as well as Earth. With his Arcane Depths, he'd be able to replenish his supply of crystals anytime he wanted, which would allow him to range far and wide, exploring with Monroe.

He looked down at the massive Maine-coon. The jump to tier five, as a paragon, would result in a very large kitty once he'd leveled all the way up. That was something Bob planned to put off for a while. Monroe would be big at tier five, even as a kitten. He'd wait a while before leveling him up, as a smilodon-sized Monroe would be difficult to manage with his current housing arrangements.

At some point, he was going to need to adjust to his paragon, or even his pinnacle, form. He'd been deliberately using his Return to the Beginning blessing to remain normal, but he couldn't do that forever. Bob was self-aware enough to admit that he tended towards habit and routine, so he planned to enact a number of changes all at once. While it would be uncomfortable and disruptive, at least he'd get it all over at once, and then he could settle into a new routine.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Amanda said softly as she sat down next to Monroe.

"It is," Bob replied. "I was just thinking that I've spent too much of life focused on the next step, putting in the work, and not enough time enjoying the world around me."

"We always admired you for that, you know," Amanda offered. "You were frighteningly dedicated."

He looked over at her and saw her smiling as she applied light strokes to Monroe. "I was just keeping my head down while I put in the work," Bob admitted, then sighed. "For something that the world just didn't want me to have. I would have been happier working on that shipping dock full time."

"But then you never would have been blown into Thayland, and we wouldn't have the amazing opportunities you've given us," Amanda replied as she continued to fuel the purrmotor by digging into Monroe's ruff.

"Very true," Bob nodded, "I can honestly say that it was the second-best thing to ever happen to me, the first being chosen by Monroe, of course."

"Of course," Amanda agreed.

Bob turned back toward the sunrise, and they sat in companionable silence as the clouds lightened, purple fading to yellow, and then white as the sun finally broke over the horizon.

"Dave should be making breakfast by now," Amanda broke the silence, "let's go tuck in before it's all gone. I'm sure Monroe is hungry as well."

As she slid off the picnic table, Monroe stood and stretched languidly, then looked up at Bob, tail twitching slightly. Bob picked him up and hefted him onto a shoulder, then headed back to their campsite.

Ultimately, it was Monroe who discovered the perfect vista. They'd been walking along a canyon, and Bob wasn't entirely sure where he was. He could find his way back easily enough, but he'd been hiking for hours, and if you handed him a map, he'd be hard-pressed to point out the general area.

Monroe had scampered up the side of the canyon, leaping from rock to rock, until he finally disappeared from sight entirely. Bob had followed more sedately, and discovered that there was a broad ledge that concealed the entrance to a cave. It wasn't visible at all from the ground, and given the way the canyon's face angled up to a ridge, you wouldn't be able to see it from above either. The entrance was triangular, eight feet wide at the base and nine feet tall at the peak. He ducked inside, paused, enjoying the shade, and waited for his eyes to adjust.

He would guess that the entrance to the cave was formed by boulders, as it opened up immediately. The space inside was twenty feet wide and thirty feet deep, with an opening at the rear that might have gone further. There was an opening, a few inches across just above the entrance, where the boulders had left a gap, which served to provide a bit of light. Monroe was sprawled out in that beam of sunlight, enjoying the diffused warmth of the sun in contrast to the cool earth beneath him.

As his eyes adjusted, he looked around more carefully. The wall was almost verticle to his left, while it slanted down abruptly at the back, with the right-hand side showing a gradual angle, leaving a twenty by twenty space that was comfortable for Bob to stand.

After a few moments of appreciating the cave, Bob turned and walked out onto the ledge. The view was incredible. Apparently, the canyon he'd been following had been at a higher elevation, as he could see over a dozen other ridges. In the distance to the northeast, he could even see a flash of verdant green, no doubt the Fremont river. The opening faced mostly east, and Bob could imagine how amazing the sunrises would be.

It was a place he could have seen people using for shelter or camping were it not for the difficulty of reaching it. He wasn't sure if he could have made it up without his increased attributes.

One thing was certain, he was going to remember this place. He could spend a day, or two camped here, relaxing, secure in the solitude.

Jack was hovering nearly a mile above the ground. It had taken some time to get used to the idea of magical flight. He knew he wasn't going to fall, it was his spell keeping him aloft, but knowing was different than knowing. The city wall was effectively complete. The grates for the rivers flowing through it needed to be installed, but then it was providing a formidable barrier to anything outside the water.

The four dungeons inside the city walls were still being built. It turned out that Bob was some sort of prodigal workhorse, and basing any projections on his performance was foolhardy. Still, despite being only at half depth and thus, half draw, they were pulling enough mana to slow monster appearances to a trickle. The Old Guard he'd hired to watch over the builders were having an easy go of it for the moment. The next step was to build taverns outside the walls, and he expected they'd be busy handling monsters again.

Jack estimated that he was running about two weeks behind his personal schedule for the project. He'd been hoping to finish it by the middle of July, but it was looking like August would be more realistic. Not that it mattered, he had his first thousand residents lined up already.

He'd started selling the dream earlier that month, and with a regenerate here, a reincarnation there, he'd quickly accrued the credibility he'd needed. His sales pitch, which included a mockup of a penthouse apartment, had showcased the incredible views of the mountains and the forests. The sales had rolled, and by the time he'd sold out of penthouses, he was looking at billions in escrow.

Those funds were a weight pressing on his mind. Jack knew what his buyers didn't; all currency beyond mana crystals would be useless soon. If he didn't want to be caught holding the bag, he needed to finish construction and close, then spend that money quickly. There was a failing semiconductor plant in Texas that he had his eye on.

Moving the machinery to Thayland wouldn't be too difficult, and given the layoffs over the past few years, finding experienced personnel to operate the plant shouldn't be any trouble. Jack had considered the problem from a few different angles. It was tempting to just rely on magic to replicate chips and circuits, but given their complexity, the truth of the matter was that very few people really understood how they worked.

There was no guarantee that those people would come to Thayland or that they'd be interested in spending their days stamping out chips. If Jack wanted to ensure that the digital age didn't collapse, he knew he would need the people and equipment to keep it going.

"It looks good," Mike's voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned to face the former detective.

"Thanks," he replied with a smile, "you're guys have been fantastic. We'd still be two or three weeks behind were it not for their efforts."

"Happy to help," Mike returned the smile, "and happy with the discount as well."

Jack nodded. He'd struck another deal with the Old Guard, where they would provide security against the next wave in return for a twenty percent discount on purchasing housing in the city. While some of them were more comfortable living with their fellow veterans, others wanted someplace they could bring their families over, or they just wanted a quieter, more 'normal' living environment.

Jack had no illusions about the likelihood of his future residents delving the Dungeons he was building. Having a solid number of veterans in the city would be a boon when it came to keeping the Dungeons cleared.

He had to admit to himself that he'd stalled a bit. To be fair, they all had. They'd rushed to the tier cap, and then they'd started pursuing their own personal projects. Dave and Amanda were recruiting D&D players and building their own adventurer society. Vera, who had been a fantastic cook back on Earth, had taken a few skills and was now preparing food that provided significant attribute increases. Tony, along with his wife and mother-in-law, had settled into Glacier Valley, raising some sort of magical sheep alongside their kids. Dave and Amanda's parents were running the Tavern while overseeing the construction of what would eventually be a small town around it.

Jack hadn't been in a Dungeon for over a month.

"Thinking some deep thoughts?" Mike asked.

"I was just thinking that even though my friends and I are diehard gamers and adapted fairly well to slaughtering monsters, we've all basically stopped," Jack replied.

Mike huffed and shook his head. "Burn out," he said flatly. "I'd say that just over half of the Old Guard at the tier cap are suffering from it. No matter how 'safe' or 'overpowered' we are, the fact of the matter is that delving a Dungeon is life and death combat, and that takes a toll. It's less of an issue for the new arrivals, as we don't have the capacity to keep them in the Dungeon for eight hours a day, every day. I didn't delve for almost two months, and I've only just started back up again last week."

"Really?" Jack asked in surprise. "I thought you guys were still going full murderhobo."

"Really," Mike replied dryly. "From what I've heard, the active personnel in Glacier Valley are starting to suffer as well, to an even greater degree."

"I did hear about that," Jack nodded, "I also heard they were suffering casualties, a byproduct of ignoring 'The Rules.'"

"In retrospect, as funny as watching Bob play drill sergeant was, he really did an excellent job of getting the ideas behind safely delving the Dungeon across," Mike sighed. "I was thorough in my reports, but 'Two hundred and forty years of tradition, untrammeled by progress,' and all that."

Jack could only nod. "What brings you by?" He asked.

"I was wondering if we could come to another arrangement," Mike began. "You've got those four Dungeons built out to twelve floors, right?"

"I do," Jack replied.

"You're not running them at full capacity twenty-four-seven, are you?" Mike grinned.

"I'm not, and I can see where you're going. Ten percent for the King, ten percent towards driving the Dungeon deeper, ten percent to build out the city, and ten percent for me," Jack offered.

"Fair enough," Mike agreed, "how many slots do you have open?"

"Effectively, all of them," Jack sighed, "the builders aren't as interested in delving as I'd expected."

"In that case, I'll have a portal opened tomorrow morning, and we'll start rotating people in," Mike smiled. "Should be a nice little earner for you, and we'll be happy to have more space to get people grinding levels and crystals, although we'll make sure to keep the hours and days low to not only give more people a chance but also to slow down the burnout."

"I'll be waiting for them," Jack promised, shaking hands with Mike, who then portaled away.

Another problem solved, and if he was snaking some crystals for himself, it wasn't like he wasn't also helping everyone else.