Monroe

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Four. Dinner and metaphysics.

Elania forced herself to smile politely at the King of Greenwold. Honestly, she'd shared meals with despots and dictators, and he was none of those things, at least not the negative connotations. He was, however, overbearing, condescending, and incredibly entitled. He'd told her what they were having for dinner.

She struggled to reign in her temper. She was normally an even-keeled person, but she had to admit that the King of Greenwold just irritated her. If she were perfectly honest with herself, she knew that most of that irritation stemmed from his apparent disregard for her office. She was the President of the United States of America, and she was used to being regarded as the most powerful person in the world.

Granted, the people who called her that had either no idea or only the barest of hints at how the government actually worked. While she influenced policy and was regarded as the front runner of her party, the truth was that the system of checks and balances worked so well that government policy shifted with glacial slowness. Her voice was simply the one heard most often.

Still, there was a degree of respect directed to her and the office, and while there were people in the world who hated her and her position, the hatred itself was a form of recognition.

The King of Greenwold simply didn't care. His personal power was so vast that he commanded respect as the biggest baddest being on his continent.

That particular distinction had not gone unnoticed by the analysts who pored over every report from Thayland. It suggested that the other continent played host to beings even more powerful. She wasn't sure if the religious dogma and propaganda were true, but the general belief that the civilization there worshipped the so-called 'dark' gods, ones that played into the darker nature of humanity.

She would have it paid it no heed were it not for the fact that the seven gods of light rather closely matched the seven cardinal virtues, and from what her agents had been able to discover, the seven gods of darkness, the seven deadly sins. Greenwold's society, despite its corruption, was amiable, in no small part because they embraced the gods of light. They'd offered shelter and aid without reservation. She feared that a society that embraced the gods of darkness might have welcomed them in an entirely less friendly manner.

"Deep thoughts, Elania?" The King asked, startling her out of her introspection.

"My mind often worries at the coming tribulations my citizens will face," Elania replied, trying very hard not to object to the King's use of her name. He'd given her permission to use his own, a gesture he'd clearly considered gracious.

"Your concern does you credit," he replied with a smile. "It might please you to know that I've begun building storage warehouses for the people of Earth. Bob's idea of placing people into stasis was quite clever and remains the ideal solution for housing refugees who lack the drive and desire to delve into a Dungeon." Here the King's smile turned into a frown. "I'd rather hoped that all the people of Earth would be as industrious and brave as those who have journeyed to Thayland already, but from what I gather, thus far, I've only seen the tip of the crystal."

Elania hesitated a moment, then decided to forge ahead with an idea she'd had earlier in the week. "As you've seen, my country, and many others, are civilized to a degree that allows the vast majority of our citizenry to never have to face violence," she began. "Ironically, the people of our world who are most accustomed to violence are those who are the least developed. Those are the people who would likely thrive in a Dungeon environment, but they are also the most difficult to reach, as they lack the infrastructure that, if present, would reduce the violence."

"Are you suggesting that I seek refugees from the more violent, war-torn environments?" The King's voice held a hint of mirth. "You wouldn't be trying to steer me away from your own citizens, would you?"

"Of course I am," she replied evenly. "The people you'd most like to poach are those my country will need the most badly," she shook her head, "I have a limited supply of men and women who are trained to accept violence. I'm going to rely on perhaps two percent of my population to protect the other ninety-eight percent, at least initially."

Elania forced herself to unclench her jaw, took a deep breath, and released it. "I'm going to have enough problems getting all of my citizens to Thayland as it is."

"Can you not just order them to leave?" The King asked curiously.

"Technically, I can," she stressed the word, "but I'll need the support of the federal and the state governments, which I have no doubt I'll receive." She shook her head again. "That being said, there is a subsection of our population who will not believe us, regardless of any evidence demonstrated, and who will refuse to leave, to the point of resisting with force."

The King shrugged casually. "They are level zero. Forcing them to capitulate should be simple. There are several schools of magic that have spells that create restraints if you don't simply wish to beat them into submission. You have thousands of soldiers sitting at the tier cap, and from what I understand," here he delivered a smile that, despite his human form, was utterly draconic, "they are effectively immune to your own weapons if there is no skill supporting them."

Elania hated feeling like she was on her back foot. The King of Greenwold knew entirely too much. She blamed the Old Guard for performing the experiments in the first place and then spreading the word.

"That," she replied, "would be a last resort."

She was saved from further conversation by the arrival of the main course, several whole racks of ribs dripping with sauce. The King sniffed, and his draconic smile widened. "That does smell delicious," he murmured as he reached and grabbed a whole rack, moving it to his plate.

Bob was laying in his swag, both sides rolled up, looking out at the cloudless night sky. He'd never experienced a night sky on Earth without light pollution. Thayland's night skies were brighter, in part because of the multiple moons and in part because the stars were just brighter.

He believed it had something to do with how much closer everything was, as Thayland's universe had halted its expansion much earlier. Then again, astrophysics was not his field of study, so he could be wrong.

Either way, he could see the milky way splashed across the sky. He'd seen photographs before, but it really wasn't the same. Monroe had mercifully decided that Bob's stuff sacks, full of clean clothes, were the perfect resting place and was curled up on them at the foot of the swag.

The D&D game had been fun. They were starting out at level one, as they were going to play every night that week, and Bob had decided to play a Warlock. It was relaxing to fight imaginary monsters for once.

Out of habit, he called for a slender thread of mana. His eyes widened, and his pulse quickened as he was suddenly aware of two things. First, this was Earth, and he shouldn't be spending mana as he couldn't regenerate it. And second, with no ambient mana, he was able to manipulate the thread with ease.

Taking a moment, he decided that he could burn a few mana. He imagined shifting the pure mana, changing it to Elemental Water and watched as it shifted smoothly. He released the flow and considered what had just happened. The lack of ambient mana had to be the key. He already had a shield that reduced the density of ambient mana around him, which allowed him to delve deeply for long periods without succumbing to mana density sickness. If he could control the shield to prevent any mana from entering, forming a vacuum of sorts, mana-wise, he could duplicate his circumstances on Thayland.

Bob carefully pulled his tablet out of the pouch at the head of the swag and tapped out a note reminding himself to investigate this further. Despite a near-perfect memory, he still had to remember, to remember things. Trebor wasn't available on Earth, so he couldn't discuss it at the moment.

He was feeling confident as far as his Arcane Depths went, and he'd made significant progress with his Eldritch Shield as well. He just needed more practice all the way around.

Bob had tried to convince himself that no one was out to get him, but he'd had limited success. His solace came from knowing that the only person on Earth who could actually hurt him was the King of Greenwold, and Bob was pretty sure the King thought he was an amusing pet.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts, refocusing on the sky above. They'd called it a fairly early night, and he had been running eighteen-hour days for the past month, which left him a little sleep deprived but also expecting to be awake for a few more hours.

With a sigh, he rolled over, being careful not to disturb the kitty, and snuggled down into his pillow, then started counting stars.

"Necromancy is a Neutral school of magic," Harv stated firmly, looking over the thirty men and women in front of him. "The Church of the Light has published propaganda stating that it is 'Dark' and 'Evil,' however you can access the school by taking a divine blessing from Vi'Radia," he stressed the name.

"Necromancy deals with death and, to a degree, the force that scientists on Earth have labeled as entropy," he continued. "Now, I'm going to tell you all a secret that the Church of Light would prefer was never spoken; the best healers use both Animancy and Necromancy. Regeneration is an amazing ritual, but without Necromancy, congenital defects remain, even after the ritual."

"I expect that all of you are eager to learn Animancy, and I can't blame you," Harv smiled, "you can heal so many injuries with it. But if you want to produce the cure for cancer, you'll need to not only have Necromancy, but you'll need to learn how to use it. " He paused for a moment. "Think of Necromancy as a surgeon's scalpel."

A young man in blue scrubs raised his hand hesitantly. Harv nodded to him.

"Are we going to be animating skeletons and zombies?" He asked.

Harv detected a note of eagerness in his voice. "Those are skills you'll find in the school, yes," he agreed, "however the only truly necessary skill you'll need is Necros Blast. You'll have to spend a lot of time practicing that skill, honing your technique, before you can refine the skill and target the necros blast to only affect cancer cells." He saw that the young man was still wearing his tag from whatever hospital or hospice he worked at. "I do have to warn you, Jonothan, that Necromancers have a bad reputation in no small part because of the skills you mentioned. So while yes, you can take those skills, and level them, be aware that while the Church of the Light, while not happy that people are learning Necros Blast, takes a much dimmer view of creating Undead, even temporary ones."

Jonothan looked startled to have been called out by name, but he nodded thoughtfully. "So I can turn monsters in the Dungeon into zombies to help me fight, which will help level the school, but I shouldn't take them out of the Dungeon or ritually create them."

"Exactly," Harv nodded, pleased that he'd gotten the message. "Greenwold exists becausewe fled from a place where powerful Necromancers were amongst the ruling elite," he frowned. "The fragments of history we have suggests that it was not a nice place. Everyone grew up hearing the tales, and as a result, Necromancy has had a bad reputation."

"It can't be bad if the big over-lord god of the church of the light lets you use it though." This time it was a young woman named Jennifer.

"That's an argument my family has been trying, quietly, to make for millennia," Harv shook his head with a rueful smile.

"I'm guessing that thing where you rip people's souls out of their bodies hasn't gone over very well," Jennifer offered.

Harv winced. His family's curse had been a closely held secret, in no small part because it tended to arise in situations where it didn't leave any witnesses. "You're not wrong," he agreed, "although up until I had my episode on Earth, only a few trusted friends outside the family were aware."

"Sorry," Jennifer blushed, "everyone has seen the video," she lowered her voice, "is it still a secret over here?"

"No, not anymore," Harv grunted sourly, "the entire population of Holmstead has adapted to your technology, and the video was uploaded the next day and sent out to everyone. Someone downloaded it onto a tablet and sent it to the Church, so the crystal is out of the bag, as it were."

"Not that I want to rip out people's souls," Jonothan began, "but how does that work?"

"I'm still shifting my world view to accept that souls are real," Jennifer muttered.

"That is an application of Invoke Netherworld, which is a 'Dark,' 'Evil,' school of magic," Harv replied seriously. "There is a reason it's called a curse. Beyond that, I both can't and won't say, except that if you have Invoke Netherworld, you'll be required to either reincarnate and lose the school, at which point you'll have to take a Divine Blessing that will preclude you from taking it again, or you'll be ritually marked, and banished."

The class was silent as they digested that information. Carol-Ann broke the silence. "Well, I'm not particularly interested in ripping out anyone's soul, so why don't you tell us how to 'refine' our spell?"

"Who here as Mana Sight?" Harv asked.

Carol-Ann was the only one who raised her hand.

"You're going to want to level up and get the Shadowmancy school and the Mana Sight as soon as possible," Harv advised. "You're going to need to be able to see the way mana flows into the pattern for the Necros Blast spell, which is, unsurprisingly, the same shape as the Anima Blast spell. Both of them are oblong web shapes. Now," he explained, "if you're just looking to infuse a being with Anima or Necros energy, that's just fine. In fact, most of the time, especially for Animancy, that's the best solution because you're looking to heal something quickly, and you're not able to take the time to identify exactly what's wrong. So you're just shoving Anima into it and letting it fix whatever is wrong."

Harv took a sip of water before continuing. "Necros works the same way, but if you're using it offensively, you'll often find yourself wanting to cause specific harm. Blinding a monster can be very effective, as can ossifying the cartilage in its joints. To that end, you'll need to reshape the pattern for the spell, which is where being able to actually see the pattern becomes important. In the meantime, I'd recommend focusing on using Necros Blast to kill monsters, as that will increase the level of the skill, and thus its power."

He looked over his students, noting a few curious expressions. "Any questions?"

Several hands shot up, and Harv nodded. It was all part of the learning process.