Monroe

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety. When in doubt, get the fuck out.

"Honestly, I think that will work out for the best," Amanda began. "We're going to be doing a one day on, one day off rotation, although it might be three days on, three days off, or whatever have you. One of the nice things about having two people for every role is that we're going to be incredibly flexible."

Dave nodded. "We've all used Affinity Crystals, and we all know what it's like having to grind a skill up to the skill cap when it's significantly higher than your level cap. This time around, we're all going to have more than one Affinity Crystal to use, as well as a natural Affinity."

Amanda took back over. "With you being tier seven, you'll have the same number of Affinities, but they'll be higher. While we can get a spell or skill twelve levels over, or twenty-four if we double up, you'll be able to have one at fourteen or twenty-eight. So even though you'll be delving more than anyone else, the increased caps will keep us working together at the same levels, without us feeling like we're holding you back too much." she explained.

"The thing is, I'm not sure if I'm going to reincarnate," Bob admitted.

"What?" Jessica sounded surprised.

"When did you change your mind, and more importantly, why?" Jack asked.

"That Torlin asshole, right?" Mike asked.

"Partly that," Bob admitted. "The power gap between tiers is real, and while I can kill monsters over my tier, I've realized that monsters aren't nearly as big of a threat as people. When it comes to people, I not only don't want to fight, but against a tier eight or nine person, I'm basically helpless."

"So you're reluctant to make yourself even more vulnerable by reincarnating back down to level one," Amanda surmised.

Bob nodded. "I never wanted to make any enemies," he said, "but somehow, despite only wanting to help, I have."

"That does segue nicely into our next topic," Dave sighed. "Despite liking the people we've met here in Greenwold, the whole religious struggle on Thayland is something we don't want anything to do with."

Heads nodded around the table with varying degrees of vehemence.

"The problem is that as we tier up, we'll be increasingly pressured to take a side. One of the problems Thidwell and his father both suffered was their lack of devotion. While the King of Greenwold doesn't seem to care that deeply, the Church does, and they have the largest number of higher tiered people on the continent," Dave continued. "I'm afraid that the religious friction between Greenwold and Karcerian is going to increase rapidly with the increased population."

"So, while we'd like to keep in touch and maybe visit, we're looking at getting the hell out of here," Amanda added.

"The simple solution is to go back to Earth, but that has an entirely different set of issues," Jack shook his head. "I'm not going to drop names, but I talk to people who talk to other people, and some of those people are in the upper echelons of the governments of Earth. Things are going to be bad after the integration. The Church of the Light has been negotiating with governments and any religious organization that will give them the time of day, setting up deals to send tier six or even tier seven clergy back over after the integration. From what I've been able to piece together, their plan is to establish The Church of the Light on Earth, positioning it as a benevolent, apolitical religion. What's actually being negotiated is the structure of a Theocracy."

"The Black Cathedral has been absolutely silent on the matter of branching out to Earth, which tells me that they've got something either in the works, or rolling already," Harv added.

"Those are just the problems Thayland is sending over," Jack groused. "The United States isn't going to be united any longer. I'm guessing it's going to break up geographically, with a nod towards political affiliation. Across the Atlantic, we can expect act three of the great European Civil War to begin as soon as people come through the portal. South America is going to break up a bit, mostly Brazil, but the purge conducted by the King of Greenwold is going to actually have a real benefit afterward, or so the suppliers I've worked with think."

"We're going to have some problems," Jessica admitted. "The PM has come out stating that everyone is going to have register their skills, that you'll have a sort of skills license that you'll be required to carry on you. Some skills are going to be illegal, while others are going to be restricted, with more requiring some sort of occupational need." She shook her head. "People outside the cities on the coasts aren't going to swallow that."

"So, Earth isn't an answer either, not if we want peace and quiet," Amanda continued. "I mean, we'll definitely go back to visit, catch up, download all the latest books and movies."

"Thayland is going to have our own movies and series pretty soon," Eddi boasted. "We're already filming."

"We're talking about going away," Bob said slowly. It was something he'd considered and even discussed with some of them before. "Eddi, you're the leader of the Endless. It's not that I don't welcome your company or value your friendship, but shouldn't you stay here?"

"Yeah, well," Eddi blushed. "I, well, I mean we, as in the Endless, sort of sentaraidingpartytopunishhousecolvernandItookresponsibilitysoIkindofneedtoleave."

Bob blinked. It took him a moment to separate the words that Eddi had squeezed together to get the entire sentence out in a single rushed breath. "You did what?" Bob asked, uncertain if he'd heard him correctly.

"Like three hundred Endless went over to the Empire, very politely asked for directions to House Colvern, and then sent their dinosaurs after it," Elli chortled. "They were actually pretty careful not to hurt anyone, but they absolutely wrecked all of the buildings in the compound. Then they went to the next city and did it again." He was laughing. "The assholes in charge of the house were all being detained, and the rest of the people were being housed and fed off the estates while the auditors worked, so no one was there to report what was happening. They made it through five of seven cities before anyone in a position of authority both noticed and cared enough to stop them."

"The King of Greenwold told me I almost started a war," Eddi muttered. "Said I needed to step away from the Endless of a while, suggested I go to Earth."

Bob opened his mouth, and then closed it. He sighed. "Thank you?"

"I was the voice of reason," Eddi was still red. "Anni was calling for a 'holy crusade' against the entire Empire for daring to harm 'He Who Walks Before.'"

"We've got video," Amanda said gleefully. "We're still cutting it together, but I've promised Monroe's followers to put it up as soon as I have it finished."

Dave coughed. "Returning to the discussion at hand, Thayland has religious issues we don't want to deal with, that will be present to some degree on Earth, and Earth is going to turn into a complete shitshow while the traditional power structures scramble to hold onto what they can, while new groups rise with capability to outright dismiss them." He looked around the group. "Fair statement?"

A chorus of agreement sounded, accompanied by mass nodding.

"Right, so the solution, as brought to us by 'He Who Walks Before,' is to either build a place to hide in one of those places, or to fuck off to another planet, solar system, or dimension," he concluded.

"Hiding is the easiest, and also the worst of the options," Amanda said. "We could easily build a nice little hideout a few miles under the ground, and build a Dungeon there. Getting down there would be easy, but from what I understand about how mana works, whatever we would be working down there would be awfully dense. Having to build out a Dungeon from the first floor to the fiftieth would take longer than we have. The problem is that there are tier nine people who are able to detect variations in the mana flows over the entire planet. Harv did a bit of snooping, and the Black Cathedral knows the location of every Dungeon on the planet. Including some super secret subterranean one off the coast, which was built quite recently."

"Fuck," Bob muttered at the time as Eddi.

"Well, now we know for sure who built that one," Dave grinned.

"While that issue isn't present on Earth yet, it absolutely will be, and given the oncoming upheaval, I expect that the powers in nominal control of any area will be very hostile towards anyone building a Dungeon who hasn't ceded authority to them," Amanda continued.

"Fucking off to another planet presents it's own set of difficulties," Dave said. "We clearly can't do that here. This solar system is full up. Back in ours, we could probably set something up on Mars, although we'd be stuck behind wards forever, or at least for a long damn time while we terraform."

"You won't be without neighbors, or at the very least, not for long," Jack warned. "There are eighteen separate governments planning to plant their flags on Mars within six months after integration, a year at the most."

"Interstellar travel in our universe has the benefit of running into other species being very unlikely. The downside is that Alpha Centuari is four and a half light years away, and while we suspect two planets are in the habitable zone, no one actually knows," Dave said.

"Interstellar travel here doesn't have any real advantages, although if we were considering intergalactic travel, we would find a very slight reduction in the distance we would need to travel," Dave frowned. "I think?" He shook his head. "It doesn't really matter, if go the interstellar route, launching from our own universe is the obvious choice."

"We'd talked about dimensional travel before, and honestly, it sounds like the best of the options," Amanda said. "We just need either a ready or steady supply of mana crystals, and we can hop from dimension to dimension, looking for an Earth that isn't inhabited."

"While that could take a while, not only to find Earth each time, but also to navigate close enough to verify if it's inhabited, it has the obvious benefit of not having to deal with the collapse of society on Earth, or a Holy War on Thayland," Dave finished, and leaned back with his arm around Amanda looking pleased.

Bob looked at Jack. "Aren't you dedicated to building a financial empire?"

"I was," Jack grumbled, then sighed and shook his head. "I found out what the King is going to require me to do if I want to keep control of Rifugio, and let me tell you, I'm not interested in becoming the head of a Noble house." He gestured broadly. "You'd think it would be great, right? Member of the Nobility, fancy parties, weekly orgies, but nooooo. It's all work and no play, while the Church has a requirement that I get married, and here is the kicker, have an heir, all within a year. I talked to the King, and he told me that was a concession he'd made to the Church a long time ago to keep them from harping at him to have a family."

"Harv?" Bob asked.

"The Black Cathedral has taken an unhealthy interest in my family," he admitted. "They would very much like for me to revive the House of Eidolon, for both historical, religious, and political reasons, all of which revolve around it being convenient for a long lost house to return, taking the lowest ranking seat in Noble Council, thereby smoothly elevating every other house by one step, eliminating the squabbling that is certain to ensue as they scramble to take the place of House Colvern." Harv shook his head. "I would very much not like to do that. The King of Greenwold would like to see a member of my family at the head of a noble house of the Karcerian Empire, and it's hard to say no to a dragon. Unless I'm not around to be asked."

"You're my friends, and I've got nothing else going on," Elli said cheerfully. "I mean, Harv and I are teaching at the Shepherds Academy, but there are enough people there that we can quit. It's tradition in my family for us to go searching for new Dungeons to delve in hopes of finding new techniques that we can share with the family."

"We have some truly excellent officers in the Old Guard," Mike explained, "all of whom not only want to do the work I've been doing, but are infinitely better at it than I am. I've turned over everything to them over the past few months, and things are running smoother than I could have dreamed. I've pushed past all of my guys, which is how I ended up with everyone here." He took a deep breath. "That, and Annisa." He shook his head as Jack chuckled. "She hides it, but she's incredibly devout. We've grown... closer, and she's started hinting that she'd like me to convert to her faith." Mike sighed. "I have the same trepidations regarding the dustup between the two Pantheons here on Thayland that Dave and Amanda have, maybe even more so. At some point, sooner rather than later, she's going to directly ask me for something I can't give. I plan to end things before that moment arrives, and when I do, I like to have a plan in place for not being here any longer."

"You're running away from a girl," Jack laughed.

"I'm running away from an Angel, so that I don't get sucked into a war between Sanctum and the Netherworld," Mike corrected.

"Wayna?" Bob asked.

"I'm with Eddi," she replied, raising her hand to show it clasped in his. "We're together."

"What about Bailli and Erick? I know Bailli lost her family during a Tide, but Erick is a member of the Clergy."

"Erick's actually a priest of Slyph, the Elemental God of Air," Harv replied. "He's had some poor experiences with the Church of the Light, and much like Wayna, he's with Bailli."

"Alright, so everyone has their reasons for tagging along, but has everyone considered that it might be years, or even decades before we come back?" Bob asked.

"We're going to live, like, basically forever, yeah?" Jessica said. "I'm young and free, and going walkabout the bloody multiverse sounds just the thing."

"We're all on the same page," Amanda assured him. "We've all gotten our loved ones situated, and every single one of them is leveling up slowly, in out of the way places, where they won't be bothered if religious slap fight ramps up."

"Interestingly enough, it's only once you're eyeing tier seven that you're considered either a threat, or an asset," Dave said.

"So, who wants to see my latest design for the ship?" Jack asked, pulling out a set of blue prints.