Monroe-Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-six. Laying the foundations.

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The thing about Systemless casting was that it took effort. You had to visualize the pattern, push your mana out to form it, adjusting for the fluctuations in the ambient mana, then energize the spell. Some spells were simpler than others, while some locations offered less interference from the local mana.

Casting a spell with the System was effortless. All you had to do was will it to happen.

Losing access to his Summon Mana-Infused Object spell hadn't meant that Bob had stopped casting the spell, it just meant he'd had to cast it without the aid of the System.

He'd known that he used the spell quite a bit, but it wasn't until he'd had to put effort into it that he'd appreciated just how many tasks he relied on it for.

Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower, he summoned a towel.

Reaching level one had made more of difference than he had planned. The power of Attribute Affinities was impressive, giving him the attributes in line with level two, at least at tier eight. In comparison to tier five, he was effectively level five. He now had fifteen mana in his mana pool, and he regenerated three mana each second, assuming he wasn't moving or fighting. Well, he would have if the System wasn't eating away at it, reducing it back to two. He'd also increased his stamina pool to eleven, which would certainly help with the frequent breaks he'd needed to take, as well as increasing his stamina regeneration to two. He knew that he'd eventually be able to rely on his stamina regeneration to pick up half the cost of the System.

He had a busy day planned, with Jake at level seven and his increased energy pools and regeneration, he was aiming for two delves today. The plan was to cap Jake at level eight on the first, then advance to level two himself, spending the skill point on pushing Jake past the first threshold. The next delve would bring Jake to level nine.

He considered his plan for the week as he dismissed the summoned towel and dressed. Walking into the kitchen, he was greeted by the sight of famished kitty, sprawled out weakly in front of his food bowl.

Monroe somehow summoned the strength to lift his head weakly and manage a heart rending 'mreow.'

"Oh, no!" Bob commiserated. "Kitty so hungry. How could I starve a kitty like that? I should be ashamed of myself."

He unlatched the stasis box and pulled out a massive bowl of diced meat chunks. Meat cubes, really, as they were four inches to a side.

Monroe mustered the last of his strength, scooting forward just enough to begin devouring his meal.

"You'd think I hadn't fed you last night," Bob said as he sat down in the only chair in the kitchen, summoning a slicker brush the size of a garden rake, and applying it to his overlord.

Bob's inventory was a lot more cramped than it had once been. He'd put off reconfiguring it when he'd pushed through the barrier to tier six, and then again at tier seven, but before he'd reincarnated, he'd acknowledged two important truths. The first was that ten foot ceilings when you were almost nine feet tall made for a rather claustrophobic environment. The second was that Monroe needed more room, as the massive Maine coon was knocking tables and chairs over because there just wasn't room for him to get by them.

He'd been able to increase the size somewhat, pushing the floor plan from twenty-five hundred square feet to thirty-five hundred square feet. He could have gotten much more, but he'd had to raise the ceilings to sixteen feet in order to accommodate his likely size increase.

The practical result was that the kitchen had, proportionally, less space than before, while his living room had more.

He was glad he'd made the changes, as he wasn't going to have his Spatial Expansion and Spatial Reinforcement spells leveled up enough to be useful for quite a while.

Hitting level eight would be easy, despite the drastic reduction in crystals from completing the Dungeon quests. He did have extra crystals after all, and you could use any crystals when you were leveling up to the first threshold. The problem was that if wanted to keep Jake at the level cap, he'd be spending more time leveling the spell than he would gathering the crystals he needed to level up. It wasn't a problem he was unfamiliar with, but the scope of it had changed thanks to the double Summoning Affinity.

He was committed to having all of his skills capped before taking his path. If the System was going to provide him with a path, he wanted to make sure the his actions made it clear what he wanted.

That meant putting in the work.

"I'd rather have lost the bet," Jessica grumbled.

"A hundred and twenty crystals per delve is going to put a damper on how quickly we can level back up, that's for sure," Amanda agreed.

"Bob's going pretty strong, his email said he had taken level one, and was hoping to grind out to level four by the end of the week," Dave said.

"I'm just jealous of those Attribute Affinities," Amanda sighed. "I know we all wanted to get back, but I feel like we should have kept going after more of those Attribute Affinity Crystals."

"Too right," Jessica shook her head, "we're going to have kill a lot of monsters to unlock the ability to delve for those again."

"We'll get there, especially if we all end up going for a triple affinity evolution like Bob did," Dave said.

"Well, I'm not tiering up again until I have all three of them," Amanda said determinedly.

"I think that's the general consensus," Dave assured her.

"I'm not super keen on all that grinding, but we'll never be able to keep up with Bob if we don't," Jessica sighed.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do as far as evolution when you tier up?" Amanda asked. "The Summoning and Dimension Affinities won't do you much good as a healer, and I'm not sure about the Shadowmancy one."

"I'll stick with it," Jessica replied. "I'll be able to pick up a natural Affinity for Animancy, so it won't matter that much, especially if we can find an Animancy Affinity Crystal."

"Erick, Bailli, Wayna, and Eddi are visiting the Church, hopefully they'll find one for sale or trade there," Dave offered.

Dave knew that he and Amanda were lucky. The group had a pile of Summoning, Conjuration, and Dimension Affinity Crystals courtesy of Eddi and the Endless who had the falling out of their pockets thanks to the Dungeon in Holmstead. Slightly smaller, but still impressive, were the four elemental affinities collected from the Dungeon in Harbordeep.

The update had changed all of that, randomizing and reducing the coalescence of Affinity crystals. In some ways it had proved a boon, as they'd found Affinity Crystals that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to. Melee and Armor crystals were actually common, or as common as something that only appeared once for every twenty thousand monsters killed could be called. They'd picked up six Melee, five Armor, five Parry, and four Dodge crystals in the past ten months. Harv, in a show of irony, and Harvested a Harvesting Affinity Crystal. The only members of the group they hadn't been able to find Affinity Crystals for were Jessica and Erick, who both needed Animancy, and Harv, who needed a Necromancy Affinity Crystal.

Ultimately, the group would be fine even if they didn't find those Affinity Crystals. Harv spent most of his time in combat using transmutation to control the battlefield, and they had a crystal for that, while the two healers would have natural affinities that would enable them to keep up, considering that the beacons would have armor and defense crystals, reducing the need for the already overpowered heals.

They just wanted to be as strong as possible.

"Yorrick Wrathsbane, High Seat of the Warlock's Guild of the Karcerian Empire, Administrator of the Terran Confederation, Lord of Kor'Noct."

"Chen Chia-hao, Ambassador of the Republic of China." 𝘧𝘳𝓮𝓮𝓌𝘦𝓫𝓷𝘰𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝓬ℴ𝘮

Yorrick bowed slightly to slender, gray haired man, who returned the bow, although slightly deeper.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Chen," Yorrick began, gesturing to the table to their right. "Will you join me for tea? I understand it is a custom we share."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Administrator Wrathsbane," Chen replied moving to the table and taking his seat across from Yorrick, mirroring the larger man's motions so perfectly that it seemed the two were operating synchronously.

"Please, and with no presumption of informality, call me Yorrick," Yorrick smiled, "As I'm sure you are aware, my world lacks many of the graces that Earth was able to cultivate."

Chen nodded, but didn't respond as the young man responsible for the introductions poured the tea, bowed deeply, and left, leaving the two men alone.

Yorrick took a sip of his tea, and waited for Chen to speak.

"The Republic of China suffered more than most nations when the Earth was integrated into the System," Chen began. "Our nations wasn't the most badly damaged, but we are certainly near the top of that unfortunate list."

Yorrick nodded, and when Chen didn't continue, he responded. "Being surrounded by such deep water no doubt subjected your country to some of the largest and most powerful monsters," he said sympathetically. "You have my sympathy for your misfortune."

Chen nodded stiffly. "The people of the Republic of China are suffering, and our allies are unable to offer any substantial aid, as they must attend to their own citizens first, a position we do not begrudge them," he continued. "The 'Terran Confederation' is the only government on Earth with the ability to aid us in this desperate hour."

"What is it that you imagine we could help you with?" Yorrick asked carefully.

"We have seen the changes you have wrought here, and stability and security enjoyed by your citizens," Chen began. "We understand you have negotiated with your neighbors to the south to provide the same for them."

"We have," Yorrick acknowledged, "however, they will lose their autonomy when they become a part of the Confederation," he cautioned.

"With no disrespect intended, the Republic of China has more to offer," Chen replied.

"What do you have in mind?" Yorrick asked.

"We would like to have you do as you've done here, erecting self-sustaining cities upon the Dungeons," Chen explained. "While our people are amongst the most skilled in all fields, including construction, they use only the most modern techniques. The megalithic construction of the ancients is what is necessary to protect our people, and your Confederation has those skills in abundance. We propose to exchange skills, rather than sovereignty."

"Which skills in particular are you offering?" Yorrick asked.

"Despite the small size of our nation, and the lack of natural resources, the Republic of China was the center of the world for advanced manufacturing," Chen explained. "Our citizens are the greatest resource we could hope to muster, and their drive and ingenuity allowed us to take our rightful place on the world stage. While all of our manufacturing facilities were damaged, and many destroyed, the demand for our products has only grown. We have the knowledge and the skills to rebuild them, but we lack the safety to do so." Chen took a sip of his tea and shook his head. "While we once possessed a proud warrior tradition, it was taken from us by imperial colonialism, and when we won our freedom through economic means, it was allowed to lay forgotten. I have no doubt that the day will come when nations speak in awe of our might, but that day is far off, and we need warriors now," he stressed the last. "You will provide the warriors to protect our brave, skilled workers as they repair and rebuild our manufacturing facilities, as well as skilled construction crews to rebuild our cities, and in turn, we will allocate ten percent of each facilities production to you, at cost, for a period of five years."

Yorrick took a sip of his tea as he considered. One of Earth's greatest advantages was it's technological advancements, specifically computers. He knew that Taiwan had been the source for almost all of the microchips the world relied on. He counted himself fortunate that he'd been able to lay in the equipment needed to build the nation wide network that had been specified for the Empire's expansion on Earth. He'd only been able to contact one supplier since the integration, and they'd flat out told him that they didn't have even a quarter of the equipment he would need for his next project.

He also knew a sucker bet when he heard one. Not every facility repaired or rebuilt would produce what he needed or wanted. Iphones were neat, but he needed switching gear. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to take over Taiwan, not like he was with Botswana and Angola. Making a deal with Taiwan would set both of those projects back, although by redistributing personnel efficiently, it wouldn't violate the terms he'd already agreed up on with those two countries.

"We wouldn't want to take the hard earned products from your citizens hands," Yorrick began carefully. "Instead, let us build our own facilities, under the guidance of your brilliant minds, where we will manufacture our own products. We will agree to a System bonded oath that anything manufactured here will only be used within our own borders. I doubt we would ever be able to compete with you, but we will vow never to do so, ensuring that your place on the world stage remains unchallenged."

Chen sipped his tea, looking thoughtful.

Yorrick was once again struck by just how well the people of Earth played their political games. The noble houses of the Karcerian Empire seemed like rank amateurs in comparison.

"I believe we can agree on the principle," Chen allowed. "We would need to repair several key facilities first, in order to produce the equipment needed to rebuild and repair the remainder, at which point the equipment needed to build your own facilities could be provided, along with a knowledge personnel to instruct your people on their use."

"Then I believe we can leave the details to our subordinates," Yorrick smiled. "I'm grateful that the new Terran Confederation could offer some small aid to the honorable Republic of China."