Monroe

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Nine. Revelations.

Bob stepped through the Gateway and was immediately ambushed by Mike.

"Ninth floor is finished?" Mike asked.

"Done, monsters should be spawning within the hour," Bob confirmed. He looked past Mike and could see that the tavern had quite a few people in it.

"I'll keep the same rotation going," Mike tapped at his tablet, "It turns out that scrapyards don't care how the copper is delivered, so I've got a pair of trucks outside, if you could summon a couple of tons of copper into the beds of each of them, I'll get a couple of guys and a pair of the Endless kids to make the trip." 𝔣𝖗𝔢𝖊𝔴𝖊𝔟𝔫𝔬𝖛𝔢𝖑.𝔠𝔬𝔪

Bob nodded and started heading into the tavern. He was both hungry and anxious to see the people Bailli had gathered for him. He planned to have them down on the first level immediately and hoped to rush them to the second.

"We're still solid on food, and we have a team out on a run to Costco, although if the copper doesn't pan out somehow, we're going to be in trouble," Mike continued trailing behind him. "Finally, we've cleared the first section of the valley you'd designated for a tower and Dungeon combination, and Raul has requested we bring in a small group of people he's worked with in the past, as well as a native or two who are familiar with how magic is used in construction."

Bob frowned. He didn't like the term 'native.'

He approached the group of people, who were spread out around half a dozen tables. "Good afternoon," Bob began, "I'm Bob, and I apologize for having you wait, but I'll need to beg for just a bit more patience from you, as I have one more task to complete before we begin."

Bob looked around the group. They all had armor, and at least a club, although some had spears and a few staves. "Start getting ready; we'll be going down to the first level of the Dungeon in just a few minutes," Bob promised before turning to Mike. "Trucks?" Bob asked.

Mike dutifully led him out of the tavern and around to the side where a pair of large, six-wheeled trucks sat.

Bob climbed up into the bed and thrust his hand into his satchel. He drew the mana from the crystals, drawing it through the pattern for a Summon Mana-Infused Object spell, summoning out a six-foot square block of copper.

The truck settled noticeably, and Bob moved over to the second truck, repeating his actions.

Mike gave him a smile after he'd summoned the second block. "That'll do," Mike nodded to the block, "might cause a few raised eyebrows, but as it's just a stop-gap measure, it won't matter."

"Anything else I need to know?" Bob asked, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

"Just that if you keep adding a floor each day, even considering the next batch, we're going to be short Marines in another two days, even with the extra Dungeons and Dragons people being brought over," Mike sighed. "I'd like to set up a meeting with my former commanding officer. He's a full bird Colonel, and he can likely get us a meeting with a Brigadier General."

"Alright," Bob sighed, "he's not an asshole, right? Because Smith is kind of an asshole."

"No," Mike replied drily, "He's not an asshole, or at least he wasn't when I served under him."

Bob nodded. Despite not wanting the job, he didn't want to see it go to someone who was going to fuck it up worse than he had.

"Set it up," Bob said, "I've got to get this batch of freshers going; I'd like to have them growing food, butchering Oxcipine, and cooking meals within the next few days."

Bob headed back into the tavern, waving for the group waiting for him to follow him down to the Dungeon.

"Alright," Bob shouted once they were all gathered at the foot of the stairs. "Thanks to the Marines being just outstanding at what they do, you have the opportunity to reach level six or even seven in the next few days," Bob smiled as the group broke out into whispers.

"I'm going to have you delving twelve hours a day, so I hope you're prepared to PUT IN THE WORK!" Bob yelled the last, causing nearly half the group to jump.

"We can talk about your paths and skills after you have enough mana crystals to level up, and once I feel comfortable with your ability to kill monsters," Bob pointed to a middle-aged man standing at the front of the group. "You, go over to a point halfway between the pillar and the wall, you'll find that monsters spawn both beside the pillar and at the edge of the wall, so you'll need to move between the two points."

The man hesitated. "Move!" Bob bellowed. "There a few rules you'll all need to follow to be successful adventurers."

"I've got a simple three-letter acronym for you," Bob roared out as the man scurried over to the spot Bob had indicated, where he was immediately best by a Doarrel.

"A- Always, B- Be, K- Killing!" Bob belted out. "You're down here for a reason, and that reason is to kill monsters! If you aren't spending every second killing them, you're wasting time, time that someone else could be better utilizing!"

"You!" Bob pointed to the young woman, "Go past him to the next spot along the wall, and get to killing."

Over the next twenty minutes, Bob had all twenty-four of the Thayland recruits beating, crushing, and stabbing Doarrels to death.

He'd had to throw out a shield on one of them, as they'd backed up to take advantage of the reach of their spear and pulled another monster in.

Taking a deep breath, Bob began to expound on the rules for being a successful Adventurer.

Nora was dazed, allowing herself to be towed along behind Elaine, who seemed to have boundless energy for shopping. She'd been impressed with just how comfortable the scandalous underwear was, and she'd purchased four sets. They'd then gone into a truly enormous store named "Macy's," where she'd tried on dozens of pairs of slacks, skirts, blouses, and shirts. The entire experience had been accomplished at a blistering pace as Elaine had wanted to get them fully dressed in "regular" clothes as quickly as possible.

Nora had the distinct impression that Elaine didn't feel that their armor was stylish and that their appearance somehow reflected poorly on her.

To top it all off, they had attracted a number of followers, mostly teenage boys, who had periodically shouted suggestions from what they likely perceived to be a safe distance.

After half an hour of being in a constant state of only half-dressed, Nora had been happy to escape with only half a dozen outfits and a few extra blouses.

Now they were entering a store labeled "Hot Topic," which had loud, angry... music? She wasn't sure, but something was booming out of the store. She followed Elaine into the store, and they headed straight for the back, passing by all manner of oddities until they reached the clothing racks.

"This would look great with that sheer blouse you picked up," Elaine suggested as she pulled a red and black plaid skirt from the rack. At least Nora thought it was supposed to be a skirt, although its length was likely to be even shorter than the skirt Elaine was wearing.

"She's got the legs for it," a voice said from behind her as a hand landed gently on her shoulder.

Nora jumped and spun, all while taking a step to the side to avoid the hand. The store wasn't particularly spacious, and she crashed into a mannequin that crashed into a display case that shattered as it hit the ground but not before taking another display case with it.

"I'm sorry!" Nora gasped, looking at the glass and trinkets that were now scattered over the floor.

She looked up and saw that the person who'd spoken to her was a woman, dressed in the fashion of the store, who was staring at the disaster Nora had caused, open-mouthed, her face cast in an expression of dismay.

"I can fix it," Nora promised, dropping her shopping bags and pulling her staff out of her satchel. She concentrated and pulsed an Area of Effect Repair spell.

The glass was pulled back to the display cases, where it fit together like a puzzle before sealing itself together.

The trinkets remained outside the case, although those that had broken reformed.

"The fuck?" Elaine gasped, her eyes wide.

Nora's mind snapped back into action. She immediately stuffed her staff back in her satchel. Bob's world didn't have magic, and she had just cast a spell.

"We should go," Nora urged Elaine, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the store, followed by Carrie.

"What the fuck was that?" One of the boys that had been following them shouted, holding up his 'phone.'

"That was some fuckin' wizard shit right there," another yelled excitedly, "like a five-e cantrip."

"Shut up, ya fuckin' dork," a third said to the second.

"Hey, don't leave, tell us how you did that!"

Nora spotted one of the many hallways that lead away from the main path and behind the store. She ducked into it and hissed at Elaine as she dropped a portal under their feet. "Say yes!"

"Yes?" Elaine said, then batted at the air in front of her with her free hand.

They fell through the portal, landing in another hallway that she'd seen just inside the doors to the mall.

"Shit," Nora said as she leaned against the wall.

Carrie nodded carefully. "I don't think we were supposed to show anyone magic," she said softly.

"What. The. FUCK!" Elaine's voice was whisper quiet, but she managed to emphasize despite not raising her voice.

Nora tugged at an errant strand of hair. "Could you just forget what happened?" She asked hopefully.

"Oscar!" Jack greeted his friend happily. He hadn't seen him in a few years, but they'd been kind to the man.

"It's hard to believe my eyes, Jack, in the flesh no less," Oscar greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. "I take it you're finally done with that huge project then?"

"Done with that one and on to the next already, although this one is a bit different," Jack replied. "I'm working in a very remote area, and I need to set up a cellular network for local communications."

Oscar blinked. "Well, I guess you're not here to rekindle an old flame," he teased, the frowned thoughtfully. "Normally, I'd recommend using radio's for that purpose, but I gather you've already considered that idea and discarded it."

Jack nodded.

"Well, the transceiver and receiver will run you a pretty penny, not to mention the amplifiers, antennas, multiplexers..." Oscar shook his head. "How large of an area are you looking to cover?"

"Figure a two to three mile radius," Jack replied.

"How many users?" Oscar had his phone out and was scrolling.

"Initially maybe five thousand, but I'd like the capacity for twenty," Jack smiled.

Oscar whistled. "No wonder you called the radio's a miss," he muttered. "Are you just looking to route calls, or are you expecting to serve data as well?"

Jack grimaced. That was a question he'd been asking himself. Thayland didn't have a banking system that he'd been able to discover, and the reality of collecting individual subscription fees was ugly. That being said, having a subscription-based service to deliver books or even television shows or movies would be a real crystal maker.

"Let's say yes, data served from a local server," Jack hedged.

"Well, I'm not sure on the data side of things, as that's normally just handled by fiber links, but I'd say you're likely looking at three hundred and fifty thousand for the equipment, and then whatever your costs are for construction, which I can't even guess at without drilling down on a lot of details," Oscar said, sitting his phone down.

"How quickly could you get the equipment organized, and how much would you need to take a quick vacation to the edge of nowhere to install it?" Jack asked.

"Damn Jack, trying to whisk me away on an adventure, eh?" Oscar grinned salaciously, "Assuming you're paying cash; I could source the gear in a week, maybe a little less. Figure I'd need two weeks to arrange a bit of time off, which might not be enough time for you to get the tower built anyway."

"Chris still working for Verizon?" Jack mused as he thumbed his own phone, scrolling down his contact list.

"He is, although I talked to him a few months ago, and he's looking to make a move," Oscar whispered conspiratorily, "you might be able to steal him away, you knew he doesn't work for the money, his trust fund is healthier than ever." He chuckled, "I don't suppose the locals are all young and beautiful? He ended things with Irena, turns out she was sleeping around at that fashion show in Milan," he shook his head, "which is likely to be a good part of the reason he's feeling restless."

"I don't know a lot about his specialty," Jack admitted, "do you know if he'd be up for handling the data and server-side of things?"

Oscar shrugged eloquently, "I'd imagine. He's currently responsible for ensuring data distribution to over twenty million customers, so I know he has the overall understanding, and he worked his way up to that position, so while it might be dated, he ought to have the technical chops for it as well."

"I don't suppose you have a topographical map of the area," Oscar asked thoughtfully, "it would help to start designing the layout of the antennas at least."

"I'm afraid there isn't one available," Jack grinned, "although I could describe it for you."

Oscar waved away the idea, "Better to just over-spec it in general," he murmured.

"I can get you a list of suppliers and the equipment you need in a day or two," Oscar said.

"Two percent of the order sound fair?" Jack suggested.

"Quite," Oscar nodded, "although if you need me on site for more than two weeks, I'll have to go per diem, and while I'm easy, I'm not cheap," he finished with a wicked grin.

"In that case, I'll look for the email in a day or so, and once I've confirmed a solid estimate for the construction, I'll give you a call. Hopefully, I'll have that nailed down before I order the gear, but you know how these things go," Jack stood up.

"Not even going to take the time to order a drink?" Oscar asked.

"I've still got to pick up a full-size projector and screen for the movie theatre," Jack shrugged artlessly, "keeping the natives entertained and all that."

Oscar waved him away, "I'll talk to you in a few days."

Jack blew him a kiss and headed for his car. He'd already worked out a deal to pick up twenty-five thousand previous generation Motorola Android phones for five hundred thousand dollars. They weren't especially powerful, but they'd make and receive calls and even stream standard definition video if you didn't mind a bit of a buffer before the show or movie started playing.

Hopefully, Chris would be able to source and recommend the kit to store and stream video. Also epubs. Figure that some folks preferred to read. And pirating books was a lot easier than pirating television and movies.

He started the car and pulled out into the LA traffic, his mind steadily working as he headed to a warehouse an old friend owned. He needed a quiet place to have all of this shit dropped off before bringing it over to Thayland.

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