Chapter 112

"I'm going to travel as far as I can and spread the word," Cassandra declared. "I think this is the best use of my time and expertise. And I call dibs on Irene.” Cassandra threw her arm over her sister’s shoulder, then looked over at Levi. “You can come too, if you want, but you ruined our vacation with your scaring Irene half to death thing, so she’s coming with me.”

Levi frowned. "Are you asking us to go on a road trip around the country visiting weirdo conventions every few days?"

“You’re one to talk. Besides, what could be a better way to bond as a family? If the world is going to end in a few months, this may be the last chance we have to just see the country and hang out with all the people we can find! Imagine, the world ending without us ever having a giant, stupid trip as a family!"

"I'm not sure I approve of the sort of places you've picked," Irene said, glancing at a barely-clothed cosplayer on the printout. "My son is impressionable."

Cassandra scoffed and waved away her concerns. "He is not. He's going to be thirteen in a few months, if you think anything will make a change then it's best that it be a big happy exciting family together outing. Imagine how much closer you'll all be."

"Where are we getting the money for all this, by the way?" Gordon asked. “From what I’ve heard, conventions are expensive, and you want to go to dozens of them.”

"I'm not just an irresponsible wild child," Cassandra pointed out with a grin. "I can fund my own con attendance, thank you."

Irene shook her head. “I don’t like the idea of leaving Peter, and I don’t think it would be a healthy environment. I’m sorry, Cas, but I think I want to go with Gordon’s team.”

“There’s nothing unhealthy about fans gathering to celebrate their shared passion.”

“I think I’d like to keep Peter away from shared passion for at least another few years,” Irene responded, entirely straight-faced.

Cassandra snorted with laughter. “Alright, I’ll take a rain check. But we are going to hang out properly, and before the demon apocalypse actually starts.”

“Fair enough.”

"I'll go wherever I'm most needed," Laurence said. "As long as I get to initiate others into the grand tradition of MAGIC! Though you know… we should get in touch with my guild. Our leader betrayed and abandoned us, and then I came here with Levi - which I don't regret for a moment - but that still means the others are probably a bit at loose ends. I bet I can bring them in pretty easily."

"Probably best to send Laurence with Cassandra, then," Levi said. "Irene, Peter, Gordon, and I can go the other way, collect Robert, and talk to health care workers and firefighters."

"Yes!" Laurence high-fived Cassandra, the smack echoing through the small room. “I should hurry up with my staff.”

"Maybe tone it down a bit on the volume?" Irene suggested. "Peter's sleeping upstairs."

"Sorry," Laurence said, unapolagetically.

“Will Mom be joining us?” Irene asked.

Cassandra shook her head. “She’s come around enough to help with the website and publishing stuff, but she is adamantly against going in a dungeon ever again. She’ll be working on the online aspect through her friends, to create an online hub that we control. Your wiki entries were a good start, but we need something that can’t be vandalized or erased by anyone who wanders by.”

“And that won’t be a danger to us if someone comes looking?” Laurence asked.

“Nothing is completely secure, ever, but we can manage it through proxies to avoid anyone casually connecting it to us. We’ll look for providers less willing to cooperate with inquiries. But if we’re going to be losing the internet in the next year or so, the book is the priority. We’ll want to have as many copies printed and stored as possible, so we can distribute them in the future.”

“I know Levi and I are happy to contribute our savings toward this project, but what you’re talking about… printing pamphlets and books and running a website, this is going to add up fast. Are you sure we can afford it?”

“From what Levi’s said, society doesn’t end up fully collapsing for two years at least,” Laurence said. “And while he can’t provide specifics on investment opportunities, he did give me a list of companies he’s fairly certain were still active and widespread two years from now. Given the fact that there’s going to be a major upheaval in a few months, anything that weathers that chaos will probably increase in value quite a bit.”

“That’s a bit of a leap. What if the value of everything goes down? Then it won’t matter.”

Laurence shrugged. “I’m planning to make some major investments. If it all pans out, I’ll gladly split the profits to help with your project. If it fails, then at least I have my knowledge base to contribute.”

“So we have startup funds in the moment and potential investment income for the future. We have a two-prong plan of attack. Anything else we need to settle on tonight before we begin?”

“I want to send you with a minion team to protect you.”

Even as he spoke, Levi was mentally running through his team in his mind. Skarm and Two would stay with him, which meant Centoo would as well. He didn't want Cen to feel expendable, and his stun effect would be valuable, but... if he kept all four of them, that meant he'd have to send Becca, and he didn't want to do that either.

When it came right down to it, he didn't want to send any of his minions away. Not for the weeks and weeks necessary for Cassandra's trip.

Why couldn't she get her own minions? Stubborn Ranger, refusing to change classes.

But he had enough slots now, he could tame a new batch and send them with her. They'd be lower level, but he could focus on Destruction bosses in the area. There would be no shortage of those. And it would provide information. What was a plus gremlin like? Or a plus goblin? Or even Rust Scarab? He still needed to get a standard scarab to compare. The boss scarabs tended to be a swarm, rather than an individual, so their stats were probably not as proportionally huge as some of the others.

Cassandra bristled at the suggestion. “We can handle ourselves.”

“If you’re planning to take teams of new initiates with you into dungeons, you’ll have your hands full keeping them alive. You’ll need more help.” Levi turned to Laurence. “And I’d like to collect more data on what happens when minions fight at further distances from me.”

“You don’t need to convince me. I’ve never had so much fun as when I had your guys to tank for me. Speaking of, before we split up again, we should compare notes. I noticed the minions fighting with me growing stronger throughout the day, am I correct in assuming they can assign their own abilities when separated from you?"

Levi shook his head. "I was leveling them remotely. And I got a level of my own from the experiment."

"Even when you're not in the same dungeon at all, you still get experience?" Laurence flipped to a new page with a confused frown. "But from everything I've ascertained about how mana works, you have to be physically present to benefit from it."

"I got a level while I was nowhere near you," Levi said, shrugging. "I don't know the details, but it worked."

"This is fascinating. Does that mean minions are considered tangibly part of you for the purpose of mana absorption? How does that connection even function? Is there a maximum distance limit?"

Levi couldn’t help but smile. “Exactly the sort of things I’d like to know. So I'd like you to wait a few days before leaving while I put together a new team for you guys.”

“We should try to leave as soon as possible,” Cassandra protested. “If you really want to send us with minions, then just send some and get new ones for yourself.”

“I don’t want to split up the team for the long term. I’m fine with lending you a few for a day or two, but we’re talking about a month-long split here.”

“They’re just monsters, you can get new ones that are just as good.”

Levi was definitely getting tired of Cassandra criticising and arguing with everything he said or did. “You don’t get to say ‘I know Ranger, so listen to me,’ and then turn around and try to tell me how to be a Tamer. My team is staying with me. I’ll send the new team with you. And if I need to have Cen and Centoo restrain you from running off to get yourself killed, then so be it.”

Cassandra glowered at him for a long moment, but Levi didn’t back down. "I'll probably need that long to get the pamphlets finalized anyway," she finally conceded. “But it’s not like we can teleport to California, so you have to get back with enough time for us to get there.”

“Give me two days. I’ll get what we need.”

“Alright. But if you’re not back in time, we’ll go without you.”

"You don’t need to worry about that. Two days, and I’ll have your escort assembled."