It took six loops to bring those jobs up to the low thirties.

  With the jobs she focused on first already being at or around level ten, Penelope was put into the role of a teacher’s aide, which slowed how fast she could accumulate experience but also taught her how to show the others small tricks on how to increase their own jobs a little better. The Elves and their allies still treated her as inferior, but near the end of her sixth loop, they couldn’t deny that she was close to surpassing even the best teachers in those fields they had in Dinmar.

  “You going to keep pushing to forty or switch to other jobs?” Jeru laid against the ceiling of her room and looked down at her.

  At this point, I’m going to gain at most one level per loop in those jobs. Penelope glanced over at Circe, who was still asleep.

  “Don’t feel guilty about her doing the same thing over and over again.” Jeru chuckled. “To her, it’s only happening once, so she doesn’t notice.”

  But I do. Penelope sighed as she sat up. It’s like I’m torturing my best friend and she doesn’t even realize it.

  “Probably best that way. She’s barely lasting through a single loop of focusing on jobs.” The blue Elf dropped down onto the bed to sit beside her. “Also, you know you could just reset the night before instead of waiting until morning.”

  I like to think that a good night’s sleep helps my mind adjust to the strain of resetting. Penelope glanced at the Elf. But you know that.

  “Sometimes things that are known still need to be said out loud.” He shrugged. “You’d be surprised how many things eventually get forgotten because someone knows the answer, so they never ask the question.”

  Noted. Penelope took a deep breath as she opened her menu. So what jobs do I need to focus on for the next set of loops?

  “Archeology is going to take you FOREVER to raise and there isn’t much use for it in this Dungeon, so you should skip that one. Similarly, because of the system, linguistics is nearly impossible to raise because the system automatically translates things, making hearing or reading another language impossible.”

  Which means there are two jobs I can’t raise. Penelope sighed. So less possible bonus stats.

  “Occultism too.” Jeru shrugged. “I’m not saying that there aren’t people who can teach you about the various cults and the way that the greater beings are worshiped, but none that are going to trust you enough to share that information with you.”

  Is Cirdor going to be able to set up teachers for me in the other jobs? Penelope ran her pale fingers through her messy red hair. I don’t think Lady Husley is going to want her Casters learning jobs that don’t directly help their class.

  “It won’t be easy, but not difficult either. He knows you’re his best hope of keeping a handle on the others once they surpass his level.” Jeru shrugged. “And while he might not like a Human being an agent of the Elders, that makes you allies.”

  Why doesn’t he just go into the Dungeon and level himself?

  “Short answer? He’s a coward.” Jeru shrugged. “Almost all of his spells are focused on non-combat or support. He’s a much better administrator than he is a combatant and he knows it. Thankfully, he didn’t try to prove he was a combatant when his ship was lost when the war with the Dark Legion kicked back off and he accepted the teaching role here.” Jeru looked out the window. “This would have been a lot more difficult with a retired war hero in charge.”

  So this is the last loop that I’m staying with the Mebope. Penelope took a deep breath. Is Cirde going to be able to do her training like she has, or am I going to need to bring her along with me?

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  “Where you stay will likely change.” Jeru bobbed his head from side to side. “Probably in the admin building or at the school so you can be closer to Cirdor, but he’s got access to private housing in the city as well.”

  Right… Penelope glanced around the room. She’d spent over five hundred days with this being her home. The thought of never coming back again felt like she was about to say goodbye to a good friend. Not even really goodbye. More like erasing the friendship completely.

  “It’ll be here when you kill the archdemon at the end.” Jeru shrugged. “You can visit if you want, or I’m sure the Mebope will let you buy it.”

  Penelope bristled. What about going home?

  “You’ve got sixteen more jobs to take to thirty. It’s going to be another three years just to get that done, then if you decide to take any of them to forty, that’s another two years PER job that you want to squeeze that much out of.” Jeru tilted his head. “You were twenty-two at the start of all of this? Considering you want at least your Alchemy and Enchanting to be at forty, that’s over nine years that you’re going to have spent on this planet. Add in that it’s five years to get to the end of the Dungeon and even if by some miracle you are able to go straight through without needing to reset, you’re looking at fourteen years here.” He shrugged. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to spend more time here than you will have spent on Earth.”

  There was a part of Penelope that had known that was going to happen, but she still couldn’t bring herself to think of Dinmar as her home.

  What about everyone else? How are they going to get back to their loved ones?

  “The Demons destroyed the gate off-world with the initial incursion. All the communication satellites were destroyed as well. There’s no easy way off this rock or for you to get in touch with the greater universe to let them know that you need a rescue. And the timing is going to line up with a major shift in the war, so checking in on a backwater colony that no one has heard from in five years is going to be at the bottom of everyone’s to-do list.” He shrugged. “You should be able to build a gate eventually, but without the system helping you, it’s going to be even more tedious and you won’t be able to open a gate to Earth. Since you’ve not been anywhere else…” His shoulders sagged. “Honestly, I didn’t think that far ahead.”

  So I’m going to be stuck here until I can figure a way to get everyone off. Penelope shook her head.

  “That’s a problem for a much, much future you.” Jeru smirked. “The problem you have to figure out right now is what you’re going to do with the next loop.”

  Leatherworking, logging, mining, sewing, stonemasonry, surgery, tinkering, and woodworking. Penelope had already picked out the jobs from the menu but knew that Jeru would pester her to actually say it until she did.

  “Pairing up with Circe as much as you can?” Jeru chuckled. “While also avoiding as many of the Aura jobs as you can.”

  Penelope simply shrugged. He already knew how much it messed with her nerves and triggered her anxiety to engage in conversations with people. Particularly people she didn’t know. Having to start a whole new group of job training was going to be nerve-wracking enough. The idea of adding jobs that would force her to converse with random strangers was almost debilitating enough to convince her to skip working on those altogether.

  “You realize that by grouping all three of the remaining Aura jobs together, you’re going to create two years of absolute torture for yourself?” Jeru shook his head.

  I’m willing to skip them. Penelope looked at her stats. I don’t really use Aura anyway.

  “Aura is how you get AoE spells, plus, you really need Aura to learn a passive that will make you VERY deadly on all the floors.” Jeru smirked. “I’ll make you a deal. You push yourself through the Aura jobs and I’ll help you learn it.”

  You’re not going to tell me what it is, are you? Penelope glared at the blue man.

  “Nope!” Jeru shook his head. “If I give you a hint, then you’ll figure it out on your own and back out of our deal!”

  Penelope took a deep breath. Having someone in her head who could see what she was thinking was VERY inconvenient sometimes. While she would like to think that she would go through with the deal of learning the jobs, she knew that without a reason to push herself through the anxiety, she would just stop once the returns became minimal.

  “Are you ready to reset?” Jeru jumped off the bed to his feet. “No point in waiting around and wasting more time.”

  Penelope took one last look around the room. Do it.

  She couldn’t help but feel the blinding light was severing a part of her as she was yanked back into the Dungeon.

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