Monroe

Chapter Four Hundred and Five. Interview.

Amanda Vasquez stared at the bags, which according to Whitman, held enough mana crystals to let her start over.

When she'd taken the skills Investigation, Persuasion, and Glibness, she'd expected that they would make her a better journalist. To be fair, they did. Investigation had enhanced her 'nose for trouble,' as her mother had called it, allowing her to make deductive leaps more easily. Persuasion and Glibness helped her find the right words to convince people toward her point of view or to gloss over a hole in an argument.

In a more enlightened world, these would likely have been considered the gold standard for journalists, but she lived in a world of barbarism and savagery.

She'd discovered that if she ever wanted to do more than scrape by, she would need to either be phenomenally lucky or she would have to embrace the blood and viscera-filled life of a Dungeon Runner.

Luck had not been on her side.

Now she was staring at the opportunity to go the other way.

First and foremost, however, she had a job to do.

"Let's table that discussion until after the interview," she said.

Whitman nodded and handed the pouches over to Dave, who tucked them behind the rack of clothing that was standing along one of the walls.

"Camera is ready," John, her cameraman, informed her. "Sound is good."

"Are you ready, Mr. Whitman?" She asked.

Whitman shrugged. "I don't think that delaying is going to make me any readier than I am now," he replied.

"Alright, let's get started then," Amanda said, straightening her posture and pasting on a smile.

"Good evening, this is Amanda Vasquez from ABC seven news. I'm here at the Hilton Hotel on the exclusive thirtieth floor, which was designed and constructed specifically for those who have reached the highest of tiers. With me is Robert Whitman, the man who traveled to another world, discovered the System, and returned to warn us of our impending integration. Thank you, Mr. Whitman, for all you've done for us and for agreeing to an interview this evening," Amanda began, turning her smile up a notch as she directed it at him.

"You're welcome," Whitman replied.

"You've been away from Earth for almost two years now," Amanda continued. "Not only Earth but Thayland as well. What can you tell us about your time away?"

"My friends and I went looking for a habitable planet of the appropriate tier," Whitman explained. "Despite the spell that allows you to jump into a solar system, finding one with the right conditions isn't a common occurrence."

"Were you successful?" She asked.

Whitman shrugged. "Ultimately yes, although also no."

"That sounds like the full answer is rather complicated," Amanda said teasingly.

It was unfortunate that Whitman had surrounded himself with beautiful women. There had been a time, before the System, when directing her full attention toward a man who wasn't accustomed to interacting with a woman of her caliber would throw them off balance, allowing her to more easily control the conversation.

She hadn't been accustomed to coming up short when it came to her looks. She'd worked hard to make sure she was stunning, but the other two women in the room had also been models, and as they'd tiered up, they'd only improved.

"Not really," Bob shrugged. "The planet is alright. It's tier seven, which is the first hurdle. The star is an orange dwarf on the brighter end of the spectrum, and it's almost perfectly centered in the goldilocks zone. It's about sixty forty water and land and has a very temperate climate. The only problems with the planet are the weather, as storms and hurricanes appear every week, and the presence of another species."

"You discovered a new species?" Amanda asked. "Did any of them return with you?"

"No," Whitman shook his head. "They didn't have any interest in leaving their planet at this time."

"What were they like?" Amanda pressed.

"They were nice? I mean, they were people, you know?" Whitman replied.

"Well, I'm sure that everyone will have questions about them," she continued smiling. "So you only found a single planet?"

"Yep," Whitman nodded.

"Now that you've returned, what are your plans?" She asked.

"Relax and resupply." He leaned forward and glanced over at the two women before faux whispering. "We ran out of chocolate six months into the trip. We're definitely not going to make that mistake again." He leaned back and offered her a crooked smile. "We also ran out of quite a few of the more complex seasonings," he explained. "Growing rosemary, thyme, oregano, those are all easy enough. But sometimes you want pancakes, and once you run out of floor, the process is a little much."

"It sounds like you were gone longer than you'd intended," Amanda said, her Investigation skill pinging softly in the back of her mind.

"We were," Whitman agreed. "We'd only expected to be gone for six months, but once we found that planet, we ended up staying."

"You have a ship, and from what I understand, you're an expert dimensionalist in addition to your prodigal summoning talents," Amanda adopted a confused expression. "Why didn't you just come back? It shouldn't take more than a few days to resupply."

"We received a quest from the System that required us to stay until we'd completed it," Whitman explained, without explaining anything.

"Oh, that sounds exciting! What was the quest?" She willed her Persuasion and Glibness skills activate.

"We were tasked to help the Urlinad, the people who live there," Whitman replied, frowning as he shook his head. "I can't go into any details, as they aren't mine to share."

"You must have had quite the adventure," Amanda smiled broadly. "But now that you're back, what are you planning?"

"Well, once this interview is done, we're going out to dinner," Whitman said.

"I did notice that you're dressed quite nicely and that you're matching one of the lovely young women in the room," Amanda gestured, and John swung the camera toward the blonde.

"Yes, Jessica, Amanda, Dave, and I are going to enjoy a meal that we didn't have to prepare ourselves," Whitman replied.

"You must be Jessica," Amanda smiled at Jessica.

"Jessica Wright," she replied with a brilliant smile.

"I'm sure there are a lot of young women out there who would love to know what a date with the famous and illusive Robert Whitman is like," Amanda said, leaning hard on Persuasion and Glibness.

"They'll have to wait," Jessica sighed dramatically. "This isn't a date, despite my best efforts. I'm afraid this is just a friendly dinner, although I did use it as an excuse to dress up a bit." She smirked. "We've been delving for sixteen hours a day for the past eighteen months, and I'm so tired of wearing armor. Luckily, Bob was willing to indulge my need to wear something nice, going so far as to have a new suit tailored to match."

"Does that mean that you're on the market?" Amanda directed her question to Whitman.

"No," Bob replied shortly.

Her Investigation pinged again, but given the tightening of Whitman's brow, she suspected that chasing the rabbit down that hole would likely be unproductive, and she didn't need him to feel antagonistic.

"Going back to your return to Earth," she continued, "I'm sure you are aware that a large number of people are attempting to follow in your footsteps. I know that the last time we spoke, you offered some rather direct advice, advice that I, personally, have regretted not heeding," she smiled, offering a touch of sadness to her expression. "What advice do you have for us now?"

"The same?" Whitman looked confused. "Delve hard, level up, tier up, become stronger. That's the only way you can protect the people you care about."

"What would you suggest as far as a long-term plan for skills, spells, and paths? The government has suggested, and even incentivized, a secondary focus on the Arcane School of Dimension, citing the advantages of being able to open portals or to create spatially expanded containers as something that is desperately needed and extremely lacking."

Whitman blinked. "Well, when it comes to long-term planning, one of the biggest considerations is what species you plan to evolve into," he began.

"Can't we just continue to be humans?" Amanda asked. "We have the paragon and pinnacle options, isn't there another step at tier eight?"

"Technically, yes," Whitman agreed. "When you reach tier eight, you have the option to select a tier eight race to apotheosis into, or you can choose to evolve, taking the next step as far as humanity is concerned. It's a much larger step than the ones before it, however," he warned. "The evolution of humanity is into a Wayfarer. You will gain natural affinities for Summoning, Dimension, and Shadowmancy, as well as additional enhancements to our natural human gifts of empathy and curiosity."

"Those affinities sound rather suspiciously like your own," Amanda said, frowning slightly.

"As the first person to evolve, I was given the opportunity to guide the process," Whitman shrugged uncomfortably. "I chose what I thought were the best options."

"Given that anyone who continues to tier up will eventually have a natural affinity for Dimension, do you agree with the government that Dimension should be a part of everyone's path?" Amanda asked.

"Everyones? No," Whitman shook his head. "There are some paths that simply don't lend themselves well to having a secondary focus. Beacons, for example, must focus on their armor, shield, and their parry. That doesn't leave a lot of room for Dimension, and Dimension would be difficult to integrate into a defensive combat style."

"For paths that allow a narrow focus, such as a summoner, a conjurer, or even a healer, it isn't as challenging to find skill points to add Dimension to your build," Whitman finished.

"So overall, you support the initiative?" Amanda pressed.

"I was unaware there was an initiative until a few moments ago," Whitman replied. "But, yes, Dimension is an incredibly useful school of magic, and if you find yourself with the opportunity to include a secondary focus, I would recommend it. Our world remains vastly overpopulated in terms of allowing all of its inhabitants to delve the Dungeons and advance. Finding new worlds that can support us is absolutely critical, and Dimension is the key to that. A natural affinity by way of reaching tier eight is certainly something to consider."

"That certainly sounds like an endorsement to me," Amanda smiled. "I suppose you recommend summoning as a primary focus?" She asked teasingly.

"While it's an effective and versatile school, if you plan on working with a group, which I recommend, you'd be better served by focusing on one of the traditional roles of either beacon, healing, damage, or crowd control," Whitman refuted.

"What role do you fill in your own group?" Amanda asked.

"I'm sort of an unneeded addition," Whitman admitted. "I can use my summoned monsters to act as a beacon, but they don't do as well as our actual beacons. They can act as skirmishers, but while they come close in damage, they lack the versatility," he shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, I can solo incredibly well, but with a team, I'm not quite as good."

"It's always refreshing to see humility in our celebrities," Amanda noted. "Now, there is one more thing I'd like to talk about before I let you run off with Jessica," she smiled. "This evening, when you came down the elevator, you were greeted by a group of people, myself amongst them. Some of us were acting rather rudely in our attempts to get a photograph of you or to catch a comment. While I wasn't amongst those behaving that way, you reacted rather aggressively when the elevator doors opened, and you were faced with the camera flashes and shouted questions."

"By aggressively, you mean we killed everyone in the lobby? Because that's what happened," Whitman replied. "Fortunately, Jessica is an amazing healer, and she was able to get everyone back up, but make no mistake, without immediate intervention, you were all dead."

"Yes, that is what I meant," Amanda said.

Whitman shrugged. "Don't surprise adventurers when we're fresh in from long days delving. Our reactions are honed to a razor's edge, and we will respond with immediate and expertly applied violence."

"What do you think could be done to prevent this sort of incident from occurring again?" She asked.

"Don't be assholes?" Whitman shook his head. "None of us are public figures, and frankly, I never understood why people put up with the paparazzi in the first place."

"The first amendment guarantees freedom of the press," Amanda replied. "It's long been argued and upheld that the rights of the press trump the discomfort of the individual. Surely you aren't arguing against that?"

"It's a brave new world, Ms. Vasquez," Whitman smiled thinly. "While I personally think that freedom of the press is the cornerstone of any society that wishes to avoid the perils of despots and dictators, I also firmly believe in the right of the individuals to live their lives as unimpeded as possible, save for the necessary restrictions and interactions required by law, which in turn should be informed by common sense. If you ask the person pushing a camera in your face to stop, and they persist, at that point, I'm not going to begrudge the individual whatever actions they need to take to continue about their day unimpeded and unmolested. Considering the difference in personal power under the System, I think it might behoove everyone to consider that the person they are interacting with might be vastly more powerful than themselves and to act accordingly."

"That sounds suspiciously like an advocation for the philosophy of 'Might makes right,' which is something we've eschewed in our nation," Amanda said.

"Have we?" Whitman asked. "While I don't care for Chairman Mao, he wasn't wrong when he said that all power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our entire society, before the System integration, was based on the knowledge that if you broke the law, the government would punish you, through fines or confinement, with these punishments administered in the knowledge that the government could, and would, force you to comply, with violence if necessary. The tables have turned somewhat in that the government is no longer the final word in force. It is now possible for an individual to defy the government by virtue of simply possessing enough destructive or defensive capabilities to do so." He smiled grimly. "I'm sure there are any number of people who exercised petty tyrannies in our country by wielding the threat of the government's overwhelming force who are now terribly unhappy with the changed circumstances in which they find themselves. They'll find no sympathy from me."

"Is that the message you want to send to your fellow Americans?" Amanda asked.

"No," Whitman shook his head. "I don't have a message, but if I did, it would simply be this - The world has changed, and you have an opportunity you couldn't have dreamed of a few short years ago. Be better. Be kinder. Become stronger. When the tide rises, be the person who stands before, helping those who haven't made it up to your level. When the tide recedes, be the person who helps those who couldn't rise up so they can. In short, become an Adventurer."

"Thank you, Mr. Whitman," Amanda said, turning to the camera. "This has been an exclusive interview for ABC seven."

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