Alex fell into her bed with a sigh. She had spent nearly two full days being monitored by Rob and the other medics, and the possibility of having a room to herself and not being poked and prodded by concerned doctors sounded like heaven. Unfortunately, she had something to deal with first.

She cracked an eye and peered at the others. Sam, Joanna, and Clara had met her at her door, each looking like they were ready to burst. "All right, where are we?"

The others looked at Sam, but he shrugged. "I wasn't able to find any bugs in here at least. We should be good to talk."

Alex peered at him. "You searched my room?"

"It was me, or your dad." He folded his arms. "He seemed to take the idea that you were being monitored a little seriously."

She grunted, but Joanna spoke before she could continue. "We're on the schedule for on-call tomorrow. Are you going to be ready?"

Alex nodded. There was no version of the future where she was going to let Alessa and Audrey get swamped by Grue while she rested. "I'll be fine. You think the alert will go out tomorrow?"

Sam nodded. "My contacts are saying that Warner's goon is staying out there. Goldiron must have refused their contract, so they'll try to make a point."

Clara raised her hand. "I already gave Audrey a call. She said she and Alessa would keep an eye out for anything."

Joanna looked at the Acolyte in surprise. "I'm not saying you were wrong, but if anyone gets a hint that we knew ahead of time…"

She shook her head. "I just reminded them of how we dealt with hordes back at Golden Swallow, and told them we might come by for a visit, since our companies were talking. At worst, they think we have an inside track on company gossip."

"Which we kind of do." Alex let out a breath and looked at Sam. "Is there anything else we can do to prepare?"

He nodded. "I…might have called the local hospital. Told them to call me if they get a rush of magic poisoning cases in the next couple of days."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "And they would do this because…"

Sam bared his teeth in an almost-grin and studied the far corner of the room. "They… might be under the impression that I'm an undercover Regulation agent." He glanced back at her and winced. "I gave them a burner phone number and a fake identification. It'll be fine."

She wasn't quite convinced. Regulation might be somewhat toothless, but they tended to look into cases of forged credentials. The last thing they wanted was to be blamed for a mess they didn't even cause, after all. "Just be careful, all right?"

He snorted. "Pot calling the kettle black, aren't you?"

Clara broke in again. "I got a vague description of the area from Audrey when we talked. I might be able to get us right to where they would take shelter when we go."

Joanna sighed. "The pilots were saying there's going to be a window of clear weather tomorrow. They'll probably schedule the incident for around that time."

Alex gave her a curious look. "You're still talking to the mechanics and pilots? I thought you decided it wasn't all that useful."

The Adept suddenly looked a little unsure of herself. "I thought there wasn't any harm talking to them. I mean, it is pretty interesting stuff."

Clara snickered. "She means that she's got a crush on one of the pilots."

Joanna flushed a red that Alex hadn't even thought she could reach. "That's not why!"

The Acolyte raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? How is Screwball doing? You know, the one with the shoulders?"

Sam rolled his eyes as Joanna tried to find the words to respond. "And that's my cue to head out." He headed for the door and then paused to look at Alex. "Run tomorrow?"

Alex nodded. It sounded incredibly nice after two days of enforced rest. "Absolutely."

He smiled and then headed out. Joanna glared at Clara as the door closed. "You're teasing me, but just letting that go?"

Clara shook her head. "Well, you're funny. That just hurts."

Alex looked back and forth between them. "What are you talking about?"

Joanna put a hand over her eyes, and Clara gave her a level look. "Alex, you are not that dense. Don't fake it."

Wincing, Alex looked away. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Wait, you know?" Joanna gave her an incredulous look. "Then why haven't you…"

Alex shook her head. "It's not that simple."

Clara's voice was gentle. "If you're not interested, it's better to just—"

"That's not it." Alex fought a sudden welling of grief and pain. She shook her head. "The last person who was… interested, I got him killed. If you count Ed—"

"I don't."

Alex gave Clara a look. "If you did, then I killed him myself. Anyone who gets close, dies." She drew up her legs on the bed and looked away. "Even if I was ready, why would I do that to him? He deserves someone that won't doom him just by being nearby."

She risked a glance back and saw Clara watching her with sympathy on her face. "Alex—"

Joanna broke in before the Acolyte could continue. "You're not ready, right?" Alex looked at her. Then she looked away and shook her head. "Then that settles it. He's not pushing anything, right?"

Clara gave the Adept a sharp look. "Sam's not like that."

Alex reluctantly shook her head again, and Joanna nodded. "Then we shouldn't try to push anything yet. It's okay to have time to heal, even for troublemakers like you. So take the time and get yourself straightened out before you mess anything up. All right?"

She nodded, burying her face in her knees for a moment. Then she heard Clara chuckle. "So if that's her excuse, what's yours, Thinker? Or is Screwball not as good a kisser as you were hoping?"

"I wouldn't… I mean, I haven't…" Joanna paused long enough to suck in a breath. When Alex peeked at her, the Adept's face was bright red. "Look, maybe once we aren't knee deep in conspiracies. We can't afford the distraction."

There was no mercy on Clara's face. "But can we afford the distraction of you pining away mid-Survey?" She put her hands together and fluttered her eyelashes, and Alex gave a snort of laughter despite herself. Joanna was fighting a smile as well, even as she tossed a crumpled-up bit of paper at the Acolyte. Then they all started laughing, even as Clara settled in to dig out the details.

Alex's smile faded only slightly as she thought about what was waiting for them tomorrow. The horde would be waiting, and her friends would need her. That was all that mattered.

The call came right when Joanna had predicted. All of them had been bracing for the alert the whole day, and when it happened, they nearly jumped out of their seats. They left the lecture materials they'd been given—just by sheer coincidence, it had contained some of the details on Goldiron's portal—and raced for the Greyhawk.

They once again arrived before the other team and settled into the seats with only a small sign of nervousness. Alex looked at Clara, who shook her head. "I called, but the person who answered said they were on a Survey. They're probably still inside."

Alex nodded and waited with ill-concealed frustration for the others to arrive.

Laser and the others showed up a short time later, jogging towards the tiltrotor with tense expressions. They were apparently a fairly good team to work with; Laser had a reputation of getting distracted, but the Surveyor was still an extremely effective fighter. The rest of her team wasn't a pack of slouches either; they had a Spellsword named Copy, a spear-wielding Hunter named Pincushion, and a Priest that everyone called Scrubs. All of them gave her team skeptical looks as they settled in and the Greyhawk crew closed the ramp up for launch.

It was Laser who spoke over the rotors as they took off. "All right, I don't know what bad blood you managed to get between you and Rabbit, but I expect you to take care of your jobs here today. We've got a serious spike in magic activity coming from a new client's portal. You're to scout the locations you can, knock out whatever you think you can, and then get back to the portal. No delays, no fuss."

Alex just looked back at her, thinking over their plan to find Audrey and Alessa. It was Clara that spoke up. "Has anyone heard from their Surveyors?"

"No sign." Laser grimaced and shook her head. "Look, I don't like it any more than you do, but the quickest way to help them is to get us in there and bring things under control. The last thing we want is for you to get hurt running around a place like this trying to play hero."

She gave Alex a frank look, but Alex just ignored it. The Greyhawk was already lifting off, and she could already feel her stomach rebelling. She closed her eyes and just hoped that the flight would end soon.

It was a blessedly quick trip, for once, barely more than forty minutes. As the Greyhawk settled in, Alex led the charge down the ramp.

They'd landed in the parking lot of the Goldiron facility. It was set up a little closer to the kind of containment area that Golden Swallow had maintained, with a false neighborhood build around an inner stretch of concrete. The only real difference Alex could see was that they had built a structure around the portal itself. It almost looked like a hangar, and had various skill training machines set up nearby, complete with a pair of dueling rings.

The portal itself was already showing signs of the disruption. Lightning crackled across it, and magic filled the air to the point that Alex could almost taste it. She glanced at the others, who nodded to her.

One of the Goldiron officials walked towards them, as if intending to explain the situation, but Alex just ignored them. She jogged straight past him and into the portal, leading the charge into the light…

Light surrounded her, which was a massive relief. She didn't know how she would have reacted if she had been sent to that… place each time she entered a portal.

Alex shook off the mental image as orange words appeared in front of her.

[Mission Report: Delayed]

[Successful Return! +20 Experience]

[Main Quest Completed! +160 Experience]

[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]

[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]

[Secondary Purge Quest Completed! +80 Experience]

[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! +80 Experience]

She grunted and shoved the words aside. The last thing she needed was a distraction or delay. Not today.

[Battle Maneuvers increased from 0 to 27!]

[Combat Balance increased from 37 to 39!]

[Combined Arms—Axe/Shield increased from 36 to 38!]

[Holy—Storm increased from 38 to 40!]

Alex shunted those notifications as well. She ignored the opportunities to reset as they popped up; she'd need all her Skills soon enough.

As the last offer disappeared, she started to relax. The normal Survey opportunities were supposed to pop up now, and then she'd—

[Conditions Fulfilled]

[Class Upgrade Processing]

She blinked. Clara hadn't mentioned anything like this. The words hadn't even been orange. They'd been multicolored, like sunlight fractured through a prism.

Lightning seemed to crackle along her limbs. Power and pain flickered through her. Flashes of heat and cold cycled through her as the words continued to appear.

[Quest System Restrictions Removed]

[Item Utilization Activated]

[Extended Screen Interactions Unlocked]

[Interdimensional Buffers Disengaged]

[Security Qualifications Modified]

Each phrase struck her like a lash. What was going on? She hissed as yet another whip of energy pulsed through her. She didn't have time for whatever this was, and even if she had, she wasn't going to—

[Class Upgrade Completed]

[Welcome to your new Path of Ascension, Pioneer]

Alex stared at the words, and then the universe around her seemed to blink.

When it returned, she was in the same light-filled void, yet it seemed different. Almost more… solid. Or refined, somehow.

As she stared around at it, the Screen returned, once again sporting the familiar orange text.

[D Rank Pioneer Alex]

[Ascension Level: 8]

[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None)]

[Role Level: 3]

[Experience: 3020/4500]

[Attributes: Strength -> 8, Speed -> 10, Life -> 6, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Combat Balance(39), Motion Trance(25), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(38),

Holy–Storm(40)]

[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers(27)]

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[Current Titles: Empress of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by five.),

Aggression (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, Combined Arms, and Combat Balance Skills by five.),

Fated Hero (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by five),

Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by five.),

Tireless (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by three.),

True Sentinel (Increases Skill grade of Deflect, Dodging, Blocking, Resist, Zeal, and Combat Balance by five.),

Still Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by five.),

Elite (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by five.),

Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.),

Consecrated (Increases Skill grade of Holy by five.),

War Prowess (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by five.),

War Momentum (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by five.),

Blitz Master (Increases Skill grade of Combined Arms, Lunge, and Charge by five),

Methodical (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Anticipate, and Combined Arms by four.)],

Fast (Increases Skill grade of Motion Trance, Evasion, and Charge Assault by one.)]

Feeling completely off balance, Alex ran her eyes over the Screen's report. Aside from the label next to her name, not much seemed to be changed. What had that list of differences meant? Why was it calling her a Pioneer instead of a Surveyor now?

A hint to that question arrived a moment later, as the text changed.

[Current Portal Status: Unstable, Magic Level Increasing Rapidly]

[Projected Level Change Imminent!]

[Current Portal Level: D4 -> C1]

[Combat Oriented Objectives Recommended]

[Local Area Population: 6 D Rank Surveyors]

The words remained for a moment as Alex stared at them in shock. Then her eyes narrowed. Goldiron apparently deployed their teams in groups of six. If there were six still left, then both Alessa and Audrey were still alive.

Then the next surprise arrived.

[Current Objective Budget: 400]

[Select Priority Objective]

To Alex's shock, there was no list. How was she going to choose if there were no options? Was she just supposed to make it up as she went?

She shook her head. There was no time for this. If she was going to save the Surveyors—

[Priority Quest: Save six Surveyors. Possible rewards: 120 Experience. Accept?]

Alex blinked. She nodded.

[Select Additional Objectives]

She stared at the words. It would respond to her thoughts, apparently. What would it say if she decided she wanted to clear the horde?

[Additional Quest: Clear the Factory of Grue presence. Possible rewards: 120 Experience. Accept?]

Alex nodded again, and it vanished. A feeling of panic welled up in her. Her friends were expecting her to have ordinary Explore Quests. What was going to happen if she didn't have locations to scout?

[Additional Quest: Scout at least six locations within the local area. Possible rewards: 120 Experience. Accept?]

She blinked. Normally, it didn't take that much. There had to be a way to narrow it down.

[Additional Quest: Scout at least four locations within the local area. Possible rewards: 80 Experience. Accept?]

Still feeling overwhelmed, she accepted it. There were still eighty points left, weren't there? The only other thing that Laser was expecting them to do was destroy Camps, so—

[Addition Quest: Eliminate at least eight Grue Camps. Possible rewards: 80 Experience. Accept?]

Desperate to finish the process, she accepted. Were the others already fighting the horde? Would she exit into a bloodbath where her friends were already wounded? She shook her head and braced herself. She had gone in first; maybe she'd still come out right on their heels.

As light fractured and spiraled around her, Alex propelled herself forward into the light…

She stepped out into a building full of ancient rusting machinery. It was the exit point she'd expected; both Clara's information and the report from Royal Purple had placed the portal inside the open floor of an old-style factory. Broken conveyor belts and blocky, half-ruined machines cluttered up the floor in every direction. There was the hint of broad double doors at the far end, but the lights inside the place were flickering and uncertain at best.

Just as unpleasant, it looked like the entire place was filled with Grue. Soldiers paced around the place, bickering and arguing with one another. Archers lounged on the balcony that ran around the second story of the room, their bows dangling in their hands. Knights relaxed and growled to one another, while Killers and Brutes stalked among their lesser brethren, occasionally forcing their way through knots of the others.

There was no sign of her friends. She paused in shock, having expected to be chasing after them as they charged in. Had something delayed them?

Then orange words flared to life.

[Additional Objective Located]

She jerked in surprise, falling into a crouch. A handful of Grue were starting to take notice of her. They turned to look in her direction, their eyes widening. Just like before, there had to be hundreds of them, all waiting to ambush whatever Surveyors were trying to escape.

None of them were ready for her.

By the time the others stepped through the portal, Alex was already halfway across the factory floor to the closest Grue. She hit the creatures just as they turned towards her, their jaws just beginning to open in howls of alarm. Her shield plowed a path through the closest, sending them hurtling, broken-limbed, into their friends. As they collapsed, her axe reaped a brutal harvest, chopping and hacking a space for herself. Up above, the balconies filled with Grue nocking arrows; her lightning struck among them and charred corpses fell from the railing.

The response was almost immediate. Archers and Killers started taking shots, Soldiers, Knights, and Brutes crowded in to try to crush her.

Unfortunately for them, she wasn't in an open space, easily surrounded. The clutter of the room worked to her advantage, narrowing the Grue into choke points. Even better, this time her Skills were stronger and more intensely focused than they'd ever been. She tore through Grue so quickly that it almost seemed like they were standing still—and just as they might have succeeded, her friends piled in alongside her, their weapons and magic flashing and striking. Fire, thorn, ice, and mental spikes joined her wind and lightning, harvesting an even larger toll among the enemy. Those who made it close enough fell to sword, spear, axe, and bolt.

The Grue began with shock, and then quickly moved to rage. Their fury drove them to throw themselves against her team, sending them howling into their deaths. Then, as more and more of them fell and their numbers completely failed to slow Alex and her friends down, their anger turned to bitterness—and then to desperation.

They piled in, trampling the corpses of the ones that came before. Brutes tore their way through the rotten machinery to try to crush them beneath the wreckage. Mages hid among the rest, trying to hurl their magics at them when they were unprepared. Despite the fact that the Grue were being cut down almost as fast as they arrived, Alex felt her team's momentum slowing. She gritted her teeth, trying to continue forcing her way forward through the howling, snarling mob.

Then dozens of the Grue abruptly stopped in place. Their eyes went wide, and they staggered as if they had all been struck by one of Sam's mental attacks. Alex saw their muzzles turn to the sky, and they howled in sheer despair. Their forms grew indistinct, the noise of their futile rage fading along with them.

That quickly, the momentum of the battle turned again. Desperation turned to panic, and the lines of Grue began to collapse back on themselves. The loss of nearly a tenth of their number had stunned them, and as they scrambled to respond, Alex and the others cut their way deeper through the pack.

It only got worse a handful of seconds later, as yet another group of Grue came to an abrupt halt and faded from existence, their final hateful attacks leaving no mark at all.

Those that remained broke soon after. Alex could almost feel the moment their morale shattered, and all of a sudden they were trying to flee out of the doors and windows. She and the others rushed to cut as many of them down as they could. Those who escaped left behind a small carpet of corpses on the ground.

As the bodies ignited in purple flame, Alex caught sight of orange text.

[Additional Objective Completed]

[Battle Maneuvers advances to 30!]

[Combat Balance advances to 40!]

[Combined Arms—Axe/Shield advances to 39!]

She paused, looking around at the burning corpses. Clara was grinning at her, and the Acolyte spoke up over the noise of the blaze. "I guess Alessa and Audrey remembered how to deal with the horde after all."

Alex grinned back. The trapped Surveyors must have destroyed a pair of Camps; it explained the sudden disappearance of some of the Grue, at least. She looked around again, bending to pick up a fragment of crystal, something the normal Grue Soldiers usually left behind.

[Grue Impurity Recovered]

She blinked and dropped it. Apparently, she was getting more than just odd missions from the Screen now.

Then she shook her head. There was more to deal with than her current oddities. She looked back at Clara. "Where did you think we could find them?"

They set off a short while later, after the others had picked up a few remnants of the horde. It was clear the area was still growing worse, but at the very least, none of them had been pushed to their limit this time. If anything, Alex was feeling a bit of normality return as they jogged along the streets of the Goldiron portal area.

The Factory had been part of a larger industrial area which was littered with warehouses, manufacturing centers, and depots. Storage crates filled the place, along with streets wide enough to accommodate semi-trucks. Abandoned forklifts and other equipment were littered around the alleyways, as run down and moldering as any of the cars they'd found elsewhere.

Alex looked around as they made their way towards a particular set of smokestacks in the distance; Clara had called them the Incinerator, which was apparently the Screen's name for the place. It wasn't the most inviting name, but then again, nothing in the other world really was.

As they ran, they happened across a handful of patrols, none of whom lasted more than a few heartbeats. Between their greater experience and the lack of fatigue from the horde, her team mowed through them as if they were blades of grass. Five patrols in a row vanished in quick succession, and then they were at the Incinerator.

The smokestack stretched up above them, and Alex spent a moment looking up for any signs of life. As she did so, orange text appeared again.

[Additional Objective Located]

[Objective Progress: 1 of 6 Locations found.]

She shook away the message and led her team into the building, tensed for another fight. If this place was a location, that meant there were probably Camps or worse, which would mean Grue. Of course, Alessa and Audrey could have cleared them out already, but if not…

Her worries were proved unfounded a moment later. As they walked into the building through some kind of loading area, they heard something clinking against the machinery inside. Then there was a shout that was entirely too familiar.

"Ha! I told you it was them!"

Alex looked over in time to see Audrey pop up from behind a small cart full of debris. She was wearing slightly thicker armor than she had before, and her kanabo seemed even more massive and solid than it had when she'd last seen it. Audrey herself looked a little tired, as if she'd been running into a few problems of her own, but her smile stood out against the scrapes on her face like a flag. "Al! Jo! Clara! And Sam too? You came all this way just to see us again, huh?"

[Priority Objective Located]

The Squire jumped over the cart and caught Joanna up in a hug. Joanna rolled her eyes and grunted a little as Audrey squeezed her, but she seemed happy enough. "You could… ugh… say that."

Clara gave Audrey a hug as well. "Where's Alessa? And the rest of your group?"

"Oh, they're back there. Most of them didn't believe me. Hey, Roberts! Get out here and meet my friends. They're probably here to rescue us." She waved back at the cart, and a sullen-looking man in tattered armor stood up. He looked them up and down as if he expected an attack.

Alex nodded at him. "We're here to get you out. Are there any with heavy wounds?"

He opened his mouth, but Audrey answered first. "Nah. Alessa was the hardest hit, but it never matters that much to her." She shrugged. "Once we saw the horde, we pulled back and started looking for Camps to hit. We cleared this place out, and now we were just taking a break before we went after the rest."

Sam glanced at Alex and grinned. "Mind if we join you? The horde is gone, but if you want to give us a tour…"

Audrey threw back her head and laughed. "The horde's gone, huh? Why am I not surprised?" Roberts was goggling at them, and she thwacked him on the back as she walked past. "What did I tell you, Roberts? You shouldn't have doubted the stories."

He glanced at her and then looked back at them. The Surveyor swallowed. "So… which one of you is the Valkyrie?"

Alex sighed as the others pointed at her. She started off after Audrey. Things were already complicated enough, and it was looking like it was only going to get more so.

"It's not that I don't appreciate the rescue, Alex." Alessa had clearly had better days. There were half a dozen holes in her armor, and despite her self-healing Skills, she'd sighed in relief once Clara had gotten to her. "I'm just wanting a bit more information about what I've gotten myself into."

Alex nodded. They were on their way to the next Location where the Goldiron Surveyors had known there were Camps, and Alessa had taken her aside for a small interrogation. She checked to make sure that the other Surveyors weren't eavesdropping—not that they were ignoring her, of course, because most of them were still glancing back at her every so often. It was enough to make her wonder what kind of stories that Alessa and Audrey had been telling.

She tried to choose her words carefully. "I don't think it's going to be an issue for you here at Goldiron. You should be mostly safe after today."

Alessa gave her a skeptical look. She glanced around at the industrial park that surrounded them. "Are you sure? Because this is looking a lot like Golden Swallow—only so much worse."

Alex hesitated. "It isn't because of anything Goldiron is doing."

The Porter studied her for a moment. Then her eyes widened slightly. "Which means it involves Royal Purple. Which is why you are here."

"You could say that." Alex held up a hand before Alessa could continue. "We're still looking into it. Once we know what is actually going on, we'll try to let you know. Until then, you just have to trust us."

Alessa grimaced. She nodded. "I do, Alex. Believe me, I do. I just…" She grinned. "I guess I just got used to having things be a bit more normal around here. People not trying to kill me, actually being looked at like I was one of the stronger Surveyors. It was nice."

Alex snorted, and the Porter laughed softly. "So you and Audrey are doing all right?"

"Sure." Alessa nodded. "Goldiron's not perfect, but at least they are straightforward to deal with. Today's been the first real mystery to pop up."

Then she looked at Alex again. "Whatever trouble you get into, you can count on us for help. You know that, right?"

She gave the Porter a grateful smile. "Thanks. It means a lot."

Alessa shrugged. "Oh please. After everything, would you expect anything less?" Then she laughed again. "Besides, Audrey was almost running out of stories. I'm sure she'd love to have more."

Alex grunted. Audrey was up ahead, telling Roberts something that was either restricted by a non-disclosure or extremely exaggerated. The others were listening far too intently for her comfort. "Are you guys all right to continue fighting? You've been stuck in here a while."

"Not that long." The Porter shrugged again, a grin still on her face. "We have a tradition of long Surveys here, and Audrey kept us from diving headfirst into that horde. With you along, we could easily take out a few more Camps before we head in."

She nodded. "As long as you're all safe. That's what matters."

Alessa nodded. "Who protects the protectors still, huh? Glad to see that hasn't changed either." She pointed up ahead. "That place is called the East Storage. There's probably two Camps in there usually, but there might be as many as four…"

About an hour and a half later, they returned to the portal to find the area still clear.

It wasn't all that surprising. They had run through the entire area, destroying Camp after Camp. With ten relatively intact Surveyors, the Grue hadn't been able to put up enough of a challenge, especially with six of them being Alex and her friends.

It had been entertaining to see Audrey and Alessa in action again. The Squire could smash Grue into pieces in a way that made Alex wince in sympathy. Even Brutes were sent flying, and her ability to leap into the middle of the packs reminded her of Abbott's attacks. Alessa, on the other hand, brought the C rank's endurance to mind. She kept simply walking into and ignoring attacks that should have put her on the ground. Alex had been left shaking her head as the Porter had merely laughed them off before smashing the Grue to bits in return.

Of course, her other friends had been driven to show off a little as well. Sam had chained together attacks so fast that the others had a hard time following them. Joanna burned and froze the enemy in equal amounts, and Clara buried target after target in vines and crossbow bolts. The other Surveyors had been pushed to demonstrate their own abilities as well, turning the Camp attacks into more of a competition than a serious threat.

By the time they reached the Factory, the Screen had helpfully reported that her two further Additional Objectives had been fulfilled. The others in her group had reached the locations they'd needed to Explore, and she'd simply been noncommittal about her own supposed 'Quests'. Clara had been giving her curious looks, but so far she hadn't approached her.

With the air of warriors finishing a job well-done, the Surveyors started to file through the portal. Clara noticed Alex was hanging back and walked over to her. "You know it won't be like last time. It'll be normal."

Alex grunted. "Not sure that exists for me." Clara gave her a patient look, and Alex shook her head. "Later. I'll tell you when we get back."

Clara nodded and joined the others. As the last Goldiron Surveyor stepped through, Alex got one last notification.

[Priority Objective Completed]

Then she grimaced and followed the others into the light…

[Mission Report]

[Completed an Objective. +20 Experience]

[Priority Objective Completed. +120 Experience]

[Additional Objectives Completed +280 Experience]

[All Objectives Complete +80 Experience]

Alex shook her head. Even the Mission Report had changed. What else was going to be different from now on?

As if in answer to her question, another new block of orange text appeared.

[Current Portal Status: Stabilizing, Magic Level Increasing Slowly]

[Current Portal Level: D4 -> D5]

[Local Area Population: None]

At least it was comforting to know that the portal wasn't going to increase by much more. Alessa and Audrey should be able to handle it, maybe even knock it back to normal with a few extra Surveys. She probably wasn't going to get called out to help again.

[Battle Maneuvers increased from 27 to 30!]

[Combat Balance increased from 39 to 40!]

[Combined Arms—Axe/Shield increased from 38 to 40!]

At least her Skills had advanced as expected. The only question now was what to do with them.

[Battle Maneuvers has reached level 30! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]

[Battle Maneuvers has reached capacity for Titles. No more are available.]

[Reset Battle Maneuvers to ascend Permanent Skill?]

Alex blinked at the offer. Apparently, Battle Maneuvers had reached the same limit that Combat Balance and the others had, but it wasn't offering something as straightforward as additional levels. Her mother had mentioned that Permanent Skills grew in different ways, but she hadn't said much about this. It might have been part of Pioneer, but she doubted it.

She considered the option. It was likely she was going to be facing another horde this week, she was almost sure of it. For that reason, it would make sense to keep most of her Skills at maximum.

At the same time, she didn't want to stay at the same level where she already was. The same certainty about the hordes made her feel like she'd need every edge in Skills that she could find. At least some risks were going to be necessary. She accepted.

[Battle Maneuvers becomes Battle Maneuvers*. Skill quality doubles. Skill will require quadruple effort to increase.]

Alex winced at the notifications. It was going to be that much stronger, but the increase in effort was going to hurt in the coming days. At least it would make Battle Maneuvers that much more worth the work.

[Motion Trance has reached level 25! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]

[Reset Motion Trance to gain a Title?]

At least she'd be able to train Motion Trance while she was on-call. It might leave her a bit more fatigued over the next few days, but the cost would be worth it. She accepted again.

[Title Fast upgraded to Title Quick (Increases Skill grade of Motion Trance, Evasion, and Charge Assault by two.)]

Then came the other options. She denied the chance to upgrade Combat Balance, Combined Arms, and Holy—Storm. As appealing as those maximum levels were, she'd need to wait until she knew there wouldn't be any more hordes waiting for her before she took those risks.

Choices made, she braced herself and stepped forward. The light embraced her and welcomed her home…

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