Early in the morning, Nate and I arrived at Amelia’s house. It was a sprawling farm in the middle of nowhere, the kind of place that looked straight out of a magazine. Rolling fields, a picturesque barn, and a cozy farmhouse with smoke curling out of the chimney—classic rural charm. Nate looked around, wide-eyed. “Are we sure we’re here to train and not audition for a country music video?”

We approached the front door, and before we could knock, it swung open. Amelia’s mom greeted us with a smile that could light up a room. “You must be Nate and Liam. Come on in, breakfast is almost ready.”

Inside, the farmhouse was just as charming as the outside. We met Amelia’s dad, a bear of a man with a warm grin, and her two little sisters, Brianna and Corinne, who looked like mini versions of Amelia. The whole family was stunningly beautiful and incredibly kind. It was almost suspicious. Nate leaned in and whispered, “Is it just me, or is this place like Stepford Wives but in a good way?”

Amelia appeared, waving us toward the barn. “Alright, boys, enough chit-chat. Let’s get to work.”

The barn looked ordinary from the outside, but inside it was a different story. It was decked out with gym equipment—weights, punching bags, mats, the whole nine yards. “Welcome to my little training haven,” Amelia said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “We’ll meet here every morning for breakfast and fitness training. Training not only builds your baseline strength but also prepares your body to handle more power when you cross a threshold.”

“Threshold?” I asked, curious.

“It’s the term we use when your body, mind, and powers grow stronger after absorbing enough power from monsters,” she explained.

Nate nodded. “Oh, we call that leveling up.”

Amelia’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Why?”

“No reason,” I said quickly, shooting Nate a look that said, ‘Keep your mouth shut.’ I trusted Amelia pretty well, but I wasn’t ready to go spilling all the secrets of my power to her just yet.

Amelia shrugged and continued. “Crossing a threshold or leveling up makes every aspect of a person stronger. The stronger your body is to start with, the further you can grow with…magic.” She hesitated at the last word, but there it was.

I grinned. “With as strong as you are, you must have crossed a lot of thresholds.”

She shook her head. “I’ve only crossed one threshold after gaining my powers. That’s when I unlocked my combustion power. It lets me create explosions that shoot me around like rockets. I hadn’t practiced it on a monster before the big ice kitty, which is why I was so surprised when I broke my hand. My original power gives me some fire control. I think you saw that one too.”

Nate’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been monster hunting for so long, how can you only be at level 2?”

Amelia sighed. “Monsters in the city are small, and we hunt them in groups. It takes a lot to advance. But don’t worry! I may only be level 2, but I have a lot I can teach you about fighting and growing stronger. Also, before I was a monster hunter, I was a fitness influencer. So, I’ve got you covered when it comes to diet and exercise routines.”

I winced, thinking about my muscles protesting. “Are we going to walk away from today too sore to move?”

She laughed. “No way. I want you to come back and train hard every day. We’ll start small and work our way up, giving your bodies plenty of time to rest.”

As she finished speaking, a familiar notification popped up in front of me:

New Quest!

Training, Day 1

Objective: Complete the training routine laid out for you by Amelia Stone.

I glanced at Nate, a grin spreading across my face. “Looks like it’s official. Let’s get to work.”

Thinking about the new Quest, I realized I was getting pretty good at estimating experience point rewards. If I was right, adding this to my daily routine should take me to level 5 in just under a week. The idea of rapid growth and improvement was exhilarating.

Amelia guided us through a warm-up, explaining each exercise and its benefits. Despite her tough exterior, she was patient and encouraging. By the end of the session, we were both drenched in sweat but surprisingly not dying. “You two did great,” she said, handing us each a protein shake. “Remember, consistency is key. We’ll keep building from here.”

As we left the barn, I heard the satisfying chime of a Quest completed. Training with Amelia wasn’t just about getting stronger; it was about preparing for whatever challenges lay ahead. I glanced at Nate, who was beaming despite his exhaustion. This was going to be tough, but it was exactly what we needed.

On our way out, Amelia’s mom called after us, “Don’t be strangers! Breakfast here again tomorrow!” We waved and promised to return.

By the end of the week, I had leveled up again. The amount of experience needed for each new level was climbing steeply, but we’d managed to take care of three more monsters that had popped up around town. These monsters were small, ranging from the size of a hamster to a cat, but they still packed a punch. More importantly: like all monsters, they were incredibly aggressive towards humans. The experience points from these fights and my other Quests added up, and now I had four new attribute points to allocate.

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I took a deep breath, thinking about where to place them. My vision was finally sorted out, so I had the luxury of being thoughtful about this. Leveling up was only going to get harder, and I didn’t want to screw myself over by focusing only on the short term.

“If I don’t upgrade my physical attributes,” I muttered to myself, “I might not survive long enough to see more level-ups.” Strength and Fine Motor Skills were now above average, according to my Help power, but the rest of my physical stats were still just average. Was that going to be enough as the monsters got stronger?

My mental attributes were easy to overlook, but I knew better than to ignore them. Out-thinking an enemy could be just as crucial as out-running or out-punching them. My Help power didn’t list a single “Intelligence” attribute like in D&D. Instead, it was broken down into Critical Thinking, Learning, Memory, Focus, Creativity, and Improvisation. Most of these were above average, except for Focus. That made sense: authority figures were always telling me I lacked focus. Each attribute had increased by one automatically with every level up, and I could already feel the difference those extra points made. I thought more quickly and clearly, retained information better, and I didn’t say “I’m sorry, can you say that one more time? I zoned out.” nearly as often.

The social attributes seemed less important to my immediate survival. My Emotional Stability was now “very high,” which was nice for staying cool under pressure, but I didn’t see much benefit in boosting it further. Charm wasn’t going to help me sweet-talk a monster into submission, and Leadership was a non-issue with Amelia clearly leading our little group. Attractiveness was tempting, I won’t lie, but I restrained myself. Empathy might make me a better person and could be useful against human enemies, but I couldn't see its application in monster fights.

I sighed, running a hand through my blonde hair. I wanted to throw all four points into one stat, min-max style. But which one? Ultimately, I decided on Agility. Speed and reflexes could be the difference between life and death. But just as I was about to confirm my choices, my brain…umm… “accidentally” slipped, putting one of the points into Attractiveness. Oops.

“Well, no harm done,” I shrugged. That brought both Agility and Attractiveness up to “above average,” and no one had to know. I could always blame it on a Quest glitch if anyone asked, and if anyone asks you, I’d consider it a personal favor if you backed me up.

After much contemplation, I finally spent my power points. Improving Inventory and Quest abilities seemed like the smartest move. With my latest level up, my first three powers were all at level 2. This meant I could now take Help screens with me after touching whatever I was analyzing, which was a huge advantage. It meant that I had a chance of actually analyzing monsters before we fought them. I just had to run up, touch them, not die, and get back to safety. Then we could analyze their information at our leisure. I still didn’t love the first part of that strategy, but it was too useful to ignore.

My Inventory was now capable of storing items up to 639 pounds. Added to that, I could now store and retrieve things from about half a foot away. That might not sound like much, but it was enough to let me store and retrieve things that were way too hot or corrosive to touch.

The cherry on top was that, unlike my last level up, this one came with a new power, and it was better than I could have ever expected:

Power

Fast Travel

Allows the user to create linked portals on solid surfaces using their index fingers.

The user paints one portal with the index finger of one hand and the corresponding portal with the index finger of the other hand.

Once created, objects and beings can pass through these portals instantaneously as if there were no distance between them.

The user can mentally dismiss portals from any distance.

Mana Cost: Medium (initial creation only, no cost to maintain. Mana cost increases with the size of the portals.)

For the next couple of days, I was like a kid with a new toy, playing around with my Fast Travel power and testing its limits. When I painted a portal, it looked a lot like one of the notification windows that popped up with my Quests. This got me wondering if others could see it too.

I decided to test this with Amelia and Nate. First, I painted just one portal on the barn wall and asked them if they saw anything. They both gave me confused looks and shook their heads. Confirmed: a single portal was invisible to others. Granted, a lone portal was as useless as a screen door on a submarine, so this wasn’t surprising.

Next, I painted a second portal on a tree across the yard. As soon as I finished, the portals turned into open windows into each other. Amelia and Nate’s jaws dropped. “Okay, now that’s cool,” Nate said, sticking his hand through the portal and waving it around like a maniac.

I quickly discovered that the portals only worked where they overlapped. If I painted one portal larger than the other, only the overlapping portion acted as a gateway. Fortunately, I only had to paint the length of the portal with my finger; as I did, I could mentally control the width, making them as wide or narrow as I needed. It was like unzipping a zipper, the portal opening smoothly along the painted line.

Playing around with different sizes and distances, I found myself loving the convenience. If I left one portal at work and one at home, I’d never have to commute again! Then again, I only had one set of portals. I couldn’t open anymore while those were active. Also, that would mean leaving anyone passing through Brownbag Groceries with an open door to my apartment. Better workshop that idea and come back to it later.

One thing I did try was painting one portal on the floor of my room and another in the bathroom. My thinking was that I could literally roll out of bed in the morning and into the shower. Practically, this didn’t quite work. The momentum from the fall carried over as I spilled into the shower, and I tore off my shower curtain as I was flung into the bathroom.

There were obvious limitations. The first, I already mentioned: I only had one set of portals. One end came from my right hand; the other, my left. If I tried painting another portal with my right index finger, the other right-hand portal suddenly disappeared.

I also couldn’t place portals from a distance; I had to physically paint them on surfaces. This meant I needed to get close to wherever I wanted to create a portal. In a combat scenario, this could be a drawback, especially if I was trying to set up an escape route or a quick ambush point. The thought made me grateful for the points I’d just allocated to Agility. Being able to move quickly and efficiently was going to be crucial if I had to dart around painting portals in the heat of battle.

The last limitation was that I couldn’t use the portals to cut things in two. Nate wasn’t willing to let me test this on his wiggling arm, so I tried it with pencils. When I placed the pencil halfway through the portals and mentally closed one, the pencil was pushed through to the other end. I tried closing both at once, but that, too, was impossible.

Despite these limitations, the possibilities were endless. Fast Travel wasn’t just a cool trick; it was a game-changer. Amelia was a little sad it wasn’t a true, Night-Crawler-esque teleport power, but I was thrilled with it.

My skill points were the last thing I had to decide on. I once again decided to hold off on spending them. Amelia said that once our fitness level was up to snuff, we’d start actual combat training, and I wanted to make sure my points were spent on whatever style of fighting fit me best.