Sleep hadn’t come easily to her, despite her fatigue. All the same, Alex rose the next day and went up to the wall. She’d half expected Sam to meet her there, but the only person waiting this time was Ed. He waved to her as she came up the steps, a grin on his face.
“Hey. We missed you at the celebration.”
“Yeah, Wells said that he needed my help with something else.” Alex shrugged and then raised an eyebrow at his running gear. “You coming along with me today? I thought you’d given up on trying a week or two ago.”
He laughed, a golden sound that made her heart flutter a little. “Maybe. Though I’ve made a bet with myself that you’ve probably reset whatever Skill you’ve been using to keep ahead of me, so maybe I might have a better shot against you than I normally would.”
She winced, unpleasantly aware of her lack of levels in Motion Trance at the moment. “I suppose you might.” Then she shrugged. “Though Wells might not like you associating with me. Apparently I’m trouble.”
“When haven’t you been?” Ed laughed again at the expression on her face. “Wells won’t mind it, even if he does hear about it. You really shouldn’t antagonize him so much, you know? He’ll end up transferring you at this point, and I don’t want to miss out on seeing you.”
Alex shrugged again, her cheeks feeling a little flush. “Well, I make no promises. Let’s get moving. We’ve got training later, after all.”
To Ed’s credit, he did manage to keep up for most of the first lap. Once she gained back some levels in Motion Trance, though, he started to struggle. By the end of the second lap, he was already waving her on, trotting down the stairs with an exasperated expression and a face covered in sweat.
To be fair, the pace she’d set was an impressive one. The laps kept flying by as she ran, and as the levels came in, she felt her muscles recover faster and faster. When the E ranks started to file into the exercise yard, she was finishing her last lap at a pace that would have made her jaw drop earlier in life, and trotted down the stairs and off to the gym with a smile. A few of the E ranks cheered her on as she went by, and she waved back to them as she left.
Sparring was once again a minor pain, though Battle Maneuvers helped her get through the worst of it without much trouble. By the time she faced Wells, she felt relatively confident in her abilities again, though she still was knocked across the room with ease.
The next two days seemed to speed past just as quickly as she fought to get herself ready for the next burst of Surveys. Wells had announced that once again, there were twenty-four Surveyors that he’d found to be underperforming. Once again, she stepped forward to accept responsibility for them, as Wells had glared at her.
Which was how she found herself stepping through the portal early the next day, surrounded by the light…
[D Rank Surveyor Alex, Gatekeeper]
[Ascension Level: 6]
[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None]
[Role Level: 1]
[Experience: 1780/2800]
[Attributes: Strength -> 6, Speed -> 10, Life -> 2, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]
[Current Skills: Combat Balance(20), Motion Trance(23), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(21),
Holy–Storm(12)]
[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers(29)]
[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),
Endless Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by three.)
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.)
Peaceful Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by three.)
Veteran (Increases Skill grade Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by three.)
Title Savagery (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by two.)]
Alex grinned at the list of Titles; it was getting gratifyingly long. Her Skills looked fairly good as well; in fact, they were probably going to be about as good as they were going to get for the majority of the day. She was planning on resetting them as often as she could without getting herself or others killed.
[Please select your intent]
[Exploration]
[Vengeance]
[Patrol]
[War]
[Salvage]
It would be another day full of Patrols, but at least by the end of it she’d reach the next level of Porter.
[Your intent is to Patrol]
[Quest Issued! Clear at least eight Grue patrols.]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
She stepped forward into the light…
Liliana was already hunting her.
She was on only the second team of the day, but the Shade was already beginning to stalk her from the shadows. Alex grimaced as she cut her way through the latest patrol that she’d run across. If the Shade was already here, then the rest of the day was going to get a lot more dangerous, quickly.
At the moment, she was handling the situation easily. Her strategy of hurling herself straight into the mass of Grue and letting the others charge up in her wake was still scattering the Grue like bowling pins, and the E ranks were progressing quickly. Her first team had managed to get through the portal a full ten minutes ahead of schedule, leaving her enough time to prowl around and recover while the next team took their time to arrive.
Yet she’d also planned to reset some of her Skills. If Liliana was already going to be threatening her, she’d need to shift her priorities. Survival first, after all.
Alex caught sight of the indistinct form of her once-supervisor laughing at her from a nearby window and grimaced as she finished cutting down a Brute. At some point, she’d settle things with that monster again. Yet another task on her list of things to do.
“Valkyrie, you doing all right?” The concern in the E ranker’s voice was clear, and Alex waved him off. She thought his name was Mark?
“I’m okay. Just slipped a little.” Alex gave Mark a reassuring grin and forced herself back to her feet. It was the third patrol, and things were already getting hairy. She’d taken the risk to reset both Combined Arms and Combat Balance, upgrading Savagery to Brutality, and Veteran to Seasoned respectively. Battle Maneuvers she’d left at maximum, hoping it could cover the risk she was taking.
Unfortunately, the Brute in the first patrol had gotten a bit lucky, and she’d nearly been knocked on her back. It had jumped after her, howling in victory—and her other Skill had come in handy. Holy—Storm had allowed her to twist the Brute’s feet beneath it with a gust of wind, and it had stumbled as it landed, just enough to let her regain her balance and kill it.
Still, it had been an effective use of the power, and it showed her she was at least progressing with it. Now she just needed to finish things without getting killed.
As if summoned by her thoughts, she heard howling at the next intersection. She looked up and saw Liliana’s Shade flicker away as a patrol of Grue sprinted around the corner and came for them. Alex grimaced and fell into a crouch. Things were going to be a bit more difficult than she’d expected.
“Ahead of schedule again, Surveyor Morrison?” Wells seemed amused by the fact, almost as much as he was by the bedraggled look of the rest of her team. They were the fourth one she’d led through the city; they hadn’t even made it more than a handful of blocks before they’d been half-buried in Grue.
“I’d hate to let you down, Chief Wells.” Alex gave him a tight grin, one that she hoped would mask her nervousness. She’d chosen to reset Combined Arms and Combat Balance again, gambling that she’d be able to build things up fast enough to prevent her last two teams from being swamped. She’d even reset Holy as well for the first time, gaining a Blessed Title that would hopefully make the magic more effective. Time would tell.
It was a risk, but one she was willing to take if it helped her put a stop to all of this. She went to send her usual text message, and then grab some food. Only two more teams to save.
Alex paced back and forth in front of the portal.
She’d just escorted the fifth team through. Her initial fights had been risky, but not as bad as she’d been expecting. Resetting Combat Balance had raised Seasoned to Elite, which had naturally boosted the effects of Battle Maneuvers. Between that and the relative help the others had given her, she’d been able to build her Skills back up to near maximum in no time.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It had been helped by the fact that the Grue appeared to be hunting her specifically now. Grue had been appearing around every corner and at every intersection. She’d barely needed to lead her team out into the city, and Liliana’s Shade flickered in the edges of her vision every time Alex turned her head. In only an hour or so, she’d already been taking them back to the portal.
Of course, now she was waiting for the sixth team, and she had just caught sight of Liliana standing in the open street, her grey eyes fixed on Alex.
It was only a minute later that she heard the howls start. Alex grimaced, glancing back towards the portal. If the team didn’t come through soon…
She risked a look outside and saw the patrol, already barreling towards her down the street. Alex grimaced and pulled back inside the doorway. At the very least, she could wait until the things were at the entrance of the portal building. Once they reached it, though, she’d need to charge into them, whether or not the team had arrived. Otherwise, they’d be exiting the portal directly into an ambush.
Howls rose above the city again, and she gritted her teeth. Her hands clenched on her weapons. How was she going to handle a whole patrol on her own? Her Skills had been getting higher, but there was a limit to everyone, and even her muscles were starting to tire. Could she hit them and then lead them away? She’d risk the team just going back through the portal, or wandering off on their own, but they’d still do better than jumping straight into the teeth of the Grue.
Alex was still thinking over the possibilities when there was a roar and the sounds of battle echoed through the street. Blinking in surprise, she stuck her head out of the entrance again and found another team of Surveyors fighting the Grue. There were four of them, three unfamiliar faces who were busily dismantling the Grue at close range, and a fourth that stood well back, her crossbow picking off Knights.
She grinned as Clara gave her a quick wave, before settling back in to pepper the Brute with a pair of well-placed shots that blinded it. Then she gestured, and both bolts erupted in a cloud of thornbushes that made Alex wince. Vines and hedges kept growing up to engulf the other Grue, pinning them down for Clara’s teammates to kill. In mere moments, the team had finished them off and came trotting down the street towards her.
“Hey! How’s it going?” Alex tried not to sound too relieved, but Clara gave her a raised eyebrow, anyway.
“We’re done for the day. Just ran across that group on our way back.” The elaborately casual way that she said it made Alex think the Acolyte had spotted them with her weird magical sight and intercepted them on purpose rather than on accident, but she just smiled.
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
“Well, isn’t that something? Hear that, guys? The mythical Valkyrie owes me one!” The other Surveyors chuckled, though a couple of them seemed uneasy. Clara just grinned and grabbed Alex’s shoulder for a moment before passing her by on the way to the portal.
Alex was still grinning when the sixth team finally arrived a couple of minutes later. They gave her looks that ranged from curious to worried, but she just waved for them to follow her. After all, Liliana was going to make sure it didn’t last long.
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quest Completed! +120 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]
[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! +80 Experience]
Finally, another day done. This time had gone even faster, thanks to Liliana. If only she didn’t have the feeling that next time would be much, much worse…
[Combat Balance increased from 0 to 25!]
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield increased from 0 to 25!]
[Motion Trance increased from 24 to 25!]
[Holy–Storm increased from 0 to 16!]
Virtually all her Skills were now at maximum. Were things even close to normal, she’d feel satisfied with that fact. At the moment, however, she just felt like things were only going to get harder.
[You have reached level 2 as a Porter!]
[+2 Life gained. +1 Free Attribute awarded.]
Alex broke into a grin now. She’d hoped the last full clear would push her over the edge, but the confirmation was reassuring. The extra point went into Strength again, and she sighed in satisfaction.
Of course, now there were other decisions to make.
[Battle Maneuvers has reached level 30! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Battle Maneuvers to gain a Title?]
She’d been holding off, but now there was no reason to do so anymore. Even if Wells did something unexpected, she’d have at least three days before he could shove her back through the portal, and in that time she could at least get her Skills back to a decent level. She accepted.
[Title Fight Specialist gained (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by one.)]
She blinked at the new title and then shook her head. The list grew longer.
[Combat Balance has reached level 25! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Combat Balance to gain a Title?]
She agreed in. In for a penny, in for a pound.
[Title Battle Flow gained (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by one.)]
Alex grunted. Another one.
[Motion Trance has reached level 25! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Motion Trance to gain a Title?]
She agreed yet again, knowing that as painful as the workouts were, they were the thing that was making her defiance of Wells possible.
[Title Endless Motion upgraded to Title Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by four.)]
She reached the last option and agreed almost before it appeared.
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield has reached level 25! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Combined Arms – Axe/Shield to gain a Title?]
[Title Barbarity upgraded to Title Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.)]
[Additional equipment awarded! Select new equipment.]
She once again upgraded her axe, which became even heavier and sharper. It felt lethal and well balanced, in a way that made her smile warmly. Better to be on the handle of that thing than the poor unfortunates receiving the hit.
Fatigue rushed back in, as well as a bit of dread since nearly every Skill was now at zero, but she knew the payoff would be more than worth it. All she needed to do was last through another handful of fights.
That thought stayed with her as she passed once more through the light…
As always, Wells was waiting for her.
He watched her emerge from the portal with narrowed eyes, as if he was searching for signs of weakness. She kept her head up and steadfastly refused to give him any, though the exhaustion of having her Skills vanish out from under her still wore at her.
Alex walked over to him, hating every step, but knowing it was necessary. As long as she didn’t give him any sign that she knew exactly what he was, he’d keep thinking that she was just some uppity Surveyor with delusions of grandeur. She wanted him to think that right up until the moment when she chopped his legs out from under him—perhaps literally.
His fingers twitched as she approached, but he showed no other sign of a reaction. Instead, he simply nodded. “Another day of this…project completed, Surveyor Morrison. I hope you are not feeling too overly tired.”
The venom in the words went perfectly with the mask of hostility that he wore. She smiled in the face of it. “I am fine, Chief Wells. I hope that the other Surveyors are progressing more how you would expect.”
Wells nodded slowly. “They have been showing some improvement, perhaps, but I am still not convinced about the reasoning behind this move. Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?” She just looked at him, willing him to take the next steps. After a moment, he sighed. “So be it. I do want to bring up one problem with you, however. You have done an exemplary job returning ahead of schedule—it makes me question why you weren’t able to do so before now, actually—but it has created a problem. Some of the later Surveys were starting hours before they were meant to start, which caused a lot of confusion on our side of things.”
Alex frowned. She couldn’t come out and ask what he was getting at, but she knew he was winding up for some way to screw her over. “I see.”
He sighed again. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to ask you to stick to your assigned schedule from now on. Two hours for each assigned Survey team, no more, and no less.” She blinked, and he continued. “That means if you send a team back early, then you will need to wait for the next team at the assigned time. We won’t rush them through to you anymore.”
She nodded slowly. It meant that she’d be spending quite a bit of time alone in the other world, with Liliana sending wave after wave of Grue after her. Of course, she could come back early and fail her Quests, but that wasn’t exactly something she wanted to do.
“Of course, our support staff could use your assistance as well, Surveyor Morrison.” Wells handed over a list of chores. This time, she noticed that he’d marked her down for shifts every night until the next Survey was scheduled. “I appreciate your efforts on behalf of the company.”
Alex looked up at him, nodded, and left. If she could move fast enough, she might be able to finish the chores and then be up on the wall for a run before it got too late.
The next three days were a haze of frantic training and painful chores. Alex spent her time flying along the walls as fast as she could push herself, fighting to regain her Skills in the sparring ring, and cleaning some obscure corridor in the compound. Even with the bonuses of Motion Trance, she was starting to feel the drag of what she was doing.
She kept getting worried comments from the others in her barracks, especially Clara, but she tried to reassure them as best she could. After all, the more she put into the effort, the harder that Wells would have to work in order to justify continuing the crunch. Without the crunch, his whole plan would fall apart.
Of course, that was hard to keep telling herself when she was stuck cleaning toilets after a night full of training, but Alex simply told herself that the time was coming that she wouldn’t have to ever think of it ever again. All she needed to do was hang on.
It was on the day before the next Survey, when she was completing her most recent set of chores, that she noticed one of the support staff was watching her.
He didn’t seem hostile. In fact, the older man seemed almost sad to see her with them. When she looked at him, he looked away quickly, as if he didn’t like being caught. Yet out of the corner of her eye she saw him watching her, weighing her actions.
It took her a while to recognize him. He was the same man that had given her the original warning about Wells. Why was he here, now, instead of in the administrative building?
Alex tried to keep going about her chores. She needed to empty the trash in a few more rooms, and mop a couple of hallways, and then she’d be done for the night. That would leave her with enough time for another run along the walls, which would hopefully leave her and her Skills ready to take on another rush of Surveys.
When she emptied the last trash can, however, shoving the bulging bag down the too-narrow trash chute, she turned to find the older E rank looking at her. He seemed to hesitate before he spoke. “Hello.”
Alex nodded back carefully. “Hello again. Calvin, was it?”
The man blinked, as if he was surprised she remembered. Then he nodded. “Yes. Calvin Harris. And you are Alex—though a lot of us call you Valkyrie instead. Name’s kinda catchy, you know?”
She shrugged, wondering where the man was going with the conversation. “Well, I’m glad to see you again, Calvin.”
Calvin smiled. “Yes. I only wish that it was in more pleasant circumstances.”
There was an unsaid ‘I told you so’ hidden in the words, and Alex sighed. “I agree, Mr. Harris. I’m sorry, but I have to finish this so I can get a bit more training in. We have kind of a long day tomorrow.”
He nodded, but he didn’t move out of the way immediately. “I know. I’ve heard. You’ve got it especially bad.”
Alex frowned, still watching him. He might be older, and his rank was lower than hers, but he could still produce a weapon or a magic spell at any moment. As her mother would have said, better careful than dead. “I’m just doing what I can.”
“And you’re doing a good job of it. Too good.” Calvin shook his head. “Wells isn’t going to let you win. This is his house, and his rules. If you don’t follow them, you’ll come to a bad end. I warned you before.”
She straightened up as he spoke, looking him a bit more directly in the eyes. There was fear there, but also a stubborn, gentle kind of determination. “I know he’s dangerous, but so am I.”
Calvin shook his head. “Not like him. Not many people are like him.” He glanced back along the hallway, as if checking for eavesdroppers. “If you’re not careful, it can always get worse. I just hate to see a promising Surveyor’s time cut short. Be careful.”
He turned to leave, but Alex reached out and stopped him. Calvin looked at her, seemingly surprised. “You were a Surveyor too, right? What happened?”
There was a moment of hesitation, and then he smiled. “I… washed out, a long time ago. It wasn’t Wells, just someone like him. I couldn’t handle it, and so I had to go.” He shook his head. “There was no room for someone like me. I’m not a Surveyor.”
Alex tightened her grip on his arm. “You are, though. If you wanted to, you could still fight. Any of you could.”
Calvin just kept shaking his head, tugging slightly to pull away. “Maybe if someone like you had been around… But life doesn’t always turn out that way. It’s best you just stay clear of Wells and his plans, and get free of here as soon as you can.”
He started to walk away, but Alex spoke up one last time. “If someone stood up to him, if someone stopped him, would you help?”
The question brought him up short. “I don’t know how I could, Miss Valkyrie. I’m just support staff, like all the rest of us.”
Alex kept staring after him for a long moment, her heart stubbornly telling her the old man was wrong. He wasn’t just support staff. Just like all the rest of the washouts, he was a Surveyor, one brave enough to warn her even though he probably was putting himself at risk.
It only made her more determined as she turned to speed through the rest of her chores. If she was going to go through the next three Surveys, she needed to put her all into the work. No matter what.