Over the next three days, Alex threw herself into Skill training, sparring with whoever would face her. The other Surveyors reluctantly began to fight her again, either because she’d put in some time at the party, or because they needed some sparring themselves. With agonizing slowness, her combat Skills increased again, and both Marathoning and Recovery grew more and more solid as she continued to train.
She tried to keep an eye on Wells, to try to gauge his mood. Half of her expected either gloating triumph on his face, or disapproving suspicion. Instead, he seemed almost disinterested or distracted as he supervised the training sessions. He was still watching every contest with those sharp, discerning eyes, but it seemed like trying to encourage competition between the Surveyors was no longer the goal anymore. Had something changed?
By the evening before the next Survey day arrived, Alex was relieved that she’d managed to push her combat Skills to their maximum level once more. Her sparring had been flawless, and the other Red Blade Surveyors were even starting to extend their grudging respect. Surely Wells couldn’t justify holding her back again this time, right?
Yet to her surprise, as the final sparring sessions came to an end, Wells stepped forward. He motioned for the Surveyors to gather around him. They all formed into four lines, with most of them falling into the attentive stance that they had held that first day when she’d arrived.
Wells spent a moment making sure that they were all in formation and paying attention. His eyes swept past her, pausing for just a second as he narrowed his gaze before he continued on. Then he nodded. “Troops, I am glad to tell you I have been proud of your progress these past few days. Your hard work and superlative effort have taken you miles beyond where you once were. None of you are perfect, but you are far closer to it than you ever could have been without the blood, sweat, and tears that you have shed for this company over the past few weeks.”
Then Wells paused, and Alex felt a stab of concern. She kept her face neutral, but her heart started to beat a little faster. Something was off.
“Those of you who have been with the company long enough know that the responsibilities of the Surveyors we hire are often difficult. They require sacrifice, vigilance, and unwavering commitment. That is what it means to be a real Surveyor. To be a member of Red Blade Securities.”
Wells looked around at them, disappointment briefly showing on his face. “We have strived to live up to those expectations of excellence, and to encourage you all to do what needs to be done. Unfortunately, these past few weeks, we’ve fallen short of the expected metrics our company needs.”
He let a silence fall, and Alex fought to keep the incredulousness off her face. If they were that far behind, why wasn’t he sending more Surveyors in with each Survey? Besides, it wasn’t like the magical energy of the portal was increasing that much. Or had something changed inside?
“These metrics are no laughing matter. Without the materials brought back through the portal, Red Blade Securities cannot provide the facilities that you enjoy, or the amenities which we have taken advantage of. Your salaries and mine come from the sales of those materials—and these past few weeks, we’ve fallen short of the goal. Our department will be at risk of a total shutdown.”
A Surveyor to Alex’s right gasped softly, and Alex looked around in surprise. She could see horror on most of their faces, but Sam just looked confused. He had helped her go through the data Zach had given her, helping her to figure out the numbers involved. There was no shortage of material, not if those numbers were correct. So how—
“As a result, we are currently facing a crunch time. All Surveyors will be sent through the portal tomorrow, starting as early as possible.” Wells paused, his expression deadly serious. “They will then be expected to complete their main Quests and return—and then they will be sent through again. Each team will be expected to complete at least three Surveys a day for the next four days. There will be no leave given or time off granted during this time.”
He paused again as a wave of dismay flew through the Surveyors, and Alex felt a sudden chill. Sending Surveyors on multiple missions in a single twenty-four hour period was considered… unwise. It wasn’t quite the same level of risk as a single, long Raid, but it was also one of the most ineffective methods of controlling a portal.
Her mother had said as much multiple times when complaining about paper-pushers and bureaucrats attempting to institute ‘efficiency’ measures. Alex had never understood it very well, at least until Zach had explained it to her. He’d been able to brush past most of the more technical terms and put it in words that she could understand.
He’d described a Surveyor as a cup with a tiny hole in the bottom—something she’d only taken mild offense to. The cup could only hold so much water, and it would only drain so quickly. If a Surveyor was sent in while they were still full of magical energy, before they’d had time to process what they’d taken from the portal, it was like trying to pour more water into a still-full cup. No real change would happen in the portal’s energy, aside from stirring things up and making the readings a bit harder to understand. It could even create additional Grue on the other side, from all the magic turbulence.
It had made a lot of sense saying it that way—which only made the way Wells was talking that much more confusing. He had to know that sending them in wouldn’t help lower the portal’s energy, and the materials they brought back would be outweighed by the risks the Surveyors were taking. How many of them were going to get injured wearing themselves down over the next four days? It was almost as if…
Her thoughts trailed off for a moment as she realized what was really going on. If Wells needed extra materials to cover up his outside deals, sending the Surveyors on multiple missions would mean the portals wouldn’t show large drops of magical energy. The company PAD wouldn’t detect much of a fluctuation, not with the Surveyors constantly going in and out, and what they did detect could be dismissed as normal magic turbulence.
If he wasn’t recording the extra Surveys, then only a fraction of the actual materials coming out of the portal would get recorded. From there, he could divert the extra to his own projects, and claim that any injuries were due to unprepared Surveyors being given a shot. He could then justify keeping the number of Surveyors on the regular Surveys low.
It was a twisted kind of brilliance, and Alex’s eyes narrowed. Wells had continued talking, expressing regret about the grim necessity of their work over the next few days. He spoke about the terrible burden of being a Surveyor, and how much the company appreciated their willingness to work hard. Anyone who wanted to resign would be given the chance to join the support staff permanently—at a significantly reduced rate of pay and extended amount of service. His voice dripped with both pride and a curious kind of contempt as he thanked them for what they would do.
Alex stared at him and pictured her axe. Her fingers twitched until she caught Clara shaking her head in her direction. She forced herself to go still.
The next few days would be dangerous, but she’d get through them—and once she had enough proof, she’d feed every cold justification Wells was saying back to him with the edge of her axe.
The next day dawned early, and Alex found herself back with Ed on the same team of Surveyors.
Laura looked back and forth between them. The Vanguard looked stressed, with clear worry on her face. “All right. We’re going into the portal today, just like any other day. This time, though, we’re going to be in and out of that vortex all day.” She looked at Alex directly. “That means we aren’t going to be able to stay for any longer than we have to. We’ll do things exactly the way the book says, understand?”
Alex simply nodded, her eyes on the portal. Audrey and Joanna were already disappearing through it with their team. Sam and Alessa were just behind her, ready to go through as well. The entire city in the other world was going to be a warzone.
The Vanguard stepped a little closer, her eyes intent. “I mean it, Alex. This is your first crunch, and I don’t want you to underestimate it. You can get killed out there.”
She met the woman’s eyes. “I heard you, Vanguard. Are you ready?”
Laura’s face flushed with sudden anger. She stepped a little closer, her voice serious and low. “Listen, if you aren’t going to follow orders, you can either stay on this side of the portal, or you can try to finish your Quests all on your own. You think you could last in there? You can’t.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time, Vanguard.” Alex held her eyes, and saw a flicker of surprise in them. She smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m playing it your way today. For as long as you like.”
Laura seemed uncertain now, and she stepped back. The D ranker looked towards Wells, but the man was motioning her forward impatiently. It was all hands on deck, after all, and the man probably didn’t have any patience for a delay in his schedule.
Alex was still getting frowns from the team leader as she followed her to the vortex. She ignored them, though, and stepped through the wall of light…
[E Rank Surveyor Alex, Gatekeeper]
[Ascension Level: 4]
[Role: Page (Role Skills: None]
[Role Level: 4]
[Experience: 400/1500]
[Attributes: Strength -> 4, Speed -> 8, Life -> 0, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]
[Current Skills: Battle Maneuvers(20), Marathoning(13), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(20), Recovery(16)]
[Permanent Skills: None]
[Current Titles: Peer of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by two.),
Brutality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by three.),
Innate Fighter (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by two),
Dogged (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, and Marathoning by two.)
Endurance (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by one.)]
Alex studied the information with a grim kind of determination. Clearly, she was ready for the coming fight, but the question was going to be how she would improve over the next few days.
Clearly, she wasn’t going to just stay stuck at the level she was currently at. She’d gain plenty of experience, but only to a certain point. Other than that, she’d been worn down with every Survey until the point that even she was going to leave herself open.
At the same time, taking a risk by resetting or Chaining a Skill would leave her even more open to problems. There would be no Skill training between Surveys this time, and if she allowed herself to get too slow, either her supposed teammates were going to leave her in the dust, or some Grue was going to get lucky and eviscerate her. Neither option seemed like a good idea.
She shook her head. First, she really needed to see what kind of nonsense she was going to face on the other side.
[Please select your intent]
[Exploration]
[Vengeance]
[Patrol]
[War]
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
[Salvage]
Salvage might have made sense, but they’d all been instructed to keep to the Quests they were used to. Wells wasn’t interested in specialized objects, after all. He wanted them to grind out a wave of basic materials as quickly as possible, and that meant only one option.
[Your intent is to Patrol]
[Quest Issued! Destroy eight Grue Knights.]
[Quest Issued! Clear at least eight Grue patrols.]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
With a heavy sigh, Alex dismissed those words, and let the light take her…
She stepped out into a world already at war.
The other members of her team were tense, their eyes searching the lobby for threats, but the immediate area around the portal was clear. Alex could hear the sounds of fighting coming from a street close nearby. A part of her wanted to run to the aid of whoever was fighting, but she shoved that part of herself down and simply waited for Laura to lead them out.
For a moment, the Vanguard seemed to be waiting for Alex to step out ahead of her. Then Laura simply shrugged and started jogging. The others all piled in behind her, with Alex once again at the back. Ed simply gave her a nod, as if he was happy to see her learning the Red Blade method for things.
They went out into the street and turned north. They ran up to the next intersection and turned west immediately, running along between skyscrapers towards the area they had been assigned to hunt in. It was actually much further away this time; with so many teams in the area, Wells had asked the higher level teams to run further out and give the less experienced teams the sections closer to home. It was a decision that Alex actually agreed with, though it might not have been necessary if he hadn’t been creating the situation in the first place.
The first patrol appeared a few minutes into the Survey. Alex’s team was just passing by what looked like a massive courthouse of some kind, complete with massive marble pillars and a carved fresco that had been utterly defaced and covered in graffiti, when a howling mob of Grue tore their way out and down the steps towards them. Once again, a Brute was leading them, and the others followed it as they rushed into battle.
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy six Grue Archers]
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy one Grue Brute]
Laura once again faced off against the massive Grue, while the others spread out to either side. Each of them was clearly jockeying for position, to be able to face the Grue in a way that would allow them to use their abilities.
Alex sprinted past all of them, using her superior speed and reflexes to cut out in front of even Laura. The Vanguard yelled at her, but Alex ignored the woman as she took the stairs two at a time and threw herself straight into the mass of Grue closest to her. Arrows sped past her as the Archers took their shots, but none of them even got close before Alex charged, already hacking away at the enemies in front of her.
Two Soldiers came at her from the side, and she shattered their spears with a swipe of her shield. Another pair charged her directly, and their howls cut short when she pivoted and cut their heads from their shoulders. They collapsed, allowing her to shield-check another two so hard that they went flying into the Grue behind them, dropping the entire mess into a tangle.
The next enemy to confront her was a Knight, already aiming to shield-check her in return. With her Skills at maximum and her Titles pushing her abilities far beyond they had ever been before, the Grue almost seemed to be moving in slow motion. Alex clashed with it, shield to shield, and then sidestepped a swing of its sword. A shove put the creature off balance, just long enough for her to dart in and smash her axe into its torso. It lasted until her third hacking cut before it fell, the massive sword tumbling from its hands.
A second Knight rushed at her, but she dodged its wild swing. Her counterattack severed its hand at the wrist, and while it stared at the stump in dumbfounded bafflement, Alex ran forward and jumped. She brought her axe around in a vicious arc at head height and tore the thing’s throat out.
As it fell, Alex sprinted forward, smashing aside an opportunistic Grue Soldier that tried to stop her. The others were shouting at her, but she ignored them again and sprinted up the stairs. Some of the Archers took their shots at her, but they were laughably predictable and slow. Most missed completely, and those with better aim only bounced their arrows off of her shield.
Then she was on them, and her axe took three of them before they could even think to scatter. By then it was too late; one of them died with its back turned, another she cut apart as it started to flee, and the last she actually bashed to death with her shield when it turned to risk a shot at her.
With the last Archer down, Alex turned and sprinted back into the pack of Grue. Most of them were already down, but she tore through the ones she could reach, anyway. Unfortunately, she didn’t bring down another Knight, but she got close enough that Mary actually growled at her when the thing toppled, the Squire’s axe in its face.
Alex simply shrugged and stepped back as the bodies began to burn.
[Main Quest Progress: 2 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Main Quest Progress: 1 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Completed!]
It felt almost cathartic as she considered those words. She’d only been passed over once for the Survey teams, and it had already felt like a lifetime. Alex was glad to be back, even if the mission was going to be hard.
Ed stepped up beside her, his expression mildly worried. “Hey. Are you okay? You kind of went a bit hard there.”
She gave him a raised eyebrow. “Isn’t that what we do here? I’d have thought you would have liked to have it all over with so quickly.”
He blinked, a little taken aback by the question. As he hesitated, Bob kicked at a burning Knight. “I think he just means you could have held back and made sure the flank was covered. You know, so I could avoid getting skewered?”
Alex gave the other Surveyor a cold look. “That sounds a little like teamwork, Bob. Not something Red Blade wants to happen. Right, Vanguard?”
She looked at Laura, who recoiled slightly. Then the team leader scowled at her. “Yeah. You’re right.”
Alex nodded, and then bent to start recovering materials. One patrol down, seven left to go.
It didn’t take long for the others to recognize the new pattern to things.
The instant a patrol came into view, Alex would tear off at a dead sprint into them, her Marathoning Skill and Speed Attribute easily giving her the ability to reach the enemy first. Each time, she very nearly obliterated a flank of the enemy line before running back and destroying the Archers hiding behind. She was careful to make sure she took at least two of the Knights with each attack, leaving the others to split the remaining four between them.
At first, Mary had just rolled her eyes at it, and Bob made a few grousing comments. Laura, aside from a few passive-aggressive words, had just buckled down and focused on her duels with the Brutes. Only Ed had really been concerned about what was happening; he had grown more and more serious with each fight, taking on a focus that made Alex a little sorry about what she was doing.
Of course, she didn’t feel sorry enough to stop. By the time the fifth patrol had gone down, she’d already finished one of the Main Quests and started on the additional Hidden one. The others were all still struggling their way towards finishing their main objective, and not a single one of them had managed to kill an Archer yet.
It was as they were looking for the sixth patrol that Laura came over to talk to her, her voice kept low. “Okay, we get it, Alex. You’ve made your point.”
Alex simply looked at her. “What point? I’m just doing what you asked me to do.”
The Vanguard let a flash of frustration cross her features. “If you keep taking all the Archers, then none of the other E rankers are going to finish that Hidden Quest. If you keep killing so many Knights, the others might not finish that Hidden Quest either.”
She simply looked at Laura, her expression cold. “And?” Laura blinked. “If they want to get the additional Quests, they just need to prove that they are better than I am at getting to those Archers. Besides, that’s not what we’re focusing on today, right? We’re just here to harvest materials, and this is the best way to do it.”
Laura ground her teeth together for a moment. “You’re going to wear yourself out, doing it this way. Then you’re going to fall behind and hold everyone up. Then where will you be?”
“Right here, Vanguard.” Alex heard a howl start up down the street, and she let a grin twist her lips. “We don’t want to keep them waiting, right?”
Despite her confidence, Alex could already feel fatigue dragging at her as they finished the last patrol. She’d gotten the Archers again, just as she had the other seven patrols. Frustration was apparent on most of the rest of the team’s faces; Ed simply looked a little sober, as if he’d run into an unexpected obstacle. Alex hadn’t been keeping count, but the Porter had been the closest to getting the Hidden Quest for the additional Knight kills. He still hadn’t gotten it, though, while Alex had finished it a patrol before.
Nobody spoke as they jogged back to the portal. She could see the others peeking around, looking for additional patrols that they might be able to snag, but she doubted they’d find any. After all, there were still battles going on all over the city, and the Grue’s attention was anything but undivided. Even better, most of the battles had happened so quickly that they hadn’t actually been inside the other world all that long. It was going to be an hour or so before additional reinforcements started to pour in from the Camps.
True to her expectations, they didn’t run across any more threats before they had reached the portal. She saw another team of Surveyors heading into the vortex at the same time; most of them took one look at the sour expressions on her team’s faces and winced. Laura had them all wait for the other team to clear the portal, and then she led them back in. Light washed over Alex once more…
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quests Completed! +80 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary Adversary Quest Not Completed]
[Hidden Quest Undiscovered.]
The words held a hollow kind of victory for Alex. She didn’t particularly like what she’d just done to her team, but perhaps it would get the message across. Better that they be mad now than for them to try to hamstring her later. Maybe over the next few Surveys they would see how much easier things could be if they all worked together.
[Marathoning increased from 13 to 15!]
[Recovery increased from 16 to 18!]
Both of those Skills were going to be crucial going forward. Every bit of Recovery was going to be needed as she continued to push herself, and Marathoning was going to be the key to reaching her targets before anyone else on the team. It wasn’t a competition she’d wanted, but it was the one she had in front of her.
[Battle Maneuvers has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Battle Maneuvers to gain a Title?]
Now she paused. The fact was that she needed to continue improving, even while things were risky, but if she reset things, she’d be at a severe liability for the coming Surveys. The safe route would be to keep her combat Skills at maximum and not reset them until the end of the crunch.
Then again, when had she ever gained anything by only following the safe route? Taking risks had helped her to be ready for the betrayal by the griefers who tried to kill her. While she didn’t think the other Surveyors she was with now were at that point, they would definitely be willing to deny her the kills she needed to advance. If she wanted to stay on top, she’d need to take a chance on things.
Alex pondered it over the course of a minute or two—not that she was sure how time applied in this strange place of light and void—before she finally came to a decision. She’d keep the Combined Arms Skill at maximum, giving her at least a steady baseline of her abilities that she could rely on, and reset Battle Maneuvers. The higher grade Skill was the one she wanted to keep going forward, after all, and it would give her the most useful Titles.
She accepted the reset and felt her stomach drop a little as her best combat Skill dropped to nothing. The resulting notification seemed a little unfulfilling afterward.
[Title Innate Fighter upgraded to Title Inborn Warrior (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by three)]
She grimaced slightly. It would have been better if her other high-level Title had increased, since that would have boosted Combined Arms as well, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Alex waved away the options for resetting Combined Arms, and almost laughed at the next option the Screen presented to her.
[Skill Chain available. Do you wish to combine Combined Arms–Axe/Shield and Marathoning?]
[Warning: Chained Skills lose all previous levels]
If there could have been any more disastrous option, she didn’t know what it would be. Combining those two Skills would leave her slow, vulnerable, and unable to easily regain those levels. Even the resulting high-grade Skill wouldn’t have been anywhere near worth it. She dismissed the option, and was still shaking her head when the light took her again…
Alex emerged into the portal area, her team already walking across the concrete away from her. Laura was already stalking across the floor to where Wells waited, obviously ready to give him an earful about what Alex had been up to.
She snorted and turned away, only to jump slightly. Ed was standing nearby, closer than she’d expected, with his arms folded.
He watched her carefully, and she sighed. “Are you going to try and lecture me, too?”
Ed shook his head, his eyes intent on her. “No. I think you’re right. They shouldn’t have come down on you so hard for teamwork if they expected you to hold back. Especially if they needed you to hold back for them to level.”
Taken aback slightly, Alex frowned. He had lost out on the Hidden Quests just like the others. Why wasn’t he just as upset? “I wasn’t holding back before. I was working with them. There’s a difference.”
“Yeah, I know.” Ed nodded slowly, his eyes intent. “There’s also a difference between making a point and getting yourself killed out there. You can still show them what you mean without absolutely burying them with it. You can definitely do it without running yourself ragged on just the first mission of the day. Even you get tired, Alex. Eventually.”
It wasn’t a bad bit of advice. Of course, part of Alex wanted to keep hammering it home for the rest of the entire week, but given the fact that she’d just made herself quite a bit more vulnerable…
She pretended as if she was thinking things over. Then she gave a reluctant sigh, and let her shoulders drop. “Okay. I hear you. I’ll try to go a bit easier during the next Survey.”
Ed patted her on the shoulder, letting his hand land and stay there for a small moment. “That’s all I’m asking.” He gave her a little shake that made her roll her eyes.
“I’m still not going to go easy. On any of you.”
He smirked. “Alex, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Alex followed her team into the nearby ready room, where the Surveyors who were already back had been given roughly an hour to relax and recover. Many of them were already looking vaguely tired and worn; she couldn’t imagine how they would feel after they had to go through another two times.
Still, it was a relief to see the rest of her friends there. Some of them were still out and about, but Joanna and Audrey were in one spot, talking to Tim and Brian. They waved at her, and she waved back before going to wolf down rations and water. She even tucked herself into a corner for a brief nap.
An all-too-short while later, for the first time in her months as a Surveyor, she got back up, tried to stretch out her aching limbs, and followed her team back to the portal. She tried not to notice Wells watching her as she approached the vortex for the second time. The avarice in his eyes was clear to see, and her fists clenched around her axe and shield for a heartbeat.
Then she was stepping into the light again, as the portal spun and crackled…