The next two days are actually uneventful, for once. Just walking around the same area all day, or sitting on rooftops. There were a few miscreants, but they aren't really worth mentioning. Just a few small time criminals, not anything special, but today is different.

Sophia and I are walking through the second floor of the Hero's Guild. "Let's see. It said N125, but we're in C, so where?" Sophia and I are kinda lost. Apparently one of the mid-tier dungeons in the city is in a state of overflow where all of the monsters within kinda just flow into the city, and we have to stop them. It's manageable right now, but soon we'll have to join. Anyway, right now they sent us a location of a conference room so that they can brief us on mission details.

We take five right turns, each intersection different than the last, which should break some laws of physics, but at this point I just don't care. After the last right turn we end up in the N hallway where the room is at. We step through the door to find only a few people in the room. One of which is the famous Hyper Thunder with a surprising lack of fans around him. All the better that they aren't allowed onto the second floor anyway. The only other two in the room are heroes Midas with his Matter to Gold Transmutation ability and Scarlet Sword with her flowing red cloak and duel rapiers on her waist. The last two are different from other heroes as they don't bother with a mask, as such you can see some strange features like Midas's golden pupil or Scarlet Sword's red flaming rose in her eyes, though right now they're closed.

Scarlet Sword appeared to be asleep, but as soon as Sophia and I sat down around the lackluster conference table, she sat up straight and in a gust of wind appears in front of Sophia, sword drawn and slicing down.

Sophia catches Scarlet Sword's sword with her hand, an exoskeleton covers it, and she slowly looks up. "Hey Rose," she says. "Hey Soph," Scarlet Sword responds before jumping back into her seat across the table. If Rose is her real name, then the flowers in her eyes make a lot more sense now, especially if she was named for them. Sophia reverts her hand to normal.

A boring looking man wearing a grey suit walks into the room. "Ah, you're all here. Great, so we can get started," He says and continues, "Lately the Wall Street Spiral Forest Dungeon has had a lack activity for quite a few days, then earlier this morning, the monsters within started barging their way out in waves. The monsters consist of mainly bug types. So expect ants, centipedes, beetles, anything bug related really. The level range can be anywhere from 25 all of the way to 50, so be prepared. I hope I do not have to worry as most of you are above that level," he glances at me, "But be careful. You have an hour to prepare a plan, and then depart." He then leaves.

Sophia takes charge of the conversation immediately. "Alright, so we have two ranged magic users: me and Hyper Thunder, two melee fighters: Scarlet Sword and my disciple, Silvernight, and one noncombatant. Midas, you'll probably just stay near the back of our group and take care of any stragglers." Midas nods as it seems he is aware of his inability for direct confrontation. Sophia continues saying, "Right, so usual formation of two melee in the front with the two rangers behind them. Scarlet, can you watch over my disciple?" Rose responds saying, "Mmhmm. It'll be fine." Then a scoff rings out around the table.

"Oh come on! You just want your disciple to gain all the glory for you," a snide voice speaks out. Hyper Thunder leans back in his chair pointing his nose at both Sophia and me. It's very rude, and hypocritical. Take the glory? I mean, that's what he's famous for, much to a lot of people's dismay. Midas just sighs as he smacks Hyper Thunder across the back of the head, immediately turning him into a form that fits his ego. "He really gets on my nerves," Midas sighs even further. "Thanks," Sophia says to which Midas just nods.

Rose singlehandedly picks up Hyper Thunder as we only used a few minutes to create a haphazard plan and now need to leave. We walk through the halls with a gold statue scraping across the ground. I pull back and ask Midas, "Will the scratching be fine for him?" I point at the rough, ground up edges on the statue. He replies, "It'll be fine as long as the statue doesn't dent or break." Right then, Rose drops Hyper Thunder down the stairs. "It was an accident!" She shouts with a face that doesn't match her statement. To be honest, I think most of us don't believe her, but we don't like him enough to care.

We make our way down town, walking fast, and damaging Hyper Thunder a little more. When we arrive, we see a wall of insects charging towards us, some walking on the street, climbing up the sides of buildings, or flying around. Midas throws a punch at Hyper Thunder which unfreezes him. "Ugh, my…everything is sore," he groans, and groans some more as Sophia picks him up like a sack of potatoes and jumps to a nearby rooftop. "We'll get some rooftop angles," she shouts as she jumps away.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Rose, Midas and I start walking forward, with Midas trailing behind us. Some roach of a kind scurries towards us, once it jumps at me, I drain some of my mana to activate Earth Bone and throw a punch at it. However, it just knocks the roach away after which it just shakes itself and throws itself at me again. I look to Rose for help, but it seems she's busy with a gorilla sized praying mantis. I charge up Rock Hand and attempt to squish the roach, but that doesn't work either.

So, I drain a large portion of my mana as I use both Rock Hand and Earth Bone at the same time which does kill the roach in a burst of roach guts.

[ You have killed a level 6 "Raging Roach" x 1. 46 experience points gained. ]

[ Notice: Level Threshold has been achieved. Exponential Experience is now required for continued level up. ]

[ Your level has increased by 1. ]

[ Your health has been restored and has increased by 40. ]

[ Your magic has been restored and has increased by 5. ]

[ Your mana regen has increased by 1. ]

[ Your power has increased by 4. ]

[ Your endurance has increased by 7. ]

[ Your intelligence has increased by 6. ]

[ Your wisdom has increased by 3. ]

[ Your agility has increased by 5. ]

[ Your dexterity has increased by 3. ]

Uhh, threshold? That's new. Umm, Status.

[ Name: Alice Windshaw

Species: Lunares Wolf Beast-human

Age: 24

Level: 11

Experience: 45/850

Titles: Rank F Adventurer, Hero's Disciple

Effects: Normal

Health: 500/500

Magic: 51/51

Mana Regen: 1.8/hr

Power: 175

Endurance: 144

Intelligence: 153

Wisdom: 137

Agility: 130

Dexterity: 97

Skills: Enhanced Senses(Maximum, Passive)

Minor Physical Regeneration(Medium, Passive)

Observe(Medium, Passive)

Transcription(Passive)

Mapping(Passive)

Danger Sense(Medium, Passive)

Presence Detection(Minimum, Passive)

Inspect(Active)

Sharp Teeth(Major, Passive)

Powerful Jaw(Major, Passive)

Beast Transformation(Active, Hereditary)

Bite(Active)

Jump(Minor, Passive)

Night Vision(Passive)

Sleep Immunity(Passive)

Poison Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Mental Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Radiation Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Alcohol Resistance(Major, Passive)

Soul Resistance(Minor, Passive)

Lunar Power(Passive)

Telepathy(Active, Hereditary)

Meditation(Minimum, Active)

Mana Vision(Passive)

Mana Sense(Passive)

Mana Circulation(Minimum, Active)

Earth Magic II(Minimum, Base)

Water Magic I(Minimum, Base)

Radiation Magic I(Minimum, Base)

Non-Elemental Magic III(Minimum, Base)

Rock Hand(Minimum, Active)

Earth Bone Enhancement(Minimum, Active) ]

Why. Why is my experience so high?! It increased by 25 before, but now it did 625! Did it square itself? I guess that's what exponential experience means? Will it square again for the next level and I'll need 391475? Or will it just be 625 again?

Wait, how did I do that math so quickly? I knew I was good, but this is just excessive.

A shoulder shakes me out of my thoughts. "Hey, are you okay?" Rose asks me with a hint of concern in her voice and thoughts. We hear Hyper Thunder shout, "Probably has to do with her killing something." Rose shoots him a glare which is ineffective, but she turns back to me. "I got a notification about something called a threshold," I tell her which causes her to wince in response. "Oh, those. Yeah, whatever your previous experience growth was just got squared. Luckily, it won't square again until you reach another threshold," she explains. Another roach launches itself towards us, but a shimmer of light has the roach split in half and fly around us.

"How often to these thresholds happen? And, uhh, how did you know about my worry on the squaring thing?" I ask. I mean if my experience requires such large numbers then my goal just became a lot more unattainable. It seems Rose reads my expressions as she answers, "Not often, thankfully. Plus the monsters around your level of threshold will give more experience points than usual. Another benefit would be a chance for a random stat increase to multiply by the amount of thresholds you've had plus one. I can't remember the chances though, but I think Dr. Archimedes published a paper on his analysis of the System. Also, you're very easy to read." Rose referred to Thomas as his official title. Hmm.

This can either mean she knows about his wife who she seems familiar with and is hiding the information from the other heroes, or she doesn't know. But on what she said, then this threshold thing seems really damaging, but can add some benefits, though the costs really outweighs the bonuses.

Rose and I stare at the fast approaching tidal wave of insects. "You know, this really took the wind out of my sails," I comment. Rose nods saying, "Yeah, but I think I need to tell you something." "What?" I ask. "That magic attack of yours, don't use it. You'll just burn through all of your magic with the opposing numbers," Rose advises me. "What do I use then?" Rose points to my unused knife on my waist.

Right.