The empty space made their words and even steps echo against the stone walls and the high stone ceiling above. Trevor explained he'd initiate the collection of machines and systems items the Architects had cobbled together to create the first working human-made portal-creator. Starting out simple, a number flashed on a small screen mounted to an oval steel frame. Five.

  "It's the approximate level of the monsters who'll be coming through," Trevor explained as he flipped a switch, and the whole thing began humming and hissing, like an old beater car about to fall to pieces.

  To Luke's mild surprise, a portal sprang to life inside the metal frame. Even having seen them from a distance, the jankiness of the whole setup didn't inspire much confidence.

  Salaman-der. Level 4.

  Salaman-der. Level 5.

  They were reddish-brown, lizard-like creatures standing on their hind legs, sort of like a smaller, dumber-looking version of Lizardmen. Like their more advanced counterparts, they carried spears. These were stone-tipped and looked about as dangerous as a good night's sleep.

  Nash opened his mouth to call out an order, but closed it almost right away as the two monsters turned on each other and drove their spears into each other's throats with quick little jabs. Both fell a moment later, dead.

  Luke turned to Priyah. "That was you?"

  "It was," she confirmed, panting a little, and a bead of sweat ran down the side of her face.

  Nash pointed his sword at the dead monsters. "Hell yeah! Let's go!"

  When nothing happened for a long while, the group turned to Trevor, who was standing around, checking his phone. The man looked up, blinked, then looked over at the portal and the dead monsters. "Huh? Oh, right."

  Savannah had walked up to the corpses and called back to the others. "No loot!"

  "They haven't figured out the loot part yet," Trevor said. "No loot at all from the monsters coming through."

  "Boo!" Nash said. "Give us more, Mr. Trevor-san!"

  "There should be a few more coming," Trevor said, a frown creeping onto his face as he turned to the console, checking a couple of screens.

  Just as he said it, two more Salaman-ders emerged from the portal.

  "Savannah!" Priyah cried as the two monsters jumped into action, their spears lashing out at The Band's newest party member.

  The stone tips clinked as they bounced off the young woman's ghost-plate. Semi-translucent weapons materialized in the air around Savannah, and they struck without pause, killing the lizards. With their deaths, the portal disappeared.

  "Come back here, Savannah!" Nash shouted. "Stay with the group!"

  After that, she returned, looking a little sheepish, and muttered, "Sorry."

  Next up was a group of five goblins. The Band dispatched them without too much trouble. Nash sustained a cut on his arm, which Luke patched up before they continued. Their tactics were simple but effective. Nash and Savannah stood up front, and at that early point, they were able to deal with most of the monsters themselves, even with their inexperience. Priyah's abilities helped a great deal, and she focused on holding enemies still against their will, allowing the others to kill them.

  Sam and Mas stood there to the side, draining health and a little mana. The mana, they transferred to Priyah and Savannah. The health, however, they stored, Luke realized, in their meta-hearts. It was similar to what he was able to do, but not quite. Once they got a chance to use their stores, he saw how it added to Nash's health bar, which then healed him. Healing by HP injection, sort of. It worked, but was slower.

  As they worked through the monsters, Trevor increased the difficulty. Little by little, the opposition grew stronger, but Nash and the rest of The Band came into their own as well, becoming more skillful both with their own abilities and in cooperating with each other.

  It wasn't long, though, before Nash held up a hand for Trevor to stop.

  "Something is wrong," he said.

  Priyah nodded. She was panting hard now, feeling the strain, but the somewhat worried expression on her face couldn't stop the wide smile. "We aren't gaining any experience."

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

  "No level," Sam said, nodding.

  "Don't look at me," Trevor said. "Other groups have been leveling up a whole lot."

  Luke had noticed it as well. While he received some experience, it was lackluster, to say the least, but he'd figured it was because of his much higher level than the others. Oh. That was it. He was the problem.

  "It's me," Luke said.

  Nash turned to him. "Huh?"

  Leaving the party, Luke directed Trevor to give the group something new to fight. Just to make sure, while Nash and the others faced the new portal, Luke moved far back. Once the group of what looked like overgrown badgers was dead, he walked back up to the others.

  "You got more experience now, right?"

  "Gained a level," Savannah said.

  Nash looked thoughtful. "Yeah..."

  "What's your level, Luke?" Priyah asked.

  "Thirty-seven."

  "Thirty-seven?" Nash barked, a look of incredulity on his face. "You're joking, man?"

  Luke sighed. "No."

  "The gap is too large," Priyah said.

  "You too high," Sam agreed.

  "Yeah," Luke agreed. "I'm pretty sure that's it. You can't gain experience when I'm around, because my level is so much higher than the monsters'."

  Nash walked up and put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "That sucks. But man, thirty-seven? How?"

  "It's a long story," Luke said.

  "You go," Sam declared, pointing to the exit.

  The others looked uncomfortable. Sam was right, of course, but Luke was sure they didn't want to hurt his feelings.

  "Sam is right," Luke said.

  "We could still fight and get better, even without the experience," Priyah suggested.

  Luke waved the option away. "It would be a waste. You should keep going and level up. Maybe you can close the gap a little before we leave."

  "Shit, man. Thirty-seven? That's just insane. We'll have our work cut out for us," Nash said, shaking his head, still not having wrapped his head around it. "With no healer, we'll have to be careful, too. I hate being careful. Meet us after? A beer, you know?"

  "Sure," Luke said.

  "Great!" Nash shouted. "Try not to gain any levels on the way to the parking lot!"

  With that, Luke was off. Better to let them grow on their own. Staying would just hamper their growth. Just to check, he asked Trevor if there were more barns available, but learned that they hadn't been able to produce portals with monsters over level sixteen, and even that required several more people to operate, and it risked breaking down the devices they used. It looked like the steward of The Gauntlet would call people down and have them give it a go if Luke asked, but it wouldn't make much difference at this point. Low-level monsters like that wouldn't give him much experience, he figured. Better, in that case, to hunt down another portal.

  While his main level was high now, Luke's profession level was still at one. That would be a good place to invest his time, he decided. Two weeks to go. Fourteen days. How much could he improve his enchantments in that time?

  Hannah: "Hey, Curtis messaged me a little earlier. Is he going schizo-paranoid, tinfoil-hat, psycho, or is there actually something to his invasion claims?"

  Luke: "Invasion?"

  Hannah: "Well, yeah? That the Intruders are gathering for some ominous reason in New York."

  Luke: "Guess so. I mean, we all saw the Intruder."

  Hannah: "I just saw an old man."

  Luke: "A very strong old man."

  Hannah: "Never heard of old-man strength?"

  Luke: "There's something to what Curtis is saying, I'm sure. You coming?"

  Hannah: "Yeah. Don't really have anything to stay for here. Not joining your corporate guild, though."

  Luke: "That is not a requirement."

  Hannah: "How're you getting there?"

  Luke: "No idea, but I'm going in two weeks."

  Hannah: "Cool. I'll see you there. You checked your level now. Yeah?"

  Hannah: "Crazy."

  Luke: "Yeah."

  Hannah: "You must be top 10 in the world at this point or something."

  Luke: "No clue, but it's pretty high."

  Hannah: "Careful so you don't hurt yourself on that sharp enthusiasm. See you later."

  Unsure what else to do, Luke returned to his room. Other people came and went from the different apartments, but he recognized no faces. The solace felt pretty good at first, once he'd shut himself in and locked the door, but that clump in his chest soon reared its ugly head. At the same time, something in his interface drew Luke's attention, and he soon found it was Smudge. The little voidling wanted out.

  It materialized on the carpet, just a patch of darkness injected with an animal-like personality.

  "You're as big as a dog now," Luke said, shaking his head. "What am I going to do with you?"

  Smudge focused on Luke, and the darkness changed shape. Soon, it stood on all fours right there on the rug, having assumed the shape of a dog. It jumped about, as if it were excited about its new shape, and even wagged its tail.

  "That is so weird."

  That gave Smudge the zoomies, and it ran in a circle, then barreled into the kitchen, then back, jumping up on the bed before launching itself off and crashing into the wall. Smudge turned back into a blob as it dropped to the floor, then the patch of void assumed the canine shape again, looking happy as a clam.

  Calling it and 'it' felt somehow wrong, like he was calling it an object or thing, when it was sentient.

  "But are you a he or a she?"

  Smudge tilted his head to the side. Luke caught himself just having referred to the pet as a 'he'.

  "He, it is," he said, throwing another monster core to the little critter, who jumped up and caught it in his mouth, absorbing it into his bulk. Luke shook his head. "What a little weirdo."

  Smudge looked up at him and opened its jaws, looking like it was barking. No sound came out, but it was clear Luke's pet knew just what a dog was and how it was supposed to act.

  "Well, enough of that," Luke said. "Let's see about spending those skill points."