Ruby reached the prisoners before I did. Crouching down beside a black woman struggling against her shackles, she said, “Relax. We’re here to help.”

  “Howzit, my girl,” the woman responded in a rich voice with a South African accent.

  I showed Ruby how to accept ownership of the shackles, then will them off the woman.

  “Leah Zuma, Baby human level 21. Team Star Wars.”

  Leah let Ruby haul her to her feet, then lifted Ruby into the air in a gleeful bear hug. “Eish! I thought we were done for before you showed up. Lady of death, you were amazing!”

  “Thanks,” Ruby said, flushing under the exuberant praise. “I’m glad we were able to help.”

  “Lady of Death. It suits you,” I chuckled. Ruby rolled her eyes.

  Leah turned to me and I got a better look at her. She stood almost as tall as me with long, thick black hair braided and hanging most of the way down her back. She looked very solid, with thick limbs and obvious muscle. Her sleeveless top was reinforced with leather plates, and her heavy boots looked tough enough to kick through trees.

  I smiled a greeting, but Leah’s eyes widened when she saw me. With a whooping shout of glee, she wrapped me in a crushing hug and lifted me off the ground. “Lucas! Of course it’s you.”

  “It’s me,” I wheezed as my bones creaked. By all that was holy, Leah was strong.

  She dropped me and laughed again. “First you save Hank from the Lifebane Phantoms and now you save me from the zombies. You’re a treasure, you are.”

  Of course. Hank Solomon was also on the Star Wars team. He’d been the first victim of the invisible parasites I’d saved. “How is Hank?”

  “Fully restored and hunting monsters,” Leah laughed.

  “Hey, I hate to break up the happy times, but could I get a little help here?” called a man’s voice.

  Oops. I turned to the other prisoner. The man was lying under his plank, arms twisted painfully behind him.

  “Perrin Avery. Baby human, level 20. Team Wheel of Time.”

  He looked like a Perrin. Black hair, broad shoulders, and yellow eyes. Not the golden of titles, but yellow like an Earth wolf’s. I claimed the shackles and released him. Ruby moved the plank he’d been tied to, and Leah hauled him easily off the ground to his feet.

  “Thanks,” Perrin said, rubbing his wrists.

  “Guess you were right,” Leah told him.

  He grimaced. “Yeah. Wish I’d sensed how tough they were sooner.” At my quizzical look, he explained. “I’ve got an ability to help me sense monsters farther than most.”

  Leah added, “We were scouting the southern edge of this slope ahead of our team when he sensed this lot.” She gestured at the dead zombies.

  “We went to investigate,” Perrin added with a grimace. “Didn’t go so well.”

  Leah suddenly whooped and rushed to a nearby zombie corpse, then pulled a pair of brass knuckles from where they’d fallen half under the monster. “My beauties!”

  She pulled something else from under another zombie and tossed it to Perrin. It was a vicious ax with a long, half-moon blade.

  “Those cowards probably hit you with their stun guns before you could get in range,” I guessed.

  Ruby interrupted. “Lucas, there’s a large group coming.”

  Sure enough, a big group of men and women had rounded a distant stand of trees behind a bump in the lower slope. With Tony and Burns in the lead, they made a beeline for us.

  I sighed. I’d rather not deal with Tony today. I considered calling Switchblade and simply leaving, but that would look weird and no doubt give Tony more reason to think I was a loser. Not that I cared what he thought about me. I took a deep breath and waited.

  “What happened here?” Tony demanded as soon as they drew close.

  “Dance party.”

  That triggered a laugh from Leah. Ruby said, “Unlike any dance party I’ve ever attended.”

  “I bet you dance like a pro, girl,” Leah laughed and shook her hips in a little jig.

  Ruby grinned. “I can hold my own.”

  I bet she could. With her great looks and natural grace, she was probably very popular on the dance floor. Burns grunted and motioned the interdiction team members to spread out.

  “These are the slavers you warned us about?” he asked.

  I nodded and Ruby added, “Lucas and I were scouting and ran across this party heading for the second stage with two prisoners.”

  “That’d be us,” Perrin said with an embarrassed wave.

  Tony looked surprised it wasn’t me who’d needed rescue. Ruby briefly related our attack and I let her do the talking. She did a good job relating the facts without a lot of embellishment.

  “You did well to take down so many without getting hurt,” Tony told her with a warm smile.

  Ruby blushed. “Lucas knew their weaknesses. Made all the difference.”

  “Yeah, if you run into zombies up there, focus on the heads and use fire. It really wrecks them.”

  “We will,” Tony promised.

  “Where’s the rest of your team?” Burns asked Leah.

  She pointed south. “Last we saw them, they were out that way.”

  “Your team leader?” he asked.

  “Susan Collins.”

  Burns nodded and his eyes took on a distant look. He must be accessing the team leader chat. I had lost track of Susan after the last time she made a pass at me. It was good for her to be focusing on more productive things.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “I sent her a message you’re alright,” Burns said after a moment. “She’ll rendezvous with you back in Stepstone.”

  “Thanks,” Leah and Perrin said together.

  “If you want, you can stick with our explorer team,” I offered. “They’ll arrive in a bit and will work this slope before heading back this afternoon.”

  “That’d be perfect,” Perrin said, obviously relieved to not have to walk all the way back to town alone. Leah looked eager for a chance to do some hunting.

  Tony said, “You looted the slavers. Did you pick up any more energy weapons?”

  I hesitated, but Ruby didn’t. “We did. Since you’re heading up to stage 2, we’re willing to share.”

  “If you don’t mind.”

  She gave him a confident smile. She’d grown a ton since that first day I saved her from the Rockslide Ogre. “We’re happy to help, aren’t we, Lucas?”

  “Least we can do,” I said, pulling 3 rifles from my inventory. Ruby pulled out all 5 of the ones she’d looted, keeping only the one I’d given her.

  Burns gestured and members of his team eagerly took the weapons. “Thanks. These will come in handy.”

  “Good luck. Stage 2 has to be insane,” Ruby said.

  “We’ll find a good place for the next settlement, don’t worry,” Tony said in a tone of absolute confidence.

  Using my intel, they would. He seemed to have forgotten that. Reminding him would only make me look petty. It didn’t really bother me. We all needed to succeed, and any information I could share, I would happily do so. It just rankled a little when I didn’t get even a little credit.

  “Good luck up there,” I said, summoning Switchblade and swinging back on.

  Ruby jumped on the back and slipped her arms around my waist. It felt right. We rode well together.

  “Head straight down the slope. We’ll clear the path and inform Crystal and her team to look for you.”

  Leah and Perrin waved acknowledgment, and I accelerated away from the interdiction team. Tony might be annoying, but I did wish them luck. A solid foothold in the second stage was vital for all of our survival.

  Assuming I got my last 2 levels in time. On the way back to the explorer team, we ran down a couple more stray bulls and a nest of Lifebane Phantoms. They were lurking in the cool shadows under an overhanging rock next to a bubbling stream, the perfect place to ambush tired travelers looking for a nice place to rest. With my upgraded Wolf Sight, I spotted them.

  Ruby got another level from the brief, intense fights. I did not, even though I killed all the Lifebane Phantoms. How many more kills would I need to reach level 8? Every level required more experience than the last, but this was getting ridiculous. Of course, most of the monsters were below level 25, and I got a lot less experience for weaker foes, but quantity had to count eventually.

  We found the expedition about a mile from the slope, still out on the plain. We gave our report, then chatted with Steve for a bit.

  Six levels? That’s insane!” he exclaimed when Ruby finished her tale of our adventures.

  “You’re the one who passed on a chance to ride scout,” she said with a shrug.

  “Can we switch?”

  I hesitated. The pressure of time fast slipping away was growing steadily. This was not working for my leveling needs, but again I forced the worry aside. I had promised. I could risk a couple hours. Then I’d hunt all night and all day tomorrow if I had to. That had to be enough.

  “Sure. Let’s go.”

  Crystal planned to focus the team on the north side of the slope since we’d cleared most of the center and the interdiction team were heading up through there. Steve and I powered south to make sure that area was clear.

  Leah and Perrin’s team had been in that area, but it wasn’t clear how high they’d explored the slope. In that area, the land grew wilder as it melded into the higher hills that connected to the southern mountains.

  I hadn’t explored much to the south. Hopefully we’d find stronger monsters there. I planned to explore deeper into the ranks of ever-taller mountains that lorded over the plain and connected with the barrier peaks on the east side. I bet we’d find lots of canyons and unexplored mountain valleys.

  And so we did. We tracked down a Goliath bear with fire claws and volcano breath, then a pair of giant eagles that ran like gazelles on the ground when they landed and could shoot their beaks like lances over 100 yards. Finally, we took out an earth-bound monster camouflaged as a low hill that nearly swallowed us whole in one bite.

  Steve’s archery skills had grown enormously, and he seamlessly incorporated elemental water and blasts of ice into his arrows. I circled our enemies, keeping our distance as he rained icy death from afar. He froze the psycho eagles mid-leap, quenched the goliath bear long enough for me to get in a killing blow, and even paralyzed the giant monster covered in earth.

  That took a very difficult shot, over 200 yards. The only vulnerable target we could find on the monster was one slowly blinking eye about the size of a large orange. It was vulnerable only while open, and Steve nailed it on his second shot.

  That exposed its head, which had been covered in an impenetrable layer of rock. I finished it off with a Shattercore Ballista.

  Steve gained 4 levels, then switched to a laser rifle as we headed back to the team. He ended up turning and facing backward to free up his hands to snipe monsters after we swept past.

  I failed to get any good Harvest abilities, and the loot was mostly basic. Steve got a pair of rare barrier bracers that created an active defense zone around him, deflecting up to 5 incoming attacks with a full charge. They gave him a huge advantage, allowing him to concentrate on shooting longer. They’d recharge passively over about 12 hours, or he could feed them a mana potion to recharge them faster.

  I even caught a glint of metallic light reflecting the afternoon sun from high up one of the tall trees. Turned out to be a hidden gold loot box. Inside we found 2 scrolls and 2 potions. I got another scroll of Ground Walker and another Slow-fall potion.

  Steve got an ability upgrade scroll he used to upgrade archery to level 6, letting him imbue arrows with stronger elemental effects. He also got a new potion I hadn’t seen before.

  “Potion of Echoing Doom. Rare. Create up to 5 clones that mimic your every move with your same abilities. Multiplies your attacks and provides improved defense, as any damage you take is reflected to your clones, destroying them first. Duration: 60 seconds.”

  “This is unbelievable!” Steve laughed.

  “Yeah, that’s quite a potion.”

  His smile fell and he asked softly, “Do you want it?”

  Even though he clearly didn’t want to lose the potion, he added, “I’d never have gained these levels without your help. You deserve first dibs.”

  “Thanks, but no. I’m happy with what I got. That Echoing Doom potion could be a life-saver, though.” I hesitated and added, “Too bad you can’t make a potion your next permanent.”

  “Why not? Ruby makes health potions.”

  “Yeah, because she first got a potion summoning scroll. That spell scroll was what she got to perm.”

  Steve muttered a low curse, and remained quiet most of the rest of the trip. He perked up as soon as we returned to the main group. They were already heading down the slope to begin the long march back to Stepstone. Most of them had gained at least 1 level.

  The sun was fast dipping toward the impossibly high peaks to the west, so afternoon was fading into early evening. I’d been hunting all day and hadn’t leveled once.

  After delivering our report to Crystal and listening to Steve’s wildly embellished tale of our adventure to Ruby, I waved good-bye and headed out. I would have loved lingering with my teammates longer, but the time pressure was too great to ignore. I wasn’t worried yet, but if I didn’t figure out how to get better experience, I would be soon.

  As I powered along the edge of the grassland, again heading south, I couldn’t hold back my question any longer.

  “So, you said I wouldn’t need more than 10 times as much experience as anyone else, but between Ruby and Steve, they gained at least 10 levels hunting with me today. With all the other monsters I’ve killed recently, how am I not at level 9 yet?”

  Cyrus made a tisking sound. “Don’t look so glum, Lucas. Your levels are worth so much more than theirs.”

  “So you say, but I should level up at some point, right?” I couldn’t hide my exasperation.

  “You will, but low-level monsters don’t give you the same kind of experience they give your companions. You need a higher level disparity to win meaningful gains.”

  “Most of those monsters had levels in the high 20s and low 30s! I’m only level 8!”

  “But you’re a tier-1 human. Even if your levels only counted for 4 baby human levels, you’re still the equivalent of at least level 32.”

  I knew that already, but it was still annoying. So he still figured my power equated to about 4 times my level. I could see the eventual advantage I’d gain once I hit level 20 or 30. If I managed to improve my efficiency and unlock more of my full tier-1 stats power, the advantage would grow even more. I needed to live long enough to level up that high, though.

  And I needed monsters to give me enough experience. Most of the monsters we faced no longer really felt threatening to me, but what would I have to do to get more levels?

  “I’m going to hunt higher in the south mountains. I’m assuming I’ll find stronger monsters up there that will count toward real experience.”

  “You know I can’t tell you where the monsters are.” His voice shifted and he added, “Life is about growth. It’s about change. Hold onto your dream of becoming something more.”

  I sighed. “The Thor impersonation is good, but you changed the quote.”

  “Of course I did. Loki doesn’t change, but you have to, or you’ll die. So get out there.” His voice changed again and he started singing just like Michael Jackson.

  “So take a look at yourself, and then make a change!”