Team Player

They reached Brownhat late in the day, and Alex was forced to admit that even though the train ride had been relatively pleasant, the 'cab service' that they had been given was not nearly as ideal. When they'd stepped off the train in the nearest town to the Brownhat portal, they'd been greeted by an old sedan with a crude paint job. All four of them had been asked to squeeze into the backseat, sitting practically on top of each other. The resulting two-hour drive was almost as uncomfortable as anything she'd experienced inside of a portal; she definitely was not looking forward to repeating the journey once the job at Brownhat was over.

When they reached the Brownhat facility, it was almost a relief to stagger out of the cab, even if it did put them directly in front of the half-decayed building where the portal was housed. She'd been vaguely aware that the facility's Surveyors were housed in the same place, but it had never really occurred to her that one day she would live in the same spot.

The person who met them wasn't the same sallow-faced Surveyor that she had seen there the last time she'd visited the spot, however. Instead, it was a slim, fastidious man with a pair of glasses holding a clipboard. He watched as they tumbled out of the car and groaned, stretching their cramped limbs. Then he nodded to himself and walked over to them, his stride kept at a brisk pace.

Alex extended a hand to him as he approached. "Hello. My name is—"

"Alexandretta Morrison. Yes, I've read your file." The man gave her hand a hesitant shake. "My name is Adam Tollworth. Welcome to Brownhat. May I have your signatures on your contract? I was assured that you already had time to look them over."

He handed Alex the clipboard, which looked like it contained the same contract that Joanna had already shown her. She nodded and handed it off to Joanna, who gave it a more thorough study. Alex looked around the decrepit campus while the Adept worked. "The contract mentioned training responsibilities, right? How many of your Surveyors are here?"

Tollworth paused. "We have a substantial number of trainees available to you at the moment. They are all fairly recently arrived, actually."

She studied him for a moment. The pause had been suspicious, and the fact that he hadn't given her a specific number had been worse. Still, she'd been asked to play nice this time, so she tried to move past it. "How is the condition of the portal? Is it stable?"

The man nodded, gaining a hint of confidence this time. "Its condition has remained relatively well suited to what we have planned. I believe that a team like yours should be able to both complete the training regimen and handle any other responsibilities within the time allotted."

Alex frowned at him. She opened her mouth to ask another question, only for Joanna to nudge her. "The contract looks good."

Still uncertain, Alex signed. So did the others, as Tollworth watched with obvious interest.

The moment Sam's pen left the paper, Tollworth held his hand out for the clipboard. "Thank you. Now, as Training Officers, we expect you to do your best. It is our hope that your efforts will lead to a new generation of Brownhat Surveyors."

Alex did not like the cheerful way the man was speaking now. She exchanged a look with Clara, who was studying the building with glowing green eyes. The Acolyte frowned and shook her head. "A new generation? How many trainees are you talking about?"

Tollworth paused in the process of switching out the contract for a new sheaf of paper. He gave her a thin smile. "A sizable number, as I said. Sixty of them, actually."

After the man had shown them to their rooms, Alex rounded on Clara. "Was he kidding?"

The Acolyte shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that he is the only other Surveyor at this facility. I didn't see anyone else here."

Alex grimaced as she looked around the 'room' that they'd been given. It looked like Brownhat had simply renovated an old classroom and stuck bunkbeds in. She, Joanna, and Clara would share the room here, while Sam was quietly gloating about having a room all to himself across the hall. He still looked a little disturbed at Clara's words, though.

"Why would he lie to us about having Surveyors for us to train? That doesn't make any sense." Sam looked at Alex, his dark eyes growing worried. "Is it some kind of ambush? Should we bail?"

Alex shook her head, though she was already looking for bugs or other monitoring devices. If it was an ambush, they had very few places they could go. The Brownhat portal was out in the middle of nowhere, and they'd have to run for it on foot just to reach the nearest town. "We can always keep watch. I don't think Brownhat would be working with anyone else, though."

Joanna grunted like she'd been kicked. Tollworth had handed her the apparent training schedule that Brownhat had mapped out for them, and her eyes had locked onto a section on the third page. Alex looked at her, and the Adept looked up with an expression of mild horror. "It isn't a trap. At least, not the kind we're hoping for."

Clara frowned. "I think we were hoping for no traps, Joanna."

"Then we've messed up." Joanna shook her head and handed over the clipboard to Sam. "More like I've messed up. We're going to be running a training mill."

Alex froze. Then she rubbed her hands over her face and groaned as Sam started to flip through the pages. Clara spoke up, sounding confused. "What's a training mill?"

She answered the Acolyte before Joanna could. "It's when a company grabs a bunch of Surveyors and grinds through a ton of missions with them. The ones who survive get to stay employed. Most companies stopped doing them because of the casualty rate and the bad optics."

Clara's frown deepened. "So, like what Red Blade was doing?"

Joanna shook her head. "No, worse." She exchanged a look with Alex. "At Red Blade they were working with experienced Surveyors, people with a few Surveys under their belt. A mill runs on fresh Surveyors. Brand new ones."

Alex grimaced. "Which is why they aren't here yet. Without a Key, they wouldn't be able to survive so close to the portal."

An expression of utter horror swept over Clara's face. "You're saying they are going to be level zeros? Just starting out?" Alex nodded, and the Acolyte continued, her disbelief starting to shade into anger. "But this is a D rank portal! They're going to get slaughtered, even worse than we did at Golden Swallow!"

"Which is why we are contractually obligated to bring back any Keys that they leave behind when they die." Sam's voice sounded almost as grim as Joanna's. "They wouldn't want to lose a valuable resource, after all."

A flicker of anger went through Alex as she registered the cold logic behind the words. She clenched her fists and focused on controlling her breathing as Joanna went on. "They aren't leaving any real time for training, either. Every trainee is supposed to go into the portal every single day, unless they are wounded. The only training they're going to get is going to be live combat."

"That doesn't make any sense." Clara looked from Joanna to Alex, as if searching for a sign of a joke or a mistake. "We don't even have time to take all of them through like that. We'd have to run a Raid every day."

"Not if they split us up." Sam flipped to a new page. His dark eyes were practically glowing with rage. "Each one of us is supposed to take five of them at a time. Each of us will stay in the portal and cycle through groups of five until the whole batch is done."

He looked at Alex, his fingers tightening on the clipboard. "Apparently, they heard about how that worked for you at Red Blade. They must have loved the potential efficiency of it."

Alex barely held back a snarl. "I'd love to show them exactly what they could do with—"

"I think we need to focus on the other problems we're going to have." Joanna's voice was just as angry, but the Adept seemed to have a better control over it. "The other problem with mills is that most people don't want to sign up for them. People who want to be a Surveyor have too many other options that actually guarantee their survival more."

Clara blinked. "That makes sense. Golden Swallow might have screwed everything up, but they did at least pretend that they wanted to keep us alive."

Joanna nodded. "Which begs the question: what kind of people did they convince to sign up for this massacre? Are we going to be leading a bunch of idiots? Did they lie to their recruits, and we'll have to deal with a mutiny?"

"No." Sam very, very carefully set the clipboard aside, putting it on the top bunk. Alex could tell he wanted to throw it. "They're ISEs."

There was a moment of quiet, and then Clara broke in. "ISEs?"

Alex answered the question, keeping her voice very level. "International Surveyor: Emergency. It's something that the government came up with during the Fracture to bring people in to stabilize the portals."

Sam nodded. "They couldn't find enough people to go into the portals here, so they offered people the chance to leave areas that were much worse off and come here, as long as they went in. They even offered them to people in prison in return for reduced sentences."

Clara frowned. "Well, that doesn't sound so bad. Why are you acting like it is?"

Joanna grimaced. "Because an ISE has to stay employed for five years, or they get shot. So the Key can be 'recovered' and reused." Clara's expression grew horrified, and Joanna continued in a low voice. "Nowadays, there's no reason to have things set up like that, but the corps keep the terms set the same way."

"Because that way they can treat the ISEs however they want." Alex started to pace, her mind blazing with anger. "All of them?"

Sam leaned back against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. "Every single one. A whole new batch of Indentured Servants: Expendable, ready to die." He looked at Joanna. "I know we said we needed this job, but if they have us running a training mill on ISEs…"

Joanna opened her mouth, but Alex spoke first. "We're doing this." They looked at her in surprise, and she continued in a low voice. "If we don't, what do you think will happen? They'll just throw them in there with someone else. Someone who won't care as much as we do."

Clara looked at her, her expression guarded. "Alex, I know you want to help, but is this even possible? If we take these people into a D rank portal, they're going to get hurt. Bad."

"Not if we do it right." Alex shook her head. "We can make this work for us. We keep the ISEs alive, and we keep the contract valid. If we train them well enough, then by the time we leave, they'll be able to survive on their own."

Sam studied her, his expression unconvinced. "You really think they'll be able to survive?"

Alex nodded. "It's a D rank portal, but that doesn't mean it has to be a dangerous D rank portal. Joanna, the contract gives us free range on how we organize the portal stability missions, right?" The Adept nodded, and Alex continued. "So if things are too dangerous for them right now, we go in and knock it down a few levels. A D1 will still be dangerous, but it won't be deadly."

"And Brownhat won't be able to complain too much without invalidating the contract." Joanna grimaced. "It's still going to be risky."

She put her hand on Joanna's shoulder and gave her a small shake. "Any worse than the other companies we worked under?" The Adept grunted sourly, and Alex continued. "We can do this. We have to. Otherwise—"

"Who is going to protect them?" Sam sounded almost tired. "I get it."

He sat down on the bottom bunk, shaking his head. "Should we get everything figured out, then? Because I think we're going to need a really good plan if we intend to get out of this with everyone still alive." Then he paused, looking back at Alex. "Because the buses full of brand-new Surveyors are going to get here tomorrow, and if we aren't ready, an awful lot of them are going to die."

The next morning, Alex stood in front of the portal and tried to look confident.

It was hard. They had spent most of the previous night running over scenarios and trying to plan out their routes. Sam had dragged out an old scrap of paper where he had sketched a rough map of the area inside the portal, from when they had been there the first time. It was probably a little less tame than it had been that time, but they would just have to adapt to what they found waiting for them.

What had arrived that morning was already challenging enough. The first of three buses had pulled up to the building, loaded with twenty desperate, unhappy people who were about to become Surveyors. Tollworth had helpfully given them all numbers and brown-and-grey uniforms ahead of time, so each of them would know where to go and which trainer to follow.

They'd also been given other instructions as well. Each team was given Role assignments, one type on each team. The excuse was to have at least one kind of each Surveyor on each team, but the real reason was probably some bureaucratic nonsense. Alex was just grateful that she wouldn't be dealing with groups of lopsided teams the way she had been at Red Blade, but perhaps she was being hasty. At Golden Swallow, Clara had been assigned to the Porter Role, after all, and she'd still chosen Acolyte.

She sighed and tried not to let her thoughts continue to careen away. The only way to be sure of what she was working with was to get through the portal and start the Survey. Alex stood still and waited as the new Surveyors filed into the room, with Tollworth handing out a single Key of Ascension to each of them. Those items were worth more than their weight in gold; Alex couldn't imagine why a bunch of executives would have ever considered risking them on a harebrained scheme like this one, but the bookkeeping the suits used seemed to be so divorced from reality that she didn't spend much time thinking about it.

Five of the newcomers walked over to where she waited, and Alex nodded. She thought back to her own first Survey, so long ago. It had been only a few months, but it seemed like a lifetime.

Then she looked at the people in front of her. They were looking at her, their eyes showing a mix of hope, desperation, and anger that could have meant any number of things. She waited another moment, and then spoke.

"My name is Alex Morrison. I'm going to be your training officer." She looked around as they nodded. "Stick with me and do your best, and we'll get through this. You each remember your assigned Roles?"

They nodded again, and she continued. "Good. When you go through, the Screen will give you the chance to select them. It'll also give you the chance to choose your equipment and Skills. Choose things that match your strengths. The inside is going to be dangerous enough without making it harder on yourselves. Take it seriously, and you'll give yourself a much better chance."

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One of them, a thin man with a scraggly beard, raised his hand. "Should we choose a health potion?"

Alex looked over at him. She'd expected a heavy accent, but he sounded more refined than she was. "No. I already have one." It had been part of her contract, actually. Brownhat had technically intended for her to use it on their stability missions, but she was going to ignore that fact. "Stick with armor and weapons for now. Only choose spells if your Role matches them, and if you have a weapon to back you up. All right?"

They nodded once more, and she drew in a deep breath. "Good. I'm going to lead you in. You'll find me on the other side, and we'll go from there."

Another newcomer tentatively raised her hand, barely higher than her shoulder. Her other hand was wrapped around the Key like it was trying to escape. "How much fighting?"

"Enough." Alex put enough weight on the word. The woman nodded, her eyes wide. "I'll get you through it. You'll come home—but it's going to be dangerous. When you go in, choose the Patrol intention; you aren't ready for anything else. Not yet. Be ready."

Then she turned to face the portal and gestured for them to follow her. Together they walked into the light…

[D Rank Pioneer Alex, Warpchannel]

[Ascension Level: 9]

[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None)]

[Role Level: 4]

[Experience: 3740/5500]

[Attributes: Strength -> 9, Speed -> 10, Life -> 8, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Combat Balance(45), Motion Trance(15), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(45),

Holy–Storm(45)]

[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers***(24)]

[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),

Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by five.),

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.),

Still Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by five.),

Elite (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by five.),

Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.),

Consecrated (Increases Skill grade of Holy by five.),

War Prowess (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by five.),

War Momentum (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by five.),

Blitz Master (Increases Skill grade of Combined Arms, Lunge, and Charge by five),

Deliberate (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Anticipate, and Combined Arms by five.),

Swift (Increases Skill grade of Motion Trance, Evasion, and Charge Assault by four.)]

With a glum expression, Alex stared at the label after her name. She'd been half-afraid of seeing it this time, and it turned out she'd been right to worry. The last thing she needed right now was another complication.

Still, she was sure that Sam was going to be excited. Shaking her head, she shoved her own worries aside and watched the words change.

[Current Portal Status: Stable, Magic Level Slightly Increasing]

[Current Portal Level: D3]

[Salvage Oriented Objectives Recommended]

[Local Area Population: None]

She was the first one through the portal, as was her assigned team. At the same time, she knew what would be following her. It was going to get a lot more crowded, very soon.

The words shifted, and she had new choices to make.

[Current Objective Budget: 500]

[Select Priority Objective]

She had no hesitation on what her priorities were. It took only a heartbeat to choose.

[Priority Objective: Save fifteen E rank Surveyors. Possible rewards: 450 Experience. Accept?]

[Note: No E ranks currently in local area]

Alex accepted immediately. The fact that the reward for saving an E rank was a little higher than a D rank seemed silly, but she ignored it and moved forward.

[Select Additional Objectives]

It seemed relatively simple to deal with the small remainder of her points. She'd likely have to deal with it, anyway.

[Additional Objective: Destroy at least ten patrols. Possible rewards: 50 Experience. Accept?]

Fortunately, she wouldn't need to have Liliana throwing the Grue at her this time. The Grue would probably be looking for the E ranks on their own.

She grimaced and then marched forward into the light…

Alex looked around as she entered the other world and found nothing unusual waiting for her. Just the same glowering, clouded sky, the grim, empty landscape, and the soundless wind.

Then she turned and watched her new team of trainees come through.

The first to arrive had been the man who had asked her the question. He left the portal in a simple armored surcoat, with a large spear in his hands. His eyes darted around, searching for threats. He still hadn't relaxed as the others came through.

A woman with a bow in her hands and a helmet on her head. Another man with a large shield and a mace. Yet another with an especially ornate staff, and then the woman who had looked so nervous, carrying a shield and a knife.

They looked at her, their eyes fixing on the only familiar thing in the strange new world. Alex nodded back at them, forcing herself to smile. "All right. Tell me what your Skills are as we walk, and we'll find the first opponents for you. You all chose Patrol?" As they nodded, she continued. "Then we should get going. Now, you, with the spear. You did choose Melee—Spear, right? Did you also take…"

A short while later, as they walked under the cover of the forest, Alex listened for approaching Grue.

It was a bit harder than she'd have liked, unfortunately, because she was having to try to hear the creatures in spite of the argument between her trainees.

"I just don't see why any of this would be necessary. Has anyone tried talking to them?" The man with the spear—Sabbir, she'd found out—shook his head. "They're obviously intelligent. We could just negotiate—"

The archer, named Fahima, glared at him. "That's not how it works. I'm not going to risk my life talking."

Sabbir glared back, but the staff-wielder cleared his throat. "We need to remain focused. The Valkyrie asked—"

"She can ask what she chooses, Sohel. I can do the same." Sabbir gave Alex a stubborn look before he continued. "All I mean is that if we have never bothered to communicate, to learn the language of these creatures—"

"Shh." Sanjida, the Acolyte with the shield and knife, was peering into the forest. "I heard something."

Alex turned in the same direction. Sure enough, she could hear the snorts and snarls of the Grue ahead. She could have sworn that they hadn't been there before, but they were now. "Get into position. Masum, you should be in the front, not the back."

The Porter with the shield nodded and shuffled into the front line, alongside Sabbir. Fahima, Sohel, and Sanjida all fell back, their eyes wide and worried. She saw their hands tighten on their weapons as the Grue came closer.

Alex did her best to remain relaxed. It sounded like there were a lot of them. When she'd started out, the Grue had been patrolling in ones or twos. What would it have been like to face an entire pack with no Skills or Attributes? "I'll tear the formation apart. Each of you needs to kill at least one of the spear carriers. Stay away from the others; I'll take care of them for now. Understand?"

A chorus of shaky agreements drifted back to her, and Alex nodded. She focused on the incoming Grue, actually bothering to count them for the first time in a very long while.

It wasn't the largest pack that she'd seen, especially compared to the hordes she'd faced. There were only ten Soldiers, backed up by six Knights and five Archers. If she'd needed to, Alex could have destroyed the entire lot of them without much trouble. A part of her was tempted to, just to demonstrate that her trainees were in good hands.

Yet she held off. Instead, she summoned the power of the Storm, and waited for the Grue to charge.

When the creatures began their assault, Alex met them at a full sprint, her legs eating up the distance in a howl of speed. She caught a flash of her trainees jerking with surprise, their attention going from their enemies to her for just an instant.

It could have been a fatal mistake. The Archers fired, but luckily their attention had been drawn by her charge. Alex scattered their arrows with a burst of wind and plunged into their ranks. Soldiers at the center of the pack died in heartbeats as she smashed through them like a living battering ram; the Knights behind them fared little better, as she shield-checked one of them into a nearby tree and ducked below a sword slash to rip her axe across the torso of another.

The remaining Knights rushed at her, but Alex dodged past their attempted attacks to reach the Archers. They had barely managed to draw their next arrows back; none of them managed more than a panicked snapshot before she tore into them. As the last of the Archers fell, she spun back to face the Knights, all four of whom were charging her with swords raised and shields braced.

Her attention wasn't on them, however, not fully. Instead, she focused on the remaining Soldiers, those few who had been on the flanks of the pack. They hadn't died with their friends; instead, they had charged at the unprotected E ranks, their grey eyes wide as they sought easier prey. The trainees were pulling back slightly, their eyes just as wide with fear and panic. Sensing weakness, the Soldiers lunged, spears ready to lash out and kill.

Alex summoned the power of the Storm and sent a burst of wind through the Soldiers. Spears were turned to the side; feet slipped as they hit the ground. What had been a terrifying pack became a tangle of clumsy stabs and stumbling Grue. She shouted over the roars of the Knights that jumped at her, her voice taking on the iron hard tone her mother had used in so many training sessions. "Fight! Kill them now!"

The command snapped at least one of them out of the haze of panic. Sabbir lunged forward, stabbing his spear deep into the closest Grue. Masum followed his lead, battering a Grue's spear aside so that he could bring his mace to bear. Sanjida leaped forward as well with a shrill cry, while Fahima loosed an arrow that skipped off uselessly into the forest.

Then the Knights were on her, and Alex was forced to focus on them for a moment. She smashed a sword cut aside, snapping the blade, and slid past a desperate thrust. Her axe hacked through the two Knights to her left in three quick blows, and then she set her feet to deliver another punishing shield-check that sent the third Knight rocketing into another tree.

She danced back from the fourth Knight, risking another glance towards the trainees. Sanjida was wrestling with a Grue on the ground, her shield abandoned as she stabbed at it with frantic energy. Sabbir had blocked another Grue as it had tried to lunge at Fahima, and as she watched, the archer managed to land her next shot squarely, hitting her target in the chest. Sohel, the staff-wielder, had stepped forward to challenge the last Grue, smashing it in the face with his staff. The Soldier snarled at him, only to pause for just a moment as if hesitating; Sohel took advantage of the opening and hit it again.

Alex sent a burst of wind to trip the Grue facing Sohel, and another to turn aside the claws of the Grue on the ground with Sanjida. Masum was facing another one, but she put a lightning bolt cleanly through its head. "Well done!"

The Knight facing her charged, and Alex spun past it, her axe cutting clean through its left hip. As it staggered to its knees, dropping its shield to clutch at the wound, Alex delivered a backswing that put the spike on her axe in its skull. It dropped, and she stalked back towards the trainees. Sabbir was starting to rush towards where Sanjida was still struggling, while Fahima was getting ready to shoot Sohel's opponent. "Wait! Let them finish it."

Both Surveyors looked at her in surprise, but Alex simply channeled the Storm again. The Grue facing Sohel snarled as its feet slipped again, but this time the man didn't waste the opportunity. He brought his staff down on it with a single brutal blow, and its skull crunched. Sanjida delivered another pair of stabs, and the Grue beneath her went limp.

Then, that quickly, the last of the Grue were down. Her trainees backed away, breathing hard, their eyes still wide with disbelief, triumph, and fear.

[Objective Progress: 1 of 10 patrols destroyed.]

Alex grinned at them. "You're going to want to back up."

They looked at her and then jumped as the Grue ignited. She looked them over, checking for wounds. It looked like only Fahima had taken damage, and she seemed to have only gotten scratched a little. Not a bad result for the first fight.

She nodded and gestured to the burning corpses. "All right. Once they are burnt, you should be able to find some crystals and other stuff. Grab it and tuck it away. The corps really like it when you bring it back to them."

They were still staring at her numbly, so she turned her attention to each of them. "Sohel, you need to take the openings when you see them. Don't hesitate. Sanjida, your shield is there for a reason. Use it. You'll hurt less after."

Both Surveyors jerked and nodded. She continued, meeting the eyes of each Surveyor in turn. "Fahima, make your first shot count. Speed is good, but accuracy is better. Masum, very well done with the shield, keep that up."

Then she looked at their last member, and her lips quirked a little in a smile. "Sabbir, good job giving Fahima time to make her shot. Do that some more and you might get a Grue to talk to you after all."

The man snorted despite himself, and the tension drained away as chuckles ran through the rest of the group. Alex drew in a deep breath. "All right, get this stuff collected, and then we're moving on. What Hidden Quests did you get?"

Sohel answered. "A Knight and an Archer? Were those the bigger ones in the back?"

She nodded. "We'll get to those later. For now, we focus on Soldiers. Now move." Alex followed her own orders, going to pick up the fallen Feathers and Oathstones. "There's plenty more work to do today."

The next fight went a little better. The Surveyors were just a little less panicked, and Alex only needed to send a handful of bursts of wind to throw off the Soldiers for the E ranks to launch themselves at their opponents. Sohel was a little too eager, and earned a small cut on his cheek as a result, but a quick sip of the potion erased it easily.

By the time they hit the third fight, most of them were moving well enough that she barely had to nudge the Grue at all. She did adjust the angle of Sabbir's attack, and tap Fahima's bow just enough to correct her aim, but they handled their half of the Soldiers without any other adjustments.

In the fourth fight, Alex allowed them to handle the small fry and focused on the more dangerous threats. Musam took a couple of scratches in that fight, and Sabbir was grumbling after, but they did fairly well with a little invisible assistance.

At that point, Alex introduced them to the concept of an ambush. They hid in the woods and she drew the attention of the Grue. As the Soldiers and Knights attacked her, the E ranks burst from hiding to fall on the Archers. Sanjida nearly got herself shot in the process, and learned a valuable lesson about putting her shield up in time.

The next time, Alex had them repeat the tactic, allowing them to wipe out the Archers while she swatted the Soldiers and danced around the howling Knights. When only the Knights were left, she played bait while the E ranks struck at them from behind, working in groups to pile on the larger Grue in waves of attacks. One of the Knights turned to try to cut Sohel down, but Alex shoved its sword aside and Fahima put arrow after arrow into it until it fell.

In the end, when she brought them back to the portal, all five of them had completed every Quest they'd been given. They were also sore, exhausted, and nearly ready to collapse, but she felt a faint sense of pride in them. Even she hadn't had this much success on her first Survey, and none of them had even run.

As they approached the glowing vortex, Alex slowed a little. "All right, you're all going to have a full clear on this run. We're going to try and do this for all of you every day, so that you can gain levels as quickly as possible."

"So, you can get rid of us as soon as possible?"

Alex raised an eyebrow at Sabbir's bitter tone. "No. So you can stand a chance when Brownhat decides that my team is too expensive to pay and makes you start going in here alone." There was a sudden, wide-eyed silence at that statement, but she continued before they could recover. "That's also why you should take a couple of hours to rest… and then see if you can spar a little bit with each other. We'll do a bit more once we get through the other teams."

Sanjida spoke up, her voice strained. "But we're already exhausted!"

"Better tired and ready than well-rested and unprepared." Alex smiled. "Those of you who don't have Recovery should probably get it when you can, unless you're not that tired and want to focus on other Skills instead."

Sohel frowned. "But we only have four slots, right? We don't have room."

She nodded. "Not yet. When you go through, you're probably going to get some options from the Screen. One of them is called Chaining. It's where you combine two Skills. Normally I'd tell you to hold off a little because you get more benefits at higher Skill levels, but you're kind of in the fire and trying to climb back into the frying pan."

They gave her a confused look, and Alex sighed. "You're in a lot of trouble, so we're going to have you Chain things early. That'll give you another Skill space, and you'll get stronger, faster. Now Sabbir, I know you said you took Blocking along with Melee—Spear. If you Chain that, you'll end up with…"

After a short lecture, as well as a reminder to spar, Alex sent the E ranks through. The Screen helpfully updated her on their departure.

[Objective Progress: 5 of 15 Surveyors saved.]

Hoping that the words weren't just representative of false hope, she nodded to herself and waited for the next team to appear. It had been only an hour and a half, unless she was off. Two more teams, and she'd be almost halfway done.

It was going to be worth it, she reminded herself as the next group of E ranks stumbled through the vortex. She just had to keep going.

The next group proved a little more fractious. There were more complaints, and a Squire named Nurul had openly doubted that she knew what she was doing, at least until Alex led them into the first patrol. Watching her tear the Grue to pieces more or less silenced the doubters, and they eventually shaped up, just like the first team had.

Alex followed the same pattern, letting them hit the Soldiers at first, then ambushing the Archers, and finishing off by having them take down the Knights. She gave them the same lecture on their way back, and was reassured by the fact that they seemed to be listening. Even sullen Nurul seemed ready to continue the work as he disappeared back through the portal to nurse his scrapes and bruises.

As she led the third group through the same process, Alex felt curiously refreshed by the process. She had fallen back into the same pattern she had worked with at Red Blade Securities easily enough, but they were traveling at a walking pace here, and the enemy wasn't nearly as difficult to fight. The fact that she knew Liliana wouldn't make an appearance to complicate things was a massive relief, especially when one of her trainees misjudged a dodge and nearly lost her head to a Knight's sword. Only Alex's intervention, blowing poor Roksana across the clearing with a burst of wind, had kept the E rank from becoming the only fatality of the day.

In the end, she led the last group back to the portal with only a small broken bone to show for the outing. Roksana had been angrier about being tossed than the fracture, though, and she'd killed the Knight responsible as Alex had distracted it a few moments later. An angry gulp of potion had fixed the bone, and then Alex had sent them through with the same instructions, though she said the last group could probably wait for their sparring until after they'd eaten.

She watched the last of the E ranks disappear and sighed. It hadn't been too bad of a day; the real test was going to be tomorrow, when they woke with aching limbs and sore wounds—and had to do it all again.

[Priority Objective Completed]

Alex nodded to herself and glanced at the ground in front of the portal. She saw a mark that Joanna had left with her sword; the Adept had already apparently finished things. There was a crossbow bolt stuck in the ground as well; Clara was done. Apparently, Sam hadn't finished yet. For a moment, Alex debated whether she should wait for him.

Then she shrugged and stepped through the portal. He would be back soon enough. For now, she let the light take her…