"Well, that's, ah, a lot to process," Malcolm said, seeming a bit shell-shocked.

  "I'm in," Zack said with a nod. "Especially if I can take a break at some point to come back."

  "We're not gonna kidnap you, Zack. You can stop and check on the town whenever you want," Beth said, rolling her eyes quite heavily.

  "Then I'm in. Those pathetic privates can muddle through for a few days on their own. I don't think they'll burn the whole damn town down in that time," Zack said with a grunt, standing and adjusting his belt and shirt.

  "Any other takers?" Beth asked, looking at her parents and Malcolm.

  "Sorry, sweetie, but the rest of us can't just step away for a lot of time right now," Thomas said with a shake of his head.

  "You should do something about that," Sera cut in again. "A lot of people in the universe lead groups, whether it's just a village or an interstellar empire, through their strength and power. There's always going to be more paperwork to do; sometimes, you just have to say 'fuck it' and go out and level up."

  "I would hope the rest of the universe isn't that barbaric," Rachel said a little bit primly.

  "Most of it's fine," Sera said with a shrug. "But the problem is, what happens when someone with a strong leader comes here and wants your stuff? Even if they're not going to just directly fight you, a group with a strong leader can outmaneuver a group with a weak leader in a dozen ways. Strength is a type of power that you need to get used to accumulating."

  "Well, sure, but we just can't right now," Thomas said, glancing at the others. "I think, if Zack gets a lot stronger, that should be good for now. It would also be nice to have the person in charge of the guards be quite powerful, as well."

  "Well, I'm ready," Zack said, walking over to their group.

  "Anything else?" Beth asked. When everyone else shook their heads, she said, "We'll take him to level, and you might not see us for a week or so. I doubt Zack can stay away longer than that, though I'd like to just rush him to his rebirth."

  "We'll see," Zack muttered.

  "Will you be going off-world?" Thomas asked, glancing between her and Zack.

  "No, no, we'll be local. Don't worry," Beth said, shaking her head.

  "Okay, then I'm relieved," Thomas said with a nod.

  "Alright, let's get moving," Beth said, turning to led the way back out of the city hall.

  "See you later, sweetie, and stay safe," Thomas called after the, getting a lazy wave in response.

  "Where to?" Zack asked as they left the town hall.

  "Since all's quiet on the western front, we'll head back to the CRA Hall," Beth said, Blood taking the lead when she was done talking.

  "And we're not going off-world?" Zack asked, still suspicious.

  "No, no, you'll see," Beth said with a big grin the former military man didn't quite like.

  Zack kept up with the group without complaining, though Beth knew the only reason he was able to match their pace was they were going slow in consideration of Neph. She was intending a bit of a two birds, one stone strategy for the next week or two, and would explain when they were in the Hall. Zack, surprising her, had a Copper Emblem, allowing him to move beyond the lobby without anybody asking any questions. Of course, nobody would have really questioned them since it was her group and the Senior Enforcers knew them quite well, but it was still nice. They entered the suite after a moment and Blood immediately jumped on the couch while Sera leaned against the back of it.

  "So, now what?" Zack asked.

  "Now, the fun begins," Beth said with a laugh, activating her gate power. She set it to the most boring of settings but, once again, they were focused on quickly grinding levels, not getting in training against diverse opponents.

  "What the fuck?!" Zack exclaimed, leaping back and drawing a mace from his belt and the shield from his back.

  "Hahaha, never gets old," Beth laughed at his reaction, grinning when he shot her a sour look.

  "What is this?" he asked, approaching the portal and studying it intently.

  "What we just talked about. Time in there passes a lot faster than time out here, so you can spend ten hours in there and only one passes out here. It's also full of hobgoblins right now, so it's a perfect place to train," Beth explained.

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  "And you can just…do this?" he asked, looking at her.

  "It's a power I have," she answered with a nod. "But, enough questions. Seeing is believing. Neph, come on."

  Beth led the way into the gate, with Sera, Zack, and Neph following behind. Blood was too intent on her nap to join in, but her help wasn't really needed anyway. They emerged onto a large plain with a bright sun shining high overhead in a cloudless sky. The area around the gate was clear, but they could see a number of hobgoblins in the near distance in a circle around the open area. The beasts had weapons and armor, though it was all rather crude stuff.

  "Those are level one-twenty," Zack commented. "Not much help to me."

  "They ain't for you," Beth said with a snort. "Neph needs to level, and she can do it around the gate here. You, we'll take further out."

  "Further out?" he asked.

  "The levels increase with distance," Sera said. "We'll take you a way out, and find you something at or above your level to fight."

  "Roger," Zack said with a nod.

  "Neph, you good?" asked Beth, giving the bee a raised-brow look.

  "I'm fine, sis," Neph said with a grin. "Go ahead, I'll get started."

  "Okay, just let me know," Beth commented, leading the way further out.

  She took Zack out quite far, with Sera tagging along with them, occasionally killing a hobgoblin. She saw Zack's reaction to the first one, even considering it was low-level, as Sera struck out with her spear and vaporized the beast's head. She wasn't able to see his reaction the next time, but she could imagine it when a level one-thirty hobgoblin rushed her and she grabbed its skull in one gauntlet and crushed it, tossing what was left of the body to the side.

  Eventually, they arrived at the target location, somewhere where there were level one hundred eighty-five beasts all over the place. Beth gestured for Zack to go ahead, and she and Sera watched for a little as he fought. He was pretty solid, though very generic, something Beth would have described as textbook. Blocking most attacks with his shield, looking for good opportunities to return hits with his mace, slowly crushing limbs before pulverizing a head or starting to bash apart a body. He wasn't particularly fast, but his fights were safe and steady, and he expended very little energy for each kill. He really excelled in fights with multiple enemies, able to keep up a very strong defense while slowly battering the enemies apart with his heavy mace.

  After about an hour, Beth sent Sera back to check on Neph, just to make sure she was alright. She remained to watch Zack, who only needed a short break after the first two hours before he was fighting again. Beth was quite impressed with his fortitude, used to a lot of others they encountered being rather slow and weak and easily tired. Zack was like a machine in comparison, steadily and methodically working through dozens, then hundreds of encounters. It got to be an issue when he was tired and ready for sleep, Beth remembering he didn't have a storage item with a bed conveniently socked away within.

  "Look, I have an extra," Beth said to him.

  "An extra what?" Zack asked, confusion evident in his gruff voice.

  "Bed," Beth replied, making the bed appear on the grass.

  "Good God, where the hell did that come from?" Zack asked with a start, staring at the large bed.

  "I have my ways," Beth replied with a shrug. "You're free to use it. We can also leave, but you lose the time dilation effect."

  "You aren't gonna stick around, are you?" Zack asked, glancing between her and the bed.

  "Oh no, I'm gonna leave. I'll check in on you later," Beth said, turning and trotting back toward the gate with a wave over her shoulder.

  She found Neph still working, killing beasts in the area around the gate, though she was basically through what she could do with any kind of ease. She was not quite high enough level, or with enough stats, to easily kill things at the level she was fighting right now. They could leave Zack for a while, as he had plenty to fight, so that's what they did, leaving the gate and heading back into the room. They hadn't even been gone two hours at that point, so it was basically just a little before lunch time. Beth got a little bit of food and a big mug of hunting spice while the others did whatever they liked. Blood was still napping, Sera relaxed and watched the wallscreen, and Neph lay on top of Blood while reading something about alchemy.

  Beth hopped up after an hour, taking a fresh mug of her favorite drink into the portal with her, looking around at the empty grassland. Neph had done quite a good job of clearing out the area around the portal, and Beth trotted towards where she had left Zack what would have been over ten hours ago, for him. She found her bed after about ten minutes, right where she had left it, though there was no Zack anywhere to be found. She returned the bed to her necklace, thinking that she would have to wash the sheets soon, before trotting out after the old soldier. He had left a pretty clear trail to follow, but she didn't even need that, as she just skipped out a couple rings of beasts and trotted around until she found him fighting a small group. He had just gotten a level, by the look of it, but was continuing with the same smooth and fluid grace he had been using.

  "Doin' alright?" she asked as she stopped a couple dozen feet away.

  "Just-hah!-fine," he grunted, smashing a hobgoblin's head.

  "Need anything?" she asked.

  "Think I'm fine," he grunted, fighting with the last beast now that the other's brain was pulp.

  "Hey, I'll leave the bed with you for now. If you need something else, just come get us. I'll pop back in a day and see what's happening. We'll probably reset then," Beth said.

  "Well, I do need food," Zack said as he crippled the last beast, causing it to fall. He stepped in and used some kind of skill to smash his mace down on the fallen beast's head very quickly, splattering it with no effort at all.

  "Yeah, we should get you some kind of storage item, but there aren't any here," Beth muttered. "Here, I'll leave a box of rations with you, and these canteens generate infinite water."

  "Infinite water? Damn, could have used a couple of those in the Middle East," Zack muttered, taking a swig after he finished speaking.

  "Just keep going for a couple days and then we'll reset. Oh, I'll leave a couple potions with you, too," Beth said, dumping some potions on the bed.

  "Why do we have to reset? Other than me getting tired and needing a shower?" he asked.

  "Neph's not strong enough to fight so far up-level yet, so we'll reset the gate to regenerate the lower-leveled enemies for her. She got another two levels while fighting this time, so it'll get better for her as we keep going. You can also take a shower and clean up when we reset," Beth said. "Any questions?"

  "I got food, water, rest area, and a mission. And I have a clear path to evac, unless the portal changes places?" he said.

  "Portal stays the exact same place," Beth answered with a shake of her head.

  "Then I'm good, soldier. Go take care of your business," he said.

  "I'll be back," Beth told him, turning and taking off so fast she was little more than a blur to the old soldier.

  They established a routine after that, one that had longer intervals as it went, just as Beth thought. Neph could stay in the gate longer each time, and Zack was perfectly happy to put his head down and just kill for hours at a time, taking to the fighting quite well. They let him run rampant for the equivalent of a couple weeks before stopping for a slightly longer break. He cleaned up, including shaving, before heading back to town for a few hours to check in with the group on the home front. He had gained ten levels in his time with Beth and the girls, so it was somewhat surprising for the others when he stopped in to check.

  After making sure his guards hadn't kicked over a lamp and started a barn fire while he was training, he returned to their suite at the CRA, where they started the routine again. Beth spent a good bit of time over the next couple weeks working on her blacksmithing, only a little miffed at not being able to do it in the gate while Neph and Zack were leveling. Still, they were basically on a bit of a break now, but that would end in another couple weeks, once they had Zack all squared away. The four of them would then be leveling even more crazily, with Neph able to fight around the gate and the others moving much deeper in to find challenging opponents.

  Zack was eventually done with his push to level cap, hitting two hundred in a bit over two weeks objective time. Beth had him stop and then asked him about his list of items, which he hadn't even realized had popped up at first. He listed off a bunch of things, but all of it was fairly easy to acquire. He needed beast cores, weapons, armor, and a few rare materials that Beth sourced with a single teleport before returning with the whole stock. They took Zack to a training room to have him rebirth, watching over him as he returned to level one. It took the old soldier a bit more time to get used to having his stats back at a fraction of what they had been, but once he was adjusted, Beth took him to the ant dungeon and set it to a lower level, letting him do all the killing. He leveled quite rapidly, to the point where a couple days were enough that he could once again make use of the gate.

  Once Zack had reached level one-ten, they stopped the routine and dropped him off in the town. Beth offered to have someone else come with them and level, but the others were in the midst of the expansion project, having decided both where to expand the walls and where to build the greenhouse. They had even, working through Jaq, sourced the labor to do at least some of the work, the enchanting and magical work in particular. Beth and the others left them to it, returning to the CRA where they would be starting their own earnest leveling grind.