[Congratulations!, Alex the First, is the first human to reach level 50. Your race is now fully adopted into the System. Grow, prosper, and journey to greatness.]

The notification made me pause, my fingers poised above the tablet and the frustrating data.

"Alex," I whispered to myself, wondering about the notification. Potential possibilities crossed my mind, but only one made the most sense, given the people who'd traveled on the colony ship in the beginning.

A smile crossed my face as my fingers tapped on the tablet.

Of course she'd lived. I'd created her, hadn't I?

My laughter filled the room, as the notification completely distracted me from the most recent useless data from the glowing screen.

Yet, my laughter cut off suddenly as another thought came to me.

If I had her, I could figure out what was going wrong with these new creations.

I stared at the creatures in the artificial wombs, dying and not yet realizing they were dying.

First, I needed to convince the others she was required. Then solving this wouldn't take long at all. Somehow, she'd survived after all.

"It's time for a reunion, my dearest daughter."

###

My pocket suddenly glowed, and I yanked out the communication marble.

Abby's voice rang out from the marble, "Alex, heads up. We're having a little problem with beetles."

Then her voice stopped, before another started.

"It's more than a little problem, and we could use some help."

I started rushing down the tunnel toward the opening where hopefully the others were located. The light from the marble went out, and then came back.

"We have defenses up, but we don't understand where they're coming from. Maybe you can figure it out."

I slid the marble into my pocket and picked up the pace just a little. Hearing Abby's concerned voice filled me with dread, since I didn't know if she was just trying to not panic me or what. Last time the world had ended for everyone I knew, I couldn't help at all. Hell, I couldn't stay awake.

This time it would be different.

Fucking bugs. I knew I'd needed to check them out, that something had been strange with them. I thought I had time, though.

The cavern opened up, but no one was inside. Smoke lazily drifted in the air from coals in the firepit, but the fire had gone out. Sounds of talking came from outside, and I hurried out into the sunlight.

I saw my father first, and slowed down my quick pace. Most of my worry vanished, along with my concern. Though he didn't notice me. Not yet.

Abby caught my eye first, and she smiled brightly. Then frowned, glancing at my clothing, her eyes growing wider and wider.

My father turned, and I felt the use of Insight. He frowned.

"Hey, what's this about beetles?" I asked, stopping next to him and trying to not appear like I'd just raced out of the tunnel all worried.

"I can't read you at all," he muttered, shaking his head. "Level 50…"

I scratched the back of my head at the lackluster response to my question, and stomped on the worry inside my chest. Everything looked fine, though in the distance a new wooden tower about three stories tall stood next to the northern gate. Clouds dotted the sky, but they were the white, fluffy type.

"Well, yes," started Abby, she motioned to the north. "They just started coming in waves. They almost got their hands on poor Randy."

"They did get their hands on him, actually. We had to kill the thing to get him out of its arms," added my father, shaking his head. "They're coming from some weird hole in the ground. Sometimes waves, sometimes not."

"I bet the levels are helping," I said, wondering about the grinding.

"Yes, and no." He shook his head. "It's like the more we face the same type of enemy, the less experience we get for it. As soon as the next round returns from the dungeon, we'll send them up to take shifts, but they don't seem to be reducing in number at all. If anything, the waves are getting bigger."

"But now that you're here, we can send Hammy in with the rest of them, so they can finish the quest."

A dark shape flew through the opening in the fence, chirping frantically.

"Dengu, buddy! Good to see you!"

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"Alpha, bugs! So many…"

We all turned toward the north where a red flag waved in the air.

"Shit! I'll get John." My father took off toward the workshop, while Abby marched to the northern gate.

Dengu and I quickly followed, even as he panted.

"If you follow the path, you won't miss it," said Abby. "Watch out for the traps."

I took off racing down the well-beaten path through the ferns and bushes. Dengu chased after me, but I quickly left him behind. The first pit trap stood out like a clumpy attempt to fool a toddler, and I leaped up to bypass it. The jump took me across the pit with ease, not even triggering my leaping ability. My landing was exactly where I wanted.

"Holy shit…" I whispered to myself as I kept going. All the others were easy to see, and I made it to the clear-cut area without a problem. Two three-story tall towers stood apart, with the trail right down the middle heading to an even bigger clearing.

Giant bugs poured through a tunnel opening near some boulders.

[Armored Lugger, Level 39, Prey, Unknown.]

[Armored Lugger, Level 45, Prey, Unknown.]

Shots fired from both towers, with the one on the right rapidly fired. Hammy stood on top firing an enormous gun connected to the tower's railing. He targeted the higher-level beetles.

[Hammy, Mech Riflemen, Rapid Shot, Level 38, Prey, Friend.]

He'd grown several levels since I'd entered the dungeon, and his class had changed. Good for him! The changes appeared to do good for him.

"It's still coming!" came from him.

The level 45 beetle danced around the shots from the tower and headed directly toward Mary, who wasn't high enough level to take it.

[Mary, Hunter, Bleed, Level 31, Prey, Friend.]

It passed a white line made of rocks and Mary stabbed at it with her spear.

Then I struck.

My spear slammed through its side. White frost branched out from the area covering its shell before I thought about attacking it without announcing myself.

Mary jerked in shock at my sudden appearance.

I yanked back, and the spear retreated the five feet, but the beetle still stood, swaying on its feet. Narrowing my eyes at the creature, I frowned. This time I hit it as hard as I could.

Green ooze and bits of armor flew into the air as my spear exploded out the other side like a gunshot.

[You have gained experience from battle.]

It took only seconds, and I felt fine. Even better than fine, I wanted to do it again. Test more of my abilities and understand how ranking up had changed things. My body felt different when I moved. My reaction time had increased so significantly, it was almost like when I'd first unlocked a class.

I ignored most of the beetles, searching for those that were high enough level to be worth it. One other immediately drew my attention.

[Armored Watcher, Awareness, Level 46, Prey, Unknown.]

It hid near the hole, in the shadows of a large boulder, just staring at the scene. Instead of extra legs, two antennae grew from the back of its head, sticking straight up. I launched myself across the line, using my leaping ability.

Air rushed past me as I landed on top of the creature, two of its legs cracking, my spear embedding itself into its back. I thrust down with all of my might focused on lava. For a moment it tried to throw me off, but then it stilled as its insides bubbled. The wave of energy that it took to leap and use my spear to the max made me wobble slightly, but it had been an epic attack.

[You have gained experience from battle.]

More beetles climbed out of the hole, which was much closer to me now, but none of them paid me any attention. The shadows hung around me and I watched the levels for anything that it made sense for me to attack.

Buzzing came from the air as the shuttle did a fly-by, sending a round of bullets across the wide-open area. It chewed up beetles by the dozen. It did a second pass, adding it's weight to the firing from Hammy, and between them they took care of almost all of the bugs in this wave. Denver waved a green flag, and the shuttle turned back south.

I waited another couple of moments, as Mary and Cass killed what was left on the field. Then I grabbed the Watcher beetle by a leg, dragging it behind me across the churned-up dirt covered in bug parts.

Lenna and Dengu stood between the two towers. Lenna's eyes locked on me as I stepped out into daylight. Mary retreated and joined them, as Hammy headed down the ladder. Denver and Cass stayed in the other tower, keeping watch.

Several sets of eyes used Insight as I dragged the carcass through the broken beetles and dirt. Once I crossed the line, I dropped it behind me.

"Hey guys," I said with a smile.

"Congratulations," said Lenna, bowing her head. "Welcome, Alex, to the world. May you never stop until you reach the stars."

Dengu chirped twice in agreement.

"You're not supposed to cross the line," said Hammy, his face torn between being happy and concerned. "I might have shot you!"

"Sorry, about that…" I pointed to the beetle I brought over. "What do you see when you use Insight?"

The attention from Lenna and Hammy went to the beetle, while Mary kept looking at me.

"Thanks for the save," she mumbled.

"Of course, though I bet you had it. I just wanted to test my new strength."

"Level 50, here I come." She shook her head with a grin. "I need to get a quest from the quest board, but nothing on there makes sense or is nearby."

I frowned, then opened the quest board to see what she meant. Nothing listed there was for or from us.

"How do I post quests?"

[Would you like to post quests from Lakeside Landing?]

"Yes, I would."

Several seconds later I had fifteen quests for killing 10 beetles each for Lakeside Landing. The reward listed was citizenship in Lakeside Landing, or a heal using a Lakeside Landing healing crystal.

The quests weren't hard, but would take some effort, so the rewards didn't need to be too big. At first, I tried setting no reward, but it wouldn't let me. I didn't know how Noseen had set up his reward of information, but decided not to try to figure it out right now.

"That beetle is wrong," said Lenna. She took a step back and rubbed her hands up her arms. "The antennas aren't natural."

"Yeah, and it had a skill called Awareness…"

This time even Mary narrowed her eyes. "Who'd want to watch us?"

"Not sure, but I'm going to find out." I turned back to study the hole in the distance, frowning. "I'm going to get a closer look at where they're coming from."

"Everything, okay?" called a voice from the path. My father marched in our direction with that look on his face.

"Just going to get some more information on these beetles." I headed across the no-man's-land, but nothing moved near the hole. Once in the shadows of the hole, I brought out my spear and crept closer. A boulder had been pushed away which originally covered the top of the hole. The dirt opening continued for several feet.

Something tingled at the edge of my senses.

[You have found a rift, would you like to claim it for Lakeside Landing?]

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