The next morning her sisters were back, having slept at their home the previous night. Beth opened the gate for them and Neph, Soph taking notes on her communicator as she very carefully observed the entire process. Beth wished she could slow it down so Soph could get more notes, but the gate only took a couple seconds to fully form and there wasn't anything she could do about that. She wasn't sure the skill could even be interrupted considering how special it seemed, let alone have her intentionally flub it or something like that.

"So, we just go in now?" Kim asked, looking at the arch slightly skeptically.

"Yep," Beth answered simply, demonstrating by walking through the gate. The rest of the group followed her in, everybody there for the demonstration.

"It really is like a dungeon. Or even more, considering there's a sun in the sky and everything," Soph muttered, looking around in surprise.

"Not the first time I've used a power like this, but it's crazy that you've got one," Kim said, nodding at Beth.

"Just luck, really," Beth replied with a shrug.

"Some hellishly good luck," Soph muttered, looking at the enemies around them.

"Well, pick a beast and start going," Beth said, crossing her arms as she looked at her sisters, cocking her hip slightly as she leaned her weight more on her left leg.

"Not going to dive in?" Kim asked.

"I know they're twenty levels up on us, but Sera, Blood, and I need enemies close to a hundred level up to provide a challenge until we get into the two hundreds," Beth explained. "I mean, you felt how hard I punched. You think these guys can withstand a hit like that?"

"True," Kim said with a nod. "Well, we'll get to it."

"Cool. Blood's gonna stay in here with you three for now. Sera and I have somewhere to be," Beth said.

"Oh? What's up?" Kim asked.

"Don't know that it's exactly fair to have you two use this and Sabs not," Beth said with a small shrug.

"Oooh. Yeah, good luck," Kim said, adjusting some of the straps of her armor before walking towards one of the beasts.

"Alright, let's go," Beth said to Sera with a small sigh.

"You're not marching to your death," Sera said with a laugh as they left the gate, leaving the others to their grinding.

"No, it's just…complicated," Beth said with another, deeper sigh.

"Isn't life?" Sera asked with a chuckle.

"You're no help," Beth said, though it was in a joking tone.

They left the suite and headed out of the building. Kim had told Beth that Sabs had gone home before them yesterday and she had informed Beth that the girl was still there this morning, spending some time in the neighborhood. Beth led Sera out of the CRA and back to her home, finding that they were there almost instantly; it was true that something you dreaded always seemed to arrive much faster.

The gate guard called out a challenge to them when they approached but went quiet when Beth simply opened the front gate without their help. There were quite a few people out and about, which was slightly surprising, but she supposed it wasn't that unusual now. Nobody in the development had anywhere to go for, well, anything, really. They all lived there and now they basically all worked there and even were starting a project to grow food there. Some of the guards or a couple other people went out in groups for training and leveling, and a couple people were pushing for a little more like Beth and her sisters and used the CRA, but most people's entire world was reduced down to the town.

Beth led the way down the street and towards Sabs house, nodding to people as they passed, though she noticed they were all basically entirely focused on Sera. A seven-and-a-half feet tall dragon woman with long horns, a very long tail, and scales and weird eyes was still likely the strangest thing many of the people taking shelter in the town had ever seen. It was fortunate that it was clear that Sera was not a threat, combined with the lack of a desire to fight most of the residents harbored, as Beth didn't want to have to smack around any of her parents' neighbors.

They eventually arrived at the house in question, though Beth couldn't be sure Sabs was there right now. She figured she'd try that first and then ask around, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door, careful not to knock the door off the hinges with just a tap of her knuckles. She could hear some movement from inside the house almost right away, waiting only a handful of seconds for Sabs's mother to open the door.

"Ah, hello…" she said.

"Uh, hi," Beth said, noticing that Sabs's mother was much more focused on Sera than her.

"I take it you're here to see Sabs?" Sabs's mother asked.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yeah, that's right," Beth said, rubbing at her neck briefly.

"Hold on, I'll get her-" Sabs's mom started before she was interrupted.

"Beth?" Sabs voice came from the house, the woman herself on the stairs, which were visible from the front door.

"Sabs. Uh, you got a minute?" Beth asked, looking down and to the side.

"Yeah, sure. Uh, let me grab something, first," Sabs answered, flowing back up the stairs only to reappear a handful of seconds later. "Alright, let's, uh, head out."

Sabs patted her mother on the shoulder as she passed before shutting the front door behind her, standing right in front of Beth with Sera slightly off to the side. She looked Beth over, looking her up and down before settling on her face, a slight quirk of her eyebrow asking a silent question. Beth noted that Sabs had a new scar, small, but cutting across the eyebrow, shallow enough it hadn't fully hit her eyelid but left a little mark on her right cheek.

"Must've been a helluva injury to leave a scar," Beth said, stepping back from Sabs's front door and tilting her head.

"Almost lost the eye, but healing skills make things different," Sabs answered with a little too casual shrug. "So, uh, who's this?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, that's Sera," Beth said, seeing Sabs jerk her thumb at the dragon girl. "She's, uh, my girlfriend."

"Oh, uh, really?" Sabs asked, stopping on the street. They had been walking over to an area with tables to sit at near the old community center, now town hall, and the short woman looked over the dragon girl. "I guess, uh, height isn't a big thing."

"Uh, I mean, height's not, like, disqualifying, or anything," Beth replied, shrugging before continuing on to the tables.

"So, you're her previous flame?" Sera asked, though there was no rancor in her voice. The three of them were seated at a picnic table, a heavy thing made of old wood, with Sera and Beth next to each other while Sabs was across from them.

"Well, something like that," Sabs answered. "We, uh, weren't really great together. Uh, not that we didn't get along well, but I couldn't do what she could do. And her being out doing all the time while I still had to train or rest or whatever, uh, it just caused problems. I think maybe we were both a little too immature."

"I can accept that," Beth said with a sigh. "Look, I don't want to rehash the past or anything, not here and now. I think we had a good thing, at least at first, and then we didn't. Shit happens. I don't have any hard feelings if you don't."

"Sure, I've gotten over it," Sabs said, looking back and forth between Beth and Sera.

"Don't look at me, I'm just here for moral support," Sera said with a laugh. "I wouldn't really mind even if there was still something there."

"Really?! That's, uh, rather bold to say," Sabs exclaimed with some surprise.

"She's very, uh, open about everything," Beth said with a smile. "She even encouraged me to hook up with a greater demoness."

Sabs did an actual spit take, having just taken a sip of water. "What?! When?! How?! While you two were together?!"

"Yeah, she joined in for the first time," Beth said, jerking her thumb at Sera, though she wasn't able to keep a totally straight face, blushing fairly intensely as she discussed her extra-curricular activities.

"S-she, uh, what?" Sabs asked, totally flummoxed by that point.

"Listen, we don't need to get into all that," Beth said, elbowing Sera in the ribs. "I wanted to say sorry, for the part I had in what went down. I could have acted a lot better, and I really get that now."

"Hey, it's in the past," Sabs said with a shrug. "I definitely could have been better about the whole thing so, uh, I'm sorry as well."

"Now kiss and make out, er, up," Sera said with a wicked grin until Beth elbowed her even harder, causing the whole bench and table setup to jump.

"Anyway, I also didn't think it was fair to exclude you, so I came up to get you," Beth said. "I'm giving Kim and Soph an opportunity to do something to get some easy levels, and I figured you shouldn't be left out."

"Oh, well, uh, sure," Sabs replied. "But, uh, this isn't going to take forever, is it?"

"No, nothing like that," Beth said with a quick shake of her head. "You can be back home by dinner time, if that's what you want."

"Oh, uh, okay. Let me just go tell my parents. Oh, uh, where are we going?" Sabs asked.

"Just the CRA Hall," Beth said with a quick wave of her hand.

"Oh, okay, one sec," Sabs said, hopping up and jogging back to her family's house.

"And you," Beth said once she was gone, giving Sera a firm poke.

"What? She's really cute; I can see why you dated her originally," Sera said with a laugh. "Too bad that there's still some baggage there; we could have had a pretty good time."

"You're so bad," Beth said under her breath, but still leaned up and gave Sera a kiss on the cheek. "Anyway, come on, let's get up."

They hopped up just as Sabs came back, signaling for the shorter woman to follow. Looking at her, Beth realized she must have spent a good bit of time in dilated time as well, as she should be about twenty-three, but looked a bit more mature. Of course, leveling and growing in power did increase longevity by at least a bit, and it wasn't like Sabs was or looked ancient, but she did have just a bit more mature look to her face. Honestly, Sabs had such a smooth face, apart from the new scar, and with its heart-shaped qualities, it made her look very cute even counting a decent handful more years had passed for her.

They returned to the CRA Hall, Beth leading the way up to their suite and letting them in, whereupon Sabs got her first look at the gate. She cautiously approached and examined it, finding nothing dangerous, but still a bit wary of a strange portal in a place there ostensibly shouldn't be one. After going over it thoroughly with whatever skills she had for sensing such things, she rounded on Beth and Sera, clearly wanting an explanation.

"Power of mine," Beth led with before she could say anything. "Lets me basically simulate a dungeon, as well as add time dilation. Kim and Soph are in there with Blood, along with our current fourth member, Neph. I figured, if we're gonna spend some time allowing Neph to level for at least another few weeks if not months, we should offer it to Kim and Soph. And if they get a chance, no reason not to offer it to you, with you being around the same level as well."

"I see," Sabs said with a slight frown, examining the gate again. "It'll be good experience, and I'm better with my weapons than Kim and Soph are, so we'll see how it goes."

"Oh, and Neph, our fourth, has picked up daggers as well," Beth said. "Maybe you could give her some tips or train with her or whatever. She'd definitely be super happy, though she's always super happy."

"Well, that sounds kinda nice. I was hoping to bend John's ear a little bit, anyway," Sabs said, pondering.

"She's gotten a little bit of training from John as well, so you're in good company," Beth said before gesturing at the gate. "Shall we?"

"Sure," Sabs said, firming up her resolve and stepping through.

Beth and Sera followed, and they watched as Sabs went through basically the same process that Kim and Soph had done just earlier. She looked around at everything, including the sun in the sky, before scanning the enemies. Well, there weren't many beasts close by anymore, after the others had gone to work, but the area was flat and they all had very good vision. She turned to look at Beth afterwards, a question in her eyes.

"This is it," Beth said with a shrug. "Let's find the others."

"How does it work?" Sabs asked.

"I don't know how the power works overall. When we're in the gate, though, it creates a big area, like, a massive area with enemies in rings. They go single enemies, pairs, single enemies of a higher level, pairs, triples, single enemies of higher level, etc. I'm not sure if there even is a limit, but at some point, it becomes kinda annoying, when you're, like, fifteen hours of running from the gate. If we're at the point where we need to go that far to fight correct-level enemies, I just shut the gate and open it with different settings," Beth explained.

"Amazing. And there's time dilation, too?" Sabs asked as they found the others clearing a small group, Blood just standing back and watching.

"Ten-to-one right now. That's the best I can do, though I can do everything from normal time up to that," Beth explained.

"Ten-to-one isn't the best, certainly, but it's also not bad," Sabs said with a nod.

"Yeah, my family's goes up to or even over a hundred-to-one, but it's crazy expensive," said Sera.

"Your family?" Sabs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She's basically the princess of the Black Dragon Clan in the Milky Way," Beth clarified.

"Holy shit!" Sabs exclaimed.

"It's not a big deal," Sera shrugged. "My family think's I'm a, uh, black sheep, anyway."

"What's that mean?" asked Kim, the others having finished their fight.

"I do controversial shit a lot that makes the clan elders upset, but I'm not breaking any, like, laws or anything," Sera said with an even bigger shrug. "So, all they can do is yell at me, which I mostly ignore, so they can't really do anything, basically."

"Sounds a bit familiar," said Soph, glancing at Beth.

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean," Beth retorted with a slight frown.

"Enough. Let's focus on the beasts," Kim said.

"I am," Soph replied with another glance at Beth.

"You're still a brat, you know that?" Beth fired back.

"Lovely to be back together again," Kim said with a sigh.

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