A low, resonant hum pulsed through the conference room, and the air felt charged, like the moment before a lightning strike. My heart thundered as we stood transfixed before the swirling vortex. Electric-blue sparks crackled at its edges, distorting the fluorescent lighting overhead.

  Claire’s voice was the first to cut the oppressive silence. “Get ready.” She glanced around, eyes calm but intense, a practiced steel behind them. “We don’t know what’s coming, but we know it’s not friendly.”

  “‘Not friendly’ is an understatement,” Trevor mumbled, gripping the chair leg he’d found earlier. He cast a worried look my way, as if mentally verifying I was steady on my feet this time.

  I nodded back at him, my headache only a dull throb now—a small mercy from whatever partial integration I’d endured. My Enhanced Neural Threshold flickered at the edges of my senses, amplifying the faint crackle of mana in the air.

  Barry readied his stance, a sturdy metal rod clenched in his fists. Izzy hovered behind him, eyes darting nervously between the portal and the exit, clutching that battered first-aid kit like it was a lucky charm. Ned had grabbed a battered file cabinet drawer as a makeshift shield, his face pale with dread. Even Gerald, typically bristling with synergy talk, lingered near the corner, anxious energy radiating off him.

  Jacob edged closer to Trevor, whispering, “Any chance we can shut that thing off with a breaker switch or something?”

  Trevor grimaced. “Doubt it. Unless you see a big off-button labeled Eldritch Portal.”

  Whoosh. The vortex roiled, and a swirl of shadow and light coalesced at its center. My stomach dropped. Here we go.

  [System Notification: Enemy Spawn Imminent. Time Remaining: 11:50]

  “Enemy spawn,” I muttered, reading the line across my holographic panel. “That’s so… direct.”

  Barry grunted. “Direct or not, we handle it.”

  A final surge of energy flickered. The swirling dark parted like a curtain, and from its depths, a small, crystalline shape darted out—then another, then half a dozen more.

  My jaw clenched as I recognized them. Beetles. Tiny, menacing things about the size of a housecat. Their shells sparkled with an otherworldly sheen, each movement accompanied by a faint clicking of serrated mandibles. They spread out across the conference room’s carpet, scuttling at alarming speed.

  “Those… are bugs?” Ned’s voice rose, pen tapping forgotten. “Crystalline… bugs?”

  [System Notification: Enemy Identified—Lumic Beetle]

  A beep chimed, and I glimpsed the System panel:

  Trevor forced a grin. “They’re basically cockroaches on steroids. Great.”

  The beetles hissed, scattering across the floor in erratic patterns. One lunged toward Barry, mandibles snapping. He swung his metal rod with brutal efficiency, smashing the creature aside. The impact sent it skidding across the carpet, shell cracking under the blow.

  Another lunged at me. I swung my chair leg—a battered chunk of wood—and connected with a thud. My heart pounded, adrenaline surging as the creature let out a shrill click.

  [Enemy HP: 4/10. Finish the job, newbie!] the System snarked in my mind.

  “Newbie?” I growled under my breath, swinging again. The beetle shattered, dissolving into a small burst of glowing particles that rained down like digital confetti.

  [Enemy Defeated: Lumic Beetle. XP: +1. XP Progress to Level 2: 1/2 XP.]

  [Notification: Loot Extraction in Progress…]

  [Loot Acquired: 1 Copper Coin. Congratulations, you’re marginally less broke!]

  I shot a glance around the room. “Focus! They’re small, but fast.”

  Barry had already slammed his rod into another beetle, which dissolved in a flash of faintly glowing shards. Claire snatched up a fallen chair leg for herself, her posture unwavering. She smashed a beetle in one swift motion, its shell cracking with a loud pop.

  Flash!

  A sudden burst of light erupted from the beetle near Ned, forcing him to stumble back, blinking spots out of his eyes. Izzy let out a shriek, trying to help him up. A second beetle scuttled forward, claws aiming for Ned’s ankles.

  I lunged, heart in my throat, slamming the chair leg down. The impact jarred my arms, but the beetle squealed, HP bar flickering to zero. It dissolved into a swirl of lights, dropping coins and a rolled-up parchment. Ned exhaled shakily, gratitude flooding his features.

  [Enemy Defeated: Lumic Beetle. XP: +1. XP Progress to Level 2: 2/2 XP. Level Up Locked. Awaiting System Access.]

  [Notification: Loot Extraction in Progress…]

  [Loot Acquired: 1 Copper Coin. Congratulations, you're now 1% richer than broke.]

  Wait—did that say Level Up? My heart jolted. I can level up? Like in a game? A swirl of new excitement warred with the immediate danger.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Th-thanks, Ethan,” Ned mumbled, adjusting his makeshift shield.

  Trevor, on the other side of the room, took a swing with a mop handle he must’ve scavenged, abandoning his chair leg. “Of all weapons,” he muttered, catching a beetle mid-lunge. The creature reeled, mandibles clacking. Trevor let out a semi-hysterical laugh. “Guess corporate housekeeping skills are the real synergy.”

  Ding! A shared System note scrolled across my vision:

  [System Notification: Team Efficiency Up! Group synergy detected. Party bonus activated.]

  “Party bonus?” Izzy repeated, blinking. She still clutched the first-aid kit, but at least she wasn’t paralyzed with fear. “Are we… a party?”

  Trevor’s grin turned wry. “If this is a party, the theme is Trauma in the Office.”

  Claire, dispatching a wounded beetle in front of her, offered a short nod. “We’ll take any advantage. If synergy is what it calls it, so be it.” Then she barked, “Stick together. Don’t let them single anyone out.”

  We pressed the advantage, moving in a rough semicircle. Barry led from the left, I covered the center with Trevor, and Claire took the right flank with Ned and Izzy behind her. Jacob hovered near Ned, trying to wave away a particularly insistent beetle with a bent piece of metal.

  Gerald, ironically, found himself behind me, brandishing a snapped conference table leg in stiff terror. He looked like he was having an existential crisis—this was definitely not the synergy metric he’d had in mind.

  Another wave of bright flashes danced across the room—beetles unleashing their defensive bursts. My Enhanced Neural Threshold flared, making the sudden brilliance borderline painful. I gritted my teeth, ignoring the jab of headache. Focus, Ethan. Survive first, whine later.

  Trevor said, “At least I can spin it on my resume: ‘Monster Disposal. Killed corporate beetles with a mop.’”

  Ned tried to maintain composure, though his face was pale. Izzy rushed to hand him a bandage for a minor scratch he got.

  Barry, calm as ever, dispatched another beetle with a brutal side-swing. “We can handle this,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone.

  Crack, smash, glow. One by one, the Lumic creatures fell, dissolving into fragments of light. The System notifications flickered in and out of my peripheral vision:

  [Enemy Defeated: Lumic Beetle. XP: +1. XP Progress to Level 2: 2/2 XP. Overflow XP: 4]

  [Notification: Loot Extraction in Progress…]

  [Loot Acquired: 1 Copper Coin. Congratulations, you're officially fighting for change.]

  To think I'll be killing oversized bugs for petty change...

  My arms trembled as the last Lumic Beetle disintegrated into glowing shards, leaving behind only faint motes of light that vanished almost as quickly as they appeared. The conference room fell eerily silent, the only sound our ragged breathing and the subdued crackle of the overhead lamps. A few chairs lay overturned, and papers were scattered everywhere, the once-sterile corporate environment now looking like a chaotic battlefield.

  Trevor let out a shaky laugh, leaning on his dented mop handle. “I can’t believe we just fought… bugs from a portal. This is the weirdest office day ever.”

  Claire stood nearby, still gripping the makeshift club she had salvaged. Her knuckles were white against the worn wood, tension still radiating through her posture. She surveyed the motionless portal at the center of the room, its swirling darkness flickering with faint energy. The System notifications had subsided for the moment, leaving us in a wary lull.

  Izzy knelt next to the scattered first-aid supplies she had dropped, her hands shaking as she rummaged for gauze and disinfectant. She darted glances at each of us, as if double-checking we were alive and well. Ned hovered behind her, face pale, clutching the battered file cabinet drawer he had used as a shield.

  Barry lowered his own improvised weapon—a heavy metal rod that had splintered one too many beetle shells. He stepped forward, scanning the room with methodical calm. “No more movement,” he said quietly. “That wave’s done.”

  I pushed a strand of hair off my forehead, still catching my breath. My senses were overstimulated, as though the whole room thrummed with leftover tension. That partial skill—whatever the System had forced on me earlier—continued to buzz at the edges of my mind, but it no longer threatened to knock me out cold.

  Jacob took a hesitant step away from the corner where he had taken cover. “So… we actually did it? Does that mean we’re free now?” His voice quavered, betraying the fear he was trying to hide.

  Trevor shook his head, exhaling loudly. “No clue. The System said something about a trial. It’s probably not satisfied with us just surviving this wave.”

  Gerald, who had cowered by the door through most of the fight, gathered himself and cleared his throat. He looked like he wanted to deliver a speech about synergy again, but the gravity of the situation kept him silent. Instead, he glanced uneasily at the flickering portal and shook his head as though he still believed it was some elaborate hoax.

  Claire finally relaxed her grip on the chair leg. “We need to regroup,” she said. “Check if anyone’s injured. Then figure out if this is really over… or just a pause.” She turned her gaze on Izzy. “How is everyone holding up?”

  Izzy’s eyes darted to each of us in turn. “I—I think everyone’s okay. Some minor cuts and bruises, but nothing severe.” She offered a nervous smile, as if trying to reassure herself as much as us. “I can patch those up.”

  I swallowed, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. “We need a plan if that portal acts up again,” I said, my voice a little steadier than before. “Any second wave might not be so easy.”

  Trevor nodded, tapping his mop handle against the carpet. “We barely knew what we were doing this time. And that was just… bugs.”

  Barry pressed his lips together grimly. “Bugs that nearly took Ned’s legs off.”

  Ned managed a weak chuckle, still pale. “I guess a file drawer shield is better than nothing. But I’d rather not do that again.”

  A dull hum rippled through the air once more, drawing our attention back to the portal. Its swirling darkness pulsed faintly, as though gathering strength. My stomach sank at the sight. We had only just caught our breath, and already the sense of foreboding crept up my spine.

  Izzy shot upright, eyes wide. “It’s… it’s glowing again.”

  She was right. The flickers of light along the portal’s edges were intensifying, the shadows in the room bending in unnatural ways. The entire conference room felt heavier, as if gravity had shifted to a higher setting.

  Gerald let out a frustrated huff. “We can’t possibly fight another horde. This is insane.” His earlier bluster was gone, replaced by a shaky tone of desperation. “We should escape… or find security, or—someone must fix this!”

  Claire turned to him, her expression unwavering. “Running won’t help if the System is controlling the whole building. Did you see how it twisted the lights? How it spawned monsters out of thin air?” She exhaled, then faced the rest of us. “We don’t have time to panic. If there’s a second wave, we need to be ready.”

  Trevor forced a half-smile, though it held no real humor. “At least we got a little synergy bonus, huh?”

  “No thanks to Gerald,” Barry muttered under his breath, but he left it at that. He eyed the portal like a coiled snake, waiting to strike.

  Ned let out a shaky breath, pen tapping at his side. “I—I can’t do this again,” he whispered, though he kept the makeshift shield close. “But what choice do we have?”

  Jacob squared his shoulders, still trembling. “I guess… we do the same thing. Fight if we have to.”

  I swallowed hard, my pulse drumming in my ears. The overhead lights flickered once more, the battered chairs and scattered papers a silent reminder of our first battle. I tightened my grip on the broken chair leg that had become my weapon. We survived the first wave, I told myself, maybe we can survive the next…

  The swirling darkness of the portal flared suddenly, sending a jagged arc of energy snapping across the floor. Sparks danced around the circumference, and my heart lodged in my throat. The static charge in the air prickled my skin, a warning that the calm between storms was over.

  Claire lifted her makeshift club. “Positions,” she ordered, voice brimming with resolve. We had no illusions of safety now. We formed a loose half-circle once again, each of us braced for the unimaginable.

  I caught Trevor’s eye, and he nodded back, the faint flicker of his usual humor gone. Izzy looked like she was on the verge of tears but stood firm behind Barry, her first-aid kit clutched against her chest. Ned gripped his dented file drawer, tension humming through his rigid stance. Gerald hovered near the wall, anxiety pouring off him in waves. And Jacob… well, at least he stood with us, fear and determination wrestling in his gaze.

  As the portal pulsed again, a cold chill seeped into the room. My breath felt heavy in my lungs. One last look at the flickering overhead lights told me all I needed to know: this was no glitch. The System had us, and it wouldn’t let us go so easily.

  I tensed, heart hammering, and saw everyone else do the same. We had no idea what fresh nightmare would burst through next—but we were trapped, bound by the System’s trial and that merciless clock ticking down our fate.

  If this was the future of synergy, we were about to find out just how far from ordinary our lives had become. And we had only seconds to brace ourselves for a new assault.

  Whatever happens next, none of us can pretend this is just another Monday.

  Hey, wanderer! Did I mention you can cast a vote in weekly polls if you join the Trials on ? Free members still get public chapter audio, but the real mania’s in the advanced chapters for pledging patrons—plus cameo possibilities if you’re daring.

  Stay on your Path, and Ascend.

  Stardust Nexus