The doors swung shut behind David with a hollow thud. Those still inside looked through the glass silently as hundreds of zombies turned toward the sound.

  David heard the ambient angry spiritual agitation that had marked zombies without targets sharpened into focused hunger even as he unleashed his first spell. Now they had a target, him.

  He grinned, feeling the familiar surge of adrenaline, the spike of fear, then he pushed it down. This wasn't about emotion; it was about demonstration.

  This was about efficiency. It was also about shock and awe.

  Time to show off one of his cheats. Even as the first wave of extracted spirits flowed towards him, he started pulling on his resources and pouring power into his next spell. He would be empty after this, which was when convert would come into play.

  The closest zombies lurched toward him, their movements stuttering and uncoordinated. Perfect conditions. Dense concentration, minimal obstacles, and they were coming to him. David didn't wait for them to close the distance.

  "HALT!"

  The word ripped through the air, and magic radiated outward in an expanding wave. Zombies dropped mid-stride, momentum carrying them forward in tumbling heaps. David didn't pause to admire the effect. His willpower unfurled, seizing more Nath spirits and attacking the enemy at its root, the force animating them.

  This was the part the raiders couldn't see, the part that made him different. He could feel each spirit struggling against his grip, broadcasting their alien hunger in discordant waves. David yanked, applying the brutal extraction he'd learned through practice.

  Spirits tore free from their hosts with directed screams that only he could hear, screams that fell silent as their will subsumed into his and he hauled them in.

  The sensation was visceral, like pulling roots from frozen ground. Each rupture sent a pulse of raw sensation flooding back through his bloodline, and now David channeled the incoming spirits into Convert, shredding them for more fuel for his rampage.

  The skill had always worked before, but now he was funneling XP into it. He could feel it changing, the rich source of Mana building and changing the skill even as he used it.

  It was getting easier. Smoother. More responsive.

  This was his plan, based on an off the cuff comment from the Herald he knew that the Nath were considered an easy source of XP, Mana really. Now he could exploit that and rapidly fill out his system.

  Dumping XP into Convert would make the whole process more efficient. So he had started there.

  Now that he was improving in real time the warm rush of XP that the system used to incentivize him was intense and it felt good, really good.

  New supplies of Magic, Stamina and Health didn't just flow, they cascaded through him as he cast again, and again.

  As he had in that desperate battle with the zombie queen he was breaking even, then more than breaking even.

  The conversion process was increasing in efficiency. Less waste, faster processing, cleaner output.

  As his Magic started climbing with gains outpacing the expenditure of Halt he couldn’t help but grin. Not just recovering. Actually climbing. The math was working in his favor, each destroyed Nath providing more than he'd spent to immobilize it.

  David pushed deeper into the mob, the paralyzed and fallen zombies encumbering their active kin and forcing him to move to try and generate optimal conditions.

  He left carnage behind him, while he didn’t kill every zombie he left an expanding swathe of fallen bodies, some moving weakly as they shook off his Halt and started to try and rise after he moved on.

  More targets meant more spirits, rather than shredding them all as they came in he allowed a few to enter his court and build his reserves. More spirits meant more fuel for Convert in a pinch, more tools to experiment with.

  The efficiency gain and XP rush was intoxicating, he tried to measure it but it was all qualitative, too many variables. Not that it mattered, this was good, great even.

  He almost didn’t notice the change, there was a sense of stasis in the performance of Convert, then it abruptly seemed to settle into a new level of efficiency. After that the improvement resumed.

  Another wave of zombies pressed forward. David spoke the word again, pouring more magic into it, and watched the paralysis spread. His court of bound spirits was filling rapidly now, the spectral entities starting to give him a sense of bloating, he was getting full. How many had he absorbed? He realized he wasn’t paying any attention caught up in the rush.

  With his court approaching capacity, that strange internal pressure growing he had to find an outlet for the spirits, for the energy.

  David shifted his focus, starting to pour his power into Halt, then wait for a bit. He felt the rush of positive energy form absorbing XP die down, letting him think more clearly.

  The sudden lucidity gave him the chance to use a brief window to check his status and swallow, he should have shifted his overflow already, how much of this opportunity had he wasted?

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  Now he was choosing how to spend the accumulating XP, he didn’t have time for deep thought, so he made a change based on instinct. He needed bigger pools to avoid a bottleneck.

  Convert was much more efficient. Each spirit processed gave him resources and he needed somewhere for them to go to use it to shred the next spirit. He was already uncomfortable with the fullness of his court.

  David's analysis and distraction were interrupted as he felt with a shock that he had been hit. His introspection had allowed a zombie to reach him and he staggered, feeling his health drop as Reinforce mitigated the blow. Then health and stamina dipping as Regenerate worked to repair the limited damage.

  Part of him realized that this was actually good, he was bottlenecking with convert now and this was another outlet. He also started to actively use his court giving him another source to pour his overflowing resources into as he unleashed a monstrous spell in all directions.

  “HALT!”

  Free of threats he moved forward again, stepping over paralyzed zombies to get a better angle on the next cluster. Then he started ripping even as he absently directed the flow of XP to a new source.

  He was finally fully using his half-step evolution, and it was impressive, making him appreciate the value of the reward. Skills really did shift in quality above level ten.

  Still, it was slow going to improve any of these skills for now, so he focused on other things. More zombies fell, his power rolling out like a shockwave as the fight moved into a new phase.

  Everyone inside stood stock still as David plunged through the door. Then people leapt into action. Camilla started to move to follow him. Katie grabbed her arm and hissed “let him go, just watch.”

  Charlie took half a step forward and shook his head looking tense. Carl just nodded, better at bottling his feelings up. Mark gasped and started to raise his voice but was shushed by Sarah who was watching Katie.

  Most of the raiders gasped and a ripple of something close to panic cut through them. One in particular was completely frozen. The braggart was out in front of everyone and he didn’t step through the door to follow David.

  Somehow despite being insulated from him by the thick glass of the wall and the double doors everyone could hear David using his spell clearly and they saw the devastation as he moved forward.

  After the second casting someone asked softly.

  “How long does his spell last, they aren’t getting up, why isn’t he killing them.”

  Katie’s response was to the point. “Just watch.”

  The murmurs grew louder as people realized that David was making real progress against the horde and had yet to be touched. They started to drift towards the glass, unconsciously trying to get a better view.

  When a stray zombie started to get up everyone flinched, when a second rose someone asked the real question.

  “Are the others dead?”

  “They can’t be, he is just using Halt.”

  Then someone who had seen David in the terminal the day before said. “I’m not sure that stops him. He did something like this before, you know when that family was in danger before we could get there.”

  Then Sarah raised her voice, addressing the lone raider standing staring in shock at the devastation.

  “So, still confident you can keep up with the big dog? I would suggest you went out there to bag some zombies but I somehow doubt you could catch up even if we gave you a machine gun.”

  “How in the name of all that’s holy is he doing that. He isn’t even touching them they just die.” The awe in the braggarts voice was clear.

  His friend spoke softly. “I told you, he is a badass. I don’t think I realized it was on this scale but the stories about his soloing a zombie horde. They were true, only the horde had a fucking witch he had to handle too…”

  Mark commented here, defending his girlfriends honor. “Uh, Katie was the one who took out the zombie queen actually…”

  She cut him off. “David’s plan, his power holding all their attention, I was the executioner, the finishing blow from ambush.”

  “How do I get that spell? It’s freaking awesome!”

  Charlie got that one. “I think you need willpower and another skill, fair warning, David has some other advantages he is using. This my friends is why you should work on your builds! You are seeing synergy between skills, stats, and one of the most effective builds combined with a decent chunk of XP.”

  There was an inrushing of breath as David paused. The flurry of comments became increasingly anxious.

  “Looks like he is finally out of gas. He should be able to make it back here.”

  ‘Why isn’t he retreating?”

  “That zombie is going to get him! Someone do something!”

  Then they all went quiet again as David simply tanked the zombies blow, sure it wasn’t in the ideal position to hit him but he just took a slam that made all the raiders wince.

  Then he started moving again, his power flowing out and cutting down zombies.

  “Holy shit, did he just stop to check his status?” The incredulous question started another flurry of speculation.

  Then Carl raised his voice. “Y’all, this is a teaching moment. David was able to take that hit. Because he has plenty of Health, plus skills to back it up and make that work for him.”

  He said the last with a pointed look at Charlie, who flushed and nodded as Carl finished making his point.

  “David wants all of you to be that badass, so you up for that? You willing to make the investment in yourself so that you can hang with folks like him and take a hit if you need to, or if a teammate needs covering? Nobody left behind…”

  Unaware of the reactions of his audience David continued his rampage, directing XP consciously he still had to pause and take risks due to the increased efficiency of convert refilling his resources.

  A chunk into Health, Stamina, Mana then finish out his Willpower. Round back to finish boosting his resource pools now, the could feel the pressure lessening as the pools grew giving him more capacity to absorb the stream of resources.

  The improvement was immediate and tangible. His next use of Halt felt crisper, the magic responding faster to his intent. He was staggered by a hit so he quickly refocused and started to work on his Toughness.

  David allowed himself a tight smile. This was working. This was exactly the power-leveling strategy he'd theorized but never had the target-rich environment to test properly.

  Then he paused, realizing that he was completely solo. The braggart had frozen. Hadn't even stepped outside. Nobody was out here reaping rewards, nobody except him.

  He filed that information away without judgment. Fear was reasonable. What mattered was that the man had made his choice, and now David glanced back toward the terminal and saw the raid group watching, just watching.

  Deliberately calm he cast again to buy some time and reached for his radio.

  “Come on in the waters lovely!”

  He had no idea why he chose to make a joke, he could blame the giddy feeling of having just been through whole hell of a lot of XP gain and the attendant endorphin hits. Or maybe he was just feeling like a goofy showoff.

  Carl's voice crackled over the radio, professional despite the circumstances. "David, we're seeing the effect from here. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. We're forming up for support."

  "Copy that," David responded, already moving. "I'm going to need melee fighters on me once you get out here. Send in the core team first, then we'll rotate others through."

  He hoped his demonstration had set them up to overcome their fear. Everyone was afraid. The difference was whether you moved anyway. Right now, everyone, even the braggart had a measure of his respect just from being here. He could help them out, share some of that sweet, sweet XP.

  There were zombies to kill and he was feeling generous.