Chris tried not to get into any more projects over the next few days, focusing on the things he already had on his plate. In the Maze, the recruits continued to plan their attack on the kobolds while the kobolds prepared to defend, which… Well, they were kobolds, so their preparations just involved setting up watches and practicing running towards the tunnels as fast as they could. They didn't believe in tricks and traps, they wanted to face the humans strength versus strength. In the meantime, the rest of Chris's subordinates continued to explore the Maze, and Chris finally took the time to connect the goblins to the Immortal World, which took longer than expected and left him with a constant splitting headache as he worked through them. Without a chief to order the goblins to submit, he had to brute force it, and the mental strain built up quickly.

As usual, he started their mutations the moment they were connected. On the fourth one, he paused, before waving his hand and covering the goblin's cocoon in a cloud of ability energy. He watched for a moment as the ability energy was drawn in, and then… nothing. It still didn't want to connect! "I'm missing something here…" Chris muttered to himself, before shaking his head and turning his attention to the next goblin. He wasn't exactly in a position to figure out what he was missing yet, so all he could do was focus on what he could do, such as breaking the will of goblins.

He also tested his portals, seeing how they'd changed after all the rules he created, and… well, they'd definitely improved, but he ran into a new issue. He could open his portals further, not even really feeling a limit anymore, but once they reached four meters… something resisted him. Unlike before, he could push against it, going past four meters, but it was like when he tried to connect an unwilling creature to his world. The further he tried to go, the worse it got. Still, he had an extra two meters to use freely, so that was nice.

As for Earth, Chris didn't have much to do with the group hunting the Abductors, since there wasn't much they could do. They couldn't detect whoever was doing this, so they had to wait for shreds of evidence to come in before they could act. However, in the game…

"You must be WorldlyAlien~" An attractive woman approached Chris as he attended a small social event with Fernando. "I'm Heidi Monteith. It's a pleasure to meet you~" She introduced herself, holding out her hand.

Chris mentally reviewed the list Matt had given him of the women the Monteiths would potentially set him up with. Heidi wasn't an option as a public partner, but he would have to give her a chance in private, potentially having an affair. Chris stifled a sigh as he put on a polite smile. "It's nice to meet you too."

"I've been hearing great~ things about you from Fernando." Heidi winked. "So strong~ and reliable~"

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "I find it hard to believe Fernando does anything but complain about me."

Heidi giggled. "Yes, well, when you know Fernando, his complaints become the highest praises."

Chris chuckled. "That's a fair point."

Heidi sighed. "It's an unfortunate one, really. So many promising people are driven away by his arrogance." She shook her head, before giving Chris a shy smile. "I hope you aren't one of them."

"I guess we'll see, eh?" Chris shrugged. He suddenly felt a slight nudge from the game. "Maybe I just need some… one? special to help keep things bearable?" He offered hesitantly, following the guidance of the game.

Heidi flushed. "WorldlyAlien, are you propositioning me~" She murmured coyly.

Chris frowned. "I think I might be…" The game nudged him again. "I wouldn't be opposed to getting to know you better in a more… private setting."

Heidi smirked. "I may have to take you up on that offer~" She winked, before sauntering off to continue socializing.

Chris watched her go, still frowning. Had he just gotten a date? He wasn't even all that sure what he'd done! These skills fucked with his head sometimes. Being pushed to do things he didn't quite understand… it wasn't the most comfortable experience, and as his Intellect continued to level up, it kept getting worse. Or better, depending on your view of things. More help meant he could do more, but it also made it harder to earn achievements, since it didn't count if he relied on the game to succeed. If he wanted to improve, he'd need to figure out what he'd actually done, so he could do it again without the game's help.

After the party, Chris arranged to meet Heidi for coffee the next morning at a small, out of the way café. "So… what do you do for fun?" Chris asked after they sat down.

Heidi snorted. "You are terrible at this! No wonder you're so reliant on skills."

Chris sighed. "Yeah, I-" He froze. "Wait, what?" Heidi shouldn't know about skills, should she? Unless… Did the npc's use skills too?"

Heidi watched him get more and more confused, before suddenly bursting out laughing. "Surprise! It's me, Gaia!" Gaia announced happily. "I hope you don't mind if I interrupt your date~"

Chris blinked, his eyes widening in surprise. "Gaia?!? I- no, but… are you even allowed to do something like this?" He asked hesitantly.

Gaia flushed. "Technically, no, but since you have admin privileges and we're in private, I can temporarily take over this character. Don't worry, it won't affect your progress with Heidi. She'll believe you had a perfectly lovely date, develop a small crush on you, and be willing to pursue the relationship even further. The ideal result based on your stats and skills. Technically you could do better if your true skill surpassed what you were capable of according to the game, but… we both know you wouldn't."

"Yeah…" Chris sighed, before frowning slightly as he gave her a cautious look. "Why are you doing this anyway? Is something wrong? Do you need help?" He asked, his tone taking on a sharp edge.

Gaia shook her head. "No! No, nothing is wrong. I just wanted to talk to you…"

Chris frowned. "Talk to me about what?"

Gaia leaned forward on the table, smiling sweetly. "Whatever you like. I can talk about anything."

Chris blinked. "Wait… you just want to talk? Like… for no reason?" Gaia nodded. "Why?"

Gaia sighed. "I'm lonely! Matt never wants to talk to me because 'it ruins the immersion' and the other admins can only talk to me through messages! Even then, all they ever talk to me about is work stuff. You're the first person to ever have a conversation with me, and… I liked it. I want to have more conversations with you, and if this is how I have to do it, then so be it." She sounded confident as she talked, but she kept shooting Chris shy glances, hoping he'd go along with it. If he refused to talk to her, all this would be moot.

"That does sound pretty bad." Chris muttered, before shrugging. "You know what? Sure, I can talk. It's what I was going to be doing here anyways, and this way I don't have to worry about fucking things up." He paused. "I don't have to worry about fucking things up, do I?"

Gaia giggled. "You're the first person to actually hold a conversation with me in years. I'm so desperate, you could literally insult me the entire time and I'd still be up for more."

Chris looked at her with a mix of concern and incredulity. "That is an incredibly depressing statement."

Since Gaia was quite literally a repository of knowledge and conversation skills, talking to her was actually pretty easy. Chris barely even registered the time passing before it was time for the date to end and he had to get to work. Gaia seemed to enjoy it as well, letting him know that they had another 'date' for later that night with a wink, before Heidi took over again, giving him a short kiss and a wink of her own before she left. After another long day with Fernando, Chris met up with Heidi for their second date and talked with Gaia again, his relationship with Heidi progressing to 'lovers' apparently. Chris thought that was a little quick, but given that this was a game and all, he guessed it made sense. Plus, it gave him an excuse to talk with Gaia at least once a night, which the AI was more than excited about. The fervor with which she latched onto him was a little intimidating, but given the circumstances, he couldn't exactly fault her for it.

Lonely AI's aside, everything else was fairly straight forward. He used the night to level and practice his Coreforging, though he was focusing more on Coreforging since his leveling was hitting a wall. His Physique had topped out at sixteen, the monsters at that level just slightly too skilled to beat without an ability. Of course, if he did use his ability, he'd crush them, but there were no achievements for that. His Awareness was at seventeen, since he was actually pretty good at noticing weak points and taking advantage of them. He could probably get it higher, but without the ability to actually fight the higher level monsters, he couldn't take advantage of their weak points and gain the achievements. There were probably other ways to get Awareness achievements that didn't involve fighting, but Chris wasn't all that interested in it, so he didn't look for any. His Intellect was at seventeen as well, which was about his limit, though his continued practice of Coreforging would still get him the rare achievement simply due to his increasing skill. As for his Appeal… it was at eight, and it didn't look like it was going to change any time soon. He just did not get people.

In the meantime, he also managed to mutate himself in a few different ways. He got one form for speed, another for strength, one for stealth, and one that was an attempt to look normal while still being strong. Chris emerged from the cocoon, creating a mirror to examine himself, before clicking his tongue. "Always with the damn horns." He muttered, reaching up to feel the bony protrusions that surrounded his head in every mutation for some unknown reason. Otherwise, the form did look fairly normal… it was close to his normal appearance, just… off slightly. He was maybe a bit more attractive? Plus his ears were too pointy. Not as bad as an Elf's but maybe like halfway there? He blinked. Thinking about it… all his forms had vaguely pointy ears. Did that have something to do with his mother being an Elf? Maybe somehow his Elven blood was being expressed through his mutation? Were pieces of his father coming through as well? Was that why he always had horns? Chris frowned for a moment, before shrugging. It didn't particularly matter either way. He looked the way he looked, why worry about why?

Finally Friday rolled around, and the recruits were ready to begin their raid. Chris sat around with the veterans, displaying each recruit on a separate screen for them, as well as a larger overview of the entire battle. "We should do every practical exercise like this!" Captain Nefred commented.

"It is rather convenient." Sergeant Callista agreed.

"Glad to be of service." Chris replied absently as he focused on Beth's screen. She was leading four others towards the kobolds. The recruits had split into two groups of seven which would attack from the two main tunnels, and a team of five led by Beth which would use an earth manipulation ability to create a new entrance and hit them from behind. Chris sighed. "This is a bad plan." The recruits were the smaller force. Giving the kobolds an extra avenue of attack would only make things harder for them. It would have been better to collapse one of the tunnels, forcing the kobolds to face them in an even smaller space.

"Yeah, they over-thought it." Captain Nefred agreed, shaking his head. "But, that's why we do this, so that the recruits can gain experience! Admittedly, we'd usually give the recruits a bit more guidance, but given the nature of your world… they can afford to learn a harsher lesson than usual."

Chris paused, before shrugging. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time they've died in here. Probably won't be the last either." A bucket of popcorn appeared in his hand as he reclined in his chair. "You guys want anything? Oh! You should try this stuff. It's 'Asian' food." He created plates of food from that panda place for everyone to try, even sending his popcorn away and making himself a large plate of the orange chicken, which was his favorite.

Captain Nefred blinked at the strange new food, grabbing a fork and taking a bite. His eyes widened. "Mmm, this is good! Where did you get this?"

"Earth." Chris replied dismissively.

"Earth? Is that a new restaurant or something?" Captain Nefred asked curiously.

"No, it's-" Chris paused, remembering what Jo had said about how valuable other worlds were and not to go around telling everyone. "Uh… I'm not supposed to say."

Captain Nefred blinked. "Well now I'm curious."

"It's probably some utterly ridiculous bullshit, like a magical realm he somehow created in his world." Sergeant Callista grumbled, crossing her arms.

"She's actually not that far off." Chris replied.

Sergeant Callista scowled at him. "You are a constant source of aggravation."

Chris blinked at her. "I believe you, but why?" Sergeant Callista just sighed and shook her head, focusing on the screens again. Chris frowned at her for a moment, before shrugging and doing the same.

The first two groups had started their assault, taking out the kobolds guarding the entrances in a sudden burst of violence and some explosions, drawing the attention of the entire tribe, which immediately rushed to defend. "Should have gone quiet." One of the veterans clicked their tongue, shaking their head in disappointment. "Take out as many as they could before the kobolds noticed."

"A minor mistake." Captain Nefred commented. "And given their plan, it's the best move. If the ambush team breaks through before the kobolds commit to the defense, their entire plan loses its point."

The kobolds rushed the recruits, howling fiercely as they charged, a strange fervor in their eyes. They saw this as a chance to prove themselves to Chris, and they were desperate to make the most of it, especially the females. [For the Lord!] They cried in their click language, as they tore into the stunned recruits.

The veterans all turned to give Chris strange looks. "What? They get excited." Chris shrugged.

The recruits were pushed back by the kobolds initial charge, a few getting injured, but they remembered enough of their training to avoid anything serious as they performed a tactical retreat. They backed into the narrow parts of the tunnels, focusing on defending and supporting each other as they fought off the kobolds' wild attack. The kobolds, on the other hand, didn't seem to give two shits about each other as they focused on taking down the recruits, not even caring if one of their own got caught in the crossfire. Chris was going to have to have a talk with them about that. The kobolds lack of self preservation and their weaker on average abilities slowly began to cost them, their casualties piling up while the recruits only lost one person due to an ambush by the teleporting kobold, who died not long after.

A few minutes into the battle, Beth's team finally broke through the wall and charged the kobolds back lines, the flaws in the plan quickly becoming apparent. Without the support of the other recruits or the narrow tunnel, Beth's team was quickly surrounded, the other four going down in a matter of seconds. But then… Well, a high-tier who has no reason to hold herself back anymore isn't something anyone wants to be in the vicinity of. A full half of the kobolds remaining forces were annihilated as Beth turned into a whirling ball of destruction!

"It kinda looks like she's breakdancing, doesn't it?" Chris commented, nudging Zack, the unfortunate recruit who'd gotten ambushed. Chris had been bringing anyone who died here for them to heal. Well, the recruits at least. He was putting the kobolds elsewhere for the moment.

Zack looked up from his plate, glancing at the screen, before shrugging. "I guess? Sorry, I'm just- this food is fucking delicious man!"

"Right?" Chris agreed, taking another bite of his own. He definitely had to try more of this Asian food.

Eventually Beth was taken down as well as the injuries piled up and her stamina gave out, unable to sustain that level of activity for very long. Still, she'd done more than enough damage, taking out the majority of the tribe's higher level warriors, leaving the cannon fodder, which the rest of the recruits could easily dispatch. Chris brought Beth to the seat next to him as she healed, her expression twisting bitterly as she sat up. "Damn it!" She cursed.

"What?" Chris gave her a weird look. "You did well! You killed most of them."

"But I died!" Beth groaned.

Chris blinked. "Well… yeah? You let yourself get surrounded and lost all your support. What did you think was going to happen?"

Beth paused, before flushing. "I'm- I'm a high-tier…" She murmured in embarrassment.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Beth, that doesn't make you invincible. Didn't you figure that out the first time you almost died in the Maze?"

"That was-!" Beth began, before hesitating as she realized he had a point. Both times she'd let herself get cocky and assumed she could simply handle whatever came at her, because she was strong. And both times, her strength had failed her. "You- you're right. I need to be more careful." She replied in a low, almost sad voice.

Chris gave her another weird look, before reaching out and wrapping his arm around her, pulling her close. "It's okay, Beth. We all have our limits."

"Do we?" Beth spat, a bitter edge creeping into her voice. "Do you? I can see I'm at my limits, that this is as good as I get, but you? Where are your limits, Chris? Do you even have any? Even if you do, they're so far beyond me, and- what if- what if I can't be who you need me to be?" She finished in a hoarse whisper, the pent up anxiety over her place in their relationship spilling out.

Chris frowned. "I don't- why would I need you to be anything?" Beth immediately choked out a sob and Chris's eyes widened as he realized he'd made a mistake. "No, wait, that isn't what I meant! I mean… you are who you are, and that's who I like! I wouldn't ask you to be anything because I like you as you are!"

"But if I can't help you, then what's the point!" Beth snapped back, eyes turning red.

Chris blinked. "But… didn't we go over this already? I need you. You're what's keeping me involved in all this. Without you… why should I care?"

Beth shook her head. "You just need someone. It doesn't have to be me."

Chris hesitated. "Not- not technically, I suppose, but it's so much better when it is. Besides, that isn't all you do. I mean, remember a few days ago, when I had to deal with Jo? There's no way I could have handled that without you. You're… you're my humanity. Other people could keep me involved, but you're the only one who helps me be a better person. If I disappoint Derek or Penny, it's not that big a deal to me. If I disappoint you… that's a problem."

Beth's expression softened, before she let out a sigh and leaned against him. "I can see that, but… it's hard to feel important when so much of your life happens without me."

Chris snorted. "Beth, you're a part of everything I do. Literally, you're always right there when I need to ask a question, or to keep me steady when I'm dealing with the bullshit people keep throwing at me. If not for you, I would have killed Fernando about fifty times by now and the Abductor guys would just be my subordinates, neither of which would be good."

Beth blinked, before covering her face with her hands. "Ugh, I'm an idiot!" She groaned.

Chris paused. "Okay… but why?"

Beth rolled her eyes, smirking slightly. "Because I should have just talked to you in the first place." She murmured, snuggling closer to him. "You always make me feel special."

"Well… talking is always a good idea." Chris muttered, frowning slightly as he wondered why that made her feel special, while telling her she literally made him a better person just seemed to calm her down slightly.

As they talked, the rest of the recruits finally finished taking out the kobolds and Chris popped them over to everyone else. "Well, that could have gone better, don't you guys think?" Captain Nefred commented, looking over the recruits as they shuffled around in embarrassment. "Where do you think things started to go wrong?"

One of the recruits raised their hand. "We let the kobolds push us back. If we'd held our ground, we could have supported the ambush team when they emerged."

Captain Nefred shook his head. "Any plan that relies on things going perfectly is going to bite you in the ass. The enemy is always going to surprise you. You need to be able to adapt."

One of the recruits that had been on Beth's team raised their hand next. "When we saw that the other recruits had been driven back, we should have been more cautious and not rushed to attack."

Captain Nefred nodded. "That would have been smart, yes, but you all made a mistake before that." The recruits all looked around at each other, not entirely sure what he meant. "Alright, let me ask this: why did you need to ambush the kobolds?"

The recruits blinked, a few looking confused while others let out groans as they realized what he meant. "We didn't." Beth sighed.

"Exactly!" Captain Nefred exclaimed. "It's often tempting to attempt complex plans to take out your enemies faster, but the more complex a plan, the more things that can go wrong. Simplicity may seem boring, but it's reliable. If you'd stuck to attacking through the existing tunnels, it would have taken longer, yes, but it also would have been safer, and safety always trumps speed. Our goal is survival, not victory. If you run into something you can't defeat, you should absolutely run. Return to the City, report what you encountered, and we can organize a better response. If you try to fight anyway and die trying, no one will know what happened! Time will be wasted as we investigate, and even more people die in the process, all because you were too stubborn to retreat once you knew you were beat. There are times to fight to the last man, but they are rare, reserved for when something is actually threatening the City. Losing control of the Maze would be bad, but it's something we can recover from. Don't risk your lives for it."

The veterans continued to comment on specific actions the recruits had taken during the raid, picking apart every detail and explaining where they could improve, as well as where they'd done well. The biggest correction was mindset. A lot of the recruits had joined the Scouts to be heroes, but heroes got people killed. What the Scouts needed were soldiers. The mindset of 'I can handle this on my own' had to be expunged, because even if it was true, doing it with the support of your squad would always be better.

While they did that, Chris talked to the kobolds as well. "So, you all lost." He began. "Do you know why?"

"We couldn't use our full power?" One of them immediately replied.

Chris shook his head. "No. Don't get me wrong, it definitely would have let you win, but it wasn't why you lost. Your opponents weren't that much stronger than you, with the exception of Beth of course, and you had them outnumbered three to one. You should have been winning before Beth showed up, yet you'd only managed to kill one, while they'd managed to kill a dozen of you. What do you think the difference was?"

They all looked confused, until T'ka spoke up. "They helped each other. We competed with each other."

"Right." Chris nodded. "You all acted like you were alone out there, fighting just for yourselves. None of you could display your full strength, because everyone else kept getting in your way as they tried to display their full strength. Additionally, you all need to be more defensive. Rushing in for the kill is a great way to get yourselves killed. Take a step back and make sure you keep yourself safe, then worry about killing the enemy. I mean, I know we can't die, but dying for no reason doesn't help anyone."

The kobold chief raised her hand. "But how can we face something like that woman?" She asked, her expression twisting in frustration. She hadn't even had the chance to do anything before that monstrosity had ended her life in a flurry of powerful blows! If only she'd had access to her mutated form… then she'd see who was stronger.

"Run, hide, ambush." Chris counted off on his fingers. "If something is more powerful than you, facing it head on is just stupid. You need to make it work for every kill, to tire it out, and then hit it when it isn't expecting it, before running away again. Aiming for weak points is smart, if you can find them, but don't take risks you don't need to. Slow and safe is better than fast and risky." He paraphrased Captain Nefred.