Margie Vern glared at the obnoxious words floating in her vision.

Level up!

You have gained a rare Augment! Wow, you're so cool, Senpai!!!

Augment: A Collar Of lightning And Steel

Rarity: rare

Effect: Passive: incorporates lightning and increased durability into a Skill. Results vary depending on the Skill.

Active: grants augmented Skill a once-daily charge of the Skill Shock-Surge.

Shock-Surge

Rarity: rare

Effect: grants a massive increase in speed and reaction time for exactly one second.

Range: self

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: -1 hour*- (1 day)

She was no expert, but that sounded strong. She read over the Augment again. This definitely confirmed that the drops were linked to the monsters. Steven got a sound-related Augment from the bat abomination, and she got a lightning-themed one from Frankenstein’s monster.

If she had to hazard a guess, Shock-Surge was the Skill it used to move so fast at the end.

She felt a flash of rage wash through her at the thought of the monster. She patted Buford, still looking very smug in his chair.

He’s fine. We’re all fine.

She brought up her Traits menu. She needed to be stronger if she wanted everyone to stay fine.

Rolling for traits.

A high pitched voice started singing ‘dan dan dan’ over and over again as a small circle spun.

It seemed like Margie needed to take a lot of deep breaths recently.

Traits rolled! You have 1 Trait to choose from.

“Aww, that’s too bad, Senpai. Better luck next time!”

Trait

A Touch Away

Effect: extend the range of all of your buffs by the length of your hand.

Cost: 5 TP

She blinked. She didn’t even have enough TP to get it. And what was up with that price? Five levels worth of points for a hand length increase in range?

I had to listen to that stupid music for this?

She turned her attention to Skill points.

“System, what do Skill points do?”

“I’m glad you asked Senpai!!! Skill points, or SP for short, can be used to upgrade your Skills. Cool, right!? And, this is the best part, if you max the Skill, you get a bonus!!!”

Margie took a deep breath and gave a tight smile to the air. “Thank. You.”

“Gasp! Of course, Senpai!!!”

Grumbling under her breath, Margie brought up Jugger-Hound.

Jugger-Hound

Rarity: rare

Effect: Enhances one of your Hounds with a burst of strength and durability. During the Skills effect, they also gain minor regeneration and become 25% harder to knock from their feet.

Range: touch

Duration: 15 minutes

Energy cost: Small

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Augments: 3

Would you like to upgrade Jugger-Hound?

“Yep.”

Jugger-Hound lvl 2: increased strength and durability. +5% harder to knock from feet.

Confirm?

“Confirm.”

Why did it give percentages for the knocking off their feet thing but not for strength and durability? Eh, she supposed it didn’t really matter.

She put another point in.

Jugger-Hound lvl 3: 1 minute to buff duration. Minor regeneration——>Lesser Regeneration.

Her eyes widened, and she thought, “Confirm!” as quickly as she could.

An upgrade to Buford’s healing was not something she was about to pass on.

Jugger-Hound lvl 4: Substantially Increased strength and durability. +10% harder to knock from feet.

Confirm?

“Confirm.”

She didn’t hesitate to put her last point in. This buff was the only string to her bow and currently the strongest tool they had.

Jugger-Hound lvl 5: [Note: rare skills and above have a chance at giving a greater reward for maxing than lesser Skills]

Skill-Trait gained: Shroud Of The Crimson King

The aura Jugger-Hound gives off becomes a tangible thing with distinct benefits.

Effect: the crimson light the buff gives off can now absorb elemental attacks, adding their effects to the shroud for the reminder of Jugger-Hounds duration.

The shroud only absorbs attacks if they are weaker than Jugger-Hounds durability. If the attack is strong enough to damage the Hound, the shroud will do nothing.

Margie read over the words several times. That seemed big. If she were reading this right, any elemental attack weaker than Jugger-Hounds durability buff would make Buford stronger.

What counted as an elemental effect, though?

She told Steven about the new aspects, and he got that far-off look that said he was lost in thought.

Clara always got that same look. A distant pang of grief went through her at the thought of her old friend. But she was old, and this was hardly the first time she had lost friends. A year only dulled the sting, but she wasn’t overwhelmed with grief just thinking of them anymore.

Steven, though. To lose both parents so young…

He had barely spoken to her for an entire year, barely spoken to anyone, from what she could tell. And the few times she had seen him, he’d been…off. Not grief stricken or depressed. He’d been like a machine going through the motions. An empty shell of the young man she had known.

But then the sky was blocked by a green and purple dome, and suddenly he was back.

The light was back behind his eyes. Margie was terrified that it was going to leave again.

She read over the Skill one last time. There were certain realities one had to accept if you wanted to keep your sanity. Certain things you couldn’t control, no matter how hard you tried.

Certain tragedies you couldn’t prevent.

She kept her eyes on the Skill. But now? Reality itself had changed.

She didn’t intend to let that light vanish a second time.