Steven groaned and laid back on the ground. The worst of the backlash had faded, but a headache still pounded through his temples.

“Is anything else broken?” Margie asked Micheal.

“Something in my chest throbbed when I hit the freak, but the level-ups have got me feeling better than when we started. Oh!”

There was a second of shuffling, then Micheal spoke, and there was a… presence to his voice that hadn’t been there before. “Thank you, heroes.”

The timer over Oh Thank You, Hero jumped back up to an hour, and Steven felt a larger wave of strength settle over him.

He blinked and slowly sat up, his headache retreating. It wasn’t completely gone, but it felt like he’d just taken some ibuprofen.

“You used your SP?”

Micheal nodded. “Both levels increased the buff strength. It didn’t give exact numbers, though. Just said ‘stronger.’”

Margie offered Steven a hand up, and he took it. She pulled him to his feet with surprising strength. She flexed a frail arm and grinned. “I’m ripped!”

He snorted and patted Buford as the malamute bumped against his hip.

“Did you get any rewards, Margie?”

“A Skill point.”

Micheal whistled. “So you can get them from rewards too? That’s big.”

“What about you, Micheal?”

He pointed at them. “Send.”

~<>~

Skill: passive

Run, Hero, Run!

Rarity: rare

Effect: while the Damsel is in danger, all heroes moving toward them gain a speed boost.

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: none

~<>~

Steven smiled. “That's a good one, and I don't even have to qualify that statement.”

Micheal nodded absently. “Yeah. I’m noticing a lot of passive Skills for my Class. You haven’t gotten any, and Margie’s only gotten one. I have three.”

“It does fit with the theme of being a damsel in distress, things just happening around you.”

Micheal sighed. “Yeah.”

Steven winced. “That came out as more of a roast than intended.”

The man laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. You’re fine. And thank you, that thing would have killed me in one bite.” He paused. “How did you react so fast, though? I barely had time to realize what was happening before I hit, but you jumped and used your Skill in a heartbeat.”

Steven thought over the moment he realized he couldn’t catch Micheal with a shield, the way the world had slowed. “I…I’m not sure. The second you were in danger, the world slowed. I think I felt your Skill reacting too.”

Margie cocked her head. “His Skill reacted? What do you mean?”

“Have you not felt it? There’s been several times in fights where my Skill has…pulsed. That’s the best way I can describe it. And it seems stronger when that happens, and calling my shields is almost effortless.”

Margie shook her head, grey braid swinging with the motion. “I haven’t felt anything like that.”

“Steven,” Micheal said. “Can you share your sheet with me? Margie too.”

Both of them nodded. “Share.”

Micheal was silent for a minute before turning to Steven. “When, exactly, does your Skill pulse?”

Steven knew where Micheal was going with this. He had the same theory. “When I’m protecting someone. You think it’s tied to the Class Purpose?”

Micheal scanned over the sheets one last time before nodding. “Yeah. My Class Purpose is to be rescued. And when I needed rescuing, my buff kicked into overdrive. And I felt something too, I think. It was all happening so fast that I can’t be sure, but I think I felt a pulse.”

Margie crouched down to bury her hands in Buford’s ruff, heedless of the specks of gore still being scrubbed from his fur.

“And the reason I haven’t felt it is because I don’t have a Class Purpose, for some reason.”

Micheal nodded, then covered his nose. “Let’s move to the other side of the room, please. That is rancid.”

There was no argument there, monster brian was not something Steven ever wanted to smell again.

Once they were as far from the smell as possible, they continued. “Not having a Purpose is strange since me and Steven both have one. Though I think we can reasonably assume that Scope is directly tied to Purpose if you don’t have either.”

They nodded. “And it checks out with yours,” Steven added. “To be rescued is singular. While defending others is a little broader.”

“Yeah, yeah that makes sense. Though having a condition to your Scope is interesting.” Micheal shook his head. “We’re getting off track, and we need to hurry.”

He rubbed his face. “How can we use this info?”

Steven shrugged. “It doesn’t make much difference for me since protecting you guys is already what I’m supposed to be doing.”

“And I’m apparently not cool enough for a Purpose or Scope, so it doesn’t affect me at all,” Margie grumbled.

Micheal scowled. “So, it's pretty much just me. If we’re in a bad spot, I should try to ensure I’m in danger to amp the buff.”

He pinched his crooked nose and sighed.

“Man, why does it feel like the System just wants to put me in danger?”

Steven tried to think of a silver lining and failed.

“Might I interest you in some casual Skill discussion?”

He nodded. “Distract me from my woes.”

“Send.”

His eyes flicked back and forth for a minute before glaring at Steven. “You motherfucker.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty great.”

“Some people get all the luck, I swear!” He grinned. “Have you slotted it yet?”

Steven shook his head. “I need to test something first.”

He pulled up Hand-Shield.

—

Hand-Shield

Augment slots: 3

Skill Trait: Absorbent

Rarity: common

Effect: materialize up to 3 stationary shields the size of the caster’s fist

Range: 16 feet

Duration: 10 minutes

Energy cost: small

Cooldown: none

—

He didn’t remember Augment slots being at that part of his Skill description or the Skill Trait being there, but the description did seem to shift. Maybe the System was still calibrating or something.

He focused on the Augments. He had

Paci-Fist and Alarm Bells equipped.

He narrowed his eyes and tried to unslot Paci-Fist. It worked, unlike when he tried it with Hand-Shield. He could feel it shift away from Hand-Shield in his mind.

It felt like…he wasn’t sure what it felt like. Maybe pulling off a hat, but it’s your mind? No, that was a terrible analogy.

Shaking off that line of thought, Steven slotted Shield Pull.

He felt it slot into place. Like…putting on a hat.

No, drop that stupid metaphor.

“Alright, it’s slotted, and you can unslot Augments. I made sure before using this one.”

Micheal made a ‘go on’ gesture. “Let’s see it then.”

Steven called a shield about ten feet away.

Once everyone was clear of its path, Steven focused on Shield Pull. It had said any point on his body, so…he looked at his hand and activated Shield Pull.

The shield zipped across the room in a perfectly straight line. The instant it came within six inches of his hand, it stopped dead.

Hand-Shield’s Skill box had a timer next to it, counting down from 5.

It had said a five-second cooldown per shield.

Steven called another shield and then immediately pulled it.

It zipped over to his right knee. A second timer appeared next to the first.

Micheal whistled. “So that cooldown really is per shield. That opens up some options. A lot of options.”

“Yeah.” Steven's gaze didn’t leave the glowing green ovals. This was a massive step up for his overall abilities. He didn’t need to wait for monsters to bumble into his shields. They were now a legitimate ranged attack.

Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Test their stopping power first.

Moving away from the rest of the group, Steven grabbed one of the intact stools and set it in the center of the room.

He held his breath as he neared the Unique Creations corpse. He wanted to leave the room altogether, but it was better to do this in a safe room that literally reeked of death than to blunder into a fight with an untested ability.

He backed away, making sure he was facing the others. He wasn’t going to risk flinging a stool at them if this turned out stronger than he expected.

He called a shield behind the stool then pulled.

He set it towards his left hand, so he could dodge if- the stool was flung into the air as the shield raced towards him. He jumped to the side, but the shield kept coming straight for him. The shield stopped at his hand while the stool clattered to the ground on his left.

“Okay. So it’s not weak.” Margie said. “Try the bench next!”

Steven made sure he could dismiss his shield while it was in motion first. Crushing himself with a bench would be an embarrassing way to go.

He could dismiss them just as fast while moving, so he cautiously moved to the bench. It was made of thick wood, and he didn’t bother trying to move it to the middle first.

The others cleared out, and Steven called a shield behind it.

He took a deep breath, then pulled.

The bench jerked forward about half a foot, then stopped.

Steven felt a straining sensation from the shield, then Shield Pull’s timer popped up in his vision.

“It’s on cooldown.”

Micheal quirked a brow. “So if it’s stopped, the effect ends? Or is the pull on a timer, and it stops if it doesn’t reach you by the end of it? If you pulled a shield while in a car, would the shield stop coming after a bit, even if nothing directly stopped it?”

Margie shrugged. “Those are good questions, questions that we can’t answer here.”

Micheal nodded. “You’re right, you’re right. Let’s try and pull several at once, then move on.”

Steven dismissed the shield behind the bench and called all three right in front of him.

“I felt it when the Augment stopped. It was like the Skill was straining for a second before giving up.”

Micheal frowned in thought. “Makes me think it’s probably not a timer if you felt the Skill strain first. Though we’d have to make sure you don’t feel the strain if the shield can’t reach you quickly to prove it.”

Margie cleared her throat.

Steven nodded. “Right, right, I’m on it.”

He reached out to the shields and realized he could feel them. He knew, even without looking, that each of them was ready to be pulled.

He couldn’t sense anything around them, but he had an incredibly vague sense of their position in relation to him.

It was like…feeling your hand when your arm was asleep, except even vaguer.

Steven ignored the odd feeling for now and reached out to his shields.

He pulled, and all three shields raced to him.

Three timers popped up in his vision, and he smiled.

“No delay. That is going to be useful.” He rubbed his hands together and turned to the door.

“That’s enough testing. Let’s move.”