Snow fell gently on Margie’s lawn. Fat, wet flakes that quickly piled up. The cold air nipped at Steven’s cheeks and nose, but he didn’t spare any attention to the cold.

He was a little too preoccupied.

Steven’s fist missed Micheal’s jaw by an inch.

The shorter man slipped under the strike and struck Steven’s side before darting back.

Steven followed, his movements smooth and powerful.

He didn’t have Micheal’s buff, but their bodies had been tempered passing the First Threshold. They moved smoothly and with a grace that Steven had lacked.

Micheal kept dodging, but a few hits made it through.

Fighting the man was like trying to punch the air, but he couldn’t dodge everything.

Steven called a shield, but Micheal had read him. The instant his focus shifted to call the shield, Micheal struck out. His foot stopped before landing on Steven’s knee, but they both knew it would have hit.

Steven stepped back and dismissed the shield.

“That was good, man. You read me like a book.”

Micheal smiled but shook his head. “Thanks, but that’s because you were holding back. If you used more than one shield, I couldn’t do much.”

“True.” Steven wasn’t going to deny it. He could keep Micheal at a range and continuously slam shields into his back. But the point of this training wasn’t so Micheal could beat him.

“That’s comparing apples to oranges, though. My Class is meant for fighting. If this was a buff contest, I couldn’t do anything.”

Micheal rubbed his face and sighed. The man looked like he had aged a year in a good way. His face had grown less boyish, his nose slightly less crooked, and what little fat he had was replaced with muscle.

Steven and Margie had gone through similar changes. Though with Margie, she had lost years. She looked maybe three years younger, her back less stooped, her limbs a little steadier.

“I know. I’m just frustrated.”

“You’re dancing circles around Steven after a week. Think of what you’ll be able to do in a month!” Margie called from the porch.

Noodle looked up from her lap to give them both a blank stare. He held it for a few seconds before settling back down.

Buford took their gazes as an invention and rushed over.

Micheal let out an oof as Buford rammed into his waist.

“I’ll give you attention. No need to knock me on my ass to get it!”

Buford chuffed.

“You wanna join in on the training, buddy?”

Buford barked.

“Go get ready then!”

The dog rushed back to Margie, and she held out a glowing red hand.

The dog pressed his head into her palm, and the light spread over him.

Margie’s Threshold Trait had increased her hound's intelligence further. Buford and Noodle weren’t people smart yet, but Steven wasn’t sure how far off they were now.

Buford rushed over, his shroud trailing behind him like a cloak.

Steven raised a brow at Micheal. “Obstacle course?”

The shorter man grinned.

Steven stretched, then raised his hands.

Micheal got into a sprinter's stance. His arm was completely healed. Passing through the First Threshold had made them healthier than they’d been before the System had arrived.

Steven’s gaze trailed to the corner of his vision, where two Skill boxes softly glowed. One was the familiar sight of Hand-Shield, the other was Lumbering Tower-Shield. It was a drawing of a doorway, with a massive shield just barely managing to squeeze through.

“Three,” Margie began her countdown. “Two. One. Go!”

Steven called, Hand-Shields appearing horizontal a foot off the ground. Micheal launched into a sprint, jumping onto the first shield without slowing. He bound to the next one without losing speed.

Steven dismissed the shields once Micheal passed them and added them to the front. He extended the path, angling it up slightly. After half a dozen shields, Steven called a shield above Micheal.

The man jumped and caught the shield with both hands. He swung forward, trusting Steven to provide a path.

Steven wasn’t about to let him down.

More shields appeared, and Micheal started using them like monkey bars.

It was a little strange. Steven couldn’t feel pain or heat through his shields, but he knew someone was touching them. He was still getting used to it.

Micheal jumped off the monkey bars and dashed through another platform section, and then he was on the ground.

Steven threw shields up around his head, forcing him to juke.

He slipped around two head-height shields, then almost ate it as Steven called a shield in front of his ankle.

That went on for a bit before Steven led the course back towards himself. Lumbering Tower-Shield didn’t have the best range.

Steven called the shield. It started to form in front of him, motes of green light condensing into a massive shield bigger than he was.

It solidified horizontally about nine feet in the air with a thump.

He angled his other shields up until Micheal reached the end. The man skidded to a stop, teetering at the edge of the tower shield.

This had been the trickiest part to get right. Getting off balance without actually falling off the edge was a delicate process.

Buford crouched low and launched himself onto the shield, clearing nine feet like it was nothing.

He grabbed Micheal by the belt and pulled him back.

Once he was stable, the dog let him go. Micheal grinned and scratched his ruff, the red light curling around his fingers.

“Thank you, my hero!”

Blue light streamed off Micheal and wrapped around the dog and Margie.

Micheal had chosen a utility Threshold Trait like Steven. It increased his buff strength the more times he used it on the same person until it capped out at a 5% increase. That was just the side benefit, though. Its primary function was that the people he buffed could sense his location, regardless of the distance.

Buford chuffed and jumped to the ground. He landed as if he’d only made a short hop.

They still weren’t sure exactly how strong he was. Micheal had some exercise equipment, and they found that Buford could easily lift a bar with 400 pounds on it. Micheal hadn’t had the weight to go higher.

Steven made Micheal a staircase of shields, and the man quickly reached the ground.

They had done tests with his buff and saving him from self-imposed danger counted. But if you were the one to put him in trouble, you got nothing. They had tested that by having him fall from a shield, only for Steven to catch him with another one immediately.

It turned out that the System didn’t consider it rescuing if you rescued them from yourself.

Margie strolled over with two steaming mugs. Steven accepted the cup and took a deep swig.

The hot coffee was a wonderful cure to the freezing air.

Margie sighed. “I want it to be summer already.”

“I don’t. I want to ski-“ Micheal cut off. “Huh…not sure how much of a chance I’ll get to ski this winter. Hell, is Alyeska even in the dome?”

Margie shrugged. “Let me check.” She handed Micheal his cup and pulled out her phone.

The power and internet were still up after a week. Steven didn’t know if the power stations were still functioning or if it was some System bullshit, but they worked all the same.

For the most part, at least. They could contact the outside world, but the System censored things. It didn’t care if Steven tried to text or call his friends on the outside or even tell them that he had magic, but the second he got into the details, it would stop him.

“Stop trying to spoil the surprise, asshole.”

He’d seen that message an obnoxious amount of times. At least none of his friends were in Seed Cities, which couldn’t contact each other at all so far.

Micheal stumbled as Buford leaned against him.

His parents had been on a plane to Honolulu when the System arrived. If their flight had been just a little bit faster, they would have been in the same boat as the rest of them.

Micheal had moved in with Steven and Margie, bringing his own pantry over.

The neighborhood had made it out relatively unscathed by the Scenario. Two people had died, but from what Steven understood, some foul play was involved.

A man had taken zombies attacking as a chance to settle a grudge with his neighbor and ended up getting them both killed.

As stupid as that had been, Steven had expected far more death and destruction overall.

However, the monsters had focused on the people who could fight back or had others who could nearby, like in Micheal’s case.

No one had seen as many monsters as they had, and at least three people had gained Classes in the chaos but had stayed bunkered in their homes like everyone else.

The System had obviously directed the Scenario not to be as lethal as it could’ve been.

Why?

Steven had pondered that question all week, and he wasn’t any closer to figuring it out.

With a thought, he pulled up a prompt.

10:22 the timer ticked down to 10:21.

Steven took a deep breath--not long now until the Systems mysterious timer ran out.

The last week felt more like a month.

Even just staying at Margie's and training, he was bombarded with information. Most of the major news stations had stopped broadcasting after the third day, but plenty of independents were still at it, not to mention how much was spread online.

The System didn't censor anything they said unless it was related to how the System itself worked, and even that wasn't consistent.

They had agreed to spread the knowledge that you could ask the System for help, and it hadn't stopped them.

Steven was sure plenty of others had figured it out on their own, but that didn't mean spreading that knowledge wouldn't help.

Information was key, and they weren't the only ones to think that. He had come across countless message boards spreading information or trying to recruit people with the promise of secret System knowledge.

Someone had even taken down their original posts about being able to ask the System questions. They had posted it to enough places that the information quickly spread, but it was telling that someone had tried to stop them.

“Roof!” Steven blinked and looked down at Buford. The dog's mouth lulled open in a doggy grin.

“Impatient for training, huh?”

Buford wagged.

“How can I say no to you?”

Steven quickly ran Buford through a similar obstacle course to Micheal’s, though with bigger jumps and much fewer monkey bars.

He wasn’t sure if Buford was smart enough to understand that they were training or if he just found running the obstacles fun, but either way, he was always eager.

The malamute bounded over the small wall of Hand-Shields and raced for Steven.

Steven dismissed the shields behind the dog and called one 15 feet in the air. The dog sped up, and Steven started to call Lumbering Tower-Shield.

The motes gathered together, and the shield thumped into place at an angle as Buford leaped.

He slammed into the shield with all four paws, his shroud trailing half a second behind him. He bounded off the platform and shot towards the shield in the air.

His jaws clamped around it, and he swung back and forth, his tail wagging furiously.

After a few seconds, Buford let himself drop.

Even after a week, Steven still tensed at seeing the dog falling from so high.

But Buford slammed into a snowbank without a scratch.

Steven wasn’t sure if he was durable enough to take the fall with just Jugger-Hound active, but with Margie’s and Micheal’s buff coursing through him, Buford could eat falls like that for breakfast.

The dog burst from the snow bank and shook himself.

Steven took deep breaths. Calling shields like that took a lot out of him, but passing through the Threshold had increased his stamina along with everything else. That, and it had let him roll for Traits again.

He’d gotten even unluckier than the first time, only getting one Trait. But it was strong.

I Could Do This For Like 20 Minutes: Trait Upgrade (Replaces previous Trait)

You can do this for 10 more, maybe it’s time to step that up a notch.

Effect: Increase energy levels by 20%

Upgrade cost: 1TP (Each upgrade is more expensive than the last)

An additional 10% energy was huge, but they also found that using his shields was like a muscle. The more he practiced, the longer he could go for.

Buford sneezed and Steven glanced at the hound.

He plowed through the several feet of snow in the yard like it wasn’t there to smack into Micheal.

“Gack!”

Steven wasn’t sure if Buford singled Micheal out because he was the closest or because he thought it would be funny to do it twice within five minutes.

Steven hoped it was the second.

“Good news!” Margie waved her phone like a prized trophy. “We can go ski! Alyeska is in the dome.”

“I suck at skiing.” Steven pointed out.

“Which makes watching you ski very funny.”

He scowled. “It’s the end of the world, Margie! We don’t have time to ski!”

She scoffed. “Like hell we don’t. It’s the end of the world, so of course we have the time. What are we going to do instead?“

Steven opened his mouth and then closed it. That was a problem he kept coming back to.

What the hell were they supposed to do?

The city government wasn’t doing anything right now. Unsurprising, since the police station and most government buildings were still trapped in Scenarios.

The Scenario map had appeared in their character sheets after they cleared their Scenario, and it showed all the still active Scenarios that started at the same time as theirs.

There weren’t that many left now, less than a dozen. But some of the locations included JBER, their military base, along with the aforementioned government buildings.

Steven didn’t know what to do with himself now. There was no active looming threat, no emergency, which had left him time to consider things like what he wanted to do.

He’d come up with a simple answer.

Protect Margie and Micheal.

It wasn’t a plan for the future, and it wasn’t enough on its own, but it was a goal, at least.

“10 seconds left.”

Steven glanced at Micheal only to see the man staring off into space.

Steven pulled up the prompt and watched the timer count down.

The timer reached zero, and the System’s voice rose in a bellow.

“OKKAAYY, ANCHORAGE. IT HAS BEEN A WHOLE WEEK ALREADY, AND I HAVE SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS TO MAKE.”

It coughed.

“Alright, enough yelling. First things first, let’s talk about balance and how I intend to keep it.”

A new tab appeared in Steven’s vision.

REPORT

“Now, I’m not talking about the balance between your forming factions or anything like that. That’s up to you lot. No, I’m talking about your powers. About the system that I, The System, control.”

“As you inevitably begin to fight with one another, some of you will complain that someone else’s Class or Skills are busted or overloaded. Now, I don’t think my Classes are overloaded —except for the ones that are—but some will disagree. So voilà, the report tab.”

The tab flashed.

“Just cause you use it doesn’t mean I’ll listen or actually nerf the reported ability, but there’s a chance. Some things are subject to change. And also, I’m obviously not going to nerf something just cause a group mass reports something. I can read your minds, remember?”

“Now, speaking of changes, here’s one now. Jarad is getting his Class Skill nerfed. …Anyway, I’ll be releasing weekly patch notes that will cover general system changes, but anything more specific isn’t going to be shared. Usually.”

“Moving on! Grocery stores will now produce food. How? What amount? Not telling. And the stores aren’t going to run out. Next!”

The System’s voice changed, gaining a weight and presence that made Steven shiver.

“Citywide Scenario: The Beasts Of The North.”

“With my coming, these beasts were changed. They became something more. The Beasts are not to be trifled with, and each of the remaining three has claimed territory of their own.”

A map of anchorage appeared in Steven’s vision with three areas highlighted in bright red. One was worryingly close to them, covering the forest to the left of Big Mountain Dr. Another covered all of Potters Marsh. And the last sat over Valley Of The Moon Park.

“The Beasts are currently resting, but tomorrow they will wake, and they will be hungry. I suggest anyone in the highlighted areas not be there when they do. Of course, you can and should try to fight the Beasts, since if you leave them alone for too long, there will be consequences. But I don’t recommend it for parties under level 10.”

Steven exchanged a worried look with the others.

That highlighted zone was awfully close.

“Now, this last announcement isn’t for the unwashed masses. This is for the elite, the cream of the crop, and you—sorry, couldn’t help myself. Everyone else is about to get a little sporting event, and you are invited to be the players. The groups who cleared their Scenario’s the fastest, who reached the First Threshold, the strongest currently in the city! You all have a chance at greater rewards! At treasures and glory!”

“And also the rest of the city gets to watch.”

“What?” Steven and Micheal snapped in unison.

“I don’t think I want to accept that invite!” Steven scoffed.

“…You know, the word ‘invited’ has so many implications, don’t you think? It means you're welcomed at an event, that you have a place there. It means someone wants you there. Out of all the people in the world they could ask they want you. Isn’t that wholesome? With that in mind, turning down an invitation would be downright rude. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you be rude.”

Margie groaned, and Steven scowled. “Oh, you bastar-“ he cut off as they were enveloped by a flash of green and blue light.