Steven slowed and then stopped. A second later, Clark did the same.

The ground in front of them was… odd. A hundred yards out, the tree line abruptly switched back to winter, but from where they were standing to that tree line was an obstacle course of swinging vines, crashing stone, and other dangers. And underneath it all was still water with dark shapes shifting in its depths.

Steven eyed Clark.

“Do we go around or–“

“WELCOME TO AMERICAN NATURE WARRIOR! If the two contestants can make it to the other side, they will each be granted two points!”

The System’s voice dropped, and it started speaking in a rush. “Also-the -show-is-not-held-liable-for-any-damages-caused-by-entering-the-course-contestants-may-not-leave-the-course-the-only-way-out-is-forward-don’t-be-a-coward.”

Steven sighed. “Or not.”

Clark hummed as his dark eyes scanned the course. It looked… extensive. But not impossible. Especially not with his shields.

“It seems the System wants to strong-arm us,” Clark commented.

Steven started to walk forward, but Clark stopped him. “I’m a little out of breath. Let’s rest for a minute before tackling this.

The thought of waiting while Margie and Micheal were out there grated at Steven, but he forced himself to stop.

It would be fine.

They were strong and confident, and smart, and they might die anyway. Die, while Steven was miles away, helpless to save them, helpless to do anything. And he wouldn’t even find out until he got the call, and– Steven forced his mind to change tracks. Think about something else, anything else!

He stared at Clark and asked the first thing that came to mind. “What does the System sound like for you?“

Clark gave Steven a sharp look. “You picked up on that too, huh? There are some forms about it, but a surprising number of people haven’t picked up on them.” He seemed to measure Steven before continuing. “For me, the System sounds like a dry-voiced, middle-aged woman with a northwestern accent. Most of its lines are deadpan, but a bit of personality leads through sometimes.“

Steven scratched his head. “For me, the System sounds like… Well, it’s just kind of a dick.”

“I resent that! It’s not untrue, but I resent it!”

Steven ignored the System. “It throws insults around, makes bad jokes—“

“My jokes are fantastic, you little shit.”

“And is occasionally helpful.“

”At least there’s a little appreciation!”

Clark stroked his beard, though the gesture stemmed from agitation more than thoughtfulness. “Why, I can’t figure it out for the life of me,“ the man complained. “Why is the System doing any of this? But why is it bothering to speak to us with different personalities? What’s the point?“

Steven shook his head. “No clue. But so far, it seems to have a different personality for each person. As for its goals… Well, it doesn’t want wholesale slaughter. I feel pretty confident in that.“

Clark arched a brow. “Why?”

Steven ticked points off on his hand. “Children, for one thing. If it just wants chaos, it has no reason to exclude them from Scenarios or stop them from getting a Class. Maybe it can’t give them Classes until they’re older, but if it can do everything it’s been doing, I don’t think we should assume that it’s holding back due to an actual limitation.”

“Second, difficulty. Things have been scaled to be possible. It could’ve just blasted us with monster waves or torn us to shreds, or atomized us for all we know. But it hasn’t. The only two people that died in my Scenario died because of foul play. One of them attacked the other and got them both killed.”

“My group almost died clearing the Scenario quite a few times, but none of the encounters were outright impossible. Some of them even had clear-level design, like a game, that showed off how the room was supposed to be beaten. None of that points to a being that just wants to tear shit up. Or, at least, not completely. Though I’m having some trouble fitting the whole ‘personality for each person' thing into my theory.“

Clark stared at Steven, his face a neutral mask. “You certainly piece together some decent points. Enough that I am inclined to agree with you about it not wanting pure havoc. This is too structured for all of that.“

Clark smiled, the expression warm and friendly. “You got a good head on your shoulders, Steven.“ He gestured towards the obstacle course in front of them. “I’ve gotten my wind back. Let’s do this.“

Steven smiled. Clark really felt like he meant the compliment, that it wasn’t just lip service.

He turned and eyed the fantasy obstacle course. Well, that didn’t quite do it justice.

It would be more accurate to describe it as a fantasy obstacle course designed by someone with no supervision and a steady supply of hard drugs.

Some paths seemed to end at random points in the course with no other option but to backtrack, while others looked like they just got you killed.

He frowned. So not only did they have to make it through the obstacles, they had to pick the right set of obstacles.

They spent a few minutes going over the potential routes before settling on one. Every second spent not moving toward the pillar physically pained him, but he couldn’t risk getting eliminated.

The route they settled on started with five stone pillars that rose into the air. It looked unstable, and the tops were only wide enough to stand on one foot, but the other options were worse.

After that was a flat platform that led to a vine swing. Said swing would take you past a set of three blades set in a floating rock wall that would shoot out every few seconds.

Steven tested his shields against them, and they held. After that, the path split, one way leading to more balance obstacles made of stone, while the other involved swinging and jumping.

Steven turned to Clark. “How do you feel about acrobatics?“

The man chuckled. “Well, I don’t think I’ll impress any circus, but I think I can make my way through.”

Steven nodded. Swinging course it was. “I’ll use my shields to make it easier. So far, the System has designed things to be doable in theory. So our skill sets should be able to handle this.“

“Unless we take the wrong route,“ Clark helpfully added.

Steven glared at him. “Yes. Unless we take the wrong route. Thank you for that.“

He held his hands up. “Just pointing it out.“

“Do you want me to go first?“

Steven shook his head. “I think it’s best to tackle it in segments. I’ll go over the first obstacle and wait at the platform for you. Get ready to grab onto a shield if you think you’re going to fall.“

Clark nodded and started to stretch. Steven didn’t bother. He took a deep breath, then charged the pillars.

His foot hit the first pillar, causing it to shake violently, but he didn’t slow down, immediately stepping up to the next pillar.

They were spaced apart so that the step was difficult but not impossible. So, Steven‘s foot was already moving to step on the third pillar when it shot up an extra foot.

He cursed and pulled his foot back, but he was already overbalancing.

He was going down!

He sucked in a breath and called. The Hand-Shield formed under his foot, and he launched off it. He reached the fourth pillar, which had also risen, causing his jump to fall short. He called another Hand-Shield, barely getting it under him in time. He quickly scrambled up the pillar, calling and dismissing shields as needed.

If he had a solid handhold and was ready for it, timing the shields for climbing was pretty easy. But suddenly catching himself mid-air?

He was lucky he hadn’t tried to call it inside his foot. His foot would’ve been fine, but the Skill would’ve failed to form, and he would have gotten an express trip to the dark water and an introduction to the even darker shapes lurking below.

He decided just to call a shield foothold for the fifth pillar instead of trying to aim for it. He didn’t need it juking him again.

Predictably, the last pillar shot a foot down, ensuring that he almost certainly would’ve missed it if he hadn’t been cheating. Steven quickly jumped from his shield onto the floating platform before turning back to Clark.

“Ready?“

Clark nodded and got into a runner's stance.

Steven dismissed his shields and got ready to catch the man.

Clark flew over the first two pillars without issue and was able to correct in time for the third and fourth. The fifth he still needed Steven‘s help with since he was moving too fast.

He jumped off the shield with a bit less grace than Steven had managed, but he still landed on the platform safe and sound.

He was slightly out of breath but clapped Steven on the shoulder. “Thank you. The fourth one would’ve tripped me up if I hadn’t seen you tackle it first.” He scowled. “The fifth one is just plain mean.”

Steven nodded and dismissed his shields.

He turned his attention to the next obstacle: a vine swing that would take him in the path of stabbing blades.

Three blades, three hand shields. Well, it was nice to have a neat answer to the problem at hand.

Though, if his hand shields were blocking the blades, he wouldn’t be able to catch himself if he fell off the vine.

Sure he had his tower shield, but while its cast time wasn’t that long, it was too long to catch himself mid-air unless he started calling it before he fell.

Steven shook his head, no way around it. He was just going to have to go for it.

He gripped the vine, took a few steps back, then leaped. The air whistled by, and the water rushed up. Several dark shapes in the depths seemed to be swimming towards the surface.

His gut clenched, but the arc of his swing lifted him back up before anything could snap him up like a careless mosquito above a pond.

Steven let go of the vine, and his feet hit the platform. In that moment; Steven found out two interesting things.

One, he was moving a lot faster than he’d thought.

Two, the platform was slick.

Shit.

His feet went out from under him without killing his momentum.

Steven’s focus sharpened as his feet sailed past the edge. He twisted, dismissed one of his hand shields, and then called it at the platform's edge.

His waist was already past the edge, but he reacted in time to grasp desperately at the green oval.

His grip clamped down, and his momentum crashed to a stop. His shoulder twinged, and his fingers ached, but that was better than going into the water.

He dismissed his other shields before calling them under his feet. He quickly pulled himself back onto the platform with a grunt.

He glanced up at Clark and found an odd expression on the man’s face. One he couldn’t quite place. A moment later, it was gone, replaced with a relieved grin.

“If it’s the same to you, do you think you could make me a walkway out of shields? I’m not too keen on imitating that performance.“

Steven gave a nervous chuckle as he glanced down at the water.

“Yeah, of course. Just give me a second to catch my breath.“

Steven considered calling his tower shield behind him. That would remove the risk of falling off the back of the platform, but he dismissed the thought a moment later. He wasn’t going to cast a medium energy cost Skill if he didn’t have to.

He only gave himself a count to fifteen before he nodded to Clark. “Ready.“

Clark’s platform was just barely in the range of Hand-Shield, but barely in range was still in range. Two horizontal shields appeared in front of the man.

Before he took a step forward, the vine vanished from Steven’s side and reappeared next to Clark. The floating rock it was tethered to had teleporting with it.

Huh, convenient.

Clark grabbed the vine with both hands before stepping onto the shield.

Steven started making a path.

It was harder than making his obstacle courses for Micheal or Buford.

When he made an obstacle course, everyone involved knew how fast it would move, and they had both trust and practice on their side.

He had neither of those here, so every step was cautious and slow.

While every second of delay grated at Steven, he couldn’t blame Clark for wanting to take the safer option.

Or at least, it should’ve been safer.

Once Clark was halfway across, a dark shape exploded out of the water and hurtled for Clark.

Steven barely got a glimpse of brown fur and sharp teeth before he reacted on instinct. A Hand-Shield appeared above the monster's head, and it crashed into it.

The shield cracked and almost broke before the monster fell back into the water.

Suddenly, Clark wanted to go a lot faster.

Steven called and dismissed as the man nearly ran across the gap.

Steven hadn’t been able to get a good look at the creature, but he was pretty sure it had been a giant otter.

Giant as in bigger than he was.

Clark made it to the platform and slowly turned back to stare at the water.

“I’m stating the obvious here,“ he said. “But we really do not want to fall into that water.

Steven swallowed. “Yeah.”