The basement air was uncomfortably chill, clinging to Markus, trying to seep into his bones.

He didn’t mind too much. It was a nice excuse to wear sweaters.

He had gotten the blond man to safety an hour ago.

The man, who had introduced himself as Marvin, had a cousin near Southport he could stay with. He’d taken Markus’s advice and had decided to leave until this blew over.

Markus was glad the man had gotten out, but he was still left with a gang of uncertain size and strength trying to take over his home.

He assumed they all had Classes and had all passed their First Threshold. Markus couldn’t beat that. Not in a straight fight, and he didn’t have time to be sneaky about this. He didn’t know where they were operating aside from the strip mall, and he couldn’t find out.

He didn’t have the network for that anymore.

Micheal, bless him, was already on the way with his friends, but Markus needed to be stronger, which brought him here.

He had a large section of his basement cleared for exercise, and he supposed he was still using it for exercise, just magical ones.

This wasn’t a contest where no one could die. This was real life. Markus hadn’t delved as deeply into his Class and Character sheet as he should have, the unfamiliar terms and general impossibility of it had overwhelmed him at first, and then he hadn’t had much to delve into with only one Skill.

That had changed.

Character Sheet

Markus Ward: Level 6

CLASS

TITANS ADVANCE

Rarity: rare

Purpose: to advance

Scope: singular

Class Skill: The Titans Advance

Effect: You have a meter. Moving fills the meter, and stopping or being pushed back will quickly drain it. The higher the meter, the stronger you are.

Range: self

Duration: X

Energy cost: medium (only takes effect when the meter is emptied)

Cooldown: none

SKILLS

The Titans Advance

AUGMENTS

Nature’s Cloak

Uncommon

Effect: Gives resistance to the elements (effect scales based on Meter)

Range: self

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: none

——

Meter Break

Rare

Effect: instantly gain a burst of Meter for five seconds. After five seconds, lose an equal amount.

Range: self

Energy cost: moderate

Cooldown: 2 minutes

——

Meter Bank

Rare

Effect: once Meter passes the 25% mark, Meter Bank will take effect. When Meter is reduced to 25%, it will not drop below it for 5 seconds.

Range: self

Energy cost: small

Cooldown: 10 minutes

SP: 2

TP: 6

Markus read over his sheet, his eyes pausing at the end. When he’d rolled for Traits, he’d gotten “rather unlucky, I’m afraid,” as the System had put it, getting zero Trait options, and when he re-rolled after passing his First Threshold, he got zero again.

He’d spent his Skill points before the contest, dumping them into his lone Skill.

It had made it better all around, increasing the Meter and making the charge rate faster. And the bonus for getting it to level 5 granted him a larger strength bonus for maxing out the Meter.

As he read over the new Augments, he smiled. This was good, very good. While he wanted more Skills to fill out his Slots, these Augments gave him options. Though aside from Nature’s Cloak, he would need some practice.

So far, his Class had just made him better at what he was already good at. It didn’t give him fundamentally new things to keep track of in a fight aside from his Meter. But that was a matter of positioning, which was hardly new.

Meter Break and Meter Bank were brand new to him from a practical standpoint. He’d never had to keep track of cooldowns or when he needed to activate a power boost before.

He moved to the center of the basement and slotted all three Augments. He felt them settle into place with a click.

The basement was just as cool as before.

Well, it did say it scaled with my Meter.

Markus activated his Skill and instantly felt the cold recede somewhat. He could still tell it was cold, but it didn’t bother him nearly as much.

He took a step forward and punched, the motion smooth and quick. He slid forward and struck at the air with his elbow, then blocked an imaginary punch from the side.

He fell deeper into the kata, his body settling into the motions like the steps of a familiar dance. Punch, block, step.

He closed his eyes, letting his body take the lead.

There was nothing but motion. No fear at a changing world, at whether or not he would be able to protect the others, at what he might become as the world seemed to force him back into violence.

There was nothing. Nothing except the power flowing from his chest and the next step.

When he opened his eyes, he had circled the basement god knows how many times and his meter was three-quarters full.

Amber light flowed over him, the currents of energy clinging tight to his skin.

Well, time to get testing.