Micheal pulled his face from the floor, bits of snow and ice sticking to his skin.

“Ow,” he groaned, then rolled over.

An arched ceiling lined with high windows stared back at him.

Micheal looked to his left and right. His friends were nowhere in sight, not that he’d expected them to be.

Instead, James and Alissa were pulling themselves to their feet beside him.

The walls were lined with bookshelves and dotted with cubbies.

He took a deep breath. The air just smelled cold. No scent of old wood and older books filled his nose.

Just cold.

Micheal’s body protested as he stood, the cold seeping its way into his bones.

“Well, this could be worse!” James said as he stared at the nearest bookshelf.

“Oh?” Alissa grunted.

“Yeah, you could have ended up with Tyler.”

Micheal eyed them. “Your group doesn’t get along?”

James rolled his shoulder as he looked around. “It’s not that. It’s that Tyler likes to talk. And talk and talk. And Alissa here is like a stone wall of silence.”

The woman in question just nodded.

“Hmm, well, bad news. I also like to talk and talk, so I don’t think you’ll be spared.”

A dead look entered Alissa’s eyes as they started to move.

“Kidding, kidding!” Micheal raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t bug you.”

The woman nodded but didn't speak.

James fell into step beside him. “She won’t show it, but she enjoys the jokes. She can’t crack, or she’ll ruin her hardened badass act.”

“Ah, I see.”

As they chatted, Micheal had to push down his worry. The others would be fine. They were all stronger than him, and they knew what they were doing. It would be fine.

The library walls stretched on, and Micheal was half tempted to grab a book and read. Would they be blank? Or had the System actually filled the library with real books?

As they passed by a pile of books on a table, Micheal’s curiosity got the better of him.

He reached out and snatched the top of the pile.

Its cover read: The Deeper Domains: by Rowl Tibus

Micheal opened it. Despite being ice, it opened just like a normal book would.

”I write today because I have made a startling discovery. The deeper Domains aren’t just stronger like we thought. They are broader. I know that seems contradictory; the deeper Domains are almost always a narrower subject. But their narrow scope can be applied to a shockingly wide field, more so than an equally narrow Domain of a lower tier.”

The book suddenly snapped shut and flew from his hands. It sailed through the air before placing itself neatly on a nearby shelf.

”Old Rowl always was too focused on the contrasts between Deeper Domains. It clouded his judgment, I’m afraid. Though he’s hardly the first. People always want to reach deep, to find the rare offerings the cosmos can offer. But many ‘common’ Domains go just as deep. One merely needs to learn how to dig.”

Micheal stared at the air. That was the longest the System had ever gone without insulting him. Why?

“Who knows? I’m just as mysterious as the cosmos, don’t you think?

Micheal blinked. Okay then. That was…fucking strange, was what it was. What the hell even was a Domain?

”Something you won’t have to concern yourself with for a while yet. Now I must go. Goodbye, Damsel.”

Micheal stared at the air trying to puzzle out what the hell that was.

He was replaying that conversation over in his mind when a snow mannequin with dark robes and large spectacles leaped from a bookshelf, its arms raised and black light crackling between its fingers.

Alissa flicked her left hand out, and a shard of ice flew from the wall, striking the librarian in the neck and passing straight through.

They dropped in a heap.

Micheal stared. The Skill wasn’t flashy, it was a simple ice projectile, but she had cast it in a heartbeat with perfect aim.

He swallowed.

As they started walking again, James spoke up. “Say, what do you think will happen when the government gets out of its Scenario?”

Micheal blinked. “Huh?”

“The government? You know, they make laws, tax you, is kinda bad at their job, and occasionally kills the odd civilian.”

Micheal burst into a startled laugh. “Okay, glad you cleared up who they were for me.”

“Always eager to help.”

Micheal rubbed his chin as he gave the question some thought. “I don’t know. Everything’s changed so much I…” a dark thought struck him, one he couldn’t shake.

“The longer this goes on, the harder it will be for them. Factions are popping up. And over time, they’ll get stronger and stronger until they are authorities in their own right.”

They reached a staircase leading down. The bookshelves followed, winding around the steps like roots.

“As savage as it sounds… it's going to come down to levels. If the cops and military come out with our levels, or even higher, then they’ll establish command, probably bring the city into some state of order. Not a very good one, but some.”

Alissa spoke, her voice quiet. “And if they come out weaker?”

Micheal sighed. “They’ll try to take control, and they might do it. But it’ll be shaky, real shaky. And that’s assuming they come out of the Scenario today. The longer they’re in there… Eventually, they’ll be irrelevant.”

“Why do you say that?” James asked. “Not disagreeing. I’m just curious about your reasoning.”

Micheal looked at the Skill boxes at the corner of his vision. “Barely anyone in this city is level 10, and we can already do insane things.”

They ducked into a hallway, its walls carved with swirling patterns that made him think of a blizzard.

“What happens when we hit 15? 20? What the fuck is the city government going to do if they come out and face entrenched factions filled with level 15 and 20s that they can’t use guns against?”

James nodded. “Nothing.”

“Exactly.”

The man hummed as he walked, running his hand along the wall. “You know, people have died, our lives have been upturned, but in some ways, the System is doing a better job of running things than the politicians did.”

Micheal blinked.

James continued, his fingers tapping on the ice. “Nearly 100,000 people in Alaska have to worry about going hungry. Obviously, not all of those are in Anchorage, and the System’s magical groceries store won't help rural Alaska unless it takes it over too. But I know people who struggled before.”

Another librarian jumped from behind a corner only to run face-first into Alissa’s fist.

James didn’t even pause.

“Now they can eat as much as they want, and they don’t need to worry about missing the power or water bills. Monsters could burst down their door at any moment, yet in some ways, their day-to-day life is more comfortable than before.”

Micheal stepped over the fallen servant. “So you think the System is trying to help?”

James’s expression hardened. “No. In a snap of its fingers, the System provided food, heating, and power. It fixed those problems as an afterthought.“

His eyes, which had been open and friendly, grew cold. “And then it still sent monsters and chaos into the city. It made a game out of us, and the fact that it could be doing unmeasurable amounts of good instead makes this all worse.”

Micheal studied the man beside him. He burned with an inner fire, one that Micheal recognized. Frustration. At the world, at the situation, at your helplessness to do anything about it.

“I’m afraid.”

James and Alissa glanced at Micheal.

James, for his part, nodded. “Me too.” Alissa stayed quiet.

Micheal chuckled. “More specifically, I’m worried about what the city will do. I’m worried that the System won’t push too much harder than this, but everything will still fall apart. That we just needed the push, and we’ll destroy everything ourselves.”

Three librarians attacked, one from the right and two dropping from above.

Alissa sent two ice daggers flying up from the ground as she punched to the right.

Her fist landed at the same time as her daggers, and three snowy forms crashed to the ground.

It wasn’t the most flashy thing Micheal had seen, not even close, but the casual ease with which she moved made him take notice.

She wasn’t even close to trying, and none of the monsters in the library had survived for more than three seconds after appearing.

“I’m being melodramatic,” Micheal sighed.

James nodded. “Yeah, but this is the end of the world. When else can you be melodramatic?”

Alissa eyed Micheal before her lips quirked into a tiny smile. “…So, you’re worried humans are the real monsters?”

Micheal groaned.