Steven’s mind ached. That was the only way he could put it. It wasn’t a bad ache. It was the feeling of a muscle being worked. Of going until you were exhausted but not hurt.

Though ‘mind’ wasn’t quite right. Maybe his soul? His Will, as the System had called it.

It was slightly different from the exhaustion that came from overusing his Class. It was close, but not quite the same.

If it isn't the exhaustion of my Class, what is it exactly? Was ‘soul’ fatigue a thing? Or was it his ‘Will,’ which the System had also mentioned a few times?

Steven shook his head. He wasn’t going to figure it out this minute. He’d already asked the System, who had told him to, “Pound Sand.”

He rested on a stone bench, its legs carved to resemble a gargoyle’s claws.

What remained of an obstacle course of green shields hung before him.

He’d been able to make it more elaborate than ever before. Having so many shields to work with was exciting, but he really pushed it.

Calling and using his Augments to create a confusing tapestry for the others to dance through had been fun, but now he felt like he needed a nap and a shot of espresso.

He doubted making an obstacle course would help him in fights, but the speed and accuracy it trained were invaluable.

…Plus, it was fun. Using magic to make something dance and shift to your will was an empowering feeling. Knowing that it was helping you progress only made it better.

And he was making progress.

He called a shield to his left, then pulled. It zipped towards him. Before it reached his hand, he used Compass Push to shove it to his right.

Since he’d targeted the small of his back with Shield Pull, the green oval curved from the force of his push as if it were swinging on a line attached to him.

Compass Pushed ran out as the shield was a little behind him and to the right.

It froze as it reached its 6-inch mark.

The whole time he felt totally in control. He could feel not only his Skill but the Augments, the way they strained against one another, pushing to slip from his control.

He’d grown so familiar with them that he didn’t need to think about their limits.

And even more than his familiarity with them, they responded quicker, with more force. And in the heat of the moment, when he really needed it, he could get more from them than before.

The System hadn’t mentioned overclocking Augments, but it seemed similar.

He noticed a jump after passing through the First Threshold and another now that he’d passed the Second.

It was a good feeling, but he didn’t want to bask in it for too long.

He had to keep pushing.

His Class didn’t have the innate strength of Margie’s. Its power came from its flexibility and how many creative options it gave him.

And one area where he felt like he was underusing his Skills was mobility.

With his new Trait, he could move around a fight in unexpected ways. A shield slamming into his shoulder could really get him moving.

He just hadn’t had much cause to use it since he got it.

Still, he felt like he could be doing more. It had kept him alive against Corrie.

And disregarding his own mobility, if Buford had been fighting Miguel with him, he could’ve used his shields to give the dog a clear path over the paint.

Technically, he could’ve done that with Lilly as well. But they didn’t have the trust and training to pull something like that off at a moment's notice.

As Steven considered his Skills, the door to the manor slammed open, and Micheal marched in carrying a blackboard and a handful of chalk, the others trailing behind him.

Steven stared at them. “Really? A blackboard.“

Micheal shrugged. “Seems like a useful aid for planning. Plus, I wanted an excuse to use a blackboard.“

He must’ve plundered it from his house, which had fallen into disrepair in the months since the System’s arrival.

A giant tearing through the walls in winter would kind of do that to a place.

Steven wasn’t sure if he told his parents exactly how bad the damage was.

Though he doubted they cared, they were just happy Micheal was alive.

The man called his parents at least once a day, but he didn’t talk about them much.

Steven suspected they were a painful reminder to the other man. That just outside the shifting dome was a sane world. Where you didn’t worry for your life every second. Where monsters couldn’t suddenly appear, where people could decide to kill someone and not even have to worry about the law.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It wouldn’t stay that way for long.

The System said the domes were just a start.

A sample.

Steven turned his mind away from the outside world as Micheal began to loudly write on the blackboard.

The scratching chalk brought Steven back to crowded classrooms and a teacher's droning voice.

Buford and Noodle walked over, inspecting Micheal as he worked.

Is Noodle studying the board? He can't read, can he?

...If he's smart enough, do we need to teach him?

After a minute, Micheal turned the board to them.

In big blocky letters, he had written out, “Operation don’t get enslaved by assholes and let the city fall into a Mad Max hellscape”

“Very concise,“ Markus commented.

Micheal bowed his head. “I try.“

Micheal added a dot and then wrote “Step one?”

Markus rubbed his lip. “I suppose step one should be clearly defining and then breaking down our goal into steps.“

Margie stretched, her back letting out a few quiet pops with the motion. “Our main goal is to stop murderers like The Corners from gaining control of the city. And just stopping murderers in general, I suppose.“

Micheal nodded and wrote down, “Stop murderers, and stop murderers.“

Del rubbed her hands together as she stared at the board. “OK. So how do we do that exactly?“

Steven raised his hand. “Share map.”

A hologram appeared before him, showing the city of Anchorage awash in different colors. Each color represented a different faction. Most colors were just small blotches, a neighborhood who had claimed themselves as a territory, that kind of thing.

Then there were the bigger blotches. Dark red stained a swath of midtown, the name ‘Luida’ hanging over them.

Steven was fairly sure they had claimed the maximum land the System would allow right now.

More blotches. A few in downtown, half a dozen in the southside, and one long patch of green stretching towards Eagle River.

“Not all of these groups are crazed murderers, but anybody making big land grabs should be looked at with some suspicion.“

Micheal rubbed his chin as he studied the map. “Well, some good news is that we won’t be doing this totally alone.“

He pointed to a cluster of neighborhoods near Jewel Lake. They had a slate gray tint to them, and if Steven looked at them closer to the words‘ protected by ‘Blank LLC.‘

Steven smiled. “I’ve seen some people talking about them. Supposedly they’ve been going around helping people from raiders and hostile factions. I’m pretty sure Clark is leading them.“

Del arched a brow. “Who’s Clark?”

“He was my teammate in one of the Contest rounds. I’m glad to see he’s doing well, and helping people. Assuming that’s him.”

Steven frowned. “Though I’m not sure how they know a place is going to be attacked.“

“System?“

“You can mess around with some of the settings on your map as well as your controlled territories. If you’re near a territory and an area claim is initiated, you can get pinged if you’re close enough, like, say, inside the mall that’s about to be claimed. You get a notification regardless. But you can Fiddle with things so you get notified about nearby events.“

“Why haven’t you told me that before?“

“Why haven’t you asked before?“

Steven bit back a response. The System was right. He hadn’t fiddled with things like the scenario map as much as he should’ve.

The others looked up at around the same time as him. It seems they all asked the System in unison.

That subtle reminder threw Steven for a loop.

The System had spoken to everyone in the room simultaneously without giving any sign that it was doing so.

What was it, to be able to split its attention like that?

Steven shook the thought off, bringing his focus back to the room.

“Okay,“ Markus said. “So roaming around looking for trouble is a legitimate strategy. We should mark that down, but we should also see if we have other options.“

Del pointed at the map, zooming in on a section of Midtown. It was covered in red. Luida owned all the surrounding neighborhoods.

“Prediction. Informed guessing, really. This group only seems interested in neighborhoods around Midtown, and I’ve checked on their progress several times over the last two weeks. She traced her finger to the left, gliding along the red stain. “They’ve expanded westward exclusively.”

“So, if we wanted to stop them from taking over a neighborhood, we have a pretty good guess on where we should be hanging around to stop them.”

They all nodded.

“Alright, so we have at least one method of finding territory claims, though it’s not the most precise,” Micheal said.

His blue eyes scanned the map with an intensity Steven didn’t often see from him.

“But before we do that, we should do some prep work. People have been posting about most of the bloody factions for a little while now. I’ve done some reading into their abilities, but not as much as I should’ve. Before we go looking for trouble, we need to get every scrap of information we can get about the different factions and their Classes.“

Del shifted in her seat, and Noodle eyed her. He slinked over and sat near her, putting his head next to her hand. She chuckled and started petting the hound.

“And to add to that, we should post information about The Corners Classes. We’ve got a pretty good handle on them, and we should make sure everyone else can get that information.“

They all agreed.

Markus spoke up. “One more thing. I’d like to train you all how to fight.“

Margie scratched her head. “Haven’t we been doing that?“

Markus shook his head, his eyes intense. “We’ve been practicing how to use our Skills. Which is good, incredibly good. But I’m not talking about our Skills here. I’m talking about how to fight. Most of you had never been in a brawl before the System.“ Something sad passed over the old man’s face before he shook it off.

“I have. And I want to ensure everyone in this room knows how to scrap. Even if it’s something as fundamental as your balance, it can save your life when things get heated.“

Del shrugged. “You’ve already been helping me out with that. You won’t get any complaints from me.“

Steven felt excitement well up inside him. He’d seen Markus fight. He’d be insane to pass up a chance to learn from him.

They nodded, and Markus‘s grin widened. “Don’t worry. We’ll take it easy at first.“

Steven didn’t think the man was lying. But, with a concerned look at the man’s smile, he wondered what Markus considered ‘easy.’