Steven looked up with a groan.

Three hours of research had fried his brain.

Over a dozen Classes bounced around in his head, threatening to spill out his ears, but he couldn’t allow himself to slack off.

Remembering a detail about someone’s Class could save their ass if things got heated.

But important or not, his brain needed a break. He set his phone down and climbed to his feet.

He waved his hand towards Michael. “Hello.” He got no response. He walked over and poked the man. That didn’t work, either.

“Michael.“ Nothing. “Michael!“ Nothing.

Steven sighed and called a shield between Micheal and his laptop.

The man jumped like a startled horse, nearly toppling his laptop.

“I’m going to go ask Markus for another beating. Do you want to come?“

The shorter man blinked blearily up at him before closing his laptop.

“Yeah. Yeah. That’s a good idea. My brain is toasted.”

They had spent the entirety of the last two days researching and training. That wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but Steven could already see progress.

He wasn’t starting from absolute zero. While he never had formal training, he’d been in enough fights at this point to have a good amount of instinct drilled into him.

And now Markus was drilling that into technique.

Steven having a broken arm and Micheal having burns across both of his and one hand meant the two of them hadn’t been throwing punches.

Instead, Markus had them working on footwork.

Steven was enjoying it, and he was looking forward to incorporating his shields into it eventually.

They passed Del in the kitchen, and Micheal waved to her. “We’re looking for Markus. Care to join us?“

Del let her phone drop to the counter and shook her head.

She had stayed with them since the mall.

Margie had more than enough guestrooms to accommodate all of them, and Del didn’t have a reason to go anywhere else.

“He went home for the evening.“ She wrapped a strand of black hair around her finger. “He said he’ll be back in the morning.”

Markus still checked in on his neighborhood and spent some nights at home, but others were spent with the rest of them.

Steven was honestly surprised at how quickly they had fallen into the routine. Well, it wasn’t quite as quick for the others. But still, two weeks wasn’t that long.

A few months ago, Steven lived alone in the dorms and barely spoke to anyone on his average day.

He had been…alone, in such a profound way that he struggled to put it into words. He’d had no one.

You didn’t allow yourself to.

Grouping up with Margie made sense. She was practically family. He’d met Micheal only a day into all of this, but it felt like he’d known him for years.

Markus and Del were still newer additions, but fighting for your life next to someone tended to speed up the bonding process.

Del spoke, snapping Steven back to the present. “If you guys want to train, I’m down. Let’s bug Margie and the hounds, see if they want to join.”

Micheal nodded, then cupped his hands over his mouth. “Buford! Noodle! Margie! Want to head over to the manor!“

There was a thump and a thundering rumble as Buford sprinted down the stairs.

He took the corner a little too fast, his hips slamming into the wall with a thud, but he didn’t slow for an instant. He charged over to Michael, slowing down in time to barely avoid bowling the man over.

He planted his weight against Michael’s thighs. The man laughed and buried his hands in the dog's ruff.

Noodle came down the stairs a few seconds later at a much more sedate pace, followed by Margie.

She was wearing pajamas and a puffy pink bathrobe.

Her braided gray hair glinted in the light, and she glared at Micheal with a raised finger. “You know he gets excited when you yell for him like that! Damn near broke a lamp in his sprint.”

Micheal grinned. “I have no clue what you mean.”

“I’m sure you don’t,” the woman grumbled as she slipped on a pair of boots.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Come on, let’s take a hike to the manor.”

~<>~<>~

Some of the neighborhood had cautiously explored the manor. It had no monsters left, but the thing was still creepy.

But, despite being creepy, it had big open rooms and was insulated from the weather. Their group wasn’t the only one to use it for training.

There was only a small handful of people with Classes in the neighborhood, and they weren’t in a solid group like Steven and the others.

Several were level five, but most hadn’t reached the First Threshold.

It was a startling realization for Steven . He knew that they were in the minority at level 10, hell they’d been in the minority at level 5. That’s why the System had put them in the Contest.

But since most of their fights had been against terrifying monsters or people around their level, Steven had begun to forget.

The neighborhood knew they were the ones who had cleared the Scenario, and that had earned them a certain amount of… Respect. Though sometimes that seemed more like fear.

Walking up to the manor, they caught a group of four on their way out.

Steven recognized the man at the front. Lock, Steven was pretty sure.

The guy was tall and thin, with dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He gave them a nod and a small wave as he climbed into his car.

The others Steven didn’t recognize, and they all gave them quick waves before scrambling into the car.

They didn’t look at Steven for long, as if afraid to catch his gaze.

His stomach clenched. He’d barely interacted with these people, but they seemed afraid of him.

He was stronger than them, so intellectually, he got why they might be scared.

Though if he attacked someone out of the blue instead of defending himself or someone else, he was pretty sure his Class would have an aneurysm.

Attacking in a fight was draining already, much less a fight he started out of nowhere.

Would he even be able to attack them? Or would the drain knock him out?

Lock and the others drove off, and Margie approached the front door.

“They’re scared.“ She muttered.

Micheal glanced at her, his eyes sharp.“They’re right to be.“

Margie and Steven glanced at him, but Del nodded.

Micheal kept going. “There have always been power imbalances,“ he started. “Political, physical, economical. But if your life was truly on the line, there were equalizers. It doesn’t matter how much bigger than you the person is if you have a gun.”

“Of course, most people here will never be in a situation like that. But conceptually, the option is there. Now…“

He met Margie’s eyes. “If Margie wanted to kill me, what could I do to stop her?“

A sick feeling rose in Steven’s gut. “She wouldn-“

Margie caught him off with a shake of her head. “No, he’s right. I haven’t thought of it much, either. But Michael’s level 10, and despite that, if one of us tried to hurt him he has precious few options.”

Sensing their changing mood, Buford let out a low whine.

“He can use his taunt, and he can run fast. But even with that, I don’t think he could outrun Buford and Noodle forever. Especially not since I know how his Skills work.“

Micheal nodded. “It’s not like I’m worried Margie‘s gonna suddenly turn on me, or that any of you are. The point is that if you did, or more realistically if someone else wanted to hurt me and I was alone, I’m almost helpless.”

He sighed. “And I’m level 10. What if someone who hasn’t passed the Second Threshold gets jumped? Or someone who hasn’t even passed the First? Or doesn’t have a Class at all! In a lot of cases, they literally couldn’t do anything. That’s terrifying.“

His words set a dark mood as they walked to their improvised training hall.

Micheal sighed again. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get so dark.“

Del elbowed him lightly. “Aren’t Damsels supposed to be bright and cheery?”

Micheal laughed and elbowed her back. “Shut up.”

~<>~<>~

Markus sat on his porch, watching the dome shift overhead.

It was a warm night, hovering around 24 and 25. Which meant the kids were out in force. They laughed and giggled as they hurled snowballs and made forts.

It warmed Markus‘s heart and filled him with a touch of pride. He had helped keep this place safe. He had made sure they could still do things like this, even if he’d had to fight to do it.

To kill again.

He kept his little slice of peace free.

It felt good. He sighed as a snowball flew across his yard, slapping a kid in the back as they ran.

He chuckled softly and folded his arms behind his back.

Markus felt better than he had since the System first arrived. He had familiarity on his side now. Things were still changing, still new. But they settled somewhat.

He at least knew a little of what to expect.

He wasn’t worried about horrific monsters jumping up at a moment's notice anymore.

While that was a possibility, chances were that if a Scenario popped up here, he could clear it by himself again.

And if he were away when it happened, he’d see it on the map, and the others would come running with him. He wouldn’t need to do it alone.

That certainty felt good, and so did having a direction.

He had something to plan for.to fight for. And it was something he could be proud of.

A sense of direction was a powerful thing. Everything else got easier when you could channel your focus like that.

Even… Even if I have to fight again.

A tangled knot of emotions washed through Markus’s chest. His fists ached, twinging with remembered pain. It was just an illusion, a trick of his mind.

He hadn’t been seriously hurt in the mall, and the scrapes and bruises he had gotten were mostly healed by now.

He looked down at his fist. His knuckles scarred and marked, not that you could tell at first glance. The wounds were so old they had all but vanished.

Children laughed nearby, and a snowball splattered against his porch. He let his fist relax and rose to his feet.

That’s enough brooding for tonight, you old geezer.

With a laugh and a threatening point, Markus gathered up snow between his arms and chased after Timmy. The child shrieked and giggled, rushing away.

There’d be plenty of time for brooding later.