After some searches through the central node of the Identity Screen for how to form a party, Mira invited Arthur.

  

  [Mira Seigan]

  Invited you to join their party

  Join?

  YES - NO

  Arthur accepted the prompt. Something else he learned was that he didn’t have to use his hands when using the System screens. He could, but it wasn’t a requirement. Arthur was perplexed about how such things could work, but he doubted he’d ever get an answer. After joining her party, there were new additions to his “HUD”. At the bottom right and just barely in view, was his HP, stamina and mana bars. He had payed little attention to them until now, and he’d learned a few things from sifting through information from his Identity Screen. First, his HUD would change and shift as circumstances changed. His HP, stamina and mana bars would change to wherever they were least obstructive of his sight, which at the time was the bottom right. It also showed all his currently active effects, with positive and negative clearly separated. They were in the form of small icons rather than fully worded out, unless he expanded them to full descriptions. Once he joined Mira’s party, her eyes widened in an uncharacteristic moment of shock. She opened her Identity Screen, and let out a breath.

  “What is it?” Arthur asked, watching Mira study her status. Her expression remained cold, but her eyes had a spark in them. “My stats just went through the roof, just for being in a party with you. My strength and intelligence alone are over 30 now.” Mira looked at Arthur again. “If just being in a party with you makes people stronger, you’ll be a hot commodity.” She shook her head. “No, more than that. If this isn’t something many people can do, you’ll be the eye of a storm.” Arthur wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  Some time after, the door to the Secure Sector creaked open. Arthur peeked his head out and looked about, his dirty bark brown hair whipping around. After making sure that the dilapidated halls were clear, he stepped out carefully with his shield raised. Mira stepped out confidently and without a hint of fear. Arthur watched her stride down the hallway, his face sliding into a slack jaw. He snapped out of it and rushed to catch up.

  Walker ran down the hallway with his shotgun pointed upward. His ragged suit was covered in blood, most of which was not his own. Half of the White House had collapsed into a fissure when the tremors began, and he’d just watched the President of the United States get ripped in half by a fantasy monster right before his eyes. He hadn’t much cared for this one as much as the one he’d been hired under, but it was still his job to protect him. It’d been the job of all the Secret Service agents, but the last of which had died in his arms less than an hour ago. All the first aid he could muster was ineffective against kobold poison, and he’d gurgled his unrealized dreams to Walker as he tried desperately to save him. He had been dead in minutes, leaving Walker as possibly the last human alive in the White House.

  He used his hand to pivot around a corner as he continued running. He was running for an exit that wasn’t currently on fire or under siege. He needed to get home to find his husband, as he’d either be there or at the police barracks. Knowing him, he’d be out and helping people who’d been hurt by either the tremors or the impossible beings coming out of the fissures. Walker hoped that he at least remembered to bring his riot shield this time.

  Another kobold turned the corner on the other side of the hallway that Walker was sprinting down. The sight of it made him think of the man who died in his arms, and the struggle he went through to save him. At the end of it, he’d accepted a “class” dedicated to healing as a last resort. He hadn’t trusted the previous screens, and still hadn’t, but he was the type of man who would scrape the barrel for any chance at all to accomplish his goals. That grit to do whatever that was necessary to win got him into the Secret Service to begin with, but the man was too far gone to save. It hurt to admit it to himself, but if he’d done that first, he likely would’ve saved him. His hesitation had killed his friend.

  He would not hesitate again.

  As he grew closer, the kobold finally noticed him. It turned its tribal spear towards where Walker’s trajectory would eventually lead him. This didn’t deter him, however, as he gripped his shotgun with both hands and burst forward with his new System enhanced speed. When he reached the kobold, he broke into a slide that crunched against its legs. Walker and the other men and women of the Secret Service had been fighting the kobolds since they laid siege to the White House. He understood some of their weaknesses, which was an almost universal inability to adapt to sudden changes in strategies.

  The kobold let out a hissing cry as it fell backward, dropping its spear. It didn’t get the chance to hiss for long, however, as Walker quickly got up and, putting his foot on the kobolds chest, blasted it in the face. Guns had almost no effect on the fantastical monsters until one got a class specifically about firearms, which is exactly what Walker gained.

  

  Level Up

  You’ve reached level [3]

  Your stats will be allocated appropriately for your class

  You have [7] levels until you are allowed to allocate your free points.

  You have [0] free points.

  He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and looked about. There weren’t any more kobolds around, which was unusual. In his meager experience, kobolds almost always ran in packs. After checking the surrounding area, he wiped the dirt off of his handsomely angular face. After gaining his bearings in the destroyed heart of the United States government, he started sprinting down the hallway again.

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  The True Heart of Devotion’s effects were more impactful than either Arthur or Mira could’ve imagined. One of its main effects was to raise the offensive stats of Arthur’s party members by a respectable margin. Not only that, but it would also increase the base mana and stamina of his party members. Even with all of that, though, that was only one effect of the potent passive ability. Another was to give any members in his party natural HP regeneration which, while they didn’t know it yet, is normally impossible.

  Every True Heart of Devotion had different effects unique to each person who gained the passive. Arthur’s True Heart of Devotion was mainly focused on his allies, while giving him the means to protect them at the same time. Therefore, just for being in his party, they gained a heap of stats, greater mana and stamina, constant health regeneration, and even something as abstract as greater damage to everything they attack. The effects that Arthur gained from his own passive was less than what his allies gained, only giving him what he’d need to be their guardian. He got higher DEF and VIT, damage reduction, and the same health regeneration. Even the amount of health regeneration he got was less than what he provided for his allies, further proving what Arthur valued most.

  The True Heart of Devotion was almost a suspiciously perfect match for Arthur’s class, the Audacity Knight. Before they’d even entered combat with the abominations that turned out to be extremely close to the Secure Sector, he’d used his Intricacies of Exaltation skill. He hadn’t had any Audacity stacks yet, but if he did, they would’ve switched the buff they gave him to DEF and VIT, as well as more damage reduction. The skill also granted his allies greater damage to enemies with the Enraged debuff, which stacked with the damage boost from True Heart of Devotion. When they engaged the abominations, he gained his first stack of Audacity. It showed as a small, barely perceptible dot on his HUD. It almost seemed to shine golden, like a mini sun that was unintrusive. As soon as he gained his first stack of Audacity ever, he’d felt it strengthen him.

  Arthur’s trash-can lid moved into the path of a bony protrusion as it rocketed toward him. Even as he moved, he activated a skill.

  

  [You and Me]: Inflicts [Enraged] when an enemy strikes your shield. Expend a stack of [Audacity] to inflict damage in retaliation.

  Arthur could have used his newest stack of Audacity to inflict retaliatory damage, but he knew saving it was the better option. Many of his skills used and interacted with Audacity stacks, and knew that he’d get even more. This made saving as many stacks as possible the correct thing to do, so he settled with the basic effect the skill would have. The bone spike collided with his shield, sliding down it and past Arthur. As soon as it connected, the Fish Abomination that had previously been a clownfish let out a gurgling roar as its eyes glowed red.

  

  Enemy

  [Fish Abomination]

  Successfully afflicted with [Enraged]

  One of Arthur’s quieter skills was on full display as this sequence of events played out. Mighty Escutcheon was a silent champion, empowering any shield he held to be nearly unbreakable for whatever rarity the shield was. Previously, such an attack would have torn the trash-can lid apart at a moment’s notice. After he gained his class and skills, however, he’d shrugged off attack after attack of the like during this battle alone. The trash-can lid was only common rarity, but because it classified as a shield and was in Arthur’s hands, it was currently the most durable common rank item in the entire continent.

  The Enraged debuff inflicted lowered defenses on the afflicted and forced them to attack only Arthur as the afflicter. True Heart of Devotion buffed his allies’ damage, Intricacies of Exaltation buffed his allies’ damage against Enraged foes, and the debuff itself made the Enraged take more damage. These three things would be reliable in combining as long as he Enraged any opponents he could, making the powerful combination fairly easy to pull off. The effectiveness of the combination was made clear as Mira’s harpoon ripped into the twisted clownfish effortlessly as it attacked Arthur over and over. After stabbing right through the abominations head and main body, she tore it in half to free her “spear”.

  Most of Mira’s abilities were more visually effective than Arthur’s were. Before the fight even started, and Arthur charged ahead of her, she’d placed a Life Boon on him as he passed.

  

  [Life Boon]: Grants healing over time. Grants debuff resistance. Can be detonated for a burst of healing, removing the buff and removing 1 debuff from the recipient. Lasts for 6 seconds, granting a charge back to the caster when removed.

  By the time the fight was well and truly started, the Life Bane effect was already on 3 enemy abominations. Life Boon and Life Bane were active for only 6 seconds, but were rechargeable by the Cornucopia skill. It not only recharged them, but made the effects stronger, making the 3 enemies with the Life Bane debuff wish they were fully dead fish instead of only partly dead abominations. A wave of Cornucopia pulsed through the battlefield every few seconds, keeping the effects Mira doled out active and powerful. The Life Boon effects on Mira and Arthur made them practically infallible to the debuffs the abominations attempted to dole out themselves.

  

  You have resisted

  [Fear]

  You have resisted

  [Dazed]

  Arthur was plenty afraid of the abominations, but the System apparently didn’t think he was afraid enough to be Feared. Arthur and Mira moved around the battlefield and attacked each abomination, getting as many afflicted with Enraged as possible. You and Me was a low cooldown skill, allowing him to use it more quickly than not and affect each abomination with acceptable swiftness. As his only skill that currently inflicted Enraged, he needed to bait every enemy into attacking his shield, after which they were practically already dead.

  Arthur watched himself gain Audacity stack after stack as Mira obliterated abomination after abomination. He was certain that her Spectral Blade skill was active. Spectrum was a buff that would add the magical damage aspect of someone’s stats into physical attacks. With Mira’s 2 highest stats being strength and intelligence, this meant that her 2 most potent stats were brought to bear with every attack. True Heart of Devotion swelled those stats even further and gave her a general damage increase. That, along with the Enraged debuff combination mentioned before, on top of the Spectrum buff, could only result in one thing.

  Mira was destruction incarnate. An unstoppable goddess of death as her harpoon ended the life of one abomination after another. Every stab would cause the enemies to explode, their boney appendages scattering like toothpicks hit by a large gust. Every slice would cause them to split as if an atom smasher split them open, either side flying apart like opposite sides of magnets. Arthur did his best to ignore the thirsty smile that appeared on her face from time to time.