Margie stared at the floating words, irritation flooding her.

“Hooray! By defeating a sub Boss, you have unlocked a Class! Amazing! Good job!”

The System sounded like a high-pitched anime schoolgirl. Every word dripping with forced ‘cuteness’ that made Margie’s teeth itch.

“And it’s a rare class too. Wow, that’s impressive! You are so cool!”

She grit her teeth.

More words scrolled down, and while in the same voice, they felt pre-recorded.

For defeating a sub Boss with the help of a dog, you have unlocked the rare Class, Hound-Maiden

Margie snorted. Maiden, huh?

As more words appeared, she felt a wave of energy wash over her. It was like…like. Margie blinked. She didn’t have the words. She felt five years younger!

Character sheet

Margie Vern: Level 3

Skill slots: 1

Class: Hound-Maiden

Rarity: rare

Purpose: ?

Scope: ?

Skills:

Augments:

Skill points: 3

Trait points: 3

Now in a much better mood thanks to the rush of energy, she was only mildly annoyed as the System’s high-pitched voice sounded out.

You have three starter Skills to choose from!

Jugger-Hound

Doge Rush

Puppy Medic

Margie blinked at the Skills.

“The hell are these?”

The Skills immediately expanded.

Jugger-Hound

Rarity: rare

Effect: Enhances one of your Hounds with a burst of strength and durability. During the Skills effect, they also gain minor regeneration and become 25% harder to knock from their feet.

Range: touch

Duration: 15 minutes

Energy cost: Small

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Augments: 3

~~

Doge Rush

Rarity: uncommon

Effect: imbue Hound with an explosive burst of speed. While active, the Hound may dash forward at extreme speeds up to three times

Range: touch

Duration: 3 minutes

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Due to its nature as a starter Skill, Doge Rush’ has three augment slots instead of the usual 2 for an uncommon Skill.

~~

Puppy Medic

Rarity: uncommon

Effect: heal all Hounds within range for a portion of their injuries.

Range: 10 feet

Duration: instant

Energy cost: medium

Cooldown: 1 minute

Due to its nature as a starter Skill, ‘Puppy Medic’ has three augment slots instead of the usual 2 for an uncommon Skill.

Margie almost picked Puppy Medic immediately. A way to heal her dogs? It was a no-brainer. But she hesitated. She couldn’t heal her dogs if she was dead, and that Skill wouldn’t help Steven at all.

Two heads are better than one.

Besides, she wasn’t great with game stuff like this. However, she was going to need to change that.

She glanced to Steven, who was keeping the purple-skinned zombie at bay with his two shields.

“Steven, I have three starter Skills to choose from. Which should I get?

He answered without taking his eyes from the window.

“Read them to me.”

She recited the Skills, and Steven was silent for several minutes.

“Jugger-Hound. Puppy Medic is crazy strong, but Jugger has a regeneration effect, and it’s a rare Skill. That probably says something about its strength. It will make Buford much stronger while also keeping him safer.”

Margie nodded. “I can’t fault your logic.” She paused. “How do I pick the Skill?”

“You just will it, and the System will do the rest.”

She focused on the Skill and felt a click in her mind.

“Once you have it, you need to will it into your Skill slot.”

Margie focused on the Skill again and felt something deeper click into place. Like a long-lost part of her had just come home.

A red box appeared in the corner of her vision. It was a cartoon drawing of a dog flexing its arm.

Very funny.

She turned to the zombie and quickly snatched another rifle from the table. A new prompt filled her vision.

Due to using a gun as you obtained a Class, you will be allowed access to them for the remainder of this Scenario, but that will not be allowed outside without an appropriate Skill.

She was going to lose access to her guns? Well, that was a raw deal.

Better enjoy it while I can.

She sighted. “Step aside, Steven.” He got out of the way, and she fired.

The zombie collapsed.

Ding! Shambling Peasant slain! Split with Steven Kalio

Steven started. “Huh, actual experience prompts. I hope there’s a way to minimize those.”

He turned from the window and walked to the bat monster.

Buford had gone over to his water bowl after retching a few times. Apparently, he found the thing as distasteful as she did.

Noodle trundled down the steps and gave the room a slow once over. The lazy hound had slept through the gunfire, apparently.

“Glad you could join us.”

The basset hound grunted.

Steven crouched next to the bat monster. “This thing seemed kind of easy for a sub Boss.”

“Easy?” Margie quirked a brow. “I had to shoot in the face with a pirate's shotgun to end it.”

Steven nodded. “Yeah, and it had that scream, but still…” he trailed off as he stared at its mouth.

“Never mind. Look.” Margie followed his finger. The thing had a line of green drool running from its ruined face onto her rug.

Her carpet was smoking.

“Guess it was more of an assassin. One bite…Jesus.”

Steven paused, then slowly reached towards the bat thing with one hand.

“If you get rabies, you’re on your own.”

“I’m not going to get rabies, can’t you see this-ooh!”

~<>~<>~

As soon as Steven touched, the gleaming green orb words filled his vision.

Augment: uncommon

Alarm Bells

Effect: castor can trap shields to release a blast of sound when struck. The area immediately around the shield will be loud enough to cause small amounts of physical damage and have a disorienting effect.

The amount of force required to activate the sound can be set to light, medium, or heavy.

The more force required to activate, the stronger the effect.

Steven rubbed his hands together. This was good!

“Oooh.”

“What?” Margie asked.

“I got an Augment from Batty here.”

“What are these augments? The System mentioned them with my Skills.”

“They can alter how your Skills work, add extra effects to them, stuff like that. This one lets me set sound traps on my shields. Do you think it’s linked to the monster? This thing had a sound attack, and it dropped a sound Augment.”

Margie shrugged. “We’ll have to get more to see. Can’t really tell from one Augment.” She narrowed her eyes at the corpse. “How come I didn’t get one too?”

Steven paused. “…Cause you gained a Class from killing it? Maybe the System considers that your loot from the fight?”

She grunted. “Well, magic powers are pretty good loot in my book. Speaking of magic, Buford! Come here, boy.”

The massive malamute trundled over from his water bowl to lean against her. She scratched at his ears, then pulled a hand back. “Get ready, boy. This might feel weird.”

Her hand glowed a deep crimson as she laid it on Buford’s head.

The light spread from her hand, quickly covering the dog's head before spreading to the rest of him. After a beat, it sunk in.

Buford began to change.

He grew nearly a foot taller and longer and widened to boot as his muscles bulged along his frame.

The dog gave a massive stretch, then chuffed.

By the time the magic was done, a crimson haze had begun to drift off him, and Buford looked like he could run straight through the wall. And from what the Skill had said, he probably could.

He shook himself then proceeded to run his shoulder into Steven’s waist, nearly knocking him from his feet. “Careful, buddy! You’re even more of a furry tank now.”

He chuffed.

Steven scratched the dog's back, the crimson haze tingling against his skin.

A scream broke through the calm. It wasn’t close, but the shrill sound still pierced the room.

Steven looked out the broken window to the stormy sky. “We need to leave.”

Margie walked up beside him to stare out. “I’m not too keen on seeing more monsters.”

He frowned. “Neither am I, but this scenario doesn’t run out. Someone has to end it, and we both have Classes.”

Margie sighed. “And the longer this goes on, the more people die.” She sighed again, louder this time. “And with great power comes great responsibility and all that.”

She turned from Steven and walked towards her pile of guns. “Alright, Spider-Man, grab what you need. Then let’s go be monster hunters!”