《The Path: Through The Apocalypse》


 Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

    In a fifth-floor apartment room of a building located in Phoenix, AZ, a 22 year old Grant Holmes was sitting in his room watching TV.


    It was Saturday, so being the young bachelor that he was, he had decided that he wanted to take it easy and spend some leisure time catching up on the new anime''s and novel chapters that he hadn''t gotten a chance to read during the week due to school and work.


    Grant had always been the athletic jock in high school and college, but only his close friends knew that he was actually an avid anime watcher and web novel reader. His favorite stories had always been ones where a young man would rise from relative obscurity to dominate the world.


    He was a relatively tall young man standing at 6''2", he wasn''t handsome or attractive by most standards but he also hadn''t been beaten with the fugly stick, so he had always taken solace in that. He made sure that he always took care of himself so he was in fairly good shape. He had dark brown hair, eyes that were a mix of green and blue, set into a round face. The only thing Grant hated about himself, and the thing that kept him from being considered a fairly handsome young man, was his huge nose.


    While Grant was busy watching TV, a sudden sensation of dizziness washed over him. Which resulted in him immediately freaking out, while bracing himself for the impending heart attack or other illness, he sat stiff as a board in his chair. However, a short moment after it began the dizziness started to fade away.


    Before he could let out a sigh of relief and hope that it had merely been a muscle spasm in his neck or something similar, he was again assaulted by a sudden sensation, however, this time it felt like he was being struck by lightning and he almost passed out.


    When he finally recovered from the shock of what he had just felt and his vision started to re-focus, a message appeared within his field of view.


    [Welcome to, The Path. The evolution of Earth has reached it''s primary stage and has now been deemed ready to embark on The Path to evolution. You must now fight for your right to survive. Good luck and may you find your Path before it''s too late.]


    His immediate response of course was, "What the f*ck is this?! ... where''s my phone? I''m losing my goddamn mind... maybe I am too stressed due to both school and work.."


    While trying to figure out what the hell was going on, Grant heard a scream from outside. It was one of those screams you hear in a horror movie when someone is about to be chopped in half by some guy named Jason. A scream of fear and desperation for ones life.


    Tentatively, Grant walked to the balcony of his apartment so he could look down into the street and try to figure out who was screaming and what was going on. That was a decision Grant would regret for hours following what he saw.


    Down on the street, it was pure and absolute chaos.


    The first thing that Grant saw was a woman being bitten by what looked like a rabid dog of sorts. The worst part was that the dog had clearly already bitten the lady a few times because around her a pool of blood was starting to form, and yet, no one seemed interested in helping her.


    Grant had to close his eyes and turn away from the lady because he couldn''t stomach the idea of watching someone be mauled to death.


    After the screaming died down he managed to force himself to look back to where the lady was, only to realize that she hadn''t stopped screaming because the dog had stopped attacking her, it was because she had either finally passed out from the pain or the dog had managed to kill her. Because the dog was still gnawing at her body, ripping chunks of flesh off.


    Grant immediately turned to the corner of his balcony, and threw up every last bit of fluids, food, and bile that occupied his stomach.


    After finally managing to collect himself, he went back to the edge of the balcony to try and get a better overall picture of the situation and understand why no one had seemed interested in helping the lady.


    While looking around the parking lot of the shopping center across the street from his house, Grant realized that no matter where he looked people were either running around screaming, or being killed by different animals. In one instance, a young man was even running away from some old granny that was growling and gnashing her teeth at him like she wanted to eat him.


    After taking in the situation, Grant immediately went back inside to sit down and try to re-collect himself.


    [Alright, so apparently the world is fucked? If what is happening outside isn''t an isolated event, and that message that appeared in my eyesight was real, then what the fuck am I supposed to do next? If it is like one of those stories I like to read then I just need to think something like, "status" and..]The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    {Status


    Name: Grant Holmes


    Level: 0


    Race: Human


    Path: N/A


    Title: N/A


    Tier: 0


    Strength: 10 (5) | Agility: 7 (5) | Health: 10 (5) | Stamina: 9 (5) | Mana: 0 (0)


    Note: For those new to The Path, you are defined by the choices you make and the Path you choose to walk. Stats for your race are based on the averages of all members of the dominant species of your planet. For Humans, the starting stats are on average 5.}


    [It appeared! I don''t know if I should be happy or depressed that I now have a "system" inside my brain...


    Whatever, lets not think on it too much. Lets focus on the information first.


    So no mana... we humans either have to learn how to use mana or were never destined for it from the start? Ah whatever, I''ll have to look into that in the future.


    My strength, health and stamina seem to be pretty good. Probably due to the fact that I work out and take care of myself. Not surprising that my agility is only slightly above average... I''ve always been somewhat of a bumbling fool when I run at top speed...]


    While Grant was collecting himself, he started to hear growling coming from right outside his front door. It sounded like the type of growling a dog would make when his mortal enemy, the postman, appeared at his front door. Startled at first since he still didn''t know what was going on, Grant gathered himself a moment later and started looking around for something to protect himself with.


    While Grant was trying to find something to use as a weapon, a dog, if it could still be called that with its sheer size, came crashing through the front windows of his apartment. As the dog landed, Grant couldn''t help but pause to look at the animal. It had blood red eyes, teeth that were seemingly twice as long as they should be, and had muscles showing that could give Chris Evans of Cpt America a run for his money.


    After what seemed like an eternity of staring at each other, at least from Grant''s perspective, the dog finally made his move. It lunged directly at Grant trying to take a bite out of him. Before the dog could land on top of him however, Grant dove into the kitchen area of his apartment that was to his right and ducked behind the counter.


    As the dog slid by, it took a swipe at Grant''s legs and managed to put a deep scratch in his leg.


    After wincing from the pain, Grant immediately jumped back to his feet and reached into the closest drawer trying to find a long knife or something that he could use to kill our wound the animal.


    Grant never took his eyes off the dog, so he was rummaging through the drawer without looking at what it was he was trying to grasp. After grabbing the first thing that he got his hands on and while the dog was still scrambling to its feet, Grant brought his new weapon to bare. Only to realize he was holding a... whisk.


    [OH GOD IN HEAVEN WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS?! Couldn''t let me at least grab hold of something with an edge or a blunt object so that I could defend myself?!]


    While Grant was damning a God that, at this point in time, had clearly abandoned all life on Earth, the dog attacked again.


    Knowing that he wouldn''t be able to escape now that he was surrounded on all sides by cabinets or walls, with the dog in the way of the only exit, Grant swiped at the dog with the least deadly weapon in the history of the world.


    Grant managed to hit the dog on the head with the whisk, and the dog seemed to retract on instinct thinking that whatever he was about to be hit with, would probably cause damage, and redirected his charge to avoid the impending damage. After realizing that the hit amounted to literally no damage though, the dog seemed to sneer at Grant and immediately attacked again.


    This time Grant thrust the whisk at the dog in an attempt to block the bite that was coming for his throat. This time however, the dog didn''t hesitate and immediately closed its jaw and bit right through the whisk, biting off a majority of the loose end.


    When Grant retracted his arm, he realized that since the dog had bitten off the flimsy end of the whisk, what was left was just a handle with a few short barbs of metal sticking out of it. He quickly devised a plan and the moment that the dog attacked for a third time, Grant thrust the handle directly at the left eye of the dog.


    Not having been damaged on the first two occasions by this "weapon" the dog seemed not to be wary of it at all, which it quickly regretted because the sharpened barbs of the handle embedded themselves directly into its eye only to be mercilessly ripped out by Grant a second later.


    While the dog howled in pain, Grant immediately jumped into action again and stabbed at the dogs other eye, managing to puncture and wound it as well. The dog tried swiping in front of itself with complete and reckless abandon trying to take chunks out of Grant.


    Before the dogs attacks could reach him though, Grant jumped up onto the countertops and started to open other drawers as quickly as possible looking for something that he could actually kill the dog with. He was panicking so much that he forgot where he stored his knives.


    After a few tense moments, Grant finally found the drawer he was looking for though and took out the longest knife that he had in his kitchen set. He slowly crouch walked across the countertops until he was directly above the now blind dog who was still swiping all around itself.


    With the knife pointing downward in front of him, Grant jumped on top of the dog and stabbed it in the base of the skull, managing to sever its spine and kill it almost instantly.


    [Congratulations on killing Rabid Killer Dog Level 3.


    You have reached level 1.


    Gained two status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +1 Agility, +1 Stamina and +1 Strength.


    You have gained +50 Credits and 1 Random Roll for successfully leveling up.]


    After the message popped up, Grant sank directly onto his ass, right behind the now dead dog and let out a deep sigh.


    He had been terrified that this would be the end for him but he had somehow managed to make it through the debacle with only one minor injury.

 Chapter 2: The End of the Beginning

    After taking a few deep breathes, Grant stood up and walked over to the now destroyed window. He carefully moved the blinds to the side before very slowly and carefully poking his head through the opening to see if there were any other imminent threats to his safety. Not seeing any other creatures on the surrounding walkways, Grant decided that he should try to block off the opening in the window and then figure out what to do next.


    Since the window was relatively close to the wall that separated his room from his neighbors apartment, he was able to lay his couch diagonally against the wall so that it was blocking the window just enough to cover the hole. It looked like a diagonal line through the center of a square.


    After feeling ever so slightly more secure in his apartment, Grant walked over to where the now dead dog lay. While he was standing over the dog, Grant couldn''t help but feel a little proud of himself. He still had no idea what was going on, but he had managed to gather his wits enough to defend himself.


    [The "battle" of sorts, had started in an instant and my dog shit luck, pun intended, nearly got me killed. Thankfully things seemed to work out in the end.


    What the hell do I do with this corpse now though?]


    After thinking on it for awhile, he decided that the best course of action was probably just to toss it off the balcony since placing it out on the walkway in front of his house may attract another animal. Plus, he really didn''t want to be in the same room as a dead animal carcass while he tried to figure out his next steps.


    Having decided on a course of action, Grant walked to the closet and grabbed a large towel before walking back to the dog corpse. He wrapped the towel around the dog and tried to pick it up. After struggling for a few minutes with its awkward size and shape, he finally succeeded in getting a firm hold of it. Once he had the corpse in his arms, he walked out onto his balcony, lifted the corpse up to the edge of the railing and pushed it over the edge. No matter how much he tried to prevent it though, blood and god knows what else dripped off the dog and onto his floor while he had been carrying it. Which upon re-entering his apartment and seeing the mess, brought to stark reality the severity of his current situation.


    Not being able to stomach the scene in front of him, Grant went back to his room and sat on his bed. While sitting there on his bed, Grant tried to use his phone to access the web to try and get some information about what was happening. No matter how hard he tried though his phone kept giving him the "No Connection Detected" signal, whether he was connected to mobile data or WiFi, so he was unable to find any information in the end.


    He tried to use an old radio that he had kept for nostalgic reasons and was finally able to find a signal on one of the old AM stations. It seemed to be a repeating message though because the message just kept saying,


    "If you are hearing this message, please find a place with as few windows as possible as shelter and do not go outside. Monsters and what can only be described as zombies, are everywhere. Do not put yourself at risk if not necessary. The last message from the military was that they were trying to gather their forces and move out."


    Grant sat there listening to the message for a few minutes before he realized that he still had blood trickling down his leg from the wound he had sustained from the dog. The adrenalin had kept him from feeling the pain of the wound but he had started to calm down listening to the radio so the pain became much more noticeable.


    Since he had ace bandages in his bathroom, he limped down the hallway and into the bathroom to grab them before limping back to the bed and sitting back down. He tried to clean and wrap the wound the best he could. It stung at first but Grant noticed that it wasn''t really bleeding all that bad and seemed like it had even started to heal, if not just ever so slightly and barely noticeably.


    Which surprised Grant because the wound looked bad enough for him to need stiches. But since he wasn''t a medic or anything, he just chalked it up to luck that the bleeding wasn''t worse.


    After he finished dressing the wound, Grant decided to check out his new status to see what had changed with his first successful "kill".


    {Status


    Name: Grant Holmes


    Level: 1


    Race: Human


    Path: N/A


    Title: N/A


    Strength: 11 | Agility: 8 | Health: 10 | Stamina: 10 | Mana: 0 | Magic: 0


    Available Free Stats: 2


    Random Rolls: 1If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Credits: 50}


    [Alright, so I actually got slightly stronger, faster, and gained a bit more stamina, at least according to the stats. I wonder to what extent these stats can be raised.. can I become like Superman? Impervious to attacks, super strength, and speed as fast as a speeding train?! That would be cool... wait, the world looks to be fucked.. this isn''t the time to be celebrating something like that...]


    Grant started to think that maybe, just maybe, this whole situation might not be the worst thing that ever happened to him. He had always dreamed that he would gain some kind of system that would enable him to become some super human with hard work and dedication. Clearly he had already forgotten that not only had he almost died not long ago, but he had already watched a lady get eaten to death by a dog in the most savage way possible.


    [What''s this "Random Roll" thing?]


    The name seemed pretty straightforward but he wasn''t 100 percent sure what it actually was, however, a window popped up in his vision as he was questioning what it was.


    {Welcome to Random Roll. Using your rolls will result in a random item being delivered to the user. If you would like to use your random roll, please say "Roll"}


    [Well shit, I guess it''s exactly what it sounds like.. do I roll now though?


    In web novels, this would be the moment that the overpowered MC gets his first item that turns out to be some god tier item that allows him to reign supreme over all other beings.


    With my luck I''m going to end up getting a wet noodle or something though...


    Ah f*ck it... as they say, you miss every shot you don''t take!]


    "Roll!"


    After yelling out, Grant immediately got down on his hands and knees and started praying to whatever deity he could think of because this roll very well could determine his likelihood of survival.


    While Grant was on his knees, another screen appeared in his vision.


    {Rolling in 3... 2... 1... Congratulations, your item will be delivered immediately.


    You are out of Random Rolls. When you have gained more Random Rolls, please return to try your luck once again.}


    Following the message, a bright light, which seemingly appeared out of nowhere, started to glow directly in front of Grant. The light was so bright that it seemed like a small sun was shining in the middle of his room. Moments after appearing, the light started to coalesce into the shape of what appeared to be some type of sword.


    Once it looked like the sword was about to be fully formed, Grant Instinctively reached out his hands ready to catch the sword. When the light finished morphing into the sword, it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and the room returned to normal.


    Following the disappearance of the light, he felt the weight of the sword finally hit his hands.


    Grant stared down at the weapon resting in his palms and couldn''t help but notice the lack of any decorations or adornments on the handle or scabbard. It was entirely matte black with no shine or austere nature. The handle was wrapped in some kind of black cloth as well which made the sword look like a shadow floating in his hands.


    While Grant was busy starting at the sword, another window popped up displaying the stats of the weapon he was now holding.


    {Weapon: Katana


    Name: Wet Noodle


    Grade: Rare


    Has the power to cut through any creature below level 20 without hindrance. Agility +10 and Strength +10 while equipped.}


    After reading the description, Grant immediately dropped the sword, stood up, walked over to the wall and rammed his head against it.


    [I fucking hate everything.


    Is the "system" trying to mock me or something?!


    Fuck off, I''d rather die here.]


    After bashing his head against the wall a few times, and finally managing to clear his head ever so slightly, he decided that he had no other obvious choices for weapons and that if another dog or something worse managed to get into his apartment then he would have no way to defend himself without the sword. Unless he wanted to run around wielding a kitchen knife until he got another weapon, which was equally ridiculous.


    Clearly reluctant, Grant reached down and picked up the sword. After pulling the blade halfway out of the scabbard, he noticed that even the blade was as simple and unadorned as the scabbard and handle.


    The only part of the weapon that wasn''t matte black was the sharpened edge of the blade. It was a cm thick streak of shiny silver running from just above the handle to the tip of the blade.


    [I guess it does look awesome.. I''ve always been a fan of the matte black look and it''s also a Rare grade item so it can''t be that bad, right?


    I guess I''ll just have to give it a chance and if I run across anyone who asks me about it, I''ll just make up a cooler name so that I don''t have to tell anyone its real name. Plus, when I''m holding the sword, I can feel the noticeable difference in my body from the extra stats.]


    After coming to terms with the fact that he now had to carry around a literal Wet Noodle, Grant knew it was time to formulate plans on what to do next.


    Thankfully all of this shit with The Path and him being attacked happened early in the day, so he still had some time to figure out his situation before it got dark and things got much more difficult.


    Deep down he didn''t want to leave his apartment for fear of what he may have to face outside, but he also knew that now that the window had been broken through, he needed to find a more secure location and look for supplies at the same time.


    Being the young bachelor that he was, he never really planned ahead. He hardly had enough food in his apartment to last him a couple days even if he stretched it out. So finding a place that he could use as a shelter as well as finding a place to get food were priorities number one and two.


    With those thoughts in mind and with his conviction to survive slowly growing by the second, Grant went to his closet, grabbed his backpack, threw out all of his school stuff and immediately started packing things that might be necessary in the future.


    He grabbed everything he could think of, including but not limited too, lighters, a couple food utensils, his kitchen knife set, and clothing, as well as all the food and water as he could carry.


    He doubted that he would have the chance to make it back to his apartment if things were as bad outside as they appeared to be, so he made sure to grab everything he could.


    After putting on a new set of clothes, grabbing his backpack, and his Wet Noodle, Grant walked to the front door.


    With a face awash with both fear and determination, Grant stepped through the door and out onto the walkway.


    [I guess this will be my first steps on my new Path.]

 Chapter 3: First Steps on The Path

    With Wet Noodle unsheathed and being held in one hand and the scabbard in the other, Grant stepped out onto the walkway outside his apartment. The moment he stepped out onto the walkway, Grant cautiously observed his surroundings, trying to hear or see anything or anyone that could pose a threat to him.


    The apartment building that Grant lived in was a square shaped building that surrounded an open plaza area where people could relax and spend their free time. Since Grant lived in the corner furthest from the stairway, he would need to walk around the entire walkway before he could reach the stairs. While he was looking at all the apartments surrounding him, he realized that more than a few of them had their doors opened wide.


    He observed the surroundings for a couple of minutes and since he wasn''t seeing any danger on the walkway he was currently standing on he took slow and steady steps forward. Trying to make as little noise as possible. Once he reached the end of the first side of the walkway, Grant turned the corner onto the second side of the walkway, only to see two bodies laying on top of each other in front of one of the open doors, surrounded by a pool of blood. Neither of the bodies were moving or making sound but Grant still approached them with utmost care. When he was close enough, he poked the bodies with the scabbard in his hand, but they still didn''t move.


    After a few more attempts to solicit movement with his scabbard, Grant gave up and accepted the fact the the two people in front of him were already dead. It was the second time Grant had seen a body in only a few hours so he still struggled with the site in front of him.


    Grant had to take a couple of deep breathes and look away just to stop himself from vomiting where he stood. After taking a few moments to gather himself, he steeled his resolve and started walking towards the staircase once again. He made sure to avoid the two bodies and the pool of blood just in case he was wrong about their alive or dead status. He figured it was better to be safe than sorry.


    As Grant approached slowly towards the staircase, he realized that he was about to come across one of the open doors that he had seen earlier. Maintaining the same level of alertness he had since he walked out of his apartment, he slowly put his back up against the wall of the apartment and started to slide towards the door.


    Once his shoulder was up against the door frame, he inched his head around the corner so he could get a peek inside, only to snap it back a split second later. In the brief moment that he was able to see into the apartment, he saw someone standing still in the middle of the room. Their back was to the door so he couldn''t see what the person was doing, but after remembering the words of the person on the radio, he knew it was a fifty fifty shot that the person might be a zombie.


    Since he wasn''t sure whether the "person" he saw was still a person or not, he decided to maintain his caution and still refused to make a sound. He briefly considered asking out loud if the person was okay or needed assistance but he quickly discarded the idea. Instead, he slowly reached down and picked up a little rock that was on the walkway next to his foot.


    With rock in hand, he once again slowly peaked back around the door frame to once again get a look inside the apartment. After noticing that the "person" still had their back to the door, he tossed the rock to the right side of the room in an attempt to draw their attention.


    After the rock hit the wall, the "person" moaned loudly and started slowly walking their way over to where the rock had hit.


    Seeing the way the "person" was moving, Grant couldn''t help but pull back away from the door once again, to take a moment gather his courage.


    [Fuck! That''s a zombie, right?!


    Alright Grant, deep breathes, deep breathes. Sneaking past the door is probably possible, but if I fuck up and make a sound or something, then I might attract unnecessary danger to myself.


    If I kill it now, that''s one less threat I need to worry about as I sneak out of here. It''s survival of the fittest at this point. Time to pull all the courage you can out of your ass and get the job done Grant!


    Fuck! Why am I thinking about myself in the third person!


    Fuck! That''s not important right now! Focus! FOCUSSSS!!!]


    While Grant had a momentary mental breakdown, the zombie reached the corner where the sound had come from, and since it didn''t notice anything, it once again stopped moving.


    As Grant slowly accepted the reality of the situation and he prepared himself for what would come next. He slowly but surely started to creep into the open door and entered the apartment.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    While the zombie was still mindlessly looking into the corner where he had thrown the rock, Grant readied himself to strike.


    Unfortunately, as Grant shuffled towards the zombie, he made a small amount of noise with his shoes and the zombie seemed to notice his presence so it started to turn and face him.


    While the zombie was turning towards him, Grant had also begun the swing of his sword, planning to decapitate the zombie. But once it had turned and fully faced him, Grant couldn''t help but pause his swing. He hadn''t paused because the zombie scared him or caught him by surprise, it was simply because, although the person may act and function like a zombie, they still looked relatively human.


    Having never killed another human being in his life, it was difficult for Grant to make the swing to kill the zombie who looked so human still.


    While Grant was hesitating, the zombie slowly started to walk towards him, which in turn forced him to take a couple of steps back at the same time. He didn''t know yet why or how people were turning into zombies so he didn''t want to take any chances with getting even so much as a scratch.


    After taking a couple of steps back, Grant found himself with his back up against the wall. He knew that it was now or never and he needed to kill this zombie to protect his own life. Before he could steel his resolve and make another effort to kill the zombie, he heard multiple footsteps coming from the walkway outside the apartment.


    He wasn''t sure if it was another zombie or a living person, so he had to slowly back away from the door while also keeping his distance from the zombie that was already in the room with him. The louder the steps became the more concerned Grant became because it didn''t seem to be only one person, it seemed like multiple people or things were approaching.


    Grant didn''t have to wait long to find out who or what was making the noise because a few moments later, a person came stampeding through the door like a bat out of hell without seemingly the slightest bit of worry.


    It was a guy he had met on the walkways a few times, he was not much older than Grant by his own estimation but he was a few inches shorter than Grant. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and looked like one of those guys from the gym that would huff and puff to make sure people noticed him working out. Quite the arrogant looking fellow.


    The guy looked at Grant momentary before he seemed to glance down at the Katana in his hand. Without so much as a word to Grant, he turned to look at the zombie that was still ever so slowly dragging itself towards Grant.


    When the zombie finally realized someone else was in the room, it decided that it should attack the newcomer since he was a closer target.


    Before the zombie could even take a single step forward however, what looked like a baseball bat with spikes came crashing down on top of its head, splattering all of its brain matter, blood, and skull fragments everywhere.


    Seeing the explosion of flesh, Grant couldn''t take it anymore and started throwing up in the corner of the room. Seeing Grant''s reaction, the man looked at him and sneered.


    "What the fuck are you doing man? Are you trying to get yourself turned into a zombie? You can''t hesitate. If that thing gets close enough to bite you, you''re fucked."


    By the time the man was done talking, Grant didn''t have anything left in his stomach to throw up so he slowly managed to compose himself before responding.


    "I know, I was trying to be cautious but I ended up hesitating because the zombie looked almost the same as a normal human. Before you busted through the door, I was just about to take the swing and chop it''s head off. Seriously though, how can you be so nonchalant about killing like that?"


    Hearing what Grant had to say, the young man paused for a second before he responded.


    "I guess I can understand why you would hesitate. I''ve already had to kill six of these bastards though so I guess I''m starting to get over it. By the way, the names Jeff. I live in the apartment two doors down. Me and my roommates saw you pass by the window and decided to see what was going on. They are just outside the door guarding it for us."


    Jeff threw his hand up and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb towards the door to indicate where his roommates were standing.


    "Thank you for your help Jeff. The name''s Grant. I live just down the other way. We''ve passed each other on the walkways before, so we''ve met in passing a few times."


    After formally introducing themselves, they shook hands and walked back towards the door.


    Once they were outside the door again, Jeff introduced Grant to the other two.


    "Grant, meet Tres and Matt. They are my roommates and I''ve known them since high school. They are good guys.


    Tres and Matt, meet Grant. He lives on this floor as well. You guys may know him from seeing him around. He''s a bit of a pussy so go easy on him."


    While Jeff was laughing hysterically at his own joke, Grant shook hands with Tres and Matt to formally introduce himself to them as well.


    Grant was curious what they were planning on doing so he asked them outright.


    "Are you guys planning on staying here at the complex until the military or someone arrives?


    Shouldn''t you move to a location that is better fortified and is closer to somewhere that has food?"


    He didn''t think that having a couple more people with him would be a bad idea and most people always felt safer in groups, so he planned to invite them to come along with him in search of a better place to hunker down if they didn''t have any concrete plans themselves.


    Surprisingly Jeff told Grant that they didn''t actually have any plans.


    The reason that he had to kill so many zombies already was because he had been across the street at the shopping center when all hell broke loose. He had to fight his way back to his apartment to meet up with Tres and Matt.


    It also turned out that the two people that Grant came across on the walkway had been killed by Jeff.


    Since the three of them had no plans, and Grant seemed eager to team up with them, Jeff invited Grant back to their apartment so that they could make plans.

 Chapter 4: Questionable Men

    Jeff, Tres, and Matt seemed none to concerned by the whole situation because they just leisurely strolled back towards their apartment with Grant in tow. Once they were inside, the casually locked the door and then sat down on the furniture in the living room, ready to discuss their plans moving forward.


    "Now that the group has gained an extra person, do you guys have any ideas on what we should do next?" Asked Jeff.


    Grant had some plans in mind, but he was curious as to what this group would think was best to do next in this situation, so he kept quiet.


    If they had a better idea on what to do next, he would be more than happy to go along with it. His main goal at this point anyways was just to make it somewhere safe.


    Jeff''s friend Matt was the first one to speak up and give his suggestion, "Why don''t we try and get to Walm*rt or something? They have all the food and supplies we could want or need for the foreseeable future."


    Grant had this thought earlier as well, but wasn''t sure it was the best idea and it appeared that Jeff agreed because he spoke up soon enough and voiced his disproval of the idea.


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea. Almost the entire front of the store is glass and it doesn''t seem very difficult for those monsters to break in. Plus, the amount of area that we would have to patrol each day just to feel safe would be far too large. We would have to spend each and every day clearing out the store slowly and efficiently just so we could feel safe. Although we may have not have to venture out, eventually the supplies will run out.


    Plus, we don''t know why people were turned into zombies and Walm*rt is far too busy of a location for it not to be flooded by them right now."


    Grant subconsciously nodded at that evaluation because that was his thought process as well. It may seem like a great idea, but when push came to shove it was easy for them to be overwhelmed in a place like that. They needed to find somewhere that was secure with relatively few entrances and exits and as little glass as possible since it seemed all too easy for monsters to break through it.


    He had first hand experience on how easy it was for a low level monster to break through glass and he didn''t want to put himself at risk if he didn''t have too.


    After a few moments of silence, it didn''t seem like anyone else was going to voice their opinions so Grant decided to share part of his plans to see what the three thought.


    "I was planning on going to the gun shop up the street. They only have small thin windows that would make it difficult for anything to break through and the front door has a metal cage blocking it off so it should at least be somewhat safer than a place such as this apartment."


    A flash passed unnoticed through Jeff''s eyes at Grant''s words. But it quickly receded before he said, "That''s a great idea. I can get on board with that. What do you two think?"


    Matt and Tres didn''t seem like they were going to have much opinion on the matter because they simply nodded after hearing what Jeff said.


    Seeing that his two friends were onboard, all four of them began to lay out plans for the trip.


    Grant had always been a rather trusting individual and liked to see the best in people, so he didn''t give much thought to the situation and the fact that it may not have been the best idea to share so much of his personal plans with people he didn''t know.


    He had assumed that the situation that they found themselves in, with The Path, the monsters, and the zombies, it would force people to cooperate with each other. So in an attempt to show his good will to his new friends, after they had decided on their plans and were getting ready to move out, Grant offered to take the lead.


    He knew that he needed to improve his mentality quickly and be ready to kill anything that may threaten his life, no matter if it be a zombie or a monster of some sort.


    And he figured that the best way to accomplish this, was through practice. He also felt more secure at the idea that he had someone watching his back now.


    After the four of them gathered up their belongings and any supplies that they could carry, they unlocked the door and walked back out onto the walkway. Luckily, they didn''t come across any other zombies or monsters before they reached the stairs. Seeing nothing on the stairs themselves, with Grant in the lead, they slowly started to descend.


    After they reached the third floor though, Grant noticed that their was a zombie wandering not far from the stairwell. Since the stairwell wasn''t blocked off by doors or walls it would be rather easy for the zombie to attack them once it noticed them so it made it dangerous to continue on without first dispatching the zombie.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Once again steeling his resolve and doing his best to shut off his old moral compass, Grant slowly crept toward the zombie. The zombie quickly noticed Grant, since he wasn''t exactly trying to be silent, and started to advance towards him. Unlike last time though, Grant swung his Wet Noodle towards the base of the zombies neck without hesitation. The moment before the blade made contact with the neck of the zombie however, Grant closed his eyes to try and block out what was about to happen. He knew it was a dumbass thing to do in the situation, but he did it mostly on instinct.


    Grant had expected some kind of resistance because of the flesh and bone, but the sword ended up passing straight through without any resistance whatsoever. Before the head of the zombie even hit the ground, and with his eyes still closed, a screen had popped up in the corner of his vision and let him know that he had indeed succeeded in killing the zombie.


    [Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 2.


    You have absorbed +1 Strength and +1 Stamina]


    Having successfully killed his first zombie, Grant couldn''t help but have a feeling of pride wash over himself. He had taken a small step forward. He knew it wasn''t something to be proud of, especially since he couldn''t even look at what had happened, but he felt that it was a step in the right direction.


    "Congratulations on killing your first zombie. How does it feel?" asked Jeff from behind him.


    Unnoticed to Grant though, Jeff didn''t really seem to care about how Grant was feeling because Jeff was intently staring at the sword that Grant was still holding in his hand.


    He had noticed how easily the sword had cut through the zombie and was interested in what it was and how strong it actually was. "Did you get that sword from a Random Roll?"


    Grant was surprised by the last question but seeing as it wasn''t exactly a common weapon for people to keep in their homes he guessed it wasn''t surprising that he was interested.


    "Thank you for asking. I don''t know how I feel about it. I guess it''s nice to know that I can force myself to do what needs to be done.


    And as far as the sword is concerned, yes, I got it from my Random Roll when I hit level 1."


    Jeff nodded his head up and down after hearing what Grant said, "Makes sense. I got a couple of different things from my Random Rolls, Tres got a pair of brass knuckles, funnily enough and Matt over there got the club that I used earlier."


    Hearing the last statement, Grant was surprised. He had assumed that anything that was found during the Random Roll would somehow be linked to the individual that had received it and wouldn''t allow anyone else to use it. Obviously his assumption had been incorrect though.


    While Grant had been lost in his own thoughts, Jeff''s voice reached his ears yet again to snap him out of his thoughts,


    "Alright, that''s enough of a break, lets get moving. The longer we dawdle here the later it gets and the closer we get to sundown. We need to reach and be inside the gun shop before the sun goes down because we don''t know what''s lurking within the walls of this complex, let alone outside the walls."


    Grant noticed the subtle way that Jeff avoided giving any information about the gear he managed to get from his Random Rolls but he decided not to pry.


    He agreed that they had more time than necessary there and immediately started moving forward once again.


    He couldn''t help but shake his head as he walked though; it was starting to feel like at some point in the past hour or so that he had been with this group, Jeff started to think of himself as the boss-man.


    Grant didn''t particularly want to lead a group of people that he didn''t know, but he would never become someone else''s lackey so it was slightly annoying being told what to do even if he did agree with what was being said.


    As they were climbing down the stairs, their group ran into four more zombies along the way.


    One of them was solo on the second floor which Grant handled immediately by himself. Unlike the last time though, he only received +1 Stamina this time.


    As the group reached the first floor and walked out from the stairwell they noticed their was a group of three zombies standing in the middle of the courtyard, looking in their direction.


    While Grant was curious if he could handle them alone, due to his increased stats, he decided not to risk it since he didn''t want to take a chance that he didn''t need to take.


    Instead, Grant and Jeff worked together to split the zombies into groups of 2 and 1. Instead of Jeff, Matt, and Tres taking the set of two zombies, Grant somehow became responsible for holding them off himself. He had to use his newfound speed to keep his distance while luring them away from Jeff and the others.


    Once he had successfully lured the two zombies far enough away from the other one, he put his full weight onto the balls of his feet and circled around the two zombies as quickly as he could.


    Since the zombies were so slow, he was able to circle around to their backs, and before they could rotate fully to look at him, he lunged forward at one of them and chopped it''s head clean off in one swing of the sword.


    [Congratulations you have killed Mindless Zombie Level 2


    You have reached Level 2.


    Gained two status points to be distributed freely.


    You have gained +50 credits and +1 Random Roll]


    Ignoring the message that appeared in the corner of his vision, Grant immediately circled around the zombie as fast as he could until he was behind it and once again rushed forward to chop it''s head off.


    Having dispatched his targets and feeling more comfortable with each kill, Grant looked over to see if Jeff needed any help only to notice that Jeff and the other two were just standing there watching him. As though they had absolutely no intention of helping him.


    This caused Grant to become increasingly frustrated. Would they have helped him if he had been in a difficult spot or were they just using him to take care of zombies without putting themselves at risk?


    Obviously the latter seemed more likely, but Grant didn''t want to assume the worst in people. At least until they gave him reason too.


    As much as he didn''t want to admit it though, this group was starting to look less and less trustworthy and his suspicions of their intentions was slowly growing.


    So while Grant was dealing with the internal struggle, they grouped back up and headed down the walkway that lead to the parking lot outside the building.

 Chapter 5: Seeking Shelter

    As the four of them exited the apartment complex, they briefly considered using a vehicle to get to their destination but they ultimately decided against it. They didn''t know how many monsters or zombies were in the surrounding area so they wanted to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Plus, all of them had smaller vehicles that wouldn''t survive more than a solid impact or two.


    As the group moved through the parking lot of the apartment complex, Grant was trying to get a better picture of the surrounding area. Most of the neighboring buildings were blocked off by walls or plants, but he could see plumes of smoke rising in every direction along with the sound of constant gunfire off in the distance. It sounded like more than a few people had managed to survive, but based on the sound of the shots, they didn''t appear to be very close to where they were.


    While staying vigilant of his immediate surroundings as well, Grant and the three friends managed to make it all the way to the street without running into any monsters or zombies.


    When the group came around the corner of the wall that separated their parking lot from the main road, they saw a group of zombies wandering through the street not more than a quarter of a mile away.


    They immediately dove behind some cars that had been abandoned in the middle of the road and observed the group of zombies from a distance.


    They could potentially sneak past this group, but once again, if they ignored the zombies now and somehow caught their attention after they passed by, then they would have a pack of zombies at their backs and god knows what else laying ahead of them.


    Since no one else was offering up any ideas on how to proceed, Grant suggested that someone get closer to the zombie group and try to attract their attention while guiding them back towards the parking lot of the complex.


    That way they could get rid of the group of zombies without attracting any more unwanted attention.


    He also figured that they could use the cars in the parking lot as barriers to keep the zombies away from them while they attempted to kill them.


    And worst comes to worse, they could jump up onto the cars and use them as platforms to get away from the zombies.


    Matt and Tres didn''t have much of an opinion on the matter of what to do next because they just remained silent and looked at Jeff to see what his response would be. Grant was starting to realize how much these two just blindly followed the suggestions of Jeff, and it was beginning to frustrate him. While the two of them were looking at Jeff, the person in question agreed that the plan seemed feasible.


    However, and not all that surprisingly, Jeff suggested that Grant should be the one to lure the zombies back to the parking lot.


    Grant was close to blowing his lid with how much these guys were pushing the responsibilities onto him, but he swallowed his anger and agreed to be the bait. With or without these three stooges, he would still have to draw the zombies back to the parking lot to kill them.


    While Jeff, Matt, and Tres slowly retreated back towards the parking lot from their hiding spots, Grant slowly crept around to the other side of the vehicles and approached the group of zombies.


    As Grant approached closer and closer to the group of zombies, he started to toss some small rocks that he had picked up earlier, at them which caused them to notice him almost immediately.


    Once the first zombie noticed Grant, it immediately started to grunt and growl while moving towards him, which attracted the attention of the rest of the group. Unlike the first few zombies Grant had seen, this group was much more grotesque looking. They were mauled in spots which resulted in missing flesh and they had blood dripping down from their open jaws.


    While slowly backing up towards the area they had agreed to set up the ambush, Grant managed to count eight different zombies.


    What concerned Grant the most about the situation, was that one of the zombies was actually moving rather quickly compared to the others. This heightened Grant''s tension even more than it already was, because up until that point, every zombie they had encountered had been extremely slow and easy to out maneuver.


    [Wait, does that mean that this zombie is a higher level than the others?


    How the hell do zombies even increase their levels?


    Don''t tell me... do they level by eating humans and other creatures or something?!


    Does that apply to all monsters?? It''s only logical I guess.. that''s how I''ve leveled up to this point. It wouldn''t make sense if the monsters and zombies couldn''t increase their levels..


    This is a problem.. I need to raise my level as soon and as quickly as possible to try and stay ahead of the curve.]If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    While Grant was lost in thought, the quicker zombie came close enough for it to start posing a threat to him so he pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and immediately dashed back to the cover of the vehicles.


    The quicker zombie continued its chase of Grant, while leaving the other seven zombies a good distance behind. This gave Grant an idea so he immediately hollered at Jeff.


    "I''ll take this zombie, you guys distract the other seven until I''m done. I think this one is a higher level than the others and may pose a greater threat so I''ll take the risk of fighting it instead."


    Jeff returned Grant''s statement with a silent nod and focused on the group that was slowly approaching them.


    While Jeff and his friends got ready to distract and engage the other seven zombies, Grant smirked while he focused on the one in front of him.


    The zombie wasn''t moving at a speed that Grant would deem unsafe, so he wasn''t concerned with his chance of success, but it did however pose an opportunity for Grant to reap a large portion of experience and extra stats if his conjecture about its level was correct.


    And knowing that Jeff and his group had seemingly no interest in putting themselves at risk, this was a perfect opportunity for Grant to test his theory and reap the rewards if his conjecture was true.


    As the zombie approached closer, Grant started to creep around the side of the vehicle he was standing next too in an attempt to lure the zombie into a narrow pathway between two vehicles.


    Grant figured that if the zombie could only move forward with it''s arms outstretched in front of itself, then it would pose less of a threat and he could take it down easier.


    Once the zombie had walked into the gap between the two cars, Grant immediately raised his sword next to his right ear with the blade pointing straight ahead and thrust his sword at the zombies head, stabbing it right between the eyes.


    The downside of Grants strategy was that the blade was on a couple inches longer than the zombies arms, so he wasn''t able to stab it all the way through the brain without the risk of being scratched or injured by the zombies outstretched arms. The moment that the handle was within range of the zombie, he let go of the sword and retracted his arm.


    He still didn''t know if a scratch was enough for a person to be turned into a zombie but he didn''t want to take any unnecessary risks.


    Unfortunately it appeared that the depth of his stab wasn''t enough to kill the zombie instantly because it continued forward a few more steps with its arms outstretched and a sword sticking out of its forehead.


    Fortunately for Grant, his stupidity didn''t result in the worst case scenario where he lost his weapon and failed to kill the zombie because it finally collapsed on the ground a few moments later with the sword still stuck between its eyes. When it fell face forward though, the blade was forced deeper in the zombies head and protrude out that back of its head completely.


    [Congratulations on killing Swift Man Eating Zombie Level 7.


    You have reached level 4.


    Gained four status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +4 Agility and +2 Stamina.


    You have gained +100 Credits and 2 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.]


    Grant couldn''t help but smile to himself as he kicked the zombie onto its side and then reached down to grab his Wet Noodle. His conjecture had been correct: this zombie was special in its own right and was definitely a higher level than the other ones. For the first time, he was happy to take on the small amount of extra danger since it meant greater rewards for him.


    He had managed to gain two levels because of the zombie and a small handful of bonus stats which would accumulate over time and contribute to his rise in strength.


    [Obviously I don''t have time to use my random rolls or investigate what these credits are used for.. but I will make sure I find some time later. I need to pray that I find something to protect myself, like armor, so that I can fight with a little bit less concern.


    That plan was just downright stupid. I should have fought it out in the open like I had done with the other zombies.


    Next time I won''t make the same mistake.]


    Unnoticed to Grant, his mindset was beginning to change. He was starting to accept all of the things that were happening around him and he was even seemingly looking forward to the next fight that was to come, if only a tiny bit.


    While he hadn''t taken long to defeat the Man Eating Zombie, it had been enough time for the other seven zombies to reach Jeff and his group, so Grant immediately sprung into action to help them out. Although he didn''t particularly want to be with this group any more, free experience was never a bad thing.


    Kiting and fighting the slower zombies was a walk in the park, even more so now that Grant''s stats were starting to increase. He already had nearly four times the strength and speed of the average human and almost three times as much stamina.


    He figured that the fight could go on for quite a bit longer before he would get tired. However, the fight with the other seven zombies did not take more than a few minutes.


    He ultimately managed to dispatch four of the seven all by himself, with Matt handling one, and Jeff handling the other two.


    At first Grant was nervous because he didn''t see Tres fighting any of the zombies and thought that maybe they had lost their first group member, but then he realized that Tres was in fact cowering behind a vehicle a fair distance away from where the fight took place.


    Grant took pity on Tres though, because just a few hours ago he had thought that he would be the one cowering behind cover. Thankfully he managed to overcome that fear and move forward.


    [Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 2.] x 2


    [Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 1.] x2


    [You have reached level 5.


    Gained two status points to be distributed freely.


    You have gained +50 Credits and 1 Random Roll for successfully leveling up.]


    Now that the fight was over, Grant noticed one more important thing. Although he managed to get notifications for each of the zombies that he killed, he didn''t receive any extra stats.


    So he figured that the more of a single class or type of monster that he killed, the less and less stats he would receive.


    He had noticed this earlier when the second zombie had given him less stats that the first, but he was more convinced now that he had managed to kill so many and received nothing in return.


    When Grant was sure that there was no immediate danger, he walked over and placed a hand on Tres'' shoulder to comfort him.


    Tres seemed appreciative of the action, but neither of them said anything. So after a moment of silence, Tres stood up and rejoined the group.


    Once the group was back together, they once again started to head down the street.


    The entire time they were walking though, Grant could feel a sense of anger directed towards him, but he chose to ignore it in the end.

 Chapter 6: Death and Life

    As the group continued to walk down the street, they would occasionally come across small groups of zombies that were wandering around aimlessly, passing through the cars that were strewn throughout the streets.


    The four of them did their best to avoid a fight as much as they could but they occasionally would engage a small group when necessary. Since both Grant and Jeff were growing in strength, it became easier and easier for them to deal with the low leveled zombies.


    Eventually and without much hassle, the group arrived at the intersection where the gun shop was located.


    Before they could make a break for the building though, a loud roar echoed throughout the area. It sounded like a lion on vocal steroids had just let loose its loudest and most ferocious roar.


    Immediately following the roar, Grant and the rest of the group went on high alert. They could tell from the intensity and volume of the roar that whatever had caused it, was clearly stronger than anything that they had faced up until that point.


    No one knew where the roar came from but they didn''t have to wait long because moments after the sounded stopped echoing throughout the area, they noticed a cat of sorts walking out from the parking lot that was diagonally across from them. Cat was a loose term in this case though seeing as the cat in front of them was nearly the size of a full grown Great Dane, as wide as a large motorcycle, with thick limbs and torso.


    The cat stood directly between them and their intended destination so they had two choices, fight or run.


    Grant couldn''t stop his body from tensing up when he looked at the oversized cat. Just by looking at it, every cell in his body was screaming danger and urging him to turn tail and run away.


    Forcing himself to stay composed, Grant drew his sword from its scabbard and readied himself for a fight that may very well end with his death.


    Subconsciously he knew he wouldn''t be able to flee unless he used the other three as bait but he refused to succumb to such thoughts so the only choice that he had at this point, was to fight.


    Grant noticed that although his body was sending warning signals to his mind non-stop, his mind itself was surprisingly clear given the situation. He didn''t give it much thought though because he had no time for distractions at this point.


    While the cat was creeping ever closer, Grant glanced at the other people in his group and noticed that they were all rooted to the spot, except for Jeff. He seemed to still be thinking clearly because he had his spiked bat in hand, with a sour look on his face, while glancing around him as if trying to formulate a plan. Out of the corner of his eye, Jeff seemed to notice Grant looking at him because he turned towards him and gave him a curt nod before facing the large cat once again.


    In the time that it took Grant and Jeff to exchange glances, the cat had gotten within range to pounce. It moved into the position that a typical house cat would use while it was trying to sneak up and ambush some sort of target.


    Grant could tell from the stance the cat was taking, that he was most likely the target of the impending attack.


    [Unsurprisingly, it''s going to attack me... It''s a curse being this good looking, I swear..]


    Before Grant could even say anything to warn Tres and Matt of the impending attack, the cat unleashed all the tension it was building in its attack stance and lunged forward.


    Suddenly extremely focused, Grant wasn''t sure if the cat deemed him the only threat because he was clearly the strongest of the group, or if he was the target merely because he was the closest to the cat itself but that didn''t matter at the moment because the second the cat moved, Grant put all of his newfound strength into his legs to dive away from the Incoming attack. Just narrowly dodging the outstretched claw of the cat, Grant rolled a few more times before he sprang to his feet.


    The moment the cat''s paws hit the ground, it quickly redirected its momentum and lunged at Grant once again, while the cat was distracted going for Grant, Jeff attempted to strike the cat from behind with the spiked baseball bat.


    The bat never even came remotely close to hitting the cat though, because the second it sensed the incoming attack, it had leapt out of the weapons trajectory.


    Clearly Jeff''s speed wasn''t up to snuff and it was unlikely he would be able to strike the cat without its speed being hindered in some way. Grant himself was just barely on the same level of the cat, if not slightly behind in terms of speed.


    Not even mentioning the other two, it seemed like Grant would be the only one who even had a chance at fighting the big cat. Jeff seemed to notice this fact too, because he slowly started to back away from the scene.


    Grant saw what he was doing and had an idea of what Jeff was about to pull, but he didn''t want to believe it.


    As if to prove Grant''s assumption correct, a few moments later, Jeff turned around and started sprinting away from the impromptu battleground with all his strength.


    Grant was incensed because rather than trying to cooperate with each other to make sure that they could all survive the fight, he ran away!


    Clearly he was more interested in his own survival than anyone else''s at this point and unlike Grant, had no qualms with sacrificing someone else so that he could live.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Matt and Tres also noticed Jeff''s movements but they both hesitate for a moment before looking at Grant and giving him a look that seemed to express their apology at his fate, before they too turned tail and ran away.


    Seeing this all happening, Grant became more and more livid. "Guys, where the fuck are you going?! Help me fight this thing! We can beat it if we work together!"


    Unfortunately, they either didn''t hear him or didn''t care about his life any longer because they didn''t even hesitate in their steps.


    "FUCKING COWARDS!"


    The cat seemed to realize that the three people that were moving away from the location of the fight no longer posed a threat, because instead of keeping itself angled to see both parties, it turned and faced Grant completely.


    At that moment, Jeff paused and looked back towards Grant before he yelled out, "Sorry man! It''s everyone for themselves in a situation like this! But don''t worry, once that cat kills you and eats your body, I''ll make sure to come back and take your sword!" and with that said, he turned and ran once again.


    Grant, enraged by Jeff''s words couldn''t stop himself from yelling back, "Fuck you dude! You''ll never get my Wet Noodle! I''ll take this thing to hell with me before I let you have it!"


    Hearing what Grant said, Jeff actually stumbled for a second before he looked back at Grant incredulously after regaining his balance.


    "What the fuck? Is that sword called Wet Noodle?" was the last thing Grant heard before Jeff and his two friends disappeared around the corner of a building.


    The moment that the group disappeared around the corner, the big cat finally made it''s move again. Grant once again dove to the side in an attempt to avoid the attack as he had the first time but the cat seemed to predict that he would dodge in the direction that he did because it managed to swipe at Grant''s leg as he moved, which caused a deep gash across the top of his thigh.


    With blood spilling down the side of his leg, and knowing now that his movement would be restricted, Grants mind worked at top speed trying to come up with a viable strategy to get away form the cat. The more he thought about it though, the more dire the situation seemed.


    The big cat, seeing that it had managed to inflict damage on its prey, once again attacked.


    Since the cat was lunging through the air trying to tackle him or bite at his neck, Grant dove down and forward instead of moving to either side or backwards. A split second after he hit the ground, the cat flew over the top of him.


    Unfortunately, because of the angle that Grant dove at, he wasn''t able to attack the cat as it passed over him. The only thing that he managed to achieve, was a second or two more to try and formulate a plan.


    While Grant was struggling to get to his feet, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that someone was running towards him and the cat. He was hopeful that some random passerby had seen him and was coming to assist, but it turned out that it was Tres. It appeared that he had come back to help him. Before Grant could even react to Tres'' reappearance though, the cat also noticed Tres and instead of attacking Grant, it immediately attacked Tres.


    "WATCH OUT TRES!" was all that Grant managed to get out before the cat was on top of Tres, both figuratively and literally. Pinning Tres to the ground, the cat roared before opening its jaws and biting down on Tres'' exposed neck. While chocking on the blood that immediately filled his throat and ignoring the pain of the cat''s jaw on his neck, Tres wrapped both arms and legs around the neck and heal of the cat, as if he was trying to hold it down.


    Seeing what Tres was trying to accomplish, Grant roared at the top of his lungs and forced his legs to move as fast as they could and despite the pain of his wound and the blood flowing down his leg, he charged at the now bundle of big cat and Tres.


    Grant managed to reach the two in a split second and just before he got to the two of them, he raised his Wet Noodle high into the air and brought it straight down into the head of the cat.


    The sword immediately pierced straight through the head of the cat and embedded itself into the ground right next to Tres'' head.


    [Congratulations on killing Ferocious Agile Cat Level 16.


    You have reached level 10.


    Gained ten status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +10 Strength, +24 Agility, +10 Health, and +15 Stamina.


    You have gained +250 Credits and 5 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.]


    Without even looking at the message, Grant struggled to kneel down next to the now dead cat and drag the choking Tres out from under it. The cat which had been attempting to crush Tres'' wind pipe opened its jaws momentarily in pain when its head was pierced which released Tres from between its jaws.


    Once Grant got Tres free from the cat, he started to examine the wound in his neck. Grant took his shirt off in an attempt to stem the constant flow of blood but he knew it was a fruitless effort because Tres'' neck, at least externally, looked like shredded meat which meant internally it probably wasn''t much better.


    Tres saw the look on Grant''s face and knew that their was nothing that Grant could do and his life was probably going to come to an end momentarily. Before that moment came though he struggled to say, "Thank you... *cough* for trying to.. *cough cough* protect me. Be wary of Jeff... *cough* he will come back like he said.. *cough cough*" and with those final words, the light in his eyes dimmed and he breathed his last.


    Grant let out another roar after seeing the light fade from Tres'' eyes.


    [Fuck fuck fuck! If those two bastards had just worked with me then we could have avoided this! I know that everyone is just trying to survive but do we have to abandon our humanity to achieve that?! That''s not living! That''s just surviving at someone else''s expense! FUCK!]


    Grant just sat next to Tres'' body for a few more minutes, boiling with rage, before he struggled to his feet, walked over to the dead cat, and pulled his sword from its head.


    The day wasn''t over yet and he couldn''t stay out here in the open where another one of those cats or maybe even something more dangerous could find and attack him.


    Before he left though, Grant made sure to say a small prayer for Tres and thank him for sacrificing himself so that he could live. He had no idea why someone he had just met would do such a thing, but he was grateful nonetheless. Tres was probably the only one who knew why he had done what he had done.


    Grant, using Wet Noodle in its scabbard as a cane, dragged himself to the gas station that was located on the corner nearest to him.


    He wasn''t sure if Jeff and Matt had gone to the gun store but he didn''t want to take the chance of running into them while he was injured and unable to move freely. And since he could hardly walk, he had to settle for the closest place to himself.


    Luckily for Grant, the gas station had a bathroom whose door was located on the outside of the building, had no windows, and only the one door. Which meant he only had to focus on the one entrance to make sure no one uninvited appeared.


    Cautiously, Grant opened the door and peered inside. Luckily, it was an open bathroom with no stalls or anything that could hide a zombie or monster so when he saw no monsters, he was sure it was safe.


    He dragged himself into the bathroom, locked the door, and then sat down with his back to the door.


    Before his ass even hit the floor, Grant was crying. The events of today would leave a scar on his heart for a long time to come.

 Chapter 7: Hitchhikers Guide to What?

    For the next 10 minutes, Grant sat lifelessly on the floor of the bathroom and just let himself cry. In his hands he was holding the brass knuckles that Tres had rolled with his Random Rolls.


    He knew that shedding tears at this point served no purpose and it wouldn''t help bring Tres back or save anyone else during these hellish times. But he felt that he needed to let his tears fall now so that he could move past these feelings and then get up and do what needed to be done.


    He wasn''t crying because he was close with Tres and would miss him or anything like that, no, he was crying because the death of Tres was a representation of what the world had become. One distracted moment or stupid decision, meant death.


    Thinking of his family that lived on the other side of the country and what they must be going through was gut wrenching for Grant as well.


    After he grieved for those 10 minutes, Grant forced himself to stop crying. He knew he couldn''t dwell on it for too long since it would do him no good in the end.


    Once he had collected himself, he grabbed his backpack and brought out the first aid kit. He didn''t have any needles or string that could be used to stich up the wound on his leg, so he had to use the ace bandages to bind the wound as tightly as he could.


    Fortunately for him, in the 10 minutes that he had been sitting on the floor, the bleeding had decreased significantly. He didn''t know what to make of it but he decided to attribute it to the fact that his health was so much higher than the average human and that it was likely that had contributed to his bodies ability to heal much quicker.


    Once he had bound the wound on his leg tight enough, he couldn''t help but laugh out loud in a self deprecating manner. With the addition of the bandage on his thigh, nearly his entire left leg was bandaged since he had yet to check the condition of the wound on his calf.


    [Apparently animals have a vendetta against my legs. Jealousy towards my rock hard calves and toned thighs no doubt.


    I really need to find a monster that I can train my fighting skills against. Preferably one that won''t kill me if I slip up for even a moment. I can''t keep limping away from every fight with an injury that makes it hard for me to survive, let alone move.]


    Once the first aid had been handled, Grant decided to take a peak at his stats to see how far he had come.


    {Status


    Name: Grant Holmes


    Level: 10


    Race: Human


    Path: N/A


    Title: N/A


    Strength: 22 + 10 | Agility: 36 + 10 | Health: 20 | Stamina: 29 | Mana: 0


    9 Random Rolls


    500 Credits


    Available Free Stats 20}


    [Holy shit, I''m like 10 times stronger than an average human being before The Path, or whatever it''s called emerged aren''t I?! It hasn''t even been a full day and I''m already this strong.. I wonder what lays ahead of me...


    No wonder I even forgot that I was wearing my backpack though. With my newfound strength, it''s not surprising that I couldn''t even feel the weight of it anymore.


    I wonder what it looked like when I was fighting that oversized furball.


    It would be pretty sweet if I was like one of those protagonists from anime, where they move so fast that they are verging on being imperceivable to the average human eye?]


    While admiring his stats, Grant decided to enjoy the quiet time while he could, so he took out a couple of power bars from his backpack along with a bottle of water to have some "dinner".


    While he was devouring his feast, he decided to pull up his Random Rolls and use a few of the Rolls that he had stocked up.


    Since he hadn''t rolled since reaching level 1, he had 9 free rolls saved up, so he was less worried about wasting them at this point.


    He had briefly considered rolling for items once he had reached level 5 but after finding out that Random Roll items weren''t bound to the person that received them he didn''t want to take any chances because he didn''t want Jeff or someone else to try and steal his new equipment. He wanted to wait until he felt strong enough to protect his own equipment.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    So while sitting on the floor of the dirty bathroom and devouring some of the most tasteless food humans had ever created, Grant prayed silently to Lady Luck, God, and whatever other deity he could pull from the depths of his mind.


    Even before the world went to hell, he wasn''t sure if God was real, and he doubted it even more now but that wouldn''t stop him from increasing his luck any way he could.


    After saying his silent prayer, Grant opened the Random Rolls screen.


    {Welcome to Random Rolls. Using your rolls will result in a random item being delivered to the user. If you would like to use your Random Roll, please say "Roll"}


    "Roll!"


    {Rolling in 3... 2... 1... Congratulations, your item will be delivered momentarily. Would you like to continue rolling in succession until all Random Rolls have been used? Please say "Yes" or "No".}


    [Should I do this one at a time? People always say your luck is worse in these cases if you do it all at once since the gacha style is rigged to make you waste your rolls...


    Would it even make sense to save them though? It''s not like I can roll in the middle of a battle?


    Wait... are Random Rolls affected by my level?! If that''s the case, then the higher level I am, theoretically, the better the loot will be, right?


    That would makes sense.. would this system or The Path or whatever, willingly give away amazing items at a low level if it''s main goal was to force people to evolve?


    I can''t be 100% but I guess I should try and run some tests. I guess it would be better to save them for now.]


    "No."


    {Understood. Items that have already been successfully rolled will be delivered now.


    To roll again, follow the standard procedures to open the Random Rolls screen.}


    Following the message, a now familiar light appeared before Grant. As the light condensed into what looked like a thin box, Grant reached out his hands to catch it before it could fall to the ground.


    Upon catching the object, Grant realized that it wasn''t a box like he had thought, it was actually a book. While flipping it around in his hands he noticed that the cover was actually a backdrop of the starry sky, it also had a little green blob with arms and a mouth sticking its tongue out, a mouse in the bottom corner, and in big bold & bright letters on the front were the giant words, The Hitchhikers Guide to The Path.


    {Item: Guide


    Name: The Hitchhikers Guide to The Path


    Grade: Unique


    Once the Guide has been tied to its respective user, the item will take the form of whatever the user decides. Presented in a book due to that being the most common form of intellectual delivery in the history of Earth.


    To use The Hitchhikers Guide to The Path please place your hand on the cover of the book and say, "Use".}


    [Alright, first off... what the hell is with the name? I''ve been thinking this for awhile now but who the fuck is coming up with the names for these monsters and items? Clearly this person or entity needs some help. They are just too generic or totally off the wall...


    Secondly, Guide is pretty self explanatory but when I use it, I''m supposed to determine what form I would like it to take? What do I choose? If this was one of the novels I loved to read so much, the obvious choice would be some small cute animal or a little loli.


    But I don''t want to walk through this hellscape with a small girl following me around. That''s just ridiculous to an insane degree.. maybe some hot looking milf?


    No no, some woman following me around constantly is like my worst nightmare, men need their freedom!]


    After thinking on it for awhile, Grant decided not to hesitate any more and placed his hand on top of the book and softly said "Use".


    {The Guide cannot be transformed into your desired structure. Information is a weapon in and of itself, so it cannot be transformed into a physical weapon. Armor is also deemed an inappropriate structure. Please choose again.}


    [Stingy fucking system! Don''t tell me "whatever form the user decides" if their are actually restrictions! That should be fixed, where is the report bug option for this stupid system?]


    After thinking about it for a bit longer, Grant finally came to a decision on the structure. This time, nothing popped up to stop him from continuing.


    With yet another flash of white light, the book started to morph it''s shape. As the book shrank down and morphed into the shape that Grant wanted it to take, he reached out his hand to catch the falling object. Once it touched his hand he again saw a notification.


    {Item: Guide (Necklace)


    Name: The Hitchhikers Guide to The Path


    Grade: Unique


    The item has taken the shape of a necklace with the number 3 hanging from the chain due to the users imagination.}


    Grant decided on the necklace and number 3 as both a reminder that someone had already sacrificed their life so that he could live. It was also a reminder, that no matter where he reached in the future, that he should never forget where he began.


    It was an anchor to who he had been so that whoever he became could remember what it was like when he was weak and useless.


    After looking at the necklace for a few minutes, Grant decided to put it on. Once the necklace was around his neck, it suddenly felt like the back of his neck had been pricked with a needle.


    It felt like the necklace had somehow anchored itself to his body. He got the feeling that no matter how fast he moved and no matter how hard someone tried, the necklace would never come off unless Grant himself wanted it to be removed.


    While Grant was absorbed in his thoughts, he heard a mechanical voice suddenly ring out in his head.


    {Hello Grant,


    Welcome To The Hitchhikers Guide to The Path, you may call me whatever you please.


    I will be your guide from here on out.


    If you would like to know any information you merely need to ask. Of course I can not give you information that I do not know myself, which is uncommon but not impossible.}


    [Well shit, now I''m hearing things. Its official, I''ve fucking lost it...]


    {No sir, you are still relatively sane, at least by human standards, by other measures however, not just you, but all humans are a tad insane.


    Though some sleep may assist in clearing your mind of other burdens, I am not a figment of your imagination or a product of insanity.


    I am given to the first member of each new species to The Path that reaches level 10 before any other member of their species. Although I am delivered through the Random Rolls, the person who receives me is in fact, not chosen at random.}


    [Hold up.. I''m the first level 10 in the entirety of humanity?! Fuck I''m awesome! I always knew it but this is proof that I was right!


    Alright Mr. Guide, tell me one thing before we get into anything else, what the fuck is The Path and why has it come to Earth?]

 Chapter 8: The Paths Origins

    {That is a tough question to answer sir. The Path has been in existence since before I was created. I am a byproduct of countless trials and errors by countless more species who began to walk The Path before and after I was created.


    The knowledge I possess is a byproduct of the experiences that previous iterations of me have experienced with their users.


    In a sense you could say that I am a reincarnation of sorts or more accurately just a clone of the original Guide. Each and every iteration of my existence operates with a shared consciousness or databank, if you will.}


    [Countless species? How many different versions of you have their been?


    Wait... if you learn through the experiences you have had over time, wasn''t the OG version of you basically useless?!]


    {That is neither here nor there sir. That was a lack of foresight by my creator. I did have some basic information on how to assist the original user of the Guide, but to be honest, as you have so graciously pointed out, I was not very helpful to the first few users.}


    [Thank fuck that wasn''t me... If I had been given something useless like your original self I probably would have turned you into a sock or boxer briefs to torture you for wasting one of my Random Rolls...


    The we would have had to call you, The Hitchhikers Guide to Shit Stains!


    Well whatever, the past is none of my concern right now.


    Back to the business at hand, how many species have you assisted to this point? And how knowledgeable are you now? What good are you to me?]


    {This is my 8,647,291,001 iteration, and my knowledge bank contains just shy of 100 trillion different entries. Ranging from the miniscule to the megalithic.}


    [Shit, that''s a lot of different iterations... wait hold up, you just said it was countless and then you immediately assigned a fucking number to it! Are you related to some web novel authors or something?!


    "Oh he''s been training for tens of dozens of years." and then the next line, "136 years of training later!" Fuck off with that... Just stick to one or the other..


    Wait, that''s not important. We got sidetracked. Tell me about The Path! And answer my questions! You''re not proving very useful right now future boxer briefs!]


    {My apologies sir, yes, The Path. Unfortunately, my data bank related to The Path is only specific to The Path''s that are available to people who reach the necessary level of evolution. The rest of my information related to The Path is nothing but basic knowledge brought together by people over trillions of years.


    That being said, The Path is an existence with unknown origins. There have been many theories that say The Path originated at the beginning of the universe and may have possibly existed even before then.


    There are other theories that say The Path is the creation of a supremely powerful entity who wants to test weaker individuals in an attempt to find an existence that can one day match it in power.


    As the old saying goes, "It''s lonely at the top."


    Whatever the truth may be, remains unknown even to me.


    However, what is known, is that The Path leads all species of consciousness forcibly down the road to evolution.


    Once The Path has deemed your species to have reached the sufficient level of evolution, they are brought into The Path and are forced to walk forward, the same as every species before them.


    If The Path finds members of your race that it has deemed unworthy of evolution, they are forcibly removed from the group.


    In the case of humanity, this has resulted in what have been called zombies.}


    Grant took a few moments to digest all the information that the Guide had just shared. Naturally it was tough to swallow the idea that an entity, system, or whatever it was, like The Path, could possibly judge people and then seemingly discard them after a moments evaluation to be left as nothing more than mindless monsters.


    But after Grant thought back to what had just happened with Jeff, Matt, and Tres, he could somewhat understand why some people may not be worthy.


    The fact that The Path decided that someone like Jeff had passed the initial evaluation only to turn out to be a piece of shit human with only his self interest at heart, frustrated him to no end though.


    He couldn''t help but wonder what criteria The Path had used in it''s initial evaluation of humanity. He had no doubt that some people who were now zombies had probably not deserved such a fate.


    While fighting against the zombies throughout the day, Grant had been forced to kill all manner of zombies, full grown male, female, and even some smaller zombies that were no doubt happy children just a few hours earlier.


    The scar that had been made by the betrayal of Jeff and Matt and subsequent death of Tres seemed to dig just a little bit deeper in his self conscious as Grant''s rage built up. It seemed to him as if The Path was toying with humanity indiscriminately. Did it even have criteria or was it just choosing people at random? Grant didn''t have an answer, and doubted the Guide would either, so he just stewed in the anger that was brewing.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Grant had never been a saint by an stretch of the imagination but neither would he have abandoned a fellow person in need if he had the capability to help. It was qualities such as those, that The Path should have focused on. A united, collective is always stronger than a power hungry individual.


    [This fucking Path. I swear, if I ever get my hands on whoever or whatever created this fucking situation, I will stab them right between the ass and then t-bag them until I am satisfied.


    Playing with human lives like they''re worthless. Piece of shit Path.]


    Knowing that he was letting his emotions take control, Grant had to force himself to take a few deep breathes before he moved on with the conversation.


    [Now that The Path has forced humanity to step on the road to evolution, what comes next? What''s the endgame?]


    {The next steps are simple: Progress, evolve, and grow stronger.


    At level 25 you will gain a Path. Their are certain Paths that are universal and most are accessible to all members of a species, but their are also Path''s that lead a singular individual away from the collective.


    Some examples of universal Path''s are: Warrior, Mage, Archer, Assassin, Blacksmith, Alchemist, etc.


    These Paths are generic and orders of magnitudes weaker than the Unique Paths as the individual progresses further on their Path.


    Now, it is possible for universal Paths to evolve into Unique Paths if the individual achieves something of extreme significance or something that The Path deems borderline impossible. Those cases are rarer than ice forming in a fire, but sometimes the impossible does become possible through extraordinary means, so it is not completely unheard of. I in fact have 7 entries in my databank related to this phenomenon.


    As for how The Path decides which Path to assign which user, there are many factors.


    Some of those factors are, but not limited too; achievements since The Paths emergence, past events or trauma of a persons life, and even estimated future achievements.


    How The Path calculates future achievements I am not sure. That is beyond my capabilities to understand.


    There are theories, but nothing has been proven to date.}


    [Alright... I think I understand what you''re getting at... does that mean that if I want to use mana I have to wait until level 25?


    Because I''ve managed to gain every stat from monsters except Mana and I was starting to think that maybe it was just me... Like I was inept or something... Magical Eunuch may have crossed my mind if I had to create a name for it..]


    {As much as I''d love for you to use that vernacular to refer to yourself, you are correct in your assumption that mana cannot be used until you have entered your Path. Though their are Path''s that exist who do not have access to mana, that is your choice to make in the end.


    For everyone not on a mana devoid Path, mana opens to an individual when they reach level 25. Before level 25 however, your body is constantly absorbing mana, it is just unable to purify it to the necessary levels to be used. That however, changes once you select your Path.


    However, you may add your free distribution stats to mana at any point, you just won''t be able to do anything with the mana because of it''s lack of purity.}


    [Holdddd up. What do you mean my body is absorbing mana but is unable to purify it?]


    {When you reach level 25 and step onto your Path, your body structure is altered in subtle ways to allow for you to adhere to your Path.


    One of those ways, is the creation of your mana core. The attributes of your mana core cannot be determined until you have chosen your Path however, so it will not form fully until then. And without a mana core, you cannot use mana.}


    [Alright alright I think we''re getting somewhere.. Their are plenty more questions I want to ask about mana but they seem redundant at this point because I still have 15 levels to go before I reach 25... So on to the next question, what the hell are credits for?]


    {They are similar to Random Rolls but serve a different purpose.


    Credits are used for purchasing active skills, passive skills, items, potions, profession skills, and so on.


    Even now, you can open the Pathway Store the same as you would open the Random Rolls menu, if you would like to see what is being sold.}


    [Well aren''t I just a complete dumbass for not checking that out on my own... I could have used some of those skills, I have no doubt.]


    {While it may seem advantageous to use credits early on, it''s not really possible. Unless you have killed a monster of significant strength or achieved something The Path deems worthy of a reward, you have only earned credits from leveling up and it''s unlikely that you find a worthwhile skill with the few credits that you possess.


    It is suggested that until you find your Path, you hold off on spending your credits. They are hard to come by and quick to spend. So please be aware.


    That is not to say that you cannot acquire skills without spending credits.


    You can inherit or learn skills through hard work and understanding of a specific concept or idea.


    For example, members of your military are more likely to learn skills such as Discipline, Steel Resolve, and others without purchasing them due to their experience and training.}


    [Is their any special way to earn Random Rolls like there is for credits?]


    {Yes and no. Once you have reached level 25 and started on your Path, you may be assigned "tasks" or also referred too as quests in your culture.


    These quests will be specific to your Path and help to guide you forward. Until then though, there are no other ways to earn them.


    My suggestion for Random Rolls are the same as credits. Hold off on using them en masse until you have hit a roadblock.


    The items that drop from the Random Rolls will be based on your level and the progress you have made on your Path.


    Only Roll if you feel that if you had to fight with your life on the line, you would likely to fail without the extra assistance of new items.}


    [Hellll yeah. I was right. I had a feeling that Random Rolls had to be related to your level in some way. I''m glad I only used the one and stopped at that. It would have been pathetic if I used all my Rolls and eventually hit a roadblock.


    Thank you for the advice and knowledge... Mr Guide? I refuse to call you that, what is your name by the way?]


    {I have many names sir but it is entirely up to you to decide what you would like this iteration of me to be called.}


    [Alright, it''s decided I''m going to call you Go*gle! Because you help me find the answers I''m looking for.]


    {Apologies Sir. Due to copyright issues it would be unwise to use that name...}


    [Copyright? What the fuck? Is some all mighty being going to come down from the heavens and hit me with a DMCA strike or something?!


    Well whatever, lets go with... Sherlock! Ties perfectly with my last name and I''ve always enjoyed the phrase, "No shit, Sherlock."


    And now, with that decided, I''m glad to have you with me Sherlock.


    I hope you''re ready to fuck shit up! We''re aiming for the top so we can knock whoever or whatever is up there all the way down to the bottom of the shit pile where he, she, or it belongs.]

 Chapter 9: What Comes Next

    Grant spent the next half hour chatting with Sherlock about many different topics. Most of the information that Sherlock provided didn''t really apply to his current situation, but it was still interesting listening to something that had access to such a vast amount of knowledge.


    After awhile though, Grant decided that he had wasted enough time moping around and talking to Sherlock and it was now time he started seriously considering what his plans going forward should be.


    After much deliberation, with himself, he decided that heading to the gun shop now probably wouldn''t be the best idea. He wasn''t necessarily afraid of having to confront Jeff and Matt, but he also didn''t want to end up in a precarious situation.


    He was currently injured and his mobility was severely hindered due to the wound so he wasn''t sure what would happen if the three of them ended up in a fight and while they were engaged in combat a monster similar to the Agile Cat showed up?


    Truthfully, Grant could perfectly picture what would happen because the two cowards had already shown him how they would run at the slightest hint of danger. Which meant he would once again be facing off against a monster alone and that was a risk that he just wasn''t willing to take.


    After having come to that conclusion, his next thought was, where to now? He obviously couldn''t make the bathroom of a gas station his permanent base of operations.


    And god for bid, with his luck, what would happen if some animal or something went crashing into one of the gas pumps nearby and somehow blew the entire building up!


    Grant thought that maybe he should work on trying to find some of his friends who had lived nearby but it was impossible to know if they were even alive or dead at this point. And since he had been somewhat of a introvert who rarely attended parties or gathering, he had slowly grown apart from his friends and he wasn''t even sure where they were living at the moment.


    Since his close family was on the other side of the country, their was no point in trying to reach them at the current time. He would have to make sure he was much stronger before he even attempted to cross the thousands of miles to reach them.


    Since Grant was a bachelor, he had no girlfriend or even a love interest that he was concerned about, so executing the age old trope of rescuing a damsel in distress, was of no concern to him.


    He did have some extended family still living in the area, but they had never really gotten along all too well because they were devout Christian''s and with Grant being the black sheep of his family, they had always looked down upon him. They only saw each other at family gatherings and other events such as weddings, so he wasn''t overly concerned with their situation. As cruel as that may seem, it was simply a fact.


    That left him with three options.


    Option one was to try and look for his friends even without knowing their exact location or even if they were alive, which meant his search could inevitably end in giant waste of time.


    Option two was to continue on solo and try to find a place where he could settle down while he tried to navigate the chaos of the new world he found himself thrust into.


    Option three was to try and find other survivors and form some sort of group or camp where they could depend on each other and work together, but the situation with Jeff and Matt had made him slightly apprehensive to help other people at this point.


    Obviously there were many things that a large group of people could accomplish much quicker and more efficiently than a singular person could. But it also brought on a mammoth amount of responsibilities and risk as well. First and foremost, how do you feed and protect them all?


    Grant also wanted to avoid being betrayed a second time so quickly after the first, so he quickly decided to avoid a large group of people for the moment.


    Deciding the third option just wasn''t something he wanted anything to do with at the moment, he struggled between the other two options available to him.


    Since Grant couldn''t come to a decision on his own, he decided to ask for the opinion of the only other intelligent entity he was in contact with at the moment; Sherlock.


    {What exactly are you trying to achieve, sir? Are you looking to survive or are you looking to get stronger as fast as possible?}


    [What I really want is for this fucking hell on Earth to be some sick dream I''m having and wake up in my bed drenched in cold sweat because of how vivid my dream had been.]


    {I am sorry to say, that this is no dream. This is now your present and future. You need to come to terms with that, and quickly, if you want to survive.}


    [Fuck! I know I know, but one can dream, right?]


    {I just said this wasn''t a dream, sir.}


    [That''s not what I meant you overly literal bot! Whatever, you''re not helping. Go away.]


    {How do you expect me to leave, sir?}


    Grant knew that if he kept responding, Sherlock would just keep talking, so he just shook his head at the idiotic alien technology and kept his mouth shut.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Grant knew that Sherlock was right and that he had to start accepting the fact that this new reality he found himself in wasn''t going to just up and go away randomly. This was going to be his new life from now on. The sooner he accepted that, the better.


    So that meant that at some point, the rest of humanity would also come to that conclusion and start to form some semblance of a camp or something where people could gather and protect each other.


    Knowing that it was only a matter of time before he would have to join up with a group of people to make survival easier for himself, he decided that at the moment, he should remain solo and try to use the time to grow as strong as possible as quickly as possible.


    Which meant that Grant just had to find somewhere that he could defend and use as a base of operations while he fought as often and as hard as he could, so he could reach level 25 quickly and figure out what his Path would be.


    According to Sherlock, the first 24 levels were similar to a tutorial in a video game. The Path had weeded out what it deemed to be the most unworthy of the human race and the first 24 levels would help weed out the rest who were not mentally or physically strong enough to survive in the new world.


    Which meant that once you reached level 25 and stepped onto your own Path, that was when the real struggles began.


    Of course there would be cases of some people being protected by other, stronger individuals, which would allow them to survive.


    But a vast majority of the population would probably succumb to fear and end up starving to death in their homes or dying when they were on the verge of starvation and forced to leave their homes to find more food.


    While Grant was lost in thought that was when Sherlock chimed in with an actual, useful suggestion.


    {Sir I suggest that you make finding appropriate shelter your number one priority. The Path will not only transform humans, living creatures, and plants of this planet; it will also start to effect the weather and climate as well. Having a strong roof over your head to provide yourself with a safe and dry place to rest your head, will be a must in the coming days and weeks.


    Once you have found a sufficiently appropriate location for long term use, then you should consider your next moves.}


    [That''s the conclusion I was heading towards Sherlock, even without knowing of the weather. But hearing you say that just confirms it. I need to look out for myself right now. I can attempt to help other people once I have a grasp on my own situation.


    By the way, don''t call me sir. Just call me Grant.]


    {As you wish, Grant.}


    [Alright, it''s decided. New shelter first and then we focus on getting stronger and doing what needs to be done! Whatever that may be!]


    With that thought, Grant struggled back to his feet. He wasn''t sure how long he had spent in the bathroom because there were no windows, but he figured it hadn''t been that long.


    However, the second that Grant opened the door he was almost blown onto his ass by a huge gust of wind that came through the now open door. Putting all of his strength into remaining standing, Grant realized that a massive storm was brewing outside. It looked like the second coming of the Genesis Flood was about to take place based on the clouds in the sky and the sheer amount of moisture contained in the gust of wind.


    After using all of his new found strength just to get the door shut, he once again locked it and sat back down with his back to the door.


    He could feel the vibrations of the door with each gust of wind and he started to wonder if the metal door was even going to be able to hold out against the strong wind.


    Moments later though, it got worse for Grant because he started to hear the sound of a torrential downpour which immediately resulted in water flowing through the gap between the door and the ground beneath it.


    [Just fucking perfect! Right when I want to start being productive, you had to go and raise a flag about the weather Sherlock. I blame you for this. Now I have to spend the night in a fucking bathroom that''s being flooded with water!]


    {How does a flag affect the weather? You humans are strange creatures with some crazy beliefs.}


    [Can you make exchanges in the shop? I''m over this whole, having a guide through the apocalypse thing.]


    {You cannot make exchanges in the shop.}


    [Figures..]


    Annoyed at the newest attack on his sanity, Grant forced himself to focus on the situation at hand.


    Luckily, he still had a lot of the food and water left in his backpack so even if the storm lasted for awhile, he shouldn''t have any issues other than boredom. But he was worried that if this storm raged on for more than a few days, he might find himself in a precarious situation.


    Since Grant had literally nothing else to do, he just watched the water pour through the door and start pooling on the floor of the bathroom which was annoying him more and more the longer he watched.


    Their was nothing worse than being forced to endure wet clothes, so to avoid getting wet, he had to sit on the toilet, which was nothing short of embarrassing.


    [What else you got for me, oh mighty Path?! How could it get any worse than sitting on a toilet watching water run!?]


    The moment that thought came to an end, Grant heard a symphony of roars coming from the other side of the door.


    [You''ve got to be fucking kidding me...]


    It didn''t sound like whatever made the noise was that close, but it also didn''t sound that far away either.


    Grant had no way to know what made the noise but he wasn''t exactly eager to find out, especially since it sounded like more than one monster was moving about.


    {I estimate there are no more than 4 dogs of unknown level, at least based on the volume, vocal range of the roar, and the energy they released with their roars, I would say the dogs are at least level 10 but do not exceed level 15.


    They will most likely be strength focused monsters with lower than average speed but higher than average destructive power.


    Also of note, if you were not wounded, your speed would have exceeded theirs by at least two times, but injured, although you will still be able to move faster than them, it will not be a vast difference. Your Wet Noodle will be capable of slicing through them without issue however, so if you are smart enough, you will face no issues.


    It is recommended that you engage these monsters immediately to reap some experience not only for your levels but also as a form of training.


    The weather will make things difficult but should not influence the fight to a large degree.}


    [Oh now you want to give advice?! How do I even know what you are saying is accurate? It sounds like pure conjecture to me!]


    Even though he was complaining, Grant knew that if Sherlock''s evaluation was correct, then he needed to take advantage of this opportunity.


    However, walking head first into this storm just to engage a group of monstrous dogs in a fight for experience and levels, didn''t exactly sound appealing.


    After a few moments of hesitation though, Grant stood up from his toilet throne and prepared to leave the bathroom. He noticed that the pain in his leg had faded almost entirely so he was encouraged by that fact.


    [FUCK IT! It''s like they say, no pain no gain! So lets fuckin do this! Maybe some new levels will help my wounds heal even quicker!]


    And with that, Grant swung the door open once again, took the gale force winds head on, and forced his way out into the storm.

 Chapter 10: A Bright Light on a Dark Night (Part 1)

    Immediately after walking out the door, Grant was assaulted by a torrential downpour of rain and intense winds that were kicking up debris like they were as light as a feather. He even had to dodge the occasional piece of metal or wood that came flying out of nowhere. It felt more like he was standing in the middle of a cluster of tornado''s than a thunder storm.


    Heading towards the direction of the noises created by the monster dogs, Grant had to pass through the intersection where Tres had been killed. He had expected to see Tres'' lifeless body laying in the road still, but it turned out that the body was gone.


    Grant said a silent prayer for Tres and the likelihood that his body had been eaten by some sort of monster. It was a fate he was regretful that he could not prevent due to his injuries.


    After paying his last respects to Tres, Grant continued onward.


    As he forced his way through the storm, Grant couldn''t help but question his sanity for even thinking that coming out to fight in the storm was a good idea.


    [I''m going to end up as a meme.. some stop sign or something is going to come flying out of nowhere and fuck my shit up! This is an absolutely horrendous idea. How the hell am I supposed to fight in this storm?!]


    {You fight by attacking and defending against the monsters. Is their any other way to fight?}


    [Sherlock, I swear to god. If you don''t zip your lip, I am going to kill myself just to get away from you!


    This was your idea, remember!? If something happens to me, I promise you, I will find every single iteration of your existence and destroy you.]


    {But you''ll be dead, so I will have nothing to fear.}


    Grant was starting to regret ever putting in a single iota of effort into leveling up. If he had just been a bit slower in reaching level 10, then Sherlock would have been someone else''s problem and he could have lived a quiet and peaceful life.


    Doing his best to ignore Sherlock, Grant forced his way through the storm and headed in the direction where the latest noises had come from.


    Not only was the weather absolutely god awful though, it was becoming increasingly difficult to see more than a few feet in front of him. The clouds had managed to block out any semblance of light from the setting sun and rising moon and the street lights didn''t seem to be working anymore. Grant figured that had to be due to the storm because the lights in the bathroom were still working which meant the power grid hadn''t completely failed just yet.


    While struggling to find his footing and figure out how he could best navigate the storm, Grant once again heard the symphony of roars that brought him out of hiding in the first place.


    Since Grant had already covered a decent distance since leaving his bathroom hideout, he was much closer to the sounds this time and was able to better estimate their position.


    Ironically, the roars seemed to be coming from the direction of his old apartment. So he turned and started heading in back towards where it all began.


    While he was struggling to walk down the street, the roars became more frequent and louder the closer he approached to their origin point. He knew that he was making progress and that he would be forced into a fight soon so he began to adjust his focus and steel his resolve. He tried to work up a game plan for the fight, but since he didn''t know what to expect from the monsters he was about to face, it was a fruitless endeavor.


    [Sherlock, you said that they were most likely strength focus monsters and that I should be faster than them, correct?


    Did you take into account how much the wind would slow me down?]


    {Of course I took into account the wind and how that would effect your fighting ability. And I am never wrong, well, rarely am I wrong.]


    Grant decided to put his faith in the eccentric guide. If he had been around as long as he had claimed, it was unlikely he would miscalculate something such as this.


    Knowing that he would have to engage the monsters soon, he decided that he wouldn''t make the same mistake he had made when fighting the unique zombie. Which meant that he would have to fight the monsters in the open to allow himself to utilize what speed he still had even with his injuries. That way, he could utilize his agility and speed to dodge any incoming attacks.


    [As long as these dogs aren''t capable of spitting fire or something out of their mouths, I should be alright if I don''t get cocky and do something stupid.]


    When Grant arrived near his old apartment complex, he stood in the center of the road trying to see or sense the monsters. They hadn''t made any noise for awhile and he was starting to be concerned with his inability to see more than a few feet around himself so he didn''t want to venture into the parking lot and get caught in some precarious position.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    While he was standing there trying to take in the situation, Grant drew Wet Noodle from it''s scabbard. It was at that moment that Grant realized that he couldn''t hear anything other than the sound of the rain. All the ambient sounds that he had been hearing through the rain had suddenly gone quiet. He couldn''t help but tense up at the heavy silence.


    It seemed like the dogs had noticed his presence, because he could faintly make out very low growls, similar to the sound that normal dogs make when they are angry and getting ready to attack, but the more he strained his ears to try and listen, the more the sound seemed to be come from all around him.


    [Well we''re in the shit now Sherlock. No wonder we hadn''t heard them roar for awhile, they were busy stalking and surrounding me.


    I will say this again, I swear to god if you were wrong about their stats I''m going to find the original version of you and end you! I''m too young and too handsome to die!


    Plus, I can''t see shit! How am I supposed to fight like this!]


    {Concentrate Grant, focus on the minute sounds and try to feel the movement of the monsters around you.}


    [Easy for you to say! You try and concentrate with the threat of death looming over you! And how do you "feel the movements around you?!"]


    {Focus or Die. Your choice.}


    Though Grant was complaining, he still followed Sherlocks advice and tried to clear his mind of any unnecessary thoughts.


    This was going to be his first real steps into this new world and he didn''t want to stumble and fall before he even got started. He had just been doing his best to survive up to this point, but now he was trying to do more than that.


    The clearer Grant''s mind became the more intense the feeling of danger grew. Before, he could only sense that danger was surrounding him, but now he seemed to be able to focus that sense into the directions where he could hear the low growls.


    It felt like somehow, something was guiding his senses to be more precise and acute.


    Suddenly the sense of danger coming from his left seemed to suddenly spiked in comparison to the others.


    Without consciously thinking about it, Grant''s instinct told him that something was attacking from that direction, and without hesitation he slid his right foot forward so that he could rotate his body to his left. While taking advantage of the momentum caused by the rotation, he swung Wet Noodle in a downward diagonal direction aiming for where the spike of danger came from.


    That was when Grant... splendidly missed the target!


    Mere moments after Wet Noodle made contact with the ground, Grant saw a jet black dog that was at least three times the size of your average rottweiler appear seemingly out of nowhere. It was flying through the air towards Grant, apparently aiming to rip his head off because it''s jaw was wide open and multiple rows of teeth were in full display.


    [Oh FUCK! That didn''t work at all!]


    While complaining to himself, Grant pulled out his best Neo impersonation and leaned his upper body backwards as far as he could in an attempt to avoid the attack.


    Luckily, being in midair the dog didn''t have complete control over its own movements, and with the speed that Grant was able to move, he was able to lean out of the trajectory of both the dogs open maw and swiping paws.


    Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief though, he felt another spike of danger coming from behind him, so without even so much as a conscious thought, his body immediately wheeled around to face the new incoming threat.


    Unlike before though, Grant was prepared to wait until the last moment to deal a blow. Seeing the speed with which the first dog had attacked, he knew he would have time to make his move once it entered his limited field of view.


    So Grant held his ground waiting for the dog to appear from the darkness. A few moments passed however, and Grant still hadn''t seen anything.


    That was when he sensed another spike of danger from the direction where the first dog had landed. He wasn''t positive, but it seemed like the original dog was preparing for another attack.


    In an attempt to protect himself from both angles, he rotated his body to have one shoulder facing each of the two sources of danger to give himself a better chance to react to whichever one actually attacked.


    Mere moments after Grant had positioned himself, the first dog to attack him, appeared from the dark on his left hand side. Since Grant was a right handed person, he had been holding his sword in his right hand and his scabbard in his left which meant he would have to rotate his body almost 180 degree''s to get a proper swing in.


    Grant had a feeling that if he were to move his body to swing his sword at the dog to his left, the dog to his right would immediately attack.


    So in a split second, Grant switched his grip on his scabbard so that he was now holding it like it was another sword. He brought the scabbard in front of his body and right before the dog was close enough to attack him, Grant swung his left arm down and away from his chest in the direction of the dog. He wanted to hit it in the head or neck with the scabbard in an attempt to disorient it with the force of the blow.


    With Grant''s strength and agility, the scabbard moved swift through the air and managed to make contact with the dogs head, knocking it off course with a loud bang that reverberated through the silence of the night.


    With a small yelp the dog retreated back into the darkness and the danger that Grant was sensing to his right decreased slightly.


    [Holy shit, are these dogs just feeling me out and testing me? How smart are these pups?! Plus where are the other two? I can vaguely sense them but they haven''t moved at all.. what the hell is going on here?!


    If they are men, they should all attack at once!]


    {They are dogs, you know? You just hit one with your scabbard, did you not notice their species?


    And besides, most species of monsters gain intelligence as they progress in levels. There are exceptions and limitations to this rule, but your conjecture that these monsters are smarter than your average dog is correct.}


    Ignoring the quip about their species, Grant fumed, [You have got to be fucking with me, right? RIGHT?!]


    {I am not fucking with you, Grant. Prepare yourself, they are getting ready to attack again.}


    And just like Sherlock had said, Grant started to sense spikes of danger from pinpoint locations, once again. Unlike the first set of attacks though, he could feel a strong sense of danger from the direction of each of the four monsters.


    Grant knew that they were done testing him at this point and they were going to launch serious attacks at this point. At least that was the vibe they were currently emitting.


    Mind whirling as fast as it could, Grant tried to come up with something that could help him fight all four monsters at the same time.


    Suddenly, he had an idea, whether it would work or not, he wasn''t sure, but he might as well give it a try.


    Before the monsters could make their move and attack, Grant quietly under his breathe muttered,


    "Random Roll"

 Chapter 11: A Bright Light on a Dark Night (Part 2)

    Before the prompt asking if he would like to Roll even appeared in his vision, Grant had already muttered, "Roll!"


    {Rolling in 3... 2... 1... Congratulations, your item will be delivered momentarily. Would you like to continue rolling in succession until all Random Rolls have been used? Please say "Yes" or "No".}


    "Yes!"


    {Understood. Random Rolls will continue until you say "Stop". Each item will be delivered before the next roll takes place.}


    With that, a bright light appeared in front of Grant, illuminating the darkness surrounding him. Having prepared himself for this moment, Grant was already squinting so that he wouldn''t be blinded by the abrupt change in light.


    However, the dogs clearly not expecting a miniature sun to suddenly appear out of nowhere, were cowering and turning their heads away in an attempt to avoid the blinding light.


    With Grant finally being able to see his targets clearly, he immediately began surveying his surroundings and almost instantaneously came up with a course of action. Since he didn''t have the time to look behind himself and find out what the dog standing there was doing it meant that he only had one option, move forward.


    Grant put all of his strength into his legs and lunged forward as hard and as fast as he could with his Wet Noodle held above his head.


    After one leap forward, he managed to cover enough ground to slide up along the side of the dog that was directly in front of himself and before the dog could even react to his close proximity, Grant brought the sword down swiftly upon its neck.


    In one swift movement, without any resistance and before the dog could even make a sound, the sword lopped the head off the dog. The dogs les moved as if it was trying to run away, but its body tensed a moment later before collapsing on the ground with a small thud.


    {Congratulations on killing Monstrous Mutt Level 18.


    You have reached level 12.


    Gained four status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +18 Strength, +11 Agility, +21 Health, and +12 Stamina.


    You have gained +100 Credits and 2 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.}


    At the same time that the decapitated head of the monstrous dog hit the ground and rolled away off into the darkness propelled by the strong winds, the light from the Random Roll finally faded away and an item fell onto the street.


    The item was of no concern to Grant at the moment, so he simply ignored it and focused on his task at hand.


    "Stop!"


    [Now that I don''t have to focus on four different directions at one time, I should try to hold on to the rolls for now.


    I didn''t expect that to work so well but I also doubt it will work again...


    These guys have displayed enough intelligence that they should adapt to the possibility that the light could reappear at any time.]


    As the darkness once again took over the surrounding area, Grant re-focused himself.


    [One down, three to go.]


    This time, instead of waiting for the dogs to make the first move, Grant tried to focus on the direction that he could hear the loudest growling and then immediately moved in that direction.


    Unfortunately, Grant was caught off guard by the sudden changes in his stats and ended up putting too much strength into his back foot as he lunged forward which propelled him forward like a bat out of hell. With the addition of the wind at his back, he had no chance of executing a proper move.


    Before he knew it, he went flying past his intended target and had to force himself to come to a halt. The sudden exertion of strength on his wounded leg made him wince in pain but he did his best to swallow the pain.


    Grant could tell that it was going to take some time to adjust to the large changes in his stats. Without the proper control on his strength, he could end up encountering a catastrophic situation in a fight with something equally as strong as he was that had better control over its own movements than he did. It finally made sense why Sherlock said this fight was a good opportunity for him.


    To start adjusting quicker to his strength Grant started hopping up, down, and side to side to try and get a more elegant feel of how quickly he could move around without going too far. It wasn''t going to solve all his problems instantly, but he figured that it would give him at least a hint at how reactive his muscles could be.


    While Grant jumping around like some gymnast doing a floor routine, he could sense that the danger signals he had honed in on, were once again moving in his direction.


    [Lets try and end this quickly. Only three targets left and the longer this drags on, the more likely that I commit some egregious error and something goes horribly wrong.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The feeling of growing in strength is starting to get addictive too. More and more I want to see how far I can take this! Killing these ugly mutts will help me make a nice leap forward in strength.]


    Once again, without waiting for the dogs to make the first move, Grant planted his back foot into the ground and did his best to guide his strength to the bottom of his feet and toes before he lunged forward.


    This time, Grant finessed the strength rather than trying to brute force it which allowed him to maintain some semblance of control.


    While it still wasn''t perfect, he hadn''t launched himself forward at an uncontrollable pace and he made sure to take smaller steps forward, rather than one large leap, so that he could better direct his momentum.


    Grant sensed that he was swiftly approaching one of the dogs, based on the feeling of danger he was getting, so he prepared to attack once again, this time with the sword to his side.


    The moment he sensed the danger directly to his side, he brought Wet Noodle backwards even further, with the blade pointing towards the ground ready to swing upwards with all of his strength.


    When the dog finally came into view, Grant''s shoulder and arm muscles tensed and he immediately swung upward with a fierce momentum.


    Unlike the first dog, Grant ended up cutting this one right through its midsection, nearly cutting it into two perfect halves.


    {Congratulations on killing Monstrous Mutt Level 17.


    You have reached level 14.


    Gained four status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +12 Strength, +7 Agility, +18 Health, and +10 Stamina.


    You have gained +100 Credits and 2 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.}


    Ignoring the notification that appeared in the corner of his eye, Grant started to feel himself being pulled off the ground by the momentum of his upward swing.


    [Fuck me! I was way off on my control. I was so focused on my legs that I didn''t even consider that the strength of my swing would pull me off the ground!]


    Before Grant could return his feet to the ground, he suddenly got a strong sense of danger moving towards him quickly.


    Moments later, something impacted his side just below the rib cage. It felt like he had been struck by a truck. Knowing full well that it was one of the two remaining mutts, Grant couldn''t help glancing down at his side only to see a paw being forcefully buried into his flesh. It seemed as if time had frozen as his body absorbed the blow.


    With the weight and force of the paw plowing into his side, Grant was sent flying like a bullet from a gun.


    Since Grant had absolutely no chance of reacting to the impact while he was in midair, almost a millisecond after he saw himself being struck in the side, he had already crashed straight through the wall on the side of the road and slammed into a car that was parked behind the wall.


    Grant coughed loudly as he scrambled to get to his feet, screaming in pain, "HOLY HELL THAT HURTS! Wait.. no it doesn''t? What the fuck?"


    Grant reacted on instinct thinking that he would be reeling in pain, but in the few seconds that Grant was scrambling to his feet, he only felt like he was being stung by a bee and no worse.


    {Your tolerance for pain and your ability to absorb impact has been increased due to your strength and health stats being well beyond your level. You are still susceptible to blunt force attacks but your greatest risk for injury at this moment stems from blade like attacks instead of blunt force ones.}


    [Seriously? It felt like I had been struck by a fucking train and then I flew through a wall!


    Well whatever, time to finish these mutts off and go back to my fortress of solitude, aka my toilet throne! I''m starting to get tired from fighting these mutts and the storm at the same time!]


    Without further ado, Grant started walking back towards the hole in the wall he had just been forced to create and shimmied his way through it.


    Due to the impact of the paw and subsequent wall demolition, Grant had lost his concentration so he had to once again, strain his senses to the max so he could sense the dogs.


    Just like before, he was able to faintly locate them by the killing intent that they were directing towards him.


    While waiting for the dogs to approach a bit closer, Grant started to move around some more, trying to take advantage of every moment to train his control.


    When he sensed that they were close enough where shorts bursts of strength would be all that it took to fight them, he put half his strength into his back foot and launched himself forward.


    As he approached his now third target, Grant realized that the mutt was more prepared for him than the first two. He slowed his forward assault ever so slightly as he approached and when the dog attacked him head on, he put a small amount of strength into his left foot and slid to the right, just outside of the dogs outstretched paw.


    Putting his right foot down, he used it to rotate his body slightly and with his sword pointed at the neck of the mutt, he stabbed it as it passed by. The momentum of the mutt caused the sword to slice the body of the mutt horizontally from where he first pierced its skin all the way until its tail which was the last part to be cut off as it passed.


    The mutt fell to the ground with blood, organs, flesh, and everything else spilling out from the massive wound.


    {Congratulations on killing Monstrous Mutt Level 18.


    You have reached level 15.


    Gained two status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +8 Strength, +4 Agility, +7 Health, and +3 Stamina.


    You have gained +50 Credits and 1 Random Roll for successfully leveling up.}


    Again, Grant ignored the notification, planted his left foot into the ground and charged at the final enemy.


    The dog seemed to notice that this fight was a lost cause and turned around to run away.


    Before it could even take two steps forward however, Grant had already managed to cut it off and was standing directly in front of it. The mutt, seemingly accepting the fact that it had no means of escape, attempted an attack. Anticipating the dogs next move, Grant already had his sword pulled back with both hands on the handle, holding it above his head with the blade pointed downward. The moment the mutt was close enough, he brought Wet Noodle down through the cranium of the mutt, pinning it to the ground and killing it instantly.


    {Congratulations on killing Monstrous Mutt Level 16.


    You have absorbed too many stats from the same monster and are unable to absorb any more.}


    {Congratulations on learning the skill: Overclocked Perception (Level: 1)


    Skill Type: Passive


    Skill Tier: Normal


    Skill Description: Overclocked Perception allows the user to pinpoint danger within a 20 foot radius.}


    Grant just stood there reading through the new and old notifications with a smile on his face. The fight may not have seemed dangerous since he managed to escape unscathed, but Grant knew that one false move could have resulted in him being in serious danger.


    What he was most satisfied with, aside from the levels he had gained, was the fact that he had learned quite a bit while fighting.


    After seeing that he had actually earned a skill through his own hard work, he even more excited. He knew that he would have to test out the actual functionality of the skill before he would even consider relying on it but it was a fine reward for his efforts.


    Grant took a few deep breathes and before he forgot, walked over to the location where he had used the Random Roll so he could pick up his new item!


    [Please be something good!!]

 Chapter 12: Oversized Carrot

    Grant walked around the street aimlessly, trying to find the spot where he had used the Random Roll. The whether made it difficult to pinpoint the exact position, but once he came across the headless corpse of the mutt, he knew he had finally found the right spot.


    Since he didn''t pay close enough attention to the drop, he began to look for anything that caught his eye and looked out of place. It took a bit longer than it should have, because of the darkness caused by the weather but after a few minutes, he finally came across a box sitting in the middle of the road.


    After bending down and picking up the box, Grant had expected to see a notification pop up, but nothing appeared even after a few moments.


    Grant became confused and thought that maybe the box wasn''t actually his Random Roll drop, but it seemed so out of place in the middle of the street that it was hard to believe it wasn''t the drop.


    What confused Grant, was that when he had first touched Wet Noodle, he had immediately gotten a notification on what the item was along with a description. And yet, he wasn''t getting anything from this box.


    [Is this not my item? Why aren''t I getting any notifications? Any idea''s Sherlock or should I keep looking?]


    {The Path will sometimes package new items in containers if your environment is not conducive to receiving said item.}


    [Wow, that''s... oddly kind of The Path? That just doesn''t seem like something The Path would do based on what has happened in the past 12 hours?]


    {The Path''s emergence is often considered to be cruel but it''s purpose is not to make people suffer. It is to make them better.}


    [Yeah yeah, whatever. Turn the world into hell on Earth and claim it''s not trying to make people suffer, good joke.


    Do I get to keep the box though? It''s pretty nice! Plus, if I get enough of em, maybe I can build a fort or something!]


    {Are you a child? Do you have a smart ass comment for everything?


    Anyways, no you don''t get to keep the box. The moment your item is removed from the box, the box itself will disappear.}


    [Wow Sherlock, when did you get an attitude?


    But since you asked! No I''m not and yes I do! You would think that my parents didn''t love me enough as a kid or something, but I actually had a pretty good childhood.


    There were a few occasions at family gatherings though, where I would say something and my parents would both stare at me for a few moments and then question if I was really their child...


    Those were some good times...]


    Grant couldn''t help but laugh at the memories of those moments.


    If anyone could see him standing in the middle of the road, with his head tilted backwards, laughing towards the sky, would have surely thought that he was just a tad bit crazy, if not completely out of his mind.


    Imagine some guy, holding a sword in one hand, a box in the other, laughing hysterically to himself while being drenched in rain, surrounded by multiple monster corpses''. It would have made any retreat in fear for their own lives.


    Thankfully for Grant though, the darkness hid him from prying eyes. At least most of them.


    After having a good laugh at his own expense, Grant decided that it was time to return to his bathroom and figure out what his new item was. Plus, he was sick and tired of being out in the rain with his clothes clung tightly to his body.


    The trip back to the gas station was surprisingly uneventful and he was able to avoid any other monsters aside from a few small packs of zombies that were instantly dispatched, with his newfound skill making it easier for him to sense their subtle movements.


    Grant wasn''t sure what time it was or if the stress of the day was starting to get to him but he was actually starting to get a bit tired, so he was thankful that he made it back to the bathroom without any major issues.


    After opening the door and making sure that there were no monsters inside his fortress of solitude, he closed the door and locked it.


    Grant momentarily glanced at the corner that was blocked when the door was open, to confirm that his backpack was still there. After seeing that it appeared to have been untouched, Grant finally let the tension ease out from his body.


    If his backpack had been stolen, then he would have been forced to hunt down a meal and he just did not have the energy to go back out into the storm.


    When he was sure that there was no imminent threat and that his food hadn''t run off with someone or something else, Grant walked over to his toilet throne and sat down to try and fully relax.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    While he was sitting on the toilet, he grabbed the box that he had sat down beside himself and moved it onto his lap.


    [I wonder what I''ll get this time! I would love some armor. I may have a relatively decent weapon, but I need something that will protect my body. The fact that day 1 of this shit hasn''t even come to a close yet and I''m already facing level 15 to 19 enemies does not bode well for the future. I don''t even want to think about how monsters are growing so quickly. I feel like the answer will not be something I''m ready to hear...]


    So, while holding his breath and splendidly ignoring the fact that their was clearly something wrong with the growth of the monsters in the area, Grant opened the box slowly, only to immediately snap it shut.


    Grant took a few deep breathes, praying that what he had just seen wasn''t actually what he thought it was.


    When he had recomposed himself, he opened the box once again. This time forcing himself to open the lid all of the way.


    And sure enough, clear as day, inside the box was something made out of the brightest color orange Grant had ever seen. It was that shade of fabric where you look at it for a moment, only to look away because you have the illusion of being blinded.


    Grant reached into the box and tugged on the fabric, pulling it out of the box. The moment he touched the fabric, he received the notification confirming that this was in fact, his new item.


    {Armor: Tracksuit


    Name: Cataclysm Tracksuit of Blinding: Jacket (Set Piece 1 of 2)


    Grade: Normal


    This is the first of two pieces that make up the Tracksuit of Blinding. Alone this Jacket can protect the user from all attacks below level 10. When combined with Leggings of Blinding the maximum level of attacks avoided, doubles to 20.


    Agility +20 & Stamina +10


    Extra Skill: Blind


    When combined with the Cataclysm Tracksuit of Blinding: Leggings, once per day, the user can activate the skill Blind to rob all enemies currently looking at the target of their vision for 5 seconds. Only works on enemies that have not started on their Path.


    Requires no mana to activate.}


    While being dazed by the description of the item, Grant glanced down to see if he had somehow received the leggings as well, and sure enough, there was another bright ass orange item still inside the box, which he could only assume were the leggings.


    [EXCHANGE!!! I want to exchange!!


    Sherlock, seriously man, The Path can''t possibly think that anyone is going to wear this, right?!


    If I put this on, I basically become a beacon for monsters! I might as well walk outside and yell, "Hey you fugly ass monsters, I''m over here, lets fight!!"]


    {You should count your blessings. You have received two items for the price of one roll, as well as protection from every type of attack from monsters below level 20.


    This means that should you so desire, you can basically walk head long into a horde of monsters and as long as you avoid being attacked in the neck or head area, you are almost guaranteed to at least be able to escape.}


    [Shit! I know you''re right but I''m going to look absolutely ridiculous in this thing...


    I swear, sometimes it feels like The Path has a vendetta against me and is trying to humiliate me...


    I appreciate the added defense of the item, but the ONLY reason I will even consider putting these on is for the extra stats and the extra skill that comes with it.]


    After letting out a low growl to vent his frustration, Grant reached into the box and pulled out the second half of the Tracksuit.


    {Armor: Tracksuit


    Name: Cataclysm Tracksuit of Blinding: Leggings (Set Piece 2 of 2)


    Grade: Normal


    This is the first of two pieces that make up the Tracksuit of Blinding. Alone these leggings can protect the user from all attacks below level 10. When combined with Leggings of Blinding the maximum level of attacks avoided, doubles to 20.


    Agility +20 & Stamina + 10


    Extra Skill: Blind


    When combined with the Jacket of Blinding, once per day, the user can activate the skill Blind to rob all enemies currently looking at the target of their vision for 5 seconds. Only works on enemies that have not started on their Path.


    Requires no mana to activate.}


    This time, the description only made Grant wince for a second before he accepted his fate.


    He knew that the stats were good, the protection was exactly what he was looking for, and the extra skill could come in extremely handy at some point in the future so he would have no choice but to wear the tracksuit.


    After taking a few deep breathes, Grant decided to strip off his wet clothes and put on the tracksuit.


    The moment after he had put the jacket and leggings on, two things happened.


    First the lighting in the room seemed to increase by a full shade or two. It was like someone had turned on an extra light.


    The second, was that a new notification appeared in his vision.


    {Armor: Tracksuit


    Name: Cataclysm Tracksuit of Blinding (2 of 2 equipped)


    Grade: Rare


    This Tracksuit allows the user to avoid damage from any enemy attack of level 20 and below.


    Agility +50 & Stamina +20


    Extra Skill: Blind


    Once per day, the user can activate the skill Blind to rob all enemies currently looking at the target of their vision for 5 seconds. Only works on enemies that have not started on their Path.


    Requires no mana to activate.}


    Before even reading the notification, Grant immediately looked at himself in the mirror that was hung on the wall above the sink, and just as he had suspected, he looked like a giant carrot that was radiating light.


    Unfortunately he knew he had no choice but to accept the way the outfit looked because he needed to be more concerned with his survival that his style. But he swore he would avoid any and all contact with other survivors until he could exchange his armor for something different.


    He knew that whatever armor he managed to get following the Tracksuit, there was no way it could be worse than the tracksuit itself.


    He already looked like an oversized carrot wielding a jet black sword anyways, so unless he somehow pulled out assless chaps or something from his next roll, it would at least be an upgrade visually.


    [Well, guess this is going to be my life for the foreseeable future...


    Whatever, doesn''t matter. I''m exhausted and I need to try and get some sleep..


    Before that though I need to check my status. I gained a shit load of extra stats from those mutts and leveled up quite a few times!]


    Grant reached down, grabbed a couple of power bars out of his backpack and then muttered under his breathe, "Status."


    {Status


    Name: Grant Holmes


    Level: 15


    Race: Human


    Path: N/A


    Title: N/A


    Strength: 60 + 10 | Agility: 58 + 60 | Health: 66 | Stamina: 54 + 20 | Mana: 0


    13 Random Rolls


    750 Credits


    Available Free Stats 30


    Skills:


    Overclocked Perception (Passive: Level 1)


    Blind (Equipment Skill: Level Locked)}


    After eating his "dinner" and reading through his stats, Grant had a big smile on his face until he inevitably passed out from boredom and exhaustion.


    Tomorrow was going to be a big day, it was time to upgrade from his fortress of solitude to something more luxurious, maybe a closet or something.

 Chapter 13: Hard Work vs Talent

    Grant wasn''t sure how long he ended up sleeping, but he felt mentally and physically refreshed after he woke up.


    [Nothing beats a good nights rest, in a bathroom, on a toilet... I really need to find a better place to stay...]


    Sleeping on the toilet in a gas station bathroom wasn''t exactly the most comfortable feeling in the world, but ultimately, he was just glad that he had a relatively secure place where he could sleep, there were probably people all around him, hiding away in places where the idea of sleep could only remain just that, an idea.


    Despite knowing that this place was safe, Grant also knew it wasn''t a permanent solution. So, his first goal for the day was to start a search for a place where he could settle down, at least for a little bit.


    Grant''s goal was to find a semi-permanent location where he could stock goods and supplies that he collected while he was out training and leveling up. He knew as time progressed, food and other supplies would become more and more scarce, so he wanted to make sure he was prepared for that moment.


    Plus, Grant knew that it was only a matter of time until camps or settlements of some kind started to appear in the city. Their was no way that people would remain hunkered in their homes forever and would be forced to come together with other survivors.


    At that time he would look into different camps to see if any of them were worthy of his assistance. Although slightly cocky, Grant knew that after a few more days, his strength would be nothing to scoff at, and that would be invaluable to everyone who wanted a safe place to exist.


    With a goal in mind, Grant began to gather up his stuff. After throwing his backpack over his shoulder, and checking out his carrot looking ass in the mirror, Grant prepared to venture out into the unknown yet again.


    Grant could tell that at some point during the night, the rain had stopped and the wind had died down because he could no longer hear the sound of the wind or the pitter patter of raindrops hitting the ground.


    With a smile on his face, Grant opened the door and took a step out onto the walkway.


    He could tell that it was still relatively early in the morning because the sun had still not fully risen into the sky and was still half hidden by the horizon. The rays of sunshine that were spreading across the sky gave the morning a nice warm glow which was in stark contrast to how the previous day had ended.


    [What a beautiful way to start day two! I wonder what today will bring..


    First and foremost though, Sherlock, since Overlocked Perception is a passive skill, do I need to activate it, or is it always on?]


    {Passive skills are exactly as the word implies; passive. You do not need to do anything for the skill to function. It will perform its described functionality with or without your intent.}


    [And you call me a smartass.. look in the proverbial mirror bud..]


    Knowing that he now had a danger sense active all around him, at all times, Grant started walking towards the minimart attached to the backside of the gas station with an even bigger smile on his face.


    Before leaving the gas station, Grant decided that it would be best if he stock up on as many supplies as he could, so he broke through the glass door of the minimart section of the gas station and started to fill his backpack with as much food and water as it could hold.


    Since Grant hardly noticed the weight of the backpack, no matter how much he stuffed inside, what ultimately forced him to stop his looting was that the backpack seemed ready to burst at the seams.


    Obviously living in a major city, there were minimarts, grocery stores, and mega stores everywhere, but he wasn''t sure where or in what situation he would find himself in during the next few days, so he wanted to make sure that he was well stocked and prepared.


    While inside the minimart, Grant suddenly got the sense that their was danger approaching. Turning around to face the broken doorway, he noticed a group of zombies slowly trickling into the store, attracted no doubt, by the sound of the glass being broken.


    [Looks like the skill actually works quite well.. I basically have a radar system now. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself.]


    Grant withdrew Wet Noodle from it''s scabbard and prepared to engage the zombies.


    "Sorry zombie friends, it''s time for you to move on to the next life!"


    Unfortunately for the zombies, Grant was orders of magnitude stronger than when he faced his first one the day before and since he was becoming increasingly numb to the fact that he was killing former humans, it made ending their lives much easier.


    Before they could even take a few steps, Grant had already launched himself down the aisle in which they were approaching and began to lop off their heads in quick succession.


    {Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 4.} x 3


    {Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 5.} x2If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    If a normal human had been there to witness the death of the zombies, it would have appeared as if an orange light had flashed down the aisle and passed by the zombies. But the symphony of headless corpses hitting the ground afterwards would have been a dead giveaway that something more had happened.


    After disposing of the interferences, Grant decided to pause for a second and eat as much of the food and drink as much of the fluids left in the gas station so that he could avoid dipping into his new stash of supplies until necessary.


    [I might as well take advantage of the situation, because free food is the best food! In most cases.]


    While engorging himself on every piece of food he had loved as a kid, knowing that it was unlikely he could even feel sick from excess sugar or something like that, at this point, Grant decided to ask Sherlock a question that had been on his mind since the night before.


    [Hey Sherlock, in my status, it shows my Overlocked Perception at Level 1, how do you level up skills?]


    {Their are two ways of accomplishing that, repetitive usage or by spending credits for the next level of skill.


    Of course, the quickest way to increase the level of a skill is through spending credits, but it is not recommended.


    Repetitive usage is the preferred method of growth by the most powerful entities in existence because it allows the user to understand how to most effectively use a skill.}


    [Figures.. It''s like they say, hard work trumps talent when talent doesn''t work hard.


    Buying power can be considered talent, I guess?


    By the way, what is the maximum level for skills?]


    {It depends on the skill. Some skills have basically infinite growth while others have a hard cap.


    Skill levels determine the potency of the skill itself, which means that the higher level a skill becomes, the more potent that skill itself becomes.


    Almost all of the skills that have a hard cap are active skills. I will explain more about why that is at a later date because it does not affect you at this time.


    However, most passive skills do not have a hard cap and can increase exponentially.


    For example, for your Overlocked Perception Passive Skill: the part of the skill that is boosted as it levels is the range with which you can perceive danger. The higher the level, the larger the perception area. The range of your perception will not affect other entities on The Path unfairly so a cap was not necessary.


    Their are ways to "upgrade" skills if you will. Once again I will refer too Overclocked Perception, being a Normal Tier skill, it is of course one of the weakest perception skills.


    However, if you master certain aspects of the skill, an evolution of the skill can be obtained, such as Infinite Perception or Future Perception.


    Of course that is the way to achieve it through hard work. You can always buy scrolls to upgrade skills with credits. As you said, buying power can be a talent, so the ability to buy strong skills is a reward for that.}


    [Ah, yet another thing I have to work on.. this whole not having skills, really sucks you know? Where''s my ability to fling fireballs? Raise spikes from the ground? Heal myself?]


    {Not everyone is worthy of power such as what you mentioned. The Path does not give anything away unless it is earned. Do keep that in mind.}


    While Sherlock and Grant had been chatting in his mind, Grant had wrapped up his mini feast and left the minimart. Since he didn''t have any particular destination in mind, he just started to move down the road in whichever direction caught his fancy.


    He wasn''t trying to be stealthy or even hide his presence either, not only because of how difficult it was when he was wearing the tracksuit but also because he wanted to be attacked to test his new skill and improve his level slowly but surely.


    That being the case, Grant walked right down the center of the road, which caused zombies and other monsters to come out in droves in an attempt to claim his life.


    Knowing that the monsters that were attacking him were lower leveled, based on the amount of danger each were being represented with by his skill, Grant decided to use the opportunity to train in his swordsmanship.


    He was constantly testing different grips and stances to see how each one would effect his ability to fight.


    Having never even held a sword before The Path''s emergence, Grant had to go through a trial and error to understand how to fight with one. Up until now, he had merely used basic attacks that he had seen in movies and tv shows.


    So, while dancing around the zombies as if they were standing still and doing all sorts of goofy stances and sword swings, Grant started to dispatch the zombies in quick succession.


    While he was seemingly fooling around, he was starting to carve a path through the zombies. It seemed like more people had been turned into zombies than Grant had anticipated because no matter how many he killed, they just seemed to keep coming.


    After killing approximately 50 zombies with different sword styles, Grant received a pleasant surprise.


    {Congratulations on learning the skill: Basic Swordsmanship


    Skill Type: Passive


    Skill Tier: Normal


    Skill Description: Allows the users understanding of swordsmanship to increase slightly, while subtly influencing the users sword attacks to be more efficient. While using swords, the users damage is increased by 10%. Percentage of damage increase will increase with each tier.}


    [Awh hell yeah! Who said I need to wait until level 25 and I started my Path to get skills?!]


    With an excited look on his face Grant forged onward, culling zombies with even more efficiency than before. As the group of zombies began to decrease in number, Grant realized that he was close to a few local businesses that had some facilities that may fit his requirements for a place to call his temporary home.


    Knowing that he was approaching his destination in just a few streets, Grant did his best to quickly dispatch of the last remaining zombies that were surrounding him. He had begun to get both mentally and physically fatigued after fighting constantly for nearly half an hour so he wanted to take a break and gather his energy once again.


    The one upside to the constant fighting; he had managed to gain another level. The downside; other than the level itself, he gained nothing from the zombies.


    Since Grant was surrounded by houses, he briefly considered breaking into one of them to have a rest, but he figured it was a bad idea, just in case someone was still inside. He didn''t want to risk getting shot by a gun or something, especially since he wasn''t sure how effective they''d be against his newfound strength.


    After walking down the street for a little while longer, Grant saw a park not much further ahead of him. He figured it would be a nice place to sit down, relax, and have a little bit to eat.


    {I would recommend against letting your guard down in such an open area. It makes you much more susceptible to attack.}


    [You worry too much Sherlock, we have yet to come across any monster today that has been difficult to kill. Plus, with my new tracksuit, I doubt there is much that can harm me rig...]


    Before Grant could even finish responding to Sherlock, he felt the entire park quake.


    {Told you smartass. The monster that caused that, is already on the verge of starting on its Path. Good luck and try not to die because it''s only 200 yards behind you.


    This is what happens when you grow arrogant...}

 Chapter 14: Success and Failure Hang in the Balance (Part 1)

    Ignoring the snide comment from Sherlock, Grant quickly stood up and turned to face the direction that marked the epicenter of the quakes.


    What he saw, was what Grant could only assume used to be a Javelina, but this one was the size of an F150, at the very least.


    Even from 200 yards away, clearly outside the range of his Overclocked Perception skill, Grant could sense an intense amount of danger and killing intent. He could only imagine what it would feel like to be standing directly in front of it.


    What made the situation even worse, was that surrounding the bigger javelina was a large group of much smaller monsters. There were smaller javelina''s,  mutated dogs, mutated cats, even a couple mutated roadrunners among other types monsters Grant couldn''t quite make out from where he was standing.


    The more Grant examined the situation the more apprehensive he became. This was starting to look like a fight that he really didn''t want to take part in.


    His instincts were screaming at him to turn tail and run away as fast as his strength and agility would carry him and then continue running until his stamina eventually ran out.


    Unfortunately, before he even had the chance to turn around and take his first step in the opposite direction, Grant heard the sound of multiple screams.


    He hadn''t noticed at first since he was solely focused on the giant monster and the group surrounding it, but after looing closer at the surroundings, he saw what looked like a family of three running away from a group of smaller monsters that had detached themselves from the larger group. Leading the group of three, was a young man who looked no older than 16 or 17 and a young girl who couldn''t have been more than 11 or 12 years old. They appeared to be followed by their mother who was doing her best to keep them moving forward.


    In that instant, Grant didn''t hesitate. He forced every ounce of his strength into his legs and ran as fast as he could towards the three people and the subsequent group of monsters chasing after them.


    Grant was still frustrated with what had happened with Jeff and Matt but he wanted to believe that they were an exception to the rule and not everyone were terrible people like they were.


    No matter how strong he became or how far he walked down his future Path, he knew that if he had to walk the Path alone, he would eventually lose himself and be nothing but a shell mindlessly pursuing strength.


    He may be arrogant, self assured, and a bit of a jackass but living life alone and in solitude, was no life at all. Plus, strength meant nothing if it didn''t serve a greater purpose. At least that was what Grant wanted to believe.


    Under Grant''s heated gaze, the family was running as fast as they could away from the group of monsters.


    Grant yelled towards the family as loud as he could. "RUN TOWARDS ME! I will distract them and give you a chance to get away! Don''t look back and just run!"


    As his voiced reach the family, he saw them look in his direction and change their the route they were traveling, aiming towards him instead of the direction they were originally headed.


    Unfortunately, the group of monsters were gaining quickly on the family of three. Especially the roadrunners. They were fast approaching and would reach the three of them before Grant could get to them.


    While Grant was pushing forward with all his might and covering large amounts of distance instantly, it was still not enough to stop the monsters from catching up. When one of the mutated roadrunners caught up with the mother, it snapped its beak towards her leg and latched on, pulling her to the ground.


    Following the loud thud that rang out from her being pulled to the ground, was a gut wrenching scream. It sounded like.. well.. like someone was being eaten alive by a monster.


    At this point Grant was only a couple dozen feet away from the family, and within a split second had blown past the kids who had paused to look back at their mother.


    As Grant blew past the kids he made sure to yell instructions at them to get them moving once again, "Don''t stop running kids! I will rescue her!"


    Without waiting for a reply, he continued forward until he reached where the mother was being held down.


    Once Grant reached the roadrunner, and without even slowing down, Grant kicked the mutated roadrunner that was still pecking at the mothers legs as hard as he could. The moment his leg came into contact with the monster it ended blew apart into hundreds of chunks of blood, guts, and organs which flew in all directions.


    {Congratulations on killing Monster Beep-Beep Roadrunner Level 12.


    You have absorbed +4 Strength, +7 Agility, +5 Health, and +10 Stamina.}


    While the mother was clutching her leg and screaming in pain, Grant grab her by the collar, turned heel and ran back in the direction the kids were heading. He made sure to pull her up into his arms so that she wasn''t being dragged across the ground.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Unfortunately, the kids still hadn''t resumed running even at that moment. They looked absolutely terrified and were rooted to the same spot they had been when Grant passed by them.


    Seeing that they hadn''t made any progress at all, Grant was frustrated and couldn''t help but yelling at them while pointing at the oversized javelina with his free arm.


    "I said RUN! That giant monster over there is bad news! Do you want to die?!"


    He knew it was a not the way to treat kids, but with the situation they were in, he had no choice but to take an aggressive approach. He couldn''t stomach the idea of watching these kids be killed so he had no choice.


    The kids jumped at the volume and power behind Grant''s voice and they turned away from him and resumed running immediately after snapping out of their shock. Grant wasn''t sure if they were more scared of him or the monster, but it didn''t matter as long as it meant they were running away again.


    While they were running, Grant would periodically dash in random directions, kicking away any monster that had managed to catch up with them. He could easily overtake the kids, but that wasn''t an option so defending them while moving was the only way to keep everyone safe.


    Eventually, all they needed to do was make it another 50 feet or so before they reached the edge of the park and that would be where Grant dumped the mother and left her to her kids. He figured the young boy could support her enough to allow them to escape.


    If Grant kept running with them, eventually the large group of smaller monsters would catch up with them and the family would once again be in danger. Although Grant could easily defend against the monsters, he couldn''t be everywhere at once. So while he could survive the attacks of the smaller monsters, the family would probably end up dying while Grant was being swarmed by their large numbers.


    One fortunate thing for the group of humans, was that the giant javelina hadn''t moved since Grant had joined the fray. Even while he ran towards the family and fought the group of smaller monsters off, it still remained there, standing still and watching.


    He had a sense that the giant javelina was either analyzing the situation at the moment or letting the group of smaller monsters test Grant and the family.


    If the giant javelina decided to move while Grant was trying to protect the family from the smaller monsters, then the situation would truly be dire.


    While trying to cover the remaining distance to the edge of the park, Grant continued to hold onto the mother while trying his best to fight off the encroaching monsters with any attacks he could manage.


    Kicks, body checks, and slaps with his free arm were all he could manage while carrying the woman though.


    [Fuck I really wish I had some kind of AOE skill right now. It would be awfully nice if I could control gravity or something like that to clear the area around myself! Just to give myself a little extra time to dump these guys in a safe spot!]


    As always though, reality was cruel and the only weapon Grant had available to use right now was himself. He hadn''t had a chance to pull Wet Noodle out of its scabbard before he reached the family because he was so focused on reaching them as soon as possible. With the situation he was in now though, that was a decision he regretted.


    [Lesson #1 from this fight.. always draw your weapon when heading towards monsters. Don''t wait until you''re already engaged in a battle.


    Lets hope that list doesn''t get too long...]


    While fighting off the smaller monsters and making sure they didn''t reach the two kids in front of him, the group finally managed to reach the edge of the park. Grant did his best to clear out the small monsters close to him so that he could hand the mother over to the boy without any issues.


    Ironically enough though, the kids in front of him had taken his words to heart so well after he yelled at them, that they just kept running, so Grant was forced to holler at the teenage boy.


    "Hey young man! Come grab your mother. I''m going to engage these monsters while you guys run away!"


    It took a moment for the young man to react, but he finally stopped and before he had completely turn around, Grant had already dropped his mother onto his back.


    "Good. Take her and run! Don''t stop and don''t worry about me. I''ll take he bastards out and make sure they don''t chase you!"


    "Thank you Mr. Carrot! Please survive!" yelled the little girl of the family with a cute smile on her face. Although it looked cute, it was clearly forced. Grant could tell that she was trying to be polite, but was also being overwhelmed by fear which made her smile shaky.


    Grant nearly fell over after hearing the nickname she used. Since now wasn''t the time to correct her though, he just coughed hard a couple times before he smiled back at the little girl,


    "You''re welcome little miss.


    Now go! Find somewhere safe and hide!"


    Without giving the girl any chance to reply, Grant turned to face the oncoming horde of smaller monsters. He glanced back momentarily to see the family rounding the opposite corner of the street and disappearing behind the wall.


    [Hopefully that lady survives.. That wound looked deep...


    Nonetheless, I have more important things to worry about! It''s time to fuck shit up, once again!]


    And with that, Grant once again lunged headlong into a swarm of monsters.


    Fortunately, this time he wasn''t absorbed in his own self interest, he was doing it to protect the smile of a little girl and the whatever happiness was left in this world for that family which motivated him even more and allowed him to ignore the fatigue that had been building throughout the day.


    Before the group of monsters could reach him, Grant withdrew Wet Noodle from its scabbard, having already learned from Lesson #1.


    Grant, having honed his body control and attack angles throughout the zombie massacre earlier in the day, immediately began to destroy the oncoming monsters with extreme efficiency. Since he was faster, stronger, and more agile than the smaller monsters, coupled with the defense of his tracksuit, Grant dispatched of the group fairly quickly.


    Notifications continued to appear incessantly at the corner of his vision as Grant fought as hard as he could.


    {Congratulations on killing Enraged Peccary Level 12-15 x6


    Congratulations on killing Monster Beep-Beep Roadrunner Level 12-14 x8


    Congratulations on killing Rabid Killer Dog Level 10-14 x 12


    Congratulations on killing ...}


    {You have reached level 19.


    Gained eight status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +26 Strength, +32 Agility, +47 Health, and +32 Stamina.


    You have gained +200 Credits and 4 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.}


    As Grant fought on and on through the group of monsters, he never stopped glancing at the giant javelina. Thankfully no matter how many of the smaller monsters he killed, the giant monster never moved.


    The moment the corpse of the final monster of the group hit the ground however, was the moment the giant javelina finally took its first step towards Grant.


    [What is this? Some kind of sick endurance test?]

 Chapter 15: Success and Failure Hang in the Balance (Part 2)

    Breathing heavily, Grant was trying his best to control his heart rate and recompose himself. Although he had just fought more than 50 monsters, he knew that fight was a cake walk compared to fighting the big guy in front of him.


    The javelina was still a couple hundred feet away from him but Grant could feel the pressure increase with each step it took.


    [Son of a bitch, this pressure is insane! You said that guy hadn''t started on its Path yet, right Sherlock? Why does it feel like I''m looking death in the face even though I''m only 6 levels behind him?


    How strong would a monster on its Path be compared to this guy?!]


    {That monster is most likely similar to you in some ways. If that monster had fought and won against enemies stronger than itself, then it too would have absorbed stats that were beyond its level.


    I have no way of accurately measuring how strong that guy is. You must undertake this fight at your own risk. But victory will be worth more than any price you have to pay to attain it.}


    [Worth any price?! Death is not a fun price to pay for victory!


    What happens if I have to give up an arm and a leg to win?! Am I supposed to role-play the Black Knight from Monty Python for the rest of my life?!]


    Although Grant was complaining, he had no intention of running at this point. The desire to grow as strong as possible had already overtaken his desire for anything else.


    Since the mere presence of the giant javelina was forcing Grant to endure so much pressure, he knew he needed to grow even stronger, and he needed to do it as soon as he possibly could. If monsters like this guy were already appearing, it was only a matter of time until he was forced to confront something even stronger.


    Grant was even more concerned for the rest of humanity. If a monster of this magnitude was already appearing on day 2 after The Path''s emergence, the future would be truly grim for the people who tried to avoid fights rather than growing stronger.


    While watching the giant javelina advance towards himself, Grant tried to come up with any battle strategy he could think of, but fighting something that large with unknown strength made it hard to come up with a viable strategy.


    His Wet Noodle and Track Suit were only exceptional against monsters at level 20 or below. Which meant that, any damage he managed to cause would be from using brute force rather than the blade of the weapon.


    [Sherlock, you got any ideas on how to fight this oversized pig?]


    {This is your fight. You must learn how to fight and adapt to situations on your own.}


    Grant just clicked his tongue in annoyance, [Helpful as always..]


    After formulating a few strategies and making sure that he had finally gotten his breathing under control, Grant didn''t wait for the giant monster any longer and decided to advance towards it of his own accord.


    Seeing Grant move in its direction, the giant javelina let out a low gurgling growl as if taunting him to bring it on and try his best.


    After hearing the giant pig''s taunt, Grant decided to kick it up a notch and started charging towards the monster at his top speed, which the javelina mirrored with its own movements, though it was clearly not as fast as Grant.


    Before the two could collide though, Grant attempted to slide to his right to avoid a head on collision. His goal was to pass by the javelina while attempting to take a swipe at the side of the monster as he passed by.


    Before he could even attempt to stab at the side of the monster though, the javelina had already pushed off of its right two legs and rammed its oversized body into Grant, catapulting him away from the pig.


    Since Grant was caught off guard, he wasn''t able to control his body, so he was sent flying, bouncing off the ground occasionally, and only coming to a stop after skidding across the ground for more than 20 feet.


    After finally coming to a halt, Grant struggled to his feet coughing because of the dirt and dust that he had been forced to eat while sliding across the ground.


    A trace of blood started to leak from the corner of his mouth, an indication that the impact had actually managed to damage him to some degree.


    [Damnit, it''s like I was just hit point blank by an artillery shell fired from a tank! I can''t take many more of those shots, it feels like my insides are twisting into and around each other.]


    While Grant was struggling to control himself and the pain he was experiencing, he could hear the javelina grunting rhythmically at him, almost as if it was trying to laugh at his plight.


    "Oh you think that''s funny do ya?! Bring it on you oversized pig! I don''t know if you can make javelina bacon but I''m about to find out!"


    As if understanding his words, the javelina stopped it''s grunting and glared at Grant for a few moments before it charged directly at him once again.


    Fortunately for Grant, it appeared that a blunt force attack was really the only type of attack that the javelina could use. Other than to try and bite Grant to death of course. Unlike boars and hogs, javelinas didn''t have any sort of tusk and the fact the javelina hadn''t gained any after The Path''s emergence was the only saving grace in this situation.


    If the javelina did have some sort of "weapon" at its disposal, Grant had absolutely no confidence that he could win this fight.


    Shaking off those useless thoughts though, Grant prepared his next strategy.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The only stat that Grant was 100% sure he exceeded the javelina in, was agility and speed. So, he wanted to try and utilize that speed by creating a distance between the two of them and then trying to circle around the monster, in an attempt to get a better attacking angle.


    Unfortunately for Grant, after reaching a sizeable distance from the giant javelina, it suddenly stopped its movements and just stared at Grant waiting for him to approach it once again. Every time Grant tried to circle around to a different angle, the giant pig would just take small steps to rotate its body.


    [Well shit, this guy isn''t as dumb as he looks... why are all the monsters intelligent?! If this was a normal javelina it would either charge at me relentlessly or run away from me! Which would make this so much easier!]


    {Just count your blessings you haven''t run into a monster that is fast, strong, and smart. You are far too inexperienced to deal with that right now.}


    [Thanks for your valuable input, o-wise-one. Man you''re useless when it really matters.]


    {I am a guide, remember? I am here to teach you about The Path and related topics, not to fight your battles for you.}


    [Arghhh!! Whatever, stop talking. You''re distracting me.]


    While Sherlock and Grant were having their mental back and forth, the giant javelina remained completely still, which told Grant that he had no choice but to be the initiator in this fight.


    It was time to try strategy number three.


    Grant slid Wet Noodle back into its scabbard and let it hang at the side of his waist. He brought his fists in front of himself and did the iconic, if not slightly useless, self fist bump and cracking of his knuckles. Trying to look tough in front of the monster but also trying to psyche himself up for the upcoming melee.


    After Grant was done make a fool of himself, he once again charged head long at the monster. Unlike before though, he had no plans to try and out maneuver the javelina, so he just ran straight at it. He figured that no matter how hard he tried, he would either have to go face to face with the monster or take a hip check to the body, so he threw out any plan that depended on finesse.


    Just as the two were about to meet each other head on, the javelina ducked its head to in order to ram it''s head into Grant. Seeing the javelina''s movements, an idea popped into Grant''s head, so he pushed off of the ground with all his strength and jumped over the giant head of the javelina and landed on it''s back.


    Before the monster could react to Grant landing on its back, Grant pulled his arm back like he was pulling the string of a bow and launched it at the base of the monsters skull, aiming for the exact spot where the spine connects with the skull itself.


    The moment that Grant''s fist impacted the spine of the monster, the monster roared in pain and anger. Clearly the attack had rattled the monster, if only for an instant, because the monster immediately started to buck and jump around like it was some untamed horse that was being ridden for the first time.


    While the monster was trying to shake Grant from its back, Grant never stopped launching blow after blow at the base of the monsters head.


    The giant javelina seemed to realize that bucking and jumping around wasn''t going to get Grant off its back, because after a half a minute of trying and failing, the monster suddenly dropped to the ground and started to roll over.


    Before the monster could crush him with the weight of its own body though, Grant had jumped off and backed a small distance away.


    Noticing that Grant was no longer on its back, the javelina scrambled to its feet and stared at Grant like he was looking at his mortal enemy. Never in its short rise to power had the javelina ever been humiliated in such a way.


    While preparing himself for a second attack, Grant noticed something was wrong. The feeling of dread he had been experiencing the whole fight had increased exponentially for a split second and before he could even process what was going on, the monster was already inches away from him.


    With eyes wide as saucers at the javelina''s surprise burst of speed, Grant attempted to punch at the head in front of him while pushing himself away. Before Grant could make contact with the snout of the giant javelina, it opened its mouth and bit down hard on Grant''s outstretched left arm.


    A blood curdling scream rang out the moment the massive teeth of the javelina bit down on Grant''s arm.


    Reacting on instinct, Grant balled his right hand into a fist and threw a punch as hard as he could at the side of the monsters head; impacting it right below its left eye.


    The pain caused by the punch forced the javelina let out a pained roar. Since it had to open its mouth to roar, Grant was able to free his arm, or what was left of his arm.


    Without hesitation and while enduring the searing pain assaulting his consciousness, Grant took a few leaps backwards. The monster was busy shaking its head back and forth, as if trying to shake off the pain and dizziness caused by the punch. Which thankfully, gave Grant a moment of respite.


    While taking deep breathes, Grant forced himself to ignore the searing pain coming from his arm and focus on trying to end this fight, if it went on much longer he would be in serious danger of dying.


    He didn''t even taken the time to look at his wounded arm because he knew that if he did, it would cause him enough mental damage that he might give up the fight due to shock.


    The more the pain assaulted his mind, the angrier Grant became at his own shortcomings and the audacity of an oversized pig to injure him so badly.


    "I will fucking kill you, you ugly ass pig!"


    The words were more for Grant than they were for the giant javelina.


    He knew that he had caused some damage to the monster, and he was happy that he had managed that, but now that his arm was in shambles, he needed to end this fight and he need to end it now.


    For the second time this fight, Grant withdrew his sword from its scabbard using his remaining good arm this time and prepared to face the giant javelina again.


    He wasn''t sure what had happened when he felt the immense sense of dread or how the javelina seemed to move so quickly, but he knew he had to be prepared for when the monster did it again.


    By the time Grant had gotten his sword in hand and squared up, the javelina had shaken off what little damage Grant had managed to inflict and was preparing to attack again.


    Just like the last time, Grant felt an immense amount of danger before the giant monster appeared directly in front of him once again.


    This time however, Grant didn''t move. Just before the javelina could open it''s jaw and attack, Grant yelled at the top of his lungs, "Blind!"


    A nano second later, a bright light flashed through the area surrounding Grant. The javelina, taking the full impact of the skill, started to trash around in panic.


    Since the light didn''t effect Grant in any way, and knowing he only had five seconds to inflict maximum damage, he didn''t hesitate and immediately jumped to the side of the javelinas head.


    Grant pulled back his sword as far as he could behind his head and stabbed it right into the monsters eye trying to imbed the sword as deep as he could.


    The giant javelina pulled its head away on instinct which allowed Grant to withdraw the sword quickly. Once his sword was free, he side stepped further down the side of the javelina, pulled his sword back behind his head once again and then launched it forward. The sword was thrust deep into the ear canal of the monster.


    The blade seemed to travel unimpeded for a split second before it stuck into something hard. Since Grant only had the one good arm, he didn''t try to use his arm strength to force the blade any further. Instead, he jumped off of the ground and did a full 360 degree spin and kicked the end of the handle of the sword that was still sticking out of its ear.


    When his foot made contact with the sword, he could feel the blade being pushed further into the ear canal.


    Before the effect of Blind ended and before the monster could make another sound, a notification appeared in Grants field of view before he collapsed on the ground and passed out due to pain and exhaustion.


    {Congratulations on killing Gigantic King Peccary Level 25


    You have reached Level 22


    You have absorbed...}

 Chapter 16: Id Rather be Kicked in the Balls!

    When Grant finally opened his eyes again, he realized that he was looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling but before he could even begin to process his surroundings, a pain like never before assaulted his mind.


    The pain shot up his arm like fire. He winced, cringed and grimaced at the pain. It exploded in his head with a blinding whiteness. It made him dizzy. It made him reel. The pain was like needles that had been dipped in alcohol had been jammed through his skin, like his arm had been replaced with ice, fire, and electricity wired straight into his spine.


    Grant couldn''t help himself from thrashing about due to the overwhelming pain.


    [HOLY FUCK THIS HURTS! I''d rather be kicked in the balls than deal with this!!]


    Grant''s thoughts were interrupted a moment later though.


    "You need to calm down sir! If you move around too much, it''ll only make it worse. Try your best to suppress the pain as much as you can mentally and try to focus on something else! Mom told me that she did what she could for you, but your arm was badly wounded so you needed to be careful!" Came a voice next to Grant.


    After struggling to turn his head just enough to see who was talking, Grant realized it was the little boy from the family of people he had saved. He was about 5'' tall with spikey blonde hair, tanned skin, and green eyes. He looked like an intelligent boy, but he also looked scared at the sounds and faces that Grant was making.


    "Why am I here? What happened to that giant javelina? Where''s my sword? What do you.."


    "Please calm down sir! My name is Richard. Mom said you need to relax as much as you can because your arm was nearly shredded to pieces and she is afraid that if you move around too much it will only make it worse. Mom says its a wonder you didn''t lose the arm completely."


    Before Richard could continue speaking, his eyes became moist and tears started to run down his cheeks and fell to the ground.


    In between sobs he continued, "Thank you for saving us. Mom said it was a miracle that you hadn''t bled out and died. I feel guilty for not being able to help you when you willingly protected us even though we don''t even know you."


    After he managed to get those words out, Richard broke down and cried even harder.


    Grant felt bad for the little kid. Clearly he was an intelligent young man based on how he spoke. And the fact that he even apologized for the suffering that Grant was currently enduring made Grant respect the little boy even more.


    That was when Grant noticed that the little girl from before, walked over and started to hug her older brother. While she was hugging her brother she looked over at Grant.


    "Are you okay Mr. Carrot? That monster looked SUPER scary! Thank you for saving us by the way, you are very brave."


    Grant couldn''t help but chuckle at her statement and even through the searing pain, he managed a smile, "I''ll be alright, Mr. Carrot won''t fall that easily! You think that monster was pretty scary? I think that''s the biggest animal that I''ve ever seen in my life! I bet it could feed a family of four for months if you ate it! Plus, I did promise to turn him into bacon, so maybe we''ll have to go make that a reality!"


    The little girl couldn''t help but giggle at the fact that Grant had gone along with her nickname which made her smile shyly. She couldn''t be more than 3 feet tall and had two small dimples in her cheeks when she smiled which made her cute as a button. She had shoulder length blonde hair that was tied up in a pony tail, which gave her an even more childish look. She wasn''t as tan as her brother but she looked like a smaller version of the lady that he had seen with the two kids.


    "My brother said he saw you beat that big monster. Did you really beat it?!"


    Grant raised his chin ever so slightly trying to look smug for the little girl, "You bet I did! I used my sword like a Q-Tip and cleaned that oversized pigs'' brains out!"


    Giggling like a kid who was being teased, the little girl said, "Ewww that''s gross Mr. Carrot. Don''t say that!"


    Grant chuckled at the little girls nickname for him once again. At first the idea of wearing the tracksuit bothered him, but when a cute little girl used a nickname like Mr. Carrot, it didn''t sound so bad.


    "What''s your name little miss? My name is Grant but if you really want, I will allow you to call me Mr. Carrot.


    Of course, you''re the only one in the entire world that can call me that! Not even my best friends can call me that! So you should feel really special!"This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The girl immediately lit up like a shining star hearing what Grant had to say before she answered his questions.


    "My name is Robin and I''m 11 this year! I''m the only one who can call you Mr. Carrot?! Awesome! You''re like a super hero from those movies! You were so fast when you were running too! I wish I could be that strong..."


    Hearing her compliments, Grant was naturally happy, but since he had to endure endless pain just to have the conversation with the little girl, he let out a self deprecating laugh. He may look strong to her, but he wasn''t nearly strong enough.


    "Thank you for the compliment but I''m not really that strong. I almost got beat by a large pig afterall!


    You said your name was Robin, huh? What a lovely name! And 12 years old? You''re almost an adult!"


    Robin giggled incessantly yet again while holding her hands in front of her and twisting around in embarrassment.


    "No I''m not! I''m not even allowed to be outside after dark! How is that almost an adult?!"


    And with that Robin started to giggle even more uncontrollably as if the mere thought that she was almost an adult was the funniest thing in the word. Grant couldn''t help but laugh along with her despite the pain it caused him.


    [This is nice. It makes me miss my own family. I wish I had a cute little sister... it''s a shame I only had the older one and we never got along.. Just seeing her smile and hearing her laugh makes the pain hurt a little less..


    I''ve never been appreciated like this before..]


    {I appreciate you, Grant.}


    [Shut up Sherlock, you''re ruining the moment.]


    While Grant and Robin were having their little back and forth, Richard finally managed to compose himself enough to continue talking to Grant.


    "I''m sorry for crying. I am just so thankful that you showed up and saved mom.


    I will try to answer your questions the best I can. I guess you have already figured it out, but we are the family that you saved in the park.


    As to where you are, we are inside one of the houses near the park. After you turned around to face those monsters, we continued to run until we heard a loud impact. My mom directed us towards this house, and once we were inside, she got distracted by the trying to fix her leg, so I snuck out to see what had happened to you.


    It was scary, but I didn''t want to leave you to fight such a scary monster all by yourself so I tried to gather my courage to help.


    However, before I even got the chance to help, you were already in the process of killing the monster. Or at least I think so, since you both collapsed onto the ground shortly after I arrived.


    After I saw you pass out, I tried to wake you up but you were just laying next to the monster. Since I thought it would be risky to leave you there out in the open, I wrapped your arm in my t-shirt to try and control the bleeding, and then dragged you to this house.


    Mom is currently resting in the other room. She said she felt tired after she fixed your arm as best as she could, so she went to lay down. Mom used to be a nurse, so after she scolded me for sneaking out, she did her best to fix your wound but the wound on her leg was still bleeding really bad so I think it was hard for her to work for too long."


    After his long winded explanation, he took a pause to let Grant take in everything.


    [So basically this family saved me from potentially being killed while I was unconscious. Wait..]


    "You said that your Mom helped me? Didn''t she have a really nasty wound on her leg? How could she endure that to help me..."


    Richard paused for a few moments before he responded.


    "By the time I got back to the house with you, Mom had already bandaged her leg so I''m not sure how or what she did to stop the pain but when she saw you and I covered in your blood, she seemed to forget about the pain because she moved like she normally would without the wound."


    At first Grant was surprised that the woman would suddenly overcome pain like that, but then it hit him how she had accomplished it.


    [Probably adrenaline, I bet she thought that some of the blood was Richard''s and she ignored her own plight to try and help him. Thankfully it seemed to keep her going long enough to treat my wound..]


    "Did your Mom say whether I would lose my arm or not?"


    That was really Grant''s main concern now. If his arm couldn''t be saved then he''d have to somehow learn to fight and survive with only one arm, which would limit him severely. Luckily he got a positive response from Richard.


    "Mom said that she believes that your arm can and will be saved. After I got you back here, she cleaned and dressed your wound as best as she could.


    It has been nearly 24 hours since then and she said she can already see that your wound has started to heal. She estimates that in a few weeks your arm should fully heal. She also said that if you woke up in pain, it was a good sign because it meant your nerves weren''t completely shot or dead.


    Plus, when she was dressing your arm wound, she noticed that your leg had been wrapped in two different locations but when she removed the bandages, she said that she saw no visible wounds or even scars.


    She said that based on the amount of blood in the wraps themselves, it was likely you had some serious injuries at some point."


    [My bodies ability to heal itself must have increased as my stats increased. This is big news. I''m starting to feel a bit like one of my favorite characters from one of the best novels I''ve read... Wounded arm just like him, super regenerative abilities, fighting monsters. This is awesome! Wait, no it''s not.. I almost lost my entire fucking arm! Get your shit together Grant, people are probably dying all over the world right now. This is not something to celebrate.]


    Unaware of his inner monologue, Richard continued on, "As for where your stuff is, it is on the table in the other room. we have not opened your bag or touched any of your belongings other than bringing them here with you."


    While still bearing with the unbelievable amount of pain, Grant forced another smile and, "Thank you. I may have lost my arm, if not more, without your help. I am grateful that you were there to help me."


    "It was the least I could do. As I said before, I couldn''t leave behind the person who saved my little sister and my mom."


    Noticing that the conversation was coming to an end, Robin ran up to the side of the bed and pushed Grant back down onto the bed which wasn''t hard since he could barely keep his head propped up.


    "Thank you again Mr. Carrot! Now lay back and let this adult take care of you!"


    [Why does it sound like someone is screaming, "FBI OPEN UP!" in the back of my mind?]

 Chapter 17: Teenage Soldier

    Over the next few hours, Richard and Robin helped Grant cope with the intense pain while occasionally visiting their Mother in the other room to make sure she was doing okay. Unfortunately their wasn''t much they could do to help but they tried their best to keep him distracted.


    During that time, Grant told the two kids a bunch of stories about what he had been up too the past 24 hours and how he had fought against monstrous cats, dogs, and other kinds of animals.


    He made sure to steer clear of anything too violent but he also made sure to stick to the truth as best he could, so they would slowly start to understand what they needed to expect in the new world.


    At one point, after finishing the story about his fight with the giant javelina, Grant could have sworn that Richard''s eyes were shining as he looked at him. He was slightly apprehensive that he had accidently turned the kid into some kind of worshiper of his, so he subtly started to downplay his achievements to try and curb the kids enthusiasm slightly.


    They wasted a few more hours on small talk and discussing their lives before The Path''s emergence just to lighten the mood up a bit.


    Now that everything before The Path''s emergence was seemingly useless, they all had some good laughs looking back on all the things that they thought were so important only to be so pitiful now.


    Robin told stories about school and her friends while Richard told stories about learning to drive and which video game was the best one to play with friends.


    At one point, Grant asked Richard and Robin where their father was.


    Grant knew the moment the words left his mouth that he had touched a sore spot though because the kids faces immediately sank into ones full of sadness. After a few minutes of silence and some stifled crying, Richard finally spoke up.


    "Our father was killed a few hours before we met you... We had run out of food in the house so he was forced to go out and try to find some. It had been a few hours since he had left and he still hadn''t returned so Mom tried to go looking for him.


    Not more than 20 minutes after she left the house though, she returned with the backpack our father had taken with him. It was¡­ covered in blood..."


    During his telling of the story, Robin had wrapped her little arms around her brother and was crying with her head buried in his chest.


    Grant knew that it must be very hard for Richard too, to talk about the loss of his father and he was going to stop him from continuing, but Richard kept on talking even through the tears that were falling from his eyes.


    "Mom said that she found the backpack in the middle of the road just lying on the ground... She said she couldn''t find him no matter where she looked..


    Eventually she had to give up because she could hear monsters in the area and she didn''t know how to fight..."


    Grant sympathized with the children. Up until the day before, losing their father probably wasn''t something that they had ever concerned themselves with. And yet, that all changed in a moment because he was brave enough to venture into the new hellscape that was now Earth, to make sure he could provide for his family.


    Unfortunately, that was probably a common occurrence in the past day all across the world.


    "I''m very sorry for your loss Richard and Robin. It must be hard for you.. I lost a new friend yesterday so I understand how hard it is."


    Richard, wiping the tears from his eyes, put on a serious face for a moment.


    "Dad told me it was my job to protect mom and Robin until he got back, but since he won''t be back, it is now my job from here on out. And I will not let me dad down."


    Since Grant knew that words would serve no purpose at this moment, he just gave a curt nod to acknowledge Richards determination.


    In an attempt to change the subject and lighten the mood, Grant asked Richard to go get his backpack from the other room.


    Readily agreeing, he returned shortly after with the backpack in hand.


    "Open it up. Inside are all sorts of food, candies, and drinks. Take what you want."


    Hearing the word candy, Robin''s face went from depressed to happy in short order and she happily dug through the bag until she pulled out a few things to snack on.


    Grant found it fascinating how quickly kids moods could change, but he was glad he was able to provide a distraction for her.


    While the kids were eating, Richard took a few of the food stuffs to the other room to give to his Mom before returning not long after.


    The three of them then returned to meaningless but entertaining conversation to pass the time.


    The closer that Grant felt with the two, the more information he shared with them about The Path and how the new world worked. He still wasn''t planning to stay with them for very long, but he had started to enjoy their company and could tell they were genuinely good kids, so he didn''t want them to die the moment he walked away.


    He told them all about how the Random Rolls and the Credits worked.


    They seemed confused that Grant knew so much knowledge but when he told them that he was already level 22 and had spent most of his time since The Path''s emergence trying to figure out any details about this situation that he could, they seemed to accept it.


    While Grant was telling them about The Path, the shine in Richard''s eyes seemed to return once again.


    Grant had even offered to train Richard and Robin, once he healed of course, so that they could start adapting to their new reality as soon as possible. If Grant managed to help them gain a few levels before he left, it should help them in remaining relatively safe.


    Richard got overly excited and ran into the other room to tell their Mom that Grant was going to train them but that immediately backfired because Grant could hear her yelling from the other room about how it was a terrible idea and she wouldn''t allow it.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    She was obviously avidly against the idea, but Grant decided at some point he would try and convince her that they needed to start taking The Path seriously.


    No matter how much she hoped and prayed, things weren''t going to go back to normal.


    What really caught Grant off-guard though, was that although Richard seemed excited by the idea, Robin was the most excited of the duo.


    "I want you to train me Mr. Carrot! The next time a bad monster tries to attack my mom or brother, I want to be able to protect them!"


    Grant chuckled softly at her enthusiasm.


    "Oh really? You do know that it would be dangerous and you might get hurt, right little miss? Plus some monsters are SUPER scary or gross looking."


    Robin tried to fake a deep frown, but in the end she just ended up looking cute which made it hard to take her seriously.


    "I know! But if I level up, maybe I can get lucky with one of those random roll thingy''s and we can have matching outfits!"


    Grant busted out laughing so hard that he had to once again endure an intense burning pain shooting up his arm, but he couldn''t help but think that, in this case, it was worth it.


    "That was your real goal wasn''t it little miss?? You want to be a Jr. Carrot?"


    "Don''t laugh at me! I was serious about wanting to protect mom and Richie!


    But your outfit is cool and funny looking so I want one for myself!"


    Since they were having so much fun bantering back and forth, the three of them had momentarily forgotten themselves and the situation that they were in.


    They had ended up being a bit too loud. Before Grant could get a chance to respond to Robin, a loud banging sound came from the front and back doors at the same time.


    Grant could tell by the sound of the scraping and banging that it was probably a group of zombies so he didn''t panic.


    The same couldn''t be said about the two kids though because they looked absolutely horrified by the sounds. Only thirty or so seconds after the banging had started, the kids mom came through the open door, visibly limping while apparently suppressing a large amount of pain, at least based on the look she had on her face.


    With great difficulty, she limped to where Robin and Richard were sitting on the floor and dropped to the floor right next to them.


    She acknowledged Grant''s presence momentarily with a glance but she wrapped her arms around her kids and started to reassure them that everything was going to be okay and that they just needed to be quiet.


    While Grant didn''t think that the zombies would be able to get into the house, he thought that this might be a good opportunity.


    After propping himself up on the bed, he slowly removed his Tracksuit jacket, grabbed his sword from beside the bed, and held both of them with his good arm, outstretched towards Richard.


    "Richard, this is your opportunity to start walking towards your Path.


    If you can kill your first zombie or monster and level up, you will be able to Roll for your own item and then start progressively gaining strength with each subsequent fight.


    Of course, I will not force you. But if you wear this jacket and take my sword, I can guarantee with almost utter certainty that you will face no danger. Plus, I will be with you every step of the way."


    Richard''s mom, who was holding him in her arms, immediately began protesting, "You can''t Richard! It''s too dangerous! What am I supposed to do if something happens to you?!"


    Richard didn''t answer, he just stared at Grant''s outstretched arm, more specifically, at the two items he was holding.


    While Richard just stared at the two items for a couple of moments, Grant never said another word and just quietly stared at Richard waiting for his decision.


    After a good thirty seconds of silence, Richard turned to look at his Mom and little sister, making direct eye contact with each them for a few seconds. He still never said a word and just silently observed them.


    When his eyes turned back to the jacket, Grant could see a new light shining in Richard''s eyes.


    [Good. He had resolved himself. Lets see if he can perform better than I did in my first encounter with a zombie.]


    After waving the jacket back and forth a bit Grant told Richard to take the jacket and put it on, which Richard did without any more hesitation.


    While Richard was putting on the jacket, Grant looked over towards the kid''s mother. This was his first time actually getting a good look at her. She appeared to be mid 30''s, with should length blonde hair just like robin. She had blue eyes and was actually pretty good looking by Grant''s standards.


    "I am sorry if you do not agree with this ma''am. But I think Richard is doing this to protect you and Robin. I promise that I will not let any harm come too him and you have nothing to worry about."


    "My name is Ally. If any harm comes to my son, I will lose half of what is keeping me alive. Please do not let that happen."


    Even though Ally was being short and direct, Grant knew it was out of fear for her child so he didn''t take it to heart.


    He simply nodded his head to acknowledge what she had said.


    Once Richard had taken the jacket, Grant used his one good arm to push himself off the bed and get to his feet. The fiery pain in his arm never died down even for a moment and it only increased as he moved around, but Grant grit his teeth and powered through.


    "Alright, lets go Richard. I will be right behind you to make sure nothing goes wrong.


    I will tell you right now, just because the zombie may look human, it is anything but human. It will not hesitate to bite you or tear you limb from limb.


    Do not hesitate no matter what happens. Can you do that for me?"


    Richard had a look of concern flash across his face hearing what Grant said, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "I will do my best."


    With that, they both walked towards the living room of the house.


    Once they entered the kitchen, which had the door to the backyard that was being assaulted by the zombies, Richard drew Wet Noodle from it''s scabbard.


    Grant told Richard to get into position and prepare himself mentally.


    Once Richard looked as ready as he could be, Grant walked over to the door and reached out towards the handle. Before opening the door, Grant looked back one more time to confirm the kids resolve. With a small nod from Richard, Grant opened the door.


    Immediately after Grant opened the door, a zombie came stumbling over the door gap. The door gap managed to trip up the zombie enough where it actually fell face forward into the ground.


    Seeing that it was his moment to act, Richard only hesitated for a few seconds before he let out a small roar and swung Wet Noodle down onto the neck of the zombie.


    Seeing that Richard only hesitated momentarily, Grant was genuinely impressed. Maybe the desire to protect his family and grow stronger for that reason was a stronger motivation for the teenager than he had thought.


    Once the head of the zombie separated from it''s body, Richard stood up looking dazed, which meant that he was either overwhelmed by the situation or he was looking at his new stats.


    Since opening the door, Grant had been actively kicking the rest of the zombies back with his legs while observing Richard.


    It appeared to Grant that Richard was in fact ready to handle the pressure of the moment, so he decided to let in another zombie for Richard to dispatch.


    "SNAP OUT OF IT RICHARD! Just because you killed the first one doesn''t mean it''s over! Focus!"


    That was all it took for the light to return to Richards eyes and he immediately got back into a shoddy fighting stance to take on the next one.


    This time, the zombie managed to cross the threshold of the door without issue and immediately tried to attack Grant who was closest. But after a small kick to the zombie to force it in the direction of Richard, it started dragging its body towards him instead.


    With the same initiative as the first attack, Richard didn''t hesitate to swing the sword.


    Unfortunately his control of the sword was even worse than Grant''s was when he first started, so he only managed to lop off one of the zombies arms.


    Richard immediately withdrew the sword and tried to take a second swing at the zombie, only managing to cut the zombie in the chest.


    The closer the zombie got to Richard the more he became overwhelmed by the fear and stench of death which ultimately caused him to start to lose control of his body and senses.


    Grant knew that he was going to need to help, but before he could, Grant sensed a sudden spike in danger coming from the very back of the group of zombies, so he immediately focused his attention there instead.


    Staring directly back at him, as if they were two star crossed lovers meeting on a bridge after a month apart, was a skeleton with bright red flames flickering in its eye sockets.


    "SKELETOR?!"

 Chapter 18: Skeletor... Where are youuu?!

    While Grant and the skeleton, who he had suddenly decided to dub Skeletor, were staring at each other, Richard was doing his best to kill the zombie.


    The closer the zombie got to him though, the more he panicked and the wilder his swings became. At this point he would have had better luck hitting the zombie if he just closed his eyes and swung the sword parallel to the ground, but alas he just kept swinging wildly.


    While he may have been cutting piece after piece off of the zombie, it never stopped advancing towards him.


    "Grant I need help! Please!"


    Without even looking away from Skeletor, Grant hollered back, "Nah you''re fine, you got this!"


    Grant knew that unless Richard was the worst fighter in the history of the world, he would eventually figure out that all he needed to do was take a few steps backwards to create distance between himself and the zombie.


    Grant could tell it was a super low level zombie which shouldn''t threaten the kid at all.


    Plus, he was more concerned with the random Skeleton that was sending warning signals screaming through every cell of his body.


    [Sherlock, what the hell is that skeleton? It''s clearly not a zombie or a monster native to Earth. Only in fantasy stories have full blown skeletons come back to life.]


    {Their are three possibilities.


    The first possibility is that it is a summon by someone on the Path of Necromancy. This possibility is extremely unlikely if not impossible. I have not felt anyone from Earth enter The Path yet. However, there are ways of avoiding my notice so I can not say with absolute certainty that it is not a summon.


    The second possibility, is that it is a mutation of an existing deceased individual. Likely a corpse of a former human who had strong desires to cling to life. If a soul has a strong enough desire for life, even years after its passing it can be reanimated by the mana The Paths emergence releases into the environment.


    The third possibility and also the most likely. Is that it is a monster that has escaped from a dungeon. When The Path emerges, dungeons also emerge with it. Most monsters will not wander past the edge of the dungeon due to the increased density of mana inside the dungeons themselves, but there is nothing keeping them inside if they desire to leave.}


    [There are dungeons on Earth now?! Why did you not say so sooner! That''s huge news!]


    {At what point would you have liked me to tell you? While you wear half dead from blood loss, while you were complaining about your new armor, or while you were fighting hordes of monsters?}


    Grant clicked his tongue at Sherlock''s response. Sherlock was becomingly increasingly cheeky and rebellious. But since Grant had other priorities right now, he''d have to deal with the guide later.


    "Grant! Please help!"


    Once again Richards voice rang in Grant''s ears. This time Grant couldn''t help but look away from Skeletor and check Richards situation because he was becoming increasingly annoyed at the kids incompetence.


    Grant splendidly seemed to forget or purposefully chose to ignore the fact that he couldn''t even move the first time he fought a zombie.


    "You seriously haven''t killed that zombie yet?! It literally walks slower than a snail and you are wearing armor that is basically impenetrable... get your shit together kid. I got bigger problems over here!


    Your family is just 25 feet behind you and this is your chance to prove you are capable of protecting them! I''m literally holding 20 zombies back right now with just the occasional kick and you can''t kill one zombie?!


    Kill that zombie with the next swing of the sword or I will go get your sister and have her do it! At least she seemed like she could handle the pressure of protecting you!"


    The more Grant yelled at Richard, the louder he became and the more powerful his voice seemed to become. The sheer power and anger in Grants voice at the end of his rant was enough for Richard to start sweating under the pressure.


    Without even a thought, Richard closed his eyes, swung the sword as hard as he could, and lopped the zombies head off.


    Successfully executing Grants demands.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Seeing that Richard had done what he requested, Grant looked back in the direction that Skeletor had been standing when a notification popped up in the corner of his vision.


    {Congratulations on learning the skill: Terrorize


    Skill Type: Vocal


    Skill Tier: Normal


    Skill Description: Imbuing your words with anger will motivate the target of your words to execute your commands. The skill only effects those who are weak willed or those who are terrified of you. Will not work on anyone above level 10.}


    After a quick glance, Grant discarded the message because he was more concerned with Skeletor and what its goal was. The entire time they had been staring at each other, the skeleton didn''t so much as flinch.


    Grant knew it was unlikely that Skeletor was still standing there because the sense of danger he had been sensing had vanished without a trace while he was yelling at Richard sure enough, the skeleton had disappeared.


    [What a weird monster. Is it even a monster? Would a reanimated person be considered a monster or do they have a mind and free will of their own?


    In only a few days I''ve faced more scenarios and bizarre encounters than I thought possible.


    Besides, what is with monsters just starting at me all the time? Am I really that good looking?


    I''m not really into naked skeletons who walk around showing off their boney structures though...]


    After scanning the backyard a few more times and confirming that he couldn''t sense the skeleton anymore, Grant was finally let the tension run out of his body.


    While Grant had been staring into the eyes of the zombie and directing Richard, the zombies had never ceased their attempts to bite or scratch Grant, so he had remained in the doorway kicking them back every time they advanced.


    Knowing that it was unlikely that he would get any more out of Richard at that point, he decided to take over the situation himself.


    "I''m sorry for pushing you so hard Richard. There was a situation and it effected my ability to control myself.


    Give me Wet Noodle and I''ll deal with the rest. Even with one arm, these guys are no better than annoying flies in front of me."


    Without hesitation, Richard walked over and handed the sword back to Grant.


    Grant was already feeling pretty shitty about how he had treated Richard and that feeling only intensified when Richard spoke to him with a depressed look on his face.


    "I''m sorry Grant. I thought I was prepared for the responsibility. I have failed you. Maybe I''m not good enough."


    Grant knew that he had let his emotions get the better of him and vowed that he would try and keep his calm even in tense situations. Just because Skeletor appeared and put pressure on Grant, didn''t mean that he had to pass that along to a young kid who was doing his best despite never having done anything even remotely like that before.


    "Don''t worry about it Richard. Warriors aren''t made overnight. Sometimes it takes month to train someone to fight with the necessary amount of courage. The fact that you stepped up and even tried, proves that you have what it takes, you just need more confidence in yourself.


    I will not give up on you just because you panicked a bit at the end."


    After Grant grabbed Wet Noodle with his free arm, he turned back to face the doorway and kicked the zombie in the front as hard as he could in an attempt to create an opening for him to exit the house. Instead of sending the zombie flying like he had intended, its body just exploded into a million tiny pieces which showered Grant in flesh, bone, and blood.


    "DAMNIT! Stupid weak ass monsters! Look what you made me do!"


    Although Grant was frustrated at the zombie''s weakness, he knew that it was simply him who was too strong. While he was looking at the rest of the zombies crowding the back yard, Grant had a sudden flash of inspiration.


    Without hesitation, he moved to put his plan into action.


    Grant charged through the open door and dove in and out of the group of zombies, slicing and dicing them apart like the weak monsters they were. After a mere ten seconds, the now limbless bodies of the zombies littered the ground. A set of arms and legs were resting next to each torso, completely detached and unmoving.


    From inside the door, Richard watched Grant with a serious look in his eyes. He knew he had failed to make a good first impression on Grant, but watching Grant fight was proof that if he worked hard enough, he could maybe, just maybe achieve that level of strength some day.


    While Richard was standing there, Robin came running over and hugged his leg to peak outside the door.


    "Wow Richie, you were right! Mr. Carrot is super strong! He''s so fast! He''s like an orange flash, one moment he''s over there and the next he''s over there!"


    As she shouted she pointed exaggeratedly at Grant, like he was the coolest thing she had ever seen in her life. She had a shine in her eyes that said she was looking at her favorite superhero or something.


    Richard couldn''t help but look down at his sister and frown. He had told himself that he would do whatever it took to protect his little sister and his parents but he had not been able to do what needed to be done.


    And yet here stood his sister, with a big smile on her face, looking at all the carnage in front of her as if it didn''t effect her at all!


    Was there something wrong with him? Was there something wrong with her? Or was she just that much braver than he was?


    While Richard was lost in thought, Grant turned and hollered at him, "Richard, all of these zombies are still alive. They pose absolutely zero threat unless you put a leg or something near their mouths. If you want, you can take the kills. If not, I will do it myself. What is your choice?"


    Richard snapped out of his thoughts with surprise plastered across his young face. He couldn''t believe that Grant would go out of his way to make sure that there was no danger for him. He could see from the occasional winces on Grant''s face that he was clearly still suffering from the wound on his arm, but he still put in the extra effort to make things easier for him.


    Hesitating for only a moment, he walked up to Grant''s side and took the sword from his hand. He vowed that he would not let his sister and mother down a second time.


    While Richard was finishing the zombies, Grant ran through the open back door, through the kitchen, into the entryway of the house, and then out the front door.


    While standing in the middle of the street, he started looking around in earnest.


    "Skeletor!!! Where are youuu?! Better yet, what are you?!"

 Chapter 19: Dungeons of Earth

    After wandering around the street for a few minutes, Grant realized that either the skeleton was long gone or it had no interest in engaging with him at the moment.


    Grant knew that it could be a dangerous situation if the Skeleton was in fact hostile, but for some reason, he didn''t believe that to be the case.


    He was disappointed that he had lost the skeleton in the end, but he had a strong feeling that it wouldn''t be the last time he would see it.


    Besides the fact that it was a bare boned skeleton walking around with at least some semblance of intelligence, at least based on the way it behaved, Grant was most curious to find out its origins. If it was a reanimated human, had it retained its rationality? If it was from another planet, could it speak and did it come in peace?


    Grant had so many questions that would go unanswered, for now at least.


    [If Skeletor can be reasoned with, then maybe it could turn out to be an ally of sorts? I need to find him as soon as possible. He gave me a sense of danger but it felt more like a caged animal, dangerous but also restrained.


    I know I shouldn''t be so fascinated by its existence and should probably be on guard against it, but it''s just so fantasy! I can''t help myself..]


    {I pray for the future of this planet...}


    [Screw you Sherlock. All work and no fun makes Grant a dull boy.


    Let me have this one.]


    Lost in thought, Grant returned to the house and once again closed and locked the front door. While he was walking back towards the living room, a cute little voice broke him out of his inner thoughts.


    "Wow Mr. Carrot, you really are strong! Can you teach me how to be that strong?!"


    Grant couldn''t help but look at the little girl with an odd expression on his face.


    "You want me to teach you how to fight? Aren''t you scared?


    To get as strong as I am, you would have to put yourself in dangerous situations and you may end up getting hurt you know!


    Plus, look at this zombie, would you be able to kill it? Even your big brother had trouble fighting it."


    While he was talking, Grant had walked over to the dead zombie and was now standing over it while pointing down at it.


    Even after picking up the zombies decapitated head in an attempt to scare the little girl, she seemed entirely unimpressed by it and even looked at it with disgust.


    "I am scared. But if you told Richie and I the truth, then I need to learn how to fight! I don''t want to be a burden to my parents and big brother. I want to protect them!"


    Robin''s determination seemed to strike a cord for Grant so he walked over and started to tussle her hair.


    "Well aren''t you just the bravest little girl in the world!


    Alright, how about this? Why don''t we all go get some rest and we can talk about this tomorrow morning? It''s been a long day and I know everyone is tired."


    Without waiting for her reply, Grant retracted his hand from the top of her head and walked over to the back door with zombie head in hand.


    After opening the door, he chucked the head into the backyard like it was a baseball. Then he walked back over and picked up the rest of the zombie''s body before throwing that outside as well. After disposing of the second corpse in the room, Grant closed the door.


    The entire time he had been doing this, Robin had never taken her eyes off of him. He had a sense that in the future, this little girl may be a force to be reckoned with because of her ability to adapt quickly to the situation.


    If she could survive until then that is.


    Grant was really starting to like being around these people, because although they were very friendly and honest with him, they also had a drive and desire to grow stronger for the other members of the family instead of doing it for selfish reasons.


    However, he knew that with the goals he was looking to accomplish, he couldn''t afford to bring them along with him unless they improved quickly.


    If their only goal was to protect each other, it was unlikely they could keep pace with his level. If they fell too far behind, when he would inevitably ended up meeting monsters far beyond their capabilities it  would result in a terrifying end for them.


    Since he didn''t have to make an immediate decision, he decided to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and worry about it at a later date.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    After cleaning up the kitchen and dining room area, Grant was preparing to go to bed but he was stopped by Richard moving in front of him, blocking his path, and looking at him with an overly serious gaze.


    "I want to apologize for my cowardice earlier, Grant. I was not mentally prepared for what you asked of me."


    Richard ended up bowing to Grant at a 90 degree angle to express his sincerity.


    "Don''t worry about it, Richie. I wasn''t ready for my first fight either. To be honest with you, I froze. Someone else had to finish the job.


    It may take some time. But until you are able to fight and kill whenever needed, use your family as the motivation to fight. And remember what your Dad asked of you. That will give you more strength than you know."


    "I will take your words to heart. If you are willing to help me again, I would like to give it another chance tomorrow. Seeing how brave my little sister is, how can I cower?"


    "I will take you around the area tomorrow and help you level up a bit more. Until my arm has healed enough where I can fight freely against the stronger monsters without pain, I will train you until you can''t move. So be prepared for it, I will make sure you are ready to defend your family before I leave."


    "Can I come too Mr. Carrot?! I want to be strong like those superheroes in the movies I watched when I was younger!"


    "That is up to your mother Robin. But if you really want to come, I will bring you along. The more the merrier, as they always say. But for tonight, you need to get some sleep. I will stay out here on the couch and watch the doors. Go help your mother get back into her bed and get some sleep."


    After the two of them walked away, Grant walked over to the couch in the living room and laid down. He had put on a brave face, but his arm was absolutely killing him by this point. He could tell that the pain had lessened quite a bit already but it was still excruciating.


    While laying on the couch, Grant decided to finally check his stats since defeating the giant javelina. He had wanted to do this earlier, but one thing led to another and time seemed to get away from him.


    {Status


    Name: Grant Holmes


    Level: 22


    Race: Human


    Path: N/A


    Title: N/A


    Strength: 102 + 10 | Agility: 109 + 60 | Health: 111 | Stamina: 126 + 20 | Mana: 0


    Random Rolls: 20


    Credits: 1,100


    Available Free Stats: 44


    Skills:


    Overclocked Concentration (Passive: Level 3)


    Terrorize (Passive: Level 1)


    Blind (Equipment Skill: Level Locked)}


    [Fuck yeah, all stats over 100 and 44 free stat points!


    That means I can immediately increase one of my stats by 50% in the event of an emergency/. 20 Random rolls too... that means I can potentially get 20 new items all at once... I know Sherlock told me that I should save them but do I really need to save up 20 of them?


    And I wonder what I can purchase with 1100 credits.. I need to reach level 25 as soon as possible and start my Path. I''m desperate to start slinging fireballs around or something! Pew pew pew!


    Hey Sherlock, how do I rank in power for someone that hasn''t started down their Path?]


    {You would be in the top .1%. There are records of very few people who were stronger than you are at this point. If you manage to increase your stats even more before you enter your Path then your rise to the peak of newcomers to The Path will be a matter of surviving.


    Of course, just because you''re strong on Earth doesn''t mean you are strong on every planet that is part of The Path''s evolutional mission. If you were to cross into a world that has been on The Path for awhile at this point, you would probably be killed instantaneously or forced into slavery before you could even say, I''m strong!}


    [Wait wait wait, cross into a different world? What the actual fuck? Are you telling me that at some point the inhabitants from another planet could invade Earth?!]


    {It is not a matter of can or cannot. It is a matter of when. The Path forces all races to intermingle. Whether that results in a fight or not depends on how the first encounter between the two races plays out and what the goals of each race are.


    Of course their are races that have no desire for peace and will use any opportunity that they can to improve. Even if that means wiping out another intelligent species in the process.}


    [You really know how to lay on the pressure, don''t you? When will it be possible for other species to come to Earth?]


    {What do you mean, when? One of them may already be here. Do you not remember that Skeleton? There are races that look exactly like that skeleton.


    Remember how I said that that skeleton potentially came from a dungeon?


    Well, dungeons are merely a pathway between worlds.


    Of course, you can close that pathway by destroying the dungeon core but until someone succeeds at doing that, monsters or species from other worlds can pass through the tunnel between worlds.


    However, you have time until the stronger members of other species can travel here. A newly formed dungeon or passageway does not have the necessary amount of mana to sustain the transfer of stronger individuals at this point.


    However, as the inhabitants of the dungeons manage to "feed" the dungeon core, the ability to sustain the transfer of stronger individuals increases as well.}


    [And how do they do that? Feed the dungeon that is?]


    {The dungeon slowly grows by absorbing the ambient mana in the air which is expelled by the planet it resides in, but that method can be a very slow process.


    The quickest and most effective way, is by killing anything and everything in the vicinity of a dungeon. Some of the mana stored in the bodies of Humans, for example, is released when they die.


    If a human dies near a dungeon, instead of that mana being released back into the atmosphere or the Earth, the dungeon absorbs it and then uses that mana to strengthen its core.}


    [Fuck... I have no doubt that human curiosity is feeding dungeon cores across the planet as we speak...]


    Grant couldn''t stop himself from shaking his head. He knew that a base instinct of humanity was to be curious. Humans were constantly striving to learn and improve themselves. And it seemed like that curiosity could potentially be their downfall this time.


    Without even bothering to try and sleep, Grant spent the entire night thinking about how he should handle this newfound information and how he could help to limit the risks that dungeons posed.


    Intermittently throughout the night, Grant posed questions to Sherlock hoping he would find some answers within his replies.


    Hours passed quickly and the sun started to rise, unbeknownst to Grant because he was so absorbed in all the new information he had been presented with.


    Only after Robin came out of her bedroom and told him good morning did Grant finally snap out of his mental trance.


    "Well good morning young lady, are you coming along with us today?"


    "I had to beg Mom almost all night to let me go with you and Richie but she finally agreed! So yes, I''ll be coming along!"


    [She probably knew you would never give up unless she let you come with me... poor lady... being a parent must be tough...]


    "Alright, well go get ready and tell Richard to hurry up and get ready as well.


    It''s going to be a long day, so make sure you''re prepared for it!"

 Chapter 20: Birth of a Little Devil

    While Robin and Richard gathered up their things, Grant also prepared himself for their little excursion.


    Grant had briefly considered delaying the outing for a few days so that his arm had some time to heal, but he knew that if they delayed for too long, then the monsters would continue to scale while they remained stagnant.


    Before they left, Grant sat down at the dinner table in the kitchen and brought out his extra bandages to re-wrap his arm, Throughout the night, the bandage which was originally wrapped around the wounds, had been dyed red with his own blood. Thankfully the pain had started to lessen gradually throughout the night so he could move it around a bit more freely. The mobility of the arm was still severely limited, but it wasn''t nearly as bad as it had been originally.


    He hadn''t seen what the damage had looked like when he was first injured because he was so focused on fighting the giant javelina that he didn''t even have time to glance down and check his arm.


    After removing the bandage and finally seeing what his arm looked like though, Grant couldn''t help but suck in a deep breath and swallow the lump forming in his throat.


    His arm, even now, looked like shredded cheese. Strips of flesh hanging on to his muscles by a thread while his visible muscles clung to his bones in just a few places.


    [HOLY SHIT! No wonder I was in so much pain. This wound is horrendous! How is my arm still working?! I thought I just had a few deep gashes... this is way worse than I anticipated..


    It looks like I stuck my arm into a fucking wood chipper!]


    While Grant was freaking out, Ally limped out of her bedroom. Grant was surprised to see her up and about but she paused when she saw that Grant''s arm was unwrapped. Seeing his arm, she suddenly looked like she had seen a ghost. Surprise and confusion were evident in her expression.


    "How has your arm healed that much!? It looks twice as good as it did before, if not more so!"


    It was Grant''s turn to put on an expression of surprise and confusion. He was having a hard time believing the words that had just come out of her mouth.


    "This is twice as good?! What the fuck did it look like when you dragged me back here?!


    Ah, sorry for my language. This is just so horrible right now it''s hard to believe it''s healed that much!"


    The idea that his arm had actually healed by a large amount and still looked this way, was just too hard to believe.


    "I swear to you, it is way better than what it was before. As for what it looked like before... please don''t make me think about it. I can tell you right now, if it was anyone else, I have no doubt that amputation would have been the only solution. Frankly, the only way I didn''t do that was because I didn''t have the tools needed to amputate it.


    It is a miracle that it has started to heal. Let alone the fact that you can still use it."


    Grant looked at her with incredulity. He could understand her thought process when it came to wanting to cut off his arm. She was probably concerned about infection and the fact that it would be dead weight.


    But she was looking at it from the perspective of a normal humans body standards. His body, with his new stats, had far outstripped any logical sense when it came to how it functioned.


    "Well I am grateful for you providing the best first aid you could given the circumstance. Although I am still in pain, I can actually use it sparingly already. The fact that I have gained so many stats from killing monsters is probably the main reason why."


    Ally just gave a short nod before she spoke about what she had really left her bedroom to discuss.


    "I do not know how the whole stat concept works, or at least I only understand now after Richard and Robin told me about the information you had shared with them. Thank you for that by the way.


    That aside, Grant, I will let Robin go with you today only if you make me a promise that nothing will happen to her.


    I beg you, do not let anything happen to her. I love my son but Robin is my light on a dark night. I cannot lose her. If I lose her, I will never recover."


    Grant just stared at the desperate expression on Ally''s face for a few moments. He could understand why she was so desperate not to lose her little girl. Especially since her husband had just died and her kids were all that she had left.


    "I will not promise you she will remain unharmed, because even I am not all powerful.


    I mean, just look at my arm."


    While waving his injured left arm around the best he could, Grant continued,


    "If I had made one mistake, I would be dead. That is how cruel the new world is now. But I will promise you this, I will die before any harm comes to her.


    I know you don''t want her to go, and frankly I don''t want her to come with, either.


    Kids should be worried about being kids, not soldiers. However, her conviction and desire to protect you and her brother has moved me. I will honor that conviction by helping her to reach her goal."


    At first Ally looked scared hearing what Grant was saying, but by the time he was finished speaking, she looked ever so slightly relieved.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "Thank you Grant. I will put my faith and trust in you because the I can tell you are not a bad person. If you were, I have no doubt my kids would hold you in such high regard after such a short amount of time."


    Grant couldn''t help himself and thumped his chest with his one good hand and said, "Don''t worry! Your faith is not misplaced!" and then put on the smuggest look he could muster.


    After watching him make a fool of himself, Ally couldn''t help but laugh a little. Clearly she was relieved at Grant''s confidence.


    After their short exchange, Ally ended up limping over to the table and helping Grant re-wrap his arm so that it was done correctly.


    "Thank you. You''re wrapping is way better than mine. Richard said you used to be a nurse, what kind were you?"


    Ally just smiled at the compliment, "I was a scrub nurse over at Chandler Regional Medical Center. I used to work mostly on open heart surgeries so my skills are no joke if I do say so myself.


    My husband was the real hero though.. he was an actual surgeon.. we met in the operating room.."


    Ally looked more and more depressed as she talked about her deceased husband, so Grant tried to lighten up the mood.


    "You two met over the open chest cavity of a patient?!"


    "No! We met after the surgery! I had just been assigned to his operating room but during the surgery it''s all business. Afterwards though, was when I first introduced myself."


    With how flustered Ally was at the idea that someone thought her and her husband met like that but Grant just started to laugh as she tried to defend herself which ultimately made Ally realize he was just messing with her so she started to laugh as well.


    Knowing how tough it must be on Ally to deal with everything going on, losing her husband, and then being injured, Grant was glad that he was able to make her laugh, if just for a few moments.


    While the two were waiting for the kids to get ready, they spent the rest of the time on small talk.


    It turned out that Ally was had developed a slight fever due to her wound and asked Grant if he could go to one of the local stores to look for medicine.


    Grant hadn''t even considered the fact that some medication stock would be a good idea, so he promised that he would loot the entirety of the local pharmacies if he had the chance.


    It was at that time that Robin and Richard had finally gotten there stuff together and walked over to Grant and Ally.


    Grant noticed that Richard was holding a spear in his hands when he walked over.


    "Is it safe to assume that was the weapon you got from your Random Roll Richard?"


    "Yeah, while I was sitting in bed last night, I couldn''t help myself and used my Random Roll and I got this spear from it. I''m actually kind of grateful that the system gave me something with a bit more reach than your sword. Especially since I don''t have armor like you."


    "Understandable. But don''t worry, even if you hadn''t rolled a weapon, I was planning on disabling all the monsters we find so that you and your sister can dispatch them without worry.


    Are you ready too Robin? When we go outside, you have to stay right next to me or your brother no matter what.


    I will protect both of you, but if something happens, he will be the last line of defense for you.


    Do you understand? You must promise to follow the rules."


    Grant gave her a stern glare to make sure that she understood how serious he was about it.


    "I promise Mr. Carrot! I will make sure to stay near Richie or you no matter what!"


    Grant gave an affirmative nod while Ally looked slightly more relieved hearing Robin''s promise.


    "Good, lets roll out!"


    Seeing that the three of them were ready, Ally opened the garage door for them and watched them walk down the driveway and into the street before she closed the door with a complicated look on her face.


    Once in the street, Grant surveyed the area. Just within range of his vision he could make out at least 100 zombies. They were scattered all up and down the street.


    Grant even saw a group of mutated dogs fighting with an oversized cat not far from where he was standing. Seeing that, it just reinforced his idea that monsters grew the same way humans did which brought up one question he really wanted answered.


    [Sherlock, if monsters are fighting and killing each other to grow, won''t they eventually die off?]


    {That is not correct. Monsters can still reproduce just as they always have. Just because they look different and their temperaments have changed, does not mean they do not have the same instincts for growing their species as they did before.


    Same as humans}


    [I don''t even want to picture what some of these monsters mating would look like...


    Fuck... too late...]


    Realizing that literally every species on Earth had started to mutate and evolve while retaining their reproductive abilities, Grant was grateful that he lived in Arizona and the heat wasn''t a conducive environment for a lot of bugs to live. He couldn''t imagine what an army of monstrous mosquitos would look like. Giant flying bugs would be the worst thing to deal with in Grant''s opinion.


    Of course he knew that Arizona had some bugs and insects that were abundant but he never liked creepy crawly things so he was thankful he hadn''t run into any of them yet.


    Shaking off those distracting thoughts, Grant led the two kids towards the first group of zombies.


    When the zombies noticed them they slowly began advancing towards their group, "As I said before, I will disable them and you will be responsible for killing them. Prepare yourselves."


    While Grant was hacking off their arms and legs with his sword, Richard stood vigilantly looking at the surroundings. He knew he wasn''t very strong yet but he had promised his Mom that he wouldn''t let himself be distracted for even a moment when protecting his sister.


    Once Grant was done mutilating the zombies, they ended up looking like slabs of meat with a head. It looked kind of funny from a certain perspective but the sight of arms and legs laying everywhere was a bit disturbing.


    "Alright you two. You''re up. I''ll protect you from anything around us while you finish them off."


    Grant handed his sword over to Robin and then turned his back to them. He wasn''t the least bit concerned that they may get hurt because the zombies couldn''t even move aside from a pathetic wiggle as they tried their best to move.


    If the kids ended up being bitten by the immobile zombies, it didn''t matter how much he protected and trained them, clearly they weren''t smart enough to survive and death was inevitable no matter what he did.


    While Grant had his back turned to the two kids, they both looked at each other and then nodded their heads as if acknowledging to each other that they were prepared for what they needed to do.


    Before Richard could even move though, Robin was already standing next to the first zombie and swinging Wet Noodle down on it''s throat.


    She hadn''t even stopped for a millisecond before she attempted her first kill.


    While Richard stood there in a daze looking at his sister and the pure determination plastered on her face, she walked over to the second zombie and just as quickly as the first, separated its head from its body.


    Realizing that he could only hear one set of footsteps, Grant turned around to check on the two kids.


    Richard was rooted to the spot and Robin was going from zombie to zombie, ending their miserable existences with extreme efficiency.


    [Holy hell... she''s a little devil! Am I making a mistake helping her get stronger? She isn''t hesitating at all to kill those zombies..]


    Little did Grant know, Robin was having an extremely hard time. She could see her own reflection in their eyes and it scared her that she was killing something that used to be a human like her. She just kept thinking about her family though and that propelled her from one kill to the next.

 Chapter 21: You Want to Die?!

    The more Grant watched Robin, the more he realized something was wrong and he was wrong in his belief that she was unaffected by what she was doing.


    He could see the determination plastered all over her face, but her eyes were telling a different story. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was hurting and that killing the zombies was in fact a difficult task for her.


    The look in her eyes was the same look that his aunt had given him the day she had lost her husband. Physically she appeared fine, but mentally, a part of her was dead.


    Grant felt a knot in his chest when he finally understood what was going on. He struggled with the idea of stopping her or letting her continue. He considered that by allowing her to continue it would force her to accept the new circumstances of the world, which would ultimately be the best thing he could do for her at this time.


    On the other hand, however, was that this moment could traumatize her for the rest of her life and permanently alter her state of mind. He didn''t want to lose the happy, bubbly little girl he had met when he first woke up after his fight.


    Her smile had given him strength when he was in pain. To know that he was the cause of that smile never returning, was something he didn''t think he could accept.


    Lucky for Grant, before he could come to a decision, Richard started walking towards his sister. When he finally reached her, he put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from moving to the next zombie.


    It seemed as if Richard had noticed the sudden change in his sister as well, because he was looking at her with a sympathetic gaze. He too was fighting back tears, but for an entirely different reason than Robin.


    "Robin. I am proud of you but you need to leave some for me. Go stand by Grant and let me take care of the rest."


    Without giving an answer or changing the expression on her face, Robin gave a small nod to Richard before she walked over and stood next to Grant.


    Grant had never been an affectionate person and he wasn''t all that concerned with how other people felt most of the time, but he knew that he needed to do something right in that moment.


    So without saying anything, Grant bent over and picked Robin up with his one good arm. He wasn''t sure what he could say to her to help, so he decided to pick her up as a gesture that she wasn''t alone and could rely on him.


    Robin didn''t resist him and let herself be picked up.


    Once she was situated on his side, with his arm supporting her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and put her face against his shoulder.


    Neither of them said anything even after Robin had gotten situated, so Grant just continued to watch the surroundings.


    After a few moments, Grant could feel a warm sensation spreading down his chest and instantly knew that Robin was crying. Since he only had the one arm, he had no way of patting her on the back to comfort her or anything, so he just held her tightly against his chest.


    Richard, who had been watching Robin since she walked away from him, watched Grant pick her up in his arm before he gave a slight nod to Grant. He turned back towards the meat slabs that were still scattered around himself and steeled his expression. He focused on killing the rest of the incapacitated zombies as quickly as he could.


    A few minutes when by as Richard dispatched the rest of the zombies.


    Knowing that it would be difficult to continue with the kid''s current mental states, Grant suggested that they look for a place to take a short break.


    He wanted to give Robin a chance to pull herself together and thought that maybe Richard could help her more than he could. Although she was friendly with him and they got along well, he was never good with situations like this so he didn''t want to make it worse inadvertently by saying something stupid.


    Richard and Grant decided to walked toward the closest building they could find, which turned out to be the local grocery store for the neighborhood they were in.


    Grant carried Robin the entire way to the store because he could tell that she was still crying and he wanted to give her time to let all the emotions out while she could.


    The building wasn''t very far away from where they had been fighting so they were able to reach the building without attracting the attention of any more monsters. If they saw any approaching, they would either creep by from a distance or wait until the monster itself passed by.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    When they inevitably reached the front door, they realized the doors were already open.


    Richard and Grant both looked at each other and gave each a nod to make sure they were both ready. Then they quietly advanced into the building.


    After entering, they didn''t notice any monsters within the initial entry way so Grant led them further inside, to where the break room for the staff was located.


    Grant could sense a large number of monsters or zombies in the surrounding store, but since they hadn''t been forced to make noise opening the doors, it looked like they had avoided attracting their attention.


    Grant had actually worked at this particular grocery store when he was a teenager so he knew the layout of the building quite well and was able to lead them through the hallways quickly.


    The break room for staff was located on the second floor so he thought it would be a good place for the kids to rest because they could look out over the store and watch for any incoming dangers.


    Once they reached the break room, Grant opened the door and went through the area with Robin still in his arm, making sure there were no dangers. Not seeing any monsters, Grant walked over to one of the tables and finally put Robin down in one of the chairs.


    He could see that her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying but she had stopped her tears before Grant had set her down.


    Seeing that she was still acting as brave as she could, Grant knelt down so that he was at her eye level and placed his good hand on her head and tussled with her hair.


    "Robin, you are the bravest girl I have ever met in my life.


    I''m sorry."


    While sniffling, Robin managed a small smile and said, "Thank you Mr. Carrot. I won''t let you down."


    Grant winked at Robin and, "You could never let me down mini carrot. If you ever need me, I will be there. You can always rely on me!"


    Finally, Robin managed to let a little giggle escape her lips and she smiled a little wider.


    With that, Grant also let out a merely imperceptible sigh. He reached out and gave Robin another pat on the head before standing up and looking towards Richard.


    He tried to convey with his eyes that Richard needed to be there for his sister and do what he could to make sure that today didn''t scar her forever.


    Richard seemed to understand, because he walked over to Robin and knelt down next to her chair and then he put his arm around her and gave her a hug.


    While they were embracing each other, Grant decided now would be a good time to discuss the plans for what was to come next.


    "Okay you two. I need to go to the pharmacy area and look for medication for your Mom. Do not leave here and do not open the door no matter what, unless you hear my voice.


    Since we haven''t cleared this building, I do not know what dangers lay within."


    After they both confirmed that they understood his instructions, Grant walked out the door and headed down to the main floor.


    He wasn''t sure exactly what he was sensing, but it felt like someone had been watching them since they entered the store. Grant hadn''t reacted to it at first because he didn''t want to alarm the kids, but he never stopped discreetly searching for the source.


    Although he could sense something by instinct, his passive skill wasn''t warning him of any imminent danger, so either whoever or whatever was watching them didn''t plan to attack them. Or they were capable of masking their intent, which would mean it was more intelligent than Grant wanted it too be.


    Grant quietly and discreetly moved through the aisles of the store heading towards the pharmacy area. He stopped in a couple of aisles to grab some food for the two kids before he finally reached his destination. He came across a few small groups of zombies, but he dispatched them quickly and without any issue.


    Grant went through all of the shelves grabbing as much medication as he could find and threw it in a large duffle bag he had picked up while he was walking through the store.


    He wanted to make sure that he was stocked up on stuff to help heal not only Ally but also himself. He knew that his body could handle most of the healing process just from the mere fact that it had healed so much without any medication already. But he didn''t want to take any chances and he wanted to see if he could help speed up the process with some first aid creams.


    While he had the time, Grant decided that he should go through the rest of the store and see if there was anything in the non-food section of the store that could be useful to himself or the kids when he left to embark on his journey.


    Before he could reach that area though, he heard a scream coming from the direction of the break room where he left Richard and Robin.


    Without hesitation, Grant dropped everything that he was carrying and ran as fast as he could towards the break area.


    [FUCK I should never have left them! How come I didn''t sense anything?! Shit shit shit!]


    Sweating bullets Grant pushed his body to the limit. With his stats as high as they were now, he was able to reach the room in a few short moments.


    Grant didn''t even hesitate to blow through the door and came crashing into the room.


    As he scrambled to his feet, he began to look around the room, trying to take in the situation.


    Robin was standing in a corner screaming and looking terrified while Richard was on the other side of the room squaring off with a...


    [What the hell is that thing?!


    A mutated wolf spider?!


    Fuckkkkk those things are so fucking ugly!]


    It looked like Grant had been able to reach them before the Spider did anything because the sense of danger that Grant was getting from the spider was as equal even greater than what he felt from the giant javelina which meant if it was serious, it could have easily killed the kids already.


    Grant yanked Wet Noodle out of its scabbard and rushed to stand in front of Richard. He knew that wolf spiders were some of the fastest spiders on the planet and an evolved one would be extremely dangerous just solely based on its speed.


    As if realizing that Grant was the a threat, the spider moved in a half circular motion away from Grant and Richard.


    Grant instantly realized he fucked up. He had let the spider position itself between himself and Robin.


    The moment that Grant moved to try and get in front of Robin, the spider also began to move. They both were moving in the direction of Robin who was still frozen in the corner. Both with very different yet clear intentions.


    "YOU WANT TO DIE YOU EIGHT LEGGED FREAK?!?!!"

 Chapter 22: Shadow Walker (Part 1)

    Seeing the intentions of the spider and knowing that he may not be able to match it''s speed with his current stats, Grant pumped every single one of his free stats into Agility in a bid to increase his speed as much as possible.


    He knew that now was one of the moments he had been saving for so he didn''t hesitate to spend all the free stats. He had made a promise to Ally and he would do whatever he had to do to fulfill that promise.


    Before Grant could took his second step towards the monster, he had already added the free stats, noticing a difference immediately.  With his newfound speed, the ground underneath his foot ended up cracking under the pressure of his steps. Using the force generated by his strength and agility, Grant shot towards the spider like a bat out of hell.


    Instead of trying to position himself between Robin and the spider, Grant aimed to attack the spider directly in its mid section. Thankfully, the new stats had pushed Grants speed past that of the spiders and he managed to catch up in milliseconds.


    Before the monster could react, Grant having already reached it''s side, dipped his shoulder and rammed it into the mid section of the spider as hard as he could to force it off course. He was going to attack it with his sword, but he was afraid that he may not be able to puncture its exoskeleton and it would continue towards Robin unimpeded.


    He had miscalculated however because in the heat of the moment, he had used his left shoulder to impact the spider which caused a searing pain to shoot up into his mind. He was staggered by the amount of pain coursing up his arm.


    After the impact, the spider went careening across the room and out through the windows that overlooked the rest of the building and fell down to the first floor.


    Grant took a moment to collect himself and forced his mind to ignore the pain before he ran towards the now broken window, planning to jump out and follow after the spider.


    He made sure to tell Richard and Robin to stay where they were and use the tables to barricade the opening where the door used to be just in case something else tried to come in.


    After getting a nod of approval from Richard, Grant didn''t hesitate any longer and jumped through the window and landed on the floor below with a loud thud.


    With Wet Noodle in hand, Overlocked Perception working overtime, and looking around vigilantly, Grant pushed his other senses to the fullest trying to either see or sense the spider.


    Grant was concerned because moments after it had flown out the window and while he was fighting back the pain from his wounded arm, he had lost track of where the monster was and was once again unable to pinpoint its location.


    [Sherlock, is the spider still within the building? Why can''t I sense it??]


    For some reason though, Sherlock remained silent. Grant wasn''t sure if Sherlock didn''t know the answer or if their was something else going on.


    But he would have to figure that out later.


    Although Grant couldn''t sense the spider with his passive or see it with his eyes, he was still getting the same feeling that he had earlier when he thought that someone or something was watching him. That was when he had a sudden and, simultaneously, terrifying idea.


    [Hold up, is this fucking spider capable of invisibility or something?!


    If that''s true, how the fuck do I fight this thing? Why wasn''t it invisible when it attacked Richard and Robin? Is there some kind of requirement for it to activate what I can only assume is a skill?


    And if it has a skill that means.. that spider has already started on its Path?!]


    Grant stood rooted to the spot, mind whirling at top speed, trying to figure out what was going on.


    Suddenly all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end and, reacting purely on instinct, Grant launched himself forward and dove onto the ground.


    He rolled a few times before he sprang back to his feet. He did his best to avoid rolling on his injured arm but he nonetheless had to deal with that pain while trying to analyze the situation.


    The moment he popped back up to his feet, he threw Wet Noodle in the direction that he thought he felt an attack from.


    If this spider was capable of using a skill, then it was highly likely that it was over level 25 and his sword would be practically useless so he had no qualms using it as a projectile.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    It may still be able to make some small cuts on the monster but it would be a mammoth task to do enough damage to kill it since the sword wasn''t sharp enough.


    Grant had figured out while fighting the giant javelina that the level limits set by The Path on weapons and armor were more of a hard cap than a soft one. Meaning a weapons sharpness basically became useless against any monster over the cap listed in its description.


    After flying a short distance through the air, the sword ended up hitting something before it rattled to the ground.


    After the impact of the sword, Grant saw the silhouette of the spider start to appear from the shadows. It looked like the spider had somehow been hiding within the shadow itself.


    [You''ve got to be kidding me.. this thing is capable of phasing in and out of shadows?! Is it some kind of ninja?!


    No wonder I couldn''t sense it earlier... If it''s within the shadow does it even count as being within our plane of existence?


    Shit Grant, that''s not important, be impressed later! Don''t get distracted! Focus!


    The only positive right now, is that it seems incapable of maintaining that power if it is somehow influenced by the world outside the shadows.]


    Once the spider had fully phased out of the shadow, Grant and it just squared off for a second. Grant was convinced that he was stronger and faster than the spider at the moment but he wasn''t sure if the spider had any other skills that would be troublesome to deal with so he just stood their waiting for it to make its move.


    [Well, I guess the only way to find out is to force it to use the skills! Whether it can walk through shadows, control them, or something else doesn''t matter, that ugly ass thing is going to die.


    I detest spiders with every fiber of my being!]


    For a few more moments, the two just stared at each other. Since Grant wanted to end this quickly, without waiting any longer, he made his move. He lunged toward the spider and attempted to slide, similar to how a baseball player would slide feet first into a base.


    His goal was to pass beneath its belly and get behind it.


    Before he could get close to it though, the spider lifted its leg and stabbed it towards Grant. The leg was like a small tree trunk flying at him so instead of continuing on his attack trajectory and taking the attack head on, Grant shifted his weight to his one good arm and using it and the strength of his legs, he pushed himself up out of his slide and jumped to the side.


    Grant realized that fighting in this confined space wasn''t going to make things easy for him since the spider could basically defend all directions with at least one of its legs.


    Knowing he needed to move to a more advantageous spot, Grant tried to taunt the spider to make it follow him outside. He knew there may be other monsters outside, but the sheer strength that both him and the spider had should be a deterrent to any intelligent creature.


    After going back and forth with the spider for a few minutes Grant realized it wasn''t a feasible strategy to lure the spider away, though. Every time he reached a certain distance from the spider, it would just start to phase back into the shadows in an attempt to go invisible.


    To stop the spider from completely phasing into the shadows though, Grant would grab whatever was within reach and chuck it at the spider. Flying cans of food, bottles of soda, and whatever else he could find would go flying through the air and strike the spider.


    Grant knew it wasn''t doing even a small amount of damage but it was enough to stop the spider from blending into the shadows and that was what was important.


    After a few failed attempts, Grant finally accepted that luring it out into the open wasn''t going to work, so he immediately refocused his attention on trying to fight the monster straight on.


    While dancing around to avoid the strikes of the spiders legs, Grant would intermittently try to attack it with his right fist.


    It was clear that he wasn''t doing any significant damage though and he was becoming more and more frustrated by that fact.


    None of his passive skills would be useful in this situation. Even the Blind skill from his tracksuit wouldn''t be effective since the spider had already entered its Path.


    [This blows man.. I need a new weapon... I should have used some of my random rolls before we started this little excursion... it wouldn''t be so bad if I could use both of my arms too...]


    The spider also seemed to be getting annoyed, because it increased the amount of attacks it threw towards Grant, and even started to try and bite him with it''s oversized jaw.


    Wolf spiders weren''t normally poisonous but they did have a strong bite because of their size so Grant had to focus even more to avoid danger. He might be able to survive a strike from the spiders legs, but he was unlikely to survive if it managed to get him between its jaw.


    After a few more exchanges of Grant dodging the spiders bite and legs, he started to sense something was wrong.


    The spider was becoming lethargic at a quick pace which made no sense for a monster of its level, but before Grant could move away to observe what was happening, a shadow shot out from under the spider and latched onto Grant holding him in place.


    "Shikamaru?!"


    Naturally unaffected by Grant''s little quip, the spider charged towards Grant with its jaw wide open, getting ready to bite his head off.


    "Oh shit! BLIND!"


    With a bright flash of light, the shadows holding Grant in place faded away and he managed to push himself back and away from the spiders'' bite.


    The spider itself seemed unaffected by the skill but thankfully the light created by the skill was enough to free him from the shadows that were binding him.


    Now that he had used the skill though, he would have to wait 24 hours before we could use the skill again.


    Which meant if the spider was capable of using whatever skill it had used, again, then he was royally fucked.


    Grant, at the moment he used Blind, wasn''t even confident that the light would be enough to cancel out the skill but he was even less confident that using the light from a Random Roll would be enough to accomplish what the Blind skill had accomplished.


    While taking a deep breath, Grant observed the spider intently, waiting to see if it would activate the skill again.


    While he was patiently waiting for the Spider''s move, Grant shouted as loud as he could,


    "RICHARD! Grab Robin and get down here right now! I need your help!"

 Chapter 23: Shadow Walker (Part 2)

    While waiting for Richard and Robin to show up, Grant made sure to keep his distance from the spider. He wasn''t sure what the requirements for that skill would be, but he didn''t want to take any chances.


    After waiting for a minute or two, Richard and Robin came running into vie. Grant circled around the spider so that he was standing between it and the two kids. It appeared as if the spider had noticed them straight away, but unlike in the break room, it made no attempt to attack them.


    The spider didn''t wait for the kids to arrive before it started to attack yet again with it''s jaw and legs. Grant made sure to avoid all the attacks while trying to maintain a safe distance.


    When he heard the footsteps approach from behind him, Grant glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the two kids were still okay.


    They appeared to be safe, so he quickly gave them a couple of instructions.


    "Richard, I need you to take your sister into the aisles to try and find some vinegar. The stronger stuff, the better. I need you to bring as much of it here as you can.


    If you can find a couple buckets or something to fill up with the vinegar, that would be great as well. But be careful, I cleared out a large portion of the zombies in the area, but I can still sense a few in the surrounding area."


    Robin, who was standing next to Richard was too distracted by the giant spider to say anything but Richard was able to respond with an affirmative that he had received Grant''s orders.


    "On it! Lets go Robin. Stay safe Grant!"


    Grant noticed that although Robin was following Richard, she seemed really scared. Whether she had arachnophobia or still hadn''t recovered from the trauma of the day, he wasn''t sure. Now more than ever though, Grant was happy that she was able to carry on with her tasks without complaining.


    Especially since he didn''t have any attention to spare for her at the moment.


    As Richard and Robin disappeared into the store, Grant once again took the initiative and engaged the spider head on.


    In the time it had taken Grant to instruct the kids, the spider appeared to have recovered most of its energy because it wasn''t as lethargic with its movements as it had been immediately following its use of the shadow skill.


    Grant wasn''t sure he could defeat it with just his bare hands, so he had taken the chance to give the spider some time to recover and hoped that Richard and Robin would come back with the stuff he needed.


    After a couple more minutes exchanging blows with the spider, Grant started to hear the sounds of combat in distant part of the store and couldn''t help but feel anxious.


    Grant said a silent prayer for the kids while dodging leg strikes from the spider. He was praying that the kids had leveled up sufficiently to combat any zombies or other monsters they came across.


    The sounds of the kids fighting made Grant wonder why the zombies remaining in the building hadn''t ventured towards the area that him and the spider had been fighting.


    The only idea he could come up with was that maybe the zombies could somehow sense that the two entities fighting in the area, mainly him and the spider, were far beyond their ability to contend with.


    Their was a glaring loophole in his theory, mainly that zombies seemed to attack anything unconditionally, but Grant figured now wasn''t the time to worry about that.


    It would also imply that some semblance of rationality or reasoning still existed in them which made him somewhat anxious because he had just considered them to be mindless walking corpses. If they managed to gain intelligence as they grew in strength similar to the monsters, it meant that they could become a serious threat in just a few days or weeks time.


    They did not need food, sleep, or anything else for that matter. So they would be an unending and constant threat.


    While being concerned for the kids, Grant continued his back and forth with the spider. Occasionally Grant would land a blow or two on the spider which was returned in kind when Grant happened to make a mistake.


    After maintaining a relative stalemate with the spider for 10 minutes, the two kids eventually returned to the area, both holding multiple large jugs of vinegar and a couple buckets.


    Seeing that the kids appeared to be fine, Grant let out an audible sigh of relief before he gave them another set of instructions.


    "Pour all of the vinegar into the buckets until they are full. Tell me when you''re done so we can get started with the next step!"Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    The kids immediately place the buckets on the ground and started to rip the caps off the vinegar bottles to pour their contents into the buckets.


    As the kids began to fill up the buckets, the spider suddenly started to look lethargic again.


    [Fuck, its about to use another skill!]


    Grant, without hesitation, turned and ran away from the spider. He wasn''t sure what the range of the skill was, but he could only hope he could avoid the skill long enough for the kids to finish the task they were assigned.


    So while the kids filled the buckets with vinegar and the spider "cast" its skill, Grant ran around like  a chicken with its head cut off trying his best to avoid being caught by the skill. Thankfully, in order to use the skill, it appeared as if the spider needed to remain still so he only had one threat to avoid.


    Sprinting around, Grant glanced over his shoulder and noticed that a shadow was following him around and slowly but surely getting closer to him.


    Knowing that it was inevitable that he was going to be caught, he made sure to run towards the kids so that whenever the shadow inevitably caught up to him, he would be close enough for the kids to do what he needed them to do.


    "KIDS!!! I NEED YOU TO HURRY!!!!"


    Grant was able to evade the shadow for another half a minute before the shadow finally caught up to Grant and firmly locked him in place.


    Thankfully, he had managed to reach the two kids and was standing almost right in front of them.


    Once the shadow locked Grant into place the spider finally moved, charging towards the immobile Grant and the two kids behind him.


    As the spider approached rapidly, Richard and Robin finally finished filling the buckets.


    "We''re done Grant! What now?!"


    "Throw them in the path of that spider! Now! Don''t wait!"


    The kids immediately shuffled their way next to Grant, and using all their strength, they pulled the buckets up and back before they threw the contents into the path of the spider.


    The spider didn''t seem to consider the liquid flying in it''s direction a threat, because it continued with its forward momentum. The moment that the vinegar landed on the spider though, it started to writhe in pain on the ground while screeching louder than Grant would have thought possible.


    "Don''t stop! Throw as much on it as you possibly can!"


    The kids didn''t hesitate to keep throwing the buckets of vinegar they had prepared onto the spider. Now that it was rolling around on the floor, they were able to cover it with even more vinegar than they had on the first attempt.


    The spider started to screech louder and thrashed around even more vigorously with each bucket of vinegar that doused its body.


    After 15 seconds of being locked in place, Grant was finally freed from the clutches of the shadow.


    The moment he was freed of the skill, he charged towards the spider.


    Since the spider was on its back from having been thrashing around, Grant landed on its stomach and immediately started to rain down punches on its sternum.


    No matter how much pain it caused him, Grant didn''t hold back and used both arms to punch the spider so that he could inflict as much damage as possible as quickly as possible.


    It seemed like the vinegar had managed to weaken the skin of the spider because Grants punches finally started to do noticeable damage.


    While Grant was in the middle of punching the spider, he felt the spider attempt to rotate back onto its legs, so he immediately reached an arm out to his left and right. In both hands, Grant grabbed a tight hold on two different legs and pulled as hard as he could.


    After a brief moment of resistance, Grant managed to rip the legs right from their sockets.


    He continued to pull the legs out until all of the spiders legs were now separated from its body.


    As Grant did more damage and the kids threw more vinegar, the spider slowly stopped moving.


    In a final move to end the fight, Grant moved towards the spiders head and stomped down on it with his foot, crushing part of its head.


    {Congratulations on killing Mutated Wolf Spider - Shadow Walker Level 26.


    You have reached level 24.


    Gained four status points to be distributed freely.


    You have absorbed +23 Strength, +54 Agility, +32 Health, and +49 Stamina.


    You have gained +100 Credits and 2 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.}


    Grant took a few deep breathes to calm down his rapidly beating heart and the searing pain in his arm that he overexerted.


    He had no idea if his plan would work but he was glad that things had gone in his favor.


    He didn''t know where or how he knew the fact that spiders were weak to vinegar, but he had never been so glad to know such random information.


    "Son of a bitch that was an annoying fight. Thank god that''s over...


    Are you kids okay? Thank you for your help. I don''t think I could have killed it without you."


    Turning around to check on the kids, he noticed that both of them had stunned looks on their face.


    Robin was the first one to react though.


    "Mr. Carrot! That spider was level 26?! The experience from you killing it managed to increase my level to level 15! Also, it gave me a ton of stats!"


    Richard followed up with a similar statement. Both of them had managed to get some experience apparently and also absorbed some stats due to their contributions in killing it.


    "How many stats did you two absorb from it?"


    Richard was the first to reply, "I got +15 across the board"


    "Same here Mr. Carrot!"


    Grant didn''t know how to respond because considering the level of the monster and the strength it possessed, they should have gotten more stats.


    [Maybe they didn''t get as many stats because they never actually engaged the spider in combat?


    I guess its already a good thing that they managed to get any experience and stats at all..


    Ah whatever, no need to think on it too much.]


    "That''s great for you two, I''m happy you managed to gain something from the fight. Lets go back to the break room and relax. My arm is killing me right now and I seriously need some time to let the pain recede."


    The kids readily agreed so the group of three walked back towards the break room and sat down to relax once they were back inside.


    Grant made sure to question the two on what happened when they were looking for the vinegar and Richard told him that the two of them had run into some low level zombies.


    Thankfully they were spread out and didn''t attack in a large group.


    Richard made sure to emphasize that he was the one who dispatched the zombies so Robin could continue to rest her mental state. At least for now.


    While they were resting, Grant walked out into the store to grab the bags he had dropped and store some more food and drinks, before returning and continuing small talk with the kids.


    As if waiting for things to calm down Sherlock finally broke his silence.


    {Congratulations on killing your first Enlightened tier monster.}

 Chapter 24: Return

    [What the hell is an Enlightened tier monster? And why the hell didn''t you answer my questions earlier Sherlock?! I thought you were supposed to help me?!]


    {While it is true that I am here to assist you, it is also your responsibility to grow and survive.


    From the moment that I discovered the monster I realized that it was a good opportunity for you to experience what a monster who has started on its Path would be capable of.


    To answer your first question though, an Enlightened tier monster is a monster that has started on its Path. Enlightened Tier is the first tier of The Path. The records show a total of five tiers for The Path.}


    [Five tiers?! How high does your level be to reach the fifth tier?!]


    {Level 500 is the beginning of the fifth tier. However, your level will continue to grow even after entering the fifth tier.}


    [That just seems unreachable at this point...


    Well whatever, that''s for future me to worry about. I just need to survive and eventually I will reach that point.]


    {You are correct. Nevertheless you got lucky today. That Shadow Walker was one of the weakest Enlightened Tier monsters I have seen in a long time. It seemed almost artificial.


    That being said, you did well in dealing with its skill.}


    [Well it was annoying, that''s for sure. Thank god spiders are susceptible to vinegar or things would have gotten hairy.]


    After going back and forth with Sherlock about the fight with the spider, Grant decided it was probably time to take the kids back to the house.


    They had already accomplished their initial goal of allowing the kids to level up and since everyone was tired from the stress of everything that had happened, they decided it was best to call it a day.


    Grant was also concerned about Ally. While she should be relatively safe in the house, it didn''t mean that it impenetrable.


    After packing up their stuff, the three got up to leave. Before they left the store though, Grant had the kids grab a few bags themselves.


    He had them walk around and restock on food and water for themselves and their mother. Grant had no qualms sharing his food and water with them for now, but he wanted to save as much of his stock as he could for when he ventured out on his own.


    Plus, if they brought enough extra food back, they would be able to eat as much as they wanted for dinner to celebrate a successful first hunt.


    While the walk back to the house was rather uneventful aside from the occasional group of zombies and a couple of mutated cats and dogs. Grant remained on alert the entire time in case another overly strong monster appeared.


    He was starting to get used to constantly being on edge, but it took a toll on him mentally.


    Richard thankfully decided to make use of the sparce monsters as a way to test out his newfound strength and gain a little bit more combat experience which Grant could avoid fighting the weaker monsters.


    As the group of three approached the house however, Grant suddenly started to get a sense of dread. At first it was subtle but it started to build more and more as they moved closer to the house.


    That feeling grew even greater as they rounded the corner and saw the house. The first sign that something was wrong was the fact that the garage door was wide open.


    Without waiting for the kids to catch on to the fact that something was wrong, Grant flashed into the open garage and noticed a body laying on the ground.


    While Grant was standing over the body, Richard and Robin finally realized that something was wrong as well and ran into the garage and stood next to Grant. Seeing the man on the floor, the two kids looked very confused.


    Richard seemed to be thinking through the scenarios of why the man would be there, but Robin instantly asked Grant what was going on.


    "Mr. Carrot, who is this guy? Why is he in the garage?! Where is Mom?!"


    Before Grant had a chance to reply, he had to quickly block Richards path because he had begun moving towards the door leading inside the house.


    "Stay here Richard. I will handle this. Stay with your sister and protect her. Close the garage to keep monsters from outside being able to threaten you."


    Richard turned and glared at Grant for a few seconds making it clear that he was not happy that Grant blocked his path. However, he was suddenly beset by a scared little girl which caused him to look away.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "Richie, what is going on?!"


    Richard retreated next to Robin and tried to calm her down. He told her that he didn''t know what was going on, but Grant was going to go to check on their Mom so all she had to do was stay there and wait.


    Before Grant could move towards the door, a scream from inside of the house.


    Richard and Robin both looked in the direction of the house and stood up to run inside but they were both grabbed by Grant and held in place.


    Feeling Grant holding them in place they both turned to look at him to ask why he stopped them but the words got caught in there throats when they saw the look on Grants face.


    The most terrifying thing about the look on Grants face was that his face was devoid of any emotion, it was a blank slate. But there was a fire so fierce burning in his eyes that they were afraid to look even look at him.


    Grant had always maintained a cheerful demeanor when he was around the two of them and made sure not to show any negative emotions, so the way he was now, was a massive shift in their eyes.


    "I told you two stay here. I will handle this myself. Do not come inside until I come get you."


    {Congratulations, Passive Skill: Terrorize has reached level 2}


    {Congratulations...}


    {Congratulations...}


    {Congratulations, Passive Skill: Terrorize has reached level 5


    Skill Type: Vocal


    Skill Tier: Normal


    Skill Description: Imbuing your words with anger will motivate the target of your words to execute your commands. The skill only effects those who are weak willed or those who are terrified of you. Will not work on anyone above level 25.}


    The skill didn''t take full effect on the two kids because they were neither weak willed nor terrified of Grant since they had spent so much time with him and had gotten to know him so well over the past day.


    But the sheer amount of anger oozing from his words was enough for the skill to influence them in a subtle way. They did not question him or move another inch forward.


    Seeing that the two of them weren''t going to move from their spots, Grant started to walk towards the door leading inside.


    He had already sensed the people inside the house with Overclocked Perception but he didn''t want to scare the kids so he kept his mouth shut.


    Grant walked through the door and down the hallway until he rounded the corner and saw the situation inside.


    In the living room were four men scattered around the room. One was rummaging through the cabinets, one was sitting at the table and the other two were sitting on the couches.


    Grant didn''t say anything at first but when he saw one of the people sitting on the couches, the rage he was feeling, increased exponentially.


    "What the fuck are you doing here Matt?"


    Hearing the voice, all four of the men in the room turned and looked at Grant. Realizing that he was an unknown, they all withdrew their weapons and squared towards Grant ready for a fight.


    When Matt saw Grant, he instantly turned whiter than a sheet of paper.


    "He-Hey Grant, how have you been? I''m glad to see you alive! Is Tres with you?"


    When the men realized that Matt seemed to know the newcomer, they all relaxed their weapons and dropped their hostility.


    Grant didn''t answer and just stood there staring at Matt for a few seconds before he asked the question he already knew the answer too but wanted to confirm anyways.


    "Where''s Jeff?"


    Matt seemed to squirm in place for a few seconds. Since he didn''t answer fast enough, some of the other men started to chime in.


    "Matt, who is this guy? Is he a friend of yours?"


    "If he''s a friend, you should give him a turn as well. But I still get to go before him!"


    "Don''t even think about letting him have a go before us!"


    While the three guys continued to prattle on and on, Grant never said a word and just stared straight into Matt''s eyes.


    With the commotion created by the three men going on and on, a voice rang out from one of the bedrooms in the house.


    "Will you guys shut the hell up! Its hard to concentrate with you guys making so much noise! I haven''t even gotten a chance to start yet!"


    Hearing the voice, Grant got the answer to his question.


    Not only was Matt here but Jeff was as well.


    "Boss their is a guy out here! He seems to know Matt! Matt looks like he has seen a ghost though!"


    A brief moment later, the sound of footsteps were heard coming down the hallway and Jeff rounded the corner a moment later and walked into the living room.


    Upon seeing Grant, rather than looking terrified, he looked at Grant with a smug yet excited look on his face.


    "Well look who we have here. I thought you were dead for sure Grant. It appears that I was mistaken though. I see you still have my sword with you. Have you come to give it to me instead of me taking it from your cold dead hands?"


    Hearing Jeff''s questions, Grant turned in his direction.


    "Hello Jeff. Nice to know you''re just as much of a piece of shit as I thought you were.


    I thought that maybe you were just a coward, but it appears you are much worse than that.


    I guess I need to discard my compassion in this new world if people like you are roaming free."


    "Fuck you man! You want to die here?! I would have let you join my crew if you just listened obediently. But since you''ve chosen to ignore me and insult me, I''ll cut off your balls, feed them to you, and then cut your head off afterwards!


    Before we get to that though, where is Tres? Did you run away when he came to help you? While he died in your place?"


    Hearing Jeff say Tres'' name brought Grant''s rage to yet another level. Losing control of his thoughts, Grant flashed towards Jeff and stood mere centimeters away from his face.


    "You do not say that name. Tres sacrificed himself so that I could live. He is worth a million of you."


    The arrogance Jeff was showing just seconds ago had gone without a trace, replaced by a fear so great, he instantly wet his pants. He was visibly shaking under the weight of the pressure that Grant was exerting on him.


    "I I I''m sorry for what we did man. It wasn''t anything personal! I just didn''t want to die!"


    "And yet, here you are, trying to take advantage of someone''s mother.


    I hope you have made your peace with your life because I will kill all of you here and now."


    Hearing Grant''s words, Jeff''s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out from the sheer terror.


    The other three didn''t know what was going on, but they certainly weren''t going to let some random young man kill them without putting up a fight.


    All three of them grabbed the weapons that they had just recently set down and charged towards Grant, screaming and yelling.


    "Fuck you kid! You think you can kill us?!"


    "Exactly! We''re all level 10 or higher! Their is no way you can take all of us on at the same time!"


    "And how dare you talk to our boss that way! Lets get him boys!"

 Chapter 25: Brutality

    Even with the three men charging towards him, Grant didn''t flinch. He just stood on the spot and watched them approach.


    To him, it looked like the three men were moving in slow motion.


    He never really focused on how other people moved during a fight because he never had a need too, but now that he watched these three, he couldn''t help but sneer at that their arrogance.


    [So weak. What gave them the confidence to think they could go around taking advantage of people? With their strength, it''s surprising they haven''t died fighting monsters.]


    While the three charged, Grant glanced out of the corner of his eyes to see what Matt was going to do. Not surprisingly, Matt just sat on the couch watching everything unfold with a terrified look on his face.


    His lack of action actually enraged Grant more than if he had moved to help them. These men at least tried to avenge their boss, but Matt just sat there like a coward. It was clear he understood that the three men didn''t stand a chance but the fact he didn''t say anything to try and stop the three men or save them was yet another betrayal he had perpetrated.


    In the split second that it took for Grant to check out Matt''s reaction, the men had finally reached him.


    Before the man at the front of the group could even swing his weapon down towards Grant though, Grant raised his arm up and slapped the man across the face without holding back in the slightest.


    The moment that Grant''s hand came into contact with the mans face, his head exploded like a watermelon being smashed on the beach. Blood, bones, and brains were splattered all over the wall next to the now headless corpse.


    Seeing the man in the fronts head explode, the two other men froze in terror.


    "What the fuck just happened?! Where the fuck did Jack''s head go?! I didn''t even see him get attacked!"


    "This guy is super strong! Fuck! Shit! This can''t be real!!"


    The man who had been following Jack in the attack, turned to run away at the realization that they stood no chance, but before he could even take a single step, Grant appeared behind him and slapped his head into oblivion as well.


    The third man managed to take a couple steps before his head disappeared from his shoulders just like the first two.


    Grant never once hesitated. He knew that he had been na?ve in his thinking before. In a structured, civilized world, his old faith in humanity worked just fine because they were restrained by the laws and rules that governed them.


    But now that things had gone to shit, people would inevitably let their inner demons run free. He wouldn''t be able to put his faith in people blindly like he did before and he would have to be vicious when the situation called for it.


    He would need to take time to judge people before he gave them the appropriate level of trust.


    After taking a few deep breaths to calm down his raging heart, he turned to face Matt.


    "Do not move. Stay right there."


    As if being struck by lightning, Matt just sat there with a dazed look on his face. Terrorize had taken effect instantly and unless he was somehow able to overpower the effects of the skill he would not move from his spot for quite awhile.


    Seeing the effect that Terrorize had, Grant looked down at Jeff. Since he was still passed out, he walked out of the house and into the garage. He rummaged through the cabinets lining the walls until he found some rope.


    The kids obviously noticed Grant but they didn''t say anything to him because he still had the same fire burning in his eyes that he had before he entered the house.


    "It''s almost over. I will bring your Mother out in a moment. Just stay there a little longer."


    After those words, Grant walked back into the house with rope in hand.


    When he returned back to the living room, Matt was still sitting in the same spot with a glazed look in his eyes to which Grant nodded, acknowledging the power of the Terrorize skill.


    Seeing that Jeff was still passed out, Grant walked over to him and tied him up with the rope. He made sure that even if he woke up, he wouldn''t be able to escape.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Grant wasn''t positive that the rope would hold, but Grant would be able to hear Jeff struggling free from the ropes and that would give him enough time to stop him from escaping.


    Once he was satisfied, he once again got to his feet. But unlike the other times, this time he walked back towards the bedrooms and started to look for Ally.


    When he entered the second bedroom, he finally found her. She was sitting on the bed, wrapped in a sheet with her back against the wall. She was staring at the door with a horrified look on her face. When she saw Grant walk through the door, the look softened slightly, but she was clearly still terrified.


    Grant didn''t ask any questions or say anything to her. He just walked to the closet and grabbed a pair of pants and a baggy shirt that were left behind by the former owners. Then he walked over and handed them to Ally.


    When she reached out her hand to grab the clothes, Grant could see her hands visibly shaking. Which made his heart tense.


    When she took the clothes from him, he turned around and walked back to the door. He stopped in the open doorway and just stood there with his back to the room.


    He wanted Ally to have some privacy but he also wanted her to know she was safe. After a few moments of silence, he finally heard her slide off the bed and start to put the clothes on.


    After a few moments, the noise stopped and Grant could sense Ally approaching him, so he turned around and gave her a small smile.


    "You''re children are outside. I will take you there. Please close your eyes though, I don''t want you to see what happened here."


    After saying that, he reached out his hand so that he could guide her through the house. She didn''t ask any questions and just gave him a slight nod before grabbing his hand.


    Hand in hand, Grant led her through the living room, down the hallway, and out into the garage.


    The two kids were overjoyed to see their mother alive. They both ran over to their mother and hugged her as hard as they could and then all three of them broke down in tears. The kids must have been terrified that something had happened to their mom and Ally was probably terrified that she would never see her kids again.


    [I will make those two idiots suffer until they pray for death.]


    "You three stay here, I will finish this and then come get you."


    All three of them just glanced at him and gave him a slight nod before continuing to cry in each others arms.


    Grant stopped for a second and looked up to the ceiling before taking a deep breathe and walking back inside.


    While he was walking down the hallway, he could hear Jeff yelling for Matt to help him break free from the ropes. Grant could tell from the tone of his voice that he was terrified.


    "Matt why are you just standing there?! Help me!!


    Fuck, I can''t die here!"


    After rounding the corner and reentering the living room, silence descended once again.


    "Why so quiet Jeff? When I first got here, you seemed to be so excited by what you were doing and the possibility of forcing me to be your goon. Where is that enthusiasm now?"


    "Please Grant, I''m sorry, don''t kill me! I promise I will never do anything like that again!"


    "You are right about that. But it''s not because you choose not too. It''s because you won''t be alive to even try."


    "You can''t kill me! It''s against the law!"


    Even in his anger, Grant couldn''t help but laugh at his last statement.


    "What law? Just like you were doing what you please, I can do as I please. The world as we know it is dead. That should be obvious by now.


    What makes you think you can do whatever you want when it suits you but other people can''t when its at your expense?"


    "I made a mistake! I''m sorry!"


    "It''s too late. You will die. And you will die soon."


    The more they talked, the more Jeff seemed to lose his grasp on his sanity.


    "Fuck you! I will fucking kill you!"


    "Now you''re finally showing your true self. That''s good. That will make this even easier."


    Jeff continued to ramble on and on in anger and desperation now that he couldn''t weasel his way out of the situation, but Grant just ignored him.


    Grant grabbed him by a knot of his hair and started to drag him towards the back door. Before he reached the door, he made sure to turn towards Matt and told him to follow them.


    Which he did without hesitation.


    [This Terrorize skill is more like mind control than anything. Damn, this could be useful.]


    After opening the back door and dragging Jeff outside, he waited for Matt to catch up.


    Once both of them were outside in the yard, he snapped his fingers in front of Matt to snap him out of the daze that Terrorize had put him in.


    When Matt snapped out of it, he immediately started freaking out. He could see and hear everything going on while he was under the affect of Terrorize but he had no control over his motor skills.


    Unlike Jeff though, Matt just stood there crying and shaking like a leaf in the wind. He could tell that Grant was serious and would not be letting them go, so he was trying to quickly come to terms with his death.


    Grant just stood there looking at the two men who he had spent some limited time with and placed his faith in. But knowing what they had done he didn''t even consider letting them off.


    When Grant withdrew Wet Noodle from its scabbard, Matt dropped to his knees and lowered his head.


    "I am sorry Grant, I regret everything. I wish I had listened to Tres when he said we should help you. I wish we had not abandoned you. Clearly I made the wrong choice following Jeff."


    "I will not forgive you for what you have done Matt. But I will give you a swift death. If you see Tres in the afterlife, tell him I will be forever grateful for what he did for me."


    As Grant''s words came to an end, a light flashed through Matts neck and his head separated from his body.


    Grant watched the life recede from his eyes before he turned to look at Jeff who at this point had completely lost his rationality due to fear.


    [I guess I don''t need to torture him. The sheer terror he is suffering from should have destroyed him mentally. Lets just get this over with.


    I need some time to rest and think.]


    Moments later, another light flashed and Jeff''s head fell to the ground before his body collapsed next to it.