Clover inspected Bob the Elephant. In his tried and true scientific method, Clover poked the golem with his finger to determine its toughness. Before he had used [Golem Creation], [Hardening] had boosted the elephant’s durability to a level similar to a rock. Not a particularly strong one, though - more like a low-quality rock. The type you’d buy on a discount rack at Walmart.

Now, increased even further by [Golem Creation], Bob the Elephant felt like a bowling ball. Strong, dense, and durable. Clover didn’t think he’d be able to shatter the golem even if he tried. Maybe if he hit it repeatedly with a metal baseball bat, but the point stood – the golem was tough.

It was a massive improvement in durability compared to Mr. Cat. Part of it probably had to do with the elephant sculpture being Uncommon. Still, he liked to think that his direct involvement at least accounted for part of the improvement.

He made the golem run around the floor, testing the limits of its mobility. At his command, Bob the Elephant waddled forward on stiff legs. Even though the elephant-golem was multiple times the size of the cat-golem, it could move at a similar running speed due to its long, lumbering legs. While leaping, the cat still far exceeded the elephant in speed.

Probingly, he tried to control both golems at once. A wave of vertigo crashed into him as it felt like he was in three places at once - a shred of his consciousness in each. He closed his eyes and stood before the pale blue crossroads connecting him to his creations. Without opening his eyes, he moved both at once, trying to get a feel for the process.

It was difficult – like patting your head and rubbing your belly, at the same time, but with a growing headache, he was slowly adapting to the challenge.

Deciding to take a break before he did any serious damage to himself, he opened his Path Screen and checked it for new options.

Paths:

Tracking (0/5), Golem Creation (0/5). Golem Control (0/5)

Two new Paths had appeared, both costing 5 Skill Points. He could afford each of them, so the cost wasn’t a consideration. It came down to what would be most useful in the immediate future. He wasn’t sure what exact options the Golem Creation would hold, but he knew it would likely offer a choice between two Skills that would empower his golems.

Without a doubt, more direct power would come in handy, but that wasn’t his main problem with utilizing his Golems, at the moment. They were strong enough; he just couldn’t use them well, yet.

He put 5 Points into Golem Control - he didn’t want his creations to be bumbling buffoons.

Has there ever been a ruler who did not long for more control? Lead your golems with a deft hand. [Golem Control] Sub-Skill unlocked. +3 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity, +1 Magic.

Clover smiled at the visible progress he was making - it was a step towards a future he longed for. He was undeniably stronger than he had been yesterday. And if things went well this morning, he would be even stronger this time tomorrow.

He practiced moving both golems at the same time and coordinating their movements. His actions caught the attention of those around him even though he had moved to a less occupied area of the factory. Clover put on a show for the younger members of his audience. Before he knew it, a ray of light shone through the window. It was time to go.

Congratulations! Golem Control has reached Level 1.

Congratulations! Golem Control has reached Level 2.

Congratulations! Golem Control has reached Level 3.

Clover wheeled down the factory with his golems following close behind him. He checked his MP – it rested at about three quarters. Honestly, part of him wanted to wait till it had fully regenerated, but that would take too much time - by then, it would be too late for several reasons.

Firstly, there was a limited supply of monsters that he could realistically defeat. They would be among the first to disappear.

Monsters like the Level 1 Bone Rat wouldn’t last long. Whether, by monster or human hand, there wouldn’t be many left by the end of the day. Once the weaker monsters were gone, he’d lose his chance to quickly shoot through the earlier levels.

Second, he was making an assumption, but he thought it was fair to assume, that monsters could also level up.

These two facts taken in conjunction would mean that there would be a sharp natural increase in difficulty after the first few days.

Things should be fine if he left now, most people had waited for daybreak to venture outside, but as the sun rose higher in the sky, more people would enter the shattered city, increasing the competition and probably increasing the danger.

He had confidence that he could beat a Level 1 or 2 monster as he was now, but a Level 6 of a more dangerous variety would be too much for him to overcome.

Lastly, he had made a simple realization. If he was a higher Level, he could grind Skill Levels more effectively with his increased resource pools.

Of course, there was always the option of staying here for another couple of days and raising his Skill Levels. But he knew if he stayed here, his growth would stagnate, and cancer would take him.

All of this was a prediction, but he felt fairly confident in it – enough to bet his life on it. He had limited time; he had to progress quickly.

He stopped in front of Claire. Right now, she was completely focused, not noticing him even when he waved his hand at her. Her face was scrunched up in concentration as she read a book she had placed twenty feet away. From this side view he had of her, he noticed something. She had big ears.

“Are you ready?” Clover asked, quickly moving past his revelation.

Her head snapped away from the book, revealing a faint blue tint in her eyes that disappeared in a flash. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

He briefly explained his plan.

Together they traveled to the exit. Now that Clover had come closer, he could see that part of an office building had merged with the loading bay, creating a tunnel-like structure that jutted out from the door.

The entrance was busier than before, which wasn’t saying much. A few people tentatively stood around the exit. However, most weren’t willing to leave the safety of the factory, just yet. A man with a pistol guarded the entrance.

Clover rolled forward, then coughed once, clearing his throat. It was time to begin negotiations. “Can you open the door?” he asked politely.

“No. Sorry, Doctor’s orders. He said to not let anyone out till he got back,” he said with a blank look in his eyes; the boredom of guarding a door for 5 hours must have been getting to him. “Monsters could get in if we open the entrance.” It sounded like he was reading from a script.

Clover glanced at the elevator. Hospital patients had been trickling in all night, rescued by the search party up top. Who knew how long it would be till Doctor White got back? He didn’t want to wait. Would his courage hold out for that long?

“Look outside; the coast is clear. There aren’t any monsters.”

“I'm just trying to do my job. Why are you set on leaving, anyway? You’ll just die,” he said, clinging to his one source of normalcy and control left in this new world.

Claire cut into the conversation before Clover could respond. “You can’t keep us trapped in here – lording over the door like some poor guard dog. My brother is out there. He needs my help.” A small crowd gathered, listening in on the argument.

The guard's back straightened, and he shook his head as if he was just waking up from a long nap. “Don't say I didn't warn you.” He opened the entrance. “For what it's worth, good luck.”

After a short trip through part of an office building, Bob the elephant, Mr. Cat the second, Clover, and Claire entered a parking lot. An empty clearing of cracked concrete stretched hundreds of feet in each direction, only occasionally interrupted by an abandoned car.

He knew where he had to go; he had seen a Walmart sign dimly flickering less than a third of a mile to the east. It was only a couple city blocks away. Still, in the chill early morning air, that felt like an almost impossible distance.

His wheelchair bounced up and down as he wheeled through the broken parking lot. Finally, he reached the parking lot's edge and found an unbroken black asphalt road leading off into the distance.

On that pristine road, they encountered their first monster of the expedition. A large crow, with ice-covered wings the length of a street light pole, laid broken in a small indent on the sidewalk. It must have hit the ground at high speeds.

The city was eerily quiet. Last night hundreds of monsters had prowled across the streets, but now there were none. At least alive - he spotted a couple dead monsters scattered across the ground.

Trepidation briefly filled his heart. But as the warm rising sun shone down on his shoulders, he shook it off. For the first time in his life, he knew what he had to do. He wasn’t going to let a little fear stop him.

“You ready? We’ll try to avoid as many monsters as possible.”

Claire nodded. They moved as quietly as possible, sticking to the shadows. Not even a minute later, they met their next monster.

In an intersection, a giant brown snake hung heavily from a stoplight pole, fat and full, bending the metal under its weight. Toxic droplets of green liquid dripped from its mouth as it slept, melting the asphalt below it.

Toxic Earth Snake - Lvl 12

That was the type of monster that he had no hope of beating at the moment. Thankfully, they could ignore it. The bar it nested on was on the far side of the road, not in the direction they wanted to go.

A more intrepid adventuring group would have taken the snake's sleeping form as an easy opportunity for levels, but not Clover. He wanted no part of that snake. It was scary!

As they traveled, they had a few more close encounters, but somehow they had managed to avoid any fighting.

They hadn’t seen any other humans on their journey. Which, now that he thought about it, made sense. This area was filled with commercial business buildings. Not many people would be in that area around midnight when the System appeared.

With their journey of two and a half city blocks complete, they arrived at the store. Interspaced between two office buildings, Walmart stood proudly, looking very much out of place. The blue sign had fallen off the side of the building. Other than that, it was in good condition.

Just down the road, two blocks away, the other half of the hospital rested. It was wedged between a pair of buildings that had toppled over. A layer of rubble surrounded its base, forming a natural barrier. Which was fortunate for its occupants because seven Bone Rats loitered around the entrance, searching for a way in.

The placement of the other half of the hospital was convenient, but it would be a pain to get in.

“Let’s hurry up and get the guns; there’s no way we are getting in there without them,” Claire said, determination clear in her voice. Now that she was so close to her goal, she took on a new veneer of seriousness.

“Ya, let’s go before they notice us.”

A black cat made of wispy shadows scurried down the street, crossing their path, and then disappeared into a shattered building. Clover opened his mouth to ask Claire if she had also seen the cat, but she was already walking towards the building. He shook his head and then followed after her.

They carefully moved forward and entered the Walmart through an already opened door. If the door was open, that meant that there was definitely someone or something else in the building. They weren’t alone.

About half the lights worked, and of the half that worked – most had problems. Some flickered, and others glowed so dimly that they might as well have not been on. Honestly, it was a minor miracle that the building still had power.

The atmosphere was a bit too spooky for his tastes.

Clover searched through the countless rows of items, paying extra attention to the spots layered in shadow. He didn’t find anything concerning, but that didn’t mean he could let his guard down.

“Where’s the gun section?” Clover asked. He’d only seen Walmart through a tv screen before, so he wasn’t sure where anything was.

“No clue. I’ve never been,” Claire said as she picked up a metal golf club from a bin. The store really did have everything, exactly like in the commercials!

“You’ve never been to Walmart? Have you been living under a rock your whole life?” Clover said, aghast. Sure, he had never been, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t wanted to go. A trip to see the sights in the most American store of all time, aka Walmart, was actually on his bucket list.

“Metaphorically, yes,” she said, scanning the aisles.

“Ah, sorry, let’s work our way back, left to right. Eventually, we’ll find the right place.”

She nodded. “Let’s split up; it’ll be faster that way.”

Clover made a giant X with his arms. “Hell no, that’s like the number one way people die in horror movies.”

“I didn’t know you were scared,” her voice wavered slightly, revealing that she was also scared. “Fine, we can stay together.”

They searched the shelves, slowly proceeding deeper into the store – not finding what they were looking for. The store was too large for its own good. How were people supposed to find what they were looking for in this maze of a building?

After a bit, Clover felt lost. They were so deep in the seemingly endless rows of useless items that the soft sounds of the outside world had faded away, leaving the Walmart completely silent except for the fluorescent lights above low humming.

Something crashed against the floor two aisles to his right, making him flinch. Another crash followed shortly thereafter.

“Hello, is anyone out there?” Claire yelled.

Clover’s heart beat faster as adrenaline saturated his veins. Focusing on the sound of the object crashing to the floor, he activated [Track]. The Skill fought against his unorthodox use, but it caved to his demands – with much less of a fight than [Golem Creation] had.

Congratulations! Track has reached Level 6.

Strong red footprints or, more appropriately, pawprints led down the aisle and then off to the right. He signaled Claire to be quiet and to prepare for a fight with a flurry of random hand signs. She raised her eyebrows. After a moment of confusion, she somehow understood what he was trying to communicate.

“There’s a monster over that way,” he whispered, as quietly as possible.

Clover sent Bob the elephant forward with the cat-golem on his back, ready to pounce. The formation looked a bit funny, but in his testing, Clover discovered that it was highly effective. From a higher starting point, Mr. Cat could reach more targets.

Something rustled like a barren tree in the dead of winter to their right. He readied himself as the sound of dead sticks blowing against each other got closer.

They turned the corner, revealing a Bone Rat clumsily trying to put on a shiny bead necklace. Small strands of bone hung off its fur like icicles. Atop its head, a large crooked horn jutted out. He glanced at the blue box above it.

Bone Rat - Lvl 3

This rat was a higher Level than the first one he fought, but something about it was less menacing. Its mouth hung open at a weird angle, making it look equal parts menacing and stupid.

It stood twenty feet away, crouched on all four limbs, seemingly surprised to see them. This wasn't a threat Clover could take lightly. Claire breathed hard, once again faced with the type of monster that had almost killed her yesterday.

Without warning, the monster rushed forward, ignoring the pair of small golems standing between him and his prey. That was a mistake.

Clover took control of his golems, sending them into action. Clumsily, under Clover’s mental command, the clay cat pounced forward, faster than its small form would imply possible. It shot through the air, landing on the Bone Rat’s face. Sharp claws raked against the monster’s eyes, causing it to screech in pain.

Still, charging forward, the beast wildly shook its head, sending Mr. Cat tumbling through the air into a row of pots and pans. Quickly shifting focus, he took direct control of the elephant-golem and ordered the cat-golem to rejoin the fight.

Congratulations! Golem Control has reached Level 4.

Distracted by the pain and partially blind, the Bone Rat stumbled the slightest bit. That was all the opportunity Bob the Elephant needed to stop the beast’s charge. The golem was much smaller than the rat, but Bob was as strong as a boulder.

The golem charged head first into the Bone Rat’s leg, sending it crashing to the ground. In the process, the elephant was knocked over as well, but at this point, it didn’t matter.

For the first time, Clover unleashed the magic that was [Mana Bolt]. A baseball-sized orb of blue mana shot out of his hand, blasting into the monster’s back.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 1.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt has reached Level 2.

A layer of thin bone icicles on its fur cracked, absorbing some of the impact. Clover tried to ready another [Mana Bolt] but found there was a slight delay before he could use it again.

Before the Bone Rat could get up, Claire yelled and rushed forward. She slammed her metal golf club against its head – again and again, till it stopped moving.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Bone Rat - Lvl 3. +175 Exp.

Class: [Blank] has reached Lvl 2. +5 Stat Points.

They both breathed hard in the aftermath of the fight, both unsure if it was really over so quickly.

After a moment of nothing happening, Clover relaxed. He flashed Claire a thumbs up.

She responded with a smile. “Hell yeah! That wasn’t so hard.” They both laughed.

Her expression fell as they both came to the same realization.

Shit, did they just jinx themselves? Clover had watched too many movies to die to something stupid like this. His gaze hardened as he searched his surroundings. There may be more monsters.