Carter opened up the shop before he left the doors. He had one more boon to take advantage of before he made the mad scramble to get home. He already had an idea for what he wanted to get. His only goal was getting home to his wife, so he had already decided that he was not going to be stopping to fight every little thing on the way home. Typing into the tabs in the shop 'armor', Carter realized that he had severely underestimated the term 'armor'. There were what seemed like endless amounts of pieces listed. Adjusting the search criteria to 'armor sets' helped reduce the list by almost two thirds. Carter was not about to waste his one time free purchase opportunity on a single piece of gear.

The sets were organized by price and he was extremely disappointed in what he saw. The cheapest of which was a couple thousand points, while the most expensive reached into the several millions worth of merit. Unfortunately, while there was no level restriction on the gear, there was stat requirements. Currently Carter was only able to wear some of the cheapest sets of gear. He quickly decided that this course of action was going to end up wasting the opportunity he had been given with the minor boon.

Changing gears, Carter reset the store window and typed in abilities. Carter had no idea what most of the abilities did, but he quickly decided to rule out the cheaper ones. 'It may be naive of me but I have to assume the more expensive the more whorthwhile the ability.' Carter reasoned out to reassure himself that he was doing the right thing. He quickly realized that while he could purchase the majority of the abilities on the list, there were restrictions to learning them. Carter adjusted the tab to remove all the abilities that he was unable to learn.

The list remaining was daunting to say the least, but there was a single ability near the top of the list that seemed to reach out and speak to him. Shadow Stalker was just within his price range that the boon seemed to cover, which seemed to fluctuate around five million merits. The abilities requirements were simply mana manipulation, dark magic, stealth, and mana reinforcement. It seemed to combine the three skills and one ability into a unique ability that allowed the user to blend into the shadows. With Carter's goal to be able to get home as fast as possible and it being night outside, this ability seemed to be the most appropriate at the time. Going with his gut, Carter purchased the ability with his boon.

Purchase Confirmed... Calculating... Minor Boon consumed...

Ability Learned Shadow Stalker 1 Utilize the shadows to accomplish your goals. Increases through implementation and knowledge.

As Carter stepped out of the library, it was as if sound returned to the world. He did not realize how well the dungeon was blocking out the noise and sounds of the outside world. Before Carter left the lobby he had assigned his stat points and checked his 'Status'.

Carter William Hudson Level 3 Points Available: 0 Next LVL 52/400 Strength 10 Affiliation N/A Agility 10 Endurance 10 Merit Balance 400 MB Intelligence 5 Wisdom 8 Influence 1% Skills: Abilities: Unarmed Combat

2

Mana Bolt 1 Mana Manipulation 8 Mana Reinforcement 2 Stealth 3 Inspect 1 Small Blades 1 Shadow Stalker 1 First Aid 1 Dark Magic 4

Carter assumed the merit came from killing the hobgoblin. Looking at the amount it averaged one hundred merit per level. It was safe to assume that this equation did not hold up for every monster, seeing as the hobgoblin was a boss monster in a dungeon.

He decided to spread his stats evenly, focusing on the physical ones for now. He had a little bit of a run to get to his house and he wanted to be able to make it in good time. His house was a little over four miles away from the school. It wouldn't take him long to get home. With everything going on, Carter just hoped the roads were clear enough to drive on. It took him less than a minute to get to his car. Turning the key, Carter was halfway out of his parking spot before he felt his engine begin to rumble. A moment later, there was a loud scraping sound then a *womph* and the engine cut out. 'Oh for fuck's sake...' Carter thought. 'Hell of a time to have car trouble.' It took Carter all of two minutes of staring at his engine to realize that he had no idea what was wrong with it.

Never one to dwell on things he could not help, he took off across campus. When Carter was regularly visiting the gym, he averaged a little over eleven minutes a mile. When he told people he 'went to the gym', Carter meant once or twice a month when he felt guilty about how much food he had eaten the day before, and by 'eleven minutes a mile' Carter meant a single mile, and even then he was quite winded afterwards. Carter was hoping the boosts to his physical stats would help him get back to his house in a timely manner without to much trouble.

Carter was quite surprised with the results of his quick jaunt across campus. For one, he noticed quite a few cars were along the sides of the roads and throughout the parking lots. It did not seem to be just him having car issues. Carter also saw quite a few shadows moving around campus, unfortunately, the light poles were also out so it was hard to make out who or what they were. The only light he had to go by at the moment was what the moon provided. He couldn't be bothered to check them out though, he had only one thing on his mind and that was getting home.

Once he left the opposite side of campus, Carter made the decision to keep to the roads. It allowed him to keep his speed up without having to worry about stopping to go over fences and other obstacles. Hitting the roads, his speed was actually able to increase up to and pass what used to be his top comfortable running speed. 'I see those increased stats are paying off.' Carter thought as he tried to keep his breathing under control. Catherine had always been great at running, she had told him time and time again that it was all about a good breathing rhythm. Even with her advice, by the end of his gym mile Carter was always sucking wind, he could never get it right no matter how much he ran. Now, however, he was cruising up on a mile with breath to spare.

Around half way through his second mile out from the library, Carter was still working his way through the off campus housing apartment complexes of the University. He saw a group of shadows move out of a parking lot and begin to head in his direction. Carter decided that it was time to try out his new ability. He activated shadow stalker and instantly felt the difference over mana reinforcement. If mana reinforcement felt like a cool breeze filling his body, shadow stalker felt more along the lines of a taking in a breath then holding it. Carter noticed that mana he took in was tinted more grey-ish black then the normal blue color. Before he had too much time to ponder this new ability he felt it beginning to slip. ,Carter took off before whatever or whoever was pursuing him got anywhere near his location. He was around to corner of the next intersection before the shadows could figure out where he went.

Not for the first time had Carter wished that he could tell what time it was. He was less than a mile out from his house. Carter had to scale back his running speed a little over a mile back, he was starting to feel the distance and he wanted to be able to function when he got to his house. The whole time he had been running he had been hearing shouting, grunting, and what sounded like the occasional gunshot. Despite the sounds he was hearing, Carter took notice of how dark it was. None of the houses or street lights were lit up, the only occasional glimpse of light in the darkness came from several fires that had popped up around the neighborhoods he was running through.

Rounding the final corner that led to his sub-division, Carter began to feel the ground starting to shake. Except this time it was short and repetitive. Turning onto the street he lived on, Carter saw a massive shadow looming over the houses several streets passed his. 'The hell is that...?' Carter thought. Luckily the monstrosity was still quite a ways away from his house. It seemed to be lingering in the back of the sub-division and Carter's house was located near the entrance.

Now that he was in an area that he recognized, Carter was able to focus on his surroundings a little more. He could hear lots of activity in the houses around him, it wasn't long before his house came into sight. Despite the situation, there was something comforting about seeing his home intact. Carter had kept an eye on the massive shadow, it had moved closer for sure. Only about three hundred yards seperated the thing and his house, even with the distance Carter could tell that it dwarfed the houses around it. Carter figured that it's height was close to four stories tall.

Out of no where there was a flash over near the shadow's figure. Not even a second after Carter heard the crack of a gunshot ringing through the night. The shadow barely even registered the gunshot, it did stop moving however. It turned to face the direction of the gunshot and let out a roar that almost brought Carter to a stop to cover his ears. Before anything else could happen Carter made it to his house. Not even stopping to unlock the door, Carter used the momentum from his running and raised his foot, kicking in his door.

"CATHERINE!!! Catherine where are you?!?!?" Carter got out as soon as he was in the house.

"Carter?!?! Carter is that you? We are up stairs!!" Carter heard her respond.

Carter made a beeline for the stairs. Despite his urgency, he couldn't help but take note at how messed up the house was. The furniture was all over the place, and there was some kind of fluid on the floor. Coming to the top of the stairs, Carter saw the family pet Thomas standing in the bedroom door. Thomas had what looked like blood all over his mussel, but it had more of a black tinge than red.

"Hey there bud, how ya doing?" Carter said coming up short and speaking softly. Thomas had been the family pet for going on four years now, Carter had gotten him as a puppy for Catherine as a surprise dativersary present. Carter had always wanted a german shepherd and this gave him an excuse to get it. Seeing him in that stance with blood all over his mussel was definitely intimidating. Shortly after Carter spoke to Thomas, he heard a commotion in the bedroom behind him.

"Thomas move you big lug! You know thats dad!" Catherine admonished the ninety pound blood covered animal and shoved it out of the way. Before Carter could even get out his comments on Thomas, Catherine threw herself into Carter with a hug. Carter felt himself physically relax in that moment. It was like all the tension from what had been going on and not stopping the entire time had finally left him. He had finally gotten back to his family and they were ok. His moment of rest did not last long due to the sounds of the huge monster outside plowing his way through the neighborhood.

"Catherine listen up this is important. I need you to go downstairs and get the weapons from the safe. The rifle and shotgun will do and all the ammo that you can carry." Carter listed off. He had planned on grabbing as much as they could carry and heading back to the stronghold after the sun came up but the moving mountain outside threw a wrench in that plan.

"Alright, let's go Thomas." Catherine responded. Carter watched to two head down the stairs. Something about the way Thomas was acting was weird to him. Thomas had always been very protective of both Carter and Catherine but looking at them walk away it was like that had been completely focused on Catherine. Dismissing it as a simple curiosity, Carter had quite a few more pressing matters to busy himself with.

Moving to the bedroom he made a beeline for the walk in closet. Carter was neither ex-military or a gun nut, but he did own several guns. Most of these came from his younger days hunting with his family and friends. Growing up in a small town in the deep south, hunting is a large part of your life. Getting to the closet he saw that it was a complete mess, 'Catherine must have been huddling in here, while Thomas kept a look out.' Carter thought to himself. It didn't take long from him to find what he was looking for. His Remington Model 870 12 gauge pump shot gun sat next to the entrance with a box of ammo strewn around it. Catherine had obviously remembered what he had told her about using the closet as a safe room. She had always laughed it off when Carter would remind her every month or so about keeping the shotgun in the closet and how to operate it. However, with Carter out working at night he felt better knowing she had the option even with her scoffing at him.

Carter tried inspecting his shotgun to see if it gave any bonuses like the other items he had obtained gave but was disappointed. He didn't even receive a prompt from it. He grabbed his work out bag and threw in some extra clothes and the box of ammo for the shotgun in it. Grabbing the gun he left the room only to come up short. He saw a body of some kind of creature laying half in and out of the guest bedroom. He had not seen it due to the entrance of the main bedroom being at the top of the stairs. It was covered in fur and looked almost like a dog sized rat.

After a quick once over of the monster, Carter joined Catherine downstairs in the living room. She had the two guns out on the couch loading them in their carrying cases. Carter helped her load all the ammunition and gave her a quick run down on what had been happening with him. Catherine had no idea about a tutorial, all she knew was that she had been woken up by the sound of crashing in the first floor. Thomas had taken off from the bed and she heard him barking and growling at something. Assuming someone had broken into the house she had run into the closet to get the gun like Carter had told her to do. She had gotten half way down the stairs when she saw Thomas wrestling with what she later found out was something called a ‘Kobold Scout'. The creature had gotten free from Thomas when it saw her and chased her back up the stairs. She had been able to shoot it when it got to the top of the stairs which seemed to hurt it. It tried to run away into the guest bedroom when Thomas had caught up to it and attacked it till it stopped moving.

Catherine had only been able to coax Thomas away from the body by giving him some of his favorite snacks from the pantry in the kitchen. After feeding Thomas she had been prompted to accept him as her companion. She didn’t think twice about it and suddenly she felt a connection between the two of them. Thomas had followed her orders to the letter from that moment on. She had inspected the creature’s body and was granted the inspect skill that’s let her know it was a ‘Kobold Scout’. Shortly afterward the tremors hadn’t started and she hadn’t hunkered down in the bedroom with Thomas.

Hearing everything Catherine had described Carter was glad that Thomas had been here. He doubted everyone had been lucky enough to have a pet save them from an unexpected monster spawning somewhere in their house. ‘That would explain the distinct lack of people on the street and occasional gunshots and shouting. These things hadn’t spawned in people’s homes and within today’s society most people weren’t prepared to fight for their lives at a moments notice.’

The couple was interrupted from their conversation by another groundshaking roar from outside. It had only taken them a few minutes to get packed from the time that Carter had busted in the front door, when they left the house the monstrous shadow was cloase enough to identify now.

Mountain Ettin Lvl ??

Region Boss*