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.

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!"