Stanley floated silently down the cold hall, the only sound was the pug’s nails clicking on the floor. He came to a stop at the end of the hall and looked out over the truck stop interior.

The shelves were lit by daylight reflecting off the patchy snow outside and in through the broken windows across the front of the store. The goods on the shelves looked mostly untouched. "Guess the looting hasn't started yet."

He glanced outside as he moved past the windows and saw a few people picking over the carnage. Stanley shivered at a gust of icy wind and looked away. Caffeine growled quietly at them. "Come on Caff." He said, before the dog ran over to smell them. "It's shopping time." The dog followed him towards the back of the store, only throwing a few glances and huffs back in their direction. A few minutes later he had a large backpack and had stuffed it full of food, mostly various flavors of jerky and energy drinks, plus some bottled water for the dog.

While he worked he had kept an eye on his resource bars, trying to gage how much it cost to carry himself around. It appeared negligible. Halfway through he realized that he wasn't even focusing on holding up both himself and the increasingly heavy bag. It felt almost natural, as if he knew what he wanted and his power just made it happen without conscious thought. "Handy." He thought. "Was it the Skill upgrade?" It was hard to say since he hadn’t done much flying before this as he hadn’t wanted to draw attention. Not much before that last night, anyway.

At one point, after he had eaten a couple pieces of jerky, the [Hungry] Debuff disappeared. He didn't notice any real change in his actual hunger level. There was no switch flipping, he didn't suddenly go from hungry to full, it felt normal, mundane. Aside from the notification popping into his head of course.

As he loaded the bag it became too heavy for him to physically lift and just trying to rest it on his shoulders made his back scream so he simply hovered it alongside as he moved around the shelves. "Stupid low stats." His jacket was to his surprise barely damaged but was as filthy as the rest of him and smelled of blood and death. A test of a faucet yielded no running water and he was unsure whether that was good or bad as the thought of a cold shower in winter was not appealing. "I have clean clothes in the truck." He noted but did steal a new jacket from the rack. And a new beanie, as he had no idea where his had gone and the cold was biting his ears and scalp a bit harder today. For no reason... He felt slightly better.

After a nerve racking trip to the bathroom, where he had been tempted to rip all the stalls down incase of zombies, but Caffeine’s relaxed attitude had calmed him enough. While he was in there he heard a faint whirring sound from somewhere followed by what sounded like cheering.

When he was finished with everything he could think of he headed for the front doors. Just before he floated outside he heard footsteps and turned to see the young woman and her brother moving nervously down the hall. She still had the chainsaw and when she saw him she twitched and pushed a button and the chainsaw started spinning. "Nice." He thought that might make a good weapon against the undead, though against the larger ones… she was glaring at him. He rolled his eyes at her and floated out the door and under the gray overcast sky.

Once outside he could see three men walking slowly through the gory ruin of the parking lot, heads down, searching for something by the looks of it. "Do the monsters drop loot?" He guessed it was possible but he didn't really care at the moment. He was scanning the rows of trucks and trying to remember where he had parked while trying not to look at the destruction, when Caffeine barked and went trotting off towards one of the men.

Three heads jerked up at the sound. "Don't worry." Stanley called, his voice a little weaker than he was used to. "He's friendly." He wasn't too worried about them, Caffeine could handle himself as he had shown the night before. "There it is." He spotted his truck and started over, but stopped almost immediately when one of the men yelled.

"Hey! Fuck off! These are our kills."

Stanley looked at him and then around at the strewn corpses. "Seriously?" Stanley shivered, some of them had obviously been massive. "It's fine now."

One of the other men spoke up then. "What're you doing Kyle?"

"Shut up Mike!" The first one yelled back at him.

"I don't have time for this." Stanley thought, and he didn't really care about the loot… he paused. "Maybe it could help with my low…" The first man spoke again. "So fuck off or I'll light your ugly little dog on fire and…"

Stanley turned back. "You have my attention." He saw the man in front of Caffeine stand up with one of the skeleton bone blades in one hand and a small fireball appeared in his other hand.

"...have ourselves a nice barbecue." He finished.

Stanley’s body shook violently when his eyes locked onto the end of the blade, where the pale bone was stained with the dark reddish brown of dried blood. Caffeine started barking at the man. Someone yelled. "Dude! What the fuck!" Stanley heard them but the sound was distant, far away, and drowned out by the roaring in his ears.

He was back in the dark. Helpless, cold and in pain. Lying on the ground as monstrous creatures loomed around him. Pale blades flashed in the moonlight. "No!" Hot blood dripped on his face, burning his skin. "No!" Every searing drop was accompanied by a desperate and pained cry of the giant pug standing protectively above him, shielding him with its body. "No. No. NO!"

A huge tongue slapped him in the face. Stanley blinked. A pug’s face was filling his vision.

Someone was screaming, their voice hoarse and raw. Only when he choked and gasped for breath and the screaming cut off did he realize that it was him. Strength drained out of him and he fell out of the air. Stanley landed halfway on top of Caffeine who had moved faster than he could track. His lower body struck the ground with a cracking sound and dull pain shot up one of his legs. He welcomed the distraction, any distraction from his panicked thoughts. He was sweating, his whole body was shaking and he couldn't seem to catch his breath. "I almost died!"

The sight of that bloody blade had brought the memory of the previous night back with a screaming vengeance. "I almost died!"

What had felt like a bad dream was now far too real, and looking at the aftermath all around him wasn't helping. He buried his face in the gray fur and threw trembling arms as far as he could around the oversized pug. Caffeine whined out a sad and worried sound while trying to twist around to look at Stanley without moving out from under him. Stanley could feel that Lee was awake now on the other side of the continent, feeling his panic and sending back his own. They were in a feedback loop. And he knew why his brother was awake and scared.

Warning (Twin-Soul)[Source] is burning your body and mind! -.1 All Attributes

A moment of panic and weakness and he almost killed them both. Again. He was scared to check his stats, afraid of just how close it was. Caffeine had managed once again to save him. It was too much. Tears burned in his eyes as the fear and stress bore down on him and he buried his face into Caffeine’s side as he fought against the shaking sobs trying to escape.

Then he felt something change as Lee began to calm down and he noticed that he could hear the oversized pug’s heartbeat. He pressed his ear against the dog and focused on the sound. It was a slow and steady beat, accompanied by the soothing rise and fall of his breathing. The sound of voices nearby came to his ears but they faded under the powerful drumbeat. Stanley’s shaking eased and his racing heart and panicked breathing gradually slowed to match the calm cadence of the dog and he very slowly began to relax.

After some time passed someone suddenly howled in pain and anger and Caffeine huffed. Stanley, his eyes now dry, sighed, squeezed the dog one more time and sat up. He looked at Caffeine, who was staring at him with his big, sad, brown eyes. Well one eye at least, he was still a pug after all. "Good boy." Stanley said softly.

The dog leapt to his feet while simultaneously shrinking down to his normal size, his tail wagged as he pounced at Stanley’s face. He couldn’t help but smile as he wrapped his arms around for a quick hug and some pets, and a whispered "I love you". Finally he lifted himself back into the air, mindful of his now throbbing ankle and looked towards the yelling voices.

The healer boy, Zeke, if he remembered right, was crouched next to one of the looters. His sister stood over him glaring at everything around her. She glanced at him when he got up but quickly looked away and instead glared at the screaming man further away. It was the looter who had threatened Caffeine. He was crumpled on the ground and his legs appeared to have gained some new joints with the way they were bent. "Good." Rage washed over him and he took a moment to breathe and calm down. "Don't need to kill him… he didn’t actually attack Caff… but still…"

Stanley floated over and loomed above him. The man had light skin under short blond hair. He was dirty and his jacket as well as his jeans sported multiple gashes and bloody stains. His head jerked around when he saw Stanley and their eyes met. The man choked on his next scream and started trembling.

"You threatened my dog." Stanley glared at him while fighting to suppress his rage. Caffeine stepped up next to him and growled a low rumble. "What do you think, Caff?" Stanley said casually. "Wanna eat him?" Caffeine ballooned up to the size of a horse and let out a deep growl.

The man shook, his eyes rolled up and he collapsed. A puddle spread out from his pants and Caffeine sneezed, shrank down, lifted his own leg and peed on the man's already dirty jeans. Stanley laughed, a little too much, but it felt cathartic after everything that had happened and now that the damned screaming had stopped he could hear the others talking.

"...didn't know. Honestly." The man was speaking to the girl. What was her name again? "We didn't know anyone was still here." He continued. The girl was quiet, looking at something in her hand. The boy was crouched next to the man, his hands glowing with a golden light and pressing against the prone man's leg. Stanley didn’t care what was going on and turned to go find his truck when he remembered something.

"The last…" The man stopped talking when he caught sight of Stanley approaching. His body shook once and he turned his head away, not meeting Stanley’s gaze. "Did you kill him?" He asked in a shaking voice. Stanley glanced around at all of them. Zeke remained focused on his healing but neither the man nor the girl would look at him.

"What?" Stanley said. "Oh him, he just fainted I think. Oh and pissed himself." He couldn’t stop a smile from creeping onto his face as he said the last bit.

The man sighed with relief. "Thanks. He's not a bad…"

"Don't care." Stanley cut him off. "What were you guys looking for?" He asked.

The man looked at the girl and she glanced briefly at Stanley before looking away and holding something out to him. "Here." In her hand was what looked like a small chip of broken glass no bigger than his thumbnail, its edges smoothed down just enough to not be sharp. Her hand was shaking...

Stanley reached out and took it and she yanked her hand away while still not looking at him but Stanley didn't notice. As soon as he touched it a notification popped up in his head.

Congratulations! You have found a [Core Fragment(Chip)].

[Attribute Chip(Common)](F Rank)

Effect: +0.1 - +0.5 Strength Attribute

Absorb [Yes/No]

"That's Interesting." He thought and selected Yes.

The chip seemed to dissolve into his hand and he twitched in surprise.

You have gained +0.2 Strength

He pulled up his Status to see what changed.

Status

Name: Stanley Cascade

Race: [Human](F Rank)

Traits: [Adaptable] [Source-Touched]

Class: [Psionic](Initiate III)(Rare)

Class Skills: [Mind Over Matter(Initiate III)](Epic)

Attributes:

Strength: 1

Vitality: 0.3

Dexterity 2

Perception 2

Intelligence 7

Willpower 15

Twin-Soul ???

Non Class Skills:

[Source Regeneration]

Buffs:

Debuffs:

[Feeble]

[Fragile]

"Huh? Strength didn't change?" He frowned. "Maybe it only shows decimals when it's below one?" He very carefully didn't think about how his Vitality was lower now. "At least it only went down by .1." His hand shook. "Damnit, don't think about it." He looked at the sitting man who was staring at him with wide eyes and Stanley realized that he was glaring. He smoothed his expression. "Breathe."

"Do they all drop these?" He asked.

The man looked away and jerked his head up and down in a nod. "I don't know." He squeaked out. "But I… I think so."

"Are they all Strength?" Stanley asked.

"N-n-no." He stammered. "There are lots of different ones." He paused, then blurted. "We already absorbed a bunch. Please don't kill us." He was sweating and trembling by then, though that may have been from a crooked leg slowly straightening itself under the golden glow.

Stanley sighed and turned to look over the dead monsters and his eyes landed on the big sphere that used to be a three story tall abomination. "That could be good…"

The injured man sighed and relaxed a bit as the boy finished what he was doing. The young healer sat back looking a bit tired before he stood up and took a step towards the other two unconscious men. His sister grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Rest first." She told him.

"But they might…" He started, but cut off when she glared at him. He ducked his head and his shoulders slumped. "Okay." He mumbled.

Her expression softened as she looked at her little brother, she sighed and wrapped her free arm around his shoulders. Her other arm hefted the chainsaw onto her shoulder. "Fine." She said, she glanced briefly at Stanley, not making eye contact. "But let's start with that one." She steered him away from the man with the wet pants. The boy's head popped up smiling, and he almost pulled out of her grip in his haste.

"The kid likes healing people at least." Stanley thought as he turned back to the now healthy but still filthy man. Caffeine was sniffing at his legs and from the man's expression it looked like he had seen what the dog could do. "Where do you find the chips?" Stanley asked.

The man looked confused and worried as he started leaning back away from the dog. "The z-zombies?" Caffeine was halfway into his lap now trying to sniff at his mouth while the man kept leaning further back.

"I mean do you have to dig it out of the corpse or is there a magic looting option or what?" Stanley asked, a bit impatiently.

"Oh, Um, sometimes it's in the head." The man replied. "Though usually they just fall out." He added. Caffeine settled down and sat in the man's lap and just watched Stanley.

"Fall out?" Stanley questioned.

"Well yea, it's weird but we found most of 'em on the ground under the head. It's like they dig their way out."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Really?" Stanley turned back to the sphere. "This better be good." Stanley reached out with his mind and grasped onto the ball of meat. "Oof." It was absurdly heavy. "Damn what did I do to this thing?" He tried cracking it in half and when that failed he tried just breaking a piece off. "That is definitely not meat anymore. If it ever was." He mused. "Underneath…" He thought. "Only one way to find out." He focused his mind on the sphere, both hands outstretched. He strained and managed to lift the thing off the ground. He got it a foot up and a few feet to the side before he was forced to drop it.

It slammed back onto and into the ground and Stanley gasped for breath as he noted that his Psi bar was down near half and his stamina was even lower. "That's not good." He thought. "I wonder what happens when stamina runs out?" His train of thought was interrupted when he saw a glint of light from the circular depression left behind where he had picked up the meat ball. What looked like another piece of broken glass, this one the size of his whole thumb and faintly but visibly glowing, floated into his hand.

"See? They just fall out sometimes." The man, still sitting on the ground with the dog on his lap. "Though I've never…" Stanley didn’t hear him, his attention wholly on the notification that had appeared as a smile spread over his face.

Congratulations! You have found a [Core Fragment(Shard)].

[Attribute Shard(Uncommon)](F Rank)

Effect: +1 All Base Attributes

Absorb [Yes/No]

"Yes!"

The feeling that flooded into him forced him to the ground and he barely managed to set himself down before he collapsed.

You have gained +1 All base Attributes

Debuff [Feeble] Downgraded to [Weak]

Debuff [Fragile] Downgraded to [Delicate]

He smiled and opened his eyes to find Caffeine looking down at him from inches away. He laughed and snatched the pug into a hug even as Caffeine barked and tried to lick his face. "Status!"

Status

Name: Stanley Cascade

Race: [Human](F Rank)

Traits: [Adaptable] [Source-Touched]

Class: [Psionic(Initiate III)](Rare)

Class Skills:

[Mind Over Matter(Initiate III)](Epic)

Attributes:

Strength: 2

Vitality: 1

Dexterity 3

Perception 3

Intelligence 8

Willpower 16

Twin-Soul ???

Non Class Skills:

[Source Regeneration]

Buffs:

Debuffs:

[Weak]

[Delicate]

"Finally!" He thought. He looked at his hands and while they were still old at least they weren't decrepit anymore. His vision felt sharper as well although he wasn't sure if that was from the Vitality or the Perception. He decided it was time for some testing. He floated up into the air and looked around at all the rotting corpses. "This might take awhile." It was worth it though, he needed to get stronger.

A surprisingly short time later Stanley was checking his updated stats.

Attributes:

Strength: 3

Vitality: 2

Dexterity 5

Perception 5

Intelligence 10

Willpower 19

Twin-Soul ???

Caffeine had quickly figured out what he was looking for and he could apparently smell them under everything else. With his help it hadn't taken long to find all the loot. Unfortunately he hadn't found any more Shards, only Chips and only two that gave Vitality. "It'll have to do."

Zeke had finished healing the second man that Stanley had injured and all of them were crowded around the final unconscious one. Stanley was starting to feel a bit bad about attacking them. Well, bad about attacking two of them, that other idiot got what he deserved. But they were all getting healed anyway, so with a mental shrug he turned away and headed to his truck. "One last thing before I go."

Turned out telekinesis plus a package of wet wipes gave a decent, albeit cold sponge bath.

Caffeine had himself a power nap curled up in his bed while Stanley cleaned up. When he was finished and dressed in clean clothes he cast one last look around the truck. It had come through the night unscathed, which surprised him a bit considering the wreckage outside. "I'll get you a new bed when we get home." He silently promised the dog as Caffeine stared up at him with his big brown eyes. "Let's go home, Caff." The dog climbed to his feet and jumped down to wait at the door.

Outside he found the young woman standing in front of his truck, chainsaw in hand. Her gaze was focused on her brother who was sitting on the ground nearby and chatting with the three people he had finished healing. She turned when he opened the door and waited while he climbed down. She backed up when he walked out from between the trucks and she wouldn’t make eye contact as she fidgeted with her chainsaw.

“Don’t worry I’m leaving.” Stanley said. “I…”

“Thank you.” She blurted, interrupting him. He closed his mouth. “Didn’t expect that.”

She shot a glance at him and went back to watching her brother. She said something too softly for him to hear. “What?” He asked.

“I’m sorry!” She shouted. Caffeine jumped at her outburst.

She ducked her head and finally looked at him. “What I said earlier… I shouldn’t have…” She looked away from him and around at all the zombie and skeleton corpses and shivered. “What you did last night…” She looked back at him. “So thanks.” She said quietly.

“No problem.” Stanley said while watching Caffeine stretch up against her and paw at her leg looking for snacks and or pets. “I have to get home.” Stanley continued. “Are you guys gonna be ok with them?” He nodded towards the three people her brother had healed. She looked at her brother and the people with him. “I think so. They keep going on about some Debuff that Zeke got rid of, miasma or something.” She looked back at him. “About you leaving…”

Stanley held up a hand to quiet her, his attention drawn to something in the distance.

“There is a…” She started again. He cut her off and floated into the air for a better look. “Something’s moving…” Stanley said quietly and she spun, the chainsaw starting with a whir as she raised it up like a sword. He flew slowly across the parking lot, Caffeine trailed behind on foot while the girl moved to her brother's side. All of them watched him and the area around them warily.

Stanley slowed his approach as he finally got a look at what had drawn his attention. A bone was rolling slowly across the cracked pavement. It was an arm or leg bone and from what little Stanley knew of biology, it appeared intact. The bone stopped rolling when he got close and he hovered in place while trying to figure out where it had been heading. Then Caffeine caught up to him. He sniffed the bone warily and his head snapped up, locked on something, and he started growling low and steady. Stanley followed the dog’s gaze into a row of parked big rigs, many of them heavily damaged in the aftermath of the night before. "Is that?"

He set himself onto the ground carefully, his feet finding purchase on the icy pavement, while he stared at the skeletal remains embedded into the front end of a semi. "That skull…" He mentally reached out and violently ripped it free of the engine compartment. Neon green antifreeze and bloody red coolant dripped from the skeleton as it hung in the air before him. An inhuman skull with only some of its spine remaining and one arm still attached, floated closer towards Stanley. "It is the…"

The fleshless boney arm twitched and shadows swirled in the empty eye sockets. "I am Defeated, human." The jawbone didn't move when it spoke but Stanley flinched at the sound. "That voice!" He was trembling now as he stared at the skull that he knew would haunt his dreams. "You have…" The raspy voice continued and the single arm moved slightly.

The voice was interrupted when Stanley wrenched the arm free of the skeleton, crushing and shattering it as he did so. His whole body was shaking now as he fought against the equal parts rage and panic that flooded through him. Caffeine leaned against his leg and whined up at him before growling at the skull. "Keep it together…" Stanley took a deep breath. The skull must have understood his tenuous mental state as it remained still and quiet until he calmed.

"I apologize for my rudeness earlier." The creature spoke finally. "I did not recognize your power." Darkness moved in its eyes. "Our Lord will welcome you gladly and with great rewards, if you would join us. Even if you must kill me and my brothers, our Lord will still grant unto you entire worlds to rule."

Stanley was caught off guard by the direction this conversation was going. Before he could think of a response it continued. "I was serious before when I spoke of your world being conquered."

Something must have shown on his face because it quickly added. "Not by us. But by the Civilizations." A sound like a sigh came from the skull. "No Dungeon world ever remains free for long and all the Sentient's end up enslaved or wiped out." Stanley was looking down at Caffeine who was sitting next to his feet and leaning against his leg. "Think about what…" The voice cut off with a crack as the skull imploded into tiny fragments and dust.

"No." Stanley whispered, his outstretched hand clenched in a white knuckled fist. Then he jumped slightly when a notification appeared in his mind.

Congratulations you have Defeated an Enemy Raid Leader! Contributions Earned. Class and Skill Experience Earned. Class Level Up. Skill[Mind Over Matter] Level Up.

[Greater Boston Raid Dungeon Alert]

An Enemy Raid Leader has been Defeated. Contributions Earned by participating Defenders.

Defeat or Drive Out the remaining Invaders to claim your Rewards.

"Holy shit!" A voice rang out behind Stanley but he was staring at the glowing Shard that appeared among the remains of the skeleton on the ground. With a thought it floated out of the bone dust and into his waiting hand.

Congratulations! You have found a [Core Fragment(Shard)].

[Skill Shard(Rare)](E Rank)

Effect: Attempt to Learn Skill: [Soul-Sight]

Absorb [Yes/No]

"A skill this time." He mused. "And this one is E Rank instead of F…"

Stanley ignored the people talking behind him, letting the reassuring feeling of Caffeine leaning against his leg steady him. Instead of just selecting Yes, this time he focused on the skill name, hoping to get more information.

Skill:[Soul-Sight(Initiate)](Uncommon)

The eye is the window to the Soul.

Allow the user to gaze upon and into the Souls of Others. Skilled Users may glean many details of their targets strengths and weaknesses. Masters of this Skill may learn everything about a target at a glance.

Warning: Attempting to use against a stronger Soul will open Users Soul up to potential retaliation.

Minimum Requirements:

5 Soul(N/A)[Adaptable]

"A way to gauge a monster's strength. Could be useful, and I'm guessing my Soul should be high enough." He chose Yes.

Knowledge flowed into his mind. Memories from the necromancer of using the skill to examine living creatures, examining them as potential future undead. Stanley staggered as the disorienting rush of memories faded. He opened his eyes to find he was on his knees, Caffeine sitting in front of him and watching anxiously. His tail wagged when he saw Stanley looking at him.

A strange recalling of a memory that felt natural, yet one that he knew was not his own, and Stanley activated his new ability.

Energy moved inside Stanley, it wasn't Mana because he didn't have any and it wasn't Psionic. It was something different, something his newly gained knowledge told him was his Soul. Or at least a very small piece of it. The small bit of Soul was channeled into his eyes and the world he saw changed, sort of...

Colors shifted in his vision, in a way he couldn’t quite describe. Caffeine standing in front of him, tail wagging, acquired an odd glow. The glow was diffuse and the edges hard to define, but it covered the pug in a faint sound of… happiness? "Odd." Stanley thought. He turned to look at the other people nearby to see if maybe it would work better on other humans.

His eyes were drawn to Zeke first, where a golden, warm, uncertainty emanated.

The man sitting on the ground next to him smelled like flickering red and black and glowed with sourness. "That doesn't even make sense!"

His gaze shifted to the sister. "Eve!" That was her name! She gave off an angry, electric color that smelled of hot metal. "What the hell?" He thought. "How does that help me?"

The man walking next to her as she approached smelled like a brick and glowed the color of a handshake. "Maybe it's broken?"

Stanley shook his head and deactivated his new ability. "I'll figure it out later." He decided as he got to his feet. Unfortunately the memories from the Skill Shard seemed to be only useful for activating the Skill, not for understanding what it told him.

You have Demonstrated the Skill [Soul-Sight(Initiate I)](Uncommon)

"Oh…" He was interrupted from his notification by someone cursing.

"What the fuck was that?" Eve yelled while glaring at Stanley. The man next to her was looking around wide eyed.

"What was what?" Stanley asked.

She just glared at him. The man next to her spoke up. "It felt like… well you know that feeling when it feels like someone is looking at you?" He didn’t wait for a response before continuing. "It was like that but so much worse." He shivered, his head still turning back and forth, looking for something.

Stanley didn’t look at the girl. "Huh. Weird. Wonder what it could have been."

Caffeine sat in front of Eve and wagged his tail while staring at her. Her accusing gaze shifted to the dog and her glare softened. Stanley looked around for his bag of travel supplies and when he saw it he lifted himself into the air and flew away just as the man next to Eve started to speak. "Sir my name is…"

The rest of what he said was lost to the wind in Stanley’s ears. He landed next to his backpack and grunted when his leg reminded him that it was still injured. His health bar had been at 90% after his panic attack but had been slowly ticking up thanks to his [Regeneration] skill.

He glanced at the healer. "Might as well be at full health before I go." He thought and headed over. Stanley settled gently onto his feet next to Zeke with his bag alongside him. "Zeke?" Dark circles around sunken eyes on a dirty face looked up at Stanley when he spoke. In the overcast daylight he looked much more worn down than he had in the dark shower room earlier. "I'm not the only one who had a shitty night." Stanley reminded himself. He lowered himself to a seated position next to the boy, while being mindful of his leg. "I can just let the regen fix it." He thought. Caffeine trotted up and looked back and forth between both of their laps before approaching the boy.

"Thank you for helping me last night." Stanley said softly. Caffeine crawled slowly into the boy's lap until his arms lifted and cradled the pug. "I know Caffeine appreciated your help." Stanley said.

"It wasn't enough…" Zeke's voice cracked and broke. "I'm too weak!" He sobbed. Caffeine whined and licked his face and the boy threw his arms around the pug and buried his face in its fur while his body shook with sobs. Stanley didn’t say anything. The poor kid probably hadn't slept all night and was running on fumes. Stanley reached out and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Eve ran up to him then. "What did you do?" She hissed.

Stanley just ignored her and levitated to his feet while she knelt next to her brother and wrapped her arms around him and the dog. Stanley looked at the three men standing around, looking zoned out, scared, and worried respectively, as Eve whispered in her brother's ear.

"I need to get going." He thought. "But first…" He floated up into the air. "I wonder…" He activated his [Soul-Sight] ability and looked around, trying to figure out if it had a range limit. He moved higher when he couldn’t spot anything, not forgetting to look up this time. He thought the clouds were faintly glowing for a moment but a second look after a jolt of adrenaline and he dismissed it. "Clouds don't have souls…"

Finally after gaining enough altitude he saw something a few blocks away. Little flashes of glowing movement along with the faint confusing impressions. He drifted closer until he could make out the human figures fighting against some zombies in front of a three story building. He did note that the zombies had souls, at least according to his skill, though they felt less... there. It was somewhat reassuring that if nothing else his new skill could be used as a monster and people detector, although he couldn’t tell if it was only line of sight or not. "Something to test later."

While he was watching he saw one zombie go down and another get sent flying with a distant boom. He didn't see any abominations or the faster skeletons, only the slower shambling undead. "Looks like they got it." He thought as he turned and headed back. Just as he was approaching the truck stop he heard a familiar sound and turned with a grin. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Everyone in the truck stop parking lot looked up when they heard a seagull squawking loudly overhead and then jumped when the massive bird slammed head first into the pavement nearby. Stanley settled down next to the crumpled body, watching with grim satisfaction as the glow of its soul faded. "Bastards!" He looked up from the bird and remembered to turn off his skill when faces blanched and recoiled from him. "There's more people over there." He said to them, while pointing. "A few blocks or so."

He turned to the dead bird and after checking under the head and not finding a Core, he mentally wrenched its skull open with a disgusting, wet, crunch. "Just another thing to get used to." He told himself as he fought against the nausea. "Whatever it takes." A glowing piece of glass fell out when the skull was opened and hit the ground with a ting. Stanley picked it up with his mind and was pleasantly surprised to find it clean and dry despite where it had come from. A touch of his fingertip brought up the notification.

Congratulations! You have found a [Core Fragment(Chip)].

[Attribute Chip(Common)](F Rank)

Effect: +0.2 - +0.7 Willpower Attribute

Absorb [Yes/No]

"I have enough Willpower for now." He mentally selected No and turned to the healer and his sister.

"Zeke." Two faces turned away from the giant dead seagull to look at him when he spoke, one glaring and one tear stained, both wide eyed.

"Here." He held the chip out. "Take it." He added when no one moved. The boy hesitantly reached out and took it. He flinched and then his eyes unfocused as he received the notification, before focusing back on Stanley. "There is a way to get stronger." Stanley said. "You will be able to help a lot of people and save a lot of lives." The kid nodded slightly, still looking unsure. "But make sure they help you too. Absorb it." Stanley said and after a second the chip melted into Zeke's hand. Stanley nodded and stood up. "Remember, don't let them take advantage of you." He said. He looked at the three men he had almost killed. "Don't owe them anything." He turned away and one of them spoke up. "We will help too."

Stanley ignored him and looked at Caffeine who was still in Zeke's lap and had managed to roll over and get the boy to give him a belly rub. "Need a lift?" Stanley asked the duo.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Eve snapped.

At the same time Zeke said. "Can we fly?" With a hopeful and excited look. Eve closed her eyes and Stanley hid his smile at her obvious struggle to rein in her temper. She took a deep breath, then opened her eyes.

"Where?" She asked with a sigh.

"Figured I could get you to the group I saw defending the building over there." He waved in the general direction. "More the merrier, and all that." She glanced at her brother, clearly thinking about it. "I'll just make sure they aren't psycho before I leave, okay?" She turned back to look at him. "About that…" She started.

He shook his head. "I have to get home."

"There's a wall." She blurted.

"A wall?" He wasn't sure what she was trying to say.

"Yes. A wall, a barrier, we can't get out." She said, "Something about a Dungeon."

Stanley was shaking his head. "Are you serious?" He asked. "No, you're kidding."

"Go see for yourself." She sounded tired, defeated.

"No, no, she must be confused." He thought. "We can't be trapped! Not after all that!" He thought back to the messages. "Caff, come!" He yelled. There had been a word in there. The pug rolled to his feet and both him and the backpack flew into the air towards Stanley as he himself took off and headed straight towards his brother thousands of miles away. He didn't spare a glance back at the people watching him go, all with various expressions. He only had one thought as he accelerated through the cold gray sky.

You have been conscripted.