16.

“Is that a robot?” Daniel whispered. Santi looked across the road at where Daniel was staring at. He could see where the other man got the impression. The rusting heap across from them was an amalgamation of parts. Cars, bicycles, copper wiring, and miscellaneous junk. All of it bound together in a creaking, lurching, mess.

Junkyard Golem lvl. 22

“It’s a level 22 golem. Thank god it's not a robot. You still don’t have [Identify]?”

Santi asked, looking sideways at the scout.

“No. Haven’t felt like using a slot for that when I have you,” Daniel said with a small smile.

“You need levels?” Santi asked. Daniel was the most private of the group, rarely if ever talking about his stats or levels.

“No. I’m maxed out all the way across the board.”

“These little ones will be good for the others. My sisters and Cameron need the experience.”

“What about your folks?”

“They’re not interested in leveling. After things settle down I’ll work with them. Get them higher up.” There’d be dungeons that could be mapped out, teams who could escort them and help them gain levels safely. If he could keep everyone alive.

“Can we get around them?” Santi asked after a minute.

“I can. Can you?”

“I can be sneaky,” Santi rebuked, putting his hand up to his chest, acting offended.

“Then follow along,” Daniel took a few steps and seemed to fade away. It wasn’t an illusion as much as his affinity softening the edges. Santi could see that there were a few skills in play too, though he couldn’t tell which ones.

Santi followed behind Daniel, his advanced perception stats allowing him to keep track of him. It was difficult though. Daniel had to be using at least three skills to be able to perform this level of stealth. It did make him a bit worried about Daniel’s level of ability to actually kill things. His stats were likely to be distributed amongst his perception, willpower, mana, and dexterity.

They worked their way around the edges of the distribution center. Tall chain link fences had encircled the large industrial scale buildings. Most of the fence materials looked like they had been looted. He had a feeling some of those scrap golems had chain link fences in them.

The distribution center was near the edge of town in the industrial center. There were no houses and the roads were built wide for the eighteen wheelers. The massive scale of all the buildings had an intimidation element to them. Nearly three stories tall and each one dominating the length of a city block.

The building that Marisol wanted to raid was in the center of the industrial district. Which was a bit of a problem with all of the walking scrap heaps roaming around. Daniel could slink along invisible, but Santi had to be a bit more discreet. Moving from patch of shadow to patch of shadow, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at the ease in which Daniel was able to sneak.

Ducking past the few dangling links, they worked their way down an alleyway and kept moving. Santi counted the scrap heaps, the scores of them that lumbered around on their rusted metal legs that screeched with every step. A few cans of lubricant were needed.

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Most of their levels were around the peak of Initiate. While they were strong opponents, none of them were strong enough to rip apart the scavenger teams. They were missing something.

It took an hour of slinking to make it two blocks. The sun was rising, breaking apart their cover. Santi army crawled underneath an abandoned trailer for an eighteen wheeler in the loading bay of the target building. Daniel had disappeared somewhere ahead of him, slinking into the building through an open door. Well, it was a hole where a door had been.

Santi rose to a crouch and looked up over his head to the rolling metal door that sealed off the loading bay. The metal door was all busted and dented up leaving a gap where the door met the floor. Santi jumped and grabbed the lip of the ledge with ease. It was trivial how easy it was to pull himself up and into the dark building.

Polished concrete was smooth under his hands as he rolled under the door and came up into a crouch. His morph weapon transformed into a saber as he took in the building. Pallets of packaged goods had been tipped over. Crushed boxes of chips, crackers, and others were shoved into corners. Broken pallet boards had been thrown around in a spray of detritus.

Metal Golem lvl. 27

That would wreck the scavenging crew for sure. The other six golems that were clustered around the area were a bit hair-raising. All of them were roughly the same level and Santi didn’t want to get in a fight with all seven of them at the same time. None of them had moved since he had rolled into the warehouse. They simply sat in the dark like mountains of metal.

Santi looked them over and didn’t feel overly threatened by them. They were a steep step up from the rusting heaps outside, but they weren’t premier. Copper, bronze, and iron looked to be the primary metals in their construction.

It was hard to tell their height with them sitting hunched down like they were, but he had to guess they were close to nine feet tall. They had four arms, two on each side, with seven fingered hands with slender fingers. There was no apparent head, just a primary torso. It was propped up on four stubby legs and they all just sat there without moving.

The air was still and there was a thinness to the world around him. A distinct lack of potential. The rift was here in the actual warehouse. Santi backed out silently, rolling back under the door and falling to the loading ramp easily. Santi started to work his way back and out, trusting that Daneil would make his way back.

WIth his current skills, he couldn’t get past the static sentinels without turning the entire area into a warzone. He didn’t think he would have trouble fighting his way into the rift, but this was too good of an opportunity for everyone else.

Last night's hunt hadn’t netted much in the way of levels for the girls and Chloe needed a metal to advance her affinity. It was a gift wrapped opportunity for them. It took four hours for him to leave the area. The rising sun had rid the area of all the available cover and it made it slightly harder to work his way around the patrols.

The better light let him see the rusting heaps better. Each one looked like it had been built by a drunk mechanic that had taken a hard dislike for symmetry. Some rolled along on a single wheel, some scurried on spider legs, though most walked around on bipedal legs.

He counted nearly thirty of the golems on this side alone. They had been stripping the local area of every metal they could find. Santi could see that every building had holes in them, often golem shaped. He poked his head into a few of them and stared at the gutted remains.

Walls had been broken into and wiring ripped out. Sinks dismantled, refrigerators stolen, and not a single A/C unit to be found. The junk part of their name was very well earned it seemed.

Santi walked a block away, keeping alert for any changes around him. With the boost to his stats and his evolution his sphere of omniscience had increased to ten feet. It was a bit of a challenge to process all of the extra data. Its why he almost missed it.

A change in pressure in the building he was standing in. Santi spun and his weapon became a long spear that he stabbed at a plain wall. The spear pierced straight through the drywall and out the other side.

“Careful, you almost stabbed me,” Daniel deadpanned. The spear was an inch from his head. Santi forced his heart rate to calm down, as he stared at the rather calm man. His dark eyes didn’t even hold a hint of concern.

“That was stupid. Don’t sneak up on me.”

“That’s my bad. I apologize.” Daniel bowed his head in apology. Santi let the weapon slither back up his arm as he backed away from the other man.

“What did you see?”

“Lots of those metal golems. A tear in the space time continuum in the middle of the building. Lots and lots of those golems.”

“How many is lots and lots?”

“Probably twenty or so.”

“That means we need you all to evolve. I can’t fight them all. Well, maybe I could.”

“No need to brag, Santiago. I’ll tell your Mom.”

“Ok, ground rules for exploring and doing stuff together. No matter what happens or what we do, we don’t tell on me.”