Grant wasn't sure how long he ended up sleeping, but he felt mentally and physically refreshed after he woke up.

[Nothing beats a good nights rest, in a bathroom, on a toilet... I really need to find a better place to stay...]

Sleeping on the toilet in a gas station bathroom wasn't exactly the most comfortable feeling in the world, but ultimately, he was just glad that he had a relatively secure place where he could sleep, there were probably people all around him, hiding away in places where the idea of sleep could only remain just that, an idea.

Despite knowing that this place was safe, Grant also knew it wasn't a permanent solution. So, his first goal for the day was to start a search for a place where he could settle down, at least for a little bit.

Grant's goal was to find a semi-permanent location where he could stock goods and supplies that he collected while he was out training and leveling up. He knew as time progressed, food and other supplies would become more and more scarce, so he wanted to make sure he was prepared for that moment.

Plus, Grant knew that it was only a matter of time until camps or settlements of some kind started to appear in the city. Their was no way that people would remain hunkered in their homes forever and would be forced to come together with other survivors.

At that time he would look into different camps to see if any of them were worthy of his assistance. Although slightly cocky, Grant knew that after a few more days, his strength would be nothing to scoff at, and that would be invaluable to everyone who wanted a safe place to exist.

With a goal in mind, Grant began to gather up his stuff. After throwing his backpack over his shoulder, and checking out his carrot looking ass in the mirror, Grant prepared to venture out into the unknown yet again.

Grant could tell that at some point during the night, the rain had stopped and the wind had died down because he could no longer hear the sound of the wind or the pitter patter of raindrops hitting the ground.

With a smile on his face, Grant opened the door and took a step out onto the walkway.

He could tell that it was still relatively early in the morning because the sun had still not fully risen into the sky and was still half hidden by the horizon. The rays of sunshine that were spreading across the sky gave the morning a nice warm glow which was in stark contrast to how the previous day had ended.

[What a beautiful way to start day two! I wonder what today will bring..

First and foremost though, Sherlock, since Overlocked Perception is a passive skill, do I need to activate it, or is it always on?]

{Passive skills are exactly as the word implies; passive. You do not need to do anything for the skill to function. It will perform its described functionality with or without your intent.}

[And you call me a smartass.. look in the proverbial mirror bud..]

Knowing that he now had a danger sense active all around him, at all times, Grant started walking towards the minimart attached to the backside of the gas station with an even bigger smile on his face.

Before leaving the gas station, Grant decided that it would be best if he stock up on as many supplies as he could, so he broke through the glass door of the minimart section of the gas station and started to fill his backpack with as much food and water as it could hold.

Since Grant hardly noticed the weight of the backpack, no matter how much he stuffed inside, what ultimately forced him to stop his looting was that the backpack seemed ready to burst at the seams.

Obviously living in a major city, there were minimarts, grocery stores, and mega stores everywhere, but he wasn't sure where or in what situation he would find himself in during the next few days, so he wanted to make sure that he was well stocked and prepared.

While inside the minimart, Grant suddenly got the sense that their was danger approaching. Turning around to face the broken doorway, he noticed a group of zombies slowly trickling into the store, attracted no doubt, by the sound of the glass being broken.

[Looks like the skill actually works quite well.. I basically have a radar system now. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself.]

Grant withdrew Wet Noodle from it's scabbard and prepared to engage the zombies.

"Sorry zombie friends, it's time for you to move on to the next life!"

Unfortunately for the zombies, Grant was orders of magnitude stronger than when he faced his first one the day before and since he was becoming increasingly numb to the fact that he was killing former humans, it made ending their lives much easier.

Before they could even take a few steps, Grant had already launched himself down the aisle in which they were approaching and began to lop off their heads in quick succession.

{Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 4.} x 3

{Congratulations on killing Mindless Zombie Level 5.} x2

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

If a normal human had been there to witness the death of the zombies, it would have appeared as if an orange light had flashed down the aisle and passed by the zombies. But the symphony of headless corpses hitting the ground afterwards would have been a dead giveaway that something more had happened.

After disposing of the interferences, Grant decided to pause for a second and eat as much of the food and drink as much of the fluids left in the gas station so that he could avoid dipping into his new stash of supplies until necessary.

[I might as well take advantage of the situation, because free food is the best food! In most cases.]

While engorging himself on every piece of food he had loved as a kid, knowing that it was unlikely he could even feel sick from excess sugar or something like that, at this point, Grant decided to ask Sherlock a question that had been on his mind since the night before.

[Hey Sherlock, in my status, it shows my Overlocked Perception at Level 1, how do you level up skills?]

{Their are two ways of accomplishing that, repetitive usage or by spending credits for the next level of skill.

Of course, the quickest way to increase the level of a skill is through spending credits, but it is not recommended.

Repetitive usage is the preferred method of growth by the most powerful entities in existence because it allows the user to understand how to most effectively use a skill.}

[Figures.. It's like they say, hard work trumps talent when talent doesn't work hard.

Buying power can be considered talent, I guess?

By the way, what is the maximum level for skills?]

{It depends on the skill. Some skills have basically infinite growth while others have a hard cap.

Skill levels determine the potency of the skill itself, which means that the higher level a skill becomes, the more potent that skill itself becomes.

Almost all of the skills that have a hard cap are active skills. I will explain more about why that is at a later date because it does not affect you at this time.

However, most passive skills do not have a hard cap and can increase exponentially.

For example, for your Overlocked Perception Passive Skill: the part of the skill that is boosted as it levels is the range with which you can perceive danger. The higher the level, the larger the perception area. The range of your perception will not affect other entities on The Path unfairly so a cap was not necessary.

Their are ways to "upgrade" skills if you will. Once again I will refer too Overclocked Perception, being a Normal Tier skill, it is of course one of the weakest perception skills.

However, if you master certain aspects of the skill, an evolution of the skill can be obtained, such as Infinite Perception or Future Perception.

Of course that is the way to achieve it through hard work. You can always buy scrolls to upgrade skills with credits. As you said, buying power can be a talent, so the ability to buy strong skills is a reward for that.}

[Ah, yet another thing I have to work on.. this whole not having skills, really sucks you know? Where's my ability to fling fireballs? Raise spikes from the ground? Heal myself?]

{Not everyone is worthy of power such as what you mentioned. The Path does not give anything away unless it is earned. Do keep that in mind.}

While Sherlock and Grant had been chatting in his mind, Grant had wrapped up his mini feast and left the minimart. Since he didn't have any particular destination in mind, he just started to move down the road in whichever direction caught his fancy.

He wasn't trying to be stealthy or even hide his presence either, not only because of how difficult it was when he was wearing the tracksuit but also because he wanted to be attacked to test his new skill and improve his level slowly but surely.

That being the case, Grant walked right down the center of the road, which caused zombies and other monsters to come out in droves in an attempt to claim his life.

Knowing that the monsters that were attacking him were lower leveled, based on the amount of danger each were being represented with by his skill, Grant decided to use the opportunity to train in his swordsmanship.

He was constantly testing different grips and stances to see how each one would effect his ability to fight.

Having never even held a sword before The Path's emergence, Grant had to go through a trial and error to understand how to fight with one. Up until now, he had merely used basic attacks that he had seen in movies and tv shows.

So, while dancing around the zombies as if they were standing still and doing all sorts of goofy stances and sword swings, Grant started to dispatch the zombies in quick succession.

While he was seemingly fooling around, he was starting to carve a path through the zombies. It seemed like more people had been turned into zombies than Grant had anticipated because no matter how many he killed, they just seemed to keep coming.

After killing approximately 50 zombies with different sword styles, Grant received a pleasant surprise.

{Congratulations on learning the skill: Basic Swordsmanship

Skill Type: Passive

Skill Tier: Normal

Skill Description: Allows the users understanding of swordsmanship to increase slightly, while subtly influencing the users sword attacks to be more efficient. While using swords, the users damage is increased by 10%. Percentage of damage increase will increase with each tier.}

[Awh hell yeah! Who said I need to wait until level 25 and I started my Path to get skills?!]

With an excited look on his face Grant forged onward, culling zombies with even more efficiency than before. As the group of zombies began to decrease in number, Grant realized that he was close to a few local businesses that had some facilities that may fit his requirements for a place to call his temporary home.

Knowing that he was approaching his destination in just a few streets, Grant did his best to quickly dispatch of the last remaining zombies that were surrounding him. He had begun to get both mentally and physically fatigued after fighting constantly for nearly half an hour so he wanted to take a break and gather his energy once again.

The one upside to the constant fighting; he had managed to gain another level. The downside; other than the level itself, he gained nothing from the zombies.

Since Grant was surrounded by houses, he briefly considered breaking into one of them to have a rest, but he figured it was a bad idea, just in case someone was still inside. He didn't want to risk getting shot by a gun or something, especially since he wasn't sure how effective they'd be against his newfound strength.

After walking down the street for a little while longer, Grant saw a park not much further ahead of him. He figured it would be a nice place to sit down, relax, and have a little bit to eat.

{I would recommend against letting your guard down in such an open area. It makes you much more susceptible to attack.}

[You worry too much Sherlock, we have yet to come across any monster today that has been difficult to kill. Plus, with my new tracksuit, I doubt there is much that can harm me rig...]

Before Grant could even finish responding to Sherlock, he felt the entire park quake.

{Told you smartass. The monster that caused that, is already on the verge of starting on its Path. Good luck and try not to die because it's only 200 yards behind you.

This is what happens when you grow arrogant...}