~~~Stanley~~~

The siblings had just found the first monsters when Stanley caught up.

Eve stood between them and her brother and cut the charging reptilian almost in half with the chainsaw.

Stanley killed the rest with his spear and the bloodied piece of metal. She may have been able to deal with them herself, but Caffeine had squirmed free and jumped down to help. Stanley would not let Caffeine fight. Never, ideally, but definitely not when his attributes had to be at rock bottom numbers.

"Leave us alone, you fucking monster!" Eve looked more frightened than before... even Zeke looked scared. Though their souls still gave no clues that they hadn't already.

"I'm going to take you somewhere," Stanley said, watching nervously as Caffeine approached nearer to the spinning chainsaw. "Somewhere... safe. Well, safer, at least."

Eve killed the power, and Stanley didn't take it from her. Her voice took on a pleading tone. "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

"Your brother is too valuable to let you die out here like a moron... and you're too weak to protect him."

She really didn't like that. "I... you..."

"First, though," Stanley said, interrupting her tirade before it could get started. "I need to hunt. Which means you have to come with me."

Nate's stupid intuition likely involved saving Zeke. So possibly it hadn't all been a ploy to sacrifice Stanley's life... maybe. Only, if Zeke was so important… where the fuck was Nate during the fight? Why hadn’t he been there? Why hadn’t he prophesied himself to the truck stop if it was so god’s damned important!?

Either way, Stanley needed cores, and he'd prefer to meet Nate without such a massive handicap to his power. Just in case.

So he took them hunting.

It was easy enough to find the lairs with his new Soul Sight, though along the way he discovered the lair walls offered more of an impediment than non-lair walls. They didn't block his sight completely, only reduced the range he needed to see the souls on the other side, and not enough to really matter, at that.

Eve protested uselessly, especially when he ordered the siblings to gather cores for him. The protesting subsided slightly when he told her she could keep ten percent of what she picked up. But only slightly...

She was far too weak for all the complaining she did, but at least she seemed aware of her weakness. He saw the eager light appear in her eyes when he mentioned cores. Why she was still so weak after so long... he didn't know. He also didn't want to ask when he remembered her... circumstances.

There was some serious family drama in her life. Between the cult, her mother that she seemed to want dead, and her brother. Stanley didn't want to unpack any of that shit. Nate probably had some psychologists. Let him deal with it. He wasn't even sure if the mother was actually dead... though he was leaning that direction from Zeke's reactions alone.

As for giving up some loot, he'd make Nate pay it back ten times over. He knew the man would probably shove cores down Zeke's throat once he got ahold of him. Stanley was just getting a head start while bribing the duo into cooperation.

He found a warehouse lair and cleared it out with more difficulty than last time. He was really missing his Psionic Weapon skill. The so-called legendary skill did nothing better. He tried, too. Over and over. Tried to impose his will on reality like it said he could... with no success. Nothing more than he could already do before.

Unfortunately, this far out, the lairs were not back to back up and down the streets. It really put a dent in his grinding plans since he didn't want to leave the kids too far away while he hunted for the next lair. Obviously, Caffeine was all too eager to follow them around, but Stanley wasn't comfortable putting any pressure on the pug to fight. Not until his attributes were back up.

So he ended up gathering cores with them inside each lair, then flying everyone to the next and repeating.

It meant he got to listen to them jabbering. Got to learn more than he wanted to about their fucked up life. He also saw how much Eve cared about her little brother when she tried to comfort and encourage him. So she wasn't that fucked up...

The more tedious core gathering gave him too much time to think. Mostly about the night before... but also about Samantha. Zeke could heal corruption... if she'd stayed around a little longer... if Stanley had stuck around to ensure the cult's destruction... If. So many ifs. Too much of what could have been!

Gathering cores wasn't as bad as before. Now he could see the cores with Soul Sight, even through the corpses and walls. That made it faster, and also almost redundant to have the siblings tag along, but they still saved some time if he started at the end and worked his way back toward them. It took focus and attention to spot and grab the cores, but it wasn't the same as combat.

He got hit by a magic spell in the third lair and cursed his new skill for eating the old ones. Again. He'd gotten one day. Just one day where he could dodge magic... well, most magic.

Stanley was still loving his newest soul skill, and it leveled steadily since he never turned it off. Sure, there was the risk mentioned in the description, but the only thing that ever attacked his soul was the fuck he'd killed to get the skill. Better to keep it on and maybe see the threat coming...

Zeke sprinted to him while Stanley was cursing, and his golden magic preceded him. It was nice. Even if the pits in his flesh had already healed when the kid arrived. His purifying light also healed hunger, which was just a waste since it made Zeke tired and hungry instead.

Neither of them appreciated his offer to stick raw meat directly into their stomachs. Ungrateful, picky eaters.

"What happened to your eyes?" Zeke finally asked in the fifth lair. It was the first time he'd spoken to Stanley since the mention of the cult... and his mother.

"What about them?" Glowing eyes were pretty standard these days. Even Zeke's eyes glowed gold when he used his power... though it was hard to tell since the light also shone out of... well, all of him.

"When you... woke up, they were purple. Now they're black... and hard to look at..."

"Huh?" Stanley canceled his Soul Sight. "How about now?"

"That... that's like before. Was... was it a skill?"

"Yea..." Stanley reactivated it. "Hard to look at how?" He could see Eve shooting daggers at him with her eyes as she approached.

"I... don't know? Earlier... when we ran away... I thought you wanted to kill us." The volume of his voice dropped as he spoke until he was only whispering. "It felt really strong... like... you were angry... and you wanted us dead." Zeke turned away just in time for Eve to arrive and wrap her arms around him as he started crying.

Kids these days...

"What did you do!?" she hissed at Stanley, before speaking in a much friendlier tone to her brother. "Don't listen to him, Zeke. He doesn't know what the fu... what he's talking about!"

Her eyes promised murder, and Stanley stared right back. Try it, weakling.

Then he left the crying child to her and kept gathering cores. He considered the skill while doing so... They'd felt his anger? That seemed... broken. Other people got to sense his emotions through his Soul Sight, but the skill didn't let him sense anyone else's emotions in return? Talk about some bullshit...

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He'd really been hoping the skill would help when dealing with Nate, but now it would only tell Nate that Stanley feared him... though maybe feeling his rage for the man would help? Stanley still had plenty of that...

The next lair was underground, and Zeke made a great lightbulb in the dark tunnels. Still, it was worse than the above ground lairs in every way. Not only did the lair walls limit his Soul Sight, but the surrounding dirt added on its own diminishing effect. He bailed after dragging what he could from deeper in and went looking for the next one.

Stanley missed the lairs from the city... but he was very hesitant to go back there. Not only was he weakened, though that was changing, but he had Zeke with him. If the undead had set up in the city... then bringing their target to them seemed like a bad idea. Not to mention that he'd just killed one of their number himself. They might be looking for him... hunting him.

Once he was stronger, preferably E-grade or at least close to it, Stanley was going to try his new Soul Sight in the city. It might be just what he'd needed to find the bastards... Not yet, though.

Drop Zeke off with Nate. Get his attributes back up. Maybe kill enough E-grades to advance. Then fuck them all up! He might be close to escaping this place... to getting back to Lee... but it could never be that easy, could it? Not for him.

Something else changed as they hunted. Stanley could swear that each lair was more powerful than the last... as if they were growing before his eyes.

It wasn't dramatic. No huge leaps that he could point to. Just a feeling... Monsters that detected him from further away. Magic that moved a little faster and hit a little harder.

He started feeding half the cores to Caffeine. Just in case.

Stanley kept hunting through the day, despite the whining kids complaining that they were tired—they weren't even doing any of the killing. He hunted until the sun neared the western horizon.

Then he went looking for Nate.

They came in high, Stanley flickering his Soul Sight to pick out any potential hidden ambushers but also turning it back off because he didn't know what Nate's soul looked like yet. He needed eyes on him first.

Of course, the bastard was waiting for them. Standing in plain sight, front and center of their bustling new base.

His soul glowed with a variety of colors... one of the few that wasn't a single shade. It gave Stanley a feeling of strength... sturdiness... but not rigidity. He smelled like a tree... in a windstorm... bowing in the wind, leaning, but not even close to breaking.

It was strange... and the most convoluted sensation he'd gotten from anyone's soul since learning the skill. Though most of the souls he'd looked at were monsters. So... maybe he just needed to get out more?

Nate was smiling, and Stanley resisted the urge to throw his spear at the man's smug face. He yelled down instead, "What the fuck are you smiling about!?"

"What's not to be happy about?" Nate said. "You're alive! You killed the invader, and unless I'm mistaken, it looks like you found what we needed to survive."

Zeke was glowing with a golden light... Stanley frowned at Nate. "How do you know I killed one?"

"Everyone got the notification."

"Then how did you know it was me?"

Nate didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked further from his little base while waving for Stanley to come closer. Not at all suspicious...

Only the orange-haired dude went with him, James, and his soul matched his hair... It felt sticky, with a hint of... tree sap? Stanley couldn't remember if he'd ever seen that guy fight before. James was carrying a bag and Soul Sight told Stanley what was inside.

Cores. A lot of them.

That wasn't the only reason he descended closer, but it helped.

At the same time, it also didn't help. It was just another sign of Nate knowing things he shouldn't. A sign that he might have orchestrated everything to his benefit... though maybe Zeke could benefit Stanley as well.

Stanley took the bag. Dragging it up and shoving his hand into the pile while Nate continued talking at a much lower volume. "We all felt the power, Stanley. I know it was you."

"I still don't believe you about that," James said, looking back and forth between Nate and Stanley. "And how the hell is that Stanley?"

Stanley only watched Nate. Did he really know? His intuition? Or a bluff, a guess? He hadn't mentioned Stanley's new look... hadn't seemed to question his identity even a little. But then he could see Caffeine in his lap. That was a big clue...

"It's not a hard deduction," Nate said. "A wave of angry god-like power sweeps over us, and then we get a notification saying an invader is dead. If that was the invader's power, then I think we'd all be serving the undead by now and talking about how great it is to be eternal or some such bull."

Stanley shivered involuntarily at that horrifying vision.

"Put us the fuck down already!" Eve yelled. "We aren't fucking slaves getting sold at auction!"

Nate smiled. "I like this one." He waved. "Hi. I'm Nate, this is James, and you've met Stanley. Welcome to what I hope will be your new home."

"I want more..." Stanley started. Eve, and more so Zeke, weren't slaves... but they were valuable.

Nate held up a hand before he could list his demands. "One reason I moved away is to tell you about a lair I found. An E-grade lair... Also, I didn't want to out you as the source of that power we all felt."

"You found one..." Stanley didn't even hear that last part for a second. Then the words clicked in his head. Source? How did he know? E-grades... and he... Stanley wrapped his mind around Nate and lifted while his spear shook with pent up energy...

Nate was still F-grade.

He seemed unbothered by the manhandling. Psionic handling? "I'm still on your side, Stanley. I'm hoping that helping you get to E-grade first will help demonstrate that fact more than anything I can say."

Stanley stared at him in disbelief. Was Nate serious? He had to know the gap in power was huge... "Where is this lair?"

"James will show you. Since you don't want me too close, right?"

Was this another ploy? Was James a secret weapon saved for this very... Stanley shook his head and eyed the other man. "Let's go."

James sighed with a baleful look at Nate, but it didn't last. "Sure. Might as well carry me and get this over with faster."

Stanley did just that, carrying them high while Caffeine looked down over the edge of his knee and whined softly at the people left behind. "I'll bring you back, Caff. I promise..." The pug deserved some fun... he deserved everything he wanted. "I promise. Just let me get stronger... so we can be safe. So we can get back to Lee..."

He let James point him across the sky until they reached a rather normal looking warehouse. "That's it. Nate fought one outside, but never went further in. Said they're fast, strong, and have at least two types of magic. Something for bursts of movement, and another that's for cutting."

There were a lot of souls in there, and Stanley stared at them with a mixture of excitement and fear. Every fight with an E-grade so far had... not gone very well.

"Could you take me back first?" James said. "I'm not a big fighter, and I'd rather not get anywhere close to something Nate ran away from."

That was... "Fine." Though he highly doubted Nate actually had to run away.

Stanley pulled up his status on the way.

Status

Name: Stanley Cascade

Race: [Psychomancer](F-grade Human)

Titles: [Titan Slayer] [F-grade Source]

Traits: [Adaptable](66%) [Source Nexus] [Psycho] [Source Burned]

Class: Psionic (Rare) - Level 49 (Intermediate)

Class Skills: Mind Over Matter (Legendary) - Level 50 (Advanced) | Premonition (Epic) - Level 30 (Intermediate) | Accelerated Thought (Rare) - Level 22 (Basic)

Attributes:

Strength: 25(+30%)32

Vitality: 26(+31%)34

Dexterity 23(+30%)29

Wisdom 25(+614%)178

Intelligence 27(+613%)192

Willpower 45(+1513%)725

Twin-Soul ???(+9%)???

Non-Class Skills 1/3: Soul Sight (Rare) - Level 9 (Novice)

Buff:

Debuff: [Feeble] [Frail]

Not ideal. But better than he'd started the day with, and better than expected. His willpower was almost back to where he'd been before the source. He'd gotten a lot of the plus to all cores... The question now, was it enough to fight an E-grade?

~~~Steven~~~

Nefraxis paced.

Steven didn't watch. After reporting everything he'd witnessed, he kept his face to the floor and only listened to the indecipherable mutterings. Or the snippets that were loud enough.

"Calderon... dead... Source in an F-grade dungeon... Madness. Utter madness!"

Steven had gotten a notification right around the time Calderon died. One he'd ignored at the time in favor of survival, and that he still didn't understand. All about interference, boons, and dungeon difficulty.

He'd gotten a new notification just before Nefraxis started pacing...

Racial Quest Updated: [Establish an Eternal Stronghold]

Only one line had changed in the quest. The objective was no longer to establish a stronghold. Now it read...

Await Reinforcements.