Claire wrapped a bandage around his head.

“It looks worse than it is,” Clover said.

He was telling the truth, most of his wounds weren’t serious, and his HP hadn’t taken a major hit. With his new System enhanced physique, granted by his high Vitality, the scratches on his skin had already stopped bleeding. Still, he was mentally drained from his near-death experience. The backlash from failing to channel [Mana Bolt] through his golem had dropped an anvil of mental fatigue on his dome.

She hummed, wrapping the bandage around his head seven more times before finally stopping. Luckily since this was the greatest store of all time, they quickly found medical supplies to patch themselves up with.

He took a look in the mirror and cringed; the white bandages were so thickly wrapped around his head that he looked like a cross between a ninja and a big-headed alien. He scratched the edge of the fabric, debating taking it off. But getting rid of this monstrosity would be rude. It was kind of like when he went out to eat at Pizza Hut, and they messed up his order, changing it from a slice of plain cheese to a pineapple pepperoni. He hated pineapple on pizza, but he still ate it. This was a similar situation. Fighting monsters was one thing - talking to people was another.

“Stop judging my work like that; I’ve never done this before,” Claire said with a slight blush, making a karate chop motion in the air with her bandage-covered arm.

“Sorry, I was just adjusting it a bit. It’s perfect, almost as good as the nurses.”

“How is it perfect if someone else’s is better?”

He waved her away. “Whatever. You know what I meant.”

She smiled and went back to eating a bag of potato chips.

Besides, he couldn’t say anything; he hadn’t done a much better job bandaging up her arm.

With the System, he wasn’t sure if it was necessary to wrap up minor wounds like these anymore, but he figured it was better safe than sorry. At the least, it would protect against infection.

Plus, it gave them time to rest before completing their search. They had already walked or, in Clover's case, wheeled down most of the rows and aisles in the store. He was pretty sure he knew where the guns were – in the back of the store, on the right. Almost the opposite side they were on. The only problem was that the bone monster had scampered off in that direction, as well.

On a side note, if he saw another Bone Rat, he would be sick. A little variety in the monsters trying to eat him alive would be nice. Something like a Ravenous Raccoon, or a Scaled Squirrel; that sounded more his speed.

But he knew, eventually, he’d have to fight that monster again. He wanted to be stronger for next time. He had underestimated the difficulty of the task ahead of him. He had naively assumed that he could steamroll through monsters with magic. He assumed that whatever half-baked ideas he came up with would work on the first try. He had been wrong. He needed to practice more – he needed to try harder.

Clover took a deep breath; he was still alive. Clover knew he wasn’t a talented fighter. He was pretty much the exact opposite of talented. It was clear to him now that his path of fighting monsters would not be easy. But, as long as he was making progress each day, he felt everything thing would end up alright.

He'd learn from this loss and do better next time. Well, technically, it wasn't a loss. The Bone Rat had been the one to run away. But that was neither here nor there.

He had 5 Stat Points waiting to be used. He had forgotten to allocate them after his first fight in Walmart. That had been a mistake. If he was a bit stronger, he wouldn’t have had so much trouble with the monster ambush. In the future, he would make sure to not let his Points sit unused unless for a specific reason.

He put a point into each of his Stat’s that were still at zero, testing what they changed. When he increased his Myth Stat, he felt nothing. On the other hand, when he increased his Recovery Stat, his blood flowed a little bit easier through his veins, and he felt less tired. With the others, he couldn’t pinpoint their effects. It was hard to measure these things – especially with only a 1 Point increase.

The only thing he was confident about after his testing was that putting a lot of Points into Vitality would solve most of his problems.

Next, he checked his Skill Path’s Screen. He had 14 Skill Points – enough to finish multiple Paths.

Paths:

Track (0/5), Golem Creation (0/5), Mana Bolt (0/5), Golem Link (0/10)

He had unlocked 2 new Paths. All of them were strong choices, but he didn’t have the materials on hand to make another golem so, he removed [Golem Creation] from the running. His other new Path, Golem Link, was his most expensive Path to date. Which intrigued him. He opened it to receive more information.

*Path unlocked by a hidden synergy between [Track] and [Golem Creation].*

Track the tethers that bind you.

The Path was interesting, but he couldn’t justify spending 10 points on it. Especially, when that would mean he would be unable to finish the Mana Bolt Path. Still, it was interesting to learn that having Skills that synergized well together could unlock new Paths. He put 5 Skill Points into Mana Bolt. It was his main way of dealing damage and debatably his most powerful Skill.

The first page of the book of magic. Even an apprentice can cast Mana Bolt. How will you differentiate yourself?

Choose one: Charge or Barrage.

Charge: Increase Mana Bolt’s cast time to increase its damage.

Barrage: Shoot multiple Mana Bolts at once.

What was better: one powerful attack or two moderate attacks? He wasn’t sure. But with his luck and aim, Clover was sure he’d miss more often than not against a target that was actively trying to evade him, making Charge’s bonus a moot point.

Quantity can be a quality of its own. Unleash an unending storm of magic. +5 Mana.

Barrage: Unleash multiple attacks at once. Increase Mana Cost with each additional Bolt. Current limit: 2.

Clover’s bones buzzed as a wave of power washed over him.

Nice! Clover smiled at his new Sub-Skill. This would definitely let him fight more effectively. He went back to his Skill Path’s screen. After a moment of internal debate, he resolved to save his Points and wait till he could finish the Golem Link Path, since he was only 1 Skill Point away. With its sticker price and vague description, it must be powerful.

That's typically how these things worked. His skin tingled. Probably.

Additionally, as one last piece of good news, he had unlocked a new Skill with his fast and furious wheelchair driving maneuvers.

Driving Lvl 0 (Common) -

The need for speed. Passively increase handling and efficiency while driving.

Accept: Y/N?

[Driving] would be extraordinarily useful in the short term, but his concern was that one day, the Skill would become useless to him. He knew that he was putting the cart before the horse a bit. But still, it nagged at him.

Eventually, he relented. He didn’t have the luxury of crafting the theoretically perfect build. He accepted [Driving].

With their break finished, they departed. On the way, Clover periodically used [Track]. A fallen shard of bone - a tuft of fur - they were clues that helped make sure the Bone Rat didn’t get the drop on them again.

Coincidently, the trail of faint red footsteps led to the back-right side of the store – the same direction they were going. His rematch against the Bone Rat may come sooner than he would have thought. Clover kept his elephant-golem close, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

Outside, the faint rumble of engines and gunfire penetrated the building.

“Do you hear that?” Claire asked.

Clover nodded; something big was going down outside; it would be best if they finished their business here quickly.

Finally, they reached the gun section. Or more accurately, what used to be the gun aisle. A large sloping hole, 8 washing machines long, and 4 average-sized humans deep had swallowed up most of the weapons display. Overhead, a florescent light flickered dimly, casting a circle of light down to the bottom of the hole.

Down there, the hole connected to an expansive sewer tunnel system. Though, Clover couldn’t see much of it because of the limited light.

He squinted his eyes. Faint red footsteps led down into the hole, disappearing into the shadows of the sewer outside of the dim circle of light.

Claire began to quietly count under her breath. “There’s a whole bunch of Bone Rats down there.” A faint blue sheen reflected in her eyes as she used a Skill. “12, 15, 19, maybe more – they haven’t noticed us, or maybe they’re content to ignore us since it’s daytime. Either way, we should get what we need and get out quickly.”

Rats. Clover hated those bastards. They were ugly and smelly. And there were entirely too many of them. He knew his city had a rat problem, but he never realized it was this bad. Before the System had introduced itself, he had watched a news special where they had said there were more than a quarter-million of them in his small city.

Clover agreed with her assessment; he couldn’t see much down there. However, he occasionally caught a glimpse of white bone shifting unnaturally through the darkness. There were too many of them down there - he had no desire to fight a hoard of monsters. At least, that’s how he felt at the moment. Maybe in the future, when he was stronger, that could change. Who knows? Maybe it could be a good leveling strategy.

Pistols, shotguns, and more advanced weaponry were scattered at the bottom of the hole, inaccessible to them. Luckily, some hadn’t fallen – mostly small handguns and their respective ammunition were left up top.

Briefly, an image of Bone Rats learning how to use guns flashed through his head. He shivered,

Claire and Clover grabbed what they could and stuffed a generous amount of ammunition into their backpacks. In the end, he took two handguns and a clip-on holster that attached to his pants. He didn’t intend to dual-wield them; he didn’t have the dexterity for that. Plus, he needed a free hand to move his wheelchair. But, having a spare gun in reserve felt like a good idea.

He had never used a gun before, but from all the movies he had watched, he had the general idea of how it worked: point it at the bad guy and pull the trigger.

Claire pointed a gun into the dark pit. “We can do it now, right? We can save my brother?” She glanced at him. “You’re still coming, right?

“Of course.” Now that he had a gun, things should get much easier. He stopped himself from getting overconfident – he didn’t even know how to properly use a gun. He’d still have to be careful.

“He probably doesn’t even need saving. Let’s go.”

They moved down the walkway to the broken glass door they had entered – they hadn’t been in the store for more than an hour or two, but it felt like a whole day had passed.

He was tired. However, he couldn’t rest now. He had made a promise to Claire. He would help rescue her brother, only then would he rest.

They peeked their heads outside, careful to stay mostly hidden. Who knew what type of wackos could be roaming the streets?

A group of trucks had pulled up in front of the other half of the hospital and cleared away the rubble that had blocked the entrance. Small barricades had been erected, and the monsters surrounding the entrance had been slain or otherwise dispersed.

More than a few dozen people, some of which he recognized from the factory stood outside and patrolled the perimeter, carrying makeshift weapons. Meanwhile, other groups of people rushed in and out of the building, carrying hospital patients and medical supplies.

It was obvious that this operation had been underway for a while. Still, it was a surprise to see a group so coordinated. Clover had expected people to be getting in fist fights over toilet paper, not coordinating massive efforts to rescue the injured.

“Well, looks like we won’t have to do much. They already killed all the monsters. It’s a shame; I was kind of hoping to test this thing out,” she said, then tapped her gun. Clover wasn’t sure if Claire was joking or not.

A gunshot went off in one of the abandoned buildings flanking the hospital. There was complete silence for a moment as everyone snapped to attention. Clover tightly gripped his gun. A raggedy man sprinted out of the buildings, running from nothing.

“They’re coming!” he screamed, out of breath.