I looked down at my watch. 2:58 am.

Anxiety began to grip me though. What if they didn't survive? I couldn't help but think.

Thomas

Kevin had been driving for the past several hours. What normally would have been a forty-minute to an hour drive, was taking much longer as we slowly meandered through the wreckages of cars and trucks the provided the scenery for our midnight drive. We had already been on the roads for about two hours now. I looked down and checked my watch once again.

5:03 am.

The sun should be rising within the next half hour, I realized. Luckily we hadn't encountered anything too terrible on the drive. There had been an insane number of corpses and bodies littering the highway, an aftermath of the [Demon Champion]'s march from what I presumed had been Worcester. It was a surreal sight, and I could only hope that there were still a lot more people who were able to get away than compared to the dead we've seen.

Glancing into the back seat I noticed that Jackson and Rachel had both managed to fall asleep. The soldier was still unconscious.

As I studied the unwilling newcomer to our small band I noticed the name stitched onto his chest, Tucker, it read.

At the very least we know his name, I sighed. Turning back to Kevin, I noticed that he still appeared to be going strong. Luckily I'm sure we had at least gotten a few hours of sleep overnight, so we shouldn't be doing too terribly. Hopefully, Alex had managed to get something situated back at his place. I doubted anybody would be keen to travel for a while, so if we can somehow carve our own chunk of land to use as a sort of 'safe zone' and place to live, that'd be ideal.

Hopefully, the Demons truly had vacated the area and we'd have time to at least level up and get stronger. With how we were now, we might contend against small groups of the damn things, but nothing larger than that. We'd quickly get overwhelmed in all likelihood.

Looking out the window, the sun's rising soon became apparent, as a smoky twilight replaced the pitch-black darkness. With the newfound light, it became much easier to survey the surroundings. It was surreal. The sky definitely had a smoky haze to it, and looking around it was apparent that much of the surroundings of the path that the [Demon Champion] had carved was reduced to charcoal. What had once been buildings were only metal carcasses jutting from the ground. Anything that was flammable had long been turned to ash as the fires had slowly petered out. Though, on the horizon, I could vaguely see signs of the fires still spreading.

It looked as though the New England forests were going to become another casualty of this new war that humanity found itself in. In some corner of my mind, I couldn't help but think that perhaps I was to blame for the death of a countless multitude of people. What would have happened had I not beaten the game, had Kevin and I stopped playing it? Could we have at the very least postponed the calamity that came with the Demon's invasion of our world?

I knew those thoughts would lead me to a dark place that I knew I didn't want to be in. It was likely something that would prove to endanger even those surround me if I chose to give into that temptation. So, I had to quickly discount them.

After all, Astia had mentioned that the barrier protecting our world was waning and that it was likely that even without my interference, the world would have succumbed to an invasion within a matter of years if not months. At least this way we'll have a fighting chance though, I told myself as I pulled up my status screen.

Name: Thomas Parker [Genesis]

Tier 1 - [Juvenile High-Human Paragon] Level: 4 | Experience: 9.50 / 198.38

Race: High-Human

Titles: High-Human Paragon | Genesis

Health 184/184 ( +31 / hour )

Stamina 142/142 ( +27 / hour )

Mana 200/200 ( +31 / hour )

Attributes:

Strength: 26

Constitution: 22

Agility: 18

Wisdom: 22

Intelligence: 26

Unique Attributes:

Charisma: 9

Free Attribute Points: 16

Skills:

Appraisal - Level 1

Basic Sword Proficiency - Level 2

Basic Mana Manipulation - Level 1

Basic Elemental Affinity - Level 1

- Fire Elemental Affinity - Level 1

- Water Elemental Affinity - Level 1

- Earth Elemental Affinity - Level 1

- Air Elemental Affinity - Level 1

Leadership - Level 1

Paragon's Influence - Level 1

- Paragon's Tether

- Paragon's Charge

- Paragon's Bestowal

??? - Level 1

Free Skill Points: 4

If I were to compare myself to yesterday morning, it was obvious that I had managed to make leaps and bounds when it came to my attributes and skill set. Of course, only being level four meant that I had an extremely long way to go before any real progress was made. However, with my current stat distribution, it was apparent that my attributes reflected in some way an individual several levels higher than mine. The one drawback that I could instantly see is that more specialized classes could still overcome my strengths if they were focused on only one or two categories. The great benefit of the Paragon class it would seem is that despite being a 'jack-of-all-trades' it managed to pose an attribute increase that allowed it too far surpass what other classes were capable of.

That's also beside the fact that the class granted some unique skills, and the [Paragon's Bestowal] specifically was quite an interesting skill I'd like to explore. Last time I had tried it on Kevin it had failed to work. Now though... I had the sneaking suspicion that it would be successful. After the events at the Washington Bridge yesterday I was nearly certain that Kevin had at the very least demonstrated to the system just how close of friends we both were.

Looking at Kevin, I had to discount the temptation to activate it. For all I know the guy will end up unconscious. I mean, that's what had happened to me when I underwent the racial evolution. I guess I'll just wait until we get to my brother's place.

For now, though, I wanted to distribute some of my free attribute points. After all, that was definitely one of the wonders of my particular racial evolution and I wanted to take advantage of it.

After some contemplation and reflecting on yesterday's events it became clear which attribute I should invest some points in. While magic will surely become incredibly useful later, I simply lacked a lot of the skill set to cast it. While I was sure I could discover more magics all by myself with the help of some rudimentary guidance from the game, it would also take time. So until I was sure that we were safe I needed to invest my efforts into what would help more in the short run. After all, I can definitely level up much more later.

That meant that Wisdom and Intelligence were out. The more physical attributes were agility, constitution, and strength. Agility would definitely help my response times and increase my agility. Constitution just provided a hard increase in defense, while Strength would most definitely increase my damage output as well as have the side benefit of some physical enhancements. While not as much as constitution would provide, it was still sizeable.

I had 16 free points, but it would be useful to still have some in reserve, so, as I concentrated on my free attribute points a new window popped up.

You currently have 16 undistributed Attribute Points.

Would you like to begin Attribute Distribution?

[Yes] / [No]

I selected Yes.

Attributes:

Strength: 26 ⇑

Constitution: 22 ⇑

Agility: 18 ⇑

Wisdom: 22 ⇑

Intelligence: 26 ⇑

Unique Attributes:

Charisma: 9 ⇑

Free Attribute Points: 16

Looking at the list of available attributes to distribute, I was actually surprised as I had completely forgotten about charisma. However, again, it was an attribute that seemed to only really affect leadership abilities. So, while useful, it would need to wait. I quickly dumped ten points into strength. As soon as I finished I was asked whether or not to confirm the selection, and of course, I confirmed it. Instantly I felt my muscles begin to spasm slightly and begin cramping up. I was somewhat expecting it as I had felt some of it during my fight on the Washington Bridge, but the adrenaline had helped keep it at bay.

Right now, however, it was in full force, and it was largely uncomfortable. Having an attribute go from 26 to 36 obviously had its own set of consequences. After about a minute, however, the side-effects largely subsided, and, while flexing slightly, I could feel the impressive growth in my strength. I feel like I could probably lift nearly a ton, I was impressed. I was glad about the fact I didn't suddenly become a bodybuilder, but it was obvious that my arms had become much more toned and in fact looked absolutely solid. It made me curious what an attribute in the hundreds would do.

That contemplation would need to wait though.

I turned my attention back into the tree line. The sun was just barely cresting the horizon, and I could now see much further into the distance. I decided to then take the opportunity to survey the area.

After a few minutes, and despite the constant motion of Kevin's maneuvering, I noticed a blur of movement amongst the wreckage of one of the buildings coming up on our right. What had used to be a Dunkin Donuts was now a smoldering ruin, its only distinguishing feature being the large sign that was propped onto the ground.

I focused my gaze, and my eyes caught sight of what it was.

In fact, I was horrified by the connotations of what I saw. Casting appraisal I got its brief description, whilst, to my surprise, also managing to level the skill up in the process. The effects were minor but I could now see the basic info of the monster.

Skill [Appraisal] has advanced to Level 2

25 experience points received.

34.50 / 198.38 experience points until Level 5

Name: Juvenile Djieien

Level: 2

Health: 21/22

Info: A mana-touched earth spider.

"Holy Shit!" I belted out.

My reaction caused Kevin to swerve slightly as my sudden outburst made him jump, he quickly got the Humvee under control, but not before he asked me, "What the hell was that Thomas!?" he asked in reference to my outburst.

I only silently pointed to the building we were starting to pass, where a massive, and grotesque-looking spider had shown up. It was only as large as a medium-sized dog right now, but we have never seen something quite like that before. It was a pale gray and had hair follicles branching out from its limbs, with two very flexible-looking mandibles that were currently digging through the wreckage of the Dunkin Donuts. Just as we were witnessing it, the spider appeared to have found what it was looking for, as it pulled what looked like a human leg that had once been attached to someone's body. Now though, it was just a meal for the spider monster.

Luckily, from what I understood, Spider's don't have great hearing, and I doubt a passing vehicle would be enough to dislodge the Spider from its newfound meal. The implications of its existence were menacing enough though.

"I appraised the Spider Kevin," I stated to him in an almost whisper. "It says it's a 'mana-touched' spider from Earth."

Kevin just looked back at me, as the puzzle pieces began to form in his mind. "Wait... You mean...?"

I nodded. "Yep. That mana storm that came from the portals apparently is changing the Earth we know."

The reason we had come to this conclusion was evident from the simple fact that a [Juvenile Djieien] was nonexistent in the game of Holy Arc Online. Meaning it was an entirely new development. If the mana in the atmosphere was having this sort of effect on Earth's animals and plant life, then I had a feeling that soon enough Demon's won't be the source of our immediate worries. Things were going to get quite hectic. This silent understanding was shared between both Kevin and I as we continued on past a scorched highway sign, I could barely make out the words 'Welcome to Shrewsbury' before we took in the devastated area of Greater Worcester.

"Damn," I whispered under my breath.