The closer I get the worse it seems…. Although the only part of Napa that seems to really be blazing is the residential area, there are pockets of smoke rising from everywhere else…. So it won’t be long until the whole city is up in flames… And that's all I can tell from a distance, up close it must be hellish….

Sweet, guess i’m going in.

Before I could enter Napa, I was accosted by a couple of people asking for help or whatever. I didn’t plan to help them or anything, but I still followed them to their temporary base as they had called it. For all I know all of the citizens could have already vacated so I need to get all the info I can before I go to take in the sights of Napa!

Those that had actually managed to evacuate the city seemed to be in worse condition than even the students in the gymnasium….. Everywhere I looked were people lying on makeshift beds screaming in agony while family and loved ones tried their best to ease their suffering. Many also had most of their clothing removed showing the vicious burns covering a good portion of their bodies….. I may not be a doctor but even I know that much burn damage can be fatal…. How bad were they hit for so many people to not be able to escape the fires in time?

Besides the burn victims, there was also an entire section dedicated to people with nasty bite wounds….. Where have I seen that before?

Before I could think of the reference, one of the bite survivors lunged for the closest nurse prompting himself a bullet straight through the cranium…. Holy shit that was intense! Why did they do that? Is there some sort of no violence policy that i’m not aware of? Oh fuck i’m holding a spear too, whats that say about me!?!?

Seeing my panic, my guides turn their gloomy expressions to me before explaining the situation…..

“They are turning… into zombies…” Suddenly she looked really pissed, “And before you start laughing, this is real. If you get bit. You. Are. Dead.”

“A day before the blue notifications came these monsters all started to swarm the city…. They quickly overran the local militia as well as police force before turning on the civilians…”

Suddenly she was crying, good god this woman must be bipolar. She changes feelings faster than I can keep up!

“I had to watch my own baby… He was only an infant…. Be ripped apart before slowly reanimating and crawling towards me…”

Oh man the full waterworks were coming now, this lady has some serious self control issues like seriously just chill out.

“No one is coming for us…. I knew that as I watched my child’s frail broken body crawl towards me….. His legs were crumpled and twisted at awkward angles from when he was snatched from my arms…. His stomach fully exposed from when those creatures tore into him, his tiny guts dragging behind him as he could barely crawl more than a few inches at a time. His neck unending in its need for air continuously released moans through the gash that nearly severed it in half, I know he was suffering….. Worst of all were… Oh god they were his eyes! While his bloody mouth constantly moving, Wanting, to taste flesh…. His eyes showed NOTHING! They were the eyes of something else that had taken my baby…. My BABY!!”

At this point the woman had fallen into complete hysterics and had to be carried off by some other people who looked like guards.

Really some people have such nerve. Making their jobs harder, like sheesh, you think they get paid to handle your dramatic ass? Nope! Although this situation seems like an amazing opportunity…. These people are so weak they can die from slow zombies? Looks like they could use some protection!

No I am not chivalrous. No I don’t feel bad for them. Do I have a plan? Nope! But I figured if I was to move amongst humans, being known as their savior would make things way easier. Seriously who doesn’t suck up to the guy who stopped you from getting your brains eaten?

Now the only problem is how do I make myself look great without making everyone terrified of me…. Good thing Bloodlust is locked for now, that kinda thing would probably make even the seasoned veterans here piss their pants so that's off the list.

Well looks like its training montage time! Time to flex some psychic muscles!

First off, activate split mind!

Hhoollyy sshhiitt tthhiss iss weeird ok okkk…. Allmosst tthere…

Why does everyything have to bee soo difficult these dayss…..

Noooppppee Nnott thhiisss one eiithherrrr……

Whhatt…

Ookk anndd ahh ffuuckk….

Ok I think I got it!

The problem came from more or less copying my own thoughts in the metaphorical second mind. It was pretty much me thinking things twice at the exact same time. Yea that still doesn’t make sense, okay just know now the other mind is purely logical. I feel like I just violated countless laws by literally destroying something that could count as a new being but oh well! Can’t have some pity party for a literal part of myself. Anyways, from what I understand the second mind should just help with the burden of trying to use my psychic energy.

Unlike BloodLust, my psychic endurance seems to take a toll from me immediately which makes sense given the name. Get it…. Endurance…. How much you can endure…

Trying to expend some like when I tried to blow that wooden door apart shows that it barely uses .1% of my total psychic endurance…. So I must be doing it wrong…. That or I am seriously just that weak but lets ignore that option in favor of the first.

So how does one correctly move things with ones mind…. Maybe… Picture it moving? Ok that sounded really dumb but its all I got, and until now I was more or less giving commands to the stuff I aimed my Psychic abilities at.

Looking around for something to move I spot a small teddy bear sitting beside a severely burned child. Concentrating for several seconds I imagine it getting up and doing a little dance. Nothing complicated, just a bit of waddling from foot to foot in a circle. Alright here goes nothing, injecting energy!!!!!

Cognitive Power: (Tier I)

Base Will, Wisdom, and Intelligence is boosted by 2%

HOLY SHIT I CAN CONTROL THINGS WITH MY MIND, I AM SO COOL OH MY GOD!

Checking my psychic endurance again shows that it had decreased by about .5%.... Ok so small stuff for now…. But in the future you can bet your ass i’m gonna be choking people with the force.

Meanwhile, around the bear everyone tenses and begins to crawl away. They had already learned from the hellish past few days, anything new or strange will bring pain.

The child however starts…. laughing. She was in unbearable amounts of pain, to the point that it was the only thing she could think of for hours on end…. And she laughed…..

The bear continued to dance, uncaring about the negative reactions the others were having about him. He just danced. A little waddle here. A little waddle there. And he got better and better. He kept waddling, and soon people began to gather. Laughter rang out as everyone forgot about their miserable lives. Their lost loved ones, they forgot it all in that moment, and all that mattered was the little bear.

Off to the side Mark continued to improve his imagination as well as fine tuning how the bear would move. Perfect the turn here, pirouette there, bow before resuming. He didn’t stop till he received another notification.

Cognitive Power: (Tier II)

Base Will, Wisdom, and Intelligence is boosted by 5%

Congratulations! You have created a temporary Golem!

Continue to feed this Golem energy regularly to sustain its consciousness.

Ace Alexander: (Tier I)

Temporary Cloth Golem

Skills: Cute, Adorable, Attract.

Owner: Charlotte Rosas

Congratulations! For creating a temporary Golem you have been given the Golemancy skill!

Golemancy: (Tier I) Rare

Allows the user to imbue life onto what normally would never live.

Passive Ability: Insignificant Boost to development of consciousnesses as well as formation of permanent cores.

Grants +4 to Control.

The momentary lapse in concentration immediately causes connection I had to the bear to snap and as a result, the bear collapses.

The little girl immediately bursts into tears before crawling towards its limp form and cradling it. The other admirers also look to be grieving the loss of their cute little entertainer but I could care less….. Golemancy! So many options!

This has so much potential if only I knew how to make permanent cores…. I couldn’t afford to micromanage everything my minions do if I didn’t have the option to make them permanent…..

Most likely it's something similar to a battery that the Golem could draw off of as it needed in order to sustain its form…. Damn, I guess this is another block in my progress. This is obviously something only the system can provide but without keywords or indicators at what might be able to store energy for a golem to use, I can’t use the shop’s search function…..

Alright then back to training I guess…..

Everyone jerks back as the bear once again comes to life. He cutely taps the little girls face as if he was trying to punch her…. Understanding, the scared little child sets the bear down for it to resume its routine. A little tap here, and a tap there…

Various ooos and ahhhs echo out as the bear performs stunt after stunt. In the background no one pays attention to Mark as he comments on the stupidity of these people. Being entertained by a stupid little bear. Nonetheless he continued making that little bear dance. It got better and better, never truly repeating the same act before performing another act straight out of a little eight year old’s fantasy. All into the night, that little bear danced… and danced…. and danced…..

-------

Ahh fuck i’m awake!

Must’ve fallen asleep at some point…. Luckily that bear’s maintenance perfectly matched my regeneration rate so I could continue grinding my psychic ability through the night.

After I had fully awakened I get the full brunt of Mr. Blue’s fury!

Cognitive Power: (Tier III)

Base Will, Wisdom, and Intelligence is boosted by 20%

Psychic: (Tier II)

The pool of the mind. Originally based upon the art of enhancement, it has over time evolved into a hybrid of Enhancement and Manipulation.

Active Ability: Split Mind- Current Max (3)

Passive Ability: Base Perception is boosted by 25%

Ever killed someone with a thought? Well I have.

Golemancy: (Tier II) Rare

Allows the user to imbue life onto what normally would never live.

Passive Ability: Minor Boost to development of consciousnesses as well as formation of permanent cores.

Grants +6 to Control.

Totally worth it! Having to watch those pathetically weak humans be entertained by my training had been the greatest test of patience of my lifetime. Every ooo or ahh I would hear would force me to restrain the urge to throw a fully charged Aiyla right at their faces!

Honestly though even I was impressed by the control I could exhibit towards the end of the show…. The bear had started to move nearly as fluidly as a real person…. It was also creepy. Very creepy.

Now all I need is a lifelike doll with glass eyes and I can open the greatest haunted house that's ever existed!

I don’t think I can get much more training out of this so I might as well pack up and head towards whatever horde the guards can point me towards…..

Oh and by packup I mean take Ace with me… What did you think I was above stealing from a child? I know for a fact she had died during the night after I watched her chest stop. Like I said, burn victims don’t live long with that much damage….

So while the nurses and other volunteers crowd around her body slowly losing itself to rigor mortis, I swipe the teddy bear and make my escape!

Time to full fill every middle school boy’s dream!