{That is a tough question to answer sir. The Path has been in existence since before I was created. I am a byproduct of countless trials and errors by countless more species who began to walk The Path before and after I was created.

The knowledge I possess is a byproduct of the experiences that previous iterations of me have experienced with their users.

In a sense you could say that I am a reincarnation of sorts or more accurately just a clone of the original Guide. Each and every iteration of my existence operates with a shared consciousness or databank, if you will.}

[Countless species? How many different versions of you have their been?

Wait... if you learn through the experiences you have had over time, wasn't the OG version of you basically useless?!]

{That is neither here nor there sir. That was a lack of foresight by my creator. I did have some basic information on how to assist the original user of the Guide, but to be honest, as you have so graciously pointed out, I was not very helpful to the first few users.}

[Thank fuck that wasn't me... If I had been given something useless like your original self I probably would have turned you into a sock or boxer briefs to torture you for wasting one of my Random Rolls...

The we would have had to call you, The Hitchhikers Guide to Shit Stains!

Well whatever, the past is none of my concern right now.

Back to the business at hand, how many species have you assisted to this point? And how knowledgeable are you now? What good are you to me?]

{This is my 8,647,291,001 iteration, and my knowledge bank contains just shy of 100 trillion different entries. Ranging from the miniscule to the megalithic.}

[Shit, that's a lot of different iterations... wait hold up, you just said it was countless and then you immediately assigned a fucking number to it! Are you related to some web novel authors or something?!

"Oh he's been training for tens of dozens of years." and then the next line, "136 years of training later!" Fuck off with that... Just stick to one or the other..

Wait, that's not important. We got sidetracked. Tell me about The Path! And answer my questions! You're not proving very useful right now future boxer briefs!]

{My apologies sir, yes, The Path. Unfortunately, my data bank related to The Path is only specific to The Path's that are available to people who reach the necessary level of evolution. The rest of my information related to The Path is nothing but basic knowledge brought together by people over trillions of years.

That being said, The Path is an existence with unknown origins. There have been many theories that say The Path originated at the beginning of the universe and may have possibly existed even before then.

There are other theories that say The Path is the creation of a supremely powerful entity who wants to test weaker individuals in an attempt to find an existence that can one day match it in power.

As the old saying goes, "It's lonely at the top."

Whatever the truth may be, remains unknown even to me.

However, what is known, is that The Path leads all species of consciousness forcibly down the road to evolution.

Once The Path has deemed your species to have reached the sufficient level of evolution, they are brought into The Path and are forced to walk forward, the same as every species before them.

If The Path finds members of your race that it has deemed unworthy of evolution, they are forcibly removed from the group.

In the case of humanity, this has resulted in what have been called zombies.}

Grant took a few moments to digest all the information that the Guide had just shared. Naturally it was tough to swallow the idea that an entity, system, or whatever it was, like The Path, could possibly judge people and then seemingly discard them after a moments evaluation to be left as nothing more than mindless monsters.

But after Grant thought back to what had just happened with Jeff, Matt, and Tres, he could somewhat understand why some people may not be worthy.

The fact that The Path decided that someone like Jeff had passed the initial evaluation only to turn out to be a piece of shit human with only his self interest at heart, frustrated him to no end though.

He couldn't help but wonder what criteria The Path had used in it's initial evaluation of humanity. He had no doubt that some people who were now zombies had probably not deserved such a fate.

While fighting against the zombies throughout the day, Grant had been forced to kill all manner of zombies, full grown male, female, and even some smaller zombies that were no doubt happy children just a few hours earlier.

The scar that had been made by the betrayal of Jeff and Matt and subsequent death of Tres seemed to dig just a little bit deeper in his self conscious as Grant's rage built up. It seemed to him as if The Path was toying with humanity indiscriminately. Did it even have criteria or was it just choosing people at random? Grant didn't have an answer, and doubted the Guide would either, so he just stewed in the anger that was brewing.

Grant had never been a saint by an stretch of the imagination but neither would he have abandoned a fellow person in need if he had the capability to help. It was qualities such as those, that The Path should have focused on. A united, collective is always stronger than a power hungry individual.

[This fucking Path. I swear, if I ever get my hands on whoever or whatever created this fucking situation, I will stab them right between the ass and then t-bag them until I am satisfied.

Playing with human lives like they're worthless. Piece of shit Path.]

Knowing that he was letting his emotions take control, Grant had to force himself to take a few deep breathes before he moved on with the conversation.

[Now that The Path has forced humanity to step on the road to evolution, what comes next? What's the endgame?]

{The next steps are simple: Progress, evolve, and grow stronger.

At level 25 you will gain a Path. Their are certain Paths that are universal and most are accessible to all members of a species, but their are also Path's that lead a singular individual away from the collective.

Some examples of universal Path's are: Warrior, Mage, Archer, Assassin, Blacksmith, Alchemist, etc.

These Paths are generic and orders of magnitudes weaker than the Unique Paths as the individual progresses further on their Path.

Now, it is possible for universal Paths to evolve into Unique Paths if the individual achieves something of extreme significance or something that The Path deems borderline impossible. Those cases are rarer than ice forming in a fire, but sometimes the impossible does become possible through extraordinary means, so it is not completely unheard of. I in fact have 7 entries in my databank related to this phenomenon.

As for how The Path decides which Path to assign which user, there are many factors.

Some of those factors are, but not limited too; achievements since The Paths emergence, past events or trauma of a persons life, and even estimated future achievements.

How The Path calculates future achievements I am not sure. That is beyond my capabilities to understand.

There are theories, but nothing has been proven to date.}

[Alright... I think I understand what you're getting at... does that mean that if I want to use mana I have to wait until level 25?

Because I've managed to gain every stat from monsters except Mana and I was starting to think that maybe it was just me... Like I was inept or something... Magical Eunuch may have crossed my mind if I had to create a name for it..]

{As much as I'd love for you to use that vernacular to refer to yourself, you are correct in your assumption that mana cannot be used until you have entered your Path. Though their are Path's that exist who do not have access to mana, that is your choice to make in the end.

For everyone not on a mana devoid Path, mana opens to an individual when they reach level 25. Before level 25 however, your body is constantly absorbing mana, it is just unable to purify it to the necessary levels to be used. That however, changes once you select your Path.

However, you may add your free distribution stats to mana at any point, you just won't be able to do anything with the mana because of it's lack of purity.}

[Holdddd up. What do you mean my body is absorbing mana but is unable to purify it?]

{When you reach level 25 and step onto your Path, your body structure is altered in subtle ways to allow for you to adhere to your Path.

One of those ways, is the creation of your mana core. The attributes of your mana core cannot be determined until you have chosen your Path however, so it will not form fully until then. And without a mana core, you cannot use mana.}

[Alright alright I think we're getting somewhere.. Their are plenty more questions I want to ask about mana but they seem redundant at this point because I still have 15 levels to go before I reach 25... So on to the next question, what the hell are credits for?]

{They are similar to Random Rolls but serve a different purpose.

Credits are used for purchasing active skills, passive skills, items, potions, profession skills, and so on.

Even now, you can open the Pathway Store the same as you would open the Random Rolls menu, if you would like to see what is being sold.}

[Well aren't I just a complete dumbass for not checking that out on my own... I could have used some of those skills, I have no doubt.]

{While it may seem advantageous to use credits early on, it's not really possible. Unless you have killed a monster of significant strength or achieved something The Path deems worthy of a reward, you have only earned credits from leveling up and it's unlikely that you find a worthwhile skill with the few credits that you possess.

It is suggested that until you find your Path, you hold off on spending your credits. They are hard to come by and quick to spend. So please be aware.

That is not to say that you cannot acquire skills without spending credits.

You can inherit or learn skills through hard work and understanding of a specific concept or idea.

For example, members of your military are more likely to learn skills such as Discipline, Steel Resolve, and others without purchasing them due to their experience and training.}

[Is their any special way to earn Random Rolls like there is for credits?]

{Yes and no. Once you have reached level 25 and started on your Path, you may be assigned "tasks" or also referred too as quests in your culture.

These quests will be specific to your Path and help to guide you forward. Until then though, there are no other ways to earn them.

My suggestion for Random Rolls are the same as credits. Hold off on using them en masse until you have hit a roadblock.

The items that drop from the Random Rolls will be based on your level and the progress you have made on your Path.

Only Roll if you feel that if you had to fight with your life on the line, you would likely to fail without the extra assistance of new items.}

[Hellll yeah. I was right. I had a feeling that Random Rolls had to be related to your level in some way. I'm glad I only used the one and stopped at that. It would have been pathetic if I used all my Rolls and eventually hit a roadblock.

Thank you for the advice and knowledge... Mr Guide? I refuse to call you that, what is your name by the way?]

{I have many names sir but it is entirely up to you to decide what you would like this iteration of me to be called.}

[Alright, it's decided I'm going to call you Go*gle! Because you help me find the answers I'm looking for.]

{Apologies Sir. Due to copyright issues it would be unwise to use that name...}

[Copyright? What the fuck? Is some all mighty being going to come down from the heavens and hit me with a DMCA strike or something?!

Well whatever, lets go with... Sherlock! Ties perfectly with my last name and I've always enjoyed the phrase, "No shit, Sherlock."

And now, with that decided, I'm glad to have you with me Sherlock.

I hope you're ready to fuck shit up! We're aiming for the top so we can knock whoever or whatever is up there all the way down to the bottom of the shit pile where he, she, or it belongs.]