They stopped and camped that night. There were maybe a hundred other refuges in the group. It seemed like most had been left for Franksburg, maybe Donnyton really was for elites. He was even more thankful for the recommendation of Jarrick. They left shortly after dawn and arrived early in the afternoon. Kai only gained two more levels in Running getting him to Level 7 but he did have five points to use now at least. Most of the refugees were taken to a large building and told to wait their turn for their entry interview. He found Lance who told him to just wait there like everyone else. Kai didn’t see Emily among the refugees waiting so she must have changed her mind and gone to Franksburg. Well she knew where he was and he could always find her later. After about three hours he was the last one left and was called into an office.

The back wall of the office had a strange assortment of tubes with various colored liquids in them. Kai couldn’t figure out what they were for but he could definitely figure out that there was a massive spider infestation in the other half of the room. He froze. “Uh, do I need to be worried about those?” He asked as he nodded to the spiders that were weaving together a dress of soft gray.

“Interesting.” The woman paused after the soft comment. “Please have a seat. You are Kai Jameson correct? Recommended for citizenship in Donnyton by Jarrick. Is that correct?”

Kai nodded. “Yes , ma’am. I appreciate his recommendation and hope I can live up to it.”

The woman nodded. “I am Mrs. Hamilton. Lance also mentioned your name saying you had a few questions. Also correct?” Kai nodded not trusting his voice to speak to this well informed and intimidating woman who kept a cluster of spiders in her office, that just wasn’t a normal thing. “Excellent. I understand you have a path with question marks?”

This last was an actual question and not just a confirmation apparently. Kai nodded again. “Yes, Lance said I should speak to someone named Daniel about it? I’m more than happy to put a point in now if you’d like. I just thought I should mention the Daniel thing as Lance seemed to think he could help me.”

The smile that crawled onto the woman’s face did not put Kai at ease, maybe this whole Donnyton thing had been a mistake after all. “Excellent. Daniel will actually be here shortly. I must apologize for him as he was the reason you were kept until last.” The door behind Kai opened and Mrs. Hamilton nodded to the new entrant. “Here he is now. Daniel this is Kai Jameson. He does in fact have a path with only question marks.”

“Do have one or two question mark paths?” Daniel dove right into his questions.

“Uhm, well it’s three question marks followed by the numbers 0 slash 10.” Kai answered.

“Great. Tell me everything you did before you noticed that path being available.” Daniel had a notepad out but looked at Kai and not the notepad. So Kai told his story. Both sets of eyes never left him. Daniel scratched away in his notepad without looking at it once. He even turned the page a couple times without looking.

“Alright. Go ahead and put one path point into it and let me know what happens.”

Kai focused on his Path screen and put one of his five points into the path. The name shifted to Protector.

Congratulations! You have earned +3 to Health.

“Seems it’s called the Protector Path. The first point gave me plus three to health. Is that good?”

Daniel nodded. “Every bit helps. How many more PP do you have?”

“I’ve got four more. Should I use them? Or try to get a different path and use them there?”

“Once you’ve started a path you have to continue it until the end. Go ahead and use those four points.”

Congratulations! You have earned +3 to Stamina.

Congratulations! You have earned +2 to Health and Stamina Regeneration.

Congratulations! You have earned +1 to P. Def Stat(s).

Congratulations! You have earned +1 to Resistance and Willpower.

“Shit that’s awesome.” Kai forgot about the two people in the office. Daniel coughed and Mrs. Hamilton hmphed. “Oh shit, sorry. I got three Stamina, then plus two to health and stamina regeneration, next was one P. Def stat point, not sure what that means,” he paused and looked at Daniel who just motioned him on. “Then on the fifth I got plus one to Resistance and Willpower. So a good path?”

“Yes a good path to start with. I’m guessing you probably got this for one of two actions. Either rescuing that girl Emily from certain death or when you blocked for her in the stairwell and took the acid spit. I’m leaning toward the second action. You’re very lucky that Jarrick saved your life, probably helped you get a great path.” Daniel nodded as he wrote in his notebook.

Mrs. Hamilton looked between the two men, when she saw Daniel was not going to ask another question at the moment she turned to Kai. “Have you thought about what role you will play in Donnyton?”

“I’m not really certain. What options are there?”

Mrs. Hamilton laughed. “A rather wide variety of options I’m afraid. Although,” she turned to Daniel, “how did the Ghosthound phrase that question for the original recruits from Franksburg?” Daniel had an aggrieved look on his face. He mouthed the words please no. “Ah that’s right,” Mrs. Hamilton continued, “Would you like a job in Administration, Warrior, Doctor, Farmer, Archer, Scout, Mage, Crafting, or Construction?” She laughed as Daniel had a defeated look on his face.

Kai wasn’t sure if she was serious. “Well, I took Kendo classes before the change. I think magic is awesome, but I always enjoyed doing crafting stuff in video games. So? Is there a badass option?” A stupid grin plastered itself on Kai’s face.

“If you actually want to be good at anything,” Daniel started, “then you shouldn’t go after so many goals at once. But we can have you try a few things out and gain some skill levels to clear some paths and determine what career you may want here in Donnyton.”

Mrs. Hamilton looked at the two. “Yes. I think that’d be a perfect idea. Have Alana train with him for the moment. Also, perhaps he’d be the ideal candidate for that experiment we discussed?” She nodded and shooed the two men from her office.

As the door closed behind them she heard the young man Kai say, “Uhm, experiment?”