June 29, 2025; Clay could barely wait for Tonya to finish cooking. He'd eaten the rest of his jerky as they had traveled but his stomach still felt empty. Like he hadn't eaten in a week. He sat and waited patiently. Now and then he'd catch one of the Orc girls staring at him. He sighed in resignation and focused on the blinking System Messages.

  "DING! Congratulations! Level 11 obtained. 5 unassigned Ability Points gained. DING! Congratulations! Level 12 obtained. 5 unassigned Ability Points gained. DING! Congratulations! Level 13 obtained. 5 unassigned Ability Points gained." While he was reading the system message he heard Kris' voice even though he was reading the damn message.

  "Well, that explains the levels and the 15 unassigned Ability Points." He said to himself. He'd wait to choose where those went for now. He focused on the next message.

  "The host has completed the transformation into an Evolved Human. Congratulations! You have gained the Title: Evolved Human. The host has permanently gained 40 Health Points, and 14 Mystical Points, and all Ability Points have been increased by 5."

  Well, shit. Did he still count as human? He'd never been very smart with science. Was an Evolved Human still technically human? The human part was still part of the name so he was just going to choose to mentally accept that he had just become... more. Not something different. He shook his head and read the next system message.

  "Congratulations! Your System Seed has evolved. The following Passive Abilities or Skills of the host's have been enhanced."

  "Aura of Malice has become Greater Aura of Malice: Once the host's adrenalin begins to flow a natural Aura of Malice radiates from them causing creatures or enemies that are less powerful to flee as they sense the intent of the host to cause significant harm or even death."

  "Lesser Spatial Storage has become Spatial Storage: The host can store up to 1000 cubic feet of nonliving material, items, or other resources. This space is accessible at the will of the host, though to place something in the space the host must touch the object. The host can take something out at will, though only one object at a time and the host must designate within a twenty-foot radius where he wants to place the object. This space is roughly 40 feet by 60 feet in size and exists entirely in another dimension."

  "Regenerate has become Greater Regenerate: The host regenerates 10 health points every minute until the host's Health Point total is replenished to full." He read. Those weren't bad upgrades. But he already had a spatial storage device that was much larger, the armband. He wondered for a moment if he should let someone else use it and dismissed the thought for the time being.

  "Okay, last one. So far, so good." He said to himself focusing on the last message. It had two separate pages.

  "Congratulations Clay Benton. You have unlocked the second Seed Tier without Divine assistance. I for one am very impressed. I've enclosed a special blueprint for you as a gift. Use it wisely. Sincerely, your Divine Admirer (M)." The message had several xoxo's attached to the end before a "P.S. I can't wait to see what beast you'll slay next. I just love to watch you fight!" What stuck in his mind was the digital lip prints attached to the bottom of the message. The second part of the message was a Godly Level Item Blue Print, usable on any item in his inventory.

  He stared at the message. He had initially been surprised. And then pissed. Does someone say they enjoyed watching him damn near die? And then gave him a Godly blueprint. What the fuck? He hadn't even used his Mythical blueprint yet, though that one was specifically for a weapon.

  That's when Tonya came into the living room with a big bowl of steaming soup and he couldn't think about much of anything else as he ate ravenously. After a while, he was finally full, and that was saying something! He'd devoured five bowls. As he lay down for the night he thought about using the Mythical blueprint and decided he was going to use it on his bearded axe. He focused on doing so and got a system message that popped up.

  "Congratulations! Your bearded axe has transformed into Ox. Ox deals a flat 100 points of damage every strike and has a 20% chance of causing the target to be paralyzed for 3 seconds. The user gains 10 Health Points on a successful strike." He read as he looked out the dark window.

  "Wow, that's going to be handy." He thought for a little bit and decided he'd wait until something good popped up to use the Godly blueprint. He pretty much only had his belt and buck knife that had any value to him at the moment. "Yeah, fuck it, I'll save it for later, now for those unused Ability Points." He focused on the abilities he wanted them in and felt his abilities increase. Then looked at his new stats.

  Clay Benton, Human Male, Age 40

  Titles: Zombie Slayer, Evolved Human

  Level: 13

  Class: Sovereign

  Health Points: 430 / 550

  Mystical Points: 112 / 112

  Strength: 40

  Dexterity: 40

  Intelligence: 31

  Wisdom: 30

  Loyalty Monitor: 54%

  Passive Abilities - Adaptable Conversion; Cast Iron Stomach; Enhanced Virility; Greater Aura of Malice; Greater Eyes of Insight; Greater Regenerate; Paralysis Immunity; Resilience; Spatial Storage; Touch of the Divine;

  Skills - Bone Spike; Crippling Strike; Eldritch Bolts; Frenzy; Multi-Strike; Web Bomb

  He fell asleep thinking about what Jake had said to him. He didn't even notice when Jill or Tonya lay down beside him as they split his watch between them. They had decided to let him rest some more. So when his eyes snapped open at around seven in the morning after he started to smell coffee he wasn't too happy with them. "Why the hell didn't you wake me for my watch?" He asked them after he figured out it had been them. "Shit, I just jumped down everyone's throat a while back about not babysitting anyone, why the fuck didn't you wake me?"

  "You were just severely wounded Clay, and your damn near a foot taller. We watched you scream yourself horse Clay as your bones fucking snapped and popped inside you. All this way, you're the one that's been carrying us. The least we could do for you is let you rest a little bit." Jill said stealing a peck on his scruffy cheek. She held out a cup of coffee and said, "Now come on. Let's get to this home of yours soon. I'm starting to get impatient." She pinched his ass as she walked by.

  She flashed him a seductive smile and sauntered into the dining room where everyone else was gathering to leave already. He grumbled to himself as he got his shit ready and drank his coffee, and as soon as he went over the directions for the day's journey he ate a few granola bars and they started out. The temperature felt a few degrees warmer as they made their way West.

  They noticed a few dozen cows and even three horses still roaming in fields as they made their way along the curvy, winding highway. At about three in the afternoon, they spotted a rather large group making their way East. And they were moving right down the highway toward them. They quickly moved off the highway, making their way deeper into the woods until Clay was fairly certain no one would see them from the highway.

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  What they witnessed next made Clay sick. He watched in disgust as a large group of armed Orcs, mostly men, herded Humans and Beastmen in handcuffs linked through chains. None of them had any ideas of being heroic with nearly a hundred armed Orcs that they could see marching past with the captives. Hell, some of the Orcs even had improvised pieces of armor on.

  As soon as they were well past, and Clay was sure no stragglers were still nearby, they resumed their journey. After about twenty minutes they came to another junction that read Highway 119 South with another brown sign that read "Montauk 11 Miles." With a heavy sigh of relief, Clay started heading South. Every step now felt lighter as he got closer and closer to home.

  By dark they had made it to a washed-out bridge, the water still high, but Clay thought by using the power lines they could work their way across. If he could find a boat or a fucking canoe. After a thorough search of the nearby houses and cabins, he found a green fiberglass canoe. Its hull had been patched in several spots by its prior owner and Clay easily hefted it over his head and packed it out of the lean-to off of an old red barn, nearly effortlessly as he strode the forty yards or so back to the blue house they had decided to stay in for the night. He hadn't seen a fucking paddle but there were other cabins still nearby to search but he didn't think they needed one with the power lines running across nearly right above the rolling creek.

  As he placed the canoe beside the door he heard Tonya call softly from the door, "We have dinner done Clay if you're ready."

  He looked up after setting the boat down and flashed her a great full smile, "Thanks, I'll be right there." He said as he moved towards the door and opened it.

  He saw Tonya rush away, Jill and Sigrid were sitting at an oval wooden kitchen table, both already eating a bowl of canned soup. A steaming pot sat on the counter, on top of a pot holder and Clay could smell the meat and potatoes in it as he walked over to the table. Tonya had grabbed a bowl and spoon still clean from the previous owners and spooned some into a bowl. She handed it to him and he thanked her with a wink. His mouth instantly watered.

  He took a seat, Tonya spooned another bowl full and quickly joined them. He could see the Orc girls and Joanna in the kitchen adjacent to the dining room cooking another pot on the Coleman burner. That thing had been a lifesaver, they would have to find some fuel for it pretty soon though.

  Noticing his look, Jill said, "Amy and Dawn are on watch, and Luke went to search the cabins nearby. You told us they weren't very far." She shrugged. "He shouldn't be that far down the gravel road we passed at the top of the hill." She took another bite of steaming soup.

  "Yeah, we talked about it along the way. He said we'd need some fuel for the burner pretty soon." He shrugged. "It's just as easy to build a fire though." He shoveled a spoonful into his mouth and decided fuck it, he didn't need a spoon and just picked up the bowl and took another sip. He chewed the mouthful of steak and potatoes and after he swallowed he continued.

  "We'll cross the creek in the morning. I found a canoe so it should be fairly easy." He couldn't remember ever seeing Pigeon Creek up as high as it currently was. He knew it had rained for a long time which would raise the water table, but this seemed excessive. Like a new spring had opened up farther upstream that was pumping out many, many gallons of water a minute would be a reason, and feasible in Clay's mind.

  He vaguely remembered his Grandfather telling him and Jake stories of old springs and artesian wells that the old-timers used to maintain. Like Catrock and Whiskey Spring to name a couple. He knew for a fact that the practice of cleaning them out had slowly stopped as newer generations inherited the land or sold it to City folks who never cared about them in the first place.

  Clay grimaced. He had been one of those that had wanted to sell. Wanted to get away and see the world. He had to admit, his brother had been the smart one out of all his siblings.

  Jake had quietly bought all the land they inherited from Mom and Dad through a lawyer, managing to acquire the entire 200 acres. But he hadn't stopped there. After Mom and Dad's house burned down after a lightning strike started a fire, he'd built himself a cabin and bought even more land. He hadn't found out until after he passed away where he'd gotten his money. The lucky fucker had bought a shit-load of crypto when it cost about six dollars a Bitcoin, then sold everything when it hit $60,000 a Bitcoin, two years before he passed away.

  Then his brother had gone quiet. He hadn't even shown up at the last family Christmas dinner they had celebrated. It wasn't until Clay showed up for their yearly fishing trip at the park, opening day for Trout season the next year that he'd found out his brother had some money. He didn't know how much though! He just thought he was well off, regardless it wasn't really his fucking business and he was only there to fish with his brother.

  And the fucked up part was that Cindy, their older sister knew about it. Had found out how he had gone through a third party to buy their portion of the land from them. Then she had blackmailed Jake. She wanted $50,000 or she was going to ensure we all knew how he acquired our inheritance.

  Jake had cut her a check for $50,000 and cut ties with everyone after that. Or he had tried to. Clay couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. Seeing their look, he reassured the woman across from him. "By this time tomorrow, we should make it home. We need to make it to Ashley Creek." He took another mouthful of soup and chewed on a piece of steak as he formulated a plan for travel the next day. They would need the canoe again if Pigeon Creek was the new normal for the water level now. That would also mean the park was more than likely flooded. And been that way for a while.

  "We're actually that close?" Jill asked, curiosity painted plainly on her face. He nodded as he chewed.

  "What does it look like?" Asked Tonya, her head tilted slightly as she listened intently to Clay's words.

  He looked around and seeing nobody but the four of them anywhere within earshot he said in a low voice, "We're heading for a valley not far away now. My brother Jake built a shelter inside an abandoned Saltpeter mine we found while exploring when we were kids." He nodded as if deciding something with himself, finally.

  "That's where we're heading." He paused remembering the valley from his childhood. "We'll have a spring, and plenty of fresh food if the hunting is as good as it was when I was younger." He shrugged, no need to say anything about the supplies Jake had hoarded inside the shelter before he passed. He felt something rub his leg under the table and raised an eyebrow, but continued.

  "We're going to have to eventually cross another creek though, but that's just before the shelter. We'll be at the cabin first." He remembered Jake bragging about how great the shelter was and how much shit he'd stocked. It hadn't interested Clay at the time. He was happy just fishing and nodding now and then as Jake talked about it and asked odd questions that popped into his head. It was Jake's project, not his after all.

  Unfortunately, he still hadn't seen it himself. Well, he'd helped explore the Saltpeter mine but he hadn't been back to it since he was around seventeen or eighteen. He couldn't make himself come back after his brother had died and his lawyer had informed him that he'd inherited everything. Jake had left it all to him. Cutting everyone else out of his will.

  This infuriated his sister Cindy and Clay quickly found himself the focus of her ire. He'd quickly slipped away after the funeral and returned to Chicago, well away from everyone. Though to be fair it was only Cindy that had been spiteful about any of it and he'd never gotten along well with her. None of them had, really.

  Glenna though he'd been in touch with. And she should be getting close to Jake's if she hadn't beaten him there already. "My sister Glenna should be there by now, or getting there soon." He took another sip of soup.

  It was only Cindy that everyone seemed to not get along with. God knows he'd tried. Of course, she and Jake hadn't gotten along as brother and sister. Jake had once informed one of her six ex-husbands that she changed her men more often than she changed her underwear!

  That had been one hell of a Fourth of July barbeque. Clay smiled at the memory. Her last husband had been a rancher in Montana. Clay figured if she was still alive she was probably trying like hell to get down to Missouri.

  The foot reached his crotch and he glanced at the two women who seemed to be deep in thought. That's when he felt the leg brush his calf and he realized it wasn't Jill or Tonya. It was fucking Sigrid! He looked at her, his eyes going a little wide as it dawned on him whose foot was rubbing his crotch.

  "Will there be enough room for everyone?" Sigrid asked, stroking his crotch more aggressively. Her dexterity was really amazing he had to admit. No matter how awkward it made him feel though he remembered his brother's words and gave her a sly smile and pretended nothing was happening. He could tell she was trying to make sure she had a spot in the previously mentioned shelter. Fuck it, he'd play along.

  "We'll see." He didn't add that he didn't know how large the shelter was. His brother had said it was quite large. But again, he hadn't seen it himself. He just knew where it was and how to access it. He finished eating, Sigrid's hidden attention to his crotch continued until he sat the bowl down and then she casually excused herself.

  He talked with the other two women for a bit and then stood and stretched, "I'm tired, wake me up for my shift this time." He gave both women a knowing grin and went to lie down on the couch.

  He was fast asleep, feet dangling off the couch at an angle when Jill woke him up by gently shaking him and calling, "Hun... Hun, wake up." He could smell the coffee and was soon sipping a cup while walking around and looking out the windows covered in white and blue curtains for anything moving around the house they were sheltering in.

  The dim, muted moonlight made everything look ghostly in the night as fog draped over the ground near the creek. He absently wondered how long it would take before the atmosphere finally cleared of the perpetual haze. He was sure as hell tired of the constant dreary look to the sky. How long would it take for the world to recover?

  Not to mention civilization to return to a normal state?

  He couldn't help but think about the large group of Orcs and captives heading east the day before and grimaced to himself. He had felt awful for those captives but there was no way he could have done anything to help their situation. It still sucked he couldn't help.

  He stopped to look at Tonya sleeping soundly, her soft green skin seemed to glow in the muted moonlight streaming through the window. She was fucking gorgeous. And in a way, he knew why she had attached herself to him now that they had traveled this far together. And Jill, he looked at her now sleeping where he had been on the couch, curled up in the same blanket. How the hell had it happened?

  Then there was Sigrid. He had no idea how to deal with her. Fuck, she was only 22 there was no logical reason she should be attracted to him! "Right?" He asked himself. He glanced over at her and he could swear he could see her eyes glint as she looked back at him and purred again. Her eyes barely slits. One bare leg sticking out all the way up to where if the blanket was to shift just a little bit higher on her thigh... Something else would be visible and he had to shake his head as his imagination started to howl at him. He turned away, scolding himself silently.

  He was just about to turn away from the small window at the end of the hallway when something caught his eye. After a moment of searching there came movement again. The barn he had taken the canoe from just had its door opened and what looked like four people rushed inside.

  ~Thank you all for reading! I hope to continue producing content you can enjoy.~

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