Call CPS!

After spending some 'quality time' with Ally, Grant made sure to get plenty of rest.

He had discovered that the stronger his body and mind became, the less he needed to sleep but regardless, he enjoyed a good nights rest even if it served little purpose.

After a solid 8 hours of deep sleep, Grant awoke to find himself alone in bed. When he sat up, he was suddenly assaulted with the very pleasurable and very obvious smell of bacon. As all Americans, Grant loved all things bacon.

Except for bacon ice cream, he would never understand why anyone could enjoy something like that. But that was a moot point because he had no doubt the fools that invented such a monstrosity didn't survive being turned into zombies when The Path emerged.

Not even bothering to question how Ally had managed to get bacon, he leapt out of bed before throwing his clothes on and rushing to the kitchen.

Sure enough, he found Ally standing in front of the stove looking down at a skillet filled with cooked bacon.

Next to her was a plate full of already cooked pieces.

He promptly walked up behind Ally before wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on one of her shoulders.

Ally didn't stop cooking but let a small smile adorn her lips. Despite all the things that had happened in the past month and change, she found that she was truly happy. She tensed up slightly to let Grant know that she appreciated the gesture before turning to give him a kiss.

But when she finally caught sight of him, all she saw was a mouthful of a bacon and a massive grin on the young mans face.

She couldn't stop herself from laughing at how innocent he looked.

"I guess I was right in assuming you were a fan of bacon. I'm glad I happened to find a couple packs in the general store. They were quite expensive though so don't get used to this!"

The blissful smile on Grant's face cramped ever so slightly when he heard Ally's words.

After chewing and swallowing the bacon, "What general store? And what do you mean expensive? How did you pay for them?"

"The building right next to the Town Hall is the General Store. I thought you were at the Town Hall yesterday? How did you not notice?"

Grant thought back to when he was walking into the Town Hall yesterday and he did remember seeing a rather large building right next door with people constantly walking in and out but he had been so distracted by the looks that everyone had been giving him that he had completely ignored it.

"Ah so that's the general store? Lets just say I was... dealing with some personal stuff yesterday and wasn't exactly paying attention. I didn't realize that Jerrod and his people had managed to build something like that yet.

Still, you said it was expensive, what are they using as currency? I haven't had to pay for anything because.. you know... I'm the big boss." Grant tried to wink at Ally when he said that but since he wasn't very good at winking, he just ended up looking like a fool.

Ally couldn't help herself from laughing at his expense before placing her hand on his face.

"Aww.. the big boss... you're so cute."

Grant faked a frown before, "You're making fun of me! I am the big boss! And don't you forget it!"

"Ooh scary. I better be careful or the big boss will punish mee!"

Grant smiled mischievously before once again wrapping his arms around Ally. Unlike the first time though, he didn't stop at a simple hug. He started to touch and grab her all over in a rather vulgar fashion.

As the two were laughing and fooling around they forgot that they weren't the only ones in the house.

"Ugh that's gross. Mom can you two not fool around in a communal area? It's enough you make us listen to you two fooling around at night. If the CPS still existed I'd report you for child abuse!"

Both Ally and Grant froze in embarrassment and turned towards the entry to the kitchen like two rusty old robots.

Seeing Richard standing there, Grant immediately released Ally and they both looked like they had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Coughing to clear his embarrassment the best he could, Grant greeted Richard with a good morning before sitting down at the table.

After a few more minutes, Robin also joined them for breakfast.

They spent the next half an hour eating breakfast as a family before they went their separate ways.

Ally and the kids would go out hunting for supplies with one of the excursion teams while Grant would return to the Town Hall to continue planning with Jerrod and his staff.

Since Grant's house had been placed relatively far from the 'center' of town in an attempt to provide him with more peaceful living conditions, it took him awhile to walk to the Town Hall since he maintained the pace of a normal human.

Although he knew they only had 13 days left, he used the time to make a few plans of his own. He had decided that after dealing with the issues of the dungeon today, he would spend the final 12 days grinding out levels and stats in the wild.

It was unlikely that he would return before the Earth entered onto its Path so he needed to make sure that he handled any issues or problems by the end of the day.

As much progress as the excursion teams had made in the surrounding area, their was still a massive amount of space that they hadn't managed to cover yet.

And that was only for Phoenix. What about beyond the city? How on Earth were they supposed to cover all that ground?

Well, to help out the normal folks, the mechanics of the town had already begun to investigate the reason for all the cars ceasing to function.

So far they hadn't made any substantial progress, but apparently they were making some, and that was a good thing.

For people like Grant, it was a simple matter of time. Given enough time, they could cover any amount of ground.

But there had to be a better way. And beside Skit who was off doing his own thing, there was only one other 'person' who might have an answer.

[Hey Sherlock, how do people get around on other planets? No way are armies marching across entire planets. There has to be a better way, right?]

{As you have surmised, their is in fact a better way. But it varies from planet to planet.

Some planets have managed to harness the power of mana stones to power their 'vehicles'

Other planets have managed to create their own technology that functions in a mana dense environment. Such as what your mechanics are trying to accomplish at this very moment.

The third and most popular method: they tame monsters or animals and use them as mounts.}

[Oh that sounds exciting. How does that work? Can I do it?]

{You can, in a sense. But the method you would use would not be as effective as using someone with the Beast Tamer or a similar Path to tame a monster for you.}

[The method I'd use?]

{Yes, brute force and intimidation.}