"I wonder if that is going to work," Bruce said. "You guys look like the type who wouldn't leave a hungry cat on the streets if you find one. Most likely, if you see hundreds of survivors, you will try to bring all of them here, and that will be a problem considering those guys."
"We considered that possibility ourselves," Diane crossed her arms and nodded. "That is why we decided if we find a large number of survivors, we will create a stronghold somewhere."
"I see, so you guys want my cooperation," Bruce said. "To look for all those things, survivors, and make a stronghold. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"From what we learned yesterday," Lucius said and then suddenly stopped before he could say what he shouldn't. "It will be better if we leave the city as soon as possible. However, we don't have the numbers. Also, I think you are misunderstanding the stronghold we want to create here. We just want to create a temporary shelter where we can rely on some guards to keep watching things all the time. Obviously, we all will have to work hard to achieve that."
Bruce nodded at that; it wasn't a bad idea. His current goal was to find a dungeon, but since he had no idea where to find one, it would be wise to help them. That way, he would be able to learn all kinds of information about a place without having to go there. Not to mention, he will have access to all kinds of rumors that might help him in some other form. That being said, Bruce still was thinking that getting too close to them would be detrimental to his current goals.
"I don't mind helping, but I will do so only for a while," Bruce said. "The very moment I think that I won't benefit in any way by staying around, I will leave without informing anyone."
"I guess that is just like you," Diane shrugged. "Anyway, let's get going. We can only do this during the day, after all."
After finishing his meal, Bruce left the lobby alongside Diane and Chris. Apparently, Lucius would stay behind to monitor the situation of his patients.
"I know that you won't have time to find every single thing," Lucius said while handing over a list to Diane. "But there are the medicaments and supplies I will need to help those in most types of states."
"Which reminds me," Bruce said. "Have any of you tried to cure a disease with an HP potion?"
"No, we didn't try…" Chris frowned. "We can't exactly threat Lucius' patients like guinea pigs, after all."
"What do you say?" Bruce asked Lucius. "Not all the people that came with you have some kind of dangerous disease that might suddenly get complicated and kill them, right? Do you want to test this on someone who was some strong cold or something similar?"
Lucius didn't look enthusiastic about that idea, but Bruce was right, there was a little boy who just had a bad cold, and he was the perfect test subject. He just had a weak constitution, and since he was resting, the chances of him getting worse were null.
"… Do you feel weird after drinking those potions?" Lucius asked.
"Nope," Bruce replied. "If anything, I just feel like drinking them for their taste. They have just the right amount of sugar."
"So, you are already addicted after drinking just two potions?" Lucius asked.
"I wouldn't go that far…" Bruce frowned and then passed a single bottle to Lucius. "Anyway, we don't have time. Decided what to do with it in the next few hours."
While Lucius was staring at the potion, Bruce, Diane, and Chris left the lobby, and much to Bruce's surprise, they headed to the parking lot nearby, where they found a truck with the keys. It wouldn't be all that useful to transport many survivors, but it would work to transport food and other types of things they find and judge to be useful.
"I wonder if this is a good idea…" Chris said.
"Don't worry," Bruce said. "Just stay inside the vehicle, and I will take care of the monsters that might pursue us."
Bruce wanted all the experience and spiritual coins he could get, and to make things move even faster, there was no way he would leave the fights in the siblings' hands. That being said, Bruce still joined their party because he had a feeling that such a thing was necessary, even for the sake of convenience. Besides, they helped him defeat the stone golem the previous night, so they were useful, and to become even more useful, they needed to level up.
Chris' worries turned out to be pretty accurate. The very moment Diane turned the engine on, Bruce heard some footsteps and squeaks in the distance. After moving for one hundred or so meters, they saw a group of three goblins running toward them. They were right in front of the group, so the right choice would be to stop and let Bruce deal with them, but instead, Diane sped up and ran over the monsters.
You obtained 18 experience points.
You obtained 2 spiritual coins.
"Are you for real?" Bruce asked in shock while the truck was bumping due to the monster's body. "We can obtain experience and coins like this, and it is all shared?"
That was surprising, but that would quickly damage the vehicle. Regardless, Bruce turned around only to see one of the goblins trembling, and by the look of things, he wasn't the only one who had been training.
Goblin – Lv 06
HP: 10/28
MP: 11/11
SP: 31/31
You obtained 24 experience points.
You obtained 2 spiritual coins.
Bruce finished off the monster with a single Fireball. Still, despite obtaining a new piece of interesting information, he couldn't bring himself to feel all that satisfied. If humans could obtain experience and coins by cheating like that, then they could think of numerous ways for some cheaters to become extremely powerful with ease. The quickest way would be by using nukes.
"I don't want to even think what humans will do after learning that they might become immensely powerful with a single push of a button," Bruce sighed. "Although leveling up easily like that is convenient, real battle experience is also important."
Bruce could tell since he was barely getting wounded in the latest fights against the wolves. They will only manage to kill him if they create a fantastic plan to surprise him. Bruce took pride in not falling for the same trick twice, after all.
In the next few minutes, the truck bumped several times, and that made Bruce feel quite uncomfortable since he wasn't fighting and because he couldn't sit still. However, they eventually found a convenience store that the monsters hadn't damaged. Apparently, Lucius told Chris and Diane that the monsters might have brought some diseases with them, so they shouldn't scavenge the stores that had been attacked by them. Worrying about that was a bit too late, given that Bruce bathed in the monster's blood for several hours, and those three interacted with him quite a bit.
"It doesn't look like this store has a backdoor," Bruce said. "So, you guys can take your time collecting all the things we need. I will guard the truck and the entrance… hurry up."
Before Bruce could finish his sentence, he heard some squeaks; this time, they came from the sky. So, Bruce realized that it was time for some real action. Diane and Chris hesitated in leaving Bruce to do all the dangerous work himself. However, since they were still only at level three and he was at level eight, they were confident that he would be able to hold his ground.