Dylan cleared out four zombies, leaving one small one for Alberta to practice on.
Summoning her courage, Alberta imitated Dylan's stance and thrust her weapon towards the zombie's head.
However, she ended up stabbing the zombie's neck, causing blood to splatter on her face.
Terrified, Alberta dropped the magic sky sword and hastily retreated.
"Pick it up! Stay calm at all times. If you miss a strike, you can try again, but never drop your weapon.
If you were facing the zombie alone, you'd probably be bitten and covered in blood by now!" Dylan sternly reprimanded.
With teary eyes, Alberta reluctantly retrieved the fallen weapon. Once again, she raised the sword and aimed at the zombie's forehead.
With determination, she thrust the blade, causing the skull to crack, and the zombie fell motionless.
Staring at her accomplishment in a daze, Alberta felt a true breakthrough for herself.
"Dorothy, this time you retrieve the crystals from their foreheads!" Dylan instructed.
Dorothy dared not hesitate, immediately stepping forward to extract all the crystals. Though feeling nauseous, she had done quite well.
"Let's go! Onto the next one!" Dylan wasted no time, leading them to the next villa.
Following the same pattern, Dylan and the others managed to clear ten villas by noon. Dylan collected all salvageable supplies from the villas.
During this time, Dylan intentionally left two small zombies for Alberta and Dorothy to kill alone, watching from the sidelines. It was a significant challenge for them.
In a moment of panic, Dorothy missed her strike, only cutting off the zombie's arm. However, she quickly recovered and decapitated it with her second strike.
Alberta surprised Dylan with her performance; she cleanly struck the zombie's forehead, swiftly dispatching it.
In total, they killed 50 zombies across the ten villas. Dylan felt they had achieved their goal for the day. He was concerned that continuing further might overwhelm Alberta and Dorothy, so they returned home.
Back at the villa, Alberta and Dorothy eagerly removed their coats and headed to the bathroom for a wash.
Meanwhile, Dylan rinsed all the crystals. After the two finished bathing, they distributed the crystals.
Alberta still had over a year's worth of energy, having received 20 days previously. Dorothy, however, had been using hers up steadily and had just over 350 days left, not even reaching a full year.
Dylan himself had over 15 years, nearly 16, making him the one with the most energy among them."Alberta gets 10, Dorothy gets 10, and I'll take 30," Dylan allocated the crystals.
Seeing she was getting so many, Dorothy quickly refused, "I can't accept this, it's all your creditI've just been dragging you down!"
"Yeah, you should keep them for yourself. We still rely on you to kill the zombies!" Alberta pushed the crystals back.
Dylan shook his head and insisted, stuffing the crystals into their hands, "Remember, from now on, there's no distinction between us! You both need to elevate your time energy to over 10 years.
As they attempted to refuse again, Dylan waved his hand, "Alright, enough. Just do as I say! Come, I'll teach you how to absorb these crystals!"
Dylan picked up a crystal and pointed to the numbers on it, "See this? This shows the remaining time energy. Unlike the time on our arms, the time on this crystal remains still."
He extended his left arm for comparison.
"To fully absorb the time energy from the crystal, you first need to memorize the time displayed. For example, this one shows 0 years, 364 days, 19 hours, 30 minutes, and 20 seconds. Memorize this time, grip the crystal with your left hand, and then focus on absorbing the energy."
Dylan demonstrated, then opened his hand, showing the crystal displaying 0 time, indicating all the energy had transferred into him.
"But remember, the time must be memorized accurately. If you memorize too much, the transfer will fail due to insufficient energy. If you memorize too little, you'll need to transfer the remaining energy again. Understand?"
Alberta and Dorothy looked on in amazement, both nodding in agreement.
"Alright, try absorbing all the crystals now!" Dylan said, finishing absorbing the remaining 30 crystals himself.
His time energy now displayed over 45 years.
Stretching his muscles, Dylan felt his physique had noticeably improved.
This enhancement affected all aspects of his body, including strength, agility, physique, and mental acuity.
Of course, intelligence wouldn't increase. Some things never change!
As it was their first attempt, Alberta and Dorothy progressed slowly. It took them a full five minutes each to absorb their 10 crystals.
However, the changes in their physique were clearly noticeable.
After all, going from 1 to 10 was a significant breakthrough."Dorothy stood up, stretched lazily, and shook her arm. 'This thing is really amazing. I feel like I can lift a 20-pound pot with just one hand!'"
Dylan chuckled.
"This chef can't help but talk about cooking!"
Alberta also stood up, excitedly saying, "I feel so much lighter and more energetic!
I could cook three bowls of rice today, Dorothy, so make extra!"
"Sure thing!" Dorothy laughed.
"Oh, by the way, you see these crystals that have absorbed energy? They can actually be reused. It's like a storage card; you can transfer time energy into them again.
If you don't want to shake hands directly when trading time energy with others, you can use these instead!" Dylan pointed to the pile of used crystals on the table.
"Oh, I see!" they both nodded.
"Alright, Dorothy, go cook. After we eat, we'll take a good rest and review today's battle experience. Also, Dorothy, try using your lightning ability to attack zombies tomorrow. That's your killer move!"
"Okay, !" Dorothy spiritedly headed to the kitchen.
After Dorothy left, Alberta looked misty-eyed and ashamed as she gazed at Dylan. , was my performance today very bad? Am I particularly stupid?"
Dylan's heart softened, and he hugged her tightly, stroking her hair. "No, you did great! I was just too impatient, but it was for your own good."
Alberta buried her head deeply in Dylan's chest, softly saying, "Hmm, I know."
Suddenly, Dylan remembered something and whispered into Alberta's ear, "Didn't you say absorbing energy makes you more spirited? How about I test that out tonight?"
Alberta blushed furiously at Dylan's teasing and playfully punched his chest. "You rascal, always teasing me! Hmph!"
Dylan laughed, "I just love teasing you!"
As they bantered, Dorothy finished preparing the meal.
After the three of them finished eating, it wasn't yet dark, but Dylan and Alberta went to bed early.
Downstairs, Dorothy endured another night of difficult auditory torture.
The next morning, the three of them woke up early, had breakfast, and got ready to go. Dorothy observed Dylan and Alberta and noticed that both of them looked very good and were full of energy.
She couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Youth is truly wonderful!