Dylan quickly approached and checked, nudging the cow with his foot but receiving no response.
He then flipped the cow over with his hand, only to discover a small calf hidden underneath its body.
It seemed like it had been born not long ago.
Moreover, the calf showed no fear upon seeing Dylan, solely focused on suckling from the mother cow.
However, the mother cow was now barely breathing, likely exhausted from giving birth.
Suddenly, Dylan noticed a faint green light flashing at the calf's forehead.
Thinking he might be mistaken, he approached for a closer look.
The green light flickered again, revealing a one-star mutant calf.
A mutant right from birth – this calf was no ordinary creature!
At this moment, Second Dog also approached and sniffed around.
Dylan couldn't help but wonder why Second Dog didn't alert them, considering this was clearly a mutant.
Was it possible that Second Dog only sensed danger from mutants and not harmless ones like this calf?
As Dylan pondered, he looked at the adorable calf thoughtfully.
Could it be that Second Dog only warned against animals or people emitting a threatening aura?
The more Dylan thought about it, the more it seemed plausible.
For now, it was the only explanation.
Meanwhile, Dylan noticed that the mother cow had stopped breathing.
He had no choice but to pick up the calf.
Upon inspection, he found out that the calf was also female.
Dylan's eyes lit up at the thought of raising her.
With her around, they could have fresh milk every day!
However, they weren't sure yet what special abilities this mutant calf possessed.
Still, encountering a harmless mutant was rare, so Dylan decided to take her back and raise her.
Even if she didn't possess any extraordinary skills, as long as she could produce milk, it would be worth it.
Without further ado, Dylan picked up the calf and headed towards the car, with Second Dog and Coal following closely behind.
He placed the calf directly in the trunk, thankful that their Babos off-road vehicle had a spacious enough compartment; otherwise, they wouldn't have fit her.
After ensuring Second Dog and Coal were in the car, Dylan drove straight to the Purple Mountain villa area.
By the time he arrived at the gate of the Purple Mountain villa area, it was already dark.
Alberta and the others had just returned, accompanied by two new members.
Seeing Dylan back, Alberta brought the two young men to him and said, "Dylan, these two are students from the Polytechnic Institute. They have awakened abilities and want to join us."
Dylan glanced at the two students. They seemed fairly honest. He spoke in a calm tone, "Introduce yourselves."
Both of them knew Dylan was the leader of the team. Upon his inquiry, they straightened up immediately.
One of them said, "Hello, boss. My name is Guy. I can manipulate sand and stones."
Dylan's eyes lit up at this revelation.
Manipulating sand and stones?
Wasn't that an ability related to earth manipulation in the spell system?
Glancing around, Dylan pointed to a pile of soil on the roadside that wasn't completely covered by snow.
"Show me," he commanded.
Without hesitation, Guy immediately displayed his ability.
He extended his right hand forward, causing the soil on the pile to levitate.
Then, with a wave of his hand, he flung the soil away, creating a pit in the nearby snow-covered ground.Dylan nodded in approval.
Though not very powerful, manipulating soft soil like this could have even greater potential with small stones.
Moreover, Guy's ability was only at level one.
Once he advanced, controlling large rocks wouldn't be an issue.
Then, Dylan turned his attention to the other young man.
As the young man saw Dylan's gaze, he immediately spoke up, "Boss, my name is Humphrey.
I can emit fireballs."
Oh?
Dylan was somewhat surprised.
Both members they recruited today seemed to have decent abilities. This was another ability related to fire in the spell system.
Dylan signaled for Humphrey to demonstrate his ability.
Humphrey promptly extended his right hand and pushed it forward, causing a small fireball to erupt from his palm and shoot forward.
Finally, the fireball exploded in the snow not far ahead, creating a pit.
Additionally, due to the high temperature of the fireball, the snow around the pit melted considerably.
Satisfied, Dylan nodded in approval. Not bad. This fireball technique was different from Louise's fire breath. Louise's ability was melee, while Humphrey's was ranged. Each had its advantages.
"Hannibal, come here!" Dylan called, summoning Hannibal over.
He continued, "You'll be in charge of managing these two for now. Explain our rules to them."
"Understood, boss!" Hannibal replied.
As Hannibal prepared to take the two newcomers away, Dylan stopped him, pulling out over 200 crystals and handing them to Hannibal.
"I have over 200 crystals here. Distribute them among these two, Garfield, and Lemuel.
That way, all four of them should reach a 50-year energy level."
Accepting the crystals, Hannibal glanced at Guy and Humphrey before saying, "See how good the boss is to you? Thank him!"
Guy and Humphrey immediately thanked Dylan, looking happy.
Dylan nodded at them before turning to Hannibal.
"Hannibal, you now have five people. You'll be responsible for guarding the gate from now on."
"Got it!" Hannibal obeyed without question.
With these arrangements made, Dylan had Alberta lead the others back to the villa.
The four nurses promptly reported their day's work to Dylan upon his return. They had spent the day cleaning up one of the villas.
Upon hearing this, Dylan instructed Professor Diego, Elaine, and Garfield, who had gotten out of the car, "Since one of the villas is cleaned up already, the three of you can stay there tonight."
Then, he turned to Kimberley and Laurel.
"You two won't need to guard the gate anymore. Follow Professor Diego and the others to the villa in front."
"Okay!" Kimberley and Laurel replied in unison, clearly relieved to finally get some rest.
As Kimberley and the others headed towards the villa, Dylan and Alberta returned to the main villa.
Dylan retrieved some supplies from the car—sleeping bags, a stove, charcoal, flashlights, solar panels, outdoor power sources, and various food items—and had the four nurses deliver them to Kimberley and the others.
Afterwards, Dylan carried the calf from the trunk of the car.Jodie exclaimed, "Wow, Dylan, how did you manage to bring back a calf!"
"It's a mutant calf!" Dorothy pointed out, noticing the mark on the calf's forehead.
"Yeah, found it on the farm. It's just been born. And it's a little heifer. Once it grows up, we won't be short on milk!" Dylan grinned.
At that moment, Second Dog and Coal also jumped out of the car.
Alberta, seeing them, exclaimed incredulously, "Dylan, both Coal and Second Dog have leveled up?"
Dylan watched as Coal and Second Dog played around the calf.
"Yeah, killed a dozen or so mutants today. Just enough for them to level up
And these two guys performed well today.
They'll definitely become a strong asset to our team in the future."
However, Dylan wasn't sure where to place the calf. Bringing it inside the villa wasn't an option, especially since it wasn't as well-behaved as Coal and Second Dog.
After some thought, Dylan temporarily placed the calf in the generator room, where there was heating.
He decided that tomorrow, the four nurses would clean up another villa, and they could move the calf there to raise it.
He planned to move Coal and Second Dog there as well, so the three animals could stay together.
As for safety, Dylan wasn't worried.
With Coal and Second Dog around, the calf would be safe.
After settling the calf and giving it a regular crystal to eat, Dylan and the others went into the villa.
Everyone was tired after a long day.
After showering and changing into pajamas, Dorothy went to cook.
Cooking was much easier for Dorothy now.
She only had to oversee the cooking, while the four nurses handled the rest, saving her a lot of effort.
In the living room, Alberta and the others emptied two large bags of crystals.
"We got about 6,000 crystals today.
Progress was a bit slow because of training new recruits, so we only cleared one university today," Alberta reported.
Listening to Alberta's report, Dylan sensed her dissatisfaction with today's harvest.
He comforted her by patting her head, "It's okay, it's already quite a lot.
After all, it was your first time going on a mission alone.
I'm very satisfied with your performance!"