Leo rushed at the zombies, empowering himself with mana. He could feel strength flood through his body as he thought, 'It surely feels different to battle with mana.'
[Mana Enhancement (LVL 2)] had boosted his strength and agility by 10%, making him stronger and his body more durable.
With better physical stats, Leo saw that killing zombies was much easier than previously. He felt significantly less resistance when he sliced through their skin, making it simpler to avoid their strikes.
While Leo was beheading another regular zombie, his instincts, which he had been honing for the past five years, shouted throughout his body. Leo used the [Flash Step] technique as he advanced to avoid taking a headshot from an unexpected blow.
His [Mana Enhancement] increased his strength by another 2 points and his agility by another point, making him invincible even against 2 Hunters. However, their sudden dashes were still dangerous for him.
'I can follow the movements of the low-rank Hunters because of my enhanced agility , but I just can't let myself get surrounded by them.' Leo took out another couple of zombies while keeping his distance from the rest of the group.
Opening a space around him, he baited hunters from the crowd of zombies. As two shadows emerged from the group, he clearly saw two hunters with their sharp claws and black armor covering their bodies.
When both of the shadows rushed at him, Leo formed [Mana Barrier], surrounding his body. When their attacks were blocked, 2 Hunters wanted to swiftly retreat behind other zombies.
However, when one of the Hunters tried to retreat backwards, thin mana threads were wrapped around its legs as it fell on the ground. Following thin blue threads, it can be seen that they were attached to Leo's fingertips. It was his newly acquired skill, [Mana Threads].
Leo quickly rushed towards that Hunter and slashed his head into two halves. Hunter's corpse rested on the ground, and white brain matter was leaking out of its head.
Hunter's corpse shone brightly as a white chest appeared atop it. However, Leo didn't have time to feel happy about it as he still needed to deal with another Hunter. With only one Hunter remaining and a 10% boost from his [Mana Enhancement], Leo swiftly dodged and killed the next Hunter.
[You have reached level 4.]
The system notification had appeared before his eyes.
'Right, it should already be time to increase my level. I've killed 3 low-rank hunters and dozens of ordinary zombies,' Leo thought to himself.
Having killed both Hunters and having dealt with half of the ordinary zombies, it was an easy task to slaughter another half. The blood and gore were scattered on the ground as dead bodies of zombies lay on the ground.
Panting lightly, Leo was satisfied with the result. 'Fighting with mana is much more convenient. Although my physical condition is quite poor, I'm still able to rival a low rank 1 hunter in agility, using my mana to enhance my body. And the spoils are good too. I increased my level by one level and got 2 white chests.' Indeed, he got 2 treasure chests, one from each hunter.
'I'm not sure why, but the drop rates are higher than I've remembered. Maybe, they will get lower in the future. I don't know how high the initial drop rates were in the first year.' Leo was still surprised that evolved zombies had a 100% chance to drop a treasure chest. 'All evolved zombies dropped a treasure chest. It seems that I should kill more of them before the drop rate is lowered.'
Searching the battleground, excluding the 2 white chests he got from killing hunters, collected 37 survival coins.
As Willie watched how Leo slaughtered 2 evolved zombies and more than 30 ordinary zombies, he was scared to death. He saw how Leo barged into their ranks and killed all of them.
'Monster! He is a monster.' Willie never saw someone as frightening as Leo. He seemed thin and weak, yet Leo still killed all these zombies by himself. Willie didn't know anyone who was able to do the same.
Leo stood there, among the corpses of zombies, bloodstains staining his white T-shirt. In addition to everything, he ransacked their corpses, gathering black coins from their bodies.
However, Leo wasn't a bit bothered by how he looked from the outside. He had faced much bloodier battles and knew the true purpose of survival coins. In the meantime, he needed to gather as many survival coins as he could.
Not waiting for Willie, he quickly opened 2 white chests. As usual, they disappeared from his hands with a light show. Instead of them, the loaf of bread and a small vial of blue liquid appeared in his hands.
[Restoration Bread]
[Description: Restores stamina of a user in 5 minutes. ]
'Restoration Bread! Let's save it for the future.' Not interested in taking it now, he threw it in his bag.
[Basic Mana Potion]
[Description: Restores 10 points of mana upon drinking.]
Seeing the items, Leo understood that they were just common items. However, they still had their own uses, so he wasn't disappointed. He was more interested in how much mana he had left after the battle. He had used all his skills in the battle. But before that... 'Allocate 2 points in stamina.'
'Status'
[Leonard Wright]
[Level: 4]
[Class: None]
[Survival coins: 78]
[Mana: 3/7]
[Strength: 16]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 11]
[Intelligence: 11]
[Spirit: 1]
[Attribute points: 0]
[Innate ability: Regression]
[Skills: Elementary Cooking (LVL 2), Gaming (LVL 8), Mathematics (LVL 7), Leadership (LVL 1), Meditation (LVL 3), Flash Step (LVL 1), Mana Application (LVL 3), Mana Threads (LVL 3), Mana Barrier (LVL 2), Mana Enhancement (LVL 2)]
'I used four mana points in a five-minute combat. I didn't utilize any mana-based attacking talents, just support and random abilities. My mana pool is insufficient for protracted combat.' Leo sighed gently, realizing that he still had a long way to go to achieve his prior status. He was clearly stronger than the other survivors. However, if he confronted an experienced battle-type Awakener, known for their swift and powerful combat skills, Leo would undoubtedly struggle to emerge victorious in a head-to-head confrontation.
"Man, I've never seen anything like this. How did you even grow so strong? Didn't we start at the same time? Willie appeared paler than usual. Even though he had been slaying zombies for a few days, he had never seen so much gore in his life.
Leo shrugged at his comments, pretending to know nothing. He never planned to reveal his natural gift to anybody. He couldn't even accomplish that.
"Let us go inside the building. I doubt Adam will endure much longer." He observed that Adam had already reached his limit. Adam moved with difficulty, leaning heavily on Willie. Everything was a fog for him, his insides ablaze with torment.
They swiftly settled into an open room on the first floor. It was a typical double dorm room for roommates, except for the blood splashed on the floor. There was no corpse, so Leo assumed it had already transformed into a zombie.
"Willie, look after Adam. I'll inspect the top levels and barricade the entryway." He wanted to search the building for any additional zombies. He closed the dorm doors quietly, carefully moving a heavy sofa from the lounge hall to barricade them securely, ensuring their temporary safety within the room.
Every level of the dorm building included a lounge space where students from the same building could interact and socialize. It featured many sofas for students to relax on and tiny decorations to create a comforting atmosphere, despite the fact that the walls and floor were covered with blood.