Upon returning to their base, Leo's group hurriedly entered the dormitory building and used a sofa to barricade the door. As they felt they were safe enough, everyone except for Leo sighed with relief. Everyone looked exhausted and tired as they were mentally worn off from constant danger.
Adam and Willie looked slightly better since they had already grown accustomed to such feelings after grinding levels. However, Charlotte seemed to have been completely exhausted, as her head and eyes were churning since she was drained mentally.
Sarah and Hazel, who came attracted to the noise, were stunned as they looked at her. She had left the dormitory building as a charming woman with slightly naive looks, yet now, having blood stains all over her clothes, she looked more intimidating and even fiercer than before. Still having a tinge of naivety in them, her eyes seemed to become slightly sharper in the span of a few hours.
Somebody may say that a person can't change so much in both an appearance and aura, yet wandering outside where your life was constantly endangered, even a small change in demeanor caused by such an environment might be eye-catching; not to mention, she had already been close to death for once.
Hazel and Sarah couldn't help but gasp in surprise when they met her after hunting.
'What has she experienced outside of the dorms?'
Both of them shuddered at the thought of what dangers were lying beyond the doors of their dorm. They even thought that they were clever enough to refuse going outside with others.
As their group felt they were safe now, they directly went to their respective rooms to change their bloodied clothes. They couldn't just start eating covered with the smell of the rotten blood, moreover, there were plenty of ownerless clothes in other rooms on the first floor.
After several minutes, they had gathered in the kitchen, all except for Charlotte, who was sleeping soundly in her room. She didn't even change her clothes as she lied down on the bed, staining it with blood. Checking her up, Leo even covered her with a blanket he found on the bed, so she would have a better sleep.
For lunch, they had another pot of stew yet, now, cooked by the joint efforts of Hazel and Sarah, who were curiously looking at their group. The stew was a hearty beef and vegetable stew, filling the room with a savory aroma. They seemingly wondered what they were doing all the time they were outside.
Did they meet any other students, perhaps from different dormitories or classes, while outside?
How dire is the situation beyond the safety of the dormitory walls, with hordes of zombies and potential dangers lurking everywhere?
And finally, what the heck had gone with Charlotte?
Countless questions swirled in Hazel and Sarah's minds, yet they had no courage to ask them. At least not when Leo was here. They exchanged nervous glances, unsure of how to approach the subject. The tension in the room was palpable as they tried to focus on their lunch.
Tired from today, Adam and Willie wanted to quickly eat their own shares of food. As they sip from the still warm stew, their faces quickly grew somewhat bitter. Looking at them, Leo also tried it and easily understood why they looked like that.
The stew had too much salt in it, not to say that it had too much water added in it. It wasn't so bad that you will have an urge to spit it out, but it hadn't the same rich taste as in Charlotte's stew. Leo thought that it was edible, though.
He had eaten much worse food in his past 5 years, so he was able to tolerate its taste. What can't be said about Adam and Willie, who were sipping from it with bitter faces and reaching for cans of food? Looking at Adam and Willies' reaction and sipping from a stew themselves, Hazel and Sarah blushed slightly in embarrassment.
'Well, they are considerate enough to not whine about its taste.'
Finding their faces, which looked like they were forced to eat shit, very amusing, Leo smirked at how they were washing the taste of stew, stuffing their mouths with canned food. After quickly finishing his own portion of stew and canned food, he glanced at everyone else.
"The stew has too much salt in it; consider it next time you cook. Adam and Willie, rest for a day and train your abilities, while I will go solo hunting and try to investigate our surroundings."
"Hey, then take me with you!"
Adam exclaimed in objection since he didn't want Leo, his friend, to die wandering alone. He knew that Leo was strong enough to kill evolved zombies, yet it still didn't soothe his worries.
"Don't worry about me! You are already exhausted from today and barely standing. On the other hand, I didn't kill lots of zombies for today, so I'm going to practice a bit. Also, in this state, you're going to be more of a burden than a help, so stay safe in the dormitory building."
Saying everything he wanted, Leo returned to his room and rested for an hour. During this hour, Leo concentrated on restoring his mana reserves through meditation.
[Your spirit has increased by 1 point]
Leo was pleased to increase his spirit stat since he aimed to reach 5 points in it as soon as he could. Spirit closely resembled mana and stamina in a way that it was expendable since it showed how much soul power or mental strength you had.
On the other hand, intelligence was important for enhancers such as Adam since they relied much on their souls. Increasing intelligence improved the brain of a person and also improved the quality of soul power. In the case of Adam, the more intelligence he had, the stronger the power of his telekinesis will become.
Currently, Leo already had enough points in intelligence stat for an initial stage, and he had no soul skills to use it even in his past life.
An hour later, Leo departed from the dormitory building and walked in a direction beyond where he had hunted with the group. Further he went, more zombies he met. There were plenty of them wandering on the streets, and only God knows how many of them were inside other buildings, such as shopping malls and cafes.
Settling for a street with shops lined up over the street, Leo carefully observed the zombies wandering outside, analyzing their movements and strengths. Several grocery shops were lined in the street, forming a small market. There were several of them on the campus, as it was a place where students went for cheaper prices. Student life had its own share of troubles, including management of the finances.
The market wasn't packed with zombies to the brim, but there were plenty of them scattered around, making it an ideal hunting ground for Leo. Moreover, he had already noticed 2 giants and a hunter among ordinary zombies, and that is only monsters that he was able to see.
Maybe such a number of zombies may strike fear into others, yet in his eyes, they were massive amounts of experience, which will fuel his evolution.
Initially, as a feeble hunter in a monster-infested world, adopting the mindset that everything was a game had aided in soothing his initial fears. He hadn't realized how he had begun to perceive experience points in the terrifying monsters. Perhaps it was his gaming skill.
'Ohh, another Hunter in the group.'
With such thoughts, Leo dashed towards zombies.