This idea of focusing his divine energy on a part of his body didn't just come randomly but was based on one of the skills of his wife called Double Incantation.
She was able to cast two spells at the same time by focusing her mana on both of her hands.
Vance was really grateful to her; if she hadn't taught him any of this, he wouldn't have known how to use this newly gained power of his.
That was also why he didn't know how to treat this red-haired woman who had the same name as his wife.
From the moment they met, they hadn't exchanged even one word with each other.
Vance didn't know how to approach her, while Luna was cold and didn't seem too interested in interacting with others. In fact, a characteristic that she and his wife shared was alike, which made him even more confused.
I'll know once she awakens her talent...
Vance was admiring the work he had done when he felt a cold, shuddering gaze directed at him.
As a person who was often on a battlefield, this sensation was all too familiar to him, even nostalgic. But he didn't have time to reminisce about past memories.
He abruptly turned around, only to see John smilingly staring at him.
There was no mistaking it. That sensation was definitely killing intent!
Although he only saw it for a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, he was sure of it. That enormous killing intent came from John.
Vance also found it strange—how could a normal civilian have that much intent to murder? And it was definitely pointed at him.
Unless he wasn't a normal civilian to begin with?
He wasn't certain, but since he now knew that he wasn't dealing with someone mediocre, he'd have to tread carefully.
Vance didn't make his actions too obvious and disguised it as him returning back. He didn't even take a glance at John and went back inside, leaving him alone.
Unbeknownst to Vance, right after walking past him, John's smiling face changed in an instant.
His face was now distorted with anger. He hadn't felt this kind of humiliation ever since his birth. He swore on his name that he would come back for this disgrace and get revenge.
Letting this guy off was Vance's biggest mistake. The moment he noticed that this guy was dangerous was the moment he should've immediately gotten rid of him.
In the far future, this was the day Vance regretted the most. He regretted that he missed the chance to kill one of the enemies that brought him the biggest trouble by far.
***
After that, the meeting surprisingly proceeded well, with no complaints this time.
Showing off your power is truly the best way to tame an unconvinced bunch of people! This was what Vance thought, but he was completely mistaken.
Although that was part of it, they mostly became cooperative because of the Holy-attributed divine energy—or, for short, the Holy Energy—that he released, which was the golden light.
Besides the effect of bringing extreme comfort to people, the Holy Energy had one more effect:
People who made contact with Holy Energy immediately formed an unconditional trust in the source of the energy, which in this case, was Vance.
Vance himself was unaware of this effect and shrugged it off as their fear of his unbelievable power.
Well, regarding the contents of the meeting: to summarize them all, the people would be divided into three groups.
The Combat Group, the Support Group, and lastly, the Laborers Group.
Chris had done a headcount, and there were currently a total of 176 people present at this meeting, including them.
The Laborers Group would do miscellaneous tasks like cooking, cleaning, and so on. This group had the highest number of members so far, with 96 members.
The Support Group, just as the name suggests, would support the Combat Group. They were in charge of carrying the supplies that the Combat Group found and also applying at least first-aid treatment to injuries that the Combat Group received.
They would have more work to do depending on what talent they awakened.
Since they had to tag along with the Combat Group to collect supplies, they would, of course, be exposed to danger. But surprisingly, a lot of them still joined.
The Support Group had a total of 70 members.
The last and most important group, the Combat Group, would be the vanguard. Their duty was to fight off monsters, find supplies, and, most importantly, protect the people.
Honestly, Vance didn't expect much from this group since it would face a lot of dangerous situations, many of which could even cause their deaths. So, he was prepared to do it alone. Yet what happened exceeded his expectations.
Ten people raised their hands and bravely volunteered themselves. And five of them were actually quite familiar to Vance.
They were his newfound friends: Daniel, Jack, Evelyn, Olivia, and Luna.
Vance looked at them strangely; he didn't know why they decided to expose themselves to danger. He'd make sure they got a loud sermon from him later.
And thus, this concluded the meeting.
Considering that every person could choose what group they wanted to join, the results were naturally unexpected.
In fact, Vance thought that they would probably be scared to even go outside and flock to the Laborers Group to live an easy life where they would be safe.
Right, there was a certain term for people like them. If I remember… yes… a blood-sucking parasite called leeches.
Vance looked down on them with disgust.
Even so, there were quite a few of them. There are more smart people here than I thought, Vance wickedly thought.
Putting your lives on the line, naturally, wouldn't go unrewarded. All of the members of the Combat and Support Groups would be the first to receive the supplies that they collected, while the leftovers would be sent to the Laborers.
This was not all. They would be able to receive individual rooms with beds, letting themselves rest comfortably. Meanwhile, the Laborers would have to sleep on the uncomfortable, hard, cold floor with some strangers.
Vance didn't tell all of this to them earlier to segregate the leeches who planned to suck their blood without doing anything.
Although Vance seemed to look down on the Laborers Group, his disgust was only targeted at the men who had no disabilities and were still young and energetic but didn't want to do anything and slack off.
It goes without saying that the Laborers who did their work honestly would also be given a fair reward. This was still in progress, so Vance couldn't explain it properly yet.
If you're asking where John was, ever since Vance went inside, he hadn't seen even a shadow of him.
If he left this place, then it was a good thing for Vance. He didn't want to house a snake that would wait in the dark to bite him.
Ending the meeting, Vance dismissed all of them except for some people.
***
All of the people dispersed and went to their respective places.
The only ones left were the President, his son Chris, and all of his bodyguards, while Vance was staring at ten people who formed a line in front of him.
They were the ten members who filled the Combat Group.
Vance stared at each of them and said in a heavy voice, "Although I already explained this, I will repeat it again. Once you join this group, you can never leave. You'll only be allowed to leave once you die on the battlefield. Knowing that, will you still join this group?"
He especially stared at the faces of his friends.
Even though they hadn't known each other that much, the time they spent together was enough to develop a strong friendship. If he could, Vance wanted them to be safe.
"..."
Seeing their lack of response, Vance just sighed.
What Vance wanted from them was a strong will that would never falter. On the battlefield, they would see many ugly things and be forced to do those things as well.
He didn't want someone who would run away at the sight of those things—they would just be a burden to him.
Just as Vance was about to dismiss them, one of the five people he was unfamiliar with raised her hand.
Vance signaled her to go on.
The girl took a deep breath and stared straight into Vance's eyes with her dead eyes. "If I join this group, will I be able to kill zombies as much as I want?"
The other nine had stunned expressions on their faces, even the President and the others who somehow heard her were the same. They were stunned that such words came out of a girl who looked like she was still in her teens.
Vance wasn't that surprised. He could recognize those dead and tired eyes of hers.
Those were the eyes of someone who had witnessed despair with their own eyes.
Vance looked straight at her with a nonchalant expression. "Well, that is our duty in the first place. We will kill however many zombies there are, as long as we can protect this place."
The girl nodded after hearing what Vance said. "Then I won't leave."
After hearing the girl, some of them gained the courage to say what they wanted to say.
"I also won't leave! My family must be waiting for me somewhere. I can't just watch and do nothing."
"Those zombie bastards destroyed the restaurant I cherished! I will make them pay!"
"I need strength to protect my siblings. If I can obtain that by following you, then I will gladly do anything you say."
"I-I also w-want to look for my family..."
Vance heard and nodded to everything that they said.
Now then, the last five are...
Vance looked at Daniel and the others. He was blinded by the shining smiles on their faces.
…They don't plan to leave at all, do they? Vance thought speechlessly.
"Then as for you guys..."
"Of course! We will follow you!" Daniel said with a face that clearly expressed, 'it goes without saying'.
Vance suddenly had an urge to facepalm, but he forced himself not to with his strong will.
"Listen, you guys, I won't always be there to protect you all, you know?"
"We also don't want to be dependent on you all the time. That's why we also want to get this chance to get stronger. Right, guys?"
The other four nodded in unison.
What will I do with them...?
At this point, Vance just gave up.
"Fine, do what you want."
Hearing Vance, Daniel turned to the other four and gave them a thumbs up.
"It's a success!"
The four also gave a thumbs up in admiration.
This scene made Vance annoyed.
"Okay, be quiet now. I will give you some time to prepare yourselves."
One of them raised a question, "What for?"
Vance smirked at them. "Of course, to go outside. I will help you guys level up a ton."
Seeing the evil smirk that Vance had, suddenly, all of them wondered if they could still take the choice that he offered a minute ago.