The following morning, everyone was getting ready. Apple and Mabini finished cooking breakfast for everyone. Everything else seemed normal as people grabbed their food, except for Boni, who wore a huge smile, and Elise, who seemed to be fighting a smile of her own while blushing the entire time.
As everyone wondered about the pair, someone commented very nonchalantly, "Elise-chan, Boni-san, it seems you both 'got lucky' last night."
"Pft!!"
"Khahack!!!!"
"Ew! You spat your food at me!"
"Water! I am choking! Somebody get me water!"
Whether it was because the comment came from someone with such a stoic expression, or because nobody expected Hana of all people to make such a sudden remark, everyone was caught off guard. Regardless, it was enough to uplift the mood, as if the apocalypse were not happening around them and they were simply a group of friends enjoying themselves.
"Oh, by the way, Elise. You mentioned your father is in the military, correct?" Luna inquired.
"Yes. I never actually went into specifics, but we are originally from Belgium. He retired as a general to take better care of me and moved to America, where I was born. It's a long story, but with such a predicted long-term peace after my mom passed away, he dropped everything for me." Elise wore a proud expression, clearly confident in her father's capabilities.
"Mm, I see. What was his name?"
"Gerard Mathieu Leman. He was responsible for the military education of King Albert III of Belgium. He was contracted by the Philippines to help train troops and gain more experience in modern guerrilla tactics as well. I knew he was passionate about it, so I encouraged him to take the offer, and I told him I would like to enjoy the beaches here too," she added.
"I understand. Boni, keep a lookout for that name and put out a notice for Elise as well, along with welcoming survivors who are farther from the government evacuation site. A lot of people do not trust Buencamino, so they might welcome the option of coming to us instead."
"You got it, bro. I will put it out now so we can have it up before we leave." Boni patted his chest to assure everyone that the task would be carried out completely.
After everything was settled, the group headed out in the direction of the schools, specifically toward the USLS and CSA campuses. His goal was not necessarily the schools themselves, but the surrounding area, which was full of local businesses that would have iron gates to close down shop after every business day. That would give people a sense of security, and the stored food inside would make such places likely hiding spots for scared survivors.
With that, the group set out. The plan was simple. Luna still felt leveling should be his priority, but he did not want everybody to fall behind, either. With his current body's constitution, it would not be an issue for Sura and himself to take turns killing zombies and evolved zombies all day long.
Boni led the rest of the group to look for survivors while hunting zombies and searching for more supplies, since having more would not hurt.
Meanwhile, Luna set the experience he gained to be evenly shared among the group. Although Boni and the others were killing zombies too, it would not be nearly as fast as the Luna Sura duo mowing them down with their capabilities. The goal was simple. Luna did not want to babysit them all the time, so he wanted the rest of the team to reach level ten as soon as possible.
This would drastically decrease the chances of anyone dying or getting infected.
The plan was going smoothly. They had found survivors, and after explaining the general state of the world, along with the Nation system and what would be required of them, the survivors knew this was the best, if not the only, way to survive. Although Luna's home was quite large, it was not enough to accommodate more than thirty people.
By the end of the day, their group had grown to twenty-five people. It was still quite worrisome. It seemed the Philippines had been hit hard, with the apocalypse starting at 3 a.m. Even with the booming voice heralding the arrival of the zombies, people who were asleep and were woken up were still groggy, thus reducing the number of initial survivors even more.
As for the other reason, it was most likely because many had already flocked to the government center evacuation area. They went ahead and leveled the new members of the Sovereign Nation to ten, in anticipation of the fight for their territory.
Once that was taken care of, Luna switched his experience sharing back to just himself and proceeded to keep grinding.
After several hours of grinding, it was starting to get late, but just as he was planning to leave, he noticed a man and a woman wearing lab coats making a break for it and running toward them. "Help! Please help us!" they cried.
Right behind them was a hulking zombie, twice the height and body mass of an evolved zombie. It did not take a rocket scientist to guess this was probably a new, further-evolved variant.
"Perfect," Luna said. He had been itching to truly test the capabilities of his new body, as even the evolved zombies posed no threat to him anymore.
"You two! Stay with her!" Pointing to Sura, the two immediately followed his instructions.
Gripping his blades tightly, Luna tapped his foot once and immediately disappeared from the spot he was in. The two people wearing lab coats were stunned. Where had he gone?
They looked toward the hulking zombie variant and noticed Luna had already appeared beneath it and was slashing at its legs. Given how thick they were, Luna honestly expected his newfound strength to cut at most halfway through its thick calves. He had targeted this spot specifically to test his strength; otherwise, slashing behind the knee would have been more effective. Much to his surprise, he cut through them cleanly.
The variant lost its balance and fell over. What was more shocking was that the muscle fibers writhed like worms, as if searching for the lost part.
Luna did not give it any more chances to recover. He went straight for its head. With that zombie dead, an orb that was visibly denser entered Luna's body.
"Congratulations! You have reached level 20!"
After receiving that notification, new information flooded Luna's mind. As he quickly skimmed through it, a huge smile formed on his face.