Congratulations, your MP increased by one point.

Four hours had passed since the end of my talk with Sandra and the others. Finally, I could get up and stretch my muscles a little. Keeping myself in that position was harder than I thought it would be. But since my MP had increased, I felt satisfied, besides, as long as I use that skill, eventually the amount of MP increased will grow too. However, even though that was good news, I felt troubled. The lobby was almost empty, all the survivors went to bed, but I could see ten survivors sleeping and a bored teacher around me.

“Finally,” Claire said. “Help me put the kids on their beds.”

My God… what the hell was going on? Do I have to that from now on? What kind of situation was that? I didn’t have time to waste with that. My time was better spent killing monsters and collecting information.

Although I didn’t want to do it, I ended up helping Claire. After all, the kids did the job Sandra had given to them, which was not to leave me alone. I never expected that from Sandra, she was using my own conscience against me. Until I discover what Claire’s new skill can do and think of a way of counter it, I will have to endure that kind of situation. However, if I put myself in Sandra’s position, it was pretty much obvious that was the only thing she could to make sure that I wouldn’t suddenly disappear again. I promised to her that I wouldn’t do it again, but she didn’t listen to me.

While I was busy with my own problems, Claire and the kids moved to a larger room, and they turned that room into a dormitory. Strangely, that room had twelve beds, a lot of books, closets, and tables which the kids could use to study and clean their toys/weapons. After putting the last one in the bed, I decided to head to my room.

“If you leave this room,” Claire warned me. “I will have to wake up the kids and make them follow you. We have an extra bed, so just use it.”

“You are enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Not as much as you think,” Claire answered. “I’m pretty sure you understand the reason why we did this.”

“I understand, but I can’t stay in this hotel for more than a few hours. It’s too depressing.”

“In that case, try to help us and make this place less depressed. “Claire said, showing a serious expression. “We have to fight every single day from now on, but not everything can be solved just by fighting.”

Claire was right, instead of running away from it, I should work to make this place better. I began to seriously think about this while I sat in front of the door and began to meditate. The problem was that I didn’t have the means to do it, I wasn’t smart like Claire, Rose, and Sarah. I hadn’t Harry charisma, and I also didn’t have Sandra’s leadership skills. What could I do? Only work in the shadows and do the dirty work, or collect information.

“What happened in the north?” Claire asked.

I hesitated in discussing that with Claire, but she already knew that I went there, it was evident. Besides, the kids were sleeping, and I couldn't feel any presence nearby, so, told her everything that happened.

“So, it was that bad, huh,” Claire said while looking at Martin’s crossbow on the wall. “At least, everything went well, and you learned a few lessons.”

“Yeah.”

I thought I was learning from my mistakes, but I still had a long way to go.

“I shared that idea with you hoping that you would offer to go with me,” Claire said, showing a disappointed face.” But then you went alone, thanks to it, I also learned a lesson: I shouldn’t share my ideas with someone crazy.”

If she were there with me, I probably wouldn’t have faced so many problems. But, the whole reason for me going there was because I didn’t want to see her and the others dirtying their hands.

“I solved the problem, so there’s no point in complaining about that. Instead, you should focus on solving the problem with the woman in the west.”

“Don’t even mention her,” Claire said after sighing. “Every time I think about her, I feel a headache.”

She was probably even worse than I had imagined. Her actions were already crazy enough, but her attitude and her personality must be even worse. I was beginning to feel worried, but a message suddenly made me feel a little better.

The survivors under your command transferred to you 2452 Evolution Orbs.

The survivors under your command transferred to you 2452 Evolution Coins.

‘They worked until pretty late, but it was less than I thought I would receive. It was probably because they shared and helped the other survivors.’

The assholes under my command would help a lot now that I would have to stay near this hotel. It was time to seriously thinking about learning a useful offensive skill. I was about to ask Claire about her opinion, but to my surprise, she was already sleeping soundly.

‘Well, no need to rush. It wasn’t like we will have to fight against the woman in the west tomorrow.’

As I expected, I didn’t sleep well that night. I managed to keep myself in the lotus position until morning, but my muscles and joints were stiff. Or maybe it was because I slept in a place with other people, and I wasn’t used to that.

Although I didn’t interact with them much in a while, when they woke up, the brats looked pretty happy with my presence. Maybe it was because they saw in me an adult who was dumb like them. I was probably wrong, kids aren’t dumb, and they were just inexperienced. They were courteous enough to say good morning, but like always, only Frank tried to talk and ask questions frequently. He was really noisy.

“Hey, big bro. What have you been doing these days?” Frank asked while he was cleaning his new mini-helicopter, which could shoot three arrows at the same time. “The big sisters looked pretty worried about you, Miss Claire too.”

“Don’t call me big bro, brat A. Call me by my name.”

“Who the hell are you calling brat A?” Claire asked after stepping on my foot.

“It’s his fault for not using my name; I bet Harry made them call everyone else big bro and big sister. By the way, you sure have a lot of time in your hands to waste while thinking about my safety.”

“I was worried because I gave you the idea of doing that. “Claire explained. “Anyway, Frank, it’s just trying to be friendly. Don’t make such a fuss because of small things.”

“Whatever… I was searching for useful things around the city. That reminds me, I should see how much I have to pay to create one of those plants. I will wait for you guys in the lobby.”

It would take a while for them to come; after all, Claire was making sure that the kids would adequately brush their teeth and take long enough baths.

The lobby was still pretty empty, but Harry and the others were already there. He seemed that he had something to say, but by looking at his teasing smile, I knew that it was something useless. So, I just ignored him and used the statue.

Blue Spiritual Plant: By eating it, you can recover 50 MP. While alive, this plant can produce every ten days a leaf which can recover 10 MP.

Price: 250 Evolution Coins.

It wasn’t expensive, but it wasn’t that cheap either. I wondered if I could use those leaves to cultivate another blue spiritual plant; if that were really possible, it would be a good investment.

‘Come to think of it; a plant is made of organic matter, and so it's food. Can I create something more complex?’

If I could revive someone, I could probably create animals or even monsters. But could I control them?

‘Let’s see… I want to create a mutant rat.’

Mutant Rat – HP: 30 MP: 30 STA: 30

Physical Limit Lv 02, Mental Limit Lv 02, Sensorial Limit Lv 02

The weakest species of mutated beasts, this creature obeys every command of its creator. This creature can also get stronger; the creator can decide what limit it will be broke. All evolution coins obtained by this creature will be automatically transferred to its creator.

Price: 100 Evolution coins.

‘Wow, it is possible. But it is also expensive considering this monster is weak. I wonder how much I have to use to create a mutant dire wolf.’

Mutant Dire Wolf – HP: 1300 MP: 1100 STA: 600

Physical Limit Lv 09, Mental Limit Lv 08, Sensorial Limit Lv 13

A ferocious predator of the coldest regions, this creature obeys every command of its creator. This creature can also get stronger; the creator can decide what limit it will be broke. All evolution coins obtained by this creature will be automatically transferred to its creator.

Price: 20000 Evolution coins.

‘Very expensive, but it would also be very useful. Besides, eventually, this creature would make me recover the evolution coins that I would spend to create it.’

It was amazing, even if we don’t find more allies, we could create monsters to increase our numbers. However, that worried me a little, it was a monster, but it was also a living being. How could be so cheap to create a living creature? Harry and the others noticed my concern and approached.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

I explained to them my discoveries, and they look pretty interested in this plant. But they also shared my worries.

“I understand how you feel,” Sarah said. “But, even though this is unsettling, this is what living beings are: massive amounts of information. It isn’t something impossible to reproduce, although I don’t understand how this statue can create such things so fast.”

Sarah had a point, but it was still hard to accept it. For me, it would take a while to get used to that. But, I will use that to my heart’s content.

So many things to do, so many discoveries. Just a little more than a month had passed since this weird event happened, at first, I thought the only thing we could do was to fight. But as usual, I was wrong.

“You are pretty good at finding interesting information,” Sandra said while frowning. “Or perhaps is it luck?”

“It doesn’t matter, but since that is the case, then I should…”

“No,” Sandra interrupted me. “You will keep the surroundings of this place safe, along with Claire. We already decided that, and for the time being, nothing will change this decision.”

It was annoying, but I didn’t have to rush. Eventually, I would find a good reason and convince them to let me do some exploration. Besides, I have been doing everything I wanted for the past weeks. So, I had to listen to them, for now at least. There was no point in causing problems or discord in the group.

After an hour, Harry, Sandra, Sabrina, Rose, Sarah and a group ten survivors left the hotel and headed toward the survivors’ camp in the north. After some time, many people began to fill the lobby. Although the survivors could eat in their rooms, they preferred to eat in the lobby in the company of the other survivors. Only a small group of survivors had a relative or two in the hotel, but they still felt better while accompanied by the others.

The survivors didn’t have many things to do inside the hotel, so, after eating, they began to clean their weapons and change the bandages on their bodies. It seemed that some of the survivors decided to venture themselves outside without the protection of the truck. The result hadn't been good; many of them had a lot of scars. While I was observing them, Claire and kids finally arrived.

“We have eighty survivors, how many of them can heal wounds?”

“One,” Claire answered. “Only Sarah can heal wounds.”

That was terrible, although the hotel could heal wounds, it was a slow process since that place didn’t focus on healing a single part. Not only that, but the hotel could also make us recover our MP and STA. So, even though the process could save our lives, it couldn’t protect us from brain damage or similar things. Sarah was the only one who could completely heal a survivor since he had medical knowledge, but even she couldn’t heal old wounds.

“I guess there’s at least one thing I can do in this place.”

“And what would that be?” Claire asked.

“I can diminish the damage the survivors may suffer, and I can alert them from ambushes.”