The World Cataclysm

Sweat dripped from his forehead as Dave did push-ups in a vertical position with his legs raised up to a ceiling. His muscles were burning, and he felt suffocated from all the training as he gasped for breath at fixed intervals. He made the last push up as he muttered, "...100!"

Reaching the end of his special training, Dave fell from a vertical position to the floor with his back faced to the floor as a groan escaped from his mouth. However, although he was desperately gasping for air and all his body was in great pain, his face twitched as a smile crept on his face. Sweaty and tired, his smile seemed that of a madman, but he had a reason to smile like that since he got a new system notification after 3 days of training.

[Your stamina has increased by a point.]

It had already been three days since Dave started scouting their university grounds and searching for Devourer or Richard. So far, he didn't make any significant progress in that direction, but his special training was already bearing fruits.

Dave had also expected that stamina would be the first one to rise since the disparity between it and strength and agility was already great. Since Reinforced Breathing adapted the depletion rate of stamina basing it on strength and agility, a one-point increase in stamina wasn't surprising to him. However, after training so hard for three days, breaking and restoring his muscles at a rapid rate, Dave felt great satisfaction from his stamina increasing by a point, even it was only a point-increase.

Lying on the floor and trying to catch his breath, Dave used Mana Enhancement to circulate mana in his body as a gentle wave washed through his body, seeping into his cells and soothing the pain. Although a decrease in pain was minuscule, Dave found salvation from that 10 minutes during which mana flowed through his body. Normally, activating mana enhancement wasn't that comfortable, yet Dave found peace in using it after hard training as he closed his eyes and enjoyed a short moment of peace.

However, as his cells became satiated with mana and couldn't take any more mana into them, the pain in his muscles returned as nothing happened like that moment of peace was just his wishful dream.

Over the past three days, they finished sorting and counting all the food they had obtained from the cafeteria. Moreover, they continued their sparring sessions in the morning, and Dave could already see small progress in Adam and others. In the morning, they would spar, then Adam would lead others to kill zombies on the way to a supermarket, while Dave went on his own, still trying to track down Richard and Devourer.

Gritting his teeth, he stood up from the ground and dragged his body on top of the bad, as he sat into a cross-legged position and entered into a meditative state. However, he didn't forget to check his status before meditation.

[David Murckly

Level: 7

Survival coins: 348

Class: None

Mana: 51/61

Strength: 18 (+1)

Agility: 16 (+1)

Stamina: 12

Intelligence: 11

Spirit: 7 (+1)

Free 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 4), Mana Threads (LVL 4), Mana Barrier (LVL 2), Mana Enhancement (LVL 2), Reinforced Breathing (LVL 2), Swordsmanship (LVL 5), Battle Focus (LVL 4), Mana Sensing (LVL 2)]

***

After another four days, Dave got three system notification during his training in those three days.

[Your agility has increased by a point.]

[Your stamina has increased by a point.]

He got two system notifications after three days that he got the same notification for his stamina

...

[Your strength has increased by a point.]

The next day, his strength had also risen by a point, so Dave thought, 'As expected, stamina is the fastest one to rise, but it'll eventually slow down when it reaches the same point as strength and agility. Moreover, they're rising so fast just because my stats are low, it'll be harder to increase them in the future as my stats would go higher.'

Pondering over it, Dave asked himself, 'Should I save my free points from level-ups in the future? Adding free points would just slow down the rate I get points by usual training, so I better save my free points for the future.'

Deciding on it, Dave moved to the progress made by his fellow teammates, "Adam is making progress with controlling several objects at a time. Rebecca had also started absorbing mana with the help of her spirit. Rachel and Adrian are doing fine with getting battle experience."

Then, he remembered how Brian complained about how multi-casting was difficult to accomplish and how he made no progress in three days over the dining table. Well, Dave wasn't surprised by the lack of results since multi-casting was a more advanced technique than Brian could handle at his level. And he was pretty sure that it should be pretty demanding on his spirit, so Dave encouraged Brian in his own way.

As he took a note of their progress, he heard a loud bang from the corridor, like someone had flung opened one of the doors, as someone shouted, "I did it! I finally did it." Dave immediately recognized the owner of the voice.

Heading to the corridor, he heard Adam half-jokingly saying, "Hell, damn, Brian! Be a bit quieter or you would draw all zombies from nearby. What did you do?" At last, Adam asked him interestedly.

Brian giggled smugly as he was proud of what he did. Reaching them, Dave first ask, "What? Were you able to multi-cast your fireball?"

When Brian heard his question, his face had stiffened in a moment as he froze in one place. Having stopped giggling, Brian coughed to hide his embarrassment as he shared with everyone, "No...there is still no progress there," he said half-depressed. "But I was able to change my Life Pulse from circular scanning to linear one. I was working on it for days, yet until now, I didn't make any progress in it."

"Awesome, Brian! Your ability will play a big role in finding other students and survival in general." Adam exclaimed in surprise as he praised Brian for his hard work.

"Right! Magic isn't the only thing you should focus on. You did a great job." Dave said to Brian. Although it wasn't multi-casting, Dave still got surprised by his spirit. He had found such drive only from top-hunters and mages from his past life, and was surprised to observe such spirit from Brian. He seemed to be truly interested in magic and his own ability.

"Yes, praise me more!" Brian said smugly as his face brightened a bit. He seemed to enjoy hearing praises from them.

"Since all of us have already gotten out from our rooms, then let's go grab something. I've finished exercising, so I'm free now. Ohh, and if you want to join me in my training, then be free to join in. I'll train you in a proper manner, and perhaps, you would burn all your fat after several months, Brian." At his last words, Dave smiled evilly, sending shivers down Brian's spine.

"No, no...no need. I'm doing fine!" Brian desperately shook his head as he paled a bit. Dave patted his shoulders, saying that he was joking. However, he still said that his suggestion was still valid.

[Your Leadership (LVL 1) has turned into Leadership (LVL 2).]

'Ohh, my leadership has increased by level. Well, it's better than nothing though I don't want to be the one. I have Adam to dump everything on.' Dave chuckled inwardly as he amused stared at the system notification.

Well, it wasn't surprising that it levelled up since he was acting as a temporary leader for more than ten days. Even in the supermarket, he was the one who came with decisions while also trying to give a chance for Evelyn to think for herself.

After Brian's advancement with his innate ability, nothing unusual happened in the following days. They sparred in the morning, then Dave did his special training and meditated. After that, he parted ways with others as they went hunting together, while Dave went on his own.

Returning back to the dormitory, closer to evening, he worked on his mana control and meditated to gather mana. However, as his mana became closer to the limit cap, it became to increase his mana pool even by point, but he didn't stop meditating. He knew that to bear results he needed patience, otherwise he would burn out.

Others made qualitative improvements in their battle styles after all the sparring session they had with each other. After a week of sparring with each other, Dave allowed them to spar with someone other than him, so they could adapt to different battle styles. Of course, not to kill each other, he put some heavy restrictions on some skills and abilities.

After three weeks as he started to look for Devourer and Richard, Dave didn't find anything noteworthy. Well, he was rash to find them since Richard might have been just hiding somewhere, trying to adapt to a new environment, while Devourer may not have even appeared in their university.