Cassie was the first to spot Leon as he approached, and she quickly adjusted her glasses.

"Good morning, Leon."

Leon nodded back at her, then turned to the others who stood tensed and rigid.

"I can see you’re all warming up. Are you ready now?"

They glanced at each other and nodded.

"Alright. Let’s go."

Cassie and Marie also picked up their weapons and they all walked towards the exit.

Leon only exchanged nods with the other leaders before he stepped out of the field house.

Surprisingly, the morning sky wasn’t really bright today. Instead, it was slightly clouded as if rain was contemplating whether to fall or not.

Leon observed the weather for a few seconds, then said. "We’re heading in the direction of the East gate."

"East gate? Why?"

Marie asked casually, holding the red spear straight in her hands.

Without turning, he answered. "We’re going to scout. Mainly."

They hadn’t heard anything about Leon’s discussion with the other leaders yesterday, so they were completely clueless.

Leon led the way.

Perhaps because of the weather, the atmosphere was a bit gloomy, coupled with the deserted school grounds.

After walking about a hundred meters, they saw a zombie crawling on the ground and chomping on the corpse of a dog.

Except for Leon, everyone expressed disgust at the sight.

Glancing at Miguel, he said. "Marie, pass the spear to him."

Once the young man had the spear, Leon gave him a subtle nod.

"You know what to do."

Miguel gripped the spear tight and slowly approached the zombie. As soon as he got close, it turned to him, growling and crawling towards him instead. Its speed was fast, surprising him.

Thankfully, its legs were crushed, so it couldn’t run.

"Fuck you!"

Shouting to give himself some courage, he stood some distance away and struck the zombie’s head with the spear.

The skull caved in and brain matter splattered onto the ground. The zombie’s movements stopped completely, and it died.

[You have slain a Level 7 Normal Zombie! +3 Strength points gained!]

[You have leveled up to...]

[You have leveled up to Level 2! +4 Stat points gained!]

Because he was still a Level 0 before killing the zombie, he had leveled up twice, filling him with glee.

He even got a reward. A single cube which he handed to Leon.

Crushing it, Leon was surprised to find another combat gear.

He gave it to young man to wear, then they continued their journey.

They encountered a few more zombies, which were used for Fel and Miguel’s leveling up.

To Leon’s surprise, the shy girl got herself a healing ability. Although it wasn’t really useful at this point since her mana reserve wasn’t large, it would surely be useful in the future.

"Anytime you level up, invest your free stat points into your Mana stats, alright?"

She nodded meekly, then stepped back.

Leon shifted his gaze to Richard who hadn’t gotten any reward yet.

"Tough luck, man."

Richard smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to reply.

Ignoring him, Leon looked into the distance.

There were tall trees and lots of lush green plants ahead, with only a one-way road passing through. The area was silent. Too silent to be considered peaceful.

’They’re all low-level, so it’d be dangerous bringing them in here.’

He thought with a frown, then looked back at the five.

No matter what, they all felt like weaklings that could die anytime.

He finally decided not to venture into the forested road, giving that area one last glance.

"Let’s go back. This time, we’re hunting for mutated beasts and insects."

"I-Insects..." Fel muttered, her chin almost touching her neck as she lowered her head.

Leon sighed, feeling displeased by her attitude. Couldn’t she man up?

’Well, she isn’t a man. So...’

He ignored her for now, focusing on searching for suitable prey around.

’Now I feel like some lioness finding food for her cubs.’

He suddenly paused, hearing a tearing sound in the distance.

"You might want to look at that."

Marie pointed to the distance with a nervous smile, directing Leon towards the source of the sound.

A rat, the size of a wolf, was munching on the flesh of another rat, eating gleefully without care for being of the same species.

"Interesting. It should be worth hunting."

Leon said, then suddenly dashed forward.

Before the mutated rat could react, he appeared beside it and smashed one of its hind legs.

The creature shrieked in pain, but that wasn’t the end.

Planting a foot firmly on the ground, he lifted the other and kicked it towards the other five.

Seeing the large mutated rat flying towards them, the group almost freaked out.

"Marie! Do your job!"

Leon’s roar snapped them to reality, and the young woman immediately raised her shield, taking her position at the forefront of the team.

Bang!

The rat slammed into her shield with a pained squeak, then struggled to stand back up.

"Cassie! What are you standing there for? Attack it!"

The black-haired girl shivered, then immediately rushed at the disoriented rat.

Her dagger sank into its neck, then she hurriedly moved back to avoid a counterattack.

"Good intuition."

Leon mumbled to himself, watching how the team was going to handle the injured mutated rat.

Now surrounded, the rat glared at them and bared its rows of sharp teeth.

"Go die!"

Collecting the spear from Marie, Miguel rushed at the rat with rare bravery.

"I’ll cover for you."

The woman added, raising her shield and following him.

"Me too." Cassie joined in, rushing at the rat’s blindspot.

When the rat turned to attack Miguel, Marie placed herself between them, blocking the claws with her shield.

She was pushed back greatly by the force, but she immediately adjusted and maintained her stance.

"Die!"

Already near the creature, he immediately struck its side with the spear.

The weapon stabbed into the rat’s body easily, followed by five consecutive stabs from Cassie.

The rat squeaked and tried to retaliate, but the pain in its hind leg wouldn’t let it focus. Besides, there was also the young woman called Marie.

She was a good defender, and knew the right moment to dive in and block any dangerous attack.

Under their combined effort, the mutated rat was finally killed.

[You have slain a Level 10 Mutated Rodent! +3...]