[Spirit force increased]

[Spirit force increased]

A pair of notifications popped into Viktor's mind after he had consumed all four of the yellow stones. However, he wasn't exhilaratingly happy as all those yellow spirit stones only gave him two points of spirit force.

[Strength - 29]

[Agility - 59]

[Endurance - 31]

[Battle Power - 40]

[Spirit Force - 66]

At first, the sight of his power level previously made him feel confident in himself, but now after last night he realized that he was still not strong enough to stand tall in this chaotic apocalypse world.

From the knight, Viktor learnt that apparently, the hordes of abyss creatures he met were merely a common occurrence. In fact, the event of him surviving a week walking around the plains without incident and meeting them right already could be counted as fortunate.

The Djinn didn't tell him much about the current state of the world, but the templars did mention that those abyss creatures started spilling out from the cores of the earth about 6 months ago. Since then, they were considered the new tenant of the planet as their numbers were several times bigger than the total number of human survivors. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝗹．𝗻𝐞𝘁

Between the strange, otherworldly creatures and the powerful people roaming the world now, Viktor once again realized that he needed to get stronger as fast as possible. Otherwise, it would not be long for him to be killed and forgotten in this cruel world.

Battle power and spirit force. Right now, those two were more important than anything else. He decided to raise them as quickly as possible and put them as his main priority tomorrow.

Right as the first morning light came into view, Viktor got off from the bed and checked the status of his companions.

[Torri Helsinki - Battle Power: 22 (23) - Mortal Realm - High stage]

[Boris Oslo - Battle Power: 23 (24) - Mortal Realm - Peak stage]

[Barry Pennyworth - Battle Power: 20 (21) - Mortal Realm - High stage]

Boris had already taken 7 more spirit stones compared to the others, and thus it was not a surprise that he reached the peak stage first. In fact, Viktor would smack the man down if he didn't manage to be above the rest with the resources he gave.

Now that his subordinates were done and dusted, Viktor swiftly turned his attention to his lovely lady. By this time, he still didn't expect that he would be given the surprise of the day.

When his eyes caught a glimpse of Eva's current stats, Viktor rubbed his eyes and had to check them twice to make sure he didn't see anything wrong.

"This.. Is this for real?"

[Evangeline Amelia Bardot - Battle Power: 17 (25) - Mortal Realm - Peak stage]

The princess has had such a high boost in power since the last time he checked up on her.

Well, she took her spirit stones while he was sleeping on the sleigh, and he hasn't checked up on her since. But on the other hand, considering he did give her five more spirit stones, it shouldn't be weird that her stats increased quickly, shouldn't it?

However, as if answering his question, Eva approached him and said.

"Dear, I kinda hated swallowing these things. Moreover, the last time I ate one, I didn't feel anything anymore. You can have these back."

She handed him a small pouch filled with 10 spirit stones, and at that moment, his suspicion was confirmed. The girl was special. In this exact moment, Viktor made a note in his mind to find an answer about her within the alien construct later.

After confirming that everyone's stats were above 20, Viktor became more confident to continue their journey. He glanced at the sky and inwardly hoped that they could arrive at their destination before it went dark. After all, the last thing he wanted to happen was for them to be stranded in the wilderness in the middle of the night.

However, as the journey went on, his desperation for more spirit force and battle power drove him to search for some safe animal to hunt along the way, especially the mutated animals that would give him extra stats.

With the tier 2 ax wielded on his hand and four reliable companions with him, as long as he didn't meet a horde like last time, Viktor was confident they could fight against any animal that dared to come across their way.

"Come on, Djinn! Give me a good one." Viktor ordered.

A few lines of information entered Viktor's mind, and as he read it, his expression gradually twisted.

[Mutated White Tiger level 64]

[mutated creature - tier 3]

[Battle power 74]

"...."

"Nope, no, thank you… Pass!" Viktor muttered to himself before he glanced at the other four companions with him. "In fact, we should run quickly, but don't make any noise!"

The group still had one hundred miles of trip left before they reached their destination. Along the way, Viktor managed to fight and kill a mutated lynx, earning him a point of extra agility.

Not far from where he found the Lynx, the group came across a herd of mutated deer with bloody antlers and teeth. From the distance, it was clear that the lynx was hunting them before, as some of them were noticeably limping and others had bite marks littering their bodies.

Looking at the prey gifted in front of his face, Viktor swiftly went ahead and killed them all with ease, and earned 3 points of endurance for his efforts.

Afterwards, he came across a brown bear busy shaking at a beehive hanging on a tree.

[Mutated Brown Bear level 50]

[Mutated creature - tier 2]

[Battle Power - 56]

To fight the bear, Viktor opted for a hit and run tactic, abusing his 60 points of agility to run and avoid the bear's massive claws while hitting its thick fur with his tier 2 axe, depleting its stamina and accumulating its wounds bit by bit.

The stamina Viktor had allowed him to continuously outspeed the bear. A few minutes later, it seemed to finally bled out too much and its body fell on the snow, dead from exhaustion on top of lack of blood.

As the orb entered his chest, multiple messages came to his mind.

[You have received the spirit energy of a brown bear - level 42.]

[You have received one point of strength.]

[You have received one points of endurance.]

[You have received one points of spirit force.]

After his successful hunts of the day, Viktor was left with.

[Strength - 29(30)]

[Agility - 59(60)]

[Endurance - 31(35)]

[Battle Power - 40(42)]

[Spirit Force - 66 (67)]

Fortune was on their side, as right before the sun completely disappeared in the horizon, Viktor and the others finally reached the targeted city. The group stopped atop a snowy hill, giving them a view of the abandoned city that stood just across the river.

Their eyes were quickly drawn towards a particular small island next to the city, surrounded by thick walls, and right before the dusk ended, the last rays of sunlight illuminated the land, giving them a view of what lies behind the massive wall.

To their surprise, people still live even in this secluded city.