C7 Evolution! Awakening Skill!

Hsu Yuvran and Dongfang Bai journeyed toward the main city, honing their skills by battling the Mutated Beasts they encountered. Whenever they stumbled upon food stores, they took the chance to restock their supplies.

As they defeated the Mutated Beasts, they began to discern patterns.

They noted that areas formerly bustling with human activity, like neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals, were largely devoid of powerful Mutated Beasts.

Conversely, the wilderness offered a variety of sustenance, from plants to meat, explaining the larger and stronger populations of Mutated Beasts there.

They speculated that with the disappearance of a large human population, these creatures had lost their primary food source.

In the wilderness, a variety of food sources existed, ranging from edible plants to different types of meat. Interestingly, many of the mutated beasts had been omnivores before undergoing their transformation.

As they ventured further into open fields and wilderness, eager to take on more formidable foes, they discovered the limitations of their Awakening Skills.

A swarm of Mutated Rats served as a harsh lesson. Hsu Yuvran's shield could only cover a limited area, making it ineffective against many enemies.

While effective in small skirmishes, the shield had a restricted coverage area, making it inadequate for comprehensive defense against large numbers of Mutated Beasts.

His Earth Spikes could only appear three at a time; summoning a fourth would cause the first to disappear.

Dongfang Bai faced challenges of her own. Her Air Grenades lacked sufficient power, and she could deploy no more than ten at once.

However, her exceptional hand-to-hand combat skills and nearly impervious skin somewhat compensated for these shortcomings.

Most importantly, they found that their Awakening Skills drained mental energy rather than physical stamina.

Overuse led to severe headaches and dizziness.

They barely managed to escape the throng of Mutated Rats.

Among the mice, there was a particularly fierce leader with pale bronze-colored teeth.

The beast was not only immune to Hsu Yuvran's Earth Spikes but even managed to bite a hole in his shield.

After a grueling battle and escape, their teamwork improved significantly.

They eventually found refuge on the rooftop of a thirty-story building, where they took a moment to catch their breath.

Despite the intense combat, Dongfang Bai remained unscathed, thanks to her resilient skin and Hsu Yuvran's defensive efforts.

Hsu Yuvran wasn't as lucky as Dongfang Bai; he got bitten several times by mutated rodents while trying to protect her.

Though he had survived a bout of rabies before and thought he could manage it again, he was sorely mistaken.

He had either overestimated his body's resistance to the virus or underestimated its potency.

Just as they were about to settle down for the night, his rabies symptoms flared up once more.

This time, he was prepared. He bit a ball of cotton.

Dongfang tied up his limbs. Despite his excruciating pain, worse than the first time, he clung to his focus, silently channeling the Nine Turns of the Nature Scripture to alleviate his suffering.

Dongfang Bai could only watch helplessly, her anxiety evident as she stood guard.

But just when it seemed Hsu Yuvran would succumb to the pain and lose consciousness, he completed the ritual of the Nine Turns of Nature Scripture. It felt as if countless indescribable substances were drawn into his dantian—a reservoir of energy in his body.

Suddenly, a flash from the system indicated his Awakening Skill had leveled up.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him and let out a long sigh, drenched in sweat but noticeably relieved.

Turning inward, he checked his system's screen.

Awakening Skill.

Earth Attribute:

[One. Earth Shield, Bronze Level. You can use the Earth Element to condense a bronze shield to resist Bronze Level physical attacks. Elemental resistance is weak. (Can be upgraded)]

[Two. Earth Spike, Bronze Level. You can use Earth Element to condense three bronze Earth Spikes to pierce through the enemy. Bronze Level physical attacks. (Can be upgraded)]

There was no change in the other contents. They were the same as before.

Although he'd been through an agonizing ordeal.

The upgrades were a significant reward.

Dongfang Bai untied him and gently wiped the sweat from his face with a torn cloth.

"How are you feeling now?" she asked, her voice tinged with concern. "Did you make it through?"

After some pause, Hsu Yuvran finally spoke. "I managed to pull through, but it was way worse than last time. Probably because I got bitten again, every time I'm injured by one of these Mutated Beasts, I'll fall sick again. My constitution isn't helping me."

Dongfang Bai assisted him and suggested, "How about we spend the night in this building? We can find an empty room and rest."

Fully recovered from his illness, Hsu Yuvran released Dongfang Bai's hand and stood there, lost in thought.

"I'm sensing something new—similar to before, but somewhat different."

"What do you mean? A new skill?" Dongfang Bai asked, looking surprised.

"Not a new skill, the same sensation as before. Only now, I feel like I have a more intense control over earth elements," Hsu Yuvran explained, looking for a logical reason for the improvement in his awakened abilities.

As he spoke, Hsu Yuvran glanced at his palm. The cool breeze of autumn rustled their clothes, and under the cold moonlight, his hand appeared slender yet powerful.

"Shua!" With a swift motion of his left hand, a large bronze shield materialized.

"Shua, shua, shua …" With another quick gesture from his right hand, three bronze spikes jutted out from the wall beside them.

He examined the shield and spikes closely; they had transformed from their previous black iron color to a lustrous bronze.

"Is this an upgrade?" Dongfang Bai couldn't help but express her astonishment.

Now, Hsu Yuvran understood what 'upgrade' meant. Infection by the same virus had allowed his skills to level up.

Did this imply that continuous infection with the same virus could keep improving his skills indefinitely? Was there a cap to this sort of growth?

He tested the shield's weight with a wave of his hand; it felt the same.

However, when he slammed it against a chunk of cement, the cement shattered while the shield barely showed a scratch.

The durability had substantially improved.

His bronze spikes, too, must have undergone a similar enhancement, making them more lethal than before.

This newfound form of leveling up gave him much to ponder.

In a typical human immune response, one would build antibodies and become immune to a virus upon infection.

That meant most people, once infected with the pneumonia virus, were unlikely to contract it again.

However, he kept getting infected with the same virus over and over. It felt like he was walking further down the path to his demise.

He turned to Dongfang Bai and said, "Isn't it strange that I can keep getting infected with the same virus and still level up my Awakening Skill?"

Dongfang Bai responded, "Given how the world has turned out, nothing surprises me anymore. Besides, you're stronger now, which boosts our chances of survival. That's a good thing."

Hsu Yuvran often felt Dongfang Bai was unique; she was sensible, considerate, and emotionally intelligent, surpassing anyone he had ever known.

"In this world, there are people with innate immunity defects, but no one is quite like me," Hsu Yuvran said with a self-deprecating smile. "Their immunity is flawed, but I have no immunity."

"What would happen to my Awakening Skill if I got pecked by a pigeon again and caught pneumonia?" Hsu Yuvran wondered.

After a moment of thought, Dongfang Bai replied, "It's unlikely I'll get infected again; I probably already have the antibodies. But you? Your physiology is a different story altogether."

As they talked, they descended the stairs, picked a random house, and broke the door lock to enter.

It was an ordinary two-bedroom home. It seemed unoccupied when the virus outbreak occurred, so aside from dust, it was clean.

They cleaned the place up a bit. One bedroom for each, it worked out well.

It looked like a couple had lived there before; the cabinets were filled with clean clothes.

To their surprise, the hot water in the bathroom still worked. Even more surprising was the functioning fridge, in which they found a few bottles of beer.

Both of them, unwashed for days, eagerly took turns bathing.

After their showers, they felt clean and refreshed.

Hsu Yuvran looked at himself in the mirror, appreciating how his once frail body had slowly started to gain strength.

He was still skinny, but now he could see the contours of his muscles forming.

His chiseled face didn't look all that different from popular male idols of the time.

His eyebrows resembled sharp blades that slanted into his temples, and his eyes were as deep and luminous as the night sky.

He had just cut his overgrown hair and shaved off his unruly beard.

His new, short haircut gave him an air of fresh sophistication.

Slipping into the homeowner's clothes, he smiled at his reflection in the mirror and said, "Congrats, young man. You're still kicking!"

When he emerged from the bathroom, Dongfang Bai, sitting pensively on the sofa, looked up and was visibly taken aback.

For the past year, survival had been everyone's focus. The luxury of a safe shower was hard to come by, not to mention the chance to spruce oneself up.

Stepping out of the bathroom looking fresh and undeniably handsome, Hsu Yuvran caused Dongfang Bai to blush slightly.

Luckily, they had kept the living room lights off to avoid attracting Mutated Beasts, so Dongfang Bai's reddening face went unnoticed in the dim light.

Feeling awkward, Dongfang Bai swiftly grabbed the homeowner's clothes from the sofa and dashed into the bathroom.

As shower water echoed from the bathroom, Hsu Yuvran fetched a cold beer from the fridge and savored a refreshing sip.

With a relieved "Phew!" he took a moment to enjoy the refreshing coolness.

A year ago, Hsu Yuvran had been frail and financially unstable. Finding a decent girlfriend like Xu Xin had been a stroke of luck.

Dreaming about someone like Dongfang Bai, the campus belle, was beyond his wildest imagination.

Yet, under this serene moonlight and with the soft, yellow glow seeping from the bathroom, things seemed different.

Hsu Yuvran felt a newfound peace and comfort wash over him. Sipping his beer slowly, he felt like a contented husband awaiting his wife's exit from the bath.