Chapter 38

The pleasant sunny weather only lasted a few days at New Londo, dark clouds can once again be seen distance away from the mountain ranges above the sky. Judging from past experience, it would be wise to anticipate for another long period of heavy rain fall. Many survivors cursed at the forecast and unwillingly got their lazy butt up for another round of scavenging before the rain to stock up on provision. They didn’t want to be caught unprepared by the ceaseless rain from the previous downpour.

Violet’s group was extremely well known at the base camp. After all, it was the only group that consisted mostly women, and all of the ladies were good looking ones at that. The group’s information was easily passed around at the guild house as they were the main topic in many of the gossips.

This time, they were followed by multiple groups behind their back. With so many awakened in Violet’s group, they can afford to choose a faster route to the district and clear out any dangers on the roads like yesterday. However, others have caught wind of that and treaded after Violet’s group for an easy commute.

Violet definitely had a mood for the situation. She judged that with so many groups tailing behind them, the shopping district would be crowded and competition will be high. The decisive woman made the call for plan B and led the group at the direction of the eastern district. The district to the east was not as close as Queen’s crossing. Seeing the obvious intention, the group was no longer being followed.

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“Hmm… could you ladies stop holding my arms so tightly? I can’t move like this.” The boy expressed his concern.

Leo was being held on two sides by Jean and Yuno, each of the girls were pressing their asset on the boy’s arm. He felt his left arm was buried into deep valley of marshmallows while his right arm was grinding against a flat wash board. The boy was worried about his movement being hindered in case of emergency; he definitely was not contemplating on the disparity of texture between his left and right arm.

“Yeah Yuno! Stop holding his arm hostage in those giant useless fat. Don’t you have a boyfriend? Ah, he is still here watching you. This is totally not ok.”

Leo was surprised and glanced at the girl on his left, he didn’t know she already had a boyfriend.

“Kukuku~~ Leo is just such a tasty looking boy that I couldn’t help myself. I am just playing around and I am sure my boyfriend would understand. Right? Subaru.”

Yuno looked back at her boyfriend and he frantically nodded his head. However, deep within Subaru’s eye, Leo somehow felt deep envy, anger…. and fear? It was then, the boy struggled his arm and got himself out from the warmth of Yuno’s valley.

“Sorry, but I don’t think you should be staying this close to me when your boyfriend is here. He looks a little bit of upset, don’t you think?” Leo gave his thought.

“Fine. What a considerate man you are. Keep it up.” The girl smirked and walked back to Subaru, which the boyfriend became frightened for a moment when Yuno got close.

“And you too…” Leo turned to Jean.

However, another girl showed up to Leo’s left arm and took Yuno’s place. The boy was once again feeling the womanly warmth of the marshmallows.

At the back of the group, Cindy looked at the two women holding Leo’s arm with envy. She would have probably done the same if she was alone with the boy. But with so many eyes around, she couldn’t quite throw away her shame and cling onto the boy.

Mindy glanced at her mother and shook her head.

“Mommy, you got to be more aggressive.” The daughter thought silently.

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At the front of the group, King was diligently clearing out the zombies. Every creature he killed granted him a piece of soul fragment and he was oddly enthusiastic in fighting any enemies. Violet was surprised at how well King performed, but it seemed like she can’t sense that King had awakened.

King glanced back at the women. He was expecting all the girls to have all their attentions focused on him for man handling the zombies. Yet, none of the girls even noticed the young man’s valor, they were all peeking at Leo from the side. King felt that even his girlfriend too had her eyes drawn to the boy, which infuriated him and cause him to direct his resentment towards Leo.

Leo noticed the ill contempt from King, but was confused on why that was the case.

“You are not someone’s girlfriend too, are you?” The boy looked suspiciously to his left.

“No, of course not. Everyone knows I am single” The girl blinked her eyes.

The young man with a system felt a little bit betrayed by the plane of this world. But he was not stupid enough to openly berate Leo; instead, he turned to his system.

“R2! Can you tell if a person is an awakened human?”

[The R2 system does not differentiate battle prowess by such primitive terminology. The chosen sentinel may purchase the system’s special meter to gauge an individual’s holistic strength.]

King checked the price of the meter; it happened to be exactly the amount he had farmed until now.

“R2, you didn’t just manipulate the price, right?” The young man asked suspiciously in his mind.

[Of course not, R2 system has a reputation of honesty and integrity to uphold. The system does not cheat, lie or steal from its customer host. Please remember to leave a 5-star rating after your purchase.]

The young man bit his lips and emptied out his virtual wallet, then excitedly tested the meter on himself.

[ Species: Humanoid

Life Force: 5 ]

“R2, what is life force?” King asked in his head.

[Chosen sentinel, Life force indicates the level of the energy contained in sample’s body and cell, the number usually correlates to combat prowess. However, please keep in mind that samples with high life force do not necessarily mean high combat potential. They could be more aligned with other utilities based on their evolution.]

Having tested himself, the young man moved on to the next sample to have a better understanding of where he stands. He glanced at Violet with the meter.

[ Species: Humanoid

Life Force: 11 ]

As expected of the leader, King thought. Then he moved on to a random girl that happened to be Yuno. The young man wondered what the stats of a normal human would be.

[ Species: Humanoid

Life Force: ??? ]

“R2! Why is there no reading?”

[The meter gauges the parameter based on the relative power of the host to the sample. Any sample that overwhelmingly exceeds or falls below the host’s status cannot be conceived. Please purchase the DLC upgrade package for a full range experience and other added functions.]

“…” King was shocked by the price of the upgrade. He muttered. “What a fucking scam, 1-star.”

Regardless, the young man proceeded to sample another awakened human. This time it was the boy’s aunt, Sharon, who seemed to be protecting her nephew from the back.

[ Species: Humanoid

Life Force: 31 ]

“What a monster!” He thought to himself. But that did not lessen his desire to dominate that woman; rather, it only added fuel to his flame of ambition and made her more appealing to the young man.

[Those with higher life force would yield greater soul fragments if killed by the host.] The system kindly added.

Finally, King moved on to his main target and sampled Leo.

[ Species: Humanoid

Life Force: ??? ]

“Heh.” King let out a smile. He deemed that the boy was just a normal human and the thought that Leo could be an absolute beast did not cross his mind.

“Hey kid…! yes you! Why are you standing back and doing nothing? Subaru is protecting his girl and I am fighting on the front, be and man and come up here.”

Leo was a bewiled for being suddenly targeted. Sharon told him to relax and treat it like a field trip and he didn’t like to show off too much himself. But since he had been called out, the boy shrugged off the women on both sides and walked up to the front.

“Leo, you don’t have to listen to him.” Sharon called out to her nephew, then stared piercingly at King. “Hey you dimwit, he is my nephew and you have no right to yell at him.”

King was taken aback from Sharon’s forceful gaze; but he was convinced that woman won’t do anything, so he stood firm on his position.

“It’s ok aunty, just another casual stroll.” Leo was fine with this, a good opportunity to escape the grasp of those clingy women.

Moments later….

All of the women, including King, were impressed how skillfully Leo took down the zombies. The succinct and precise movements in combat came natural for boy. Leo didn’t introduce himself to the group as an awakened; only Violet and Jean could sense that he was, but they also kept silent. Even now, the strength he displayed were within the margin of a normal human; nonetheless, he attracted even more of the women’s attention.

King cursed at his own stupidity. Even if the young-looking boy was being babysit by his powerful aunty all the time, how could he be a complete greenhorn when he dared to venture out this far with the group.

The young man was lost in thoughts. Suddenly, King felt his cloth was being pulled by a strong force and he landed on his butt after a few steps backward. An abomination jumped on his original position in ambush and he was saved by the boy that pulled him back.

“Ready for combat!” Violet shouted. All the women were disciplined and bravely readied themselves in front of the creature’s horrifying appearance.

Sharon was the first to attack, ice traveled along the ground and froze the creature’s leg. Leo took the opportunity to calmly chop off a few of its cripple limps. The unappreciative young man got up from the ground in haste and landed a killing blow; he looked at Leo with taunting look at the end.

[100 soul fragments acquired.] King smiled at the message in his head.

After checking up on King, the girlfriend went up to Leo and thanked him for saving her boyfriend. Her face visibly blushed when she looked at the boy, and when she got closer, she somehow felt moisture in between her thighs.

King did not thank the boy for saving him. He was even more enraged when he saw his girlfriend’s redden face but held back his grudge inside.

The black crystal ended up in Sharon’s hand and the group soon arrived at the eastern district without any real trouble.