That's Pretty Awesome

"My name is Lemuel, and I've become especially strong compared to before. I wonder if this is what you all call an ability," Lemuel said.

Dylan nodded.

Strength-based abilities were common in the realm of martial power, so Lemuel's ability didn't seem extraordinary.

However, having an advantage from early awakening and developing it could still lead to decent combat prowess later on.

Another male student followed with his introduction, "Hello, leader. I'm Garfield, and like him, I've gained increased strength."

Dylan uttered a simple acknowledgment.

Again, another strength-based ability wasn't particularly remarkable.

Finally, Dylan turned his gaze towards the female student.

Sensing Dylan's attention, she introduced herself, "Hello, leader. I'm Garfield, and my ability is..."

As Garfield spoke, she raised a piece of iron in her hand and said, "I can manipulate it."

With that, she focused on the iron piece in her hand and then withdrew her hand.

The iron piece didn't fall to the ground but remained suspended in the air.

Next, Garfield made a swift motion with her right hand, and the iron piece shot in the direction she gestured, embedding itself into a stone pillar by the gate.

Elaine, behind Dylan, brightened at Garfield's ability.

It resonated with her own, although she controlled water while Garfield controlled iron.

Dylan looked at the iron piece lodged in the pillar and nodded in satisfaction.

Metal manipulation abilities were a type of spell ability, not commonly seen, and had a distinct advantage.

As her level increased later on, not only could she control ordinary metals, but even special metals like those used by goblins would be within her grasp.

Additionally, any metallic objects like bullets or shells within her control range would be susceptible to her ability's interference or manipulation.

That was quite impressive.

Of course, the prerequisite was reaching that level of ability.

"Good job!" Dylan was quite pleased with Garfield.

"Alright, I'll accept the three of you.

 Let's go, we're off to the next destination to see how you perform!" Dylan said.

Hearing Dylan's acceptance, the trio was thrilled.

 They had witnessed the abilities of Georgia's team back in the cafeteria, especially the electrifying display by the beautiful elder sister, which easily took down a horde of zombies.

 That sight had opened their eyes.

Young people always admired the strong, especially when they were as beautiful and charming as the sisters.

 Moreover, they were hungry and wanted to leave the cafeteria.

Thus, they decided to join Georgia's team.

 However, the beautiful elder sister couldn't make the decision herself; she said they had to wait for their leader's decision.

The trio thought, if these sisters were already so formidable, their leader must be even more terrifying.

So, upon seeing Dylan, they were all respectful, especially Garfield.

She noticed that everyone in Dylan's team was exceptionally good-looking, especially the leader and the beautiful sisters, which made her feel proud to join such a team.

Dylan led the group onto the car and headed towards the next university.

 Along the way, Jodie explained the team's rules to the new members, while Alberta quietly observed them, with everyone's thoughts under her control.Once Alberta confirmed there were no issues, she patted Dylan, indicating that these people's thoughts were clear.

Arriving at the nearest university, Dylan and the others got off the car and continued clearing the zombies as before.

However, to train the new members, Dylan assigned Garfield, Lemuel, and Professor Diego to Georgia's group, while Elaine and Garfield were placed in Dylan's group.

This way, the experienced members could quickly familiarize the newcomers.

With new members joining, the clearing progress slowed down a bit. However, the new members received excellent training.

Dylan felt that in another two days, they could completely handle missions on their own.

It wasn't until evening that Dylan's two teams finally cleared the zombies from the school.

 After tallying up, they harvested a total of 13,400 crystals that day, much to Dylan's satisfaction.

It was the highest crystal harvest since the apocalypse began.

At this rate, once they cleared the zombies from the university city and surrounding areas, Dylan estimated she could break through the 100,000-time energy level.

What level was 100,000-time energy?

 It was comparable to the strength of a level 6 mutant.

 Conventional firearms like guns and grenades would be ineffective against her.

 Who would still pose a threat to her by then?

 Of course, if someone used cruise missiles or nuclear bombs against her, that would be another matter.

Seeing that evening was approaching and everyone was tired after a day's work, Dylan ordered them to return home.

The two cars headed towards the Purple Mountain villa area.

As they drove halfway up the mountain, the sky gradually darkened.

 At that moment, Alberta, who had been looking out the window, suddenly exclaimed, "Dylan, look quickly, what's that over there?

 Why is there a red light?"

Dylan, who had been focused on driving, heard Alberta's words and parked the car to look in the direction she was pointing.

Indeed, halfway up the mountain, there was a place emitting a red light.

Dylan felt familiar with it, and upon further thought, realized it was the same place where they had rescued Little Crow's coal ball.

 In his previous life, he had hidden in the tree hollow there and narrowly escaped death.

 Now, in the dark night, the red light was very conspicuous.

Looking at the red light, it didn't seem like a fire. Could it be... Dylan's eyes lit up suddenly, and he immediately got out of the car.

 The others in the car were puzzled by Dylan's silent departure.

What was that thing that made Dylan rush over so eagerly?

 Curious, they also got out of the car and followed Dylan to see what was going on.

Dylan rushed towards the source of the red light and saw upon closer inspection that it was emanating from the bottom of the tree hollow.

Moreover, he noticed that there was no snow accumulation within a certain radius around the tree.

 This reminded him of his previous life when he had noticed the same absence of snow.

 Although he had been puzzled at the time, he was in a hurry to escape and didn't think much about it.

Now it seemed that there must be something suspicious under the tree.

The red light emanating from the tree hollow seemed to raise the temperature of the surrounding air.

 Dylan pulled out his knife and, to the surprise of those who had followed him, entered the tree hollow.The new members, seeing Dylan's strange behavior, all wore puzzled expressions.

Did their leader like digging holes?

Meanwhile, Dylan, who had entered the tree hollow, discovered that the red light was emanating from beneath the grass and branches at the bottom of the hollow.

 He quickly cleared away the debris and uncovered a small red object on the ground, which was emitting the red light.

 Dylan immediately began digging with his knife, and soon unearthed a red, bowl-sized object.

The light inside the tree hollow intensified, casting a crimson hue on Dylan's face, and the temperature inside rose abruptly.

 Dylan held the red object in his hands, his face filled with excitement.

"Crimson Flame Stone! I've actually found a Crimson Flame Stone here!"

 Dylan exclaimed excitedly, speaking to himself.

 In this moment, he finally understood why he hadn't frozen to death in this tree hollow in his previous life.

It turned out there was a fire vein beneath Purple Mountain, and this Crimson Flame Stone, condensed from the vein, was located under this old tree.

No wonder there was no snow accumulation around the tree; it was all due to this Crimson Flame Stone.

The Crimson Flame Stone was a spiritual stone formed by the condensation of the fire vein.

 Its true value lay in the fire essence contained within it.

Fire essence was a special metal with fire attributes, possessing an extremely high temperature.

 Without the layer of spiritual stone enveloping it, Dylan and the tree would have turned into ashes long ago.

In his previous life, Dylan knew of only five types of such special metals discovered worldwide: Gold Essence, Wood Essence, Water Essence, Fire Essence, and Earth Essence.

Each type had its unique functions.

For example, the fire essence in Dylan's hands, when crafted into weapons, could not only easily slice through the bodies of high-level mutants but also had incendiary properties.

 When lower-level mutants and corpse kings were struck by it, they would even be reduced to ashes due to the high temperature generated by this metal.

In his previous life, Dylan had seen people wielding weapons made from these special metals, wreaking havoc everywhere.

 It could truly be said that they were invincible.

 However, these spiritual stones were particularly rare and were mostly found in mountains, forests, lakes, and seas.

 They were rarely seen in plain areas like this.