Eric shrugged on their negative behavior. He was surprised that most of the boys were not cooperative. Nevertheless, action speaks for itself.
He said, "I visited another house earlier, I met three girls. Their house is much bigger, neat, and has more room for us. We will go there."
Eric knew they would reject if he suddenly came and ordered them to transfer to another house. However, if he mentioned three girls, most of them would feel the desire to protect them, to show off for them.
Hence, despite the unwillingness of their eyes, especially Nicholas, Axel quickly said, "We should protect them."
Eric casually smiled. He glanced at Jasper and saw him trying to avert his gaze from him. He sighed. He wanted to ask him to show the ability he acquired.
.{Name: Jasper Ereve
Potential: A-
Title: Aspiring Mechanical Engineer
Stage: Third Mortal Stage
Abilities: Metal Morph.}
Eric was about to instruct the system to expand the Metal Morph abilities to provide him the contexts, when Axel suddenly said, "What are you waiting for? Go and gather the food and water jugs, and we will set off."
Eric was surprised.
He glanced at Axel, who was staring at him with an annoyed expression.
Andrew, who noticed the commotion, hastily said, "I-I don't think he should do that."
"Why not? He clearly can not fight zombies. I'm trying to be frank."
Seeing his serious expression, Eric knew that arguing further could only escalate it. Hence, he dropped his two bastons, walked closer to Axel, who was on guard by his sudden movements and solemn expression, and grabbed him.
Axel was completely taken aback. He clearly saw Eric's movements, yet, for some reason, he could not react fast enough.
Hence, before he knew it, the world turned upside down.
He growled. He felt a wave of pain coursing from his neck. He began to struggle, attempting to push Eric's right arm away from him, but he could not be budged, shocking him.
"W-What are you doing?" Leonel panicked.
Nicholas went forward and grabbed one of the bastons and struck it to Eric. However, the latter, as though having an eye behind him, tilted sideways, and the baston smack to Axel's forehead.
Nicholas was taken aback. He did not apologize though, and was about to correct his mistakes, when he perceived that the baston could not be moved. It turned out, Eric was already grasping on to it.
Eric turned his head and stared at him with indifferent expression, causing his heart to race. He suddenly felt a foreboding feeling.
He was pulled by an unknown force towards Eric, and he lost his balance. Eric then collided his forehead to Nicholas, causing the latter to scream in pain.
"Stop. Stop."
Andrew and Leonel tried to stop Eric from going further, but the latter was already satisfied. He easily evaded their attempts to restrain him and stood up.
He said in a solemn tone, "You all will be packing all the foods and must bring the water jugs. I, alone, am enough.
Just so you know, I have already cleared most of the zombies in the area. Hence, I will be helping, too. For now, you all will follow me. If you don't want to, I don't mind. But, since I have the power here, I will decide where the food and water goes."
However, Nicholas and Axel were still moaning in pain. Eric frowned. He turned to Andrew and Leonel, as they hastily nodded their heads.
"We don't mind."
"Yeah, we don't."
Eric nodded and walked towards Jasper, who was staring at him in horror.
"Stop! I-I will do anything you say."
"Stop overreacting. I made you eat that thing, as it benefits you."
Jasper's face turned ugly as he recalled he ate an object out of the zombies' brain. He even acted like he was trying to vomit, but he already vomited everything he had until he fainted.
He continued to stare at Eric, who halted while staring at him in silence. He took the chance to calm down his shivering body.
Meanwhile, Eric was reading the information about Metal Morph from the system.
{Abilities: Metal Morph
Description: The ability to manipulate and merge with metal for offense, defense, and utility. One of the mutated abilities obtained after eating the Evolution Crystal. All abilities can continue to evolve in accordance to the stage the mutated human has attained. Common ways to evolve it are through eating Evolution Crystal and completely assimilating the energy inside the body after the evolution. However, do note that, like what happened to those zombies, some evolution can fail.
Current Effects: Limited ability to shape small amounts of metal. Slight resistance to metal-based damage.}
Evolution might be more complicated than I thought. Eric was surprised to discover that after eating the Evolution Crystals for evolution, there is a chance for a human to mutate into a zombie.
Just acknowledging the fact he almost failed Jasper earlier, almost turning him into a zombie, made him feel guilty.
Hence, he walked forward, patted Jasper's shoulder and stared at him in pity.
He mumbled, "I am glad you survived."
Jasper's face turned into horror. "W-What do you mean by that?"
Eric did not answer as he searched for a metallic object. He saw a metal key above the porch, so he went forward to grab it.
He then threw it to the baffled Jasper, who caught it in time.
Eric said, "Close your eyes, feel the energy inside you, use that energy to try to shape the key without putting force into it."
Jasper was taken aback. What nonsense is he talking about?
However, seeing Eric's serious expression, he gulped and performed Eric's instruction.
Eric observed him for a while, and so was the rest of the boys, who were watching them from a distance.
Even though the Energy from the Evolution Crystals are different from Qi, how it works should not be that different. Qi is present inside the body and can be controlled, and the mastery depends on the stage the martial artists attained. If the system based the mastery of energy control on the stage of evolution, then I might be correct. Eric thought.