[Summon has reached the limit of the current Necromancer skill. If you want to bind more undead, you would need to increase the level of the skill.]

"A level one undead dog is my limit?" Ray's brows furrowed.

But as he considered it, this was likely the case because the skill has never been upgraded.

It was already a miracle that he could control one level one undead dog, which was basically immortal as long as he has mutation energy.

Speaking of this,

"Status."

Just as he was about to look at the red panel, he saw some shadows in the distance.

Ray's eyes squinted as he took Grace by the waist and immediately returned back with a swift speed that left people stunned.

When Grace's eyes blinked, all she saw was the ceiling again as she looked at Ray with confusion in her eyes.

"Shh."

Ray put a finger on her rosy lips while pointing to the corner.

Grace stopped struggling and looked at the place when he pointed at it. The moment she saw it, her pupils widened in fright.

There were two people that were slowly approaching them.

At a first glance, they looked like thugs that were always hanging out in the streets with tattoos all over their body as well as piercings.

However, what scared her were the bats they were holding, still dripping with crimson blood.

The undeads were entirely drained of blood, so it couldn't be from the undead, which means they were people who killed other people.

In the apocalypse, the second most scariest thing except for the undead were the other fellow humans.

Firearms were still a thing, and Ray was not sure he could defend against it. Neither did he know if these two had guns or something.

However, he needed to be extremely careful of meeting humans. He would rather avoid them until he was fully prepared and knew everything about them.

As for spreading his genes, that was still necessary, but keeping his own life was even more important.

Ray glanced at Grace and had a thoughtful expression.

"Status."

—--

[Name: Ray Crownwell]

[Status: Awakened (B-class)]

[Skill: Body Strengthening (Awakening III), Necromancer (Awakening I)]

[Strength: 120 Kg (60 original)]

[Speed: 68 Km/h (34 original)]

[Stamina: 6 original]

[Physique: 6 original (1 for a normal adult male)]

[Mental strength: 4 (1 for the average adult man)]

[Mutation energy: 117]

[Binding summon: one undead dog (level one) 2 ME/min]

[Shop points: 0]

—--

He hadn't the time to look into his system yet, but when he looked at the mutation energy, Ray was still stunned.

"Did I get half, 25 mutation energy each for killing the three level one undead?" Ray looked at his Necromancer skill.

And as expected, a new interface appeared in front of him.

[Do you want to spend 100 mutation energy to level up Necromancer from I to II?]

"Yes." Ray thought "yes" without any hesitation with a surprised expression.

It took 60 mutation points for him to upgrade the Body strengthening skill from I to II, but it took 100 mutation to advance for his necromancer skill.

The difference was clear, mutation for Necromancer's first advancement was almost double that of the Body strengthening skill.

In an instant, as he said "yes," the reserve of mutation energy disappeared from his body.

There was no change in him physically, at least, however, Ray could feel that his mind refreshed and found that his mind could concentrate on things more.

Not only that, a mental image formed in his mind.

The image was of a terrifying human—no, being made entirely of bones wearing a long coat and an eerie black scythe in his hand.

Even though it was just an image, it felt very real with an ominous aura that made Ray shudder involuntarily.

He felt like he could almost instantly bind the undead as long as he had the mental image in his mind.

While he was feeling the changes in his body, the two ruffians had already arrived near the house.

When they looked at the corpses of undead stacked together on the ground as far as they could see, their eyes widened while their legs gave out, causing them to fall to the ground.

"What happened here?" One of them said with a trembling voice.

"I thought we were going to get resources, but what kind of terrifying creature did this." Another one said as he decisively turned around.

"Let's return back."

"Are we going to go back already?"

"There is a terrifying creature here, either a human or a bigger undead, but either way, this is not something we can handle. Let's just inform the boss for now."

"Alright." His companion hesitated for a moment before he gritted his teeth and went away with him.

"You stay here, I will follow them." Ray whispered in her ears before he walked forward.

"You, it's dangerous," Grace wanted to shout at the top of her lungs, but she could only whisper.

Ray however didn't pause, which made her nervous.

Looking at the fleeting back of Ray, she could only grit her teeth.

"You must come back safe."

Ray's steps seemed to have finally stopped as he nodded his head.

"Sigh," Grace could only shake her head helplessly and went back up again, informing Freya as well.

Actually, she had no resentment for Ray. When he first encountered the danger, she had instinctively closed the door, but at the same time, this was like giving him no way out.

Luckily, he didn't kill her and even gave her more food while also giving her knowledge about her awakened ability. In the end times, this was a boundless kindness already.

Besides, in the few days that she had spent time with him, Grace had gradually grown a sense of dependence towards him, almost completely relying on him most of the time.

Because although her ice ability was strong, it still needed a period of time to activate, and for that time, Ray always protected her like a firm mountain.