"One, two, three. One, two, three..."

  I'm doing some light stretches after a brief mana grind. Its early in the morning, so its the right time for this.

  First I did some light stretches, then after that, I did ten sets of push ups, curl ups, and jumping jacks. Those are the only type of exercises I know, and I think it is helping me.

  After I was done with my exercises, I took a break, sitting on a chair and drinking a bottle of water.

  "Puah! This feels great!" Even if this water's not cold, it is still refreshing to me.

  After this, next is another time for grinding. I took a batch of Molotov cocktails, all of which were contained in a drawer box as a makeshift container, and then started hurling them randomly outside my window.

  It's been a week since I made a Molotov. Since then, I've been frequently killing zombies by throwing these flammable bombs outside my window. The amount of mana I got was a hundred times better than simply throwing knives.

  As proof. In just a week, I've accumulated enough mana to stay in an empty alternate dimension for a total of 30 minutes!

  Well, I still don't like the headache when going beyond my limit, so I just limit myself to twenty minutes right now.

  Still, it's quite a large improvement compared to the previous two weeks. If I keep this up, I can just grind enough mana until I can stay in my alternate dimension for an entire day!

  By the way, I just realized, that stronger monsters gives more mana than normal zombies. I just saw one of those muscular zombies burning to death along with the horde of zombies, and the amount of mana I got was enough to cover ten more seconds of stay in the alternate dimension.

  This is why I have been trying to throw my Molotov with the intent to burn high-tier zombies. I don't care if my Molotov hit the muscular zombies or those slithering, lizard-like flesh monsters. So long as I burn one of them, it will be profitable for me!

  I am also curious how much I can get if I burn one of those flesh mountains. Hopefully enough to give me an entire day or at least an hour of stay in the alternate dimension in one go...

  I'm not scared of using molotovs repeatedly below me. This is the densest residential-commercial zone in Chiba, and every building around here was made of pure concrete. Even the high-rise apartment I've been staying in doesn't catch on fire so easily. In fact, despite having thrown a lot of Molotov cocktails on the ground, not once did the flames persist for more than a minute.

  Well, even if it goes beyond a minute, it was still quite short. Those generator oils get quickly burned up by the flames, which necessitates the continuous use of Molotov in the same place.

  That doesn't matter, though. I have an infinite amount of Molotov!

  Once more, I'm just throwing a Molotov outside my window while thinking about what to do next.

  ... Right. I have been making a racket for a week now with my Molotovs. It just came to mind that, if there were any survivors out there, they might have noticed what I am doing, right?

  Even if they haven't seen me, at least they should be aware of the constant glass breaking and zombies burning in the streets, shouldn't they?

  I haven't seen any person since I've recovered from my sickness. I wonder, just where are the survivors right now? Are there any survivors at all?

  Those are the thoughts idly running through my mind as I languidly took a homemade Molotov, burned the tip of the fabric acting as its wick, and then threw it out of the window.

  The apocalypse occurred suddenly. It took everyone by shock, and none was able to effectively react to the sudden rise of the dead, the emergence of mutated subterranean creatures, and the aggressive mutations of every living beings in the world. In just a single day, 50% of the human population has been wiped out, and the following days, it continuously falls to dangerous levels. Just as the week ended, only 500 million humans were left in the entire world.

  Most countries were essentially wiped out of their population. Out of every country, only well-known countries like the US had survived. US, Canada, and Mexico have their governing bodies survived and their government is still functioning. As for the other countries, they were essentially on their own.

  In Asia, China, Korea, and Japan still have some survivors. China being the leading example as they still had fifty million survivors in their nation. Out of the three, only Japan has been standing on its last leg. 95% of their citizens were wiped out by the various monsters that this apocalypse suddenly introduced to the world, and the surviving ones have fortified their own bases with a few losing hope that the government would help them, and deciding to survive on their own.

  All of the officials running the nation of Japan have perished by the monsters, and out of every community and shelters established around the nation, the one in Kyoto surprisingly has an official who survived in this harsh environment. It was thanks to his awakening that he managed to survive.

  Tomozaki Yujo was just a city hall official who worked besides the other civil workers. He just handled papers crucial for the city when the apocalypse happened. During the start of the apocalypse, he was bedridden at that time. He was so close to the emergence of the zombies.

  Thankfully, his son was there along with him, and he managed to endure the unknown fever he had until he became better six hours after the apocalypse began.

  He quickly realized that he has awakened with a supernatural power. His power gave him superhuman strength. He could use the mental energy he had to boost his strength and speed, and the more he used mental energy, the more potent his powers were. Being a strong person, and someone who has experience with politics, he quickly rose to position and became the leader of the Kyoto Survivor Shelter.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Within the first week of the apocalypse, he quickly managed to stabilize their camp. Most survivors have awakened with superpowers like him, and the people who gathered around him had various useful powers that made it possible for them to sustain their camp with hundreds of people. Due to that, unlike other survivor bases scattered around Japan, the Kyoto Survivor Shelter became the focal point of the country itself.

  One of the awakened person working for him have an ability to repair any objects or tools he touched with his hand, and through that power, they managed to repair the broadcasting station that they were using as their camp. They have been using the tools within it to continuously update any citizens who have functioning radio in them about anything they discovered on this new, apocalyptic era.

  As time passed, almost every survivor within Kyoto migrated to their camp, and with the combined efforts of every survivor and awakened person, they managed to secure an entire district. They've already made a perimeter, creating an entire barricade all around their base.

  It has been a brutal and eventful month for them. After they secured the perimeter of their district, their next plan was to reach out to any survivors. Though there was a worrying issue looming on the horizon.

  "It's impossible. The subways were teeming with mutated insects. Zombie Tyrants have been sighted around the roads to Osaka, and other roads have been infested with the Flesh Mountains," Ichimonji Hikari, leader of their Hunter Squad, stated with a grim look.

  Currently, in one of the rooms in the broadcasting station, which they have repurposed into their meeting room, representatives of their teams were sitting on their chairs, facing each other and discussing their current situation.

  "This is insane... those monsters are evolving faster than I expected!" The representative for their research team lamented, holding onto his head.

  "If this keeps on, we won't be able to maintain our walls. We might have to give up on some portions of the district if we want to maintain our defense," the head of their logistics team suggested.

  "Hey, can't we just do the same thing we did on the previous zombie waves?" The head of security said with a fierce grin.

  "Renji, we can't risk any people from that. You remember how many we sacrificed just for that trap to work, right?" The head of the logistics team stated, staring at the security head with a disapproving look.

  "Big deal, I'll be the bait then!"

  "We can't!" Hikari's cold voice quieted the two. After seeing them calm down, she faked a cough before turning to their leader. "Sir, what's our next course of action?"

  "... Right. Sugimoto has a point. We can't hold onto the entire district as this goes on. We have to leave other areas be," Yujo said with a sigh.

  It was hard for him. A lot of their people died just to reclaim this entire district, but now they had to let go of some of it. Even when they became stronger, they were still lacking.

  "But, Dad!"

  "Renji, we can't risk anyone for this. No more survivors have come to us this last week. Those monsters are becoming more dangerous as time passes. We can't expect any survivors to come here."

  "But, you promise that we're going to save them!"

  "... Sorry..."

  Yujo felt heavy saying that, but he had to do it. They were just holding onto the entire district because they expected they would be welcoming more survivors. Other parts were already being used to farm new plants and create water treatment plants with the help of their powers. With the increasing threat of the monsters around their base, holding onto unused areas would be foolish.

  He understood why Renji was upset. His wife was still in Osaka. Their next plan was to actually go to Osaka to bring her here. Saving other survivors was secondary to that. Though that plan was impossible now due to the recent situation on the streets.

  "Dammit!"

  Renji stood up, slamming his hands on the table, before leaving the room with a slam of the door.

  The others were silent, and it took a while before Yujo felt calm enough to resume the meeting.

  "Rito, about that research on awakened people..."

  "... R-right." The head of the research team, Yuzaki Rito, quickly straightened his posture while touching his thin-rimmed glasses. "I've verified it. Everyone who got the Apocalypse Fever acquired powers!"

  The others narrowed their eyes at that.

  Apocalypse Fever. A term they used on a mysterious phenomena in which people suddenly became sick and bedridden at the start of the apocalypse. Many people have died while they were still bedridden, and they have seen many cases of it at the first day of the apocalypse. They just recently got time to verify it after hearing from many awakened people how they got sick during the first day of the apocalypse.

  "Its not just that. I've also verified that the duration of their sickness correlates to the strength of their powers." All of the people hearing this gasps at that revelation.

  Most of them immediately looked at Hikari. They were aware that out of every awakened people here, Hikari's been afflicted by that fever for two whole days. The longest one out of any of them. It explained why her powers were so potent compared to the others.

  "... I see. So does that mean...?"

  Rito nodded grimly. "Yes, those sick people... they might have a potent ability..."

  Yujo gritted his teeth.

  "Dammit!"

  It was hard. Out of every person in that hospital at that time, they only managed to save a few. This included Hikari herself, who was almost killed by a horde of zombies while she was bedridden.

  "You shouldn't blame yourself sir. You have no choice at that time."

  Hikari's words just further made him feel guilty about those who died in agony at that hospital. He still remembered their screams echoing in the bloody halls of that hospital while they ran away. They were weak at that time. That was the first week of the apocalypse, so they haven't accumulated enough mental energy to use their powers effectively. Even if that was the case, he still felt guilty at their deaths.

  'If I'm just stronger at that time...' He shook his head. "I'm fine... anyway, now that we know about this, we have to protect those who contracted the Apocalypse Fever!"

  "Right. We've already moved anyone who were sick to an isolated room. I'll tell Renji-kun to assign some guards on them." The head of logistic team stated.

  "Please do so."

  They have to protect them. Apocalypse Fever doesn't just hit at the start of the apocalypse. There were also people who belatedly awakened with powers after they contracted this incurable fever.

  "Then, Hikari, can I ask you to take care of those Flesh Mountains?"

  "Am I allowed to use our oil reserves?"

  "Do it. We can't afford to leave those Flesh Mountains alone."

  He decisively made his decision. Those mountains of flesh forming around the city could produce zombies. They have discovered that fire was their weakness, and they couldn't adapt to it no matter how many times they used fire on it. So they have been wiping out any flesh mountains they discovered.

  "... How about the Husk Leeches?"

  "... Just scare them. It's more trouble than it's worth."

  Husk Leeches. A type of monster that surrounded itself with the husks of its victims. It was an amorphous black orb deep within the mountain of those dried-up corpses. Unlike the flesh mountains, the husk leeches couldn't be easily killed by fire alone. Fire scared them, but as Yujo stated, it was troublesome; it needed a large amount of fire before they could even kill one.

  It was a great waste of time, even if those husk leeches gave a lot of mental energy when killed.

  "Understood."

  After that, they continue with the meeting. Talking about their camp itself. Every action they needed to do for the sake of the survivors living with them, rationing the food and water created by the awakened people, and other plans they have.

  Yujo hoped that they would become strong enough before those monsters overwhelmed them.