A scenery full of green. Just 10 meters ahead of the cafeteria entrance a horde of green slimy blobs are moving around.

LV.8 Poison Slime

*closes door*

Jesper: "Hmm? Hey why did you close the door?"

Juan: "Everyone use the tables and make a barricade near the counter, there are horde of slimes outside!"

Everyone looked shocked but they recovered quickly when Jesper gave his orders. They immediately moved tables and chairs to make something like a pseudo barricade near the counter. Suprisingly enough they moved efficiently and calmly so the barricade's construction ended swiftly.

Strange I'm expecting some of them to panic or something but they followed Jesper's instructions quickly and the way they move like organized troops is really bizarre.

Juan: "Jesper they sure follow you around easilly, as expected of a student council president, and good job at preventing them from panicking."

Jesper: "Hmm, I think its because of skill I have called "Command" that they can calmly listen to my orders. It says it prevents slight fear and panic when people are following my orders."

Kenneth: "Oh! So you also have the "Command" skill? I also have it too. I got it when we first reached the cafeteria."

Huh? Wait a minute, so the skill your looking earlier is not "Flee" but "Command"? Damn I feel betrayed. Why!?

Boy: "Heh so you people got a cool skill we three only got the "Flee" skill."

Jesper: "I also have the "Flee" skill because I ran along side everyone and I think I got the "Command" when I instructed the others to go here. Well no need to fell down um..."

Kevin: "Kevin, Kevin Khel and these two are my friends Junuel Jeepny and Joshua Jalaja."

Junuel & Joshua: "Hello."

So thats the names of these three. Now that I think avout it I didn't ask even though we're in the same party.

Fernando: "Well what do we do? There's a horde of them and I think we don't stand a chance against those number."

Well yeah there's their numbers but other problems are their level and poison too.

Juan: "I think they became that many because of the rain. They're probably the stragglers that followed pres here and they multiplied because of the rain."

Jesper: "Oh you mean similar to that movie Gremlins?"

Juan: "Well yeah but only the multiply part. Anyway we'll open the door again to see how things go. Have the others go behind the barricade."

Eusabelle: "Ehh, we're going to fight those? Impossible!"

Juan: "Who said we're going to fight them? We're going to collect information on those slimes, its the basics of battles."

After Jesper checks that all the other students are behind the barricade he also joined them after wishing the hunting parties good luck. Juan opened the door slightly and peeked outside.

Juan: "Similar to earlier, they're still around 10 meters away. Brace your selves I'll open the door now."

Juan opened the door and set foot outside the cafeteria while keenly observing the slimes. After a few second of nothing happening the others also cautiously stepped outside.

Kevin: "They're not doing anything."

Fernando: "They probably can't see us? I mean they don't have any eyes."

Aileen: "They doesn't have ears too, so they can't hear us?"

Juan: "But they managed to follow pres' group here. They must have other forms of detecting their surroundings. At the very least we know its shorter than 10 meters."

Juan, while keenly observing the nearest slime, walked another step and another step. This action surprised the others, but after a while they also followed. The group continued walking, getting closer to the nearest slimes. When their distance to the slime became 3 meters the two slimes reacted and started hopping in their direction.

Alma: "Th-They' re coming!"

Juan: "Run back to the cafeteria we'll lure them in then fight them there."

Its a good battle plan. We get to isolate these 2 from other slimes and show the other students behind the barricade how we beat monsters and raise the students morale, its killing two birds with one stone.

The group ran inside the cafeteria while 2 slimes trailed behind them. Once inside they entered a battle stance, or at least what they think look like a battle stance.

Juan: "Don't be a hero a take hits from them okay! Dodge because your life depended on it they're LV.8 and got poison!"

Eusabelle: "You don't need to shout so loud we can see that!"

Sorry but its necessary I shout out loud so the ones behind the barricade can know that our opponents are dangerous. And if we show them we can beat strong opponents then their morale will greatly improve!

The two slimes entered the cafeteria with hopping motion till the distance between them and group is 1.5 meters. Its seems like their gauging their opponents, then suddenly with shaking motion they leaped towards the group covering the 1.5 meters distance easily. One slime targeted Kevin while the other targeted Kenneth. Both of them dodged quite quickly so the 2 slimes only hit the floor. It seems that they're preparing for a second leap but before they can, Juan charged and thrust the splintered section of the broken mop to a slime then pressed it hard to the floor.

Juan: "Those with staffs copy what I'm doing and those with knifes attack now!"

Juan's party members attacked the slime restrained by him with stabs, slices and hacks. The ones on Kenneth's group managed to leap once more to Aileen but she dodged it quite gracefully and restrained it similar to Juan's but with the help of Alma and Eusabelle. Kenneth and Leonard then proceed to attack the helpless slime with 3 people restraining it. After a few moments of knifing, the slimes finally stopped moving and became lifeless blobs.

Level Up! +1

Kevin: "Ohh It says I leveled up!"

Everyone had the same reaction as Kevin.

So everyone leveled up huh. Thats good, I guess its because we're in a party and each party killed one slime.

Kenneth: "Its quite easy even though they're LV.8."

Fernando: "Its because the lad's idea of restraining it. Its goin to be hard fightin it while its jumping around."

Juan: "I did it because the slime isn't fast enough to dodge and its weak so it can't fend me off. I guess its LV.8 because of its poison, maybe its quite deadly and potent."

Juan streched his hands and tried using his index finger to poke the slime but he is stopped by Fernando bt grabbing his shoulders.

Fernando: "Woah, what are you tring to do lad?"

Juan: "I'm going to test how strong the poison is. Don't worry its okay as long as its a few, I think."

Kevin:"So your not sure huh. You might die you now."

Juan: "It should't be that bad my HP is still full. If we're still normal it might be bad but since we have HP its safe to assume we wont die unless our HP hits 0."

Everyone still looks reluctant but at least now they're not trying to stop Juan. Jesper is also coming near the victors, while instructing someone to close the door, to check if they're alright along with the other students who's face is plastered with astonishment.

Its a good situation. I'll be able to check how potent the poison is and also show off to the other students. With this they will remember that there is a brave member in this group of survivors. With that I hope their negative attitude disappears. Its killing two birds with one stone.

Juan once again streched his arms and index finger to dip it in the poisonous blob.

*poke*

Gained Negative Condition!

(F)Poison - -10 HP/sec for 10 seconds.

Eh? Wait a second, wait a second. Hmm, its 10x10 so its 100, so that means my HP will hit 0 right? Noooooo~!

Juan's blood drains from his face and now he looks pale the others became worried and tried to ask if he's okay. Especially his party members because they can see his HP bar go decreasing at an alarming rate. But Juan can't hear any of their voices because he is so shocked to the fact that he is going to die because of his own carelessness. While all this all going on 10 seconds quickly pass without a pause mercilessly and Juan is.. still alive and breathing.

Huh? I am still alive? Why?

Juan opened his status to see why he is still alive. He looked at his HP it says 20. He wondered why there is still 20 left in his Hp for a while. Then he looked at Fernando with an enlightened expression which surprised the cook.

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Juan: "Thank you Mr. Fernando, your food saved my life!"

Fernando: "Huh what do you mean?"

Juan: "This poison decreases your HP by 10/sec and it lasts for 10 seconds. Since I only have 100 HP I thought I'm gonna die! But the status condition Well-fed increased my stats by 120% so I still have 20 hp. Its all thanks to your food!"

Kenneth : "Oh, that status condition huh. Now that I remember we also have it."

Fernando: "I see if that's the case I'm glad my food is helpful."

Juan: "Ah you have my eternal graditude!"

Gained New Skill!

Lesser Poison Resistance

RarityRankLevelCommonF1

Decreases damage from poison by 3.

"A tiny step for a masochistic hobby."

Juan: "Oh I gained poison resistance!"

Kevin: "Really?"

Juan: "Ah you should all try it. Gaining this skill will be really helpful in the long run."

Everyone felt ecstastic for the prospect of gaining a useful skill but unfortunately not everyone could get it. Apparenty Aileens HP is 90 so with the help of the Well-fed condition she can survive barely.  The problem is Alma and Eusabelle. Alma only have 40 HP while Eusabelle only have 60 so unfortunately they can't poison themselves or else they will die. We also told Jesper about this information and asked the others to gain poison resistance. At first they felt reluctant but after some time they agreed with determination in their eyes while looking at the dead slimes and the people who defeated it. Though only the boys got the chance to try because they have more HP while the girls HP is too low to try.

Eusabelle: "Ugh, its so unfair even though we helped defeat it."

Kenneth: "Its alright we might find another way for you and the other girls."

Hmm, strange how come girls have low HP? I know its not gender based because Aileen have high HP. Maybe because she's a member of softball club?

Juan: "Ahh!"

Juan's loud voice drew the attention of others near him. Then with a grin he went to Aileen.

Aileen: "W-what?"

Juan: "How high is your body attribute?"

Aileen: "Huh? Well its 9 why?"

Juan: "I see so thats why. I think I found a solution for the girls to get enough HP to try the poison!"

Eusabelle: "What is it?"

Juan: "You girls leveled up right? Then you must have gained 5 attribute points. All you need to do is add 3 points to Body ,while Alma adds 5 points, then both of you can survive the poison."

Everyone had an understanding expression while nodding, after a while Alma and Eusabelle then succeeded in getting the skill.

Jesper: "Now all of most members has low HP except the girls. What do we do now? "

Juan: "For now lets move this slime and drain their poison their going to be useful. As for the dried slime remains, dry it under the sun, then we'll see if it can be used as an emergency food."

Fernando: "I think even if you drain its poison and dry it under the sun it will be a little poisonous. "

Kevin: "Isn't that okay? We can grind poison resistance while eating."

Joshua: "That's true but..."

Kenneth: "Juan said we'll think about it later so for now lets drain its poison. Mr. Fernando do you have rubber gloves in the kitchen?"

Fernando: "Ah I have one wait a sec."

Juan and Kenneth's party drained the poison in the slimes and then dried it by the window. After that Juan asked everyone and Jesper to have a talk so the went a nearby table and sat down.

Jesper: "So what do you want to talk about?"

Juan: "Ah its about the attributes. I've been thinking about it for a while now since we leveled up. I don't know what to increase you see. So I want to hear everyone's thoughts."

Jesper: "Hmm I think its a good opportunity to know their effects. The other students are also thinking of forming a party and join you hunting slimes after all especially some of the girls since they probably want to have the poison resistance skill too."

Fernando: "So other youngin's finally showin' a backbone eh."

Kenneth: "That's good the more of us get stronger the better chances we have at surviving."

Juan: "Ah, its a good thing. Now where to start."

Everyone then started the discussion about the attributes that will definitely become vital in their current lives. They talked about its possible properties that they can think of and then tested its effects.It took an hour and a half to finish but they got ample results than expected. Apparently the attribute name's meaning can be taken quite literally.

Body is the attribute for anything concerning one's physical fitness. It determines HP, HP regeneration, half of SP, half of hand-eye coordinttion, strength, defense, and speed.

Mind is the attribute for anything concerning the mental fitness. It determines half of SP, memory, reaction time, half of hand-eye coordination, thinking capacity and concentration.

Spirit is the attribute for anything concerning spiritual fitness, probably. It determines MP and thats the only thing they found out. It probably has something to do with magic is they're besy guess since no one can use magic and no one in the group even reached 2 digits on this stat. Well except from someone unexpected. The vice-president Grace, according to Jesper, has the spirit attribute value of 15. Apparently she is an active member of the local church as a member of their choir and a devout believer. They also asked the others for anyone who has a high spirit value. And as expected the ones with high spirit value ranging from 9-12 are active church members. From that they concluded that it really is for spiritual fitness.

Kenneth: "It sure took a lot of time but its worth it. Now we have a clearer understanding of our lifelines."

Jesper: "What do we do now? Its still around 4 hours before the sun sets."

Juan: "Well, you said there are more people who have prospects of joining us right? Then lets strike while the iron is hot."

Kevin: "If our troops increase that means we need more armaments... improvised weapons."

Kevin, are you by any chance a closet military otaku? Is that why you joined us quickly?

Fernando: "Sorry lad we don't have anymore knives or mops to snap. Hmm, if they don't mind waving spatulas then we have some."

Juan: "Weapons huh where should we get one... "

Junuel: "Can't we just make them? These chairs are attached by screws so if remove them we'll get some metal rods."

Jesper: "You'll need a screwdriver to do that."

Fernando: "Screwdrivers... ah yes, we have some. We use it when some students complain that the chairs are loose."

Joshua: "Then let's already start procuring weapons!"

Kevin, Junuel and Joshua then started disassembling some chairs to get some metal rods. Each chair gives four metal rods, though they're curved weirdly, and trio disassembled 10 so they had 40 metal rods. The new ones who want to join the slime hunting, numbered 24. They already formed 4 parties with with their friends, 6 members each.

So they formed parties of 6 before deciding to join huh. Nice judgement.

The weapons are redistributed to the 6 parties. Each group got a knife, the four new groups got a staff each and the other members got metal rods. They got briefed about current intel on attribute properties and slimes behavior and the best method to hunt them.

Juan: "Everyone listen here's a tip. The first hunt is important, make sure you succeed for your other members who got HP below 100. Once you kill one you'll level up once, use your points to increase the body attribute to at least 11 just to be safe. Alright everyone good luck."

The 6 parties hunted slimes slowly and carefully. There are some close calls but casualties are avoided because of poison resistance. The first hour is a little slow but everyone reached level 4. With their increased attributes the hunting got easier and easier as time goes by. They hunted the horde of slimes for 4 hours before stopping. Even with 6 parties hunting the slimes, there are still at least a third of them remaining. But they have to stop, the sun is setting and even with rest breaks in-between, hunting for 4 hours is exhausting.

Well its not all bad things, after all everyone reached level 8. Also now they had a good amount of slime poison and dried slime. A good reward for their efforts. They returned to the cafeteria with satisfied smiles while carrying their loot in sacks and pails.

The start of their first night since the apocalypse begins.