[Congratulations you have already completed your contribution requirement. You'll be eligible to the full functionality of… 'Mishaa' once the first phase is completed.]

[You have exceeded the minimum contribution limit by a great margin, you will be eligible for more rewards. Contributing more will award a higher final reward…]

[You have killed several humans. However, the Red Player status effect and buff will not be awarded to you since the first phase of the First Integration has not been finished yet.]

[You have aided in saving the lives of a few people who were destined to die. Increased contribution points.]

[All contribution points gains have been deferred.]

[You have gained several attribute stats, but you will only be awarded the additional attributes once the first phase is over.]

[Your weapon, Antic Normal Steel sword, has been damaged, it is close to breaking. You might want to consider repairing it.]

[Warning… A strange power stirs within you, it hungers at the sight of blood.]

[You are on the cusp of suffering a negative ailment effect: Dark Hunger]

The last information came as a surprise, what the heck does that mean? A strange power? And what's this dark hunger?

'Inspect, Dark Hunger.'

[A strange Debuff that causes the user to feel intolerable Mana Hunger. To alleviate the state you need to consume Mana Heavy items or Magical Beast flesh. This ailment is not supposed to be present in the first phase. Source of the ailment… unknown.]

"Bruh…" I mumbled.

"What's wrong?" asked Will.

"Oh, nothing just an annoying debuff… don't worry about it," I said.

"You weren't bitten, right?" he asked.

"Oh, no. anyway," I said as I stood up.

"We need to have the situation under control, get a few guys to patrol the area next to the stairs. Keep eyes and try not to make noise, noise will agitate the undead and will have them push further," I said.

"But I think that's too late, they already know we're here," Will said.

I frowned, "That shouldn't be possible, the undead lose interest very fast… unless…"

My heart was gripped with fear as I thought of the worst. I went downstairs and took a peek from between the barricades.

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One of the students, an undead looked me straight in the eyes, and from the glowing blue eyes on him I cursed.

"Fuck!" I said.

"What's wrong?" Will asked as he had followed after me.

"They're awakening, they started evolving, Undead With Blue eyes have the ability to sense life. And we're like a burning furnace to their heat sense eyes right now."

Shit, this is going to be a fucking pain in the ass.

But, I have an idea…

"Round up everyone," I said. "There is no way we can stay here any longer, we need to leave," I said.

"Wait, why? Didn't you say you called for help?" a girl said.

Looking at her, instead of admonishing her, since I know much and she didn't know shit. I had to explain, "The undead right now can see us, even through walls. And this is the first stage of their evolution, in less than an hour, all of their body limitations will be removed, and they'll start using strength far superior to humans. The barricades we have here will be the same as using a paper trying to stop a charging bull," I said.

"Then how are we going to run away? They have all the corridors surrounded," the same girl asked.

"We'll use their own evolution against them. Have everyone round-up right next to this staircase," I said.

"What? Lucas are you sure? That's basically a few feet away from the frenzied to be Undead. Isn't that like a very bad idea?" will be asked.

"It might sound like a bad idea, but this is the only way for us to group them up and open a path of escape for us, trust me on this," I said.

Soon Will began relaying the orders to all of the remaining hundred or so students. And it took a lot of convincing to have them gather up, of course, a show of strength and underlying threats of broken bones worked a long way into convincing some of the more 'adamant' students.

Once the students were packed, I had them patiently wait here.

"Everyone stay calm, and try to make the least amount of noise that you can," I said.

Will nudged me and asked in a low tone, "But didn't you say that they have X-rays?"

"Not all of them, only the evolved ones. But, since they evolved, they have a hierarchy among them. Most of the undead will follow the one that is awakened, but they can't follow its orders, the one with the blue eyes can locate us but it cannot tell the other undead to charge after us. The other undead will follow it, but they'll not break through this barricade unless we make noise and they realize that we're here. So far they'll be staying there, unable to make a decision, but if more start awakening, it'll be a problem." I explained in detail.

"You know a lot about this," Nadia's voice came from behind me which scared the living hell out of me, but thankfully I didn't show it.

No wonder she was pretty damn good at playing the Rogue class.

"I can't explain in detail right now, but all will be clear later."

"He is a regressor," Will said.

Which had me gawking at him, unbelievingly.

"Are you serious?"

"Oh…was that a secret."

"For the love of God man…" I sighed.

It wasn't like I was trying to hide the fact, but the more people know that I'm a regressor, the more shit will be on my plate.

"Regressor… like time travel?" she asked.

"It's not like that… I don't know how to explain this… but. How about we talk about this later, and can you please keep this to yourself, unlike a certain someone," I glared at Will who shied away from my gaze.

"…"

Nadia didn't reply, not like I was expecting anything.

"Anyway, stay here for a few moments, I'll be back," I said.

"Where are you going?" Asked another girl.

"I'll need to lure them into this area, I'll be back soon," I said.

"Yeah right, who says you're not doing this, gathering us up like livestock so you can escape on your own." The girl said.

"Are you brain damaged?" spoke another girl, looking at her, it was Mary, "You think someone like him, with as much strength, and ability, and knowledge would even need to use us as bait? He basically came here to save you all, and now you're spitting on his face for actually trying his best to save you?" Mary said.

"I-I"

"I what? Next time think before you start spitting shit, now you made everyone panic and anxious," Mary said.

Mary then looked at me and said, "You'll come back right?"

"Yes."

"Good enough for me, I'll wait here," she said and sat down.

Which made everyone more accepting of the idea.

"Will, same as before, make sure everyone is safe, I'll be back soon."

***

It was a huge pain in the ass, a very huge pain in the ass to do what I just did. I needed to crawl once again through the damn vents, this time it was very close since a few undead could literally see through walls. I almost got grabbed and nabbed a few too many times for comfort.

Thankfully I made it to the first floor.

I had to make my way to the closest staircase to the exit and began luring the undead to the other side of the school building.

I only needed to get them closer to the staircase where the rest of the undead are grouped up, then jumped back into another vent.

I did this several times over, and thankfully managed to group all the undead under one side of the staircase, I didn't even need to fully pull their aggro. Because the moment I went into the vent, and then found it hard to reach me, they turned their attention to their brethren who were grouped up, and were locked on the students behind a thick barricade.

Most of the undead students have been grouped up, and it took me an hour to manage all this shit.

Once I was done, I climbed back up, and only God knows how exhausted I was from all that running around.

I slumped from within the vent into the corridor, where Will came fast at me.

"You good man?" he asked.

"Fucking…tired," I said huffing for air.