"Is it nice?"
Bella playfully scolded, and Hannah also silently stared at him.
"Uh... it's quite spectacular!"
Elijah commented.
The two women rolled their eyes at him, ignoring him as they went back to preparing breakfast.
Before long, Fiona, Charlotte, Grace, and Katherine returned from their morning exercises. Everyone took their seats. Seeing that Daisy hadn't come out, Bella asked with concern.
Elijah informed everyone about Daisy's decision to act alone and also announced that today, Hannah and Lily would accompany him to the mall to gather supplies.
They planned to make several trips, so everyone should be ready to help with the unloading.
After breakfast, everyone helped clean up the dishes.
Elijah checked on the zombie grass and Crystal Grass.
The zombie grass had grown its third leaf, and the fourth was beginning to sprout. Elijah was delighted, as it seemed someone could awaken today.
The zombie grass was growing well, but the Crystal Grass showed little change, only slightly larger in size with a faint hint of a second bud forming next to the first.
Elijah pondered for a moment, then pulled out a second-tier corpse core and buried it at the root of the Crystal Grass.
Waiting for the Crystal Grass to grow naturally was too slow; first-tier corpse cores had an effect, but took time.
After encountering a potentially third-tier Telekinesis zombie, he urgently needed to enhance his strength.
The first method was to control more zombies, awakening them to see if they could gain more interesting abilities.
The second was to rapidly mature the Crystal Grass, advancing it so he could become a third-tier ability user.
Lastly, he needed to intensify his training: learning techniques from Charlotte and enhancing his physical fitness through body-strengthening exercises.
He decided to pursue both paths, as strengthening both aspects would lead to significant improvement over time.
With the second-tier corpse core, the surrounding glow of the Crystal Grass seemed to intensify. Elijah set the Crystal Grass aside and called Bella in.
"This zombie grass is ready for awakening. I'll cut it down now, so get ready!"
Bella nodded solemnly. Elijah also switched to Bella's healing ability, just in case.
"Yes! Hannah, I remember there are many pastries in the kitchen. Bring them out and prepare some for Bella too!" Elijah instructed.
"Alright!" Hannah, having experienced awakening before, knew the hunger that followed awakening well. She was fortunate to have been in the kitchen during her awakening.
Soon, Hannah brought out numerous pastries and placed them on the table. Everyone sat around, watching Fiona and Elijah. Elijah handed the zombie grass to Fiona.
"You can eat it directly, but the taste isn't very pleasant."
"I'm not afraid!" Fiona took the zombie grass, examined it, and then shoved it into her mouth.
However, after chewing for just a few seconds, her face immediately wrinkled.
A cool and bitter taste spread in her mouth, growing stronger.
Her face contorted in discomfort, barely holding back laughter from the other women.
But fortunately, after swallowing, the bitterness quickly disappeared.
A surge of hot energy rushed through her body, and she immediately felt hungry.
Seeing the pastries on the table, she didn't care about her image and started devouring them.
Bella, watching, also picked up a small piece and ate it slowly. "How is Fiona? Did she awaken her ability?" Grace and Katherine asked eagerly, now that Fiona had stopped eating.
This was crucial for whether they could awaken their abilities in the future. Hannah and Charlotte, seeing this for the first time, also watched with curiosity.
Lily, however, was completely stunned. Could abilities be awakened artificially?
She immediately felt a mix of admiration for Elijah's mystery and strength and gratitude for being part of such a team.
If everyone had abilities, they could surely survive the apocalypse.
Lily clenched her fists. Fiona regained her composure and wiped her mouth methodically.
Then, she gently tossed the napkin into the air. Instead of falling, it remained floating, as if a large hand were manipulating it, swaying and moving in mid-air.
The group gasped in amazement, including Elijah. "I've awakened an ability. Hmm, this should be Telekinesis!" Fiona declared.
"Yeah! That's awesome!" Grace and Katherine cheered. They both ran over to Elijah, each wrapping an arm around his and pressing themselves against him.
"Elijah, handsome, when will you let us awaken our abilities?" they cooed in unison, their voices sultry and teasing.
Elijah couldn't help but shiver involuntarily. Feeling their bodies against his arms, though of different sizes... it was comfortable, wasn't it?!