[Intermediate Combat Technique] Skill Book. Increased Strength

Crowe didn't let down his guard even after he dealt with those two female zombies. Although he had the skills coupled with extreme strength and agility, he wasn't completely impervious to all sorts of danger. Therefore, Crowe should be careful — he had to be careful.

As he walked along the corridor, he noticed that on the ground, there were messy bed sheets and various scraps scattered on the ground, as well as all kinds of female accessories and clothing.

This was a female dormitory, which probably wouldn't cause too much trouble. It was just a bit of a hassle to move forward through the corridor because there was too much debris under his feet and the floor was full of potholes and crevices. He would have had an easier time if there were fewer obstacles to go through.

As Crowe reached a random dormitory door, it suddenly exploded right in front of him. The door was made of something fragile and expensive and it shattered and scattered to small pieces in all directions.

Crowe was always on edge, he immediately used his natural reflex to narrowly avoid a zombie that launched at him through that door. His back almost had to fully bend into an arc to avoid the claws from the zombie's attack. He had to take a few steps back, pull himself together and regain his balance.

The female zombie was running toward him almost right after the impact. She was too gruesome to look at, its posture was crooked and dragged, with a bloodstained, rotten face. The stench of its decomposing body completely took him off guard, as he regained his sense of smell. Although Crowe had been through many endeavors and hardships in his life, he wasn't really sure the zombie's smell was something a normal human being could bear.

With that thought in mind, he started moving. While faced with the zombie's attack, Crowe dodged away from the zombie as its frugal attack resulted in it heedlessly hitting its decomposing body into drywall. This zombie was different from the two he met before—this one had more flexibility and agility.

He made up his mind to change direction, but before Crowe could act on his planned attack, the zombie lunged at him with its attack too. Even so, the female zombie was no match for him. After being plunged back, the zombie tried to grab and claw at him aimlessly. Crowe seized this opportunity to kick it hard in its stomach.

Crack!

The clear sound of backbones breaking was loud enough for him to hear, the female zombie fell backward with force but zombies could be hard to kill. After dealing with so many zombies, Crowe had his fair share of experiences. He had learned that hurting the zombies once would not be enough to kill them. Without hesitation, he clenched his sharp, alloy blade above his head and struck his weapon into the clawing zombie's head.

The zombie had no chance of fighting back and was struck in the head with the sharp blade going through its brain. At that moment, its flailing and thrashing body became stiff and lifeless with its arm finally falling to the ground.

"Phew..."

Crowe pulled out his blade and shook off the rotten blood that it was soaked in. Crowe was able to rid the entire floor of zombies in twenty minutes or so. He checked all the dormitories, toilets, duty rooms, and other places and terminated all the roaming and hiding zombies in that corridor. 

On one occasion, he had also fought off four zombies at the same time with minimum effort. Crowe had eliminated ten zombies on this floor alone, this number was far more than he had ever faced in any corridor when he was going through the male dormitory.

After he cleared the corridor, Crowe didn't immediately head to the second floor, not because he was too weak or too tired but because he wanted to look at the [Intermediate Combat Technique] skill book. With the help of this skill book, he would be able to fight zombies in a safer, easier, and more efficient manner.

Crowe was worried about revealing his secret to the group, hence he did not immediately use the skill book in front of them. But on this empty floor, he would not need to worry about using the skill book. Besides, he had already cleared the entire floor and made sure that it was safe.

After he found a random dormitory, Crowe walked in and saw that the room wasn't much better than the corridor, as it was as chaotic and as messy. Random daily necessities were scattered all over the place. Books, pens, laptops were placed in a very disorganized way on the desk. Needless to say, there were bloodstains in every dormitory room and the one that Crowe entered was no exception.

The female dormitory was once a place that many men would flock to daily. It was something that men always wanted to see for themselves but no man could ever enter this establishment. Those dorm mothers were not to be messed with, they wouldn't let any man walk through these corridors, but now Crowe was roaming through these corridors freely.

He kept his head straight as he looked around the dormitory and suddenly, the [Intermediate Combat Technique] skill book appeared in his hand. It looked ordinary, similar to the [Beginner's Combat Technique] skill book. The book introduction immediately appeared in his mind, and the techniques flashed in front of his eyes.

The content was similar to the various skills contained in the [Beginner's Combat Technique] skill book but the difference was that it was the higher-level mastery of the old beginner skills that could turn out to be more efficient.

"Let's use it!" Crowe said as he put his hand on the skill book.

Immediately, the skill book turned into hundreds of specks of light, floating in the air. In less than a breath, the knowledge and skill were absorbed into Crowe's body. He had a little bit of whiplash as the influx of information flowed through his brain all at the same time, but it wasn't as bad as the first time he had been through this, the pain wasn't as severe. Following that, Crowe's body felt as if it was being submerged in cool spring water. That refreshing feeling filled up his body and mind.

After those sensations, he had obtained all the information and the mastery of various combats, the major improvement of his skills became more proficient and more superb. If anyone were to say that learning the [Beginner Combat Technique] would be worth ten years of combat practice, then what Crowe felt just now was a decade worth of pain through all practices and combats.

With his current abilities, he would be able to defeat his older self due to the enhanced abilities and it would have been without a sweat. While his personal attributes did not increase, his control and acute strength became more precise and proficient. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in his overall strength.

Crowe couldn't help but test out his newly acquired skills. He struck punches one after another, as the air emitted an explosive sound with every single punch that he landed. Soon after, leg sweep, leg whip, horizontal strike, and a series of bare-handed combat skills were used. It was as smooth as flowing water and it was as beautiful as a choreographed dance, but its power was not to be underestimated.

After a short while, Crowe stopped trying his new skills but his sensory awareness that was aroused by the use of the skill book wasn't being subdued. The dormitory was now even more messier and chaotic than it was after he had tried out his new skill and practices. Crowe didn't give it much thought to such a trivial matter as he left the corridor.

Crowe decided to leave the first floor and he headed straight up the stairs leading to the second floor impatiently. He wanted to practice his newfound skills at the zombies on the second floor. They were zombies that everyone was afraid of but to Crowe, they were just sparring tools for him to practice and to feel his strength grow.