The Terrifying Hunger

Ray walked out of the room with a towel covering his body. 

Looking at the mirror, he couldn't help but notice his perfect figure. Because of awakening as a body strengthening skill his body, which initially was on the weighty side, now had a six-pack and was packed with muscles. 

His arm was enlarged, and his muscles have become even more well-defined. 

They weren't bulky like those of bodybuilders. Instead, the muscles were practically as if made for war and fighting.

Even his height seemed to have increased slightly by more than a centimetre.

"Status."

—--

[Name: Ray Crownwell]

[Status: Awakened (E-class)]

[Skill: Body Strengthening (Awakening II)]

[Strength: 80 Kg (40 original)]

[Speed: 30 Km/h (15 original)]

[Stamina: 2 original]

[Mental strength: 2 (1 for the average adult man)]

[Mutation energy: 84]

[Shop points: 0]

—--

"My mutation energy increased by 50?" There was a clear surprise in his eyes.

It was initially at 34, but he hadn't looked after killing the level one undead, and it seems that it has increased by a lot.

Even so, there was no prompt that said he could advance his Body Strengthening skill yet.

"As expected, I need at least more than 100 mutation energy if I want to level up again, and the E-class awakening means that my potential isn't much." Ray's pupil flickered as he went outside and looked at Grace.

"What do you want?" Grace frowned.

She seemed to have become considerably tame after knowing her situation.

"Hmm?" He didn't speak but instead looked at Freya.

"Have you prepared the pizza?"

"Yes, yes," Freya hurriedly said and took out the pizza from the oven.

The pizza was plain and simple with some cheese and pepperoni, but in this apocalypse, it was much tastier than he could have imagined.

After eating to his full, Ray patted his belly, satisfied.

If you can't eat too much, then eating delicious food will make your belly feel full although you will yearn for more right after…

"Can I have some?" Grace asked, drooling, but Ray directly ignored her, and Freya did the same.

Grace had not eaten for a day. 

The supplies on her floor were already running out, and she was considering going up a floor for supplies when she saw Ray and was immediately frightened so that was the reason she immediately closed the door the moment that terrifying undead jumped over the iron gate.

She even wished both could kill themselves and take their loot.

"What do you need me to do? I will do anything, just please feed me." Grace immediately kneeled down in a seiza position.

It was said that people can live several days without food. 

However, once a person stays longer than a day without eating food or drinking water, only then would they know the difficulty of living with a hungry stomach. 

All brain functions slow down, and the person doesn't even have the strength to lift their body. Your body will slowly drain all the stored fat slowly making you malnutrition.

Gradually, even your lips will dry out, and you cannot talk completely, becoming a dried person before you die. 

She didn't dare to directly take the food, Ray has already given a painful lesson if she did.

"Alright, you finally agreed, huh," Ray said, turning towards her while wiping his mouth with a towel. "I will ask a question, and you just have to answer honestly."

"Alright," Grace hurriedly nodded.

"Can you see the system like in those games?"

"No," Grace said with a frown.

"Hmm, looks like I am not the only one who can't see anything like the element of the game," Ray scowled while looking at the red panel in front of him. "Has your awakened ability evolved?"

"What do you mean evolved?" Grace was stunned on the spot.

Ray didn't reply to her query. "How many undead have you killed?"

"Around twelve, if I have to count," Grace said with a thoughtful expression.

"I see. Then the final question is: tell me all about your awakened ability and how it works," Ray spoke with a hint of violence.

This woman was an unstable factor. 

Although Freya was also unstable, she was unawakened and had to rely entirely on him for survival, but Grace was stronger and could survive without him, especially since he has a hunch that her potential is much higher than his own.

Even when he reached the second awakening, his strength was barely able to beat normal people; even a level one zombie could have been the death of him. (Ray assumed that a level one zombie was equal to the awakened without any evolution.)

There was always a chance of backstabbing, so knowing her abilities was crucial.

"Sigh," Grace had a resigned expression, since he didn't kill her until now, it was reasonable for her to assume he didn't want to kill her.

So she blurted out everything about her own ability, mostly because she was terrified of him and the hunger made her physically and mentally vulnerable.

"Oh."

After listening, Ray could basically sum up her abilities.

She needed a proper image in her mind that was plausible with the unknown energy inside her. This unknown energy seemed to increase when she killed the undead, so Ray just termed it mutation energy. 

After she used all the mutation energy, she could recover it with time. That was it.

"Hmm, does she not advance in her skill then?" Ray thought with a frown.

But for now, he didn't care about that. Instead, he looked at the curvy body of this woman with a glint in his eyes.

"I am sleeping in my bedroom, Freya sleeps in your own bedroom."

"Yes." Freya bowed her head expressionlessly as she went away, leaving Grace with a hesitant expression.

Ray yawned and went away with a lazy expression.

Grace gritted her teeth, even though she was hesitant she still obediently followed him.

"Why are you following me?" Ray looked at her playfully.

"Huh… eh…" She was puzzled and looked at him in confusion.

"If you are already here, does that mean you are okay with it?"

"What… okay?"

"Come on, you are already an adult, aren't you?"

"I haven't done it yet." She said while avoiding his gaze.

"Just promise me one thing."

"What?" Ray asked amusingly.

"You will protect me with all your might for any life threatening danger and I won't have a bitchy attitude to you." Grace stated firmly.

"Alright." he nodded.

"Eh, so easily?"

"Yeah, as long as you give me children every condition that is not going too far is agreed." Ray gives her a thumbs up "so are you okay to bear my children?"

"Mmh." Grace nodded her head as she crawled to his side and opened her mouth.

Ray loosened his pants and gently pressed on her head. He closed his eyes, feeling the sense of warmth that wrapped around his thing.