Jiang Hao was genuinely envious of this, as it had taken him four years to reach Qi Refining, spending a full four years in the Body Refining stage.
Now that the apocalypse had erupted, others only needed to consume crystals to quickly grow stronger.
Of course, that didn't mean he had no advantages; he could sense that while others took shortcuts, they were still more focused on strength.
Even Evolutionaries could only use their awakened abilities, but he was different; he could use Spells, and consuming crystals could also increase his strength.
Although he hadn't used Spells yet, it was because he hadn't encountered any formidable opponents at this stage, and currently, the main priority was to let Jiang Tian and the others adapt to combat.
The zombies in the school now were mostly Level 1 zombies, which were no longer useful to them.
"Brother Hao, do you think we can be considered Cultivators now? Do we need to divide the Realms?"
Jiang Tian suddenly spoke up.
This question truly stumped him. Jiang Hao thought for a moment and said, "While we can no longer be called ordinary people, it's not enough to call us Cultivators. A Cultivator, at the very least, must be able to Cultivate by drawing upon the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Now, we're just getting stronger by consuming crystals, so why not call ourselves Evolutionaries, and those of us with special abilities will be called Awakeners?
As for the Realm division, let's divide it according to the strength gained from crystals. One hundred kilograms of strength is Level 1, two hundred kilograms is Level 2, four hundred kilograms is Level 3, and so on. How does that sound?"
Since they were strength-based, dividing the Realms by strength was the most intuitive. As for himself, he naturally followed the Immortal Cultivation system's Realm division.
"That works! This allows for the most direct division. Oh, and Brother Hao, what's your personal strength? It feels like we're not even on the same level as you."
Jiang Hao smiled and said, "I've had some opportunities; I have over five thousand now."
He didn't intend to hide it; just reaching Body Refining Layer 10 Perfection gave him five thousand six hundred kilograms.
However, after entering Qi Refining, the focus shifted more to one's own Realm, and strength didn't increase as significantly, though it still increased a bit. Plus, he had consumed ten Level 1 crystals and one Level 3 crystal, which added one hundred thirty kilograms.
He now possessed five thousand seven hundred ninety kilograms of strength.
This was also his advantage: not only were his Spells superior to others, but his strength would not fall behind, and he could also increase it by consuming crystals.
"Holy moly, over five thousand strength! Doesn't that mean you've reached Level 10 or above?!"
The three of them looked utterly shocked, their mouths wide enough to fit an ostrich egg.
"No need to be so surprised; I told you I had some opportunities. Alright, let's rest for a bit, then we'll continue fighting. This time, our target is Level 2 and Level 3 zombies."
Jiang Hao smiled and didn't show off his strength.
"Okay! With Brother Hao here, we'll definitely be ahead of everyone!"
Mu Feng waved his fist, speaking with ambition.
Afterwards, the four of them rested for half an hour before leaving the gymnasium and beginning to search for zombies within the school.
They also discovered that after consuming crystals, they were no longer afraid of the zombie virus. The reason was that after Jiang Tian's strength greatly increased, he saw a Level 2 zombie, but it was guarded by more than a dozen Level 1 zombies.
Relying on his surging strength, he charged straight in. Although he killed the Level 2 zombie, he was unfortunately scratched by a Level 1 zombie.
This startled everyone, thinking he would turn into a zombie, but after a period of time, he didn't. Jiang Hao carefully sensed and found that after the zombie virus entered the body, it would not cause an infection.
In other words, after consuming crystals, one would become immune to the zombie virus and no longer fear infection.
This discovery made them even bolder.
At the same time, Jiang Hao also let down his guard. He had been worried that an unfortunate infection would be the end, but now he wasn't afraid.
They roamed the school for an entire afternoon, finding twelve Level 2 zombies and four Level 3 zombies.
These were all people who had good foundations before turning into zombies.
However, these were still a minority. Out of the tens of thousands of zombies in the entire school, even without searching through all of them, one could guess that at this stage, zombies above Level 1 were still extremely rare.
On the second floor of the gymnasium, the four of them arrived once again. At this time, each of them had consumed four Level 2 crystals and one Level 3 crystal.
At this point, Jiang Tian, who had a good foundation to begin with, was close to Breaking Through to Level 3, his strength having reached three hundred ninety kilograms.
Zheng Yi and Mu Feng, having weaker foundations, couldn't compare to Jiang Tian, but they had also reached three hundred twenty kilograms.
Tomorrow, as long as they acquired more crystals, all three of them would definitely be able to Break Through to Level 3.
Now that they had calmed down, Jiang Hao suddenly had an idea: if he passed on the Cultivation Technique to them, would it allow them to improve even faster?
As soon as he thought of it, he acted. Jiang Hao called a halt to the three still-excited individuals, intending to pass on the Cultivation Technique to them.
However, when he actually tried to pass it on, he discovered that, apart from him, others could only Cultivate the Body Refining stage Cultivation Technique.
But even just the Body Refining stage Cultivation Technique was enough for Jiang Tian and the other two to treat it as a priceless treasure.
Part of the Body Refining stage Cultivation Technique involves strengthening oneself, and it can also strengthen oneself by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Coupled with the abundant Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi now, the Cultivation speed was not slow.
Seeing that the three of them had already sat down cross-legged and entered a Cultivation state, Jiang Hao naturally wouldn't be idle either.
He hadn't Cultivated for the entire day, which was actually a waste of a lot of time.
His Realm was still low now, so his progress in Cultivation was visible to the naked eye.
As night fell, the gymnasium grew quiet, and all four entered a Cultivation state.
However, the school campus was not quiet.
The survivors, seeing that it was dark, wanted to take the opportunity to avoid the zombies and search for supplies.
But to their horror, the zombies at night were even more ferocious, and the entire day's Spiritual Qi infusion had made the zombies even stronger than they were at first.
The most direct manifestation was that there were many more Level 2 zombies than during the day.
Some zombies were originally in the Level 1 Late Stage, and at this time, they all evolved into Level 2 zombies.
However, Level 3 zombies basically didn't increase.
The entire night was spent amidst the roars of zombies and the screams of some survivors.
There were also some survivors who mustered the courage to fight the zombies, but without awakened special abilities, they were even inferior to Level 1 zombies.
It wasn't that everyone couldn't fight zombies; some more fierce individuals, with the help of companions, were still able to kill isolated zombies.
It's just that they didn't have Jiang Hao's Unspecified ability and wouldn't think of prying open zombie heads to find crystals.
In the blink of an eye, the night passed like this. Jiang Hao exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi, feeling refreshed.
After an entire night of Cultivation, this time finally undisturbed, he successfully Broke Through to Qi Refining Seventh Stage, getting closer and closer to Foundation Establishment.
It is said that Foundation Establishment allows for sword flight, and Golden Core allows one to walk on Void Realm. Jiang Hao had always yearned for this.
"Brother Hao, Brother Hao, I've Broke Through to Level 3!"
Just as Jiang Hao was savoring the moment, he was interrupted again. It turned out that Jiang Tian, after a night of Cultivation, had gained ten kilograms of strength and successfully Broke Through to a Level 3 Evolutionary.
"If you Broke Through, you Broke Through. Why are you yelling? Look how calm Xiao Feng and the others are."
Jiang Hao rolled his eyes, his shout having dispelled his own joy of Breaking Through.
"Eat something. We'll continue fighting today."