Investing in My Harem in the Apocalypse Makes Me Stronger

[Core Metamorphosis completed.]

[Fire Mana Core has advanced to the 2nd Echelon.]

[Core Stage: Newly Formed.]

[You have successfully advanced to the 2nd Echelon.]

Sonya opened her eyes, crimson-gold light flashed within them.

The Fire Mana around her surged once before settling completely under her control.

She looked down at her hands.

A grin slowly appeared.

Then another World Announcement appeared before everyone’s eyes.

[World Announcement.]

[The 29th player to successfully advance to the 2nd Echelon has appeared.]

[The name ”Blazing Sun Maiden” shall be recorded in the history of this World.]

[Blazing Sun Maiden has received a Green Scroll and a Green Orb.]

Sonya stared at her ranking name.

Her smile became brighter.

Twenty-ninth was far below Ron or Elara, but she did not seem bothered by that at all.

Only a short while ago, she had been hiding inside her house while ordinary zombies roamed outside.

Now her name had been announced throughout the entire world for reaching the 2nd Echelon.

BANG!

A heavy pulse of Mana erupted behind her.

The ground beneath Alex fractured.

Cain turned and saw that Alex was still seated with both hands resting against his knees.

His already powerful body became denser as the Core metamorphosis reinforced him according to the Perfected foundation.

Alex had always possessed absurd raw strength.

Tripling his base Stats during the advancement pushed that advantage much farther.

The greatsword resting beside him no longer looked heavy even in the slightest.

Alex’s breathing deepened once.

The Mana Core completed its reconstruction.

[Core Metamorphosis completed.]

[Mana Core has advanced to the 2nd Echelon.]

[Core Stage: Newly Formed.]

[You have successfully advanced to the 2nd Echelon.]

Alex opened his eyes.

He reached beside him and grabbed the greatsword.

The weapon rose in one hand.

Alex stared at it.

Before advancing, he could already wield it comfortably.

Now it felt almost too light that he wondered if it was the same weapon he had used just now.

The final golden announcement appeared.

[World Announcement.]

[The 30th player to successfully advance to the 2nd Echelon has appeared.]

[The name ”Iron Colossus” shall be recorded in the history of this World.]

[Iron Colossus has received a Green Scroll and a Green Orb.]

The announcement remained in Cain’s vision for several seconds.

Thirty people.

When Elara advanced, only Heavenly Demon had stood above her.

Not long after that, thirty people throughout the world had entered the 2nd Echelon.

Cain looked across his group.

Elara, Ron, Nathan, Sonya, and Alex.

Five of them were now 2nd Echelon Awakeners.

Jack remained at the 1st Echelon, while the others were progressing quickly behind them.

Cain turned toward the walls of the outpost.

Beyond them lay the route toward the Southern Anchor Gate.

The communication device carried by the enemy commander had already confirmed that another warning had been sent.

Their presence was no longer a secret.

That was actually fine as Cain had never planned to sneak all the way to the World Gate.

He rested one hand on the sword at his waist.

”Gather the Cores.”

Everyone looked toward him.

”We’re done wasting time at the smaller outposts.”

Cain’s golden eyes shifted toward the distant terrain leading deeper into the Corridor.

”It’s time to head toward the Southern Anchor Gate after this.”

Subsequently, Cain went inside to look for the Blood Crystals.

Two minutes later, he came back with a satisfied smile as he came back with 120 Blood Crystals.

Cain did not waste any time after returning with the Blood Crystals.

The 120 crimson crystals were placed beside the Cores that Nathan and the others had already gathered from the battlefield.

Four of them belonged to the 2nd Echelon commanders they had killed, while the remaining pile came from the 1st Echelon soldiers scattered throughout the ruined outpost.

Compared to what they had possessed when first entering the Invasion Corridor, it was already an absurd amount of resources to obtain from a single battle.

Cain crouched beside the pile and stretched out his hand.

True Ruin flowed from his palm.

Dark-gray energy spread across the Cores before reaching the Blood Crystals beside them.

The contamination hidden within each resource reacted violently the moment it came into contact with the higher-ranked energy, turning into thin traces of black substance that quickly broke apart before disappearing entirely.

Cain had already done this enough times that the process no longer required much concentration.

Within a short while, every Core and Blood Crystal had been purified.

He stored most of the loot inside his Inventory before leaving enough resources outside for Jack, Maya, and Evelyne.

”Absorb these.”

Cain glanced toward the distant road leading north.

”Once we reach that place, I don’t know whether we’ll have another opportunity to sit around and improve our Cores.”

The previous outposts had already confirmed that the Zombie Race possessed some form of organized communication network.

Now that several positions had been destroyed one after another, there was little chance the forces stationed near the Southern Anchor Gate remained unaware of them.

Cain would rather spend a few minutes strengthening everyone now than discover later that they had brought enough resources but no safe opportunity to use them.

Maya understood immediately and sat down.

Evelyne followed shortly afterward while Jack took the remaining resources prepared for him.

Cain did not watch them absorb everything.

There was nothing unusual about the process anymore.

He instead checked the road ahead while the others finished searching the outpost and gathering whatever useful loot remained.

Several minutes later, Jack and Maya had both pushed their Mana Cores all the way to the Perfected Stage.

Evelyne stopped at Flawless Stage.

Cain was satisfied with the result.

Her Core still needed more energy before reaching Perfected, but there was no reason to force the progression when they had already used a considerable amount of their newly obtained resources.

What mattered was that all three had prepared themselves further before the next battle.

Once everyone finished, Cain looked toward the north.

”Let’s move right away.”

They left the destroyed outpost behind and returned to the main road leading toward the Southern Anchor Gate.

Their pace was much faster than before.

Most members of the group had already advanced considerably since entering the Invasion Corridor, while five of them were now genuine 2nd Echelon Awakeners.

Nathan moved near the front beside Cain.

Ron stayed only a short distance behind them, his spear resting against one shoulder as faint Lightning occasionally crawled along the weapon.

Elara moved quietly beside Sonya, whose newly manifested second miniature Sun had already been withdrawn into her body.

Alex remained near the middle.

Jack, Maya, Evelyne, Professor Ian, Cole, and Professor Irina followed without difficulty.

Nobody needed to be protected like they had when first entering this place.

Even the weakest members of the group had undergone enough battles to understand how quickly something unexpected could happen inside the Corridor.

The black-gray road continued beneath their feet.

Farther ahead, the narrow column of dimensional energy they had seen shortly after entering the Invasion Corridor had become much clearer.

Gray-black energy rose high into the fractured crimson sky before bending toward the north, where it disappeared somewhere beyond the distorted horizon.

Cain knew that the source of that energy was the Southern Spatial Anchor Gate.

Every second it remained active, dimensional energy continued flowing toward the center of the Corridor.

They had already wasted enough time dealing with the surrounding outposts.

Now they were finally going to reach the first major objective of the World-Class Mission.

However, the journey was anything but quiet.