"It does look like that. We are expending a lot more energy than usual. So we also need to consume more."

Lu Chen thought for a moment and then looked at Alex and Xu Meilin. "How much of the boa meat is still left?"

"About 2 boas are left. The meat should be enough for at least 6 more meals?" Alex approximately estimated.

Earlier when they were allotting food for dinner, they used a lot of the normal food times like rice and frozen meat and less of the mutated beast meat as the latter was obviously in short supply.

Considering this, Lu Chen couldn't help but think of a scary possibility. What if consumption of normal nourishment was no longer enough?

Perhaps they could prevent starvation and becoming extremely weak and malnourished by still continuing to consume normal items such as rice, grains, unmutated vegetables and meat, but to function actively and fight with energy, were these alone enough?

It was as if everything happening around them was forcing civilization to end and return back to the primitive times where they had to constantly hunt for food and protect themselves from hunger.

Lu Chen wryly chuckled and then decided to see if this was indeed true. If it was then everything would change once again and they needed to make more preparations.

"Alex, can you guys please cook another batch of meat." 

"This time, use more generous portions and only the mutated beast meat. In fact, cook both of the boas completely and let everyone eat to their fill, as much as they want."

"But.." Alex muttered, confused as to why he was instructing her to do this. "Umm… Shouldn't we save the meat and other food and consume as little as possible?"

Xu Meilin as well nodded and Guan Ye who was sitting silently until now also added. "I agree with her. We should ration the food as much as possible."

Lu Chen softly sighed. He was going to wait and tell them later after he had confirmed things but now that they were asking him, he simply answered. 

"I think we need to consume mutated beasts in order to survive. Other food is probably not going to cut it. Maybe mutated rice and vegetables which are grown freshly in the new world?"

"But this is just my theory. It might not be true."

After they heard Lu Chen's words, Alex, Xu Meilin and Guan Ye absent mindedly exchanged glances, with looks of realization on their faces as well.

They couldn't help but agree with what he was saying. After all, they had also personally experienced it tonight. 

The feeling after eating mutated beast meat and consuming rice was completely different. One was filling and the other was like a snack.

Lu Chen shook his head and let out a deep breath. "Alright. Let's not worry about it too much. We will first see if this is indeed what is happening. Why don't we start by cooking some more food?" 

"Only use the mutated boa meat and no other normal items. We can plan for other things in the morning accordingly. Let's get some rest tonight."

"We also have plenty of other smaller beasts' meat. Little White killed a lot of smaller beasts near the stadium." Lu Chen glanced at the big black dog who looked like she had fallen asleep.

"Ok. We will take care of that." Alex nodded and she once again rounded up the cooking volunteers to deal with huge slabs of boa meat and prepared steaks and skewers.

Everyone was still very hungry so no one questioned their actions and the second dinner was devoured just as soon as it was prepared, even faster than the first one.

Moreover, this time the food was much better and everyone felt as if they were eating a high-quality luxury grade steak. It was very filling and nourishing and their hunger was finally satiated.

"Damn, I could eat another five of these!" Luo Zu muttered with his mouthful, while also letting out some burps simultaneously.

[Disgusting! Woof!] Qin Hua glared at him and gave him a stink eye while going back to what she had been doing.

She didn't plan on interfering with their logistics. Since Lu Chen was handling everything, she didn't think it was necessary for her to worry about that stuff.

Besides, Qin Hua had problems of her own. She stared at her status screen, especially at the new section that had popped out.

______________

Elemental affinity:

Shadow element affinity: Intermediate

Lightning element affinity: Low

______________

[Arghh!~ Woof! What is this new one now?] She was looking at all the latest notifications that had popped out when she caught sight of this unexpected bit.

She pondered about it for a while when her eyes casually fell on the jewel studded stick that Lu Chen had placed near him.

[Ah! That fat goblin!] Qin Hua's ears perked up and she was quickly able to put two and two together.

She had absorbed the goblin leader's mana core earlier in the day and since he was casting some sort of lightning spell, it wasn't too farfetched to assume that she had gained this lightning affinity somehow after consuming his mana core.

She already knew that there were special demonic mana cores that can help with the awakening of special abilities and skills and now there seemed to be one more type from which one can gain element affinity.

[Woof! So does this mean I can now do lightning magic?] Qin Hua started to become excited but the system's chime promptly squashed her ideas like bugs.

<Ding. Intermediate and higher affinity is required for proficiency in an element>

[Ahhh…] Qin Hua's tongue rolled out and she disappointedly smacked her lips, but her mood quickly became better. 

[Woof. Whatever. I can hunt more creatures and gain more affinity later on. The important thing is that we can gain these new skills from mana cores.]

[Now that I think about it, I need to search for these demonic beasts or zombies and these special ability creatures. I wonder if others would be able to gain some new skills as well.]

Qin Hua decided to keep this in mind when they were out on the move once again. 

From what she could tell, this kind of mutation seemed to be rarer in the human zombies. Perhaps their best bet would be the otherworldly creatures like goblins or the mutated beasts.

She then closed that screen and opened the shop feature if there was anything new that she could possibly buy and use.

Thanks to her new follower, who was currently busily snoring after eating to its stomach full, she hadn't spent any of her shop coins. 

At worst, she might have to spend some to buy health potions for the handicapped people but she didn't want to do that until and unless it was absolutely necessary.

She also wasn't sure that the health potions would be able to regenerate severed limbs and it was not worth it to waste her coins simply to test it.

Her actions might be cruel but Qin Hua couldn't help it. She knew that she had to be as miserly as possible, otherwise, even she might not survive.

Besides, she had already given her chunky coco a lot of mana cores so that the cat could power level and improve its healing skills. That was probably the best she could spare at the moment.

Qin Hua did feel bad for them but such things were going to become more and more common now and she had to stick to what was best for her and her friends.

She sighed and opened the shop option.

<Ding. Shop>

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[Inspect] [Purchased] - Cost: 2 Skill points; Allows the user to obtain information about an object, both animate and inanimate; Can be leveled up for upgrades.

[Space vault] [Purchased] - Cost: 10 Skill points; A dimensional magic spell that enables the user to store various items; Can be leveled up for upgrades.

[Dark shackles] [Purchased] - Cost: 2 Skill points; Allows the user to bind the target in place, preventing any and all movements; Can be leveled up for upgrades.

[Chaos ball] [Purchased] - Cost: 5 Skill points; Consumes 30 mana; Deals 20% of magic attack power damage; Has a high chance to ricochet off the enemy and land on a nearby enemy dealing double the previous damage; Can be leveled up for upgrades.

[Superior Mana Core Formation Method] [Purchased]- Cost: 10 Skill points; Method to form a superior mana core; Superior mana cores can be upgraded further.

______________

[Corruption] - Cost: 5 Skill points; Deals damage to mind, body, and soul; 10% of magic attack power instant damage and 50% of magic attack power damage dealt over 20 seconds; Can be leveled up for upgrades.

[Chaos bolt] - Cost: 3 Skill points; Deals 110% of magic attack power damage; Can be leveled up for upgrades.

[Beast Mana Core Formation Method] - Cost: 3 Skill points; Method to form a beast mana core; Beast mana cores cannot be upgraded further.

[Health potion] - Cost: 2 Skill points; Recovers the complete health of the user and removes all effects of toxins in the system.

[Mana potion] - Cost: 2 Skill points; Recovers the complete mana reserve of the user and removes all disorienting spells in effect.

[Cleansing potion, Low grade] - Cost: 5 Skill points; Removes all the impurities present in the physical body

…

…

…

Qin Hua's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the new skill that had popped out in the shop!