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“Are they here?” Mathew replied, not surprised by Daria’s face.

“No,” the girl shook her head. “They are not here,” she added, answering Mathew’s question properly.

“Then why should I… No, why should we waste cores for weapons that wouldn’t even be used?” Mathew said before shaking his head. “No, rather than wasting cores in this way, we should work our way into turning this place into a fortress.”

“Is that why you didn’t want to get that upgraded weapon?” Nadia chimed in, a small smirk filling her lips.

It was clear that she had no intention of ignoring the small remark Mathew made before.

“Yeah,” Mathew nodded his head, giving the girl the respect she deserved.

This was exactly the second reason why Mathew didn’t get the upgraded saber. He didn’t even waste his cores on the upgraded magical staff, even if it would most likely make it easier for its wielder to develop magic skills.

‘The things that we can buy here prove this point very well,’ Mathew thought, recalling all the weapons he saw at the merchant. ‘And those are not even all that I could pick from!’

Mathew could only dream about purchasing this kind of high-level weapons back in the school. Two of the merchants there hardly offered anything extraordinary, while the third one required a lot of cores to be invested in before it would upgrade its stock.

On the other hand, just the first merchant that Mathew summoned outside of the compound, one that was amply named an outpost merchant, gave Mathew’s group access to pretty high-level stuff.

“If my guess is correct, we will be able to get even better weapons once we turn this place into a fortress,” Mathew revealed the crux of his side-quest.

“So instead of wasting money on upgrading the weapons we can get right now, you would rather wait until we can get the best ones possible,” Nadia summarised the intent behind Mathew’s plan.

“That’s right,” the young man nodded his head. “For now, those sabers are already a massive upgrade,” he pointed out only to then shake his head. “That’s why I want us to kill a lot of zombies with them so that we can sell them off with profit and get even better weapons later.”

‘Because only an idiot would follow something like natural attraction when picking a weapon,’ Mathew said to himself in his mind, his thoughts darkening.

“Isn’t this called the gamer’s hoarding sickness?” Leila suddenly asked, taking Mathew by a surprise.

.ᴄO,ᴍ “Do you even know what this term means?” the young man asked, shaking his head. ‘She most likely heard it somewhere and thought it was fitting…’

“It’s about not using the consumables in a game due to worry of wasting them, losing them before they prove crucial,” Leila explained the term properly, betraying Mathew’s expectation for the second time in a row.

“And you think that applies to our current situation?” Mathew asked, backing down from his previous line of thought.

“I don’t want to say that you should splurge on a better weapon, but weren’t you worried about those red-eyed zombies?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest before leaning her head to the side. “Getting stronger should be our priority, then.”

Leila’s logic was sound.

The red-eyed zombies were stronger than their usual counterparts. While not powerful on their own, they evened out the playing field between the creations of the apocalypse and Mathew’s group.

They made it so that once again, despite all their improvements, Mathew and the girls were actually vulnerable to the attacks. The risk of getting lost in the horde of violent opponents resurfaced, blocking a lot of momentum Mathew hoped to gain today.

“To be frank, I believe there is a way better method of getting stronger,” Mathew explained. “A weapon is just that, a weapon. Once you lose it, you cannot rely on its prowess anymore,” he said. “On the other hand, leveling up ourselves directly will benefit us.”

“So you want to go back to school?” Daria asked, figuring out the direction Mathew’s plans moved. “That’s where we can hopefully level up, don’t we?” she then asked, raising her chin as she looked up to Mathew’s face, seeking confirmation of her guess.

“I plan to get there before confronting the zombies outside,” Mathew said as he nodded his head. He then raised his hand before pointing it out at the ceiling above their heads. “I want to establish a second merchant of this place first, though.”

“Can’t you just do it anywhere?” Nadia asked, leaning her head to the side. “I assume you want to slap one in the room the locals are hiding in, right?” she guessed before shaking her head. “I know it’s not late yet, but we really took our time to get where we are. Is it really a good idea to wait for Daniel to deal with the problem above?”

Nadia’s logic was sound.

There were only up to two hours before the sun would start setting. It was this natural process that set a hard time limit for Mathew to achieve his task.

‘I don’t know what will happen if zombies encounter the merchant. And I definitely don’t want to be clearing every nook and cranny of this place from zombies.’

“It would be foolish to assume that those zombies will obediently wait for us to get ready before challenging them,” Mathew pointed out as he looked towards the doors. “I bet they are trying to lure us out and then keep the fight going way beyond the nightfall.”

“Contrary to the zombies, we heavily rely on our sense of sight,” Nadia agreed while nodding her head. “Darkness would play much to our disadvantage,” she murmured before turning her eyes towards Mathew. “Does that mean I’m right?”

“Yes and no,” Mathew shook his head as he stopped Nadia’s enthusiasm. “This is yet another guess of mine, but I feel like there is some sort of rhythm, some sort of linear structure of everything that we are doing. And I can’t help but think that it’s best to summon merchants in places of importance.”

“How is this hall important, then?” Leila asked, raising her eyebrows as she eagerly jumped on the opportunity to point out the flaw in Mathew’s thinking.

There was no hostility on her face, not even a smug smile. Contrary to that, the girl appeared to be perfectly happy and even proud of herself.

‘Right, I asked them to not treat my words like oracles from God,’ Mathew thought, heaving a light sigh.

“It’s important because it’s where we made our starting base in this place and where we are holding off the attacks of zombies,” Mathew explained. “The second important place would be the location of the seat of power of the locals,” the young man listed out before turning his eyes towards the doors.

“So the third one is the courtyard where we will slay all the zombies?” Nadia suggested, trying to solve the problem on her own before Mathew would reveal the answer.

“That would be a good one,” Mathew nodded his head only to then shake it sideways. “I personally believe the shed where the sacrifices are kept would be an even better one.”