32: A Great Progress

Caleb brought down the bucket of water to the ground and looked at the wooden house with a satisfied smile on his face. "Fifteen!"

"Good job, Johan! It's a new record! You managed to finish bringing all the buckets of water in just fifteen minutes!" Fatty praised with gusto.

Luna asked with apparent sadness.

"Still, it's tomorrow, right?"

Andre nodded then gave Caleb a look of encouragement and swept his eyes at Luna, Clifford, and Fatty.

"Tomorrow is the day Johan would leave and start hunting with the adults. Without Johan, we are back to our five-hour schedule. However, there's a good news guy!"

"What's the good news when Johan is leaving?" Fatty snorted and looked at Caleb. "Do you really have to leave?"

Caleb shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"Although I don't want to leave you guys, I must go with the adults to train. The two months' rest they gave me was already the maximum. The good news is, you guys don't have to fill the water every day. Starting tomorrow, it's those darned old men's job."

Fatty raised his eyebrows and exclaimed.

"Really? How did that happen!?"

With a chuckle, Andre gave an answer that shocked everyone. Luna widened her eyes. Clifford almost spat, and a wide grin appeared on Fatty's face.

"It's all thanks to Johan. He revealed their undoing to the captain. Did you see the broken arm of one of them? Sir Jin was the one who caused it!"

*HISSS!* Everyone took a deep breath at such a shocking revelation.

Caleb looked at every face of the teenagers in front of him. Two months have passed since he successfully passed the test and formally joined the hunting party. He didn't immediately go out with them and asked for two months to ready himself. Now, those two months were over! A lot of things have changed since then.

First of all, he gained a voice within the house. For example, now, the four old people didn't dare to slight or neglect him in the slightest. His portion of the food increased and he could eat high-quality meat only available to the members of the hunting party.

Second, the four women increase his level of priority in terms of service. Now, they even clean his nails and his room occasionally. Now, his room always looked clean and tidy.

Third, due to his relationship with the four teens: Andre, Luna, Fatty, and Clifford, somehow, the four old shits started to treat them properly.

Fourth, he had finally good understanding of the terrain and geography of the Wall of Rose, also known as the Third Wall. The house they were in was located in the center. The Wall of Rose was actually ten times bigger than the Wall of Hope, and the walls surrounded the inside in a spherical manner. So, they are currently far from the breach of the wall, which was a good thing, since monsters were literally all over the place.

However, they were also far away from the entrance of the last wall. Facing the wall or beyond the well was the Forest of Death, the forest littered with snakes and wild animals. It was the same forest they passed through when they conducted his test. And the river was exactly the place after the forest. Beyond the river or where they tested him was a mountain ridge envelope in thick white fog for twelve hours a day.

One needs to have an experienced hiker to even attempt going to that mountain, and that's the easiest obstacle. Even the hunting party didn't dare to traverse that place because there are traces of activity Apokalips of at least 9th Tier there. The place was called the Quincy Mountain Range.

Most Apokalips can be found in the Quincy Mountain Range, which is why it was so hard to go to the City of Phenos. One has to traverse the treacherous unfamiliar terrain to get there. Not to mention, after that, there's also the final obstacle, get past the Spider Town. A lively town in the past... But now, it has become the Nest of Tier 8 Spider Queen! The queen itself wasn't the problem, but her minions. Small Tier 9 spiders numbering at least thousands that constantly move around the town.

The town itself was covered in spiderweb that functions as an all-encompassing network that would alert the queen once touched. That's why it was hard to avoid the detection of the queen. Not to mention, just the minions scattered all around the town are already difficult to bypass. However, once one gets past the Spider Town, it's equivalent to a successful journey, as one would pretty much see the towering Walls.

Lastly, Caleb improved by leaps and bounds in terms of taboo energy. He has accumulated a significant amount already! Now, his status looks like this.

***

Name: Caleb

Race: Human

Age: ???

Rank: Taboo Energy (Grade 1) 607/1000

Physique: 10 [Strength, Stamina, Endurance, Agility, Flexibility, Power, Etc...]

Spirit: 6 [Mental Strength, Reaction Speed, Perception, Five Senses, Dynamic Vision, Mental Energy, Intelligence, Energy Recovery Rate, Etc...]

Abilities:

-Passive Skill-

-Active Skill-

Taboo Energy Sensitivity.

Tip: The basic attribute of a normal human is 5.

***

Six hundred units of taboo energy! Such great progress. His taboo energy can last longer now and the boost it gives every time he covers some of his body parts has significantly increased. Now, he was only four hundred way to go before he becomes a grade-two taboo fighter! It means he only needs forty days! Once he ascended to grade two, he would be more confident dealing with various dangers. It would be even possible that he can fight a 9th-tier Apokalips head-on. Not to mention, his stream-lined throwing technique would become more deadly.

Those two months were spent resting and helping Andre and others to fill up the water and he also personally supervised their training using his modern knowledge of progressive overload, lifting techniques, right form when lifting, right sets and technique, and most importantly, rest!

Muscles are being destroyed during training, but they are made in the kitchen and bed! No matter how intense of training, without the right nutrition and rest, everything would become counter-productive!

Fortunately, they have a constant supply of protein from meat that the hunting party brings every end of the month. As a result, Andre and the rest have also improved by leaps and bounds. Caleb trained them using a mix of training of modern CrossFit, powerlifting, and plyometrics! Not just to look strong, but to be actually strong!