Outside the walls

Three months later.

Kane had gone through the regimens of activities listed in the body tempering manuals with the aid of his master. Kane had become well built after three months of intense physical training and he was no longer as chubby as before since his remaining baby fat had already been burnt off by the exercise.

So much physique training left Kane with so much pain he felt he was going to break but he kept striving for perfection. In this age of constant mutation, the average adult mortal can already lift a maximum of 450kg. Kane, although not average, could already lift 250kg, and he was still a child.

Not only did his strength increase, but his agility, endurance, and reaction speed also increased tremendously. He could now even pull the bowstring of his recurve bow quite easily. They could have begun his archery training but Abel felt it was appropriate to do that outside the city walls. He knew it was time to head out for Kane's survival training.

"Go get yourself some rest. I am going to the mall. I will be buying stuff we will be needing for your survival training. We will be heading for the Sharphorn ruins tomorrow" said Abel as he led Kane out of the basement.

"Ok," said Kane who was visibly excited. He had been cooped up in the basement and only left when he wanted to eat, rest, and use the restroom.

When Abel left, Kane knew he had nothing else to do so he could only rest for almost the entire day. He had experienced two sessions with the dao within the past three months. Taking his master's advice, he tried not to resist the dao but passed out directly from the pain once the session was over.

Through his perseverance, the completion rate of his unknown skill had jumped up to 20%. He also checked his other two skills which were piercing shot and rapid-fire archery skills. They were both at the initiated proficiency leave.

Skill proficiency determined how much of a skill's full power can be displayed after the cultivator uses it. It is divided into five categories: uninitiated, initiated, beginner, intermediate and expert. People who do not own a neural chip can only start from uninitiated when they practice a new skill while those that own the neural chip can directly begin at the initiated level if they are no external requirements to be met.

This was an example of the Brunhilde empire's terrifying might. This was why even though they were behind in their experts class, they more than made up for that with technology.

…

The next morning, Kane and his master had already prepared for the trip outside the Edan city wall. All items needed for the trip had already been stored in Abel's storage ring.

They did not take Abel's SUV since it was not suitable for the dangers outside the city. It would be easily destroyed when faced with any monster attack. They instead, hailed a taxi which took them close to the city entrance.

What they needed now was an armored vehicle that could at least give them a sense of safety. The city had a car dealership near the city gates that sold armored vehicles. The vehicles could also be rented out only on the condition that they would also pay for a driver and his living expenses.

Abel quickly rented an armored RV. Their driver was unusually pale. He wore a black double-breasted suit and a black fedora cap. Abel kept receiving warning signals from the man. He tried to request for their driver to be changed but it was all to no avail.

He paid the car dealership for a month using contribution points and in no small amount. Kane began to suspect that this master of his had quite a lot of contribution points and even began to wonder about his master's status in the hunters association.

"Hello there. My name is Mr. Abdul. I will be your driver for a month after which I will return to Edan city with or without you" said the driver, Abdul as he extended his gloved hand towards Abel.

Abel carefully shook his hand and thought that the black gloves on the man's hand made him look like a hitman instead of a driver. They quickly approached their vehicle. It was black in color and had an armored plated bumper which looked like it was meant specifically for ramming.

As they approached the city walls, Kane looked at it through the windows of the RV astonished. The wall was over fifty meters tall and had machine gun turrets installed all over the top. If one looked closer, there was also an almost transparent, light blue force field that protected the city's airspace.

Mr. Abdul produced his permit before he was allowed through the gates. Outside the gates, there were some people who wanted to gain entry into the city who were both in their vehicles or on foot. They quickly left the gates behind as the RV was fast even for size.

It would take them at least a week to get to Sharphorn ruins with their current speed and Kane quickly became bored of seeing the same expanse of arid land after merely two hours.

"let's talk at the back," said Abel as he walked towards the bedroom. His guts kept telling him that their driver Abdul, was a very dangerous man and they should not casually talk about Kane's secrets and progress around him.

Master and student sat on a bunk bed while facing each other. "That man is very dangerous. I have a feeling that he is at least in the warrior realm. Don't be careless around him" said Abel with a worried look on his face.

"Yes, master. I will be careful" replied Kane. He knew that his master's instincts were always spot on and guessed that Abdul was not simple and had some other motive.

"It will take up to a week to get to Sharphorn ruins so I'd like for us to use that time to work on your archery. I would have wanted to first teach you close combat skills but it would not be appropriate since you have the body of a child. Anything that gets close to you at your current age would most likely kill you without you being Abel to resist…"

"Wait, I suddenly feel like I'm forgetting something" Kane quickly interrupted his master and wore a pensive look on his face. Abel waited patiently for his student to recollect his thoughts. After what seemed to be a brief moment, Kane's face relaxed as he said "sorry about that master. I just had a nagging feeling that I forgot something. The feeling is gone now"

"Did you remember what you forgot?" asked Abel. "No" Abel replied straightforwardly while feeling a little bit embarrassed.

Abel was slightly angry with his student but ultimately didn't put it to heart. "Ahem, as I was saying, you need to keep a safe distance from your targets at all times until you are older thus the need for archery skills.

First, we will work on your accuracy then the archery skills you've learned" said Abel. "I don't need to work on accuracy. My neural chip has a projectile guidance system installed. I basically have a hundred percent accuracy" said Kane with a smug look on his face.

Abel could only sigh. He knew that there were differences between various grades of neural chips but he didn't expect it to be that large. He had a grade C neural chip and it had nothing like the projectile guidance system installed.

"Don't be too full of yourself. It might be true for the first shot but without carrying out some accuracy training, subsequent shots will begin to deviate from the mark until it veers far off from it. When you begin to practice the rapid-fire skill you will understand what I'm talking about.

Factors like wind speed and direction, recoil, and even your body condition have to be kept in mind as far as accuracy is concerned". Kane kept nodding as his master continued "we will train every evening until we get to Sharphorn ruins. Understand?"

"Yes, master" replied Kane enthusiastically to his master's content.

Behind the wheels of the RV, Mr. Abdul was thinking about something and frowning deeply.