Almost there

Abel had no other choice but to get to their Rv on foot. He could only hope that Abdul stopped somewhere not too far when he felt it was somewhat safe. He could also not use Talon's armored car since it was thoroughly totaled.

After hours of traveling on foot, he finally saw the RV in the distance when the sun was setting. "Master!" Kane screamed as he rushed off to hug his master when arrived at their campsite.

"I thought you were in trouble" Kane was almost sobbing as he was grabbing onto his master's thigh. "Your master is really tired and hungry. I bet you were the one who asked Abdul to wait, right?" said Abel while casting a sidelong glance at Abdul who was roasting scorpion meat for dinner at a corner.

Abdul snickered "If not for him pleading for your sake, I would have turned around and headed back to Edan city from another route". "You've grown stronger, wow tier three grunt realm. You actually skipped an entire tier. You need to put a hold on your archery training and commence some physical conditioning training. You need to get used to your body and not advance too quickly else you might unintentionally hurt yourself and others" said Abel to his student without even bothering to reply to Mr. Abdul.

He waved his hand and a lot of gym equipment was neatly arraigned for Kane's use. Kane had grown a lot stronger compared to when he first broke through to the grunt realm. His physical capabilities improved tremendously and now he could lift weights of up to 370kg.

While Kane was busy working out, Abel sat down beside Abdul and helped himself to the roasting meat. "Who were those people? Why did they attack us?" asked Abdul. "Just some local bandits. The leader called himself Talon. He had an eye out for Abel and had been following us all the way from Edan city" replied Abel.

"How come I didn't notice this and why is he interested in Kane? Does he like kids?" asked Mr. Abdul curiously. "He probably has a mutation that gives him extraordinary eyesight which enables him to monitor us at very long distances. As for why he is interested in Kane, that is actually none of your business. Then how should I know if he liked kids? I have gotten rid of him and that's that" replied Abel. He would no longer answer this man's questions. Mr. Abdul's questions were beginning to touch on Kane's secret origins. Who knows if such knowledge would incite Edan city's mortal hunter association's greed.

He even began to believe that Mr. Abdul had been tailing them for a long time even before they planned on leaving the city for Kane's survival training. He could guess that Mr. Abdul's purpose should be to protect Kane or something along that line. Since it was apparently not something sinister but somewhat beneficial to them, they would gladly accept all the help they could get.

They went to sleep after everyone had dinner. They could all sleep without anyone keeping watch since their vehicle had a proximity sensor and could detect movement within twenty meters radius around them.

Their journey to Sharphorn ruins resumed the next day. After breakfast, Abel decided to have Kane drink another tube of the crushed core mixture. "Did you hit your head or something? That tier nine core almost killed the boy last time. Now you want to give that to him again and you said that advancing too quickly would hurt his foundations. What is the problem with you" shouted Mr. Abdul.

After hesitating a little, Abel said"Don't worry about this. I will let you in on a secret. Kane's second mutation 'Adaptation' is truly heaven-defying. His body quickly adapts to any stress that goes beyond its limit. Do you understand what that means, The tier nine core he ingested would have killed any other person at his level. All he needed was a night's sleep and it worked out fine for him.

All we need to do is to make sure that the stress does not go too far as to kill him before he adapts" said Abel before handing the tube over to Kane. Mr. Abdul expressed some doubt but eventually decided to let things be and watch by the side although reluctantly.

Kane took the tube and drank the contents without showing any form of fear or hesitation. He also wanted to get stronger quickly. When his father chose his elder brother, he knew that things would not be the same for him. Even if he somehow found them, they would not actually welcome him with open arms. There was already bad blood between them.

Kane started convulsing shortly after consuming the solution but Abel already knew what to do and was ready this time around. Before long, Kane was already unconscious. He didn't wake up until it was around 3:30 pm. He broke through into grunt real tier four.

Abel was ecstatic. Although the crushed core mixture was losing its effect because Kane's body was adapting to the mixture. But this was good news. What this meant was that Kane could keep advancing at an incredible speed, the only downside was that he would need a greater amount of resources because his body would adapt to it in no time.

Kane proceeded with his strength tempering training that night to get his body accustomed to his rate of growth. He could only repeat this routine and put his archery training on hold as their main objective at that moment was for him to grow stronger as fast as he could. Sharphorn ruins was not a safe place, to begin with.

As time went by, Kane was already at the fifth tier of the grunt realm after using all five tubes of the core mixture. He could now lift 500kg of weight without breaking a sweat. At this point in time, they could already see the edge of a massive forest on the horizon.

They had already spent a week on the road and it would not be long before they arrive at Sharphorn ruins.