Chapter 226: Preparation

Without noticing, a few months passed by since Angus and the others returned to the Sur village. During these few months, the Sur village lives on the top of the Sand Turtle peacefully.

But, everyone knows this is the calm before the storm. The next time the sand turtle stops and submerges under the sand, they will face a lot of danger.

Fortunately, the current sand turtle will take a long time before submerging into the sea of sand. According to the past behavior, it may take one or two years before the sand turtle stops and is submerged.

After it is submerged, it will take years before it starts moving again. During that time, everyone planned to go away from their Sur village's current location to avoid confrontation with other villages.

Now, most of the people in the Sur villages decide to follow Jade to the Firuman. They know after the group is divided, they will never survive alone in this land. In the worst case, they will be caught by the slave merchant and become slaves.

They all rather fight for their lives even if there is a huge chance they will be dead during the journey. Since they decide to follow Jade, they begin to prepare many things during these few months. Not only preparing supplies but also creating many items to help their journey.

One of them is the special carriage that could travel through many dangerous lands. This project is the most important one since it will save a lot of energy and time when Sur Village starts their journey.

The head project of making this carriage is Gilford. With the help of [Analyze] and ancient knowledge he inherited from the King of Knowledge, he could easily make a schematic of this special carriage to transport the entire Sur village.

The only problem he needs to deal with is the production. According to his estimate, he needs around a year or more to finish all the carriage, even with the help of the villagers. Gilford hopes the sand turtle will take more time before stopping.

Fortunately, he had enough material to build all the special carriages. While Gilford and the other crafters in the villages were busy making things, Jade and the other combatant didn't fall behind and did some training every day.

In the middle of the desert, far away from the Sur village location, Jade stands straight without upper clothes. Currently, his skin is red while the surrounding air is scorching. The ground near him already turned into crimson red liquid lava long ago.

Despite the harsh environment near him, Jade doesn't find any discomfort and keeps closing his eyes, feeling the changes in his body.

Suddenly, Jade opens his eyes and releases huge fire mana towards the surrounding area. *Whossh* The fire mana changes into a firestorm and envelops everything nearby Jade. After a while, the firestorm recedes and leaves an exhausted Jade.

'Huft.. Huft.. Not enough.. This is not enough. My old wound is not bothering me anymore. But, it is still not enough for me to breakthrough. It feels like I miss something.' thought Jade.

"Haa.. It would be great if I could break through before the start of our journey." said Jade.

*BOOMM* as Jade feels a shockwave not far from his location. Feeling the shockwave, "That kid is really crazy." said Jade before he ended his training and came towards the shockwave location.

Arriving at the shockwave location, Jade found Angus and Anna facing each other. Currently, Anna is slumping on the ground, exhausted while her miasma claws become smaller and transparent.

On the contrary, with a lazy expression and reading a book, Angus stands leisurely. It feels like Angus is not just getting into a harsh fight now. Not far from them, Jade could see Jayna and Ilgor sitting and recovering. Both of them have a lot of bruises all over their body.

"Come on, Anna, didn't you want to burst the bubble? Forget about bursting the bubble. You could not even touch me even once." said Angus while reading his book.

"Haa.. Haa.. Never, Anna likes bursting bubbles!!" Said Anna while she charged Angus.

However, Angus managed to dodge all of Anna's attacks by a hairbreadth without even looking. 

Even Jade, with his vast combat experience, couldn't do this feat. While Anna kept attacking, Angus using one of his free hands, hit Anna's weakest spot. *Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

"Too crude!! Don't Swing your arm like that. Focus. Keep your body balanced. Too much strength in your fist." Said Angus while lecturing Anna.

After a while, Anna's body is riddled with various bruises. Despite her resilient body, she feels a lot of pain every time Angus hits her. Suddenly, Anna opens her mouth and tries to shoot Miasma Blast at Angus in point-blank range.

However, like predicting this, Angus punched Anna's stomach and forced her to stop accumulating Miasma. Because of Angus's force, Anna threw back a few meters away.

"Anna, what did I tell you not to use large-scale attacks when fighting a person unless you are certain that it will hit. Otherwise, it is only a waste of energy." lectured Angus.

On the other hand, Anna touches her stomach and rolls over the ground.

"Hurt.. It hurt.." said Anna.

After a while, Anna recovered from the pain and lay on the sandy ground, exhausted.

"Meanie.. Meanie, Angus. I thought I was going to burst at that moment." said Anna while lying on the sandy ground.

Hearing this, Angus gets a tick on his head. "If you have time to complain, why don't you begin meditating and reflect on your move." said Angus while grabbing Anna's tiny head with one hand.

"Oww.. Ow.. I am going to burst. My head will burst." said Anna while holding her head.

"Then, start meditating, or I really will burst your dumbhead!!" said Angus.

Anna immediately sits on the ground properly and starts meditating. Looking at Anna finally meditating properly, Angus releases a long sigh.

During these past months, Angus tried to teach Anna how to fight without wasting too much movement and energy. But, the result is horrible. Angus feels like teaching a rock how to swim. Not only did Anna not listen to Angus, but she also kept repeating mistakes.

If it is not because of her special resilient body, Anna probably needs to recuperate for months from just one fighting session. Currently, Angus's body strength is around eight times of an ordinary human.

With this strength, Angus could easily kill any grade one monster using his bare hand even without mana. Even though Anna has a monstrous physique, she cannot endure Angus's ridiculous strength.

So, in the end, she is getting more hits and bruises on each spar. Angus's teaching method is ruthless. He knows that talking to Anna is useless as she likes to forget many things. So, he decided to ingrain his teaching through a spar.

After checking Anna is meditating and not sleeping,  Angus comes towards his uncle, who is observing silently from the side.

"You are harsh at teaching as always." said Jade.

"Well, it's better having beaten now than dying later." replied Angus nonchalantly.

"Anyway, what's bringing you here, uncle?" Asked Angus.

"Nothing, I just want to observe your training method to gain some inspiration." replied Jade.

"Still, trying to break through?? Well, I don't know much about breaking through into that seventh-grade realm. But, I think you should take things slowly. Nothing will be good if you rush things, uncle." advised Angus.

"Yes, you are right. Still, I can't help but feel some urgency. You know if I could reach that realm, our journey would be safer." said Jade.

"Hmm… You are right. Then, how about a spar. Maybe you could get some inspiration from our battle." said Angus while closing and storing his book.

"Hahaha.. my dear nephew, you are joking, right?" said Jade.

Looking at Angus's serious expression, "Alright, then. I also have not anything to do currently." said Jade.

Soon, both Angus and Jade are standing facing each other in an empty area.

"Alright, kid. You can come to me anytime. Otherwise, I will end this before you know it." said Jade.

"Then, excuse me. [Beast Walk]" said Angus and disappeared from his spot. 

Seeing the Angus movement, "Hoo… Good speed." said Jade while looking around.

Suddenly, Angus attacks from Jade's blind spot [Dynamic Punch]. Before the attack reaches Jade, he already avoids the attack by tilting his body to the side.

"Too slow" said Jade shortly while countering Angus with his own hand.

During this split second, Angus smirks, and he feels like time has stopped. Then, he could see an invisible yin yang diagram on the ground [Domain - Yin Yang Stance]. With an unbelievable move, Angus grabs Jade's hand and throws him away. *Bam*

Jade hit the ground without realizing what had happened. Although the ground cracked under Jade, he still didn't get hurt at all. As a six-grade combatant who takes a warrior path, his body resilience is on a different level than the others.

"How??" muttered Jade as he still couldn't believe Angus.

"Huff.. Uncle, Are you going to keep laying on the ground?" said Angus.

Hearing Angus taunt, "Tch.. Brat, you are still too early to taunt me!!" replied Jade as he got up from his spot.

"I think I will get a little serious now." said Jade, who released a massive fire elemental towards the surrounding area.