Chapter 55: 55: Deka Step Progress

"Well, let's wrap this up. Your training is officially over. Congrats." Fushigiro smiled. Then his gaze turned to the starry sky as if it could penetrate through the veil of darkness and went on. "Let's go."

As he said this, Fushigiro walked near the edge of the cliff, ready to jump. However, Caleb shook his head.

"I still want to try something. I'll just follow later."

Fushigiro nodded his head. Although he didn't know what Caleb wanted to try. He gave Caleb a last look before jumping to the cliff.

"Well, don't be too late! We will return to the house!"

After Fushigiro left, the silence of the place resumed. Caleb scanned the fog that had grown thicker in some places and the eerie forest just behind him.

'Now that I'm alone. Let's try it.'

With a smirk, Caleb repeated the same movement before. He contracted all his muscles from his calves and he easily did it due to his mind-muscle connection. However, this time, his feet exuded a violet aura.

WOOSH!

Caleb kicked the ground three times in one second. The sound of the kicks bursting through the air resounded in the quiet area and echoed. Unlike before, Caleb instantly reappeared three meters away from his original place. And his breath was steady as mt. tai.

'Hmmm... With the infusion of taboo energy. The effectiveness of Deka Step improved to at least two steps!'

What does that mean? It means that even though he can only kick the ground three times in a second for now, its effectiveness was equivalent to someone who could kick the ground five times in a second! Earlier, his blurry silhouette could still be seen from the perspective of a normal human. However, after the boost of taboo energy, he just instantly vanished.

"HAHAHA!" Caleb burst out laughing. He didn't even try to hold back. After all, he was just alone, so he didn't need to be reserved. "My experiment is a success! Since taboo energy can boost my body parts, I can also boost the effectiveness of martial arts techniques!"

Delighted by his success, Caleb vanished again, then reappeared in front of one of the trees. Then he vanished again and went back to his original place. He repeated it over and over again until beads of sweat finally appeared on his forehead and his breathing started to rugged. 'It seems taboo energy also reduced the consumption of my technique significantly. Without taboo energy, I can only use it three times, but with it, I can do it at least eleven times! What a good stuff!'

In the future, if he further masters the Deka Step, adding to that the boost of his taboo energy, he might even surpass Fushigiro and the original creator of the technique in terms of utilization!

'Crap! I'm letting it go over my head.'

In a good mood, Caleb stood up, patted the dust on his shabby white shirt, and strode to the edge of the cliff. Since the training ended, they would now come back to the house.

'I wonder if they miss my presence.' Caleb smiled. Excited to meet Fatty, Andre, Luna, and Clifford after a month of not seeing them. He couldn't wait to brag about his progress. The corners of his lips rose subconsciously as he thought of this. Then he jumped to the cliff without thinking too much about it.

...

Caleb and Dunn walked side by side, with Rina, Tamasai, Miles, and Athena in tow. At the front of the group, Fushigiro and Jin led the group. They walked through the towering trees unhinged.

"Well, it seems no wild animals dare to attack our lineup..." Dunn chuckled at this, earning a nod from other members.

Most of the beasts they've encountered ran without hesitation. Except for a few stupid beasts who dared to attack them, such as Devil's Cry. Those snakes just liked to ambush here and there. Unfortunately, they've targeted the wrong group. They died by Fushigiro's hand before they could even attack other members.

Just like that, they got past the heart of the forest. In there, they fought another one of the Octavian Bears. Caleb was forced to participate as the Octavian Bear had attacked him. There he experienced first-hand personally the terrifying defense of the beast, as his weapon couldn't even penetrate the bastard's skin.

In the end, he wrapped taboo energy on his Odachi, which allowed him to inflict a deep gush on the Octavian Bear's flesh, earning him the ire of the beast. As a result, he got all the aggro of the beast, the damn bastard focused on him and he could only save his life by constantly using Deku Step.

It was a scary experience, being chased by a crazy, powerful four-meter bear. Fortunately, Fushiguro ended the farce with his soft fist.

"Captain, why didn't you intervene a bit earlier?" Caleb couldn't help but feel wronged, which earned him Fushigiro's chuckle. "Well, I just want to see how you would fare alone with an Octavian Bear."

Dunn smiled and nodded. "Don't blame the captain. It was fun while it lasted."

'Darned bastard!'

Caleb gritted his teeth. Athena and Rina had small smiles on their face as they watched the spectacle.

Still, the battle wasn't for nothing. At least, he got a reference on his current strength. With the right circumstances and relying on the taboo energy, he has the ability to injure an Octavian Bear.

...

In just an hour, they got out of the Forest of Death and arrived at the road situated between two mountains towering 14,764 ft. Just as they appeared, they saw a herd of mutated deers rush at them frenzily.

Dunn, Jin, and Miles made quick work out of them while Caleb put small stones infused with taboo energy between the tip of his middle finger and index finger and flicked it lightly to put a hole in their foreheads.

Without other obstacles, they passed the heart of the road smoothly. However, not long after, they saw two familiar silhouettes ten meters from their position.

'What are the two doing here?' Caleb muttered with a deep crease on his forehead.