Chapter 88: Second Order
Luna Dawson gave Rollo a satisfied pat on the head and pulled out his favorite piece of meat jerky.
With a flick of her finger, the jerky sailed through the air in an arc. Quick as a flash, Rollo leaped up and snatched it securely in his mouth.
The little dog’s tail wagged furiously. With his prize in his mouth, he turned to run outside.
"Wait!" Luna Dawson called out to him, her voice laced with caution. "You three will take turns on watch tonight. If you sense even the slightest thing is wrong, remember to come up and get me immediately, okay?"
"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" Rollo looked back and barked three times, his yaps crisp and loud. It was as if he was giving a serious reply, accepting the order on behalf of Little Tiger and Little Sweet Potato as well.
The barks had barely faded when he dashed downstairs with the jerky, off to play with his friends again.
Luna Dawson watched him run off, then vanished into her space to immediately check on the withered tree inside.
After watering the withered tree with Crystal Core Solution for some time, she was thrilled to discover it had started to sprout. Three small, green leaves had emerged!
Just from the leaves and branches, Luna Dawson couldn’t identify what kind of tree it was.
’It’s a wonderful thing that the tree is recovering,’ she thought. Whether it was intuition or a sixth sense, Luna Dawson had a feeling that the tree’s condition could affect her entire space.
As was her routine, Luna Dawson watered the withered tree with a cup of Crystal Core Solution in the morning and evening. After whispering to it for a while, she went into the RV to absorb Crystal Cores.
Thinking about the unspoken race to level up among her housemates, a smile touched her lips.
’I’m not competing with them, of course,’ she thought smugly. ’But if I were, using my space as a cheat, I’d definitely be the first one to reach the Second Order.’
Luna Dawson leaned against the headboard, absorbing Crystal Cores one by one and feeling the energy spread from her palm throughout her body.
It took about ten minutes to absorb a single Crystal Core, so absorbing nearly a hundred of them at once would take over ten hours.
Of course, Luna Dawson was absorbing them inside her space to take advantage of the time difference. To an outside observer, only three hours would pass.
As she finished absorbing the last Crystal Core, Luna Dawson slowly opened her eyes.
Feeling the abundant energy surging through her, she condensed a drop of water in her palm and infused it with her superpower.
She could clearly feel that her superpower was now more than twice as strong. The droplet’s density and sharpness had risen to a whole new level!
Luna Dawson practically jumped out of bed. Her steps were so light and eager as she headed into the yard that she even forgot to teleport.
The moment she came to a stop, she focused her mind and gathered her power. With a slight movement of her palm, a dozen or so crystalline water droplets materialized from thin air, hovering before her and exuding a razor-sharp aura.
Without a hint of hesitation, Luna Dawson flicked her finger. The dozen or so droplets shot forward like bullets from a gun, whistling through the air as they flew toward a one-centimeter-thick wooden board eight or nine meters away.
A series of muffled THWACKS echoed as the energy-infused droplets slammed into the board.
The droplets instantly bored deep craters into the wood. A fine network of cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact points, and the entire board trembled.
Seeing this, Luna Dawson raised an eyebrow, a confident smile playing on her lips.
She mulled it over. ’Before, my First-Order Water Ability wasn’t strong enough. I had to precisely control a Water Blade and aim for a zombie’s eye socket just to have a chance of destroying its brain.’
’But now, the penetrating power of these droplets is obviously far greater, and my attack range has increased too.’
’Looks like the next time I run into zombies, I won’t have to deliberately aim for weak spots. I can just use these energy droplets to pierce right through their skulls!’
Her Water Ability might not be as offensively powerful as other superpowers, but Luna Dawson was more than satisfied with this result.
’My single attacks aren’t as destructive as others, so I’ll just have to compete on endurance!’
’As long as I have Crystal Cores, I can use Crystal Core Solution to keep up a constant stream of attacks. I can just wear my enemies down to death!’
Luna Dawson looked at her palm, clenched her fist, and turned to go back to her room to continue training her spiritual power. On their last trip out, she hadn’t been able to sense any Second-Order or higher Aberrant Beasts at all; she might as well have been blind.
The thought made her anxious. ’I have to master more life-saving skills so I can protect my family and survive in this dog-eat-dog world!’
Having calculated the time, Luna Dawson went into secluded training in her space.
She constantly practiced her attack range and power. As her superpower leveled up, her spiritual power grew stronger with it, now able to extend a thousand meters.
To practice attacking with her spiritual threads, Luna Dawson took out a thick-skinned watermelon and repeatedly tried to slice through it with the threads.
The watermelon’s rind was covered in shallow cuts, scratched by the spiritual threads until its original stripes were completely obscured, but she still couldn’t manage to pierce it.
But she wasn’t discouraged. Every night, she would completely exhaust her spiritual power before allowing herself to sleep.
’Do your best and leave the rest to fate,’ she thought. All she had to do was work hard.
Three or four days passed in a blur of activity inside her space.
When she woke up on the fourth day, she made sure to harvest and organize the fruits, vegetables, and grains. Staring at the produce, which seemed to multiply endlessly, Luna Dawson was overcome with a strange sense of doubt.
’We can’t eat all this. There’s no way we can eat it all!’
After leaving her space and having lunch, everyone took a short nap. Then, one by one, they grabbed their Crystal Cores and spirit spring water and headed out to the yard to resume their superpower training.
Before long, the yard was bustling with the crackle of fire, the rush of wind, and the clang of metal.
The only exception was Luna Dawson, who was nestled comfortably on the living room sofa with Little Tiger in her arms, leisurely binge-watching a drama.
She was grabbing handfuls of popcorn with one hand, occasionally tossing a kernel into the air and tilting her head back to catch it in her mouth. Whenever she missed, Rollo would immediately dash over to snatch it up. The two of them were the very picture of lazy bums.
Kevin Keane came inside to get some spirit spring water. His eyes swept across the room and were instantly drawn to the scene on the sofa, his pace slowing by half a step.
Watching her and her two little companions critique the show’s plot, he couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. "I’ve gotta say, Little Boss, even my grandpa is more diligent than you."
Luna Dawson looked up at him, and something suddenly occurred to her. Her curiosity went into overdrive. "Coach Keane! I have to ask, who won that little contest between you guys earlier?"
Kevin Keane’s gaze fell on her curious face. He sat down on the sofa next to her, scooped up a handful of popcorn from the bucket in her lap, and began to chew slowly.
"Take a guess," he said, deliberately keeping her in suspense.
Luna Dawson pouted, immediately putting on an I-see-right-through-you expression. "Seeing how you’re practically bursting with pride, do I even need to guess? You obviously won, Coach Keane."
Since she’d seen right through him, Kevin Keane dropped the act. The smile on his face widened. "I’ll give you that, you’ve got a good eye. Those other guys have a long way to go before they can catch up to me."
His tone was casual, but it was practically dripping with smugness.
Luna Dawson immediately played along, laying on the praise. "Wow! Not bad, not bad! As expected of the man who was once my coach! You really are amazing! Employee of the Year, that’s you for sure. You’re getting an extra chicken drumstick tonight!"
Hearing this, Kevin Keane reached out and ruffled the fur of the Little Tiger in her lap. "What can I do? I have to work hard for our Little Boss. Otherwise, how would I get to mooch off your popcorn?"
Luna laughed at his response and stuffed another handful of popcorn into his hand. "At least you know your place!"
As the two were teasing each other, Evan Olson’s voice came from the yard, urging him to hurry up. Kevin Keane got up to go practice some more, while Luna Dawson snuggled back into the sofa and went back to lazing around and watching her drama.
Over the next two weeks, the authorities continued to press their offensive.
Within the walls of Kensington Base, battles raged daily. The sounds of gunfire and roars were incessant, never stopping day or night. Even from a great distance, you could hear the BANG BANG BANG of guns and the howls of zombies.
Seeing the situation, the residents of the villa knew they wouldn’t be going out anytime soon.
Every one of them became obsessed with training, unable to pull themselves away. They trained so hard they wished they could skip eating and sleeping.
Outside Kensington Base, in the no-man’s-land near the perimeter walls, a direct order for saturation bombing was issued.
Black mushroom clouds rose on the distant horizon. Even from so far away, you could feel the world-shattering power of the blasts.