Chapter 171 Growth
The area near the great banyan tree—the one that bore eggs—trembled ever so slightly every few seconds.
Although the baboons who were playing around this part felt the vibrations, none of them bothered too much about it. Almost as if it were a normal occurrence.
As one went eastward, toward one side of the great valley, they would come across a land filled with rocky hills whose height ranged from a hundred to two hundred meters.
This entire area was completely barren, but it was the perfect training ground for a specific person, the one responsible for the vibrations!
At the base of one such hill, this person was standing in a horse stance and landing one punch after another, causing the very ground to tremble. Each of his punches greatly shook the hill and it seemed that it would break down any moment now.
Moreover, every single one of his punches left a large indentation in the hill in the shape of a spiral!
The man had long, raven hair that reached to his waist. He had broad shoulders and his height was over 1.8 meters.
As the man's upper body was bare, his toned muscles were visible in all its glory. Every time he let out a punch, the muscles on his body would contract and expand.
His muscular body was riddled with scars, the biggest one being on the left side of his stomach. This scar covered his left abdomen and waist, however, this was still not the most prominent of all his scars.
The most noticeable scar was the one that diagonally ran across his face. It started over his left eyebrow, ran across his nose bridge, and finally ended over his right chin.
Although this person did not have any defining and handsome facial features, the scar on his face would certainly leave a long-lasting impression on bystanders.
Well, that and his chasmic, abyss-like eyes.
Suddenly, the youth's eyes flashed brilliantly. He gathered a large amount of mana into his right hand. After he had accumulated just enough mana, his lips curled up into a wide grin.
The next moment, he struck the hill in front of him with an explosive palm thrust.
Hand of Doom: Spectral Palm Strike!
BOOOOMM!!!
At once, humongous cracks started to form on the two-hundred-meter tall hill, and the following moment, the hill crumbled down as if it were made of sand.
"Hahahaha!" Adam let out a boisterous laugh that resounded throughout the area. He clenched his fists victoriously and smiled brightly.
"How long has it been since I started? Today, you have finally fallen!"
It had been nearly eight months since Adam cooped himself up in these barren lands. Every day, he would wake up and attack the hill from morning till night.
For the last eight months, he had been doing nothing but practicing the Astral Tyrant Manual and using the hill—well, former hill—in front of him as his training partner.
And today, after eight months and a million punches he had finally destroyed the hill.
Adam sat down on the ground and looked at the hill that he had just destroyed. He couldn't stop smiling at all. He felt greatly accomplished. He clenched his fists and raised them in the air, bursting into another round of loud laughter.
During his training retreat, Adam had already turned nineteen years old. As a late teenager, he was going through a period of growth to begin with, but having practiced the Astral Tyrant Manual, this growth had been boosted significantly.
His physique had developed most optimally, taking his height and weight into consideration. He was of medium build with chiseled muscles bursting with vitality.
Adam's face had become very symmetrical, moreover, he was even sporting a stubble. That combined with the deep scar on his face made him appear very eye-catching.
He soon sat back up and expended some mana, coating a thin layer over his body. The next moment, steam started to rise from the surface of his body and all his sweat had evaporated.
This was a trick he had learned by experimenting with mana augmentation in the past few months.
The youth got up to his feet and deeply looked at the hill—or lack thereof—in front of him. This was the result of the hellish training that he had gone through. For that, he was very proud of himself.
Then, he turned around and made his way back to the great banyan tree.
…
As Adam approached the humongous tree, the number of baboons in his vicinity greatly increased. Some were lazily sunbathing, while others were eating and dancing. These baboons led a truly carefree life.
"How envious." The youth chuckled with a shake of his head.
His eyes then landed on a bunch of baboons, who seemed to be kids, playing with each other. He approached them and crouched beside them, asking, "Where's he?"
"Ooh-ooh-aah-aah!"
"Kie! Kie!"
"Ki-kiee! Ki-kiee!"
The young baboons started running circles around Adam. Some of them climbed on him and started to pat his muscles. One even climbed on his head and started pulling his cheeks.
Adam found all this very amusing. He didn't stop them at all, instead he started playing with them. He seemed to like these kids quite a lot.
After the young baboons had had enough fun, they ignored him and went to look for other baboons to play with.
Adam caught one of them by the ear and said with a smirk, "Oi, little brat. Where do you think you're going?"
"Kiee…" the young baboon made a disheartened face and then nodded reluctantly.
Then, he grabbed Adam's finger and walked in front of him, guiding him to the person he was looking for. All the while, the little baboon kept cursing the youth for keeping him away from his friends.
He wanted to play.
But here he was, guiding the foolish human.
After walking for a long time through the baboon settlement, Adam finally reached the great banyan tree where the majority of these magical beasts resided.
The young baboon climbed the tree agilely and guided Adam until they were hundreds of meters in the air. Finally, Adam could see the person he was looking for.
Atop a thick branch, on a small throne made of twigs and leaves, a gray cat was lazily sitting while being fed delicious meat by a bunch of baboons.
A baboon to the cat's left was fanning him with a giant leaf. While another baboon to the cat's right was pouring fruit juice into the cat's mouth from time to time.
Seeing such a spectacle, Adam didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Your majesty, might I have some of your time?" He exaggeratedly bowed, struggling to hold his laughter in.
The moment the gray cat heard his voice, he shot up from the throne and his topaz eyes widened in pleasant surprise.
'Brother!' Valerian turned into a gray streak of light and shot toward Adam. He buried himself in the latter's arms. 'You've returned!'
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