Despite the myriad thoughts in his mind, Bruce continued his cultivation.
After four sets of long fists, with his Beast Skin Clothing nearly soaked with sweat, he finally released the burning sensation that had risen in his body from consuming the Cold Beast Flesh.
After slightly clenching his fists and feeling a slight increase in strength, Bruce furrowed his brows slightly.
"Having broken through to the Axeheart Realm, my capacity for Cold Beast Flesh has increased by two more Kilograms. Now I can eat seven kilograms a day, but the efficiency improvement seems to have slowed a bit."
Everything gets harder as you progress, an objective rule.
Bruce didn't think much of it.
Just as he finished his practice and was about to stop cultivating, Tony and Charlie walked over with five people.
"Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, Nick Fury, Clint Barton… Peter Parker."
Bruce only glanced up, immediately reciting the names of the five people in his mind.
Only when he got to Peter Parker did he pause a bit.
There are only a bit more than a hundred people in the camp, and only about twenty in the same age group, whom Charlie basically knows.
In reality, the outcome didn't entirely come as a surprise.
Bruce knew that those descendants of the Axeheart team members would definitely win.
The reason is simple.
Compared to others, the descendants of the Axeheart team members had previously been given Cold Beast Flesh, providing a foundation of strength.
And indeed, it was so.
Clark Kent is the son of the former Axeheart team member Blark Kent, Hal Jordan is the son of Hal Banner, Clint Barton's father is the only archer in Harper, Ben Barton, Nick Fury, is the son of Stick Fury.
Among the five, only Peter Parker was not a descendant of former Axeheart team members.
This was precisely why Bruce paused when he saw him earlier.
Not being a member of the Axeheart team implies he hadn't eaten Cold Beast Meat before and had never trained.
Under such conditions, for him to still make it to the top five wasn't simple at all!
Bruce turned to Tony and inquired, "What's their strength for each of them?"
"Clarl is exactly 2000, Jordan 1800, Clint 1700, Nick 1500, Peter 1100."
Looking at Peter's eyes, Bruce's gaze immediately lit up.
The first time consuming Cold Beast Flesh, the improvement range can't be too large, which means Peter's basic strength itself is quite terrifying.
"This kid might just give me a bit of a surprise."
Peter was clearly somewhat self-deprecating in nature.
Seeing Bruce frequently glancing at him, he immediately grew a bit nervous, slightly evasive in his expression.
Bruce understood; among the five, only he wasn't a descendant of Axeheart team members, and with a strength gap from the other four, feeling a bit self-conscious at this age is quite normal.
So he deliberately shifted his focus and instead took out the five pieces of Cold Beast Flesh he had prepared earlier and distributed them to the five.
"From today, I will take time to teach you the tyler fist technique daily. You've previously eaten Cold Beast Flesh and absorbed it using traditional methods. Given your current physique, you can only manage half a Kilogram per day, or even less.
Practicing the long fist technique can enhance your absorption efficiency of Cold Beast Flesh, allowing for quicker strength improvement, so if you want to get stronger fast, learn seriously and carefully.
Next time, when the camp gets more Cold Beast Flesh, just like this time, the closer someone is to the Axeheart Realm, the more they will receive, understood?"
The five accepted the Cold Beast Meat, their expressions were immensely invigorated.
Hearing Bruce's advice, they all lifted their heads, faces solemn, and responded in unison:
"Yes, leader!"
Recalling the people from the Taylor Camp, looking at the five in front of him, although knowing there's still quite a gap, Bruce felt some confidence welling up inside.
It's been over ten days since the Axeheart team was wiped out.
As the leader, he's finally formed the first wave of a small core team.
The Harper Camp has also slightly regained some vitality.
Grand Ancestor Tyler Fist is divided into four paths: Small Fight, Grand Fight, Free Fist, and United Battle.
In his previous life, Bruce mainly practiced this set of fist techniques.
Small Fight focuses on short strikes, mainly defensive.
Grand Fight combines fists, kicks, and waist into one, focusing power on a single point for offense.
Free Fist does not adhere to a fixed routine, aiming to heavily wound the enemy; head, fingers, palms, fists, elbows, shoulders, knees, legs, hips, and arms can all be weapons, valuing timing for decisive strikes.
United Battle integrates battle techniques, suitable for multi-enemy engagements.
Long Fist was acclaimed in the past life as the most practical martial arts routine for good reason.
It not only covers attack, defense, and killing but all four strategies can be applied to weaponry.
Bruce had already mastered the four routines in his past life, making it easy to teach Tony and the other five men.
After teaching for a while, and through observation, Bruce gained a general understanding of the six men's conditions.
Tony and Clark both have the most robust physiques, each over two meters tall.
Although they appear less robust due to long-term hunger, it's believed they'll recover quickly once properly nourished.
The Small Fight techniques, with minimal movements and lower posture requirements, are evidently more suitable for the two of them.
Jordan, Clint, and Peter have more balanced body types, with long reach in fists and kicks, and are more agile than the first two, thus suited for the Grand Fight combining fists, kicks, and waist.
The smallest and most agile Nick, with exceptional timing perception, leans towards Free Fist.
Having learned the fist techniques, the six were naturally excited and immediately began practicing, utilizing the energy from the Cold Beast Flesh in their stomachs.
Having finished teaching the six, Bruce, after nightfall, grabbed a stone axe and headed out of the cave again.
The original plan was to go out and find Crystal Fruit last night, but unexpectedly ran into Taylor Camp's hunting, albeit returning safely with the Snow Mane, not a single Crystal Fruit was picked.
Before having Hunting Ability, Cold Beast Flesh is a rarity; Crystal Fruit is the staple food, thus Bruce had to go to the Ice Tree to pick some.
Additionally, the camp's wood is nearly depleted.
Having only 15 units of wood left after moving from the original cave.
Lasting for over ten days is already quite remarkable.
The small fire pit consumes two units daily; if the camp hadn't been conserved by not lighting fires at night, that little wood wouldn't have lasted until now.
Compared to the first time, entering Redwood Ridge this time, Bruce was much more familiar with the route.
Relying on memories from the last time, he quickly found the location of the Ice Tree.
Bruce approached, surveyed the surroundings, confirmed it was safe, then climbed the tree, took out a leather bag, and began picking fruit.
All the fruits on the tree were mature Crystal Fruits, each about the size of a fist, weighing around half a Kilogram; Bruce quickly filled over a thousand Kilograms, and the leather bag in his hand grew heavier and heavier.
Finally, when the bag was completely full, Bruce stopped.
With the Crystal Fruit picked, the next task was woodcutting.
Carrying the Crystal Fruit, Bruce began heading back; only when almost exiting Redwood Ridge did he start searching for suitable trees around.
It sounds like just cutting down trees, but in reality, it's not that simple.
Ice Tree is definitely not to be cut—firstly, there might be a Cold Beast on it; secondly, they're a food source for the camp with already limited numbers, cutting them would be akin to cutting off one's own livelihood.
Golden Frost Trees are also out of the question—principally, they're too sturdy for his stone axe to cut through; additionally, Cold Beasts love to sleep on them at night, disturbing them would not end well.
That leaves only the Red Frost Trees as targets.
The outer area of Redwood Ridge indeed has mostly Red Frost Trees, accounting for about ninety percent of them.
But the problem is, these Red Frost Trees are all too large.
Wherever you look, there are trunks with diameters of four or five meters, even six or seven meters, with heights of fifty or sixty meters seen everywhere; deeper inside, Bruce even saw ones with diameters exceeding ten meters, and some even more exaggerated.
Seeing these towering giant trees, Bruce wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
It can be foreseen that as the camp system advances, the resources required for upgrades will definitely increase, so these seemingly inexhaustible trees should be great news.
But the problem is, he can't take any of these trees with him right now.
He'd love to choose a thick one to cut, but let's not mention whether he can chop it down—even if he could, he wouldn't have the strength to carry it back.
After searching for over an hour, just as Bruce's fear of giant objects was about to flare up, he finally found a suitable Red Frost Tree.
"Over three meters thick, more than twenty meters long, similar to the ones burned in the previous cave, bringing it back shouldn't be a problem."
Bruce set down the full sack of Crystal Fruit, took the stone axe from his waist, first scraped off a layer of ice from the bark, then spat into his hands and diligently began the task of cutting the tree.
Scrape…
Scrape…
Scrape…
Scrape…
Three hours later
Bang…
The giant tree fell, sending up a spray of snow.
Completely soaked and suffering from backache and exhaustion, Bruce walked forward, looking at the felled Red Frost Tree, a disbelieving expression on his breathless face.
Only now did he realize why Thomas and their Axeheart team of thirteen only managed to bring back five or six trees each time they went out at night.
Having just broken through the Axeheart Realm, Bruce took three hours to cut down just one tree.
And almost to the point of exhaustion.
He could clearly sense that his body couldn't undergo such intense activity again in a short time.
Meaning a single Axeheart Realm can only cut down one tree per night at most.
This still assumes ensuring safety.