He bellowed to Dara as he looked around anxiously for a solution, but he couldn't think of any…

His wife had just escaped death by the fraction of a breath, and now, the person who had light a candle into their darkness was now in the same situation...

"Calm down and think!"

Pa!

Uncle Min slapped himself hard and instantly had an idea…

He looked around and saw a sizeable broken rock, and ran up to it…

Activating his meridians to gather the natural energy in the atmosphere into his body; Uncle Min's arm and legs bulged with bone-breaking muscles as he squatted and dug his hands beneath the boulder;

"Hiiiaaaaahhhh!"

Uncle Min groaned beneath the weight of the massive rock he was carrying…

It weighed about 500 pounds, but he lifted it like it was weighed half the size, as he rushed towards the spring leak;

Boom!

The massive rock slammed into the spring leak, and partially sealed it up, just enough to reduce the force Dara was facing, trying to swim back to the center…

Uncle Min then jumped into the water and raised Dara up to the rope height, as Aunt Lin finally pulled him out, and after catching their breath for a second, Uncle Min finally floated to the rope height before Dara and his wife hurled him out of it;

"It is my fault, I should have put the water pressure into consideration, and I almost had you killed… I'm sorry…"

Dara said with an exhausted expression as the cold began to reach new heights due to the chilly evening that was descending, so they all decided to head home and call it a day…

Moreover, that would give them enough time to light their fire and keep it burning before the monsters start roaming their house area, as they scoop some clean water along to boil, drink and bathe when they returned…

Dara went straight into his room the moment they returned, and after brooding on his mistakes today, as well as the regular strange, alien ideas that keeps popping into his head, he began to check up on the effects of his training…

Over these past few weeks of hard work and labor, Dara had managed to reach the Peak of Endurance Level, and the next stage, was building physical body power, and he knew the kind of job he was going to do to break into the Strength Building stage…

So, the next day, as they arrived at the plateau, Dara began to move each of the fallen trees from the forest area through a forty meter distance up to the bank of the blocked water reservoir, and though it took him an hour to move two trees, with the rate his strength was going, the couple were confident that his tally would keep rising over time…

After all, they had noticed that he took this as training rather than work, and despite the fact that his meridians had not appeared- [A fact which people do not understand that he is still 10 years old by the way]- he trained like his life depended on it, and this was an attitude the couple took a liking too, and as a result they had decided amongst themselves, that whatever task Dara asks to do, they would accommodate it…

Just like they have predicted, Dara was able to move ten trees in the first day, by the smaller tip over his shoulder and then dragging it across the 40 meter area to the side of the water ring…

The second day however saw Dara move about 25, and then 45 until Uncle Min's rate of cutting down the trees couldn't meet up with the rigorous determination of Dara, and in just two more weeks, which brought their work to a week over a month, Dara finally reached the peak of the strengthening stage…

Now he looked more like a young man rather than the boy he was, and he was still ten years old…

He was almost 6 feet tall, and weighed a little over 150 pounds…

His muscles were toned from his neck down to his chest, to his arms, belly, laps and even legs…

Almost every part of his body packed toned muscles, and if coupled with his fair skin which was a result of his training body heat fighting the cold eerie atmosphere of the grey and dark lands, one would have thought he wasn't from the Grey or Dark Lands…

His hair had already grown up to shoulder length and he usually tie it up into a ponytail, and whenever his body was dripping with sweat due to hard work, and his toned body begins to glisten at the smallest reflection of light...

Aunt Lin usually found herself staring longer than normal at Dara, and in some occasions, she had found herself blushing due to straying thoughts, and on one occasion, daydreaming…

Though, she would always chide herself, and try to remind herself that Dara was still a child, and if she was just a couple of years older, he would be old enough to be her first son…

She kept telling herself that every time she saw Dara from those special and unique positions or angles, and that was every single day they went out to work...

She had been hanging around much longer for the past week because Dara and Uncle Min had decided that she should wean thick ropes from vines since they don't want to tackle such a deadly situation of the water burst with a short rope ever again…

Thus her duty for the past week was to wean a rope that was at least 10 meters long, and when Dara added that he they would also need more ropes when it was time to build their shelter, they decided to make the ropes 30 meters long, and she was to wean four separate rope all in one month, which would be their entire second month at work…

Dara broke past the Strengthening stage about the middle of the second month due to hauling oversized and heavy trees across a large distance, with increasing quantity, and before long, it was time to build stamina…

During this stamina period, Dara would dig the second trench which was even wider and longer than the water ring, and during his resting time, he would tell Uncle Min to help him lift the rock and swim against the bustling currents of the spring leak…

On their way to the plateau and back, Dara would run all the way, cutting their travel time by half, as well as improving not only his stamina, but that of the couple who didn't want him to run through the jungle alone...

As a result of this nonstop schedule, Dara dug half of the second ring in the remaining two weeks of the second month, and would even sometimes change between transporting trees and digging the ditch with an uninterrupted work output, all of which became possible because he had already reached the Peak of Stamina Building Stage…

In the first week of the third month, Dara focused on speed, and he did that by doubling his work output of the previous month in half the time…

This not only strengthened him, it also increased his endurance and stamina level, as his body began to become more ripped and fairer, and it was getting harder  and harder for Aunt Lin to stop staring...

What caused it was the reckless idea she had the week before when she initially thought it was a great idea to wean Dara's hair into braids...

Then they had spend most of their resting time together with Dara sitting in between her thighs with his back to her [Lol... Dirty Minds Everywhere!], and she would braid his hair, making him look devilishly handsome with a tinge of feminine sexiness; one of those which all women find irresistible…

It was like he found the perfect balance between being masculine and feminine, and if one coupled that with his rapidly increasing strength, maturity and wisdom, all poured within the body of a 10 year old, one would be able to understand why the ocean blue eyed Dara was becoming irresistible to Aunt Lin…

Pitch black lush braided hair, on a handsome face, ripped body, fair skin, and muscles that contained immense power; he had not even seen his meridians yet, but he was already stronger than Uncle Min…

They found that out when Uncle Min admitted that even whilst using the natural energy to strengthen himself, there was no way he could meet up with 60 percent of Dara's work output…

Now that was what they meant when they call kids and youths 'Young Man'…

Dara finished his Speed training in a week, and it was up to his blood, which was managed by Aunt Lin who provided the best of herbs and had begun to cook their meats with several beneficial herbs and spices she got from the jungle, and if one was to add that to the amount of food they ate daily, it was no wonder Dara looked healthier

His skin smoother and more tensile, despite appearing babyish…

His blood coursed with essential vitamins, minerals and herbs, and as a result, the vitality of Dara's blood increased by a whole lot…

That was proven when he dropped a log on the rest of the pile, only to see it roll off the pile and land on his legs, and the injury the couples had been worried might take weeks to heal, was completely scar-less in just three days…

Dara continued to eat well, train hard by digging, transporting logs and swimming, as he kept on doubling his work output in half the time, weekly…

By the middle of the last month before the Season of War, Dara and Uncle Min finished logging an entire ten meters of jungle trees, and they had a lot of trees already to build everything they needed, as well as enough soil with unlimited water supply…

Thus for the third week, Uncle Min and Dara- [who had broken past the Bone Refining Stage into the Tendon Refining Stage]- focused on digging their last line of defense, whilst Aunt Lin who for some reason was completely oblivious to Dara's existence continued to wean at an unprecedented rate…

The Season of War was fast approaching, and the fear it brought hastened them a lot, and as a result, Aunt Lin ended up making 10 ten meter long ropes which where sturdy and strong as the word themselves could get, whilst Uncle Min and Dara completed the digging of the third ring…