On the third day of training inside the complex, Henry, Mia, and Sean broke through to Stage A almost back-to-back.

On the fourth day, Big Mike, Skinny Pete, and Garrick followed.

By the sixth day, Emily finally pushed through as well.

Once everyone had stepped into Stage A, the squad decided to pause for the night. They had the cooks put together a real feast and finally let themselves celebrate.

In the massive dining hall, all ten members of Fallen Star Squad were present.

Aside from Miles—who was still stuck at the peak of Tier 23—everyone else had already reached Stage A.

But Miles wasn’t in a hurry. He held the rear and managed the compound. He didn’t need to fight on the front lines, so raw strength wasn’t as critical for him.

A huge round table was piled high with food.

Sure, food had been scarce right after the apocalypse—but that was the early days. Now? It wasn’t an issue anymore.

And with the revival of mysterious energy, everything from rice to vegetables had a drastically shorter growth cycle, with yields jumping up by a massive margin.

So as long as a compound still stood, starving was basically off the table.

Meat was even easier. Mutant beasts were everywhere outside. Catch a few and you could eat for a long time.

As the leader of the largest compound around, Ethan and his people eating well was never going to be difficult.

"Alright," Ethan said, looking around the table. "Let’s go over everyone’s abilities."

"Sure. I’ll go first." Henry spoke up.

Chris had hit Stage A earlier, and everyone already knew his powers, so there was no need for him to repeat it. They started with Henry instead.

"I got a group control skill," Henry said. "A Nature-type ability—Endless Vines. I can continuously generate tough vines to restrain enemies. And the thorns on the vines can numb their nerves, locking them in place."

Ethan chuckled. "Not bad. How tough are we talking?"

"Honestly, once you’re wrapped up and those thorns pierce you, it’s almost impossible to break free," Henry said, clearly pleased.

"Good." Ethan nodded. "What about changes to your Innate Abilities?"

"I gained sustained healing. I can put a heal-over-time on you guys. For ten minutes, if you take damage, it’ll automatically heal—so I don’t have to stay glued to you and keep casting."

"Nice," Big Mike said with a grin. "So we can be reckless again."

"Be reckless all you want," Henry said dryly. "It depends on how much mental energy I invest. If you burn through the total healing limit, it’ll vanish before the ten minutes are up. So don’t go getting yourselves killed."

"Uh..." Big Mike scratched his cheek, suddenly embarrassed. "I thought it meant ten minutes of immortality."

Ethan laughed. "Hey, even so, it’s another layer of insurance. That’s huge."

He turned his gaze. "Sean. What about you?"

Sean’s grin split wide. "Heh. Mine’s perfect for me. It’s a buff skill—Berserk. For a short time it boosts my strength by a hundred percent and my speed by a hundred percent. But there’s a downside—after I use it, I’m stuck in a weak state for half an hour."

"That’s crazy." Ethan nodded, impressed. "With that, plus your absurd defense, fighting above your Tier just got way easier."

"Yeah. Yeah." Sean nodded hard, riding the excitement.

"And my Innate Abilities mutated too," he added. "After full-body metalization, it can evolve again into Titansteel Form. My defense shoots up, and my strength jumps a lot too."

Sean leaned back, confidence practically radiating off him. "If I stack both of them, I think I can go toe-to-toe with a Tier 33 powerhouse."

"Holy shit!" Big Mike said, full-on jealous. "Sean, you’re actually taking off."

"Damn right." Sean laughed.

"Good," Ethan said, satisfied. "That’s a major spike. You can tank and you can hit."

In Ethan’s mind, Sean might end up the strongest in the team—outside of him and Chris.

"Garrick?" Ethan looked his way.

"I got screwed," Garrick said with a helpless sigh. "Both of mine are control."

"My new skill is a water-type ability—Tidal Surge. It can blast nearby enemies back. The damage isn’t great, so it’s basically crowd control... and it won’t do much against someone way stronger than me."

"As for my Innate Abilities..." He paused, then continued. "I got Quagmire. I can turn an area into swamp terrain. It makes it hard for enemies to generate force, and it seriously slows them down. If they can’t break out, they’ll get swallowed."

"That’s not screwed at all." Ethan laughed. "We’re not short on damage. If anything, the more control we have, the better."

"Yeah." Garrick nodded, looking a little less miserable.

"Me, me, me." Big Mike practically bounced in his seat. "It’s my turn."

He rubbed his hands together, grinning like a kid about to show off a new toy. "I’m telling you right now—my Stage A skill? You’ll never guess it."

"Wind-type ability—Gale Wings." He jutted his chin up. "Which means I can fly now. Jealous?"

A few people looked surprised... then immediately started shaking their heads.

"So what? We can fly on Flamebird."

"That’s not the same!" Big Mike snapped, genuinely offended. "Riding Flamebird in a fight is a pain in the ass. I can fly by myself now. That’s a first for our squad!"

"Pfft." Someone scoffed. "Boss could fly ages ago."

"...."

Big Mike’s pride deflated so fast it was almost audible.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Okay, fine. Forgot about that."

Ethan chuckled. "Still. It’s a good skill. Fits you."

He tipped his chin. "What about your Innate Abilities change?"

Big Mike perked up again immediately. "Blazing Ground. I can spread a huge patch of fire across the ground, and it keeps burning. Big AoE damage."

"Not bad." Ethan nodded. "Fire-type abilities really are built to kill."

"Damn right."

Ethan turned. "Skinny Pete?"

"Uh..." Skinny Pete tried to look casual, but his smugness was leaking through. "I think I got a pretty good one."

"Lightning-type ability—Lightning Storm."

"It can drop a ton of lightning over a whole area. The damage might be... kind of insane."

"—!"

"Holy shit!" Big Mike’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "Dude, your luck is criminal! You landed that?!"

Lightning-type abilities were widely recognized as the most destructive among elemental powers.

Normally, none of them ever rolled lightning. Even out in the wild, you almost never ran into someone with a lightning kit.

Right now, the only person they personally knew with lightning powers was Calvin Shaw.

And even Calvin’s abilities—while not absurd—still made him one of the strongest people in the compound outside Fallen Star Squad. He had Thunder Strike, then Chain Lightning at Stage D, Thunder Lance at Stage C, Lightning Shield at Stage B...

Lightning Storm sounded like an upper-tier lightning skill. If Calvin ever wanted something like that, who knew how high he’d have to climb.

With everyone staring like he’d just pulled a miracle out of his pocket, Skinny Pete scratched his head, suddenly bashful.

"It’s not really luck," he said. "When I was picking, I just... felt like that light dot was a good one, so I chose it."

"Premonition?!" someone blurted.

In an instant, everyone thought of the skill Skinny Pete had gotten at Stage B—the one that let him sense things in advance.

"Holy shit," Big Mike breathed. "You can use Premonition like that?"

Now nobody was sitting still.

"That’s basically Ethan’s cheat!"

"It’s not the same," Skinny Pete said quickly, waving his hands. "Boss can tell exactly what every light dot is. I can only get this vague feeling that one dot is ’better.’"

"Bro, that’s still completely unfair," someone said, staring at him like he’d grown horns.

Skinny Pete kept scratching his head, half-proud, half-embarrassed. "Heh... it’s okay."

Big Mike glared at him, bitterness dripping. "You’re seriously asking to get punched."