As soon as the preparations were over, we began our arduous climb toward the top of the caldera.
To be clear, the climb itself wasn't arduous. It was our condition that made it so.
For the past couple of weeks, we hadn't had a single speck of food to eat. Training in that state only deteriorated our strength further, but we pushed on anyway.
Hunger gnawed at our insides like a relentless animal. Even Michael and I had begun to feel its effects now. Ray, Alexia, and Juliana weren't any better off either despite being new B-rankers.
I mean, Essence was great and all, but it couldn't replace actual calories. Sooner or later, we were bound to feel the consequences of punishing our bodies this hard.
Oh, and Vince, Kang, and Lily looked even worse than us.
Still, none of us dared slow our pace.
Stopping would've only worsened our already dwindling energy levels.
