Traveling the chaotic and riot filled planet in search of dungeons for each of them, it was normal that the chaos eventually affected them, after all, which greedy person doesn't care about money in the end of the world scenario Earth was going through.
Unfortunately, though the chaos didn't affect them directly, it rather affected their collective wealth, as during one of the months they were away, a burglary happened.
The reason the thieves were able to get past their AI operated defences was because they were led by an inside man, well woman, who deactivated the whole system, and if not for Amber and her slightly younger sister, Amy, the burglars led by the Windsor head maid, Alfreda would have succeeded.
As for the reason Amber and Amy were staying with them, it was because Leone recommended it, saying it was the least they could do after pointing guns at her, and when a background check conducted by Julian revealed that their parents committed suicide after the first calling, the emotional mothers were moved by "maternal instincts" to shelter them.
Amy was three years younger than Amber, making her 16 meaning that her first calling would be during the year, in September, and the families made sure she had enough basic training to survive it, since she couldn't send anything with her yet. Probably due to the short training she was able to receive from Leone, who was trying to impress and woo Amber, she survived for 8 hours, an achievement, considering the fact that she was a meek and sheltered child who stuttered when talking to strangers.
The dungeon scouting operation took about 5 months, leaving mid-October to December as a time of rest and relaxation to everyone except the Smith brothers, Mateo and Wilson.
The latter was a workaholic, and the current job was training for the unexpected, while the former would be having his final calling in a few months.
It was expected to be the final calling due to the fact that out of the original three green slashes on their chests, only one remained.
Another reason Mateo trained was because he was the guinea pig/lab rat, and it would be his calling which would be used as the benchmark to guide the others in their preparation.
His training consisted of running with weights in Carmen's Blaze Cheetah dungeon while dodging the fire slashes thrown at him by the furious cheetahs, to work on his speed and stamina, the stat he unlocked upon reaching TIER 2.
For endurance training, he tightened his muscles while getting hit by the Earth Bear cubs of Julian's dungeon, and the Bone-plated Rhinoceros calves of Wilson's, who packed enough force to help in his training, unlike their parents who would kill him with ease.
Everyone in their little group now wore clothes or performed activities which helped increase their stats, even if the increases came in the form of 0.1 additions to the stats being worked out.
The ability to increase stats was found out by Wilson who had weightlifting as part of routine exercises and so increased his Strength stat by accident.
After a week of experimentation, they found out that;
Strength is increased by lifting weights,
Speed by sprinting linearly,
Stamina by overexertion,
Endurance by behaving like a masochist and taking hits,
Intelligence by spamming spells,
Agility by dodging projectiles and performing yoga and other flexibility related activities,
Vitality by eating healthy and doing cardio, and,
Energy by meditation, something Leone found hard to do, and so unlocked Agility as his second stat.
Gaining as much stat as possible was important since it was found out through Mateo's tier increase that, unlocked stats would be multiplied by 1.5x and unused stat points would remain the same.
It was also apparent that not everyone had the same Stat starting points, since muscle monsters had a higher Strength starting point than Leone, whose race gave him a higher starting point for Agility.
On the topic of Leone's race, more benefits had been found, like the fact that he had sharper hearing, longer range of vision and better smelling abilities, earning him the 'affectionate' nicknames; 'dog' and 'family pet' by Mateo who had been waiting for payback.
The bad effect Leone's race had on him was the inability to control body temperature, a side effect of being partially cold blooded because of the presence of snake scales covering most of his torso. This prevented him from going to Antarctica with them and rather spend more time in the heat of Africa building his secret organisation.
All in all, the whole year went great for everyone with both families enjoying the last two months of the year without interference from the outside world.
The closer the clocked ticked to new year, the quieter the world became and by the middle of December, the riots happening worldwide had ceased, with only a few skirmishes going on.
As if entering a truce, the forces of the two biggest factions who ruled Earth halted their attacks on each other, as the skies now covered with smoke started clearing up, little by little.
The month of December, one usually filled with festivities, frenzied shopping and hope had now turned into one of mourning as some of the few remaining broadcasting corporations projected some shocking information.
The estimated lives lost in the year.
"768,334,956 deaths. Over half a billion deaths, about 60% of it caused by hunger, 20% of it caused by starvation, sickness and diseases, 0,0001% of it caused by natural causes with the remainder speculated to be as a result of wars and murder. Out of a thriving population of about 9 billion, over a 20th of it just vanished, doomed never to see the light of day again, never to feel the touch of their loved ones again. If this isn't the end of the world, if this isn't the fabled apocalypse, then I don't know what is. God save as all." started a world-famous news reporter before breaking down into tears on live TV with the whole world as her audience.
With a guilty conscience, the Smith and Windsor families decided to conduct community outreach programmes in an attempt to help the few living ones in their environments.
Their help targeted the children and the aged, placing those that fell in the categories mentioned in their huge warehouses which only had beds and basic hygiene amenities, the best they could have done on short notice.
They then fed the guests with canned food and some bread, the most abundant provisions they had. Feeling bad that they neglected the helpless earlier, the thanks and smiles they received did little to soothe their guilt which only found temporary relief the more people they helped.
By 31st December, the number of people saved had reached a 1000, since their actions had inspired the few neighbours left around to chip in, transforming the neighbourhood into a humanitarian aid center.