Gruff watched his disciples, bounding about the grass with glee. They frolicked and leapt. They bleated and shook their magnificent fur in the wind.

Entirely unacceptable.

While his disciples had a glorious appearance, they lacked the discipline, the keen mind that Gruff was developing. He bleated at the smallest one, who was leaping from rock to rock.

The smallest one bleated back and then she turned to chew on the grass. With a happy grin, the smallest one devoured the erstwhile blades of grass.

Gruff turned his attention to the middle disciple. Larger than his sister, the middle one was still smaller than Gruff himself. The middle disciple was headbutting a rock over and over again.

There was perhaps some hope for this one. Gruff had demonstrated his fearsome command of hind kicks and somersaults. Gruff had made a magnificent display of agility by leaping atop the shack, from timber to timber.

The middle disciple headbutted the rock again.

It was not the training Gruff had demonstrated, but a toughening of the body would lead to a toughening of the mind. Like when his old master had slapped his palm against the running waterfall over and over.

Gruff peered into the fog of his memory, noting the haze that seemed to pervade that time. His thoughts had been muddied, like still pond left to stagnate and covered in algal blooms. All nutrients leached by the overlying growth.

His old master had been different to Joe. More elderly, though still with the fitness to allow him to keep up with a goat. A smooth bald head without the horns of a true enlightened being had lead to distrust initially, though Gruff had been won over with time. He had taken pity on the hairless bald fool.

Gruff had spent hours watching his old master first. Blinding Leaf, he'd heard one of the other humans call him. Blinding Leaf had spent hours striking the waterfall with his palms over and over. When winter came and the higher reaches froze, Blinding Leaf had continued, striking the frozen water again and again, till his palms were bloodied.

One day Gruff had come to him and taken pity. Demonstrating his magnificent horns, Gruff had slammed his head against the ice, over and over till it shattered. With the foe defeated, Gruff had turned to Blinding Leaf, expecting for him to take a rest.

Blinding Leaf had simply laughed and taken a sip from a flask. Then he'd attacked the ice on the river.

That flask...Gruff remembered the smell, it had been similar to the elixir his new master had brought. Aromatic, with just a hint of the wild cherries that grew on the highest peak. Gruff had not consumed it but he had lingered, the smell itself filling him, his body stilling for the first time. Gruff had spent hours simply breathing and meditating on that scent.

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He had sensed it somewhere else on the mountain too....but where?

Where was his old master for that matter?

He peeled back the layers of his memory and found them clouded. Curse whatever blight had brought Gruff so low.

Gruff snapped back to the present moment, the middle disciple finally had stopped headbutting the mountain's rock. Truly an interesting training technique. For if the old master had grown strong attacking water, what kind of strength would come of attacking the rock itself.

Gruff trotted over to the rock wall. He lowered his head and slammed it against the rock, feeling the vibration shudder his whole body. He grunted, the pain hitting him as he struck it again. And again. For what better way to strengthen the mind then by striking it against the rock?

He sensed the energy he had before, circulating through his body. He pulled it up to his horns but pushed it further into his skull. He struck his head against the rock, pulsing the energy into his skull.

He contemplated the mountain, as he breathed in and out. A small tree clung to the rockface, digging into only a few inches of dirt. Its wide root network interconnected in an attempted to catch all the rain when it came. The tree was stunted, grown in odd angles in the wind, yet against the backdrop of hard unyielding rock it was so alive.

Gruff stumbled for a moment, and the energy circulating to the bones of his skull slipped. A trickle fed into the softer stuff beneath the bone. Gruff felt a blaze of connections fire. The soft matter connected to other soft matter, like the root network on the tree that grew in the rock face. He felt a small part of the cloud in his memories peel back, witnessing his old master tending a plant with rich red cherries.

Gruff paused in his headbutting and new thoughts pulsed through him. This soft tissue under the bones of his skull...perhaps it was more than just the food stuff for his mighty horns. Perhaps it was of some value to his cultivation.

Yes...cultivation. That was what the old master had called it.

More head-banging required. That must be the key to mastering this cultivation. Truly Gruff's disciple had keen insight. The master could still be taught after all, and it was wise that he not become too proud. This was the beauty of teaching, to learn from the student. He gave silent thanks to his middlest disciple and kept cultivating.

The tiniest crack formed in the rockface under Gruff's next headbutt. He nodded, and tried something new. He pushed a pulse of the energy down to his hooves, not to strengthen them, but to give it back to the mountain. Gruff thanked the mountain for its sacrifice in strengthening him. The mountain provided without being asked, nor without requiring thanks. Gruff thanked it none the less.

Gruff continued to sharpen his mind, long after his middlest disciple collapsed to the ground. The middlest disciple curled up on the grass, to restore and meditate presumably. The soft bed of grass accepted the disciple without question.

For the mountain provides.

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1056728480768868442/1140078861086904350/cjtimms_anime_style_goat_spirit_beast_cultivating_on_rock_face_d4d46067-690e-4c87-bc5a-401be1369e3d.png]

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1056728480768868442/1140079088002945094/cjtimms_male_anime_style_cultivator_tending_a_coffee_tree_702d0dbe-534d-49b8-9c08-f1376710cc50.png]