Cenn walked down the busiest street in his hometown, accompanied by Uncle Hog and his teacher Inodeus.

"Thanks for the treat, Hog, it's been a long time since I've had such a good breakfast."

The old man no longer looked like a street drunk and was standing quite confidently on his feet.

"Breakfast? For all normal people it was lunch. You should stop your nightly revelry, Inodeus."

"I'm afraid I'm getting too old to change. Ha ha."

The old man smiled good-naturedly, not feeling a shadow of shame for the licentious lifestyle he led.

"At least think of the example you're setting for Cenn and Aydor." Hog Said.

"I only teach him grammar and math. I don't pretend to be a role model in any way." Teacher replied.

"Don't worry Uncle Hog, thanks to my teacher's example I understand very well why I shouldn't visit gambling houses." Cenn couldn't stand it and interrupted their conversation.

"You see, my example.. Wait, what are you.. You little rascal."

"Ahahahaha, glad you learned your lesson at the old man's expense."

"I see you're particularly witty today, Cenn. Too bad your wit leaves you every time it comes to studying. Ah, why do I waste my best years on such a fool?"

"I'm sorry, teacher, but I'm not cut out to be a scholar. Why don't you stop wasting your time on me?"

SMACK!

Cenn felt a weighty blow land on his head from behind.

"Ouch, what was that for, Uncle Hog?"

"You still ask? How do you expect a clan leader who can't even spell his own name right? And how are you going to check the stall books? When your subordinates realize that you can't check their calculations, you can be sure that they will start stealing and ruin the family. Is that what you want?"

Hog was angry about Cenn's careless attitude towards his studies.

"Hehehe, I remember that you yourself were never a diligent student, Dovor. Teaching you was quite an ordeal."

Inodeus didn't miss the opportunity to tease Hog.

"Old man, you're not helping. We have to speed up. Cenn still has a training session waiting for us tonight."

The fat man patted the boy on the head.

"But Uncle, I don't have any qi left for tonight. Besides, the fight was quite tiring."

"Tiring? It didn't even last ten seconds, what happens when you meet a stronger opponent? Fall to the ground exhausted after half a minute?”

"Of course not!"

"Alright, when you get home, sit down to meditate, recover as much qi as you can. And at sunset, come to the training ground."

"Okay." Cenn said dejectedly.

...

After entering the Bael family's mansion, Cenn said goodbye to his companions and headed toward his home.

There were many people living in the manor: family members, servants, and clerks. Many houses had been built to accommodate this crowd.

Cenn walked along the well-maintained paths between the buildings until he came to the small house where he lived.

Leaving his spear and shoes at the entrance, he began to remove the light leather armor he wore over his everyday clothes. When he was done, he placed the armor in the chest that held all his belongings and walked to the back of the only room he had. In the middle of the room was a small table, and in the corner, not far from the fireplace, was a futon. In fact, that was all there was in his house.

[No time to waste, it would take almost all the time left until sunset to restore the qi.]

Cenn quickly climbed onto the futon, sat down in the lotus position, and fell into deep meditation.

The qi in his body began to move. He focused on his Dantian.

Three huge seals, resembling large drums, appeared in his mind.

Two of the seals emitted a bright light, and the third was dark - still incomplete.

First seal Second seal Third seal Lightning Fire Fox Wind Earth Eagle Water Tiger Spider Owl Sword Wolf Fish Spear Shield Snake Ice Grasshopper Bear Bull Ant Scorpion

[Qi.]

The qi container appeared in front of him in the form of a transparent bubble that was one-fifth filled with liquid silver.

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[2 of 11. As expected, the Lightning Sigil consumes five qi instead of four when I use the spear.]

[Stats.]

The transparent bubble disappeared and in its place appeared 5 columns representing Cenn’s attributes. The columns had different heights, according to how much the attribute was developed.

Strength Dexterity Constitution Charisma Intelligence 7 9 7 4 4

[It's been 3 months since dexterity increased to 9, and that's where I'm stuck. Shit.]

Despite not being happy with his progress, Cenn was quite well developed for his years and cultivation level. As far as he was concerned, the average person who had never cultivated at 20 years old would have all the stats in the neighborhood of 5.

At the same time, Hog, as a cultivator who had long since peaked at rank 3 and had an excellent physique, definitely had at least 20 points of strength.

[There are five sigils left to memorize, and the third seal will be finished soon. I had 4 qi for the first seal and 9 for the second seal. I think 13, 14 at the most, will be enough for the third. And my stats will rise again. One more year and I'll catch up with Hog and Velin.]

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

[I need quickly recover my qi or else the fat man will yell at me.]

...

At sunset, Cenn arrived at the Bael family's training ground. On the wooden platform, a circle had been drawn with white paint to mark the boundary of the battlefield. It was already dark, and the training ground was illuminated by the 8 torches placed around it.

"You're already here. Have you managed to restore your qi?"

"Yes, Uncle, the reserve is at its maximum."

"Then let's begin."

Cenn walked over to the rack of wooden weapons and picked up a spear of the right size. Then he walked over to Hog, who was standing in the middle of the circular platform with a wooden sword.

But as soon as he crossed the boundary of the circle, Hog lunged at him with his sword.

[Damn, he didn't even give him a chance to stretch.]

With no better option, Cenn took a defensive stance and prepared to attack.

Strike!

With a wide downward thrust, Hog struck with his wooden sword. But Cenn was able to block it with the shaft of his spear.

A mischievous smile appeared on the fat man's face.

Without releasing the pressure of the sword on the spear, Hog kicked Cenn in the stomach. The blow was so powerful that it sent the poor guy flying off the battlefield.

"First, your eyes are fixed on the weapon as usual. Second, you let me get into a clinch with you, even though I weigh three times as much as you. Three, you allowed yourself to be pinned at the edge of the field."

"I.. Sigh.. I didn't expect.. Sigh.. that you would immediately.. Sigh.. launch an attack."

Cenn rubbed the spot where Hog's blow had struck. He could barely breathe. His abdominal muscles spasmed with intense pain, but he could bear it.

"Ah, I completely forgot, because all your enemies are kindly waiting for you to get ready for the fight? What a lame excuse. You lost, and rather pathetically at that."

Hog walked over, held out a hand to the boy, and helped him up.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Yes, but I can *sigh* go on."

"Take your time, you need to catch your breath."

He pulled a small flask from behind his belt and held it out to Cenn.

"Have a drink. You'll feel better."

"Thank you."

"You did well today. The fight was quick, but I think it gave you something to think about. Why do you think you won?"

The question stunned Cenn.

"Because I was better?"

"Think about it."

"The spear made me much stronger and I'm better with sigils."

"What did I always teach you?"

"I waited for Zelvik to use his sigils and attacked back."

"That's right. In fights at your level, it's usually enough to make one mistake and lose. Zelvik started the fight correctly: he took the center of the arena and shortened the distance, preventing you from using the advantage of the spear over the sword. But he was too quick to use the sigils."

Cenn understood his mentor's train of thought and echoed his point.

"Yes, he only used Wind to occupy the center of the arena. But after that, he went straight into melee combat, where Wind's advantages are not revealed."

"Good point. Then he used Fire Sigil, and that would have been the right move, he did it at the last moment before he struck. But he rushed again, which gave you plenty time to cast Shield. At that point, the outcome of the fight was predetermined."

"Yeah, he had no chance against me either."

A weighty flick flew into Cenn's forehead.

"Don't get cocky. If you think you're so much smarter than Zelvik, how do you explain the fact that you immediately used the second sigil yourself?"

"I knew he had no chance to defend himself against my lightning strike."

"But you know that your lightning wouldn't have hit him without the spear's amplification, right?"

"Yes, I know. But since I have it, I was stupid not to use it."

"Okay, you're right. But imagine if you had a normal spear. Then using the Lightning Sigil would have been a mistake. Ideally, you should learn how to win without using sigils. Until you reach the third rank, your main weapon is the spear, and the sigils can only help you a little in a fight against a strong opponent."

"I understand, Uncle. I'll be more careful from now on." The boy replied.

"Feeling better?"

Cenn nodded.

"Then let's continue."