I woke at dawn still feeling hurt from yesterday's training. Today is a workday, and even though I was still hurt, it was not a reason to not work.

As they say, He who does not work, neither shall he eat, so I got up quickly and went to the well to wash my face.

“Haahhmm.”

A yawn escaped my mouth as I still felt sleepy; drawing the water from the well, I washed my face.

“Brrrr”

The cold water washes away my sleepiness as I draw another bucket of water for cooking purposes.

Carrying the bucket, I went to the kitchen and started to prepare the breakfast.

I start a fire and place a pot over it, pouring the water from the bucket into the pot.

Taking the vegetable and the meat out of food storage, I place it on the kitchen table and cut it into bite-size pieces.

When the water is boiling, I pour in all the ingredients and some spices and wait for it to cook.

I threw some wood to keep the fire lit and went outside for a bit.

This is what I like about making soup: just pour all the food in and wait for it to cook by itself.

Bow and training arrow in hand with the makeshift target made from unused scarecrow that I painted red in the head, I draw the bow and shoot the arrow straight through the head of the scarecrow.

“Right on target, today will be a good day,” I said as I went and retrieved the arrow.

Today, shooting training is done. I went back to the kitchen, I stirred the pot, and I scooped some of it.

“Not bad.” Nodding to myself for another good job, I scoop the soup and place it in the bowl before serving it on the dining table along with some hard black bread.

Meat and vegetable stew with some hard bread is our meal for the morning.

Together with Dad, we ate our meal and began our day's work. My father had already gone to command the farmer, so I went to feed our chickens and cow.

Pouring their meal into the respective place, I watch them eat to their heart's content.

After done with feeding the animal, it is time for the plant to also eat.

Scooping out the animal feces with a spade, I started to prepare for the fertilizer.

Our fertilizer is a secret recipe from my grandfather, or at least it used to be a secret.

Since my father became the head of the farmer, it was now a well-known fertilizer for all the farmers because my father gave up the secret.

“There will be no gain hiding a secret that is beneficial for our crop; let’s share all of it so that we can combine it to make a better future for our descendants.”

That was his move to unite the farmer, the male farmer, who, cowering under the intense gaze of the brother admirer that mostly consists of women, just nodded along in agreement.

That day the farmer united as one with my father as the farm head.

After spreading the fertilizer, I start to check the condition of our crop; this is the part that I didn’t like about farming, as it took a long time to complete.

The most vexing of all is that I need to do it almost every day!

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When the afternoon comes, I stop my inspection and start taking a rest.

But instead of sitting and doing nothing, I begin to search for my new teacher.

I started searching in the village resident area where the cat mostly roams about.

Not that one; that one is also not good; that one looks fierce but not good enough.

“Ahh.”

That one is perfect.

My new teacher is a cat with brown and white fur.

I pick him because he was the most active one from the lot; observing him will be my new task this week.

…

A week passed, and the result of my observation is that cats ... sleep a lot.

How envious... I mean how vexing, not that they can sleep all day, but because they have all day for their own, unlike me, who have to work.

... Anyway, back to the topic.

Cats can walk on a small fence and keep their balance easily as breathing; they have great jumping ability that I most likely won’t be able to replicate, and they are really flexible.

That is the result of my week of observation of a cat's behavior; it sounds useless, but that is normal; after all, you get what you paid for.

But I think I get the idea already about what I need for my balance training.

That concludes my observation, I thought while looking at the rotten egg-flavored potion once again.

“Do I have to drink this again?”

“Yes,” Cain said mercilessly as he stuffed the cursed potion down my mouth.

Glup glup glup

“Uweghhh”

The flavor still has the same repulsive taste as ever. Glaring resentfully at Cain, I drink a water that I brought with me to clean the aftertaste of the potion.

“Come on, let’s get going.” Cain signaled me with his head as he started to walk away.

“Where will we be going?” I asked while following him from behind.

“The forest outskirt”

“Hmm, isn’t that too much of a leap?” I complain to him, “Last week we only went from your home to mine. How come we go from there to the forest outskirt?

“The harsher the terrain, the faster you learn, is what my mother liked to say. Cain looked at the sky as he started reminiscing; from the look of his face, it’s not a particularly fond memory.

“You like the outskirt anyway, right? I often saw you playing there with your mother.

“Yeah, in the past that is right, but now it is different. I have explored everything over there to explore, and now that is just a regular old forest to me.”

“Isn’t it better for you?” Cain asked as he looked at me puzzled.

I stared at him silently for a while before finally replying, “So, what will we be doing over there?”

Cain took something from his pocket and brought it into my view. “You will be searching for this.” What he showed me was a ball that looked like it was made from scraps of meat.

“Is that your lunch?”

“Ha ha ha, very funny, Rai.”

“Then what is it?”

“This is meat scarp from the wild boar that I killed at that time.”

Oh, he still remembers that time I pulled a prank on him; he should be the adult one here and forget what happened in the past.

“Do you still carry a grudge, Cain? Don’t be such a child.”

“I don’t have a grudge; this is just part of training.” He said as a sinister smile escaped his lips.

He brought the meatball closer to my nose and told me to remember it and told me to go look for it in the forest outskirt as he would hide it there.

He walked toward the forest outskirt and quickly disappeared from my view.

“Well, I better get going then.” I continue walking toward the forest.

…

In the familiar forest I started to close my eyes as I sniffled around

Yup, can’t find it; this will be difficult as I must find the meatball in a random place in the forest. Thankfully, I have all day to find it; Cain didn’t say anything about how much time I need after all.

But I will find it before today's lunch; at least I swear that to myself as I swing my hand left and right like a blind person.

My hand hit a tree again and again and again, and wounds started to accumulate as I walked deeper and deeper.

Or is it?

I have no idea, as I am not using my eyes.

My nose and hearing were sharp thanks to the potion, but it is another matter to use them as substitutes for my eyes; the nose is fine, but I am still unaccustomed to super hearing.

I can only continue to ignore the ringing of my ear as I continue walking, but hey, if it was that easy, then this won’t be called a training!

I thought that to give myself some motivation to continue this harsh test

Sniff, sniff, sniff

A lot of time passed before I finally found the smell of the meatball. Walking around, I hit another tree.

I walk and walk before stumbling over a tree root. Or is that a rock? Who knows, as I am still closing my eyes.

I walk and walk before hitting another tree.

Feeling the pain, I started groping the tree that I just hit because the smell of meatball is coming from the tree.

Finding a hole in the tree, I grab the thing inside it and finally find my objective.

“Ha ha, I found it!”

“Bah ha ha ha”

I turn around and open my eyes to see Cain laughing behind me.

“Is this what you did after your son finished with his test?” I said angrily.

“Sorry, sorry, ‘my son,’ congratulations on finding that meatball; as a reward, you can eat that.” He jokingly said that while still laughing

I throw the meatball at him. “Eat it yourself!”

He avoided it with ease. “Well, that’s enough for now. See you next week!” He turned around and disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

Determined to learn to finish this training, I sit down leaning against the tree to rest my weary body.