Today is two months after our escape, they haven’t left the village yet and have taken over, we noticed a big brute in their tribe, it must be their leader. My Brother’s arm is still very weak, but it's functional and he is regaining feeling in it too. I finally feel safer with that almost out of the way, but we still have a lot to do.

I noticed one of their scouts had been getting close to our encampment. I was going to dispatch it, but then they would realize it went missing. They’re a meticulous species and keep track of their tribe members. I didn’t tell my brothers and began making a distraction for them in the east of the village away from where we are for the tribe. I set fire to a group of trees and laid out some meat in them. The next day there was a hoard of fire boars roaming in that area. Our problems would be fine for the meantime as they clear out the boars.

I figured out why I couldn’t heal myself unless it was instinctual, I focused too hard and lost concentration because I was focusing too hard. Ironic as it is, I was able to cover my arms in a small amount of healing magic, and began training myself to cover myself in that kind of mana. Along with this discovery, I began chopping down trees and making space for some crops. The winter had finally ended and the ground became fertile again. I found some preserved pumpkin seeds in the shed when we first found this place.

We needed supplies, my brother has been working on making a space for a forge, saying he can help more if he can make some weapons. We couldn’t yet because I was still too weak to infiltrate the village, let alone carry supplies ‘home’. But that day will come soon. I'm learning quickly how to use my mana on myself better, rather than covering my entire body for now. I can just quickly change the mana’s location. It's easier and I can cast my mana for longer with less mana wasted.

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After feeling confident in controlling mana on myself I began training. I couldn’t just do regular training, I had to do training that would literally break me. Only then can I get truly stronger. I began with running long distances while carrying heavy rocks, it's the best i can do right now. After the first day, I felt like giving up and quitting. My brother said I should as well, but I convinced myself to keep going. If I can’t endure this then I'm weak.

The pumpkins have begun to sprout out of the ground. I'm glad I was a herbalist and know how to grow things. These pumpkins will be good food for when we can’t catch anything. For now we must endure hunger as well and use our rations carefully, it's still hard to get anything in my traps. We’re lucky.

Something amazing happened today, an enchanted automaton from a city north of here came with a letter. I don’t know how our parents could afford to use one of these things but we got the letter and found out that they were okay and able to evacuate about a third of the villagers and escape. I borrowed some paper from the little guy and wrote a letter back, saying how we were fine. We took the day to rest, they must be incredibly worried.

I can noticeably tell how much stronger I've gotten. My muscles feel far more dense and I have some abs now. My brother also made me a nice jacket out of parts of my old one and the rabbit fur we’ve collected. It feels right on me, makes me feel cool like I'm one of those OmegaSigil characters from the books i used to read, just the sleeves and hood of the jacket were fluffier and warmer that what i imagined in the books. I'm getting off track in my thoughts, I guess I'm worrying less now that I know our parents are safe.