The boy lay nestled in the cozy embrace of the bed, enveloped by the warmth of the room within the adventurer’s guild. As real as the world around him, he snored softly, lost in deep slumber.

Jedi just left yesterday, Simon woke up as per his waking up schedule, and the old man was already up on his feet stretching, he could tell that Simon was a bit gloomy.

“Meet me down boy, stretch up!” the old man said as he left the room same demeanor as ever.

…

The pair found themselves in the cafeteria. The old man had some pieces of eggs on his hand and the boy wondered what they were going to do. It was still early so it was only staff that was passing through.

“You are lucky boy, it seems that Jedi made a good impression here,” the old man nodded, he was actually impressed the 2nd time by the red-haired girl.

“Simon hold the egg,” the old man said, Simon laid out his hand and the old man placed an egg on his hand.

“… Should I eat it?” the boy asked.

“No… try throwing it just above your head and catch it,” the old man instructed Simon and he did.

“Splat!!” “Old man it got crushed!!!” Simon said regrettably.

It was just a bit early in the morning and they were just about to get some breakfast.

“That was supposed to be your breakfast, the fried egg,” the old man said with a menacing smile painting his lips.

Simon totally froze in disappointment, but then he remembered, he would usually eat 5 fried eggs in the morning especially when they were staying at the adventurer’s guild.

“No way,” and Simon knowing the old man; he knew that the next training would be a despicable one. It seemed that the old man found another way to make him suffer. (Train)

Training Description: Egg Catching without crushing.

A simple game of throwing eggs and catching them. The problem was catching it without crushing it. They were in the length of two tables in the cafeteria. Since the chefs of the guild happily provided the egg and even guaranteed that the old man could control what the boy would eat this training formula was born.

The next 4 eggs were caught by Simon by carefully catching it. “Bonus round,” the old man said, “Throw it back to me without crushing it,” the old man smiled. Simon felt despair.

But the old man’s smile made him do it.

The first throw was too short, it broke just in front of the old man’s feet “Too bad boy,” the old man said, now the boy only got 3 more eggs. The old man smiled fiercely he loved the look on Simon’s face as he was struggling on how to throw the next egg.

“Please, clean the eggs!!” one of the guild staff said as she was passing by the two.

“Of course… the boy would clean it,” the old man smiled nodding. “C’mon on Simon, give me the next egg!” he urged Simon to throw the next one.

Breathing it all down the boy threw the egg with all his grace and prayers.

“That was a good one,” the old man commented, the old man caught the egg properly without putting a dent in it.

It seemed that the boy figured it out. He confidently threw the next two and the old man caught it, he was satisfied.

“Good… let’s have breakfast,” the old man said, he had to return back the egg and make Simon clean the splattered ones.

<--->

The next day the training was from the 2nd floor of the adventurer’s guild, the old man waved as he was dropping an egg. The boy below dreaded it as he tried to do all he could to catch the egg.

“Splat!!!”

“Old man this is impossible!” Simon complained as another egg got crushed in his hands. The drop from the adventurer’s guild into Simon’s spot would totally crush the egg.

“Shut up!!! You know the drill, this is the eggs that you’ll be eating for today, crush it and say goodbye to your fried eggs!!” the old man screamed from the 2nd-floor veranda, he was enjoying it.

The staff was watching the two like it was a normal everyday occurrence, the guild master, some of the staff, and even adventurers reported the grumpy old man and the boy. Still the guild master, Jimmy said that they could do anything they wanted.

They knew that the old man was really hard on the boy, their training yesterday was a spar where the boy was not allowed to counterattack attack and the old man would post a job in the quest board stating that he would pay anyone to spar with the boy for 10 silvers. Those 10 silvers were enough for a normal adventurer to last for a month.

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The old man went far as to award the adventurers that could hit him with 5 silvers.

As the 2nd egg got crushed again, and Simon despaired, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

“Why do you always panic when it's about food?! Feel the egg as it falls in your palm!! IDIOT!!!” the old man berated Simon as he threw another egg.

Simon tried to catch it softly but still, the egg got crushed as he accidentally grabbed it too hard… finally, he felt it, the egg was coated with magic… it was breaking because of his grip.

“Hmm… looks like you figured it out… catch!!” the old man said as he dropped another one from the 2nd floor of the guild, Simon this time properly caught it.

“Nice… here’s more” and the old man continued throwing the other 2. Simon successfully caught it without breaking it.

“Good… let's have some breakfast,” the old man said, Simon was totally relieved that it was all finished for that morning. The old man really knew how to push his buttons.

<--->

Weeks passed since Jedi left, they stayed on the Trist Port Town for a while, training every day while Simon was mastering his strength using the eggs. The boy didn’t even have the time to wallow in Jedi’s absence as the old man continued to make him busy with some of the ridiculous training methods the old man devised.

Before the summer ended the 2 walked out of the Trist Town Port. The old man and Simon were now heading to the south. The old man accepted a quest, a mutated wyvern seemed to have settled in the southern plateau.

The southern plateau is called the Sky-chime Plateau. It was called like that since whenever there is a strong wind the unique structure of the Plateau would create unique chimes. It was a nest for wyvern that hunted down the Sky Hounds further southeast. The appearance of the mutated wyvern could cause a change in the balance of the ecosystem around the main roads.

This meant, that instead of the much smaller sky hounds, the larger wyvern could start preying on the main roads. It would be a damn disaster.

The immediate extermination of the mutated wyvern was a must since, unlike monsters from the dungeon that have fixed strength, monsters outside of the dungeon could grow and learn. The longer it waited the worse it would become.

Currently, it would require 2 parties of class B's to kill it, and it would be a pain to spread the adventurer's thin, luckily the old man was there. The request was also made personally by the guild master of the Port Trist town Jimmy.

<--->

In just half a day they were already on the southern white beach. It almost looked like a desert that was just beside the estuary, the mouth of the Guren Great River to the south. Simon ran through the beach taking the sight of the wide white beach and catching the wind from the river.

“What is this PLACE!!!” Simon screamed into the water.

The old man laughed… he put down his bag it had been a while since he had seen the place. There was a reason this place had become a beach and the old man knows of it.

“Simon!!! Let's go swimming!!!” the old man said.

…

(Notes: Swimming on estuaries is dangerous so take note please)

The 2 were half-naked and their things were on the beach. The boy created bubbles on the surface of the water while the old man was having fun watching him struggle.

“I’m going to die!!!” Simon complained as he sank into the salty water.

“The trick is to think that you are playing on the water!!” the old man said.

No matter how much strength the boy generated, he would still sink.

“BOY!!! Remember how you caught the egg?” the old man watching Simon flail in the water kept on giving the boy clues.

“This is different!! Blurb!!!” Simon said as he sank again.

“Flick your feet… use your hands spread it wide,” the old man continued.

Simon tried to do what he was told but he was failing, he totally regretted riding in the back of the old man as they went farther into the deeper part of the estuary.

Staying faithful by spreading his limbs as he sank he then noticed that his face was already on the surface of the water “Breath… sway your hands and feet,” the old man said.

“I can swim!!!” Simon said and he was totally floating.

“Use your hands and feet, direct your body!!” the old man instructed again.

“I will be waiting for you on the beach, don’t stray too far!! If the water gets more salty come back!!!” the old man said as he began swimming back in the direction of the shore.

Simon was completely enamored that he was swimming, after a few minutes of playing around he could finally say that he was in control of his body in the water.

…

The old man got out of the water, he looked around. Some sticks were washed onto the shore. He went closer there and took a fancy on one of the sticks.

“This is good” the old man muttered.

He could hear the boy's laughter as the boy was getting better and better at swimming, he would probably go back if he grew hungry.

The old man sat beside their things, sinking his feet into the hot beach. It's probably time to teach the boy the sword. Now that he could control his ridiculous strength he had passed the minimum requirements for the sword.

“It's getting colder now,” the old man muttered, his face relaxed as he savored the feeling of the sands.

He could feel it in his bones, Summer was ending he then remembered that season when he met the boy. In winter Simon would turn 7. The old man was taught swords when he was 8, he remembered some of the students that were with him… barely… his teacher? Couldn’t even remember his face. That was a long time ago... really long time.

<--->

Night time, after eating the fish that Simon caught barehanded the old man stood up, with only the campfire as their light the old man took the stick that he fancied earlier. Simon was still alive and alert, it seemed that his training paid off.

“Simon watch this,” the old man said as he went into a stance and looked at Simon’s face who were watching him eagerly. “From now on you will be learning the sword!” the old man declared smiling at Simon, the boy was stoked, of course. The boy had been wondering when he would be taught the sword.

The old man went into a high stance by holding the sword above his head, he stepped a bit and swung it down.

“Simon… what did you see?” the old man asked.

“You swung the sword” Simon answered. He gave Simon the wooden sword.

“Do it… but don’t break it” he said.

Simon did the same.

“What did you do?” the old man asked again.

“I swung the sword,” of course, the boy would answer that.

“That’s correct… that’s the sum of it… but let me break it down for you, knowing what you do makes you more aware of it” the old man said and he took the sword from Simon.

“A sword attack is made up of 3 parts, Position, Momentum, and Target… the initial position of the sword from any form of stance is where your attack will come from, the momentum is the power generated by your arms… your step and body weight, the weight of the weapon and the target is where you place all that power on a sweet spot… are you even listening boy?” the old man suddenly stopped as he saw Simon’s face… a face of wonder and mystery.

“I understand?” Simon said but it was on a questioning tone.

“... Any of the 3 missing can’t be called a true sword attack… remember that,” the old man just sighed, he was too old for it.

Better beat it to the boy through hard work. “Old man you are smiling… that’s bad,” Simon who knew the old man knew better of what the old man’s face meant… ‘training’ was a hard one at that.

He made Simon repeat a few times. Did the Flow training until the boy passed out.