“Good morning, grandson,” Grandpa Yojee greeted Narias in the morning.

“Huh? Ah...” Narias rubbed his eyes, waking up. “Eh? How did I... Oh, good morning, Grandpa Yojee.”

“You collapsed yesterday on the track, so I brought you back to the house. Did you have a good rest?” Grandpa Yojee explained before asking.

“Yes, I feel... huh? My muscles... they don’t... hurt?” Narias was surprised and confused at the same time.

“You’d be surprised what a good rest can do to your body,” Grandpa Yojee meant it more like a metaphor. Of course, Grandpa Yojee might’ve known why Narias felt much better than he thought he would. “In any case, I came to get you to have breakfast with us. There’s no rush, grandson. Come to the dining room whenever you’re ready.”

“Yes, Grandpa Yojee,” Narias said.

Do they have a healer in the house that I hadn’t met? Narias said, staring at his right palm after Granda Yojee was gone.

“Good morning, dear,” Grandma Fuuji greeted Narias with that soft grandma’s voice the moment he entered the room where Estella’s grandparents were waiting for him.

“Good morning, Grandma Fuuji,” Narias greeted her back.

“Come and sit down to eat, grandson,” Grandpa Yojee ushered Narias.

“But... shouldn’t we wait for Estella to come too?” Narias asked.

“She’s already left. She has classes today, remember?” Grandpa Yojee told him.

“Ah, right. But wait, how long was I asleep then?” Only then Narias realized he had no idea what time it was.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, grandson. Estella left much earlier than she usually does. She decided to get herself warmed up before the classes,” Grandpa Yojee sounded pleased hearing his own words.

“Ok,” Narias said, sitting down at the breakfast table.

“Eat lots, dear. You’ll need a lot of energy,” Grandma Fuuji encouraged him.

“Thank you, Grandma Fuuji,” Narias said with a smile.

{after the breakfast at the training grounds}

“Shall we continue your training, grandson?” Grandpa Yojee asked.

“Yes, Grandpa Yojee,” Narias was looking forward to it.

“I’ll need you to bend your arms for me again, grandson,” Grandpa Yojee said and Narias already knew why. Narias bent his arms, got Grandpa Yojee put the same bands on his arms from yesterday, then squatted and had bands put on his legs as well. “You’re good to go, grandson. How about four laps around the track today?”

“Four?” Narias asked, not because he was surprised, but because he wanted to double check if he heard Grandpa Yojee correctly.

“Yes. I thought I’ll have you do four laps today, because you have a whole day to do it,” Grandpa Yojee explained.

“Right, ok, Grandpa Yojee,” Narias had no complains, which also put a smile on Grandpa Yojee’s face, but he was turned away from Narias, so he couldn’t see it.

“I’ll come back to check on you later, grandson,” the old cat said before walking away.

“Ok. I got the hang of it yesterday, so I should be able to do better. I just need to... woah, woah... careful,” Narias was getting ready to walk and almost tripped, but managed to grab onto his knees with his palms to keep his balance. “Phew... Ok, on my tiptoes.”

The first few steps were considerably easy, which also surprised Narias a bit. Not because he could keep his balance better, but because he didn’t feel the muscle soreness from yesterday. He knew that after a good physical workout, a person’s muscles would feel sore for a day or two, but it wasn’t just a simple workout that he did yesterday. Narias could clearly remember how much in pain his body was, including the muscle spasms he got, but his body felt rather fine right now.

Instead of worrying about what happened yesterday, or wondering how come his body felt almost fine, Narias turned his focus on completing the task in front of him. Little by little, and with very small steps, Narias was walking forward. He wasn’t exactly walking, of course. He was curled almost in a ball, with his elbows extended to the sides and his palms placed on his knees. Narias was leaning forward with his whole body and was touching the ground only with his toes which he used to propel himself forward.

From the outside, it might’ve looked like Narias knew what he was doing, but he could feel this type of training was putting a huge strain on his body. His main focus was not to move forward, but to keep his balance, so he wouldn’t trip and fall. Besides, the steps that he was making were two inches in length at best at a time, because the bands on his legs wouldn’t let him unbend them even a tiny bit. But he had the whole day in front of him, so as small as his steps were, Narias was betting he could finish the task Grandpa Yojee had given him.

“Hah... oof... Ok... again... one... ah, no, wait, wait, hooold... nooo!” Narias tripped and fell after relaxing a little too much. Narias thought he could take it easier, so he wouldn’t put too much strain on his body, but that was enough for Narias to lose his balance and roll down on the ground. “Baa... Sigh...”

He had to pick himself up again before continuing. When he did, Narias took count how far he managed to go so far and was astounded to find he moved only a couple of meters from where he has started. One and a half inch steps that he was making were adding up, but they were still one and a half inch steps.

I have... a whole day in front of me. I will make it. Narias promised himself.

Narias was falling down less than yesterday now and he was making faster progress too, but when he reached the rocky ground on the track that’s when he ran, or walked, or tiptoed into a real challenge. Tiptoeing on your toes might’ve been ok when the track was clean and smooth, but when it was uneven and had a rough surface, Narias needed to put a lot more effort into it. Now Narias was taking more time getting up after tripping and falling than actually walking. The next portion of the track was a stone path, so it was uneven and rough with some stones sticking out more than the others. As small as those differences in surface were, it made it extremely difficult for Narias to make progress. It was evident he had to change tactics if he wanted to complete this portion of the track.

“Right, what if I... jump... ah, oops! Oppa, pa, pa. Oof... ah. Well, it worked... sort of, hah.” Narias laughed to himself, lying sideways on the ground. He tried to use both toes to jump forward instead of tiptoeing to go forward. It worked and he managed to jump forward, but then lost balance and fell down right after. “Ok, I just need... ahh... like... this... woah, woah, phew... I need to... learn how to keep... balance after I jump. And... op... wow, ah, ouch!” Narias landed on two separate stones that were uneven with one foot each before losing balance and falling down on his butt right after. It hurt a little too because he fell on the rocks instead of a normal ground.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Ok, hah... Let’s try... humph... again,” Narias spoke to himself out loud, getting ready to get up again.

It took some serious effort for Narias to find balance and not trip after jumping on his toes. Normally, that wouldn’t be difficult at all, but the way his arms and legs were forcibly bent made it very challenging for Narias to jump and stay on his feet, or toes to be more exact. It didn’t take long for Narias’s body to start getting tired too, unfortunately. As good as he felt in the morning, the current exercise forced Narias to give his all, with the main effort being at least staying up on his toes. He was making progress through the new area, but he could also feel his muscles starting to hurt too.

Wow, and I hadn’t finished even a single lap yet. I’ll keep going no matter what. Narias wasn’t about to give up.

After a lot of tripping and falling, Narias managed to learn how to get past the stony part of the track eventually. The next part was even more challenging, unfortunately, because the track went through the forest. There weren’t many rocks on it, but thanks to all the trees and bushes growing around it, there were plenty of roots extending themselves over the path, creating small humps and holes that wouldn’t be a thing to worry about if you just ran through the track normally, but for Narias, that created an additional challenge again.

“Ok, I will have to... walk or... whaaa...” Narias made a step into a small hall on the ground, losing his balance unexpectedly and falling forward face down. “Ouch!” He hit his nose on the ground. “This... will be fun...” Narias tried to laugh about it.

Narias had no choice but to figure out how to pass the next bit of the track. His muscles were hurting, but they weren’t spasming yet, which was a good thing. And as long as Narias could move, he made an effort to go forward. So, in order to pass the next forest part of the track, Narias used what he has learned already and simply kept going. Again, he was tripping and tumbling down more often than before, but Narias would try to laugh it off, even if it hurt, get up and continue through it.

“Finally... phew...” Narias could see the end of the forest zone’s part of the track. The ground of the next part in the distance looked to be even and smooth, but something was off. Still, Narias had to finish the current part of the track first in order to reach it.

“Huh? No... way...” Narias gasped when he finally saw how the next part of the track looked. It was basically made of sand and a very soft one too. The moment Narias stepped on it, his toe sank half way into the sand, making it difficult to pull it out. He tried to step out and step forward, but his second toe sank into the sand instead. Narias tried to tiptoe out of the sand using more force, but he was basically tiptoeing in one spot without moving much. The only good thing about it was, sinking his toes into the sand helped him keep his balance and not fall. “This will... take a while.” Narias let out a deep sigh.

{after some time}

“How are you doing, grandson?” Grandpa Yojee appeared when Narias was finally finishing his first lap.

“Grandpa... Yojee... Hi,” Narias said, continuing his tiptoe walk.

Getting past the sandy part took a real effort on Narias part. He couldn’t take it slow on the sand, because his feet would simply sink down and he wouldn’t be able to walk at all. So, what Narias had to do was to push himself even more and make several steps as fast as he could in short intervals to make at least a tiny progress forward. He had to take short breaks after each of his sprints, however. His muscles already hurt and those tiptoeing sprints put even more strain on his calf muscles, and on his toes too.

“How about you take a break, grandson? Here, I brought you something to eat,” Grandpa Yojee offered, pointing at the tray with some food on it on the ground.

“Food? But I haven’t finished my laps yet,” Narias was surprised about Granda Yojee’s offer.

“You have to eat while you still can, grandson. Oh, and I’m sorry, but I cannot remove the bands until you finish today’s training. You’ll have to eat having them on I’m afraid,” Grandpa Yojee told him.

“Ah, ok... I guess...” Narias agreed, thinking how he should go about it.

The real struggle for Narias was not that he had to eat with his arms and legs being locked in a bent position. Actually, sitting down, or kneeling down wasn’t a problem for Narias at all, even if his body hurt all over by now. It was feeding himself that took the extra effort. Narias couldn’t move his hands the way he wanted, so holding the chopsticks and reaching for the food was the most challenging part for him. He felt bad when the food fell on the ground instead of reaching his mouth, but Grandpa Yojee didn’t say anything when that happened.

“Feeling better, grandson?” Grandpa Yojee asked with a smile.

“Ah, yeah. I apologize... for dropping food on the ground,” Narias said, feeling embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it. Now then, I’ll leave you to continue your training. Don’t push yourself too hard, you still have half a day left,” Grandpa Yojee said, picking up the tray to take it back to the house.

“Half a day?!” Narias exclaimed out loud.

“Yes. Hmm... or maybe less than half now,” Grandpa Yojee said thoughtfully, looking up in the sky. “In any case, I have to take this back. I’ll see you later.”

“See you later... Grandpa...” Narias said, lifting his head up to look at the sky. He could tell it was way past midday now and that’s what shocked him the most. He was extremely focused on his task and wasn’t tracking time at all. Narias couldn’t believe doing one lap around the track took him a whole half a day. “I need to... be faster...”

Saying he needed to be faster and actually being faster were two different things. After all, Narias’s body was now hurting all over. His feet were killing him and he couldn’t keep his balance as good as at the beginning of the day. Worse yet, because Narias was rushing to go faster, he was tripping and falling more often too which just slowed down his progress. Tiptoeing through the normal part of the track might’ve looked like he was going faster, but as soon as he reached the rocky area, that’s when his progress came to almost a stop. Narias soon found out his toes didn’t want to lift themselves from the ground at all, not to mention him trying to jump. After several unsuccessful tries, he rolled on the side on the track to have a short rest.

“Ouch... tss, tss... Ahh...” Narias tried to relax to ease up the pain in his muscles. “This is... really tough... Maybe... I should take it easier... oof... or else... I won’t be able to... go forward at all... Ahf... phoo... Ahh... phoo...”

Narias was working on steadying his breathing to keep his mind away from the muscle pain he was feeling. In all honesty, he could barely feel his toes by now because of the cramps in his muslces, but he intended to continue with his task after a short rest. What Narias didn’t expect to happen was him passing out and falling asleep because of how tired his body actually was. He simply didn’t know it.

“You managed to finish a whole lap today, grandson,” Grandpa Yojee spoke, appearing next to Narias. Grandpa Yojee was waiting a short while to see if Narias was to get up, but when he didn’t, Estella’s grandfather decided to come check on him. “She was right about you pushing yourself too hard all the time. Unfortunately, it cost you a little more than I expected it would. I hope she’ll be able to do her part in the end. Humph... Now then, let’s get you back to the house now.”

{the next morning}

“Good morning, grandson,” Grandpa Yojee greeted Narias.

“Ah, good... huh? Morning?!” Narias almost jumped from his bed.

“Yes. It’s a little early, but you went to bed earlier yesterday as well,” Grandpa Yojee informed him.

“I went to bed earlier?” Narias tried to remember. “Wait, I was... training and then decided to rest a bit... I passed out and didn’t come back to my senses, did I?” Narias sounded sad and disappointed.

“Breakfast is served. Come down whenever you’re ready, grandson.” Instead of answering his question, Grandpa Yojee informed about the breakfast. “Take your time, no need to rush.” He turned his head to add before leaving the room.

Oh, man. I can’t believe I collapsed without finishing four laps yesterday. Grandpa Yojee must be totally disappointed with me. But my body was so... huh? My body? Yet again, Narias was shocked to realize his body didn’t hurt the way he expected it would. He knew he must’ve put enormous pressure on his body, but for his muscles to not hurt the way he expected they would was mind boggling. Huh? Bandages?

Only when Narias pulled the sheet away to get out of the bed was when he noticed he had bandages on his body. It was mainly his feet and his knees that had bandages on, but he also had bandages on his elbows too. Now, Narias didn’t feel any pain in his muscles, just like yesterday, but the bandages indicated that his body wasn’t exactly healed.

“It doesn’t hurt, but... I suppose I need to be more careful...” Narias spoke out loud to himself.