It has been a few hours since the beast’s attack. Kai is at a brisk walking pace holding the boulder. The experience of being at the beast’s mercy lit a fire under him, causing him to come at the training with a newfound tenacity. Not only that, but he’s keeping his guard up while he is moving, careful not to let himself be ambushed like before.

‘I’m not going to be caught off guard in case another beast tries to blindside me again. Plus, Nuyal owes me now. He said he’d teach me whatever he did to kill the beast if I can sprint with this rock.’ Kai glances at Nuyal, who is busy making another report on his scouter. ‘What could he have to report when all he’s done is sit there?’ Kai snickers to himself.

Kai continues with his boulder training until Nuyal suddenly stands and shouts, “Kid, it's getting dark. Let's head into town; the beasts get more confident at night.” Nuyal starts walking towards the town.

Kai hears him and drops the boulder, then stretches his arms a bit and makes his way after Nuyal. Now walking in the increased gravity doesn’t faze Kai, and he quickly falls in behind Nuyal.

They make their way into town in silence. After the debacle of the beast attack, neither feels very lively. As they enter the town, Kai sees many different-looking people of various alien races. To them, Kai and Nuyal stand out like a sore thumb. Kai with his pink skin, body holes, and head tentacle. Not to mention he is still only wearing white pants that are a bit ripped from the fight earlier. And then there’s Nuyal standing head and shoulder taller than most of them, blue skin littered with scars and his battle armor. Those who recognize such armor give them a wide berth.

They enter a run-down inn. It’s a shabby wooden building with a bartender working the bar. Nuyal approaches the barman and sets some credits on the table.

“Two rooms,” Nuyal states concisely.

The barman gives him a look, and a flash of recognition crosses his eyes. He takes the credits and gestures towards the stairs, “Up the stairs and to the left, rooms two and three.“ He doesn’t mince words either and sends them on their way after giving Nuyal the keys.

Kai and Nuyal go up the stairs and reach the first room.

“You take this room, and I’ll get you in the morning,” Nuyal said, tossing him the key to room two. Kai catches it and goes directly into the room. It’s a small room with just a rundown wooden bed and nothing else. Kai walks in and sits on the bed to think.

‘My progress today was great. But that beast attack was sobering, not to mention that strange split-body experience after I was slashed. It’s also clear Nuyal’s no saint leaving me to fend for myself like that, but why would he offer to train me? I can’t imagine it's out of the goodness of his heart, but what could I have to offer? I’ll just need to be more careful and keep an eye on him. If he’s serious about training me, I can’t afford to not take it. But that doesn’t mean I trust him.’ Kai sat ruminating on the day and his newfound vigilance against Nuyal. He then laid down on the bed to rest after the long day, quickly falling asleep.

–

In the room next to Kai, Nuyal is debating reporting the information he has on Kai. ‘If I make the report to my superiors now, they might insist he is brought in early, and my boss will take all the credit for finding him. No, I need to wait until I return to show him off myself.’ he thought. ‘I wonder if the kid has any more surprises up his sleeve, though. If he keeps up this pace, I’ll have to complete my task here quickly before he gets too strong. If he surpasses me before I try and recruit him, I’ll have no leverage.’

Night came and went without a hitch as Kai and Nuyal both slept soundly without interruption. In the morning, Kai was still fast asleep when a knocking could be heard at his door.

“Get up, kid! We got work to do today.” Nuyal shouted while banging on the door.

“Wha-?” Kai said, half asleep. It took him a moment to wake up and realize it was time to get up. “Yeah yeah, I’m coming.” He said with a yawn. He opened the door and saw Nuyal standing there waiting for him.

“Gonna have to get used to getting up and ready on a dime, kid. The beasts won't wait for you to roll out of bed.” Nuyal said. He then turned around and started down the stairs. “Let’s go; we need to get started early.”

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Kai follows him as they make their way out of the inn.

“Now that you can move at an acceptable speed, we’ll be moving on from the clearing and heading towards the first ruin I need to investigate. You’ll be following with a boulder like before.” Nuyal said while setting off towards the wilds. He stopped to grab and toss a rock that fit his criteria to Kai before continuing on.

Kai caught it this time, albeit with difficulty, and managed to keep it from hitting the ground. He went after Nuyal keeping the pace nicely.

‘This isn’t too bad,’ Kai thought to himself. He was confused as the training seemed easy at this pace. He realized his mistake as they went further into the wilds. It was less like walking and more like hiking. He didn’t have either arm to help himself navigate, and the terrain was rough and difficult to traverse. Besides the town and the area around it, nowhere else was flat. All hills and cliffs that would make even seasoned hikers sweat.

‘I should’ve known better than assume this would be anything but torturous.’ Kai sighed, thinking to himself. Nuyal was about ten feet ahead of Kai, leading at a steady pace with Kai struggling on behind.

They continued on like this for miles until Nuyal suddenly stopped. Kai almost ran into him as he was so focused on keeping the rock up and navigating the terrain he didn’t even notice Nuyal stop.

‘Damn, I need to be more aware of my surrounding, especially out here.’ Kai thought, slightly annoyed with himself. “Why are we stopping?” he asked.

Nuyal stood checking his scouter for coordiates before grunting, “This is where the first ruin is.” He bent down and wiped some dust off of the stone below, revealing a darker, more artificial-looking stone.

“Well, kid, you’re in luck,” Nuyal said, turning to Kai. “No more rock training.” He grabbed Kai’s rock and tossed it over his shoulder. “Here,” he reached into his bag and pulled out two small metal objects. One is a retractable shovel, and the other is a retractable pickaxe. “Now for training, you’ll help me excavate this ruin.” He pulled out another set of tools for himself and began working.

Kai just stood there holding the tools, confused. “How is this training?” He asked with a confused expression.

Nuyal looks at him and simply says, “Strength training.” He is about to begin working again when he has a thought and looks to Kai again, “Oh, and try not to hit the darker stone; I doubt you could put a scratch on it but better safe than sorry,” he added.

Kai just sighed. He could understand that the training was valid, but it still irked him he had to help Nuyal with his work. He grumbled something about getting the same training from any random old man but nonetheless starting working.

After about fifteen minutes of work, Kai realizes he may have underestimated how difficult this excavation was. His arms and back are burning, and numerous cuts and blisters appear on his hands as he handles the stone and tools, only to be healed shortly thereafter. He is also far behind Nuyal. To compare, his hole is about a twentieth the size of Nuyal’s, and the gap is only growing.

–

Nearly four hours later and both men are still working. Kai is getting more and more impressed with Nuyal. The speed at which he is excavating speaks to incredible strength, and that makes Kai more excited for his future training.

‘Still, why is all the training so far just menial tasks and basics…’ he complained to himself. ‘Beside him killing that beast in some mysterious way, this is the first time I’ve seen his strength. When will I be able to work that fast?’

Kai’s desire for strength grows as he sees how far he has to go. ‘Come to think of it, Nuyal said he has a mission here, and if someone can order him around, they must be stronger than him. Meaning I’ve even further to go!’ Kai imagined what kind of strength those people must have and what he could do with it. Clearing out these ruins in moments, sprinting fast through the forests without a care in the world, and searching for his lost memories without any obstacles being able to stand in his way. He could do all of these if he was strong enough!

Kai put renewed effort into his excavation.

As the sky began darkening, Nuyal stopped working and found a nearby cave; saying he was going to get shelter, he disappeared into the cave. After twenty minutes or so, he came back dragging the bodies of two bear-looking creatures.

“Here we’ll rest in this cave tonight, and I’ll skin and butcher these beasts for food,” Nuyal said, checking Kai’s reaction, having been keenly aware Kai hadn’t eaten anything since he’s met him.

Kai didn’t react much and just nodded, following him into the cave where Nuyal set up a fire and began working on the beasts. First, skinning them and then preparing the meat. Before long, he had them cooking in a few skewers over the fire, and a delicious aroma began to permeate the cave.

When they were ready, Kai took a skewer and began eating, savoring the taste. It didn’t fill him up any, but damn, was it good.

Nuyal seeing Kai eat, nodded, thinking, ‘Of course, the kid has to eat; what am I thinking.’

After the skewers were finished, Nuyal set up the two pelts as makeshift bedrolls and turned in for the night. Kai went to his bedroll shortly after and did the same.

Kai’s second day of training was much less eventful than the first, but he could feel his improvement, and ending the day with a nice hot meal was certainly a plus as well. He drifted off to sleep, blissfully unaware of the approaching danger.