When he finally got close to the camp, an hour already passed. He didn't know if he was late so he just ran into his tent, undressed, tossed away dirty clothes, wiped the sweat off, and dressed into new clothes. Immediately after he ran towards Kaoran's tent and when he got near

Stone heard calm words from inside:

"You are here."

Stone entered the tent breathless. Inside he saw Kaoran sitting on the ground in the center waiting. Then he simply said with an expressionless face: "Sorry I got lost on the way back."

Kaoran who heard this smiled as waved his hand gesturing to Stone to sit. And so he did. As he sat across from the old man he waited for what he will say next.

"Hehe, You don't need to worry, I already expected this. This is just what Degres would do. Did you remember the path properly after this ?"

"Should have"

Kaoran smiled at that." Then that's good. In truth, you didn't need to hurry so much. I would tell you beforehand if I wanted to you come specific time. You are still not officially my student."

Stone nodded at him." I see."

"So now let's discuss it. Would you like to learn under me? Before I said it on impulse as I found out about your knowledge of herbalism but even without it I thought about teaching you. Not many children are as smart and sensible as you, Stone." Kaoran let Stone decide as he knew forcing this wouldn't bring any results.

Stone looked him in the eyes and frowned. He expected this would come as Kaoran said he would like to teach him for real but didn't expect he could make a choice. In truth, he wanted to learn even more than the body training Degres was teaching him. Despite his affinity for the warrior's path being much higher, something was attracting him to the spiritual part of the world. The world is full of mystery and adventures! There was a bit of longing in his eyes for a moment but then he shook his head with a sigh.

"I would love to. But I am pretty sure that my talent in this area is pretty poor so..." Stone was a little gloomy but he knew it would be just a waste of time.

"Indeed. Your spiritual talent is horrible. Actually, I have never someone with such bad talent." Kaoran who listened to Stone nodded at his words making Stone feel even grimmer.

"But does that really matter? Your talent is bad but not nonexistent. Most people won't have even that bit of talent that you have. And now it is only your choice to let it rot like many others who discarded their not-so-good talent or let it slowly develop at its own pace. In fact, spiritual talent is one of few that can be even nurtured to some extent. I assume that you were not born with this talent and actually gave birth to it during some bad experiences you went through." Kaoran looked meaningfully at Stone.

Stone who heard all of that was shocked. For a moment he was speechless as he thought these things out. So his spiritual talent wasn't natural? Bad experiences? He went through a few already in his short life...

"Still, Is it worth it? Won't it be a waste of time for both of us ?" asked Stone with concern. Nobody wanted to learn something for years without any success.

"It may be hard." Agreed Kaoran with a nod. " But you are young and you have the time. You probably have all eternity to learn..." He ended saying with an ambiguous tone.

Stone was a little confused at this as he knew that talent was still more important than the time he spent on training. Furthermore, he was young but what hindered others from learning from an even younger age?

"Like I said spiritual talent can be altered to some extent so even if most of the knowledge you learn will be useless for now it may not be so in the future. Moreover, I think you completely forgot that I won't teach you just things like this. Shamans have many abilities and a lot of them don't need spirit arts to use!" added a smiling Kaoran.

That was the last straw that made the undecided boy who hesitated finally give in, making him decide to become the student of this old shaman. He doesn't know what will this bring him or how it will change him but he definitively hopes this was not the wrong choice he made that day.

Seeing Stone nod made Kaoran elated as he was really looking forward to teaching this boy. He immediately took the wooden goblet filled with some red liquid beside him and opened it. It was already prepared next to him since he expected Stone to agree and the boy didn't disappoint him.

" Lean to me and accept the shaman's blessing," said Kaoran with a serious tone. Stone obediently listened and leaned toward him. Kaoran dipped his in that liquid and chanted ceremoniously as he painted at him:

"Let the newfound knowledge open your eyes..." he started to paint on Stone's forehead an eye symbolizing the acknowledgment of the world as it is.

"Let your heart never waver as weeping was never weakness..." Kaoran continued with his thumb and forefinger painting long lines under Stone's real eyes symbolising the responsibility towards the kin.

"Let your hands, stained with mortal's sin, be tools of creation, protection, and healing instead..." Stone's hands were then stained with the paint symbolizing the Shaman's ability to heal, create, and protect instead of the ability to destroy....

........

This continued for some time until the ceremony was done. When it finally ended Stone exhaled the air he kept in his lungs. He unknowingly held his breath the entire time. The ceremony didn't take long but it was definitively engraved in his young heart. The invisible burden in his also relieved as he felt relaxed at the spiritual level.

When he opened his mouth to talk to Kaoran the paint which covered half of Stone's skin suddenly brightened and turned into the light particles which disappeared in the air.

Stone who saw this was surprised as he thought he would need to wash it somehow later.

"That was paint made of several rare spiritual herbs. I will tell you about it later."Kaoran who did the entire ceremony was glad that everything was done well. The ceremony wasn't just a show. The paint was for Stone to build a connection to the spiritual world allowing the ancestral spirit of the eagle in the totem to judge if the boy was worthy.

And worthy he was. If not he would not teach the body he knew only for a few months the legacy their shamans passed on from generation to generation.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Furthermore, this connection didn't completely disappear since Kaoran used the rarest herbs to concoct this painting. This would help Stone to bridge the lack of spiritual talent to some extent. Some tribesmen may be a little dissatisfied with this favoritism but this was Kaoran's own collected stack of herbs so they would not be able to say anything to him either way.

"All right." Stone whose's curiosity was satisfied for now awaited what will happen next.

"Now that the ceremony is done there is no need to rush and we can talk in peace," said Kaoran with a relaxed face as he got up again to retrieve something. This time it was a pair of hollow horns of an unknown creature or creatures. He then went to one corner of the tent where there was a small cauldron full of something. Before Stone didn't perceive it as he was focusing on the conversation the entire time but now he remembered that there was little of steam coming from his right where the cauldron was. It seemed like some kind of beverage that Kaoran let cool down a little during the ceremony. When he got close he scooped the cooled content with those two horns and came back.

"Here. This one is best to let cool down before drinking it. Also here. You probably didn't have the time to eat yet." Kaoran handed over one of the horns to Stone with a smile and then as if he remembered he threw him a big chunk of jerky. He sat down and kept the second horn as he inhaled the scent of the drink with serenity on his face.

"What's this? Is it for another ceremony ?" asked Stone as he looked at the horn in his hands. It wasn't that big showing that the animal wasn't some kind of gigantic monster and it had simple decorations on itself but what really attracted Stone was the herbal smell of it's content. It reminded him of something he heard about very long ago.

"Tea ?"

"Close but no. This is called tisanes. It is an herbal drink made from the herbs I personally cultivated. Try it."

Stone who heard him took a sip. Just that alone helped him to relax as he felt a little nostalgic despite tasting it for the first time. The taste felt overwhelming for a moment as even his tastebuds got baptized the day before but he adapted to it soon. The drink itself was lukewarm but that gave it the refreshing feel. He then started gobbling the jerky as he was starving.

It was one of Kaoran's favorite drinks. In the north, it was normal to drink only hot beverages or alcohol to warm up so this kind of cold drink was rare. But it is not like he or the boy before him needed to warm up through hot drinks so it was fine. From time to time Kaoran made this tisane for himself and seeing Stone enjoying one too made him happy and a little smug.

The soothing atmosphere pervade the tent as both young and old were content sitting on the ground. Kaoran watched his new student eating jerky while drinking his drink and wanted to break the ice with him since they still had things to discuss.

"So... How does your body feel after the baptism ?"

"Good."

*Sigh*

"Can't you be more detailed ?" Kaoran asked since he was curious.

"Very good."

"...."

Black lines formed on the shaman's forehead. The atmosphere seemed to dissipate at the moment as the tent fell silent.

'If I or Degres didn't force him to speak here and there then Stone's word count during those two months would be abysmal! This bad habit needs to be fixed as soon as possible!' Kaoran took a deep breath as he smiled again and asked him differently.

"Tell me how much your senses got better. I already know about it since I checked your body and watched the baptism but I don't know to what extent. It is important for your future studies. I told Degres so I bet he already tested you too."

Stone who was lost in his thoughts looked up at Kaoran and answered seriously this time.

"I can see much better even when during starry night but still not as good as during daylight. I can also smell many more scents than before but they mix together and sometimes it overwhelms me a little since there are many disgusting smells around. Other senses are also much more sensitive but the one that got improved the most is definitively hearing. I can hear people talking even over 100 meters away, hear things I couldn't hear before, and more. It is somewhat uncomfortable when there are unpleasant sounds but it can be endured.

Kaoran who heard that took his chin in hand as he thought. In truth, Stone's senses should have been much better even before the baptism. The Herbal Essence that was flowing around his body instead of benefiting him made his body dull and weak. And now after it was properly absorbed during the baptism his senses got another improvement together with his body. While others were also baptized they didn't have either the Herbal Essence inside of them or Stone's regeneration making their baptism 'normal' as the Cold Energy just strengthened their body. Thus their senses are almost the same as before with difference being in higher sensitivity towards the cold.

"That's good news. Sensitive taste and smell are good for your path as an herbalist while other senses are good for the warrior and spirit path you will go through. There are many benefits. I will teach you from tomorrow how to train your senses to a certain extent as it may cause some inconveniences during daily life otherwise."

As Kaoran continued to talk about this Stone suddenly interrupted him surprising the old man.

"Now that we are talking about the baptizement, did you notice that golden light at the bottom of Kennera Lake when you took me out ?" It was a sudden question but Stone really wanted the answer.

"Golden light ?"

Kaoran furrowed his brows.

"No. There was no light at the bottom of the lake. It may be just a hallucination when you were in a semi-conscious state." suggested Kaoran.

But Stone just shook his head. "I am pretty sure it was real. Those symbols inside of the light were too intricate to just dream them up.

Furthermore, during the training with Degres, I went to meditate and felt the visible improvement that was not there yesterday."

Kaoran who heard this furrowed even more his brows. Baptizement shouldn't have any impact on the spiritual path so any improvement in meditating wasn't its work.

"How much better is the meditation now ?" so he chooses to ask more questions.

"I think that if I try I will be able to fall into deep meditation in two hours at most."

Those words surprised Kaoran. While this is a mediocre result for most to get into deep meditation it is important to realize Stone's own talent. He shouldn't be able to progress that much in such a small timeframe. This means that there was some external help definitively.

But if it was really something in the lake how could no one notice it before? Maybe the fact that Stone was in a semi-conscious state helped him to see it. Or something else? In the worst scenario, it wasn't there before and somehow got into the lake in recent years meaning the lake was either discovered or contaminated!

Kaoran didn't know but he would need to go to check it as Kennera Lake is too much important for the tribe.

"Thank you for telling me. I will need to go there tomorrow. Today it won't be possible as I will need to have a meeting with other elders and Degres." sighed Kaoran

"Hmm.." nodded Stone.

"Let me check you first." Kaoran then activated his spiritual eyes and looked at Stone. He didn't notice anything irregular as he scanned every part of the boy's body. There didn't seem to be any change. Bad or good.

*Sigh*

"For now let it be. There should be nothing wrong with your body. If my theory is right it should be some form of enlightenment that helped you in your breakthrough of basic meditation. In that case, it was highly beneficial for you."

With that, the conversation about it ended. Kaoran stood up and said lightly to Stone:

"Since I won't teach you today yet let's end it here. I need to look for others to discuss it. You don't need to come tomorrow either as I will be in Kenera Lake. But from then on your real training under your master begins!" said Kaoran with an impish grin.

"We will begin with herbalism as you seem to have a good foundation already and there is mostly no need for spiritual energies. Then later we will continue with learning the medicine which is bound with herbalism on many layers! This will take years so other things will need to wait."

As he said that he drank the last bit of his drink and came out of the tent. Stone who saw this threw the last bit of jerky into his mouth, drank it down with the tisanes, and went after Kaoran.

It seemed that he was finally free that day. Before he even said goodbye to the shaman he already disappeared. But Stone didn't pay attention to it and instead went to his tent.

Immediately after he plopped on his bed. He knew he wouldn't be able to do that in two days as he would have every day full of training so he chose to enjoy his free time now. He closed him and for the first time in years, he thought about his future.

There were many uncertainties within his mind but he knew that this was a much better situation than how he lived before. Even in his village, his family worked their ass off only for being able to have little food in the mouth. But he felt that in this place his hard work would finally pay off.

'It will be hard but this kind of hard work isn't that bad...' was the last thought of Stone as his consciousness slowly fell into the darkness...