Kael rushed out to the forest to be disillusioned within just 10 minutes. What boring bullshit is this? These are all the most normal and boring things I could find. Continuing to look at plants he began to read their names out loud. “Elm, poplar, birch, alder, willow, oak, maple, larch, fir, pine, tilia, spruce…” Fuck, where is the magical shit? These trees are just too boring. Beginning to scan the plants he continued to chant out their names via boredom.

“Laurel, sweetfern, spiderfern, spicebush, summersweet, spirea, creeping vine, thrush moss…” After wandering along the edge of the forest for at least 4 hours he came upon a large group of bushes. Ohh, a berry patch! Looking at the large and beautiful patch of berries, Kael was shocked at the variety and coloring. Bushes covered in metallic blue, bright red, and reddish-orange berries were intertwined with each other covering a large expanse of at least a 30 to 40 feet in radius. Taste the rainbow? Kael thought to himself before thinking, No, examine the rainbow first.

So what do we have here, winterberry, blue bead lily, hooker fairy bell, and baneberry, scary combo, I need more in-depth information. Staring intently at each plant, their information began to appear in his mind.  

Winterberry: Bright red berries, consumption results in vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and drowsiness.

Use: When diluted it can be used as a mild detoxicant.

Blue-Bead Lily: Yellow flowers are edible, when the blue colored berries form, the plant becomes toxic. Berries have a revolting taste, causes stomach cramps andexplosive diarrhea.

Use: When diluted it can be used topically as a numbing agent. When boiled it may be used as a yin supplement. When diluted and consumed it may be used as a mild detoxicant.

Fairy Hooker Bell: Reddish-Orange, edible, but causes nausea and constipation.

Use: When boiled it may be used as a yang supplement.

Baneberry: Shiny red berries, poison concentrated in the fruit. Consumption results in burning of the throat, stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. Eating five or more berries result in respiratory distress and cardiac arrest.

Use: The plant itself may be boiled down into a tea that acts as a sedative. The berries pulp and juice may be reduced into a paste, increasing toxicity, for a topical poison safe for use in hunting.

His laziness showed in his thoughts while considering the information he just gained. Well shit, that is a pant load of information. If I got detailed information on the other plants and trees it would take forever to catalog. I shouldn’t have got my mom so excited.

Walking back to the village it was mid-afternoon. Most of the men were out hunting, while the old fogies sat on their porches yelling crude jokes back and forth across the lane that split the homes. A few women could be seen scolding their children while cutting vegetables in preparation for their nightly meal.

Arriving at his home, his mother was sitting on the porch. She was working on making a small set of dark brown leather clothes for her son. Seeing Kael approaching she said, “Honey, come over here and take a seat.”

Waiting while he approached and took a seat on the floor of the porch she said, “Starting tomorrow your father is going to teach you how to use those javelins. After he is done I will spend a couple hours a day teaching you the basics of this world and working on your writing. After that you will go out into the forest and write down everything you see, draw a picture of it, then write down its description and the uses of it. I mean everything, trees, bushes, plants, stones, birds, fish, whatever.”

Looking at his mom with horror, Kael said, “Mom, that is way too much, aren’t there child labor laws that protect me from being abused in such a manner?”

Alavarah covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed. Looking at her silly son she had no idea where he got his crazy ideas from.

Seeing his mothers look he knew he was screwed. “Mom, you have no idea how much work that is. Just from aimlessly wandering around today I found at least 10 different trees, dozens of plants, bushes, and vines. If you really want me to catalog everything I need you to make me a fifty-page book for trees, bushes, plants, vines, stones, animals, birds, and fish. That is 50 pages each!”

Alavarah at first though her son was just trying to get out of her instructions, but thinking about the variety of life in the forest she knew he was being honest. Taking into account everything, she assumed she would have to make at least 10 books with 50 pages each. The small book she made him took a lot of work, so making 500 pages was quite a bit of effort. Thinking of the knowledge she would gain though, she firmly decided to make it happen.

“That’s ok, honey. Your mom is just as bored as you are in the day. You spend this week with your father. Rabbits are too small to make that many books, you need to get your father to bring home large animals.”

“Ok mom, but isn’t that wasteful of all the meat and bones, or are we giving it to the village again?”

“No honey, it’s a bit early, but learn your father's technique that I call gluttony. Be sure not to let the villagers know. It is not a real cultivation technique, but they are really sticks in the mud when it comes to their rules, and you are not 6 yet.”

Thinking to himself, Sweet, I get to start cultivating, all those glorious stats will be mine! Muahahaha! Kael readily agreed with his mother while grinning. “Ok mom, if that’s the case it will make up for all the effort of writing down an entire forest worth of information,” he said.

Stolen story; please report.

“Good honey, you run along and play. Your father will be home in about an hour or so, then we can have dinner. Eat lots then go to bed as we will drag you out of the blankets at dawn.”

While running into the house Kael shouted, “Ugh, ok mom.” he then ran up to his room to continue fixing his book. Later he ate a stew of rabbit before being packed off to bed.

As the morning sun rose, the sky was dyed a shade of deep purple. Stonecocks, the beast version of a normal chicken, could be heard echoing through the village. Kael awoke to something clamping onto his ankle and abruptly yanking him out of bed.

Falling on his cold, bare ass, he looked up at his father, the culprit of his rude awakening. With a disgruntled snort, he stood up and began to get dressed. As he reached for his pants his father stopped him. Throwing a bundle of leathers at him, he said, “Your mother made a set of leathers for you to help protect you from thorns and such. Put them on, we will be hunting after an hour of throwing practice. Oh, and go grab a roll, you won’t have time for a real breakfast.”

Putting on the soft leathers he was impressed by the how comfortable they were. Mom really put in some extra effort for me. With a warmth filling him from deep within his heart, he promised himself not to disappoint her expectations. Heading down the stairs he grabbed a roll off the table which he stuffed in his mouth before grabbing a second one. He waved to his mother who was still cooking while heading for the door. Grabbing his quiver on the way out he stepped into the chill of the early morning.

His father waved him over while saying, “follow me, we are headed to the grove on the outskirt first.” before walking off.

Trudging after his father while rubbing his arms, he began to ramble to himself in his mind. It’s too early and too damn cold to be outside right now, this world is full of barbarians. Once he reached the grove he found his father standing there with his arms crossed waiting for him. Now that he was not distracted he noticed his father was only wearing pants and what looked like a sleeveless robe. Thinking, yeah, yeah, show off how your not cold all you want, I still miss central heating. Kael walked up to his father and set the bottom of the quiver on the ground.

“Good,” Iradin said, “Now that you are awake, I’ll go over this quickly. No matter how much I talk won’t matter as much as practice, so be prepared to throw and fetch javelins for a while.” Taking up one of the three short javelins from his son's quiver, Iradin said,”Watch closely and I’ll explain as I go. First grip the javelin with the point facing down, next draw your foot back a half step.” At this point, Iradin drew his right foot backward half a step and planted his toes in the ground. He ended up holding the javelin with his elbow cocked near his chest, with his body sideways, the left foot pointing ahead.

Standing there, kind of foolish looking, Iradin said, “This is how you will prepare your javelin when other hunters are around. The last thing we want is people whacking or poking each other with them.

When you see your target you raise your right hand so it is slightly behind your ear with the javelin pointing forwards. This is the stance you will take while aiming and preparing to throw. Most people lift their left arm, holding it straight in front of them to help with balance and aim.”

Lifting his arm to be in the position he described he looked back at Kael and said, “Ok, when you are ready to throw put your weight on your back leg, extend your arm out behind you all the way, the javelin should rest on your palm while you hold it in place with your thumb and two forefingers. The point of the javelin should extend about 6 inches past your face, and be held at eye level.

Then you will slightly lift your left foot, push off with your right, while rotating your body, and throw the javelin forward. Your release should come as you step back down onto your left foot.”

Seeing that his son was staring at him like a fool he said, “The main point is that the power starts with your right foot's toes and builds momentum as the strength passes through the leg, it gets amplified again with the rotation of the hip and back, and the final burst of power comes from the shoulder and arms. This concept is important and will be used later when undergoing you martial training”

“I get it, dad, take a step while twisting the body and chuck the wood pole at something. It does not seem hard.”

“No Kael, it is important to observe everything down to the smallest detail. For a cultivator missing something small means you will hit a bottleneck. For a blacksmith, it means ruining a weapon. For a hunter, it means feeding your family or not. Observing life to the smallest detail is a habit you should begin now, it will serve you well in whatever you do in life.”

Looking at his dad put on his ‘serious’ face while lecturing him, Kael internally sighed, then with a smirk he said, “Ok dad, just get ready to make more javelins!” He then took up one of the 3 foot long javelins that were only the width of his thumb. Knowing these were made for children and he had more strength than an adult, he decided to make their destruction showy.

Taking up position to throw, he spotted a tree in the distance and burst out with everything he had. Mid throw he had to compliment his father, the step and rotation really added some oomph to his toss. The javelin left his hand like a rocket, exploding forth with a speed and power no child could ever possess. Whistling through the air it missed the tree Kael was aiming at. The rock it hit behind the tree made for an explosive show as the spear turned into small shards of wood with a loud bang when it hit the rock.

Not knowing whether or laugh or cry over his sons showing he said, ”Ok Kael, practice doesn’t mean you have to destroy them.”

“I know dad, but although I am short, I’m stronger than most of the men who do not cultivate in the village. I need something thick and weighty to throw, and why don’t these even have spearheads on them?”

“If they had spearheads Kael, they wouldn’t be javelins. Stop being difficult and practice with your remaining javelins, we will find a tougher tree to make new ones from later”

After that, neither spoke while Kael repeatedly threw the two sticks that had dreams of growing up to hurt something more than a lazy dog. Not long after they started Iradin briefly left to get supplies from home. Becoming distracted by his wife after they had some child-free time, it was after about 2 hours before his father returned. He got back in time to see his son’s final javelin as it made its last hurrah. Shattering into a cloud of wood chips against a distant tree. Kael’s throws were reaching a solid 250-foot distance, and the aim was about 50%. Not too shabby, he thought.

“Good soon, you finished up, your aim is terrible, but the range is acceptable. Today you will just follow and watch me while hunting, I will also start showing you how to track. When your aim against a non-moving object is 9 out of 10, I’ll follow you while you hunt.”

“Sounds good dad, let's head out, but remember to watch for study trees. You need to make me a good 10, wait no, 20 javelins. Also, mom said to hunt bigger animals. If my math is right she needs about 25 deer skins, and something with a thick enough hide to cover 10 books.”

Hearing this for the first time Iradin was surprised, “What the hell are we going to do with all the meat, and what does she want all that skin for?”

Kael grinned up at his father saying, “She wants me to recording everything in the world, so the estimate is 10 books of 50 pages. For the meat, she said you would teach me to be a glutton!”