As Sofra's belly got bigger, she started to rest more and walk around less. Accordingly, the children were more often looked after by their father or another adult.

Tao was actually happy about this. Unlike his wife, Indres took the children out of the village more often. Safia was big enough to run alongside her father. Tao, on the other hand, was perched on Indres's shoulders. In late autumn, the wind was quite nippy, so the boy wore a woolen hat and a warm camisole.

Nice... as if I am big again. One day I will be for real... fifteen years later or a little more... he enjoyed the high vantage point above the ground.

"Let's go watch dwarfy?" Safia asked father.

"...Where did you hear that word?" Indres didn't answer right away.

"Enya's mom said."

Tao couldn't see his father's face as he sat on his shoulders, but he felt the firmness in his tone of voice.

"She was wrong. They are deorgi. Not dwarfs."

"Then what is dwarfs?" The girl wanted to know.

"Little humans."

"But deorgs are small!"

Indres sighed, looking like he wasn't having an easy time explaining properly to the child.

"Deorgs are not human. Just like a cat is not a dog. Only small humans are dwarfs or midgets. Don't call deorgs dwarfs, they'll get angry."

"Aye." Safia obediently agreed.

Is dwarf a swear word for deorgi? Tao found this interesting.

Since the deorgs arrived in the village, their building project had become a popular point of interest for the villagers. Not only because the stone wall was important for improving the quality of life, but also because it was rare to see anything new. Today, Indres and his children were not the only ones who came to watch the construction. He spotted an older man, a fellow hunter, who was accompanying two boys, slightly older than Safia.

"Teacher, how is your health?" Indres raised his hand in greeting.

"As usual, son. The less I'm asked about it, the less I think about it." The old man chuckled, also greeting a comrade and former pupil.

"Safia, say hello to the teacher." Indres addressed her daughter.

"No, no, a name will suffice... girl, do you know what uncle's name is? "The old hunter turned to Safia.

Uncle? You mean grandfather, Tao objected in his mind.

Although the old man was no stranger, Safia moved closer to her father and put her index finger in her mouth in embarrassment. Tao could understand because the man's appearance could inspire fear. The frosty, wind-swept face with a short, greying beard was not in itself frightening, but the large scar on his left cheek attracted attention. It stretched all the way to his ear. It was as if someone had cut him with a knife. Or a huge claw.

"This is Eigar, my teacher. Say hello to him." Indres insisted.

"Hello..." girl's voice was quiet.

"He he! Still shy, aren't you? Oi! Boys! Come say hello!" Eigar called out to his grandchildren who were a little further away.

Tao noticed that they were treating Indres with great respect, which was nice because by sitting on his father's shoulders, it gave him the feeling that the boys showed respect to him.

When the greetings were over, the old man spoke again.

"You think this – is a good thing?" He nodded with his chin towards the construction site.

"What? Building a wall?" Indres didn't understand.

"No! The new borders. Not too big?"

The deorgs did not build a wall in place of the old wooden fence, but at a larger diameter around the village. Tao guessed, if new houses were built there, the village could accommodate at least twice as many people.

"If there are bigger, better walls, more people will come here, right? Especially if the monster attacks continue." Indres's answer seemed simple.

"More hunters and herders? Won't it be too cramped?" Eigar chuckled.

The village of Ueki (Tao had no idea what the name meant) was situated on the banks of a small river in a mountainous area between high mountains to the north and a forest to the south. Not a good place for farming. The soil was too thin, the terrain too rugged and the environment too rocky. Most of what Tao saw were backyard gardens for vegetables or small fields where fodder was grown for cattle. But in the hills around the village, there was plenty of grass for small cattle, the forest was full of animals for hunters and trees for loggers. Of course, if the population of the village were to increase rapidly, the situation might change.

"More loggers. If a large enough area is cleared, where the land is flatter, there will be more fields." Indres answered his teacher's question.

"I don't know if it will be that easy."

"If you don't like it, why didn't you go to the meeting to express your thoughts?"

"My son is older than you, but he looks my way every time... time for him to be a man, don't you think?"

Indres did not reply, his gaze fixed on the deorgs in the distance.

Before two months had passed, they had already built a rather impressive section of the wall. This was helped by the villagers who provided the stones and timber for the work. The masons themselves had found a layer of useful rock nearby, which they used for the cement. They deftly dug a deep hole in the ground and used a wooden-rope structure to transport buckets of this mass to the top to be mixed with the stone rubble. Tao also noticed that they were very quick to smooth the sides of the stones with chisels to keep the new walls flat, without protrusions.

"I know what scares you... the lords don't like the freedom we've been given anymore?" Eigar speak again.

"Reiveta was refused help... unless they agreed to a new deal."

Reiveta... it was the village that had been attacked by monsters last time... Tao remembered.

It was harder for him to understand when adults talked about things far away.

"That's why we voted to help, right?" The old man shrugged.

"Yes, but it speaks volumes about their aims."

"Hm... our esteemed nobles have nothing better to do?"

"Who knows what the nobles have in mind... It might be unpleasant for them to miss a even a small piece of silver?"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"So the promised 50 years without daroti became 20... all good things always come to an end." Eigar sighed.

"If the village population reaches 1,000, we can claim status of a town."

"He! So that's the purpose of this wall?" The old man chuckled.

Indres didn't answer, just shrugged.

Tao reasoned that his village, and those of the neighboring villages, had some problems with the government.

What is “daroti”? Taxes or something else? He heard the word for the first time.

Although it happened less often than before, there were still gaps in his vocabulary.

They continued to watch the deorgs in action for a while. Tao noticed that with one small chisel stroke, the entire side of the stone became straight.

No matter how sharp the chisel and powerful the blow with hammer, would that be possible? Is this a special skill? Maybe magic? The boy indulged in conjecture.

He wanted to believe that another species of intelligent beings had some special abilities.

"Even if we miraculously manage to lure another 500 souls into these mountains and get the name of the town, they'll still want their share, you know." Eigar spoke again after a moment.

"It's easier for a town to defend its rights."

"If they're already drooling for our crumbs, you think the town won't be a much tastier morsel?"

"Anything could be... in any case, if our money is in the wall, they won't be able to just take it away."

"I won't argue with that." The old man laughed.

*Slurp!* Sounded above Indre's head.

Tao had tried to draw snot into his nose, which started to run.

After removing Tao from his shoulders and checking his face, Indres turned towards the village.

"Time to return. It's too cold for the children." He announced.

"Aye... we'll go too then. Oi! Boys!" Eigar waved his hand to the two older boys, who had once again retreated further away from the adults.

"Enough with this nonsense. Tell me, how are Arwain?" The old man changed the topic of conversation as they headed back.

"What does the teacher want to know?"

Indres held his son in arms, which was warmer place. Noticing this, Safia also asked father to pick her up. He agreed and walked holding both children in his arms. Despite the heavy burden, the man's gait was quick, Tao could see that Eigar was limping slightly to keep up.

"What do you think? Still dreaming of war?"

Indres thought for a moment.

"He hasn't talked about it anymore... but he's still eager to learn how to use a battle bow."

"Eh! Still in the mind of a child..." Eigar expressed his frustration.

"That doesn't mean he wants to become a soldier. He's diligently learning how to hunt; he also wants to join the monster slaughter. That may be the only reason." Tao's father defended his disciple.

"Anyway, don't teach him anything dangerous before he proves that his head works! I've had enough of one idiot in the family who marred himself!"

Tao didn't quite understand Eigar's last words. He knew that the man had a large family, many of whom were hunters, including his eldest grandson, Arwain.

"Don't worry, teacher. I'm still focusing on endurance and knowing how to follow tracks in the forest. It will be a long time before I start teaching more about martial arts." Indres confirmed.

Tao had to agree that his father spoke the truth. But the boy wasn't very happy about it.

***

"Focus! Sildura submits to willpower. Gather together, in your center, then dose, then distribute evenly in your hand." Indres taught.

"I... trying... Ugh... ugh..." Arwain was breathing heavily.

"I know it is not easy. Only regular training will allow you to distribute faster and greater doses of force."

Indeed! Look at me! The result of hard work and effort! Tao chimed in his mind looking at what was happening from the doorway.

Invisible to both men's eyes, the baby's spirit power was swirling in the tiny body

In late autumn it was too cold to sit outside for long, so Indres began to teach Arwain indoors more often, including in his own house. As far as one could tell, Sofra had not said anything to her husband about Arwain's attention attempts, at least Tao did not notice any change in his father's behavior. Sofra usually said a brief hello and went deeper indoors, leaving her husband alone with the young man. Obviously, she did not want to give Arwain the wrong idea. The young hunter had also stopped doing anything suspicious. Tao noticed, however, that Arwain's gaze went to the doorway several times, as if hoping to see someone other than the little baby.

Hey! Hey! Were you hoping to see someone else? I'm sorry, but it's just me - Tao! The boy laughed maniacally in his mind.

Lately, he had started to talk to others in his mind more often. Perhaps his psyche was trying to compensate for the lack of normal conversations. Or these were the first signs of madness.

Well, as Tao's awareness of the world around him and his physical abilities grew, it became more and more difficult to portray a normal baby all the time. More accurately, a relatively normal baby.

Anyway, despite the fact that Tao now had more opportunity to listen to his father's training, he rarely heard anything useful.

Indres talked about how to better concentrate and release the spirit power to strengthen the body. Tao had learnt this a long time before, and he had the impression that it was more difficult for both men to manipulate the spirit power in the body.

Is this related to what the spirit of light said about me? Is my spirit power... special in some way? Tao wondered.

Perhaps the fact that he had been reborn had more of an effect than it first seemed. Tao also had the impression that his memory was better than in his previous life. He understands what he heard much better and remembered new things much more easily. Tao accepted the possibility that his adult mind was actively stimulating brain development.

Even if that were true, it was not good to wallow in self-praise. Tao trained his body and mind hard every day to become stronger.

By focusing his attention on how concentrated spirit power moved through the body, he realized that it moved like blood in the arteries, around the internal organs, and was released only where the boy wanted it - in specific muscles or through the skin of the palm outside the body. So, when he built up endurance against spirit power in the muscles, the organs remained intact.

Tao had built up strength not only in the muscles of his arms and legs but also in his abdomen and back. At first, the abdominal muscles ached more than other parts of the body, but this eventually passed. He did not understand the reason at the time and stopped thinking about it when the pain stopped. Now Tao thought that perhaps he had accidentally allowed some of the spirit power to reach his intestines and made them more enduring along with his abdominal muscles. If this was true, it showed that it was also possible to make organs more resistant to the influence of spirit power.

Realizing this, he began to regularly disperse the spirit power into other organs, despite the pain. Eventually Tao learned to disperse his power in even smaller doses to specific organs, but he also discovered that the sensitivity of different organs varied. In fact, the more sensitive the organ, the sharper the reaction to the presence of the spirit power. For example, his eyes were much more sensitive than his intestines or lungs. It was clear that it was not possible to distribute the spirit power evenly throughout the entire body to raise endurance. For the time being, the only possibility was to train each part of the body separately. Tao was careful not to get too excited and always stopped if the pain became more pronounced and did not stop soon. Progress was therefore slow, but... the baby had plenty of free time.

At least mostly.

***

Sofra had decided that her son was intelligent enough to help with some of the small chores around the house.

"Tao, please give me the next one." The mother asked.

The boy took out one wooden pin for clothes from the bowl in his hand and handed it to his mother.

"Thank you." The woman smiled and pinned the piece of cloth to the clothesline in the children’s bedroom.

Safia, meanwhile, took another piece of freshly washed laundry from the basket and lifted it up towards her mother.

"Here!" she offered.

"Aye, aye, I'll get it right away, thank you." Sofra turned to her daughter.

Not bad, not only is she getting the children used to work, but also teaching them good manners, Tao praised his own mother in his thoughts.

Sofra was obviously working less than before and sometimes even asked Reyte or someone else to help with cooking and other chores. It was clear that pregnancy was no joking matter. Even if Tao could only protect his mother from simply bending over, he felt he was doing something worthwhile.

Besides helping his mother, Tao still had his previous training program - cultivating reserves of spirit power, further strengthening muscular endurance, studying the structures of magic, and using magic without the help of spell words. Apart from other possible projects, such as how to communicate with a friendly spirit and learning fire magic for battle.

Although Teru was gradually getting used to Tao's frequent magical activity, the dog still reacted if a large amount of spirit power was released in the house. To avoid giving father reason to believe that his son was too magical, Tao only did this when Teru was with his father hunting, so his efforts to influence the water without the help of spell words were limited and progressed slowly.

Exploring the structures of magic did not come easily either, as it usually required the boy to be under the bed in the middle of the night to draw on tree bark and then analyze it. Moreover, Tao was not yet able to find a practical use for it either. If he tried to change anything in the magic at the beginning of the spell, the process was thwarted and nothing happened at all. If Tao tried to change it towards the end of the magic invocation, it was too late to change anything. The impression was that changes in intensity and duration were built into the spell, while the other factors were strictly fixed. Gradually his enthusiasm waned, and it was no longer interesting to increase the amount of spirit power and strengthen his muscles.

From an extraordinary adventure his studies had become a daily routine. Although Tao did not think of stopping, he felt that life needed a change.

Well, he didn't have to wait long for it.