***
When the weather warmed up and the snow melted, Tao found out he was a year old. He also learned his full name for the first time - Ataodres Riggi, although everyone kept calling him Tao. It seemed that birthdays were not celebrated here in any special way, even if his mother and the other neighbors remembered the day. Of course, they discussed how Tao was unusually developed for his age, how many words he knew, and how well he spoke, but this was nothing new.
The biggest change was in the food. When Tao grew teeth, his mother started giving him different food and animal milk from a jug. Although Tao continued to drink his mother's milk for a while, it became uncomfortable to do so in front of other people. At the age of one year, his mother no longer breastfed him at mealtime.
One evening, when his father was not home and Sofra and the children were in bed, Tao tested what would happen if he asked for breast milk. Although Sofra did not object and allowed her son to feed, Tao felt ashamed afterward.
He no longer needed breast milk to survive, nor did his mother offer it herself. If he continued to behave like this, what was the reason?
Habit? Fear of losing something? Perhaps…
It was time to grow up, to take responsibility for his emotions.
Tao decided not to ask his mother to breastfeed anymore.
Tao was rewarded for his decision, or so he wanted to believe. Perhaps it was just a coincidence.
In any case, his mother allowed him to leave the kitchen for another room soon after his birthday while she worked. If Tao was out of sight for too long, Sofra would call for him to come back or go looking for him, so this time had to be used to good effect, namely to practice magic. Unfortunately, Teru and Safia used to run after him, disrupting his plans. Tao had two options. The first was to run around the house until the other two got tired, lost interest, or his mother intervened. The second was to distract them with something else.
Tao found a small wooden ball and rolled it outside through the door of the room. Without saying a word, the puppy rushed after the ball.
"Go get the ball!" Tao said to his sister, pointing with his finger in the direction of the door.
Safia hesitated for a moment, then went after Teru, leaving her brother alone.
Even though Tao was younger, Safia didn't quite understand that. If he said something in a commanding tone, like her parents, the girl usually obeyed.
While Safia and the puppy were busy outside with the ball, Tao crouched behind the bed and spat his saliva on the floor. Raising his hand over the spot, he softly said the spell words for freezing water. As usual, the saliva hardened. Tao, meanwhile, was trying to understand what exactly had happened in his body to be able to repeat it. Then he tried to do the same without the help of the spell words.
I command you to change your nature in the same way... Go outside and make the water molecules slower... Tao tried to repeat the experience.
“Tao! Tao! Ball! Here!”
He heard a familiar voice behind him. Safia had fetched the ball and was giving it to her brother while the puppy ran around.
“Thanks...” he reluctantly responded.
How to concentrate on his studies in such an environment? He sighed to himself.
It looked like Safia was waiting for something, so Tao rolled the ball outside again. Just like the first time, Teru ran after it, the girl followed the puppy, and Tao returned to his experiment.
Until it was disturbed again.
This went on several times until Safia returned alone without the ball.
“Go to mama!” Tao said.
“No!” She shook her head.
The stubborn phase... the boy groaned to himself.
“Go to mommy!” he repeated and even pointed with his hand.
“No! Play bebe!”
This sometimes happens. If they did something Tao wanted, in this case bringing the ball, then Safia wanted to play her game. "Play bebe" meant that Tao would lie down while his sister pretended to feed him or babysit him.
“Later, OK?” Tao was trying to wriggle out.
“No! Go!” Safia grabbed brother's arm and pulled him towards the kitchen.
Usually, in such a situation, he had two options - to give in and suffer humiliation or to start crying. Although the second option was effective, he didn't want to use it too often because it worried his mother and also confused his sister. Recently Tao felt that he was getting physically stronger, so he decided to try a new, third option, which had so far been useless - to physically resist.
Perhaps Safia had not expected this, because Tao broke free from his sister's grip quite easily. She looked confused for a moment but then tried to grab her brother's hands again. Tao had better coordination, so he was able to escape for a while. In the end, however, Safia managed to grab his hand and started pulling him towards the door. Tao did not give up without a fight. He leaned his feet on the ground and tried with all his might to free his hand. The girl's greater height and weight were an advantage, so Tao felt he was going to lose...
For a moment, a wave of energy permeated his body and Tao broke free from the girl's grasp. They both lost their balance and fell to the ground, each on his own side. The fall was painful and Safia began to cry. Tao, confused, didn't know what to do and remained lying on the ground.
“What is going on here? What are you doing?” Sofra heard a noise and went into the children's bedroom.
It took her a while to calm down the crying girl, but that didn't help either to get a real clarity about what had happened. Safia was not very coherent in her explanation, but Tao was exercising the right of a one-year-old child to say only "It hurts".
“Don't fight, Be friendly!” Sofra told both children and took them back to the kitchen.
Although this incident disrupted his daily training, Tao had discovered something new. The moment he managed to break free from his sister's grasp, he felt the magic move in his body, especially in places that were tense with exertion.
Could it be that these powers not only allow magic to be summoned but also help to improve physical abilities? An unusual idea occurred to him.
Tao remembered the old man who had healed his hand.
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Apparently, magic can affect not only simple things like water and air but also a person's flesh and muscles...
The fact that in the following days, the muscles ached in the corresponding places seemed to confirm this. Fortunately, there was no bleeding or bruising, but it was clear that releasing the magical energy in the body was no joke. Tao decided to be very cautious and release a small amount of magic into the relaxed muscles at first and for a short while. As before, he felt something in his hand for a moment, like a wave of heat, or a sting of electricity. There still was muscle pain a few hours later, albeit in a milder form than the first time and for a shorter period of time.
Muscle pain was natural during intense training, but Tao didn't know if he could attribute it to his activities with magical energy. Magic could hurt the body; he had already seen that. On the other hand, Tao also clearly felt a greater physical strength that allowed him to break free from his sister's grasp, so he didn't want to just give up.
Besides, it was easier to train by releasing magic in the body - there was no need to be afraid that someone would overhear him saying spell words, see him using magic, or doing something else strange.
Tao regularly released small doses of magic into his body - on his hands, feet, abdomen, chest, and back, including some of his fingers. But the result was the same, whatever the body part. If he released more magic, the pain was stronger and lasted longer. Although the pain seemed to get lighter with time, this could simply be from Tao getting used to it.
***
As the weather warmed up, mother started taking her children out of the house more, for walks around the village, or to play alongside her while she was digging up the backyard garden. Until now, Tao had welcomed every opportunity to see more of the outside world, but it was difficult to enjoy the walks with muscle pain in his legs. He couldn't ignore the chance to learn more, though.
In mid-spring, his parents took Tao outside the village's wooden fence for the first time. Hundreds of villagers had gathered in a meadow covered with yellow and white flowers to watch a group of youth, eight boys and two girls. All looked over 15 years old. Some had bows and arrows, others were dressed in armor and armed with swords, spears, and shields. Tao's father and some other grown men looked like they were organizing the event, but nothing was explained.
Sofra sat the children down on a small mat near her husband, then addressed selesti, the healer, who had also arrived and was sitting on a wooden perch nearby.
“Noble Neter.” She bowed politely.
“Bless you, Sofra! Today will you take care of the young wounded?” The old man returned a smile and bowed his head.
“To the best of my ability. I hope we won't have to bother the noble selesti, but if something really serious happens...”
“Yes, of course, that's why I'm here. Kat'ram cares about the young brave. But let's hope your ointments will be enough for today.”
“Let the One Above All hear that! I'd be happy if they'd just shoot at targets or show usverenzie.”
“I understand. But being a hunter or a koin means being brave and ready to fight. Neither beasts nor monsters will be merciful when they encounter them.”
“My husband says the same thing and I understand. Before my first child, Indres also taught me to hold a sword in case of a dark hour ... That's why he said to bring the children to see these things.”
Although his mother's words expressed resignation, her eyes were full of worry at the presence of her children.
Within a year, Tao had learned to understand the basics of the language quite well, but mostly only knew about objects and things inside the house. In adult conversations, there were still many words and concepts whose meaning was completely unknown or only roughly guessed. For example, he could only guess that selesti meant 'healer'. Koin had been heard before, but vaguely. Selesti mentioned it together with the word hunter, as a profession for young people. If it was related to weapons, maybe it meant being a soldier or something.
No official start of event or names of participants were announced. A target was set at a distance of about 50 meters and one after the other young people shot arrows at it with bows. If an arrow hit the target, the spectators shouted cheers and applauded. One guy seemed particularly good; all five arrows hit the target. He also got the loudest applause and cheers, especially from the young girls.
No matter where in the world they live, they love athletes everywhere... Tao chuckled to himself.
In his former life, his youth was spent in textbooks. Although smart children were respected, their achievements were not usually accompanied by the cheers that student sports teams enjoyed.
After shooting a target, something unusual happened. Indres unrolled from the clothes another bow. Not only was it longer, but it also looked thicker and heavier. Tao's father then aimed a large arrow at the target.
Next, everything happened very quickly.
String! The bow tensed with a perceptible noise as Indres pulled the string.
Trink! Indres quickly, almost immediately after pulling back, let go of the bowstring.
BANG! The arrow not only hit the target but also penetrated it with great force and continued its flight behind it until it crashed into the ground quite a distance further, knocking soil into the air.
What was that? A high-caliber projectile? Tao's mouth opened of its own accord.
People cheered, and even Sofra started clapping and smiling. Even Safia clapped palms together several times. It looked like this demonstration was impressive, but not miraculous.
So superhuman physical strength really is possible, and Indre knows how to use it... Tao felt delighted but also annoyed.
His assumptions had been confirmed, but it would be too suspicious for a 1-year-old child to start asking questions about these abilities. Again, he would have to think of something else.
“Only someone who trained in koini isusavi can use a koini bow! Today, two among us are ready to demonstrate their skills!” Indres announced to the audience.
Two of the oldest boys, one of whom was also the winner of the previous competition, took a step forward. Tao tried to watch them carefully so as not to miss anything important. Unfortunately, he failed to notice anything in particular from the outside. Like Indres, they took aim, quickly pulled back the arrow, and let it go. The winner of the shooting competition hit the target, piercing it, although not with as much force as Tao's father. Nevertheless, this achievement was applauded. The other guy shot an arrow but moved too much, resulting in the arrow missing the target by a large distance. Although the villagers politely applauded and shouted cheers, the guy walked away with his head hanging.
When the archery demonstration was over, another man with a sword at his side staged a close combat contest. Two of the eight young men came out into the middle of the audience to duel. Tao could not see if the blades of the weapons were sharp, but even scraped metal could sting. Without a doubt, this type of duel was more dangerous than the kendo competitions in Tao's previous world. He understood why his mother was happy to have a healer present.
“Victory is when the opponent surrenders or can no longer fight. It is forbidden to strike to kill.” declared the man.
Although the youth did not try to kill each other, they were not shy to cut and stab with force. Swords and shields clanged along shields and armored caps, but Tao did not see any supernatural use of force. He did, however, marvel at the resilience of some of the participants, receiving many blows to the body or arms. One of the girls also showed perseverance and won her first two bouts, but lost in the final to a massive, big-bodied guy who resembled a two-meter-tall gorilla.
When the tournament was over, the man demonstrated something unusual with his sword, as Indres had done earlier with his special bow. He made another man throw a wooden block into the air and deftly cut it in half, earning applause from the spectators. If Tao didn't know magic existed, he would have thought it was just a trick. But his own father could shoot an arrow with tremendous power, so there was no doubt that in this world it was possible to learn how to cut a tree trunk with a sword. The boy felt a shiver of joy run down his back, so eager was he to learn this skill.
Three of the tournament participants volunteered to demonstrate their skills, but not all succeeded. The third-place winner, a tall guy with a spear, tried to pierce the wooden block but failed. What's more, it looked like he hurt his hand as Sofra rushed over. As far as one could tell, there was no blood, the guy carefully holding his injured hand walked away with Tao's mother.
“Is it serious?” the old healer asked.
“I think not. The pain is not severe and he can move his arm.” Sofra said.
“Then you won't need my help?”
“No, noble Neter, thank you. I will give this boy something for the pain and bandage his hand, it will heal in time.”
When his mother took off the injured young man's doublet and pushed up his shirt sleeve, Tao could clearly see red and purple spots on his forearm and upper arm. It reminded him of his own wounded hand some time ago.
Is this what they call a "geren"? An injury from improper use of magic? Tao thought to himself.
Meanwhile, the girl managed to cut the wooden block in half with her sword, but the gorilla's sword got stuck inside. Tao reasoned that the girl might have won the final of the tournament if she could use this skill. But the power to slash a wooden block would probably be dangerous even to a person in armor.
In the end, the man declared that the gorilla (Trebe) and the girl (Eshea) were now koins, and the best archer (Arwain) became a hunter.
Was the whole thing something like an exam before getting a profession? Tao tried to understand the village culture.
The prospect of having to demonstrate his archery or close combat skills in front of hundreds of people in 15 years did not seem encouraging. Tao resolved to continue his training more seriously.