-" Father, let's rest for now. My shoulders and arms can't take it anymore."
-"I've told you before, in a life-or-death situation. When your arms, shoulders, back, and even your fingers can't take it anymore, you'll have to find energy from where you don't have any to keep going."
-"Keep going for a while. You're doing well."
My daily workouts with my father in a nutshell. They were brutal; he always pushed me to the limit. I don't remember training that tough, not even in the army.
I had thought my mother was demanding, but compared to my father, she was a saint.
The only good thing was that I could see the improvement every day. Each time, I grew tired and had to crawl; my arms felt like cement slabs, immovable. But the strength and endurance I had gained were undeniable.
My shoulders had grown much larger. My body was much more robust than I had imagined. Now, after almost three years of training with my parents, I had improved a lot; both in magic and in other skills. Although I had to practice fencing alone, I considered myself good at it, and according to my parents, I had good technique and strong attacks.
With continued archery practice, he had improved his aim with both arrows and daggers; he was now able to hit targets farther away and with greater accuracy than he had before.
Even though I've grown and improved so much, I've never been able to stretch my first bow until it creaks. I've tried repeatedly, but my strength isn't enough. I have no idea how my father managed to make it creak.
During all this time, I had made another bow for him. The second one had been much better, harder and firmer. The bowstring was also made of snakeskin, but it had a core I had made from the sinews of one of the animals. It had been so taut and firm that when I tried to shoot with that bow, I had to give it my all, and after only firing a few arrows, my shoulders were already crying. The force with which my father shot his arrows was insane; you could barely see them in flight; I only realized where they were going when I heard the boom of the explosion against whatever they hit.
I had begun to doubt that my parents were just farmers a long time ago. But they never wanted to say a word about it; they always said they were just farmers and that the techniques they used had been learned long ago from their parents or some teachers they had had.
I didn't want to ask any more questions, as they seemed evasive about the matter.
During all this time, I didn't just make my father's bow. I had progressed with practice in forging; the projects I was least skilled at, I gave to my grandmother to sell; she was always happy, even if they were the ones I liked the least.
With the money I'd collected from selling, I managed to buy a leather suit of armour; it wasn't the best, but it would serve as protection.
I also continued improving the house, making some repairs or enlarging some parts, such as the kitchen, making the two bedrooms even more spacious, and improving the forge room. I'd enlarged the anvil and the furnace; now I could produce larger items without much difficulty.
I spent almost a year in detention before they let me return to the forest. During that time, the first time Nixen left, I was terrified. I thought she wouldn't come back.
The most surprising thing was that she not only came back, but she also brought a prey, which she brought as a gift for us. I knew why she had left it at the entrance of the house. It was as if she wanted to say: I'm back and I've brought some food for everyone.
With all the improvements I'd made over time, and with hunting with Nixen, getting food and catching difficult prey had become much easier. We weren't without danger, but hunting together was much easier. We'd learned to set ambushes and complement each other in the battles we'd had; we were much more organized than we had been at the beginning.
Nixen, after almost three years. According to my parents, she's still young, but her size has almost reached my waist and she's also undergone significant changes. Her control over some elements has begun to show, albeit weakly.
Today, after a break from training with my father, we'll go to the forest. I go less frequently these days, but almost always at least once a week.
I've been wanting to explore deeper into the forest, and today I'll try. With Nixen by my side, my skill with the bow and the improvements I've made in magic over the past three years have given me the courage to delve deeper.
After I was ready, I only carried an empty backpack to carry whatever I found or we could hunt: the arrows, the saber, the daggers I'd recently made, and the old ones.
Almost all of the equipment had some function if I applied mana to it, except for the armour, the bow, and the arrows. I did manage to implement some improvements to the second bow I made, although I still don't quite know how the technique works, nor can I control it.
We were about to enter the forest; we already knew the first part well enough. So we just focused on running; we needed to make the best use of our time; spending a night in the woods can be very dangerous, and something I didn't want to do.
We started deeper into the forest, having been running nonstop since we left home. At this pace, in just over half an hour, we'll be entering the central areas of the forest.
According to the books and what my parents tell me, the forest is divided into three zones: the outermost zone, which is where I've always been; the outermost zone, also called the middle zone; and the central zone.
The further you go, the more dangers you'll encounter. There are also parts that, according to my parents, aren't accessible to everyone. Today, I'll only go with Nixen to the middle zone. We'll try our luck and see what we can find.
It would be nice to find something to hunt and train. That's mainly why we're going deeper.
We'd already covered a good stretch and were nearing the crossroads. I decided it would be best to rest for a while and find something to eat. We need to be in top condition for whatever we might face.
Soon, Nixen was on the lookout for prey. I took my bow and, with a single shot, an arrow had lodged itself in its head. It was a type of duck widely used as food in the village. Perfect for both of us; after cleaning and cooking it a bit, it was ready to eat. It was a good lunch for me; Nixen wasn't entirely satisfied; but for now, it would have to wait.
I checked all the equipment I was carrying, the arrows, and the daggers once more. With everything in place, we began to move forward.
When we crossed the separation zone, there was a sudden change in atmosphere; the air felt thicker; it seemed more energized somehow.
When I tried to think of a spell, I realized what made the area feel so different was the amount of mana it contained. Apparently, the difference in concentration was so great that my body felt uncomfortable.
We started walking slowly, trying to get used to the environment first, or at least me.
I think it's the best way to move forward safely; it was an area I wasn't familiar with, and from what I could tell, neither of us was comfortable.
As we walked along, I saw many things that appeared in the books: herbs, fruits, and even some animal tracks. Some I recognized and decided to change course; others I had no idea what kind of animal they were.
We continued walking for quite some time. We had come across a group of Zaabi. There were more than four of them and they were much larger than the one I had hunted a while back. We slowly retreated. I tried to communicate with Nixen through soft whistles or snorts. I had tried this because on land, pumas communicate by whistling or making similar sounds, and to my surprise, it worked.
It was already mid-afternoon, and we would soon have to leave this area. We had encountered several animals, but they were all in packs, which I preferred not to disturb.
We were about to take a break when Nixen pricked her ears and took up an alert position. I immediately took up the position as well. A growl was heard, and the ground began to vibrate. It sounded like some kind of stampede. When I saw what it was, I was scared, but I always held my position.
My bow was already drawn, and with a shallow breath, I released the first arrow. With a wail, like a scream, the arrowhead pierced one of its eyes. The animal charging toward us was an Andon. They look very similar to a wild boar, but their horns and bodies are much larger, and they have a mane covering their backs; it was funny because it looked like a giant boar with a rock crest.
The problem is that the Andon could manipulate earth and metal, and some rare ones could use fire; but they had distinctive colours in their hair, and thank goodness this one didn't have those characteristics.
After the arrow sank in a bit, the Andon had begun to slow down. Nixen began to move very quickly, jumping from side to side, trying to get its attention and attack its weak side. I was about to grab another arrow when I felt it tremble, my hair stood on end, and I reacted by jumping to the side. When I jumped, a metal spike had emerged from where I was standing. The Andon's element control was very precise; after that warning, I began to move; I didn't stay still for too long in the same place.
I had replaced the bow with the saber; while Nixen distracted it, I tried to cut it, but there was a big problem: the Andon also used metal on its skin; so when it tried to cut, it barely scratched the skin.
The fight continued for a long time, all of us hurt and covered in dirt. The Andon was bleeding from its eye where the arrow had stuck in it and had a few deep scratches. Nixen had been charged when she was trying to attack and seemed to have broken something since she was walking sideways. During one of the charges, the Andon had taken the opportunity to turn all of its hair into metal nails, and several of them stuck into my skin.
I had decided to try to blind it completely, when it charged at Nixen again I quickly drew my bow and loaded it. When the Andon turned to see where I was, the arrow was already about to reach its other eye, it was so fast that I couldn't protect it and this time I had used more force. The arrow struck more than 3 cm and with a scream the boar began to charge madly, since it was blind it wasn't very difficult for me and Nixen to finish it off.
After a rest and some first aid for both of us, I started looking for logs to put Andon's body on so I could carry it all the way back to the house.
Through the classes I'd taken over the years, I learned how to apply wind magic to objects to make them lighter. After making the improvised sled to drag the body, Lance 'Ventus Leve' immediately felt the weight shift, and now with a little effort, it wouldn't be difficult to run while dragging the body.
We had already left the middle of the forest and were starting to look for the exit to go to the house. Fortunately, no other animal had attacked us. Although we weren't badly injured, we weren't completely well either.
As I continued searching, everything suddenly slowed down; it was as if I could see everything at a glance. This often happened to me when I was hunting; I wondered what had caused everything to slow down so much, since it was just Nixen and me.
-"Ahhhhhhh damn you"- While I was searching for why everything had become slow, I saw that an arrow had pierced my right leg, the arrow had gone through from side to side.
The pain was unbearable, so I dropped the Andon and threw myself to the floor to cover myself with her body. Nixen was already on alert, waiting for another attack. I was worried about her; the arrow had travelled very fast, and thank goodness it had only hit me in one leg.
-"Calm down kid, it's just an arrow, after you leave everything you have and that Lirak you can stay and die in the forest."-
I heard someone talking, and although I didn't know where it was, I could tell it wasn't far away; from Nixen's attitude, I had already figured out the address.
I tried to raise my gaze slightly above the Andon's skin, as my face had bulged slightly. A second arrow passed near my cheek. I immediately lowered my head, only to feel a long line of blood running from the bottom of my cheekbone almost to my ear.
I'd been thinking about what to do. A plan came to me and I started putting it into action. I whistled to Nixen to come closer; apparently, they wouldn't shoot to kill her.
After gently telling him, he bandaged my leg as tightly as he could. I held my bow in one hand and rolled my shirt into a ball in the other.
I threw the ball and immediately saw that the arrow had pierced him. I stood up to shoot like lightning, located the archer, and released the arrow. While the arrow was flying, Nixen was already running to catch up with the archer.
I immediately dropped the bow and grabbed my saber, after being able to see the entire landscape I was attacking, using the bow was not an option.