It was now the middle of autumn and the mornings were getting both later and colder.
Despite it being a bit harder to drag himself out of his warm bed in the morning, Lucas persisted in his routine, often waking up while it was barely light outside to practice the Unarmed Foundations Martial Art.
Additionally, after a few months of building up his strength and stamina, the young boy had also begun incorporating other kinds of exercises into his daily workout, like long-distance running and practicing with his sword stances.
Before the accident, Lucas had been taught some basic weapon handling skills by his mother, so it wasn't like he was a complete amateur when it came to swordplay, but similar to how he would 'recall' new exercises the more he exercised, the more he swung his wooden sword, the more certain 'memories' would appear to him.
These new memories wouldn't immediately be clear, and also wouldn't instantly allow him to become proficient with a sword, but they did seem to help him understand how he should be practicing with it and how he should be training to improve himself.
Having already promised his mother and father that any time he recalled something from his new memories he would share it with them, Lucas didn't hesitate to pass along these bits of knowledge about how to better wield a sword to them.
Anna and Drake appreciated this greatly as some of this information was also useful to them, both in terms of sword fighting and sword smithing.
After a good morning workout, despite the chill in the air, Lucas was still covered in sweat and eager to clean himself off before he cooled down too much, or else he would end up shivering quite a bit.
Drawing water from the well, the young boy opened a small bottle and looked inside, only to sigh deeply as it was practically empty. No matter how hard Lucas had tried, it seemed he couldn't make this bottle of Bathing Cream last past today.
Deciding he would at least get one final proper wash, the boy made up his mind and poured some water into the small bottle, shaking it hard before emptying it into the larger washbasin he had prepared earlier.
Enjoying what would likely be his last refreshing scrub for a while, Lucas' resolve to figure out how to make his own Bathing Cream grew stronger than ever.
Today was a rest day, so Lucas didn't have any lessons to teach at the Town Lord's Manor, but that didn't mean he didn't have things he needed to do.
Getting dressed again, Lucas walked over to a shed behind his father's smithy where a small handcart was parked along with a dozen or so medium sized wooden barrels.
With some difficulty, the boy loaded 4 of these barrels, each of which weighed nearly a third as much as he did, onto the cart before he grabbed the handlebar and set off for town.
Over the months, although Lucas had failed to come up with a way to make his own Bathing Cream, he had gotten far more skillful at making Ash-Water, or 'Cleaning Solution' as he now called it.
By now, he had figured out that he could only store Cleaning Solution in certain types of containers, otherwise it would lose it potency or damage the container itself. The boy had also found out that he could only concentrate his Cleaning Solution so much before it started to form a strange kind of solid white residue that sank to the bottom of the barrels, joining the loose ashes.
Lucas had gotten so good at this whole process that he had even begun selling it to a few local businesses that had taken an interest in this novel cleaning product. It was also for this reason that he had come up with a new name for it as just calling it Ash-Water would have allowed other people to instantly figure out exactly what he was selling and how they could make it for themselves, which would be bad for business.
While he wasn't particularly interested in making money, Lucas wasn't opposed to the idea either as he figured having his own funds would allow him to buy things he wanted, like more Bathing Cream, or snacks, or Bathing Cream, or toys, or Bathing Cream…
About a quarter-hour later, Lucas arrived at his first, and for that matter only customer for today. Resting the handcart next to the back entrance to the shop, Lucas walked up to the door, knocked hard on it, and called out, "Aunt Farah, are you in?"
Soon after, a tall, muscular, middle-aged woman with a big meat cleaver in hand opened the back door to the shop and spat somewhat harshly, "Oi, little brat, you're late."
Farah cut a rather imposing figure, and the scars on her arms and face gave her quite the frightening appearance. Even her attitude and way of speaking was gruff and abrupt. The bloody apron she wore and the giant cleaver she held in her hand didn't do much to soften this image either. All in all, she was the kind of woman who would probably make small children cry in fright the first time they saw her.
Hell, even fully grown men were intimidated by her scowl.
That being said, Farah, the owner of the largest butcher shop in Redwood Town, was actually very well liked amongst the townsfolk. While first impressions of Farah might be poor, after interacting with her, it was hard not to have a positive view of this stoic woman.
Though Farah was blunt, she always conducted business fairly and was willing to chip in and help others whenever they needed a hand. In particular, Farah was one of the biggest supporters of the town's orphanage, giving generously to help support the young children who had lost their parents to one disaster or another. She even employed a number of the orphans in her shop when they became old enough.
Perhaps it was because she didn't have a family of her own, but she seemed to be particularly fond of kids, though many really did cry the first time they came face-to-face with her.
In any case, Lucas had known Farah for a number of years now, so he wasn't the least bit frightened of this woman who would, every now and then, give him and the other town kids some leftover sausages when they came back from playing around town.
Bowing his head slightly, Lucas put on his best business smile, which given his age still looked more cute than anything else, and said, "I'm sorry, Aunt Farah, I got caught up this morning with something and set out a bit later than I expected. I'll make sure to be on time next time."
"Hmph, as long as you understand," Butcher Farah, as she was commonly referred to, just grunted before walking over to the hand-cart and grabbing two of the barrels with a single hand and hoisting them up without the slightest of difficulty.
Lucas was once again reminded of just how ridiculously strong Butcher Farah was, a fact that before his accident hadn't made much of an impression on him, but recently had caused him some confusion.
Over the past couple of months, Lucas had repeatedly been exposed to knowledge about Qi and cultivation, and although he hadn't officially begun to cultivate, from his own experiences and observations of others doing so, the young boy had faintly begun to sense the unique 'aura' that surrounded others who were taking in World Qi or circulating Spirit Qi.
When Lucas mentioned this to his mother, she had been quite pleasantly surprised as it was apparently a sign he was very sensitive to Qi, which probably meant his Innate Talent for cultivation was high.
That all being said, Lucas had never sensed any kind of Spirit Qi aura coming from Butcher Farah at all, not even when he saw her carrying a giant Horned Boar that must have weighed at least 10 times as much as he did over her shoulder like it was as light as a feather!
It was a shocking display of raw strength that Lucas wasn't certain his mother or father could pull off, and they were both in the Vein Opening Realm.
A Body Tempering Realm Practitioner, like Eris, couldn't store Spirit Qi in their body for long, so they didn't have the aura of Spirit Qi around them no unless they were actively cultivating. As for Vein Opening Realm cultivators, they would have a small amount of Spirit Qi flowing through them at all times, which made it possible for those who were sensitive to Spirit Qi to identify them, though for most people it would be almost impossible to realize.
As for those in the Core Formation Realm, Lucas had only met one, his Uncle Charles, so he couldn't be certain, but they seemed to innately give off a different kind of aura as they had much more Spirit Qi insider their bodies at all times compared to Vein Opening Practitioners.
Given this, it was hard for Lucas to understand why his Aunt Farah was so strong. Without any signs of Spirit Qi, she should at most be in the Tenth Step Body Tempering Realm, making the young boy wondered if Farah was just naturally gifted with great strength.
In any case, it was only a curiosity Lucas had that didn't seem to matter much, so he simply set it aside while picking up one of the barrels to bring inside.
Butcher Farah had actually been Lucas' first customer, and she was also the one who ordered from him the most frequently as his Cleaning Solution seemed to be quite useful for her when it came to scrubbing down her floors, tables, and walls. Not only was the solution good at getting the blood out, but it also seemed to eliminate many foul smells that were normally left behind by her rather gory profession.
Noticing that the shop was empty, Lucas couldn't help asking, "Where's Big Brother Tom?"
With her cleaver in one hand, and two barrels in the other, Butcher Farah didn't even look back as she muttered, "There's nothing much to do today, so I told that boy help out at the orphanage instead."
Lucas raised a brow, but didn't ask any further. While it was technically a rest day, that didn't mean people wouldn't be coming to the butcher shop.
In fact, many people would do more shopping on a rest day than a normal day, so Lucas expected Butcher Farah to be quite busy in the coming hours. Even so, she had given Tom the day off, which either meant the boy wasn't feeling well, or the orphanage was short on hands and needed help.
Lucas was reminded again that while she seemed ill-tempered, Farah was indeed a caring individual.
Mentally checking his schedule for the day, Lucas confirmed he was free for the rest of the morning and thus spoke up, "I noticed the front of the shop hasn't been swept up yet. How about I take care of that while you bring in the last barrel of Cleaning Solution, Aunt Farah?"
Farah paused her footsteps briefly before continuing on with a snort, "Do whatever you want."
Each barrel of Cleaning Solution was quite heavy for Lucas, but to Farah they might as well be air, so her bringing them in would naturally be much easier; however, even if Lucas did it himself, it wouldn't take very long.
On the other hand, cleaning up the front of the shop, while perhaps easier, would take much, much longer regardless of who did it. If Lucas had simply volunteered to help out, Farah probably would have rejected him, but since he phrased it as an exchange, she decided to let the boy's good intentions slide.
After setting down the barrel he was carrying, Lucas grabbed a nearby broom and walked out to the front of the shop while Butcher Farah sauntered over to get the last barrel from the cart.
For the next quarter-hour, Lucas swept up the dust and dirt, carefully piling it towards the front door before propping it open and sweeping it outside. Finished with the cleanup, he then headed into the back of the shop, where he found Butcher Farah busy chopping up some fresh meat.