The next day, I visited Nick with my newly finished dagger. I was ready to finally learn something about the Art of Hidden Weapons. "Can we start the training now?" I asked, showing him my dagger. Nick smiled, and replied "Let me have look". I passed it to Nick, and he examined it for a while. He asked confused, "Why does it look so weird?… Hmmm? This balance... it's great! Maybe not perfect, but great nevertheless. The design is also... so that's how it is". I was a bit smug about my own creation, and said "Ha! Who do you think I am?". Nick didn't enjoy my smugness. He said, "This dagger is very good. It seems you have a knack for smithing. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about smithing... Maybe if you visited one of the cities, you could learn some proper smithing skills. Terent is the closest.... Think about it in the future". I asked, "Terent? Never heard of it". He replied "Oh, right. Well you shouldn't have, considering the place you were brought up. It's about a month of travel away from here. It would be faster of course, if you used a horse". I was shocked. 'That far? And to the closest city? Just how big is this Empire?' I asked myself. I thought about something, then asked "How far are we from Endros Imperial City?". Nick shrugged, "What, from here to Imperial City? I don't know, half a year? Maybe more. Of course, there exist a specific transport method, but you will find that out when you go on your travels". I nodded, but I was still stunned. 'Half a year... I really need a map of this place' I thought to myself. Nick changed the topic, back to my dagger. "So, how did you make it, mould?" he asked. I nodded, "Yes, I had to carve the shape from wood first. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to create such shape by, you know, a hammer. This is so intricate, I doubt anyone could". Nick replied, "You underestimate blacksmiths. Master blacksmiths can create stuff of your dreams. Intricate? This dagger would be nothing to them. Anyway, a lot of beginner blacksmiths use moulds. Moulds are usually created by skilled people, who like you, can carve such shapes. The mould weapons are worse, from what I know, but this should be fine for now". He then continued "Now that you have a dagger, we can start your training. I will see you back at your house later, wait for me there". I nodded my head, and left. Nick took his time to arrive. I was very excited about the new training, and the time seemed to pass slowly. When he finally appeared, he said "I will now show you the first step in the Art of Hidden Weapons". After my slight nod, Nick continued, "Although this might seem weird to you, but the first step is your aim. I'm aware you trained your aim before, but this will be different". Nick retrieved five hey puppets from the corner of my house, and walked back to me. 'I'm pretty sure, those things were not there. Where the hell is he getting those things from?' I asked myself. He just replied, "You will learn in the future. As for why I have those puppets, it's precisely for your aim practice". I replied "Right, so I will throw my dagger at the puppets? How is that different from, I don't know, a tree?". Nick replied with a smile, "Because the puppets will move". My expression said it all. 'What nonsense is he on about?'. He continued, "Don't look so stupid. Of course these puppets cannot move by themselves. That is why, I will train with you. I have to control these puppets, for them to become moving targets. You have only one dagger, therefore I will use one puppet only. Well, even if you had more, I think one is enough for now". I asked "So, I just have to hit the puppet with my dagger?". Nick laughed while saying, "If you can that is. You will have one shot only, so you will learn to retrieve your daggers during the battle too. When you throw the dagger, you need to retrieve it, but the enemy will not be kind enough to stop the battle, and let you do that. Not only will you learn to aim properly, you will learn how to retrieve your weapon. Alright?". I nodded, while the puppet began moving. "Use your previous experience, and hit the puppet" he said, while the puppet rushed at me. Aiming at a moving object, especially one that was controlled by Nick, was not easy. I couldn't read Nick's movements, it was a mystery to me what would happen next. My previous training in the behaviour patterns, was useless here. I couldn't hit the puppet even once. Although the puppet couldn't harm me, every time it would, Nick said "You are dead". It was driving me mad. 'I know already!' I thought, when the puppet touched me again. This went on for a long time, but I did even manage to hit the puppet once. Nick was really skilled at controlling that puppet. Even the act of retrieving my dagger, without hearing "You are dead", was very difficult. I asked "You must be using some sort of string, to control the puppet right?". I couldn't see any strings, hence the question. Nick smiled while replying, "That will be part of your training too. When the time comes, I will explain it". I nodded my head, and sat down to have a rest. Nick continued, "We will train like this for few hours every day. I will come by in the evening, or around that time. You already had some training with aim, so you shouldn't worry too much. You just have to get adjusted, and read my patters. That is all". I laughed "It's not easy to ready you though". He grinned, "I wouldn't be teaching you, if it was". He then left. I spent the rest of the evening, reading the Great Scriptures of Evil Medic. I tried to memorize more recipes from this book, whenever I could. My next day looked pretty much the same. Pound some metal, cast a dagger, visit a river and train with Nick. Days turned into weeks, and then into a month. The date of the wedding was coming closer as well. I already had the poisons, I had my weapons, but I lacked one more thing. Thoughout the time I had, I decided what my revenge would look like. 'Killing them is too simple and to quick. I want them to suffer. She chased me and beat me up many times. A quick death, is not something I am willing to consider. She has to suffer too' I thought. That's when I found a recipe for another poison. It was called Everlasting Dew. This poison was really nasty. It would strip Human's ability to reproduce. In other words, a male would become impotent, while a female would lose the ability to bare children. The herbs used to make it, were not that rare, but not easy to find either. I asked Nick about this poison. and he really liked the idea. He promised he would deliver that poison to me, before the wedding took place. I didn't have to worry about my skills either. I was able to hide from pretty much anyone inside the village, excluding Nick of course. With my new training in the Art of Hidden Weapons, I would also have means to defend myself if something went wrong. 'Idealy, I would like to simply enter, feed them the poison, then leave. If I have to do, I will use my weapons' I thought. Althought this would be their grand celebration day, I would make it beggining of their nightmare.