Two weeks went by. My control of that puppet improved, but the problem was increasing the number of puppets. I decided to go down the route of increased number of puppets, instead of decreasing the number of fingers used to control one. It was more beneficial for me, to learn how to control a few things at once, instead of control one thing with fewer fingers. Besides my improvements, I talked with Nick about my plan again. He was already searching for the required herbs, but it would take him a while to find them. I also told him that I wanted to try and make that poison myself. I needed the experience, especially with poison. If no one was there to supervise me, I could easily kill myself. This time, Nick agreed to show me everything, and let me practice by myself. We still needed the herbs, we would start from something much more simple. "Poison is not an easy thing to create. If you make mistake, you might poison yourself. Therefore we will start from something much more simple. I will later teach you how to make some basic medicine" he said. I agreed to that. After all, medicine would be very important to me during my travels. As for my Art of Stealth? It hit a wall. I couldn't figure out that "avoid the light" part, even though I watched those fishes for a while. 'I will try to figure it out while I travel. It's pointless to waste my precious time on that, when I can't learn it in the short term' I thought. My medical knowledge was advancing too. I managed to memorize 38 recipes from the Great Scriptures of Evil Medic. There was a catch though. The ones I memorized, were usually the easiest and seem most useful to me. The leftover recipes were much harder to memorize, due to the sheer amount of details they included. I had to memorize them perfectly, because one mistake, one lacking ingredient, and the recipe would be a failure. Nick also showed me a few places in Human body, which when struck correctly, could save or kill someone. They were the pressure points, and I only learned a few of them. But the usability was really great. I could make someone faint, paralyse their limbs or make them lose balance. The effects were temporary, but at least something. Nick only passed a few points to me, as I needed to focus on other things before he passed away. I had one more book, but I couldn't read it at this stage. It was the Manual, that I found on Rand's disciple. I assumed it was a copy, and probably incomplete at the same time, but I had my sights on the original. 'The original must be kept somewhere in Rand's mansion. If not there, he must've hidden it somewhere else, somewhere more secure. When I deal with this village, I will search for it' I thought. In case I didn't find it, I still had the copy buried at a safe location outside the village. A few more days passed, while I tried with two puppets at once. It was more difficult, but definitely doable. Nick visited me again that day, and said "I see you are already trying with the second puppet. That's great, keep it up". I asked, "Are you here because of the herbs?". He shook his head while replying, "No, I'm here for another reason. I will tell you about the last step in the Art of Hidden Weapons. As I said, I'm not a master, and I haven't reached that step either. But who knows what the future holds for you?". I nodded my head, then asked "What type of training do I have to do then?". Nick replied with a smile, "It's simple boy. You have to become the hidden weapon. I myself don't know what that means, and whether that is the mastery. All I know, is that this is the next step". I was baffled at this stage. 'First, I get the "avoid the light" thing. Now "become the hidden weapon" thing. What is wrong with these people. Can't he just tell me? Why teach me in riddles like this?!' I thought. Nick saw my expression, and continued "Don't worry. This time, I will actually tell you more. Remember that you are learning the Art of Hidden Weapons from me, and at the same time, you are developing your own Art. What that means, is quite simple. It means for you to be the Hidden Weapon. In other words, all of you should become the Hidden Weapon". "How you interpret what I said, is up to you. I will not help you any further, and I can't really. I didn't master this step. I have some insights in it, but I never mastered it. Mostly because I spent my time on the Art of Medicine. I have my doubts whether I could be a master in any of the Arts anyway. I learned them from my master, and therefore I could only reach this far". I nodded, and promised him I would try my best. He left shortly after, while I wondered about that new step. 'I'm supposed to become the hidden weapon, but how? Carry weapons all over my body? So that every inch of my body is a weapon? Is that even possible? Or does that mean something else entirely?' I asked myself. I didn't know what else to think. I was sure of one thing though, I wouldn't be able to figure it out quickly. 'I need to focus on those puppets first. I also need to memorize the Great Scriptures of Evil Medic as much as I can' I thought. I had to focus on what I could achieve, not something that I had no clue about. Other than my training, I noticed some changes with Shelly. Although Shelly returned to the lifestyle of doing pretty much nothing all day, it's appetite was still better than before. In the past, Shelly would eat one or maybe two fishes a day. Now though, it ate at least five. I didn't think much about it at first, but then I noticed slight increase in Shelly's size. It wasn't much, a few centimetres at most, but it seemed to me that Shelly was still growing. 'Just how big can this turtle be then? It's been a few months at best, yet Shelly grew a few centimetres. What about two or three years? Wouldn't Shelly grow to be large enough, to not fit though the doors?' I asked myself. It was entirely possible it wouldn't grow much more. I was only speculating. I walked over to sleeping Shelly, and asked "Just how big are you going to grow?". I didn't expect an answer, as it was rather a rhetorical question. Besides Shelly was asleep. It didn't really matter to me that much, but taking Shelly inside cities and villages, could pose problems later. To my surprise Shelly woke up, and looked at me confused. I patted its head, and said jokingly "Your are growing up. Soon, we will have to make the doors bigger, for you to leave the house. Hehehe". Shelly looked at me with its watery eyes, as if I was saying it was too fat. I smiled while adding, "I was just joking you know. Don't look at me like that. You can eat as much as you like". Shelly nodded seemingly satisfied with my answer... and then went back to sleep. 'That turtle...' I thought. It always stunned me how Shelly acted more like a dog, than a turtle. It would beg for food when I ate, and always wanted to play when it wasn't asleep. The only difference was, it's tail was very small and didn't wiggle. I let Shelly sleep, while I focused on my training instead. The time for my plan, was coming closer and closer.