Since I moved in with Liam, I expected the training to worsen and become increasingly painful, but Liam actually switched to more tame methods of training. At least, it seemed that way compared to what I started with.

Liam decided to move outside the wall to continue our work and to avoid detection from other residents. On the day we would start this training, I traveled to the place I had my first lesson and the place I got my staff.

Once I arrived, I saw Liam sitting against a large tree as usual His staff set aside, standing against the same tree. “I’m here,” I called out to him.”

“I know,” he replied with his arm’s crossed, “I could hear you from a mile away.”

It seemed Liam was back in his grumpy personality again. I just hoped this wouldn't affect my training in any way. Liam held his eyes shut until I got within ten feet of him. He opened his eyes just enough to see the narrow slits of his pupils.

“What are we going to do here?” I asked.

Liam did not answer my question. Instead, he simply took his staff and climbed to his feet, gently brushing his legs as he did. Liam held both hands on the end of his staff and tapped on the ground before saying, “Today, we will just be covering the basics.”

“The basics of what,” I asked.

“The basic techniques for a wielder of a staff. You will be learning the main stances, grips, and the necessary movements.”

This was a massive relief. As much as I wanted to gain power, I did not feel it was worth it to get beaten every day. I was glad to finally have some more tame methods.

Just before walking to a more open area of the forest, Liam slid his staff to the iron rig on his back. The rig was had two small loops that were connected by a long narrow plate. The whole piece was attached to a leather strap that was worn over the shoulder similar to an arrow quiver. I was wearing one nearly identical to Liams, though, mine looked much newer and less battle-ridden.

“Stand here,” Liam commanded after he found a suitable location, tapping his foot where he wanted me to go. I did exactly as I was told, and Liam stood a good distance in front of me.

Liam stood with perfect posture and said, “In a real battle, you must be able to be prepared at a moment’s notice. This means it’s crucial to set up a good combat position as fast as possible.”

“Right,” I said, fully ready to get started.

“Watch, and follow my steps,” he said, “First, grab your staff and drop low with one leg in front of the other.”

Both Liam and I followed the first step, almost perfectly synchronized.

“Next,” he continued, “pull the staff out of the rig and slap it into your other hand. Be sure to place the second hand in the center. If you go too far up you won’t be able to have enough leverage to get a good hit, and if you don't have enough then the weight will be unbalanced.

Again, we both followed the step simultaneously. However, I placed my hands far too close together. This caused the far end of my staff to drop much lower than I intended. With some adjustments, I got my hands into a comfortable position and waited for Liam to give his next instructions.

“Now,” Liam said as he lowered his staff and stood straight again, “repeat that one thousand times.”

“What?!” I yelled. It was such a simple task that required only two movements, so why did he want me to repeat it such an unreasonable amount?

“I don’t think you understand how dangerous a battle is,” Liam scolded, “In the time it took you to get into position and adjust for your mistake, your enemy would have already killed you. So, you need to master everything I teach you, even the minor things such as this.

“But–” I whimpered.

“Just do it,” he said as he gave me a death glare.

The glare alone was enough to make me do just about anything. So, at that moment I started counting the numbers. Every time I would drop my legs and get into position, I would count by one. I tried to minimize the downtime between stances, so after every attempt, I would hastily put my feet together and get in a neutral stance.

From that point on, I spent the rest of the day just counting. After I finished, I went back to the house to rest and repeated the same process again. Every day Liam would assign a new stance or technique. Every day, I would repeat the same movements one thousand times.

This process repeated for three weeks. Six days I would spend in the forest training, only to earn one day of rest. On the first day of the fourth week, Liam stopped me just as I was about to walk out the door.

“We won’t be walking to the training grounds today,” he said as he held my shoulder.

“What?” I asked, “Why not?”

“We’ll be running,” he said with a mysterious smile.

By that point, the new addition to the training came with no surprise. Within just a few minutes we both were sprinting down the streets. Many of the people standing around gave us odd looks as we raced past them, but I didn’t mind too much. My only focus was to not collapse and die.

We continued to run for nearly an hour. I was quickly running out of breath, and my steps were gradually becoming more staggered and irregular, whereas Liam was keeping a steady pace, showing no signs of exhaustion.

Soon, we arrived at the usual location. Instantly, I dropped to the ground drenched in sweat. My knees both sat in the dirt with my arms resting on them. My head hung low as I desperately tried to catch my breath It took every ounce of my energy just to make it to the forest, but when I lifted my head to look at Liam, I saw he was still standing with no problem. In fact, not a single drop of sweat ran down his face.

“Get into position,” he said, giving me no time to recover.

Reluctantly, I lifted myself, immediately having to catch myself on the nearest tree. With some effort, I managed to get into my spot and await whatever orders Liam might give me.

Liam grabbed his staff and tapped it on the ground as always and said, “We’ll be doing something different today.”

That part was already made clear by all the running.

“You’ve already learned most of the basics,” he continued, “so today we're going to put them to use.”

“You want me to fight you?” I asked while imagining the worst possibilities.

“When did I say we would be fighting?”

“Well–” I uttered with mild embarrassment.

“No,” Liam said, “We won’t be fighting today. Today I want you to deflect these stones.”

Liam grabbed a stone from a rather large bag tied around his waist. I guessed it was able to hold twenty or thirty of the small stones, assuming they were all identical. I never notice he had it until now. I must have been too distracted by the running.

“The rules are simple,” he continued, “You are not allowed to move from where you are standing, and you must deflect as many of these stones as possible.”

With that short introduction, Liam vanished, disappearing into the trees. I could hear the distant ruffling of leaves and the occasional high-pitched snapping of twigs. I knew that the stones would come in at high speeds any second.

I grabbed my staff and dropped into position, ready to defend from any position. Liam’s high-speed dashes reminded me of the last time I encountered it. I remembered how using my normal senses wasn’t enough to pinpoint his location. Before Liam got a chance to attack, I cast the same wind spell as before, Using the circulating wind to find the stones.

From the left at about sixty degrees, I felt a small, yet fast-moving disturbance heading straight for me. Sensing the incoming target, I lifted my staff above my head and swung straight down. I sensed the stone from the moment it was first thrown, but my timing was off, and I completely missed it. The stone flew right past my staff and found itself hitting my gut.

I hunched over and grunted in pain, but I knew wasting any time would be detrimental. As soon as I was able, I returned to my stance, still slightly leaning to cover the pain, and waited for the next one. The next stone came from the right ninety degrees.

With no hesitation, I planted my feet firmly against the ground and held my staff in front of my body. This time I avoided swinging and opted for a simple block instead. This proved to be much more effective. The stone hit perfectly against the wood and was knocked back and was sent almost straight down, slamming down just inches from my feet.

Liam continued to throw the stones for the rest of the day. I was far too preoccupied to count, but I could only assume he threw one thousand. That seemed to be his favorite number after all.

Every day, I was forced to run to the forest, and block another thousand stones. Each day I was pushed to near-death by exhaustion. Six days a week, for three weeks. On the last day of rest, I was couldn’t fall asleep. I spent the night with wide eyes, terrified of what kind of training I might be forced into next.

After the last day of rest, Liam came into my room and woke me up far earlier than I was accustomed to. “Get up,” He said, “You have something to do.”

Of course I had something to do. When didn’t I have something to do?

“Agh,” I grunted as I rose from my slumber, “Couldn’t this wait until later?”

“No,” he said with a slightly louder voice, likey irritated by my lack of enthusiasm, “With your usual schedule, we won’t have enough time in the day for what I have planned.”

“You hate me, don’t you,” I said as I angrily threw my covers to one side and climbed to my feet, stretching my arms and back as I did so. Liam stood awkwardly as I stretched, and left the room once I was finished. Unsure of what would happen next, I followed Liam. I thought he might give me some more information.

When I stepped out of the room, I saw the dining room was stocked full of fresh food. A single large plate with every food I would possibly want sat in front of one of the chairs, along with a steaming glass of coffee. There was bread that looked to be freshly baked, eggs that looked freshly laid, and fruit that looked freshly picked.

I looked in amazement as I admired the sight. “What’s all this for?” I asked while unconsciously moving towards the seat.

“You’ve gotten through some of the most intense training I had to offer,” he said, seeming glad to have tortured me, “Your body had adapted to the work you’ve put in, and this is your reward for it.”

“Wow,” I said, still in shock.

A small smile crept across Liam's face as he said, “Now don’t expect me to do this every day, and you still have more work to do.”

Within just fifteen minutes, everything Liam prepared was gone. It had been a long time since I’ve eaten anything with flavor, that I completely forgot to cherish the taste. After I inhaled every crumb on the plate, I regretted the speed at which I ate. The entire time, Liam stood next to the table, just watching. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but all his staring was beginning to creep me out.

Just after I finished, Liam lifted one foot and kicked the table across the room with unimaginable force. Multiple chairs were caught in the kick and flew across the room with the table. Only I and the chair I was sitting in remained in the center of the room.

“What was that for!?” I yelled as I angrily stood to confront Liam’s aggression.

Without saying a word, Liam lifted his foot again and kicked the last remaining chair. I turned and proceeded to try and catch the chair, but it was a pitiful attempt. It was kicked with such force that I had no chance to even lay a finger on it. The room now felt completely empty, with the exception of the new pile of furniture in the far corner.

“Wha-? At least tell me what you want!” I said. Liam’s, rather annoying, habit of putting on a show was becoming exponentially more annoying with each use. There was no need to be so aggressive, and I didn’t understand why he felt the need to act this way.

“For your new training,” Liam said, “You will only need to sit.”

“Where do you want me to sit?” I asked sarcastically as I spread both my arms, gesturing towards the empty room.

Liam raised his eyebrows and said, “Right where you're standing.”

“On the floor?”

He nodded. I wanted to ask what kind of training required me to sit on the floor, but I knew any further questions would go unanswered. Following his instructions, I sat on the floor with my legs crossed, mumbling under my breath as I did.

Liam waited for me to get settled and said, “Now, close your eyes and your mind. I want you to ignore everything around you.”

Those instructions seemed easy enough. Though, it seemed odd that Liam, the man that has spent the last three weeks pushing me to be hyperaware of my surroundings, wanted me to ignore everything.

I chose not to question his motives and shut my eyes. This warped my sense of time. I found it quickly became hard to tell how much time had passed. What felt like a few seconds could have been several minutes, hours, or maybe it was exactly what it felt like, just a few seconds. I had no way to know.

The entire time I sat, Liam stood in front of me. He never said anything to let me know he was there, but he never walked away, and I could hear his subtle breathing. I wasn’t sure what he was watching for, but he was there.

After what felt like the entire day. The wooden board I assumed was under one of Liam’s feet creaked. Perhaps it was an unconscious action or paranoia from the number of times Liam attacked me without warning, but I instantly cast the detection spell without moving a muscle.

Liam felt the air around him shift, so whacked me across the side of my head with the end of his staff and yelled, “I said close your mind!”

My eyes opened against my will and my hands covered my head to mask the pain. “I know what you said!” I yelled back.

Liam began mumbling in disappointment, “It hasn’t even been an hour and you’ve already failed once.”

Not even an hour? I was sure I almost made it through the day. This new training was the least physically demanding by far, but I had a gut feeling it would be my least favorite. I continued this training for three weeks with six days of training and one day of rest.