Waking up with a yawn, I stretched my body. Sitting upright, I turned my head to the side, only to find Zack meditating. His skin reflected the light from the sun overhead, drenched in sweat.

My brow perked up as I thought, Just what is he up to now?

I sighed before shaking my head to dismiss the thought. Looking upwards, there were still a few hours before nightfall.

Slowly walking in, I said, “Zack, I’m leaving for now. See you in a few hours.”

Zack didn’t respond, and his expression was still.

Lazily getting up, I stretched my body again before walking towards the cottage. My eyes darted around, taking in the scene once again.

That place does look good. And maybe a lot more free as well.

I shook my head before walking back outside.

I trekked back up the mountain. After half an hour, I was before the familiar door. As I stepped in, I saw dad sitting there, holding a newspaper in his hands.

Dad looked at me walking in before saying, “Although not as good as I imagined, you didn’t do bad either. I can already feel a fighting spirit brewing within him. I hope that this helps him.”

His voice was a bit strained, giving a feeling of resignation and weakness. A self-content smile filled his face.

My eyes narrowed as I asked, “Dad, just what happened? He wasn’t like this before. Even after he woke up, he wasn’t like this. Just what happened yesterday night to change him this much?”

Dad opened his mouth to say something. Before he said anything, he shook his head. He closed his mouth, draping the hall in silence.

Taking the chance, I took a seat, looking at his conflicted face while waiting for a response.

After a few minutes of silence, he said, “I can’t tell you this for now. But I promise to tell you about this when you come back from Zhu’s Monastery. I just hope you would be ready enough to understand it by that time.”

Well, I have a general idea anyway. It’s okay if he doesn’t tell me.

I nodded in understanding before heading back to my room.

On my way, dad asked, “Oh yeah, by the way, when did you make that third circle?”

A smug smile flashed past my face for a moment before I replied nonchalantly, “Ah, that, it happened yesterday. It was an accident, really.”

Dad’s brows rose before he nodded.

While being pleased with his reaction matching what I intended to get, I thought, Next he will ask, Just what sort of accident and I will reply—

However, to my dismay, he picked up the newspaper before focusing on it. And just like that, he poured a bucket of cold water on my elation. Heaving a sigh, I continued to head off to my room.

I lay down there on the bed, thinking about all that had happened over the past few days. When thinking about my core reaching the third circle, excitement filled me as I began twisting left and right like an overexcited cat.

‘I am now starting to feel like my body is a bit lacking. That three circled behemoth feels stuffy. But still, mom said to practice magic for now because for the upcoming time, I would only be practising Ki. Maybe I can even… No, that may be hard. Still, only a matter of time to someone as great as—Ouch!’

While thinking, I turned to my side, resulting in me falling down with a thump. Rubbing my butt, I got up before leaving the room.

“Mom, I’m going to the riverside,” I shouted as I walked. “I’ll be back by dinner time to get the dinner.”

“Okay,” mom said. “Here, take some coppers. Get some ginger on the way back.”

After reaching the riverside, my gaze landed on a familiar wooden sword. A cool wind brushing against me, relaxing my tense body.

I picked up a wooden sword before doing ten sets of practice swings.

You can do that one faster. No, don’t turn it. The edge should be along the direction of force. Keep a firm grip, you idiot. Focus…

Afterwards, I switched for a bow, shooting out arrows.

Pull with not just your wrist, use your whole arm and spread the force through not just your shoulder but whole body. Shoot upwards. Whoo! Clean hit! And now for doing it twice in a—c’mon! It fell!

In a similar fashion, I cycled between a part of wooden weapons lying on the ground, like an excited kid playing with toys.

Having exhausted myself physically, I sat down, cross-legged. Beginning to concentrate, I started absorbing the mana present in the atmosphere. An hour flew by, but I saw no change in the mana cloud, which faintly resembled a fourth circle atop the intermixed three circles.

‘Seems like it’s stuck again. I wonder how long it’d take this time… I hope something like what happened last time happens again. Hehe… Well, too much for hoping like that.’

Although I consoled myself, I still felt dejected at the bottom of my heart.

Opening my eyes, a yawn escaped my mouth. ‘Seems like staying up yesterday wasn’t a good idea. I’m feeling a lot sleepier than usual. Well, time to go back and get dinner before calling it a day for good.’

Getting up, I began sprinting back to the house.

Houses and shops passed me by as I ran through the streets, stopping only after arriving at the house.

“Mom, where’s the dinner?”

“At the table. Did you bring ginger I asked?”

“I forgot. I’ll get it after I come back from dinner.”

Mom sighed before placing a basket on the table.

Picking up the basket, I headed off back to the cottage at the lake below the mountain cliff.

The trip didn’t take as long as the first time, as I was familiar with the way ahead.

Reaching the lake, I found Zack nowhere around, while at the same time, the lights within the cottage were up. Walking in through the door, I placed the basket on the table before strolling around.

I’m looking for Zack and not fulfilling my desires. Mhmm. This doesn’t count.

While self-justifying my actions, I strode into the study. In there, I found Zack focusing on a book at the table in front of him; the book illuminated under the light of a lumistone lamp.

Lumistone — a stone which, when hit against lightly, glows in the dark. However, for a good enough glow, it needs to absorb enough light in the day, otherwise the glow is not bright enough, minimising its use. However, to turn it off, all one can do is to cover it up while waiting for it to run out of the light it absorbed.

Walking next to Zack, I whispered into his ear, “What’re you reading?”

His shoulders shook before he turned to look at me, a weird expression on his face. After a moment, his expression normalised as he said, “Oh, Samuel. Hello.”

Inwardly giving myself a thumbs-up, I repeated the question, “Hi and what’re you reading?”

With a faint smile, Zack said, “I’m reading this age old classic, >. It seems rather interesting.”

Scratching my head, I said, “Oh that book. I read it for a while before next thing I saw was mom waking me up in the morning. Haha… She said it is a great book.”

“Mhmm.” Zack nodded.

“Well, shall we get some dinner while at it?”

“Alright, let’s go. After that, fight me again.”

A wry smile spread on my face as I walked towards the hall to dinner.