I took one more day of rest before returning to my training. As expected, snow didn't really help with my Art of Stealth. Even the usual training with speed wasn't possible, as there was no way for me to predict what or where exactly the obstacle were located. Instead of wasting my time, I focused on the Art of Hidden Weapons. More precisely on my theory involving strings.
Before attaching any daggers to those strings, I had to remind myself how to control the puppets. I wasn't able to control more than two puppets at that stage, which meant a long road ahead of me. 'Well, the winter only began. I have time to get better, and there's no one here to disturb us', I figured and refreshed my memory with the two puppets.
Neglecting that skills made it a bit difficult to control the two puppets, but after a few hours, the technique returned to me bit by bit. Like that, the days slowly passed. I improved my handling of the puppets, and even moved closer to controlling the third one properly. The next step was much harder though. Four puppets required less finger than I could manage. While three puppets allowed for at least three fingers per each, the fourth puppet required a change to three and two fingered control.
That might not seem like a lot, but it was a major step in the learning process. Not only did the final five puppets required all of them to be controlled by two fingers only, the movement and gestures had to change. 'We've been here for over a month now... I figure another month or two of practice, and the control of four puppets will be within my grasp', I thought.
That wasn't the only improvement. Thanks to the pose from my modified diagram, I felt much stronger than before. At that point, I could assume the pose for just over ten minutes. Though admittedly, the increase in time slowed down compared to before. On the other hand, the headaches that used to haunt me during my dreams, disappeared. Though the figure spoke gibberish all the same, my head wouldn't hurt like before. The aftermath was much easier to deal with as well. My stomach grumbled after each dream, but didn't hurt nor gave me the feeling of starvation.
Shelly's senses improved thanks to my own training. I needed a target to move my puppets around, while Shelly needed sound and smell to improve it's senses. Two birds with one stone, as the saying goes. We didn't get any other guests either, though one more blizzard occurred during that month. Thankfully, we were always stocked up on food, hence it didn't affect us much.
Because puppetry demanded so much attention and practice, I'd focus on modifying the second diagram once in a while. This was a good distraction from my monotone training, and of course would come useful once the first pose became sort of obsolete. The idea of modification came after trying out the second pose in the book.
Though my body felt weird, I could tell the pose placed stronger stress on the hidden muscles of my body. I tried the third pose as well, just to check what sort of feeling it would bring. That wasn't the best idea, especially after trying the second pose just before. Even though only a minute passed, this placed so much stress on my muscles, I had to rest for the remainder of that day. The experience of the third pose taught me something valuable, 'Don't get greedy'. From that point on, I'd only practice with the first pose, modify the second one and avoid the third pose at all costs. Me and Shelly lost ourselves in the practice once more. We trained like that for the rest of the winter.
Spring brought a warmer weather, melting the snow away. Small buds and leaves sprouted around the forest, signalling the arrival of new life. "Time flies by, eh Shelly?", I said while looking at the forest surrounding us. "Mah!", Shelly exclaimed and rubbed it's head on my leg. The winter, the most volatile season, ended. We survived it in relative comfort, while improving ourselves at the same time. It would be a lie to say I wasn't proud of that achievement.
"This place served us really well, but it's time to move on", I added while taking out my map. According to the drawings, there was a village located north-west. That was the furthest and last village on my map. It became our new destination, and perhaps a place where a new map could be found. 'There is a city called Sadberg more to the east...', the temptation was there. Nick told me to hone my skills, and techniques before visiting any cities. Whether he tried to protect me, or warn me, didn't change the fact I was really curious about cities.
Towns were more advanced and robust villages, but my mind couldn't figure out how a city would look like. Despite the temptation, I decided to heed Nick words. 'I'll visit cities in the future. There will be loads of time left to check the whole Empire out. He who rushes, loses. I shouldn't worry about such things right now', with that thought in mind, we packed ourselves the following day, and continued our journey.
The hut was left in perfectly liveable conditions. If someone ever needed a shelter, they were welcomed to it. 'A shame more people didn't leave such shelter for others to use. The beginnings of my journey would've been so much easier'. With that passing thought, me and Shelly headed deeper into the forest.