I picked another book from the man's collection, before going to sleep. The book was about bows, fletching, and archery in overall. It explained how to make a bow, from which materials as well as how to shoot it. The techniques were really interesting, and explained basic stances, holds and such. This was a great book for beginners like me, but I wasn't sure about archery.
'My aim isn't that bad to be honest, and surely my skills could translate to a bow after a while. There's just too much on my hands right now. There are my Arts and my body that needs practice. Archery would be a distraction at this point...', I thought but decided to memorize as much as possible. Though at that stage my hands were full of other stuff, it didn't mean archery couldn't become one of my skills in the future.
After rereading the book a few times, and memorizing the most important information, I went to sleep. That man was a stranger, but he could've attacked me a long time ago. Besides, that wouldn't change much since the dream appeared once more.
The dark figure spoke gibberish as usual, but some words appeared more often than others. 'Taking Human language into consideration, words like 'I', 'You' or 'We' appear the most. I'm sure he's talking either about himself, me or something concerning living beings', I figured as the dark figure spoke. Though my thoughts wandered sometimes, I'd always focus on the figure in front of me.
The longer I'd focus, the longer the dream would be. For some reason, he'd 'kill' me only when I wasn't focused on him. That gave me a feeling as if he was trying to teach me that language. Moreover, listening to his speech very often, I noticed that he was saying the same thing over and over again. The problem was, there were no visual clues for me. When parents tech their kids, they'd use visual aid to convey the words spoken. Saying 'an apple' without showing one to the kid, wouldn't make any sense. You could as well say pear, since it wouldn't matter.
That was my predicament. The figure spoke the words, and sometimes moved his hands about, but no visual ques were there to help me out. At some point, my vision turned dark, allowing me to wake up from the dream. 'I'm not sure what to think of this...', my thoughts were interrupted by grumbling of my stomach.
"Morning", the man greeted me from his chair. "You wake up early", I said with a smile while retrieving some meat from my bag. "There's a saying, 'Early bird gets the worm'. How did you like my books?", he asked instead. "You are really knowledgeable. I'm sure you lived through a lot in order to write them. The details of even the simple things is really thorough. My experience is nothing compared with that. Thanks to you though, I've learned many things. I really appreciate you sharing this with me", I replied.
"Heh, alright kid, no need to sugar coat it. You are young, but your willingness to learn is commendable. I used to be hungry for knowledge in the past, but you? I think your hunger is greater than mine... I believe it's time for us to part ways, you have much to discover and learn...", he stopped for a second, before continuing.
"I have a suggestion for you. You read my book about archery, right? Think about learning it. Being able to hunt from a distance is a great advantage. Archery provides you with much more than that, so give it a go", he said and stood up from his chair. He grabbed the book about archery, and handed it to me. "Whether you start today or tomorrow doesn't matter, this book will help you master the basics. This is a gift from me, to a young hunter", he said while giving me the book about archery.
I was stunned for a second. Someone I just met offered me a valuable gift. Though I've read the book, I wasn't able to remember the whole book. The details of stances, and holds alone were too much to remember in one day. "... I have nothing to give you in return though", "Haha. Kid, this is a gift, not exchange. Take it, it's not like I need it anymore", he pressed the book in my hand.
I thanked him sincerely before motioning to Shelly we were leaving. "Ah, one more thing. You asked about the mushrooms, right? I call them Glow Mushroom. I know it's not the most original name, but does the trick. If you look around caves with light bugs, maybe you'll find some", he said as we entered the tunnel. "Thanks! I'll remember it". Me and Shelly left the cave, and climbed back out at the end of the tunnel. Though it wasn't easy, since Shelly had to be strapped to my back, I managed somehow.
That fateful meeting gave me some food for thought. Not only about the Great Forest, but also about my skills. The Bestiary contained creatures people would assume they were legends, which made me wonder what other creatures lurked inside the Great Forest. 'I need to improve myself as much as possible. Once I'm strong enough, maybe I'll be able to one day venture into deep parts of the Silent Pass', I thought.
Our destination didn't change, we were still going to the Silent Pass. Albeit, we wouldn't go deep, like the hunter suggested. The next few days we travelled, trained and hunted. Wolves and bears wouldn't threaten us at that point. Only the variants like the Iron-furred Bear were a problem. Thankfully, these guys weren't common. At the same time, after reading the Bestiary, I was itching to test out some of their weaknesses.
"We have another two weeks ahead of us to the Silent Pass... There's no need to increase the pace, right?", I said to Shelly. "Mah.. mah maah", Shelly replied as if saying we could go even slower. "Hehe, I'm sure you'd like to. We'll not that it matter when we get there".
We were well into the season of spring, which meant new herbs began sprouting. That gave me an opportunity to gather some of them for some concoctions. Moreover, dried herbs weren't as good when producing medicine or even poison. Some were required dry, but usually for medicine, they had to be rather fresh.
Shelly happily ran around trying to find some herbs for me. It couldn't harvest them though. A lot of herbs had to be handled carefully, nonetheless, it could help with finding them. Once Shelly saw a herb I'd like to collect, it would search for it around the forest. 'Our journey got a bit extended, but herbs are as if not more important than getting there... I'll have to set up my pot, and make some stuff soon', I figured.