The next day after listening to the begger, a fire was burning in Shui as he made his way to the library. Even though he was just five years old, Shui was always one to read instead of play. Though the fact that he had few friends was obviously one of the reasons, it was also because he found reading to be more interesting than playing.
However, the begger's speech had ignited in him a desire to learn martial arts. When he reached the library, he went to the librarian, an amicable old man named Carlos.
"Grandpa Carlos, where can I find books about the human body."
"Oh, they're next to the shelf with ancient legends little Shui."
Of the few people that Shui interacted with, Grandpa Carlos was the only one who he could discuss books with. They were the only two in the clan who used this library on a regular basis, and so it was easy for them to become familiar with each other. Furthermore, once Carlos saw that Shui could actually comprehend the difficult books that he was reading, they quickly became close despite the age gap.
When he reached the location that Grandpa Carlos told him about, Shui took out as many books as he could carry about the structure of the human body. Shui wasn't very good around blood so he rarely looked at such books, but he decided that he needed to learn as much as possible about his own body before trying to learn martial arts.
This may seem like a waste of time, but Shui was the type to always learn the basics before attempting to learn anything else. After two days of reading, he had already memorized ten books worth of information about the human body, and after a week he was ready to move on to the next stage. To any normal person, this rate of learning was unimaginable, but to Shui it was only natural.
While searching for books on the human body, Shui also glanced a few books about martial arts in neighbouring shelves so he could start the next step without bothering Grandpa Carlos. He already knew that martial arts was about how to fight, but besides that he was blank. After comparing the few books he selected that talked about the basics and history of mortal martial arts, he came up with a rough training regimen.
Before anything else, he would need to strengthen his body.
Though he wasn't particularly frail, Shui didn't have the body of a natural-born warrior either. However, before learning martial arts he chose to first bring out his body's potential. He knew this would require strict exercise but he was prepared. He was prepared but, he didn't know what to do. Those who had reached five years old had already begun learning the basics in preparation for when they started cultivation at seven, but for someone without talent like him, it would be hard to find someone in the clan who would be willing to teach him.
Instead, he had to learn from watching. He already heard from Kate what sort of training she had to undergo but he wanted to see it for himself to get a better understanding.
Little girls and boys were doing push-ups in a wide courtyard. This courtyard was outside so it was easy for Shui to watch them as they exercised. Though the muscular instructor obviously didn't like his presence, Shui stayed. When the children were given a break, Kate noticed Shui and went towards him. Following behind her was another boy around their age. Unlike Shui, this boy always carried around a disdainful mindset that shunned any who he didn't acknowledge.
"Oh Shui! Did you come to see me?"
"Uh, not really, I was just watching."
"Do you want to join? The training's really painful at first but it's better once you get used to it."
"Uh, no, I shouldn't,"
"Kate, who's this?"
The boy that followed Kate finally entered the converstaion. Shui immediately had his guard up around this boy since this was their first time meeting.
"Oh, this is my lil' bro. His name is Shui."
"I thought you were an only child."
"I am but he's still my lil' brother."
Shui had already gotten used to Kate's way of addressing him so it didn't bother him, however this boy found it strange.
"Oh, Shui, this is Nathan. He's your cousin."
The moment Shui heard that the boy was his cousin, the guard he had up was strengthened further. He was still small, but he knew that his grandfather hated him and his mother, so he was reluctant to get involved with any relative near them.
Still, he couldn't come off as impolite so while nodding to Nathan, he replied,
"I'm Shui."
"Ah, so as I was saying, are you joining?"
"Ah, no, I'm fine with just watching."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You should go back, your break's almost up."
"Hmm, okay."
A bit disappointed, Kate returned to the courtyard while Nathan followed her. But not before glancing at Shui once more.
From that day, Shui watched them train for a week before starting the copy them. In the morning, his first task was to jog down to the village and then back. The Clan's premises were situated on a plateau, but it wasn't that high or steep so the route itself was possible. However, Shui found it hard to keep his pace down the hill and ended up tripping a few times. Even so, no one had to force him to get back on his feet. Though he didn't know that those at his age wouldn't suddenly start doing the entire course from the beginning, he couldn't allow himself to quit so easily.
Unlike most of those in his age group, he didn't have grand aspirations of becoming a cultivator, that was not only impossible but it also wasn't as interesting to him.
His mind was completely focused on comprehending martial arts. It was the same with books, if there was something he wanted to know then he would use all avenues in order to find it.
After eventually making it down the plateau, to the village at its base, he certainly felt daunted when he looked back up at the path he would have to climb up. However this time, if he wanted to go back home then he had no choice but to go up this path since he didn't know anyone in the village who could give him a ride.
Nauseous, weak and numb to time or sound, he somehow pushed himself forward. This should have been impossible for a five year old, but Shui couldn't be compared to other children in terms of spirit. When he finally made it back up to the plateau after repeated breaks and mishaps, he only took a short break before attempting the next item on his training, one hundred push-ups. Shui's will stayed firm despite the tears that were rolling down his cheeks, but his arms were different, before reaching ten push-ups he could no longer move them and it was getting late.
He was disappointed with himself but he knew that there was no point in forcing the matter any further, so for the time being jogging and pushups were the only two items on his list.