Author's note - I will switch from personal POV to 3rd person POV every now and then because I am not that comfortable in doing personal POVs yet. I feel more inclined in using 3rd POV. But I will do my best to make the novel more into a personal view thingy…
Chapter 6
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A figure could be seen running through the forest while on his back is a large stone being held by both his hand at the base. The expression on the face of the figure carrying the large rock is a bit ugly as he seems to be exerting all of his might just to be able to lift the rock up.
However, in contrast to his expression, he is actually able to run up and down the small hill which is covered in lust green trees.
Xin Wei has been inside this forest for a few months now. He only has one thing in his mind as of late, and that is to become stronger.
He has learned some skills like martial arts, medicine, herbalism, and survival from his old grandpa who would always supervise his training.
In the course of these months, his medicinal knowledge has become deeper and wider, and because of this, he discovered something with the old man's body.
The old grandpa is actually very sick.
In fact, he is actually dying.
Terminal cancer... that is what he found in the old man's body. The disease has already spread throughout his old body. And this is the reason why the old man is slowly becoming weaker. In fact, the old man left his family in secret and lived a hermit life in the forest because of this.
He did not want his family to worry about him and did not want them to spend money on something so hopeless. As a medical practitioner, he knew that his time is up and it would only take some time before he would soon be gone. But due to his rigorous body and way of living that time was extended until now.
Even though Xin Wei did not want the old grandpa to die, he has no choice but to accept this fate. His resentment and anger towards fate grew. He has suffered too much and the old man was the only source of his comfort. And now he is going to be taken away from him?
How cruel could the gods be that they would not let him have any form of comfort?
And this is another reason why his resolve became stronger and his determination intensified.
The old man who is assisting him on the other hand would always show a satisfied smile on his face upon seeing the improvement of the young man.
…
I am carrying this heavy stone for hours already but I still continue running. I am monitoring and trying to balance between my breathing, body stress, and my fatigue which I can feel with my body. And this I do, to monitor the slow growth of my strength.
I suddenly discovered that my strength has become really hard to improve these days. Out of all the stats that I have, strength seems to be base on the effort I put forward towards my muscle strengthening exercises.
Though my body is not that buff, my muscles have already become well-defined and visible.
My intelligence has reached 13 and has not grown even though I gained much new knowledge and understanding towards the teaching of old grandpa. But my dexterity has grown so much after I began to practice and slowly master martial arts.
I can even tell that I can already run at a superhuman speed of around 80 kph. which is also the maximum value of my dexterity on normal conditions. And my agility and perception have also become sharp because of this.
Usually, at night, I would go out secretly. Since no one is looking, I would always go all out and run, jump, and fly freely through the forest and the trees, and I would do this to my heart's content.
My strength has still grown to 10. Though it was the slowest and lowest of all my stats, I have still developed it and I could now lift up to 100kg with ease. The rock that I am lifting right now looks heavy but in truth, it is not. It only weighs around 100 kg so I can easily carry it with me while running.
However, I have to show an expression of exerting an effort as I don't want old grandpa to see me as a monster.
Along with the growth of my body comes the energy I needed to consume every day. I found myself needing to eat more food. And so, in relation to that, I would usually stay deep in the forest and gather or hunt my own food. I would take some to grandpa whenever I came back.
After running for a while, I have already calculated that I have run further away from the old house.
"I think this distance is far enough…" I thought as I look around and when I could sense no one in the surroundings, I suddenly put down the large stone and suddenly jumps up high and like a lizard clings to a tree and climbs it quickly.
I can now see the entire forest from above the tree. My vision also has improved and could see even in a far distance, which I think about 10 kilometers away. I can see some buildings and houses in a particular direction. And I knew that in that direction civilization exists. However, I dare not go there yet.
I have to prepare a lot of things first. I need to get stronger first. Plus now I don't want to leave old grandpa in this place alone.
Not long later, I began to gather some fruits from the trees.
Along with my growth, I have also noticed some changes in the green window panel. As of now, whenever I touch, eat, or hear something or anything that my five senses could make in contact with, those things would register in my mind.
Hence every time I see new things I would either smell, taste, or touch them to identify their properties.
It's like an identifying factor for anything in my surroundings. I knew that this is caused by a new tab that appears in the window panel. The tab is called skills.
From what I can see, I seem to have learned identification skills. Identification is a skill that helps me know what I am looking at in one glance. And a more detailed explanation can be obtained by using my other five senses.
It is a really helpful skill that helped me in my survival training, plus in harvesting edible food and medicinal herbs.
And then there is another one, a martial arts technique. The skill name is called Heaven Seeking fist. It is a fighting style that uses my fists and has explosive power in close combat.
Though I haven't tested it yet in actual fights, I could feel its power and strength whenever I practice on trees. This is because I could cause the thick bark of the trees to break.
Other than that there are other skills in there which include the passive skills of acupuncture and herbalism.
These past few weeks I have already trained my body and mind to adapt to my circumstances, and along with my desire, my growth became satisfactory.
After harvesting and eating my fill, I decided to return to the old dilapidated house. I began cooking for the old grandpa with the ingredients I pick from the forest.
He seems to like my cooking even though we lack some necessary ingredients, like salt, pepper, or other spices. However, I was still able to make the food taste scrumptious.
After dinner, grandpa suddenly said with an expressionless face.
"Young Xin, I want to show you something… At first, I am reluctant to show you this. But after seeing your resolve, I think it is fine for you to see…"
These past few days I seldom see him smiling. I could see in the corner of his eyes that he is in pain, but he is trying his best to suppress it. He would always ask me to use acupuncture on him, but I don't know if it was the best solution.
We walked to a clearing behind the old house.
"Young Xin… I am grateful for your companionship. I have seen your growth and I am really proud to have a good grandson like you."
"What is grandpa talking about? It sounded like he is saying his goodbye... Sigh…" I thought to myself as I could help but sigh.
I knew that time is getting near as I have seen the condition of his body. But I still could not help but feel gloomy.
I did not say anything and just nodded my head and smiled.
"This is the last thing that I can teach you. This is… this is my legacy…" he said as he suddenly stood straight.
His bent back suddenly looks stronger and his body suddenly exudes a strength that came from somewhere.
Then, with a fluid motion, his body and arms began to move as if he is gathering something in the air. With his eyes closed and a strange movement, the atmosphere around old grandpa began to have a warm current of air flowing.
This has caused the leaves to suddenly fly around him in a circle.
I was taken aback, I did not know what had happened, but as the air current became warmer, my body unconditionally wanted to absorb the warm air.
I reflexively closed my eyes then the movement of old grandpa suddenly appear inside my head. I already read about it and considered it as a fairy tale or just a myth.
But upon feeling the warm current as it touches my skin, my mind and body unconsciously began moving on their own as I follow what I can see in my mind. I already have the knowledge on how to do it. But the wisdom to practice it is still far from me, until today.
As I continually and gradually do the exercises I began to gather the warm current around me as my body absorbs it. Upon doing so, I could feel my body getting stronger.
The more I absorb the warm current in my body, the more I feel my strength increases. It was a blissful and wonderful feeling. It's like feeling an invisible power seeping through my whole body and making me filled with strength and vigor.
However, I could also sense that the warm current in the air has some problems with it. But for now, I could not determine what it was. All I can do is accept this wonderful feeling with a grateful heart.
With my eyes closed, I suddenly noticed something at the window panel under the intelligence stats, a new stats suddenly appears.
It was Qi...