Elder Grey waved his hand dismissively, "That is for another time. Now that you've achieved the small success in body meditation we will proceed with your mind."
Zack stared at his master, "Body meditation? What does that mean?"
His master looked over him, "Sigh. My dear disciple your master is getting older every day. The least you can do is pay attention to my teaching then I can rest in peace after death."
"It must be my fault for not teaching you properly."
Zack lowered his head in embarrassment.
"Body meditation is what you have been doing all this time. Because I interfered you could meditate easier or else it would have taken even more time."
"As for meditation focused on mind, that is something I cannot interfere easily. Before I blocked your mind from influencing your body to make it easier for you."
"Now you will have to meditate with your thoughts clear, without any obstruction."
Zack took his leave after a few minutes. He picked up his hunting gear at the entrance and left his master's house.
He was supposed to be on his way to the forest after getting his master's list of plants he needed.
Who would've thought he would lecture him early in the morning.
His thoughts swirl as he thought about the meditation as well as his advice about the children and his future planning.
He did not plan to have children this early in life because he thought it would not be long before he could go to the capital.
He planned to settle in the capital with his family and when he becomes a powerful spirit master, the kingdom will provide him with the job.
Who knew his master would destroy his little dream in a single minute.
Now he had to plan his life again.
Sighing constantly he made his way out of the small town.
It was early in the morning. Not many people were awake.
Because it was a midsummer season people were a bit relax. Some were setting their little shops or making their way towards their working places.
Because he was a teacher many of the townsmen greeted him along the way. Even asking him about their children.
Some even went as far as to allow him to scold the children if they did not study properly.
Zack made some small talks and went out of the town. He was always happy when he met the townsmen. Because he was a teacher they would give him some discounts on many things or even straight-up give it to him for free.
Of course, most of the things were everyday items. Merchants brought many of the foreign commodities to this small town.
Before the townsmen could only depend on the things surrounding them or the near settlements.
After making his way into the forest he ran slowly with light steps. He did not know how big the forest was neither anyone in the town aside from few people.
The most further he had gone was about 10 kilometres. Any further and few people would come back.
Even then, the forest did not lack the resources the town needed. It was a magical forest in the eyes of the townsmen.
It never ran out of rare resources such as medicinal herbs, animals, or even some small mines near the forest entrance.
But there was an unwritten rule that anything above necessary and the forest would abandon the town.
From generation to generation the town had passed down the legends about the forest. It was the source of life for the small town and whenever in need the forest provided the town help.
But those who had greedy eyes on the forest provoked the wrath of the forest.
Whenever someone decided to loot the forest of its resources, swarms of beasts and forest monsters would come to surround the forest.
Those responsible would always be brought in front of the forest and be sacrificed to appease the forest's wrath.
How the guilty ones were captured or why the beasts only surrounded the forest, nobody knew.
As far as the later generation knew it was simply a legend but because of the childhood stories and how everyone prayed the forest spirit, they too refrained from going overboard.
Zack also thought it was a simple legend but when he stepped on the spirit walker's path the forest looked different in his eyes.
The visual impact was not that much but the feeling he got whenever he was in the forest was certainly much different.
The forest now had many glowing lights circling the trees and plants as well as animals living there.
But that was something he could see with his eyes but the feeling of constantly being observed and not having total control over his life frightened him.
The first time he came upon these changes he stumbled back to the town running. Making him the topic of discussion in the town for a few days.
His master scolded him that time for embarrassing him as his student. After scolding his explained how the forest developed the spirit many years ago and it was its domain.
From what his master told him it was a spirit born after countless years. It was asleep most of the time and never taking any interest in the outside world.
The glowing lights were small forest spirits and the feeling being observed was the forest spirit's unconscious effect. He did not have to worry about it as long as he was not dangerous to the forest.
Since then he was not much afraid but still paid attention to his actions in the forest.
Running slowly he went further into the forest looking around the forest.
Suddenly he narrowed his eyes and hid behind the tree near him. Slowly he peeked from the side and saw a group of people running.
They were running much faster than him and did not even pay any attention to the small spirits in their way. Whenever the spirits got in their way they would simply pass through them shoving them aside.
The small spirits seemed injured after they were shoved aside as their glow would be dimmed.
But the group did not injure them too much or killed any spirit. They consisted of around a dozen people.
Most of which were males and only a few females. As Zack observed them, a few of them turned around and looked him in the eyes.
As soon as they made eye contact he trembled slightly and had a burning sensation in his mind.
He only looked over the group without looking at anyone in particular but the few individuals who looked into his eyes made him uncomfortable.