The sun had passed its zenith and now began its slow descent.
The day had been long, especially for Riaz who had to march alongside his master while carrying the heavy rucksack with their provisions.
At last, when the master and disciple reached a promising patch of land, a land of flat wide green with a nearby stream of water, did Riaz hear the long awaited words.
"We're setting up camp here!" Aldean raised his hand and beckoned towards his disciple.
Riaz, relieved by the signal, nearly flung the rucksack far away under great exertion of his strength. He had come to curse what laws of nature could make a rucksack of moderate size like that weigh nearly as much as himself.
In the end, he carefully placed the rucksack on the ground and sat down next to it, his lungs heaving from the exertion of the past hours. He had walked and walked, now his clothes were soaked and his feet sore.
He had exerted himself a lot, considering his body was still recovering from injuries. However, what stung most was the fact that his teacher had ridden the horse, while he had to walk until blisters formed on on his feet.
'So unfair, damn it. I won't let you break me, stupid master.' Riaz cursed within his heart and glowered at his teacher.
The horse, Moonshine, came to a stop a few paces ahead. Aldean dismounted his horse and took in the surroundings before nodding to himself, finally he looked at his disciple, who'd been so carefree to sit in the dirt while letting his guard down.
"Brat, do you feel safe? Are you carefree?" asked Aldean. "Open that thing and fetch me a bottle of liquor. Your master is thirsty."
Aldean yawned and stretched his legs. Meanwhile, Riaz opened the rucksack and found at least six bottles of alcohol within. He blinked. It finally made sense why the rucksack made so many clinking noises whenever he carried it.
His teacher arrived next to him with an outstretched hand and Riaz reluctantly handed him a bottle.
Riaz then scowled angrily and asked, "All this time, have I been carrying around your booze for you?"
"No, I am sure there are more than enough bare necessities to work with in there, somewhere. Go ahead and unpack while I fetch some firewood." Aldean replied.
With trembling shoulders, Riaz knelt on the grass and rummaged through the contents of the rucksack. As for his master, he had practically evaporated, so fast did he leave his sight.
Once all matters regarding food and rest had been settled, Aldean approached his disciple for the long awaited training.
Aldean sat cross-legged on his humble beddings near the fire and beckoned his disciple over with a wave of his hand.
He spoke, "From what I've seen, you have decent stamina and a very natural grasp on your internal energy. We can work with that."
Riaz grew quite expectant and asked, "What are you going to teach me?"
He was truly excited to see what incredible technique he would be imparted. Once he learned it, nobody would be able to mess with him, surely.
Aldean closed his eyes and entered a meditative pose. "First, I will begin by teaching you a breathing method."
Riaz's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Breathing? I already know how to breathe."
"Not like this you don't. Sit your ass down!" ordered Aldean impatiently. "Aren't you usually so eager to sit, so why are you being so fickle now?"
He then added, "Fortunately, you possess decent enough foundations, but you have forgotten how to nurture them. Breathing the right way will help you not only to restore your body, but to cultivate your inner qi in the most natural way."
Riaz curled his lips in disappointment, obviously still sceptical.
Aldean noticed the youth's inaction and opened his eyes, then growled, "Brat, don't make me say it twice."
Afraid to make his teacher angrier, Riaz listened and quickly sat down, mimicking his teacher.
For the rest of the day, Riaz meditated under the guidance provided by Aldean. It turned out be a very intuitive exercise, but one that immediately showed him results. He felt how this energy, this qi, nurtured his body and propelled his recovery by leaps and bounds.
He started to understand his teacher's intentions.
It was too early for him to do physical exercise, to that end circulating his qi properly was the all he could focus on right now and it helped him remember that feeling from fighting the bandits. He was certain that, in the past, he was quite accomplished in utilizing his qi.
---
At the same time, somewhere within a ruined village, inside the most preserved among a choice few houses, a handful of people had assembled.
"Argh! Boss, let me go! I will tear that human to shreds! I will have him know the feeling of losing all of his limbs!" Boffu howled indignantly.
A number of henchmen held him back. The wolfish sub-leader, previously ranked third among the bandits, made for a sorry sight. His right arm was missing and what little of it remained had been treated and wrapped to form a stump.
"Enough. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We won't be pursuing that boy." A man prominently sat on a comfy chair within the living room while all the others stood.
Previously, it was he who had rescued Boffu and called for a retreat. His features no longer concealed, his black swirly hair was now laid bare. Metal rings adorned his frosty face, piercing his lip, nose and eyebrows. His slanted, brown eyes with two dark bags under them made him look perpetually tired.
There was only one person who deserved to be addressed as 'Boss' by the likes of Boffu and that would be none other than Harkon himself; renowned bandit and scourge of the kingdom that he was.
Boffu growled savagely, "He killed Lorenz, there has to be payback. It's in our ways!"
Harkon remained quiet, his head casually propped by one arm leaning on the armchair.
Seeing as his boss remained unswayed by Boffu's attempts to influence his decision, the beastman's anger flared.
The muscles on the Boffu's remaining arm bulged and he briskly swung out, shaking off the bandits who were holding onto his arm, then reached to his other side and grabbed one of the men there.
He forcefully flung the helpless bandit against a set of furniture, which broke when the latter crashed into it.
Nothing had gone the way he wanted to. He couldn't possibly care less about Lorenz's demise, but how could he just roll over and stay calm when an insignificant human brat took his arm?
"You..." Boffu approached Harkon and snarled with blood-shot eyes. His heated breath brushed against Harkon's face, despite them being a good two paces apart.
"When have you become so spineless?" asked Boffu disdainfully.
Harkon replied in a calm voice, "Then, do you wish to foolishly take on a blade king? You?" His pupils gleamed dangerously with a silver light.
The hairs on Boffu's body stood on end and he hastily retreated a few steps. He couldn't have been mistaken. Just now, wasn't that a trace of will?
"Boss, you..." Boffu's anger was briefly replaced by surprise. Had the boss finally reached the next step?
Harkon stood up from his chair and coldly remarked, "What's dead is dead. Lorenz can only blame himself for tripping up and getting himself killed."
He walked and stopped next to Boffu, whose mind was still racing, saying, "Our mission here is over. We are to return to the capital; orders from above."
Boffu's pupils shook as Harkon's hand landed on his shoulder.
"As for your blatant disobedience when you were told to remain here, I'll overlook it once," his grip tightened, causing pain to Boffu's remaining arm, "but never again."
Harkon let go of the hairy shoulder and stepped out of the room, leaving behind one last instruction.
"Get your men in order."
Boffu was filled with humiliation and quietly stood while everyone else left the room. In his heart he vowed that he'd have his revenge one day. He'd make everyone who had slighted him pay for their insolence.
--
The days on the road were long and grueling for Riaz and his travels took him farther south along the river.
During their journey, the days flew by and Riaz grew more accustomed to life on the road. In addition, he gradually felt strength return to his body. Without a doubt, he had the breathing method to thank for that.
While he initially had his doubts, the breathing method, that he had learned, helped him heal faster and lessened the fatigue from traveling. To him, it felt quite miraculous and most useful.
He felt further motivated to recover once his teacher promised that they'd begin the real training soon. He could practically feel it; the moment he would truly step on the path of a warrior was close at hand.
As the days went by, the pair of master and disciple engaged in occasional chatter, mostly during one of multiple breaks they took during a day. Aldean used those times to instruct Riaz on the fundamentals of becoming a warrior.
It was precisely during one of those times that the two of them rested by a riverbank.
The water was clear and sparkly, its serene flow relaxing the mind and allowing one to let all worries wash down with the river. It was the perfect spot for Riaz to dip his feet into the water as he always liked to do.
Except reality was indifferent to his wants. Instead of finding himself as part of a picturesque scene, he surrounded himself in a waft of sweat and sounds of heavy panting.
Riaz lay upon the ground with widely spread legs, his upper body exposed. His skin glistened from the sweat that drenched him from head to toe. To his right, there lay a naked sword, reflecting back the sunlight.
He had finished his regular morning session under the instructions of his teacher just then. While Riaz was in such high spirits, Aldean had no intention to throw away an opportunity to lay the groundwork that was crucial for Riaz's later stages of training.
Aldean had the boy undergo various demanding physical activities. Just then, Riaz finished a thousand swings with a real sword. They didn't have any wooden swords and even if they did, Aldean was loath to use such a soft approach. It was better for his disciple to suffer the full weight of an iron sword.
After all, what was the paltry weight of iron compared to wielding the weight of one's life when using it?
He was surprised by Riaz's tenacity and sheer grit. He'd fully expected his disciple to be down for the count after he had him previously swim against the current of the water for a full hour.
"Your physical condition has not simply improved, rather your body is gradually returning to the state it used to be in." Aldean stood with crossed arms and evaluated his disciple. "I think we can take it up a notch."
Riaz averted his eyes from Aldean and looked up at the sky with heavy breaths.
His teacher's words came as no surprise to him. Earlier, his teacher commented on his plentiful qi reserves that would have taken an ordinary person years of cultivation to achieve. Add to it how easily he manipulated his internal energy and it became suspicious.
Riaz knew that it had something to do with his past and he didn't hide any of it from Aldean.
Having heard what little Riaz could glean from his visions, his teacher understood that Riaz had received prior training and was quite accomplished for someone his age. There was little doubt that the boy had yet to reach maturity, but the world was a weird place and Aldean had seen plenty of people who seemed younger than they were in reality.
However, what remained a mystery to the blade king was just how Riaz had lost both the qi and the bodily endurance that he claimed to have possessed in his visions. This couldn't possibly be chalked up to a natural decline due to lazing about for a few months.
Regardless, all Riaz had to do was built everything up from scratch. He was young and if his talent was true, then returning to his peak would be an easy matter.
Aldean reached into his pocket and fished out an ordinary-looking silver ring. Towering over his exhausted disciple, he nonchalantly dropped it onto Riaz's chest, where it landed safely.
Riaz, feeling the smooth and slightly cool metal touch his chest, came to his senses and unconsciously reached out for it. He swiftly came to the conclusion that it wasn't his silver ring.
"What am I to do with this, teacher?" Riaz turned the ring in his hand and inspected it leisurely. When he held the ring up, it glistened under the sunlight, but looked otherwise plain.
"Here I thought you're a little dark mage. Can't you see that it's a magical object?" Aldean joked, watching as his disciple's face grew redder.
"Not funny. That power wasn't mine, but you knew that already." Riaz dismissed Aldean's attempts to tease him. "But teacher, are you sure this is a magical object? It looks ordinary to me."
Aldean shook his head and sighed. "Try putting it on if you don't believe me. You will be quite surprised."
Riaz felt his excitement grow with those words. Not hesitating, he slipped the ring onto his finger.
He waited briefly, but he noticed no obvious changes. Somehow he had a weird gut feeling about this.
'Teacher must be playing a prank on me. But what if it really is some cool treasure?'
Riaz was about to say something and yet, before he had the chance to speak, his eyes distinguished faint glows that ran across the surface of the ring, looking like odd scribbles.
He paid for his earlier curiosity when the arm connected to the ring smashed against the ground. Trying to lift his arm, Riaz first suspected that he may have accumulated too much fatigue from swinging the sword repeatedly.
No, who was he kidding, he could barely lift any of his limbs. It felt like a massive rock was pressing down on his entire body.
"How is it? That thing is called a gravity ring. It was crafted by a magic artificer and imbued with a rune which would increase gravity for its wearer by some extent." Aldean explained. "To put it bluntly, the one who wears the ring will always feel like their weight has increased and their movements grown sluggish."
"T-teacher." Riaz pleaded for help with his eyes, but Aldean wasn't moved in the slightest.
"Get a grip and stand up, useless disciple. You look downright pathetic right now." He lightly kicked Riaz a few times, but felt some rather odd resistance. Didn't his disciple feel particularly heavy?
Riaz wanted to say something. but found it difficult to. When he stirred his qi, it seemed as though the ring had responded to his actions and raised gravity by another few notches. He may have imagined it, but he was sure he heard the creaking of his bones.
As if coming to a realization, Aldean performed a motion of lightly hammering his fist down against his palm, looking silly on purpose.
"Oh, now I remember! Listen my disciple, this ring is special and, unlike the usual gravity rings, this ring was made to adjust to its wearer, more specifically it resonates with the quality and amount of their qi, applying gravitation force that pushes them to the limit of what their body can handle." Aldean chuckled in amusement. "At least that's usually the case.
"I almost forgot that the quality of your qi is exceptionally pure, thus the ring applies a pressure that is theoretically not something you could handle."
He fully expected his disciple to complain about his negligence to mention that, but to his surprise the boy said nothing. Aldean had his doubts, as it was quite unlike his disciple to stay quiet.
Aldean asked, "What? Has that ring also tied down your tongue, brat?"
"T-teacher... your foot." Riaz forced out a few words.
"Hm?" Aldean lowered his head and realized that he was so immersed in his explanation that he overlooked himself still subconsciously kicking his disciple in deep thought. He may have put more strength into it than intended, leaving a few dirty footprints on the boy's skin.
After pulling his foot back, Aldean cleared his throat and said, "Well, in any case, you've done well, so wash up and come eat. Today we're having freshly roasted meat for a change." He turned, ready to leave, but Riaz couldn't take it anymore and snapped at him.
"You are doing this on purpose. How can I move like this? You've said it yourself, it's impossible. I can't get up. Hey! Despicable master, help me up. Hey!"
Aldean casually lifted a pinky and drilled inside his ear. "What? You want to become a warrior with that weak attitude? Giving up without even trying, just because someone told you that you can't do it?"
He clicked his tongue. "Useless."
Riaz felt like crying. Was that his teacher's way of encouraging and motivating him? Wasn't his teacher simply harassing him? As things stood, he was no more than a helpless turtle on its back.
He grew a little frustrated, but even more so when he smelled the meat cooking over the fire. His mouth watered. He hadn't eaten all day and the hunger made it difficult for him to focus and think of ways to move.
His head turned with difficulty and he spotted the horse chewing on some grass not too far off.
"Psst, Moonshine." He whistled and the dark steed lazily lifted its head to gaze at the helpless turtle named Riaz.
Riaz called out in a hushed voice, "Come help me out, Moonshine. Can you move me?"
Moonshine snorted at Riaz, seemingly in disdain of him. Riaz was tempted to give up, seeing as how the horse's face seemed too smug for him to stomach.
"You stubborn old mule, help this little brother out and I will feed you some delicious things. How about it?" Riaz gnashed his teeth.
His words seemed to have some effect perhaps, since Moonshine slowly trudged towards him.
'Can he actually understand my words?' Riaz became excited.
"That's right, Moonshine. Good horse, look at those intelligent eyes. Come over here, closer... yes, closer."
Soon, Moonshine came within close proximity and Riaz eyed its dirty bridle, to be more precise, the reigns dangling from it.
Slowly, he flexed his finger muscles and contracted his hand. He slowly dragged his arm in the direction of the horse, hoping to catch it in one fell swoop.
When the horse was mere steps away, it suddenly lowered its head and opened its mouth widely.
Riaz could smell its repugnant breath when the animal extended its tongue and licked his grey hair with all the slobber it could muster.
"What... Stop it, you animal. Do I look like grass to you? Get lost, damn it!" Riaz tried to resist, but his present state didn't permit him to.
After a minute only did the horse lose interest and walked off, leaving Riaz to contemplate his fate.
"No more! I can smell it seeping through my hair. I need water... this is just too disgusting."
He howled, venting his chagrin and all pent up frustrations that came with being a silly turtle.
'I have to move. I must. Just you wait, I'll show you who's useless, you rotten master.' Riaz bit his lip, furious with a resolve to beat his teacher's devious trap.
Slowly, he focused on every muscle fiber in his body and willed them to come alive. He contemplated using qi, but the result from earlier was fresh on his mind. He would rather not test to see if the ring could press him harder.
It took Riaz a couple hours, but ultimately he managed to roll himself onto his belly and push himself off the ground with all his strength. His arms trembled and felt like they'd snap in half, not to speak of how hard it was to concentrate with all the sweat flowing from his hair and into his eyes.
His palms fared no better; they felt like two pancakes pressed against the rock-hard, searing ground, red from all the blood squeezed into them. Surely they'd leave behind imprints once he moved.
'Half-way there, Riaz. You've got this. Don't let that man look down on you, when even that horse is treating you like a plant.'
"Ha!" He pulled up one leg, knee close to the chest, firmly planting half of his foot against the ground.
His stomach growled. He had yet to eat today and fresh meat was on the menu. How could he pass that by? He was sick and tired of all the dried rations he had to swallow for the past days.
'Meat... oh delicious meat...' His mouth watered once again amidst his chattering teeth.
He roared, "MEAT!!!" and put his everything into pulling the other leg up until both his feet firmly touched the ground by the soles. In one smooth transition, he quickly willed to stand and his legs straightened.
"Ha!" Next his arms shot into the air in triumph, forming a 'Y'-shape with his whole body.
"I did it! Bested... by that... damnable ring... no longer!" He rejoiced visibly, then slowly brought his hands together and grasped the ring between his fingers. In one go, he pulled the ring off with all his strength and angrily tossed it against the ground.
Immediately, he felt the effects of the ring disperse as a result. Wasting no time, Riaz jumped into the river. Long had he awaited this moment.
When he climbed out again, he didn't bother wiping his body and made a beeline for the campsite.
Aldean sensed his disciple's approach, which was announced by the patter of his dripping pants, and welcomed him.
He scoffed, "About time, I've already started to worry that I'd have to scrape your dried husk from the ground. Where is the ring?"
Riaz clenched his fists with deafened ears and circled the fire, looking for something.
"Brat, what are you doing?" Aldean raised his eyebrow at the boy's antics.
Riaz shouted, "Meat!"
The half-crazed look in his eyes made even Aldean feel funny, wondering if perhaps his disciple had baked in the sun for too long , turning him into an imbecile.
Aldean put down the ale he was drinking and explained, "There's none left. Who told you to take your time when I called you to eat?"
"Ahhhhh!" Riaz roared, dramatically falling to his knees and pounding the ground with his fists.
His master only shook his head, muttering under his breath, "This kid..." then continued drinking.
Eventually, Riaz came to terms with the fact that another day of eating dried rations awaited. He sat down to the opposite of his master and began chewing on a piece of dried meat.
The two of them remained quiet for a while, then Aldean asked, "So... it wasn't impossible now was it?"
"Mhm." Riaz acknowledged curtly, then took a sip of water to wash down the sorry taste of the rations.
"Do you still hold it against me?" Aldean drank another mouthful of alcohol.
"No." breathed Riaz and calmly bit off another piece of dry meat, his eyes lowered the entire time.
"Right." said Aldean. "Do you know what's the most important thing to a warrior?"
Riaz replied without thinking, "Isn't it skill?"
"Wrong. It is grit." Aldean said seriously. "Not just any grit, but the grit to challenge one's boundaries. A warrior fights more than the common adversary; they fight themselves foremost. In the real world, they are sometimes faced with near impossible challenges. In those moments there is no room for doubt. You have to trust your gut and don't take what others say as absolute."
Riaz came to a realization. "Then, you said those words earlier only to discourage me and to test my grit?"
"Pah, what need do I have to test you?" Aldean sneered. "All I wanted was for you to experience one of your shortcomings first hand."
Pondering over his master's words, Riaz grew curious. "Then teacher, do all warriors possess grit?"
Aldean shook his head. "Not all of them, even some of the strongest don't, that much is certain. They have the talent and all the resources to improve their skills faster then anyone else, but when it comes to taking the crucial step forward and to risk it all, many falter. That's why it doesn't matter how skilled you are, without grit you are bound to get stuck on your path of cultivation, forever limited in your prospects."
Riaz was engrossed in his master's teachings, completely forgetting to eat.
Having stood up, Aldean cast his bottle aside and called out to Riaz, "We're leaving, make sure to clean up and pack our things. Come find me when you're done."
Riaz affirmed with a nod and then Aldean left for the river to wash up.