It's been roughly around three months since Karn started training ,by following Ian's guidance and methods. and Now he can complete the entire set of his training without getting excessively tired like he used to.
Ian has specifically worked on Karn's cardio, mainly focusing on increasing his Stamina, while also giving him proper weight training, while increasing the difficulty by little as week passes by.
Right now, karn could easily run a complete 10 rounds of sprint around the entite town, right after completing 300 sets of push ups and squats simultaneously, without breaking much of a sweat.
"I guess we can say,you've have achieved the most basic minimum requirements needed to start practicing swordsmanship." Ian added with stoic tone, although inwardly he was very pleased with progress karn managed to reach despite the severe lack of resources they are going through.
"So can we finally move on to the next step, and start practicing with swords." Karn asked enthusiastically.
He has been doing the same set of things for the past three months, although he was indeed quite ecstatic about the progress he made, he always like felt his training severly lacked some sense of practicality.
He enjoyed and celebrated whenever he made progress and felt frustrated whenever he failed to reach his target, and training out here in the open seemed lot more meaningful and enjoyable endeavour for karn, compared to his past self, when he was usually cooped up inside his house doodling in a blank piece of paper.
"So exactly when and what are you planning to teach me?" Karn asked with a tone which seemed full of expectations.
"Hold your horses down for a bit" Ian said while giving a serious look towards Karn and continued
"Before we can start training for swordsmanship, there are matters we need to urgently take care of"
"What is it ?" Karn questioned with a confused look on his face.
"We need to urgently find a way to deal with the urgent food crises we are about to face"
"Huh !, What the hell are you talking about ?, My parents work on the fields and I haven't heard any news about the famine." Karn said with a despondent expression.
"I didn't meant crises in general sense, but the one we are currently facing now at home." Ian responded.
Karn tilted his head in confusion, Ian decided to give a more direct explanation.
"What do magicians, magic swordsman and martial artists generally use to train and grow stronger?"
Ian questioned karn with a very basic level question.
"Magicians and Magic Swordsman use Mana while Martial Artists use Qi also known as internal energy." Karn answered the question almost instantaneously.
Ian gave a slight nod after listening to Karn's answer before asking " Now what about Swordsman or any other Warrior class occupation."
"Don't they use Aura to strengthen their body and weapon." Karn answered with a confident tone.
Ever since he heard of Ian's promise of teaching him swordsmanship, he has done his share of research about it.
"Haah !" Ian scoffed before continuing "Do you really think, just about anyone can wield and manifest Aura."
"Am I wrong ?" Karn asked with a surprised look on his face.
Ian immediately shook his and before responded. "You're not entirely wrong, it's just your knowledge is incomplete, always remember there's nothing more harmful than an incomplete set of knowledge."
Ian quickly took a lecturing stance before continuing "A swordsman indeed uses Aura to enhance his body and his weapon, but to reach that stage he needs to be atleast at the Rank of an 'Four Star Swordsman'."
"Huh !" Karn exclaimed surprisingly "I didn't know that, then what about those in their earlier stages"
Ian nodded is head while giving an explanation "Before one reaches the Rank of a '4 Star' and learn how to operate with Aura, any warrior class would usually supplement themselves throught their diet, as they would use the nutrients they receive from food they intake and convert into energy, also known as force."
"This force squeezes out the highly rich nutrients stored deep inside the body, and enhances the body giving them superhuman strength and abilities, that is also the main reason why swordsman feel exhausted and fatigued if they continue using force for excessive amount of time." Ian concluded his explanation.
"Then doesn't this Swordsman or any other warrior Class, have a severe drawbacks compared to other Classes." Karn couldn't help but ask.
"That's where everyone is wrong, Yes it is weaker than the other Classes at it's infant stages, but once one learns how to manifesting Aura, it is one of the most strongest combat related Classes in the entire continent."
"I see so what you are saying is, I'll be needing more food than my current intake" Karn asked begrudgingly.
"That's an Understatement" Ian responded immediately "A normal Swordsman requires atleast three to five times more nutrients intake than an average human adult."
"Where the hell am I suppose to find that much amount of food" Karn exclaimed with a dispirited tone.
"You don't have to worry about that, I have already found a way to deal with that problem." Ian responded with a confident tone.
"Do you own some kind of private farm or so something ?" Karn couldn't help but ask.
"Get ready a bit early tomorrow morning, it seems like we are going on a little trip."
"Where are we going ?, to your private farm" Karn questioned with a serious tone as he already realised this strange pet of his, holds his fair share of secrets.
"tsk, You're still going on with that, to answer your question No I don't own any kind of private farm or any other sorts of property in this continent, you just need to follow me and you'll find out soon enough"
Karn decided not to probe any longer and put his faith on Ian, just as he has been doing for the past few months.
Next day, early in the morning,these two said individual's, one being a child who just twelve a few weeks ago and his strange pet black cat departed on a trip.
"So are you gonna tell me now, just where in the hell are we going" Karn asked furiously as he couldn't hold these suspense any longer.
"A small isolated town called madwa, located in the County of Salisbury." Ian finally responded.
Karn couldn't help but fume furiously at this cat's nonchalant attitude " It will take atleast Five hours to reach County of Salisbury, how the hell are we suppose to do that."
"Well if you can afford the money for a carriage ride, we might reach there in less than an hour, So what do you say." Ian responded immediately.
Karn seriously considering punching this shameless cat right in his face,as given his situation, there's no way Ian was unaware that he doesn't have even single penny to his name.
just as he was just about to give up arguing he felt something climbing up on his back,then reaching towards his shoulders, before jumping right on the top of his head.
Karn could help but ask with a delirious tone mixed in his voice "Just What the hell do you think you're doing ?, Why in the fucking hell are you sitting on the top of my head ?"
" Jeez, do you really expect me to continuously walk for five hours with these cute little paws of mine" Ian responded while sitting comfortably on the top of Karn's head.
"Let's hurry up, we need to return before dawn remember or else your mother's gonna kill you."
Listening to this, Karn's face immediately turned pale, as he quickly started drawing his step marching towards their said destination as quickly as he possibly can.
After a long Arduous journey, that took nearly five hours of continuous sprint, the young child and his pet finally seemed to have reached near the gate of their said destination.
"We are finally here." Karn replied while breathing heavily, as even with all his training, running for nearly five hours, has taken quite a toll on his body.
Ian looked at a huge wooden board infront of him with 'County of Salisbury' written on it.
"Let's ask someone for directions" Ian said before getting off from Karn head. As a strange black cat sitting on someone's head would probably draw too much attention towards them , and that's the last thing that they need right now.
Karn immediately stopped a random passerby who seemed like a Commoner to ask for directions directions.
"Sorry to disturb you kind sir, but can you tell me where's the direction for this town called madwa."
"It's to the extreme south, of the the County, just walk straight in that direction you'll be there." the passerby said while pointing his towards a specific direction.
"Thank you very much kind sir" Karn replied while thanking the passerby for his help.
After the passerby took his leave, both Ian and Karn started walking towards that said direction, as they seemed one step closer from finally reaching their final destination of this trip.