"I… Give…" Rinka said as she panted, completely exhausted.
"Then I declare Minos the winner!" Tinka said with a giggle.
Smiling, Minos helped Rinka up from the floor before rubbing her back gently, sending pulses of Nux into her to remove her dizziness.
With a few rubs, Rinka was back to new, amazed at her fathers special technique that seemed to cure her instantly.
"Was that also Nux?" She asked with wonder.
"You guessed it, and if you want to learn, I can teach you, but you gotta listen to your old man every step of the way."
"Don't worry Dad, I won't doubt you ever again." Rinka said, not wanting to get bullied like that ever again.
"That's my girl. Now you two follow me and perform as I do." Minos said, taking the lead once more.
Like that, another hour was spent practicing Minos's Forward Fist, finally bringing an end to the exercise session.
"Alright, this is where you two will have to learn separately. Tinka, you take this manual and begin practicing according to it, I'll come check in on you in a minute." Minos said, handing the Twelve Beast Movement Tome to Tinka.
"As for you Rinka, keep practicing the Forward Fist until each movement comes as naturally as breathing."
"As for me, I've got to gather a few things." Minos said, before heading off into the dark forest to get what he needed.
After a short trip, Minos returned with a large wooden tub filled with lake water, placing it gently next to the burning fire.
Opening his spatial ring, Minos prepared the herbs for Rinka's medicinal bath, which she had to have every night from now on.
Tossing a few things inside, Minos stirred the concoction until the water was tinged a deep red.
After that, Minos held the large tub over the fire, letting it heat up until it started bubbling before removing it and placing it back on the dirt floor.
Letting it cool for a moment, Minos headed to Tinka and checked in on her practice, correcting her form before finding Rinka.
Seeing that Rinka still wasn't completely exhausted, Minos headed back into the forest, this time to plant his Signal 'Tower.'
After planting it in a secure and discreet place, Minos came back to the camp, finding that Rinka was finally coming close to exhaustion.
Seeing she was about to give up, Minos forced her to keep going, knowing that she still had some strength left in her.
For the medicinal bath, the more exhausted a person was before using it, the more effective it was, and for Minos who had Omniscient Eyes, he could tell exactly when Rinka reached the most perfect condition to use the bath.
Despite his heart aching seeing his little girl in so much pain, he steeled himself, forcing her to push until she hit her absolute limits.
For this cold and cruel world, only people with wills like steel could survive, and Minos wanted to give Rinka every single advantage he could, an unbreakable will naturally among them.
So even though she kept begging to stop, Minos forced her to continue, Rinka seeing this 'heartless' side of her father for the first time in her life.
Rinka naturally couldn't see as far as Minos, and she didn't understand his reasoning, just thinking he was being cruel to her for no reason.
"Dad, I thought you loved me!" Rinka cried, the exhaustion getting to her.
Hearing her words, Minos didn't say anything, just shutting his eyes tightly, not wanting to look at his daughter's tear filled eyes.
Realizing that her begging didn't work, Rinka cried in silence, wanting to give up but knowing that Minos wouldn't let her.
Finally, after Rinka forced close to the point of collapse, Minos finally let her stop, her body instantly falling to the floor as she breathed deep breaths to try and recover.
Picking her up, Minos took her to the medicinal bath, placing her body inside gently as he began messaging her muscles, letting the medicine travel through each pore and fiber with maximum efficiency.
With Minos's special messaging technique, the effectiveness of the medicinal bath was directly doubled, enough to make the children of elite clans envious.
Of course, Rinka had no idea how blessed she was, just groaning in pain as Minos tightly squeezed her already sore body.
It was only after the medicinal bath turned completely black, did Minos stop, lifting Rinka back out of the tub and using a towel to dry her off.
By this point, Rinka was completely knocked out, her soft snores filling Minos's heart with relief.
After drying her and changing her into new clothes, Minos placed her into the carriage, wrapping her body tightly with a soft blanket.
After looking at Rinka for a moment, Minos headed out to find Tinka, seeing her still performing the Twelve Beast Movement Tome through her exhaustion.
Fortunately for him, Tinka didn't need his heavy hand, and without him saying anything, she still pushed herself to the limits.
"It's alright, you can stop now, anymore training will just do more harm than good." Minos spoke, freezing Tinka mid stance.
"Thank heavens, I don't think I could even do much more to be honest." Tinka said, collapsing on the floor.
"Here, drink this." Minos laughed, tossing a small vial to Tinka.
Without even asking what it was, Tinka drank the vial down in a single gulp, feeling a strange heat traveling down her esophagus and into her stomach.
Once the heat hit her stomach, Tinka felt it spread through her body, relieving her muscles and filling them back up with strength.
"Woah, I feel like I could perform a hundred more stances now!" Tinka said, jumping back up from the ground and stretching a bit.
"No need, you've done more than enough for a night. Let's go to sleep now, that medicine works best at rest." Minos said.
"Alright, but I don't think our exercise is completely over." Tinka giggled, grabbing Minos by his collar.
Raising his eyebrow, Minos couldn't help but smirk, picking up Tinka and running into the woods, the two enjoying a private 'exercise' session to end the night.
…
The next morning, the family continued their journey, stopping by a small village to grab breakfast.
"Welcome travelers. You guys must be on your way to the Festival of Faeries." The breakfast stall owner said.
"The Festival of Faeries?" Tinka couldn't help but ask.
Rinka's ears also perked at the interesting sounding name, but her mood from yesterday was still low, so she didn't say anything, just pretending not to care.
"You guys aren't here for the festival? Then you're quite lucky!" The stall owner said.
"Why? Is there something special about this festival?" Tinka kept asking, Rinka also peeking from the side, her attempts to stay angry fizzling away with each of the stall owners' words.
"Well just the spectacle of watching the faeries alone is special, but more than that, this is a chance to change the lives of those blessed with destiny!"
"Destiny? What do you mean?" Tinka kept prodding.
"It's said that the faeries have an inclination towards those with immortal destiny, and if the faeries dance around you, it means you have such a fate! I've also heard the more faeries, the stronger the destiny!" The stall owner spoke before continuing.
"I've also heard that some immortal sects from across the continent gather to watch this spectacle and choose talents from among them. There's no lack of stories about commoners getting lucky and reaching the heavens in one step." The stall owner finished, his eyes filled with fantasy.
"Since it's such a great opportunity, why aren't you participating?" Minos couldn't help but question.
"Who says I haven't participated? In fact I've already done so dozens of times, but those faeries ignored me without fail. Alas, some people are just destined to be mortals…" The stall owner sighed, his mood dropping tremendously.
Seeing the stall owner so depressed, Minos decided to give him his space, packing what was left of the food and heading back onto the carriage.
Riding out of the small village, Tinka couldn't help but look at her husband before finally speaking her mind.
"So, should we go or not?"
"Well I wanted to, but Rinka seems depressed, so we'd better not." Minos said, looking back at his daughter sitting depressed in the carriage.
Hearing Minos's words, Rinka nearly jumped right up, but she forced herself to calm down, not wanting to fall into Minos's trap.
But as they traveled and got closer and closer to passing by the Festival of Faeries, Rinka finally broke, shouting out.
"You win! I want to go to the Festival of Faeries, please take me!"
"Hmm? I thought you were sad from yesterday, what happened?" Minos asked with a slight smirk.