was far from that. Among Amy's many famous sayings, there was one he often repeated, though nearly all of his descendants deliberately chose to forget it: "To gain a hundredfold, you must pay a thousandfold."
Few knew how much Amy loathed this saying during his youth.
— From the records of Neil Haber, the twelfth-generation descendant of Amy, a historian.
"Son, time to get up." A pleasant male voice called out again.
"Mm, Uncle, just a little longer, I'm so tired," the eight-year-old Amy begged, struggling to stay in bed.
"Ah, it's freezing—" A pitiful cry echoed through the pitch-black night. However, the neighbors near the Haber family's thatched cottage were already accustomed to this peculiar alarm clock.
Little Amy quickly jumped out of his snow-covered bedding, while the prankster, who had just placed a large basin of snow on the ground, calmly uttered a famous saying, "To gain a hundredfold, you must pay a thousandfold. I must train you to become an even better warrior than your father."
As the eastern sky began to lighten, two figures, one large and one small, set off from Haike Village, running along the Warm Water River towards Snow Moon Lake.
Anyone who met Chi Hanfeng for the first time would assume he was a nobleman. In the Amy Empire, all noble families shared certain traits: elegance and politeness. Chi Hanfeng gave off this impression at first glance, but those who spent more time with him soon discovered another side: he was mischievous and loved playing pranks. After living in Haike Village for two months, everyone familiar with him had been on the receiving end of one of his pranks. Eventually, they believed his self-description—a soldier with only the lowest noble title, that of a knight, a title that could not be inherited or come with land.
The one who suffered the most from this was poor little Amy.
This unruly uncle liked to call little Amy his son; since the day this unruly uncle arrived, little Amy had never slept in. He never gave little Amy any free time, and though he never resorted to hitting or scolding, his methods were often more terrifying, like putting snow in Amy's bed in the morning.
One wonders how Lake Haber, deep inside the Icebound Tower of Wishes, would feel if he knew he had entrusted his son to such a person.
Initially, Grandpa Haber was also unaccustomed to the young man's treatment of his grandson, and even more so to his calling little Amy "son." But after spending some time together, he accepted this new family member. What truly moved the old man were some of Chi Hanfeng's actions after little Amy fell asleep—like getting up at night to tuck Amy in, preparing the next day's lessons by the oil lamp, or going out early to shovel snow.
Little Amy's daily schedule was roughly as follows:
Physical Training: Get up before dawn for a run along the Warm Water River to Snow Moon Lake, a distance of about 20 kilometers. Although the river water was warm, both banks were still covered in snow and ice. To make running easier, Chi Hanfeng insisted on light gear—just a thin fur coat.
Mental Training: After reaching Snow Moon Lake, strip off and jump into the lake for a swim. Despite its name, Snow Moon Lake had extremely hot water, heated by underground springs. Though the swimming was only near the shore, far from the lake's center, the water was hot enough to boil snow eggs.
Jumping from freezing cold into scalding hot water was indeed a test of one's willpower.
In fact, like most hot springs, the waters of Snow Moon Lake had excellent healing and restorative properties, so no matter what torment Amy endured the previous day, he could always recover well with the help of the lake.
After an hour of willpower training in Snow Moon Lake, it was back to physical training—swimming along the Warm Water River back to Haike Village. This part of the training only lasted a year before it was discontinued.
Once, Amy was so exhausted that he fell asleep while swimming. The Warm Water River, rich in minerals, was so buoyant that one could easily float on the surface without swimming. And as the river flowed toward the sea, it conveniently led back to Haike Village. After discovering this, Amy often used this time to catch up on two hours of sleep.
That was until one day, when he overslept and drifted all the way to the sea. Chi Hanfeng, waiting anxiously in the village for half an hour, eventually set out on a wooden boat and found Amy still sound asleep five kilometers offshore.
Back in the village, Amy's training shifted to combat skills—chopping wood. What did chopping wood have to do with combat skills? Amy pondered this question and finally asked his beloved Uncle Chi.
As always, the answer was tinged with dark humor. "Well," Chi said, scratching his nose, "to be honest, I'm not sure either. All the other training was my idea, but this one was your father's."
Indeed, it seemed that Lake Haber had suggested it. When Amy visited each household in Haike Village to offer free firewood, most of the old residents responded with expressions of "as expected of a Haber child." By noon, the villagers would send large coniferous logs from the forest to the Haber's small thatched cottage on sledges.
Anyone who has chopped wood knows that the most important tool is the axe. The larger the wood, the larger the axe needs to be. Especially important is the structure of the axe head and blade—the wider the back of the axe, the better. The blade doesn't need to be razor-sharp, but the transition from the blade to the back should be smooth. This way, when the axe enters the wood, the V-shaped structure allows for easy splitting.
Though Chi Hanfeng had set chopping wood as Amy's required course, it was clear that this lower noble of the empire knew nothing about chopping wood. Even with the largest double-handed axe, he couldn't split even non-coniferous wood effectively.
It was Grandpa Haber who truly understood his son's intentions. During Amy's wood-chopping training, he carefully taught him how to use wrist strength, how to use waist strength, how to stand to exert maximum power, how to read the wood's grain, and the easiest way to split along the grain. He also taught how to deal with wood with knots and how to handle forked logs.
The one listening most intently wasn't little Amy but Uncle Chi Hanfeng. "Oh, so that's how it works. No wonder that guy could hit my spear's weakest point with his first strike, and how he could stand so steadily in the snow, enduring my attacks." He murmured thoughtfully to himself.
From that day on, there were two figures chopping wood in the Haber's dilapidated yard, one large and one small. At first, Amy's wood-chopping speed was incredibly slow, mainly due to his lack of strength and axe-wielding technique. Even when he aimed correctly, the blade often ended up far from its mark. Without Uncle Chi's help, the 200 households in Haike Village would have likely had to observe a "Cold Food Festival" all winter.
During the first year of skill training, Amy used the largest axe for the first half of the year, but in the second half, he switched to a medium-sized axe, though the logs kept getting thicker.
After dinner, exhausted from the day's work, Amy still couldn't go to bed. By the light of the snow porpoise oil lamp, Chi Hanfeng began teaching Amy academic knowledge. In Amy's eyes, this was where his Uncle Chi excelled most. As an imperial nobleman, even of low rank, he had an absolute understanding of the empire's history. Likewise, as a former captain of the border troops, Uncle Chi's knowledge of military tactics far exceeded that of the villagers in Haike. So, at night, Amy alternated between learning military strategy and imperial history.
What intrigued Amy most, though, were the post-lesson chats. Uncle Chi would talk about the customs of the imperial capital or tell stories about mercenaries that circulated among the common people.
Seeing Amy so engrossed, Chi Hanfeng once asked him curiously why he was so interested in mercenaries.
Amy answered truthfully—because mercenaries could kill snow wolves.
Upon hearing this, Chi Hanfeng nearly fell off his stool, unable to fathom how the son of an imperial infantry captain and the disciple of an imperial cavalry captain could aspire to be a mercenary.
Neither the imperial soldiers nor the soldiers of the Northern Hamian Kingdom could kill snow wolves at will, just as the soldiers of the Northern Hamian Kingdom couldn't kill imperial warhorses.
Only mercenaries were an exception. By their nature, mercenaries rarely stayed in one place for long. The Northern Hamian Kingdom's finances weren't sufficient to issue bounties through the Mercenary Guild to hunt down a few mercenaries who, for some reason, killed snow wolves.
Despite his best efforts to dissuade him, Amy remained steadfast in his desire to be a mercenary, sticking to his belief in his usual way—by staying silent.
Two days later, it was Chi Hanfeng who relented: "Being a mercenary might not be so bad. You could travel around, and if you're strong enough, you might even visit the Icebound Tower of Wishes. And as for income, mercenaries of the same rank earn far more than soldiers, though the risks are also much higher."
"Set long-term goals, not short-term ones." From this perspective, Amy
indeed followed this advice well.
Just as Amy's desire to become a mercenary grew stronger, a large-scale armed conflict suddenly broke out on the empire's northern border, directly involving Haike Village.