"Come here. Do you see this? These are horned rabbit tracks."
There were indeed tracks, but they were so small that they would have probably gone unnoticed by many people—including me. It was good to have Dad teaching me.
"Now, it would be a hassle to track them like this, so I'll use a low-tier earth spell called Track Reveal. Reveal!"
Small particles of dirt hovered in the air, forming a glowing path for us to follow.
I turned around and saw that our own tracks were also visible.
"Reveal!" I said, but nothing happened.
Maybe Mom was right, and I was only attuned to wind magic. Or perhaps I just didn't yet understand the logic behind the spell, which was why I couldn't replicate it. It was hard to tell from just one attempt, but I decided to set it aside for now.
I stood up to follow the trail, but my father stopped me.
"We don't know how far it is. If you walk upright, it'll notice you and run away. We need to crouch and move silently. We have to approach carefully so we don't scare it—just like with a woman."
I had no idea what Mom had told him yesterday, but he wouldn't stop making these weird analogies.
"Alright… Then, let's continue."
We moved forward crouching until we spotted it in the distance. Dad pointed to a bush, and we hid behind it. He pulled out his shortbow and took aim, but then seemed to hesitate and handed it to me instead.
"Try it yourself. You have to pull the string back properly and make sure the arrow is straight before shooting, or it won't fly as you expect."
"Got it."
I took the shortbow and pulled the string, following his instructions. With my current strength, I couldn't hold the draw for long, so I hurried to aim. I couldn't hold it any longer, and the arrow released before I had a clear shot. Still, I managed to graze its side.
The horned rabbit grew enraged and charged straight at me, trying to gore me with its horn.
"Step Up!"
I managed to dodge by leaping into the air with the spell Mom had taught me.
I landed behind the rabbit. It would have been easy to finish it off with a knife now that it was disoriented, but I didn't have one, so I just stood there waiting for its next attack.
It wasn't necessary. Dad took his hunting knife and stabbed it in the back. The rabbit thrashed, struggling to break free, but after a while, it stopped moving.
Finally, I could breathe again. I lay on the ground, staring at the sky. It was the first time I had ever felt truly in danger. My heart was still racing.
I had almost died. And all because of one mistake.
It would've been pathetic to be taken down by a horned rabbit—one of the weakest monsters.
"Don't lie down in the forest! There could be venomous insects or snakes," Dad scolded me.
I did as he said, standing up. I was still a little shaken. At that moment, I heard a low growl and immediately got on guard, but I quickly realized it was just my stomach.
"So, the battle has made you hungry?" Dad laughed. "I guess we can roast some of the rabbit meat. We'll take the rest home to your mother."
He took out his hunting knife and made a cut in its belly—just deep enough to skin it. I didn't like the sight, so I looked away.
"Didn't you want to learn how to hunt? This is an important part. You need to watch."
He was right. I focused and observed the whole process, even when he removed the entrails, trying not to miss any details.
We gathered a few sticks of different sizes. We placed the thinnest ones in the center and built a kind of wooden teepee around them.
"Watch. This is another low-tier spell, this time a fire one. It's called Spark. Spark!"
Dad rubbed the tips of his thumb and index finger together as if he were about to snap them. A tiny flame appeared between them. He brought it close to the center sticks, and soon, they caught fire. The flame vanished as he separated his fingers.
I couldn't just sit there without trying it myself. This time, I would try harder. I closed my eyes, focusing. I imagined the flame igniting from my fingers.
"Spark!"
Nothing.
"Don't get discouraged. Your mother can still teach you more wind spells."
"I think I'm not doing it right… What do you think about when you cast the spell?"
"What do I think about? Hmm… I don't know, heat, I guess. A heat so intense it burns."
I closed my eyes again. This time, I kept Dad's words in mind and incorporated them into my visualization.
"Spark!"
To my surprise, a small flame appeared at my fingertips.
"You did it!" Dad exclaimed, excited. "Congratulations! Now you're a two-element caster."
I repeated the spell several times, just to make sure I had really mastered it. We ate quickly and started heading home.
***
The sun was beginning to set as we arrived. Then, I remembered my promise to Celestia.
I rushed to my room, grabbed Basic Sorcery, Volume 2, and bolted toward the library.