After Graham finished his explanation I tried to process what he meant through all the head pain I had at the moment.

Looking at me like I had steam coming from my ears - he proceeded to speak.

“Sorry for all that technical talk, it was kinda mandatory to talk like that with my trainees, habits die hard I guess.

Just relax for a moment and just look at how I do it”

Then he walked a few feet away standing with his back to the trees, after which he started to jog in a large circle around me, at first I didn’t understand what he wanted me to see - but in a moment his jog transformed into a full-on sprint.

And that was when I finally understood what his explanation meant, the shadows underneath his feet acted like pistons - propelling him faster with each step.

Also, I realized why I had to do that nonsense with balancing the branch - it was to teach me more refined control.

As I was thinking all that to myself, Graham finally circled back and stopped near me.

“Seeing your expression now, I guess you figured out how I did it, now all that’s left is for you to replicate it.

To tell you the truth you should’ve learned this way later, but seeing how fast you adapt I guess it shouldn't be a problem, just be careful now - there is a myriad of ways for you to get hurt while trying to work it out, you could launch yourself into the air as you did with that stick I gave you, or you could collide with a tree on high speed, and I shouldn’t tell you how bad it would be for you do I?”

With that graphic picture stuck in my mind, I slightly recoiled and shivered.

Nonetheless, I decided to try and copy what Graham was doing.

I left him standing there and walked over to the spot he started his run from, I focused on my feet and began with a jog, and of course, the first thing that happens when I try to do the thing - my balance gets offset and I launch myself shoulder first into a nearby tree.

Luckily for me, I got off only with another tear in the shirt and a slight bruise.

Still, it hurt like hell, not to mention my fear of turning myself into a smoothie on impact.

And so I got up, shook it off, and practiced again, and again... and again.

I fell and hit myself in all kinds of places while I was trying to figure it all out, at that point, I was wearing mostly rags instead of a shirt at that point, but with every fall - I did something right, and every right movement prolonged my jog, by a minute, by five, until I could run a full circle without stumbling.

When I finally stopped, I felt more alive than ever, with a morning breeze cooling me off.

As the sky started to become more and more bright, Graham called out to me with a slight smile on his face.

“I guess the elder was somewhat right about you after all, I will see you next sunset, just don’t get yourself killed while running away from your pursuers”

And after those words - his construct vanished yet again, leaving me standing alone in the woods.

Thinking about his reminder I decided that he was right, and so I looked around, with all the running in the night I already forgot in which direction was the town, I certainly wouldn't like to just run back there on accident.

It took me a while to finally find the mark I was looking for - my blood from when I fell on my back.

After I found it, I turned in the opposite direction, and now using the technique - I was zooming through the forest.