It was now almost evening. I was so hungry and so cold. I was trembling with sweat. The rock wasn't moving. It was like a tree that was stuck on the ground. It made no sense for somebody like me to push something that big, but Ronk had watched me try to push the rock for hours without breaking his stack. He was waiting for me to really push it and go back to him.
Looking at him hopelessly, I tried to talk to him.
"This isn't working."
"You are not trying enough."
"It is impossible for a normal person to move this stone. How am I going to do it, while it is something so hard?"
I thought I was right. But Ronk just got up, went behind the rock, grabbed the rock with one hand, and lifted it. The huge rock that I tried to push that almost felt like an eternity, was now in his hands like a feather. He was holding it in the air and was looking at me. Then dropping the rock to the ground, he started walking.
He said,
"Tomorrow you'll try again and again and again until you move that stone. There will be no excuses."
He just lifted that giant rock. With no actual effort. But I had tried that much. For minutes and hours. Maybe I was just at the beginning of my training, but how was it possible for a human being to lift something like that anyway?
That got me pretty angry, but I still accepted that he was right. I couldn't be like that when I was only at the beginning of training.
Eventually, I caught up to him and asked something that I wondered.
"Ronk, I have a question."
"Hmph?"
"How many trainings do I have to go through before my strength wakes up?"
"We'll see it. Trainings are things that are hard to comprehend. They do not give results until they mature and reach a certain level. So before we go into serious training, you have to rest for now. We'll continue tomorrow."
*Serious training, huh? I guess Ronk had so many things that were going to surprise me.*
After we got home and I ate and warmed up, I immediately went to sleep. Then the other morning, Ronk woke me up again at the same time as yesterday. He told me to take off my shoes and top again and we ran the long way we ran yesterday. After jogging and eating, we went to a different area this time for training.
At that time the place we came from was a long way from home. In these parts of the forest, there were many wild animals and monsters. They were very creepy and the creature sounds in the environment could make any person very nervous. Also, as usual, Ronk was moving forward without talking.
Then as he did usually he stopped out of nowhere, and said,
"Here we are. Weeping forest. Somewhere that you shouldn't be that often."
"Then why are we here? What am I supposed to do here?"
"Stay alive and come home."
"One second! What do you mean stay alive!?"
When Ronk got behind me, he just disappeared. I was once again left unanswered and now, what Ronk said made sense. I was alone in a vast forest of dangerous animals and creatures. And the only thing I could do was to reach back home alive. Given the situation I was in, I started running quickly towards where the house was. Without even looking back.
When I was getting through many parts of it running, I faced a lot of difficulties. I saw weird bugs, plants, and caves. And I was tripping, climbing, falling and I was hiding from some monsters. There were tons of places in that mysterious forest.
But my only goal was to get home as fast as possible without infecting any creatures or wild animals. So I ran, I ran for hours. But for some reason, I couldn't find my way home, and when it got dark, the sounds of the creatures multiplied, and I heard more scary sounds. Many more of what I had heard before. And at that moment, a creature appeared in front of me.
It was a bear with two heads, twice the size of a normal bear, and had more pointed teeth. People called this creature "Bearos." My uncle told me a lot about creatures like this when I was a kid. And the survival rate is very low when a Normal human encounters a creature like Bearos. But I also had no idea to defend myself against it.
I didn't act to avoid attracting the creature's attention. And I was hiding myself being quiet. But It was coming at me slowly. I didn't know what I would do in a situation like this. They were a species that knew the smell of humans, so I was sure it was going to attack if it smelled me. But if I tried to escape, It was going to catch me pretty easily too.
So when it approached me enough, a strong animal sound came out from the forest and distracted Bearos. And when it went towards the sound, I ran out of there as fast as I could.
"Why does this have to happen to me!"
I felt frustrated while going back home. And after a while, when I stopped running. I hid in a place that looked like a cave and waited for it to be morning. I was once again very tired like I had gone through one of Ronk's training. So I found myself sleeping there.
In the morning, I set off and managed to get home half-dead at noon. Ronk was waiting for me at the door. He probably waited for me to talk nonstop like before. But I broke into the house without telling Ronk anything. I put on my clothes, and after I warmed up a little, I fell asleep once more.
When I got up, I smelled the good smell of meat. Ronk was cooking a big piece of meat again.
"You must be hungry, come, eat some."
Surprisingly he looked more kind than before. He didn't seem like he was going to instantly drag me into something crazy. And I was starving too, so I started eating without waiting.
"At least you could have told me you'd leave me alone in the forest."
I said while taking big bites of the food.
"We don't know what will happen tomorrow or any other day. When you were living with your uncle two days ago, you were in a different lifestyle. You didn't know what pain was. Getting tired was. Nor effort was. And without living them, you only lied to yourself. With this kind of power being inside you, you can't just sit and relax. There will be dangers that come after you. And they will haunt you at the most unexpected moment. So to be ready, you have to work harder than every single person that you can come across."
Then he added,
"In addition, these pieces of training may tire you, but you could be training with someone even worse, or even be dead. You could have been somewhere that had no hope for the future. Which is the worst thing you can come across. Therefore, that's why it is also a virtue to respect and be grateful for every blessing we have."
This moment brought to my mind a moment when I was sitting and chatting with the mu uncle. It was a cold winter day when I sprained my ankle. He was angry and was scolding me no matter what I was trying to say. But there was another feeling that he carried in his eyes that day. Worry and the need to think about the well-being of another person. It was indeed scary, but him being nervous, shook my heart. I felt really sorry that day. That went on and on, repeating itself throughout my child out. But I did realize that I was maturing. And I didn't want to do the same things to Ronk. I wanted to more or less empathize. Stopping me from my mistakes and regrets, for my sake, maybe that's what Ronk wanted. That is why I was also glad I wasn't in an even worse place. I was grateful.
So not to make any fuss, I just asked one question.
"Did you save me in the woods by making that sound?"
He just sighed. Not saying a single word. I knew it was him.
Ronk then stood up and said
"We will try to awaken your power as quickly as possible. So get enough rest, because your other training won't be easy."
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