After working out for a couple of weeks, we came to the end of another workout. Ronk had put me in so many kinds of different training the recent days, I was having a hard time focusing on one. I was incredibly sore all over, but the good thing was, as the day went on, my body became more and more used to every situation. It was more durable and Ronk's scary attitude was appearing less than before. I guess he was now trusting me a little bit on the workouts.

But with that said, he had put me through all of those training without pity. Even though he knew I was going to get through the pieces of training and taught me less knowing I can do more. He didn't want me to lose any of my seconds. But I had no intention of giving up either. I needed to get better.

The day after that, when tomorrow arrived, we went to a big waterfall for practice.

Then Ronk showed the waterfall with his hand, and said,

"Today you will train here."

He wanted me to go under the waterfall. It was freezing as usual. But entering that waterfall was probably going to "freeze" me entirely.

"What are we going to do in this training?" I asked him with curiosity.

"Take off your clothes, and go under the waterfall."

And without my clothes? Now, this had become a real challenge for me. The idea of standing under a very cold waterfall was not such a good idea anyway. But what can I say, there was nothing I could do. It was a part of the training.

"But why do I have to do this?"

"We'll measure your patience and resistance. You'll be waiting with your eyes closed."

"Well, what's that for?"

"It will make you learn by hearing, not by seeing. And patience is essential for a human being. You can't go on without patience nor resistance."

Giving him one last look, I took off my clothes and went under the waterfall.

It was very cold as the water came from a high plain. And it felt like I was almost in icy water. Every drop of water, hitting every part of my body, felt like cold bullets. And whenever it hit my remaining clothes, it made them wet and made it impossible for me to warm up entirely. I was under a waterfall that was going super fast. And I couldn't stop shaking. As Ronk said, I closed my eyes and waited under the waterfall sitting on a rock.

"Good, now wait patiently. And don't come out until I say so." Ronk said while watching me.

*I really didn't want to die without exploring the real world, to be honest.* was the thing I said to myself at that moment.

"Don't think about anything, leave your mind empty, and focus on the sounds."

I tried. I tried to focus as hard as I could. But the feeling of cold surrounding my body made me shake every two seconds. I even started to feel like I was getting sick once more. Then I tried to sit patiently and it was like starting to work.

But the trouble was, the waterfall was no longer a problem. Because as soon as Ronk went silent and I opened my eyes slightly, I saw Ronk throwing a big piece of rock at me. Big pieces of rock, right towards my face.

"Trust your ears! You'll stay there and you will not move until you block the stone I threw!"

"What are you talking about!? I can't just dodge big pieces of rock!"

"You have to trust yourself!"

*I know it's Ronk. And I know he is crazy. But for goodness sake! Was he that crazy!?*

He threw pieces of rock at me without even telling me. And I was scared to death. But I tried to dodge them anyway. I jumped, crouched, and even laid down, just to survive in that freezing cold. And the worst part was, that the rocks that Ronk threw were almost like bullets. They were coming towards me at a speed that almost killed me for a second. And he threw them at a moment I never expected. Making me almost dead while dodging the other.

I couldn't do anything for an hour. And my body had turned white from the cold. I wanted to keep saying I couldn't do it, but I didn't. Because I kept remembering my uncle's training he did alone. He wouldn't stop in a situation like this and wouldn't want me to do the same. So I wanted to see it till the end. I wanted to fight like him.

At that moment, I managed to block the stone he threw.

*Wait for a second!? How did I do that!?*

At that moment, I felt like something small was moving inside me. A small type of power that I felt for the first time. And just then, while I was trying to figure it out, I blocked another stone that followed, and I did it again and again for a while.

I kept going like this for a while.

"Enough for today, Ryuu, come on."

That was the first thing that I heard after blocking countless rocks. I immediately got out of the water, put on my clothes, and started walking toward him. I was in sweat and my body was hurting. But it was getting less and less tiring was very shocking for me. I was very surprised that I made it and I was also happy.

Maybe it was related to the "power" that he was talking about, maybe it was just my body getting used to what it was feeling. But either way, I was enjoying what I was gaining.

Ronk said,

"Not bad, but next time we come, your training will be difficult."

"Is there a continuation of this?" I replied while still thinking about the thing that I felt.

But to my luck, he didn't reply. And that made it pretty sure that I was going to keep doing this.

By the time we left the waterfall, it was getting dark.

I was passing once again through the forest, where I ran through with fear yesterday. As usual, the forest was full of voices and I was extremely nervous. But this time I wasn't too scared because I had Ronk with me. Also, even if we went into any training, I would have him with me if there was a problem.

But I thought about it too soon.

As soon as we were halfway through, we started hearing noises. But not like any other ones. This one was bigger. And it was scarier.

Ronk looked around to check if something was approaching us, but it didn't. That made it more suspicious. And it was probably. Something hiding somewhere in the trees.

"Stay close behind me, and be careful." 

We were both nervous.

So I asked scared,

"What kind of sound that was?"

After training all this time, it was really annoying to deal with something like this. When I was tired, I couldn't help Ronk or defend myself. I'd just be a burden to him.

"Don't ask questions and stay with me." Ronk said while still trying to see the creature.

I had a bad feeling. I was having a difficult time finding a creature just like him. And just then Ronk pulled out his ax, which he never used and always carried on his back.

The ax glowed and flames began to rise around it. It was phenomenal. It was like a magical object that carried its power inside the top part. The flames were surrounding its top and it was glowing like a darker flame.

It was also the first time I'd seen an ax like that. Probably being one of the Magic Weapons my uncle was talking about.

But before I could ask why he pulled out the ax, a big creature appeared through the trees.

And it was a very aggressive kind of creature. The creature was named "Colon". A mixture of an orc and a giant. Being as tall as a tree, these kinds of creatures usually lived in forest sides. And knowing that I was baffled by how I forgot that. My uncle told me about these creatures before. These creatures carried a stick half their own size as a weapon and usually hunt living beings that were smaller than them. But the trouble didn't end here, there were four aggressive wolves next to it.

I didn't know how that giant didn't attack those wolves, but they probably appeared right before it saw us. They had probably chased a deer's blood or something to find us just like the creature, and to get the bones from our bodies in case we died.

Three were gray, one was black. They were all mature wolves. So that made them quite dangerous too. They probably knew how to hunt better than the other ones. My uncle also told me that black wolves were the ones who always led their group, just like the one in the middle.

When we were thinking about what to do, and just then Ronk looked at me,

He said,

"When I distract them, get out of here. You understand me."

I just wanted to discuss it like the last time it happened to me. But I knew both ways his eagerness wasn't going to let him get convinced.

So I nodded. Ronk then grabbed his ax, created a big fire on top of it, swung it at Colon and the Wolves, and spread a very big fire towards them. This was distracting them enough, so I didn't lose time and ran away from there. As much as I wanted to help Ronk, I would have failed the plan in a way.

Two of the wolves managed to get through the fire. Ronk tried to throw them back, by holding them by their tails. But just then the giant attacked Ronk. It made Ronk fly backward by hitting him right in the chest.

While Ronk was dealing with him, the other two wolves targeted me and started coming after me. And they were quite fast to catch up to me just in time. 

I couldn't speed up enough because of the training. I was so tired. My legs felt like they were falling apart whenever I stepped. On the other hand, my chest was beating too. Every time I took a breath, my nostrils started burning and my chest felt heavier aching second by second.

The wolves were getting closer too. And I realized I couldn't escape.

So finding the best solution I had at that moment, I stopped and climbed the tree next to me. I stepped on every branch I could step and got on top of it in a matter of seconds.

But now I had to hide and I was gasping for air.

I tried to regain my energy. Looked around carefully, and made sure that none of them had seen me.

"Seriously -" *breath* " they're so fast." *breath*

But unfortunately, they had stopped too, and they were looking for me.

I tried to be as quiet as possible. I got my breathing as slow as possible and stayed still. It was a matter of seconds before they wouldn't find me. But because of my weight, a small piece of tree branch broke and fell on one of wolf's heads.

"Now I am done." I said while shaking with fear.

The Wolves realized I was up in the tree, and they were growling ferociously. They were angrily clawing it too. But I was up there thinking about what they could do if they took me down.

And just so as I thought, The tree started shaking. I looked down and saw The Black Wolf hitting the tree with its paw, but with incredible power. It was landing big blows to take down the tree easier and faster. I tried holding on to the branch tightly, struggling not to fall.

But after the Wolf threw four or five blows to the tree, he hit it as hard as he could one last time, and the tree finally fell.

And as soon as it did, I fell to the ground too with a branch of the tree falling on my leg. It didn't hurt me to fall from a height like that and the branch didn't hurt me too. But I wasn't able to move and I was now stuck.

My body still had its strength, but the branch was so badly stuck. I wasn't even able to pull my leg back an inch.

And now the Wolves were slowly approaching me too. After chasing me that much, they had more anger towards me. Their saliva was dripping and their eyes were wide open.

At that moment I was sure I was going to die.

As the Black Wolf attacked, I put my hand forward and closed my eyes.

But nothing happened.

The black wolf suddenly stopped and the terrifying looks in Its eyes were gone. It was licking my face like a pet. Its eyes and its facial expression were so calm, it intended no harm.  I had no idea what was going on. And It was so cute that even the fear inside me disappeared. I was looking at it with shock.

But there was something bad about it too. The wolf in the back still wanted to eat me and now they were growling at their friend. And they tried to attack as soon they didn't get any reply from their leader. But as the wolf was about to attack, The Black Wolf turned towards it and growled hard at it.

The horrifying expression was on its face once again.

Now both I and the other wolves were very surprised. Their leader, with whom they were chasing prey, had turned his back on them and was snarling at them.

There was nothing they could do anymore.

So they turned against their direction and retreated quickly.

On the other hand, I was still in shock.

The one who chased me around and wanted to eat me for so long was now protecting me against his friends. But why was it doing something like that? Even though I didn't do anything against it, it saw me on its side and prevented me from getting hurt. However, I was sure that I would not be able to save my life.

*That's not what I should be focusing on right now.* I shook my head and said to myself.

I still hadn't found Ronk, and my leg was stuck in a branch. If I didn't manage to get out of here, I would probably starve to death.

And just then, I heard yelling from somewhere.

"Ryuu! Where are you?"

Immediately after I recognized the voice, I shouted back

"Ronk! I'm here! I'm stuck!"

In just a couple of minutes, Ronk managed to find me. But he wasn't that good too. He was covered in blood that went from his head to his chest. It was some type of colorful and normal red blood. It was obvious that he hunted some creatures while on his way here.

And then, when he saw the Black Wolf next to me, he took his ax in his hand.

"What are you doing? Ronk?"

He didn't stop. He just went towards the wolf slowly.

I thought he got angry because all the time he searched for me and now I looked like I was in danger. But the real situation was much more complex than that. It was something that Ronk wouldn't sit and listen here all day. And I knew he wouldn't listen to me. So I tried my best to do something.

"Hey! Ronk! Stop! That wolf didn't do anything, calm down!"

But even though I tried to stop Ronk, he was still approaching, angrily.

Just then he pointed his ax. But not towards the wolf, but towards me.

"If that's true, There's only one way to know."

"Ronk, what are you doing?"

"We'll now understand If this wolf is loyal to you."

And to our guess, The Black Wolf began to bark and growl furiously. It looked at Ronk like he was an enemy like it wanted to protect me. And tried to approach Ronk.