48 When Strings are Attached

The time came for me to try the recipe myself. I followed each step as precisely as I could, and the initial stages weren't that difficult. The difficulty laid in temperature control. Nick didn't say anything, or provided any tips. He observed, until the process was completed.

"Yea, I guessed as much. This is a failure", I said a bit disappointed. "This recipe is one of the more difficult ones. You really need to control the temperature precisely. Other than that, your process was spot on. The quantities were correct, you graded the herbs well and you followed the recipe. Don't worry, once your temperature control improves, this will become much easier", Nick encouraged me.

There were enough herbs for another batch, and it would be a shame to let them rot. I tried again, and the poison was a bit better, but it wasn't clean like Nick's. "We will try that a few more times before winter. Tomorrow, we will focus on the Art of Hidden Weapons though. You still need to practice your aim with multiple opponents, and retrieve your daggers without dying", he said.

I grabbed my turtle, and we headed back to the village. The following morning gave me a slight headache, since the turtle didn't want me to leave. There was no other choice really, as it wouldn't be safe to bring it inside the smithy. "I'll be back in a few hours for my break. I'll also bring you some food. This time, I'll get you some meat, okay? Just wait here patiently".

As promised, I brought some food for the turtle during my break. "Mah!", the turtle seemed happy about the meat, even though it was seasoned. "You really act like a dog sometimes. I wonder who your previous owner was", I said out loud, not expecting an answer. The turtle seemed to become sad, when it's previous owner was mentioned. I patted it's head and said, "At least you found a new home, right? I know that's not much of a cheer up, but I'm not going to leave you. I promise".

The turtle rubbed it's head on my hand, and seemed happier after my words. "I'll go back to work for now. I'll be back in a few hours, and then we can go outside". Before I left, an idea popped up to my mind. "How about we give you a name?", I asked the turtle. It looked at me for a while, then nodded. 'So, it understands what a name is... Perhaps it had a name before', "Okay... What do you think about... Jimmy?", I asked.

The turtle didn't seem to like it at all. "Hmmm, then maybe Lana?", I tried a female's name, but the turtle didn't like that either. I threw names left and right, but the turtle didn't seem to like any of them. "Haah, who'd guess that coming up with a name would be this difficult... I don't know... You are a turtle, so... Shelly? You have a shell after all", I said half defeated.

The turtle got excited, and nodded. "Huh? You like Shelly? Alright, you'll be called Shelly from now on. My name is Nex, hehe, not that you'll ever call me, but yea", I said, then added, "I'll be back soon, Shelly. Wait for me at home, okay?". The turtle liked the name, and to me it sounded right as well. I suppose both of us were content with that.

After work, me and Shelly headed to the river, and spent some time there. Once the evening arrived, my training with Nick began. Nick moved on to three puppets at that point, since the more difficult the task, the quicker I'd learn.

Towards the end of my training, an idea popped to my mind. "I have a question. Suppose that instead of these puppets, I'd attach my daggers. Would that work?", I asked Nick. He stared at me blankly for a while. "Hello? That's not such a difficult question, right?", I added. "Ahem... No, that's not it. I've never thought about that to be honest. You see, these puppets are used for training purposes. Moreover, something you will learn in the near future. But to answer your question, yes. This should be possible. Moreover, if you were to master such skills, oh boy... That would become a deadly technique", he said.

Before my excitement burst, Nick tried to cool me down a bit. "There are some problems though. One of them is convenience. There's no way you'll be able to slip those strings on your fingers, in a second or two during the battle. Therefore, you'd have to live with them constantly attached to your fingers. Another problem could be the control. Puppets aren't precisely sharp objects, and they aren't used in a battle. You'd have to learn how not to cut yourself with those daggers, and how not to tangle up all the strings in combat. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not easy".

"I'm fine with it being 'not impossible'. That's more than enough to give it a try one day. Besides, you said that each master had their own way, perhaps this can lead me to my own path towards mastery", I said. "True, and I'm not going to stop you. When it comes to Arts, make sure to follow instincts and your heart. You came up with this method yourself, hence you will practice and try to master it yourself. Though I'll admit this, if you manage that, hehe, maybe another master will be born", he replied.

"You will focus on other things first, there will be time for you to practice that once I'm gone. For now, focus on what I'm teaching. What you do later, will be entirely up to you", he added as we wrapped up our training session. "Come on Shelly, we are going home", I said while picking it up. "... You even named the turtle now", Nick commented. "Well, it's annoying to simply call it 'hey' or 'it'. Besides, this little rascal likes the name", I replied before we left.

The time slowly passed. Nick mostly focused on medicine and poison making, as the herbs were still available. There were winter herbs, and he told me we could do some limited concoctions during that season, but it wouldn't be the same. Hence, the summer ended, and autumn greeted us with colder and shorter days. Because my status inside the village changed, and there was some money in my pocket, I bought some winter clothes in advance.

Besides the change in seasons, Shelly proved to be a weird turtle and even grew a bit in size and weight. When we first met, Shelly's shell was about two times as long as my hand, and a bit less in width. The shell itself was flat at the top, unlike some other turtles, with big and rounded shells. I guessed this allowed Shelly to actually run around. And run around it did, unlike any other turtle I've read about.

Besides the odd behaviour, Shelly could also eat. Nick told me why, and it made sense, but still didn't look right. Everything had to do with energy. Because Shelly was unlike other turtles, and ran around like a dog, the energy it'd spent increased. Because the energy consumption increased, regeneration had to increase as well. Food was of course one of the methods. The change in Shelly's size and weight had direct ties with it's behaviour. I wasn't worried much, though wondered how big that turtle could grow. Or rather, at what point would it stop growing.

"You are doing much better with the puppets, and your ability to make medicine as well as poison improved. I believe we can move on to five puppets. Once you are able to evade and hit them, we can consider this part of the training done", Nick said one night. "This shouldn't take too long, since I've more daggers available to me", "True, but don't get complacent. Remember to always have a dagger or two on you. If you never run out, you always have a weapon to attack, or defend. I also noticed your fingers got used to handling the daggers. Additional to your flexibility, we will throw in how to hide your daggers, make pockets for them or other holders around your body. Of course when you master the skills, no such things should be required", Nick retorted before my practice began.