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My parents spent the next few days getting their own affairs in order after having accepted the tasks of evaluating Gryn's party. They mostly had to clear up their own schedules for appointments and work by cramming everything into just a few days. Then they started taking us out shopping.

On previous miscellaneous trips, our parents had let Gryn take us around to the places he and his group usually did business. Introductions with them quickly deepened their business relations. These people usually had some affiliation with the Guild, which was the secret ingredient.

Now, though, was one of the rare occasions on which they took us to their own outlets. Because of their rank and affiliations, the main source of their 'general equipment' was a surplus depot run by the Guild for various factions such as the Imperial Legion. After acquiring long-term outdoor goods over the course of a few hours worth of discussion, they took us to what I would describe as a questionable pawn broker who dealt in magical goods.

However, this elderly couple who wore matching gray robes trimmed in dark purple turned out to have affiliation with both the Guild and my mother's family. Here my parents bought various amounts of alchemy ingredients and even some raw materials used as catalysts for large-scale spells.

The elderly couple seemed to take a liking to Gryn and I, commending him on his group's early evaluation and then remarking a few times about my public displays during the necro-goblin attack.

Both of us received immediate benefits from this visit, Gryn received an offer to buy any goat goods his team came across- provided that they were in a large enough scale. That would set the pace for a lot of good future dealings as well. I was offered a deal to bless certain goods they sold in exchange for raw materials.

I chose to bless their goods during that trip in exchange for several pounds of various magical metals and a natural garnet geode filled to the brim with natural mana.

The metals I could use for the sake of Gryn's group to make new weapons that better suited their developing talents, but the geode could be used to full a large-scale enchantment I had been considering. Better yet, in just a few months when they receive a regular shipment, I could come back and do it again.

The next and last place we visited in the early evening was a large tavern where we simply ate an expensive meal as a family. However, much of the dinner was something of a strategy meeting while discussing the locale of their mission and the prominent wildlife. Because of this, I spent most of my time in my head going over the geography of my own mission.

By the time the dinner was over with I had plotted out the almost circular circuit that I would be traveling around the location of the love nest my family and company would be scouting and guarding.

Of course there would be a large variety of magical plant and wildlife that I could potentially run into along the way. Because of my previous experiences with wild dark magic, many of the places I planned to visit were sites like the waterfall I had turned into a wisp farm. After blessing those lands, the chances for shades and the like to spawn would be greatly diminished for much of the surrounding areas.

The next day, our parents rounded up Gryn's friends to take shopping once again at another surplus warehouse that was directly related with the Guild. There, we were all given basic economic lessons based on general needs and affordability. My parents were surprisingly knowledgeable about being frugal or 'packing light'. Although, for the sake of physical health, they emphasized the use of water based food like soups and stews.

That part actually defeated the purpose the term 'packing light'.

Gryn's party each bought their own brand new ruck racks on which to carry their new sleeping and cooking gear as well as 'personal affects'. Everybody had acquired what I immediately recognized as med-kits that contained pre-soaked bandages for varying purposes in wooden jars and cases as well as creams and ointments. Besides this, Gryn carried separate knives made for kitchen purposes and a small three-gallon cask for carrying water.

His party, though, carried personal supplies for gathering materials and butchering as well as one of them buying an extra large ruck for general storage. I had already taken the liberty of crafting my own ruck set long ago. It had bags specifically for medical goods, gathering, hunting, general tools, and a five-gallon cask.

Most of my destinations were near water, but I would be using water for more than just cooking and drinking. On occasion. My own sleep gear- a thickly woven and padded hammock of cloth, was just recently bought because my previous tent and bag would become cumbersome.

I could, of course, temporarily or permanently capture some animal to carry my belongings. I was as strong as most magical creatures, but my body was only big enough to carry so many different things with ease. Even MY Agility would be thrown by wearing a giant ruck.

After leaving while wearing our luggage, we visited a distant food market to buy our own meals.

Once we were done eating, my parents did two thing to our young group. One, they made us carry all of the food stuffs they bought packaged and stored in our luggage. I simply carried packaged meat in my arms.

Three hundred pounds of neatly butchered and wrapped venison hind quarters- what my father called 'hunting meat'.

Even though it was over a hundred pounds below my limit, it was one of the first things my parents bought after we all regrouped from eating. I had to carry it during the rest of their shopping dry storage goods like flour or potatoes. Luckily, my Endurance was good enough to handle it for most of the shopping before I had to start healing myself.

After another hour of returning home and another two heals, I actually received an Endurance point after putting my packages down in the kitchen. I was told it was easier to gain physical stats as a child before puberty, but my growth was probably stimulated both by my genetics and that crazy eyed god in a bathrobe. I was pretty sure he had a lot to do with a lot of things.

After bringing all of us home to our house, my mother took it upon herself to hold lectures about various forms of warding, repelling, and concealing methods for safe camping. Aside from warding, which could be done with just the group's magic, most of what she taught everyone required catalysts such as alchemical ingredients and 'batteries'.

Most of it was also stuff that I already knew.

Even though their relative freedom in training would allow someone like me to grow almost exponentially in a few years, Gryn's friends were all fairly reliant on my cheap methods for magic training. Relying on magic draining equipment and an enriched diet could only accomplish so much. Especially as their bodies matured into adulthood.

Having to practice active magical warding for long periods of time over the course of a few weeks or months would be good for them.

I could personally use one-percent of magic every hour to sustain a simple barrier to keep out inquisitive animals and small dangerous beasts. In my sleep. However, something like the giant goats would require at least ten-percent to make a defensive barrier to withstand the average impact.

The next day, my parents took it upon themselves to teach them exactly that, methods for defending against the giant goats. This entailed them using various means of evading over relatively long distances of at least ten yards or using barriers to withstand pseudo-physical punches of energy from my father. His Strength stat was actually greater than a young giant goat, but he toned it down for the sake of the kids.

While they trained in the front yard, I took the opportunity to train myself in the back yard. Stretching my magic muscles by gathering and condensing hundreds of gallons of water into the form of a giant barbell. Holding that barbell level with my heart, I started squatting my exact Strength and raising it above my head.

This was training that I was not allowed to do, usually, because of how dramatically it could increase my stats. Not to mention the incredible amounts of stress it put my body through. Training like this before physical maturity is what my parents worried about.

By the time I had completed my first workout, I was ready to lie down and pass out with almost half of my magic drained and my entire body so weak I could barely hold my head up. However, I exercised my Willpower by boiling away the water I had condensed to release it back into the air. It would probably rain on some neighboring farmland a few miles out from town tomorrow.

[Gained 1 Strength] [Gained 1 Endurance] [Gained 1 Willpower]

I simply sat down and circulated the little mana I had left through my body, allowing it to passively and slowly heal all of my muscle systems that I had put to work in my legs, arms, back, and chest. Boiling away hundreds of gallons of water was just as strenuous as maintaining it for over half an hour, leaving me with a few hours of magical as well as physical recovery time.

In a day, I could raise my stats anywhere from four to six times in this manner. I would be doing a lot of this during my pilgrimage. It would definitely be possible to achieve one hundred points in Strength by the time I return home with only morning and evening exercises.

Maybe then I might actually consider working for the Guild. Either that or pursue this world's higher education.

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