7 Sweat and Tears

Five huge boulders were uniformly lined up in front of Timmy. He was confused at the idea of these different shaped, sized, and weighted boulders were his 'training tools.'

"First, you'll start with this small one," Felicity said while patting the 1x1 boulder and continued, "then, you'll gradually move on to the next one… " she pointed at the 2x2 boulder next to the 1x1. "...and then… " yep you guessed it… she pointed to the 3x3 and then the 4x4 and then the 5x5 meter-sized boulders. What the h*ll kind of training is this?

Timmy seemed as if his soul had left his body, with his eyes rolled back. Each of these boulders weighed a substantial amount. Felicity saw his expression and walked over.

SLAP.

She slapped Timmy's shoulder to snap him out of it.

THUD

"Oh, no… "

However, he didn't just snap out of it though... Timmy fell to the ground face first and fainted. Felicity had used too much strength without realizing… Due to exerting herself moving those 'training tools,' she lost control of her strength. Scratching her head while figuring out what to do with him, she then decided to throw him over her shoulder and started walking inside their home. Little Danny was at the top of the stairs coming down, and he screamed as he saw his brother being lifelessly carried in the house on Felicity's shoulders.

"Big bro! Oh no! What happened?!"

Felicity waved him away, "don't mind it, kid, he's just asleep. Move aside; I'm gonna set him on the couch. Go get Nadya."

Little Danny ran to find Nadya as fast as he could! Meanwhile, Felicity set Timmy down on the living room couch. A huge visible bruise on Timmy's forehead could be seen and blood drooped down his nose, but he was still unconscious. Soon, Nadya arrived with a pan of fresh warm water and a towel, while little Danny followed behind her carrying a first-aid kit in his tiny hands. After cleaning up the blood and dirt off of Timmy's body, she tended to his wounds to make sure they weren't serious. Little Danny waited in anticipation while helping Nadya, hoping for her to reassure him that his older brother was ok. To his delight, he got the answer he wanted. Nadya told him to get his brother a blanket and let him sleep. Felicity, however, didn't care much. She just went on with her business as if nothing was wrong and poured herself a drink.

"He's gotta toughen up, too fragile… " she groaned.

Nadya turned around with sharp eyes, almost as if her eyes could shoot lasers. Cy...clops? Felicity felt the glares like daggers to the face and immediately turned her head to ignore her deathly stare. She continued to take more sips of her drink to keep her mouth shut. Nadya soon finished tending to Timmy's wounds, and again she reassured little Danny, when he returned with the blanket, that his brother was completely fine and just needed to sleep it off. Nadya then dragged Felicity away for details of how it happened and not to bother the two brothers any longer. But, little Danny was still worried. He had never seen his big brother get so hurt before, and he was completely shocked by such a thing for the first time in his life.

'I could lose my one and only brother... What would I do without him? What can I do to prevent such a thing from happening in the future?' These thoughts were scrambling in little Danny's mind, as he watched over his brother all night without a wink of sleep. A new flame of resolution sparked in little Danny's heart that night.

Scene change to their bedroom upstairs, the little book, "Mana for D*mmies," glowed at that very exact moment.

Scene change to a dark room of man sitting in front of a fireplace reading his book as he felt a slight jolt in his heart. 'Interesting… ' thought the man. It was Alastor. He felt his connection to his creation slowly severing and tethering its link to a new master, but it wasn't Timmy. "I do hope that he will take good care of you and unlock your secrets, little one," Alastor softly cheered while raising a glass of wine in the air.

Scene change back to our MC. It was a new day, and Timmy woke up from his slumber.

"What.. what happened? Danny? What are you doing here?" Timmy was confused as he woke up, it seems he had forgotten what had happened yesterday.

Little Danny woke up with tears in his eyes cheering, "Bro! You're up! Wuuu… Good! Great! Thank god! Wuuu… " He started bawling.

"Wait, wait, Danny… calm down… I'm fine, see? Your big bro is alive and well! I'm just getting stronger with the new training, you'll see." Timmy excitedly exclaimed, trying to stop his brother's tears.

"Mmmm! I will get stronger too! For the both of us!" Little Danny declared while wiping his tears and started to run upstairs.

Timmy had no clue what his brother was talking about, so he didn't pay much attention to the sudden declaration, he was just glad that little Danny stopped crying his eyes out. There were snot and tears all over the sheets. Oh boy, what a mess!

Felicity came down after hearing Danny's sudden crying; she figured that Timmy had woken up.

"You up, kid?" she asked.

"Y… yes ma'am!" Timmy answered, as he frantically collected himself and straightened up his posture to salute his mentor. He finally realized how he embarrassed himself yesterday and wanted to make a better impression this time.

"Mentor! Please, I seek your guidance once more! I wasn't fully prepared yesterday! But, I assure you. I will do better!" Timmy shouted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't get your hopes up… I sure don't." After what had happened yesterday, she was indeed disappointed in her new desciple. I mean... Who gets knocked down, flat on their face, and pass out from just one slap on the shoulder? Trash…

"Let's try again, follow me outside."

"Yes, ma'am!"

They stood in front of those boulders again, or rather, those 'training tools' again.

"This is going to be your new training: First, you are to run down to the base of the mountain and back up here. Then… Hmm… Let's just leave it at that for now. Your physique is so pathetic that I can't even give you more training instructions. We need to build it up slowly, or whatever… That's what Nadya kept nagging me about… Sigh… This way, I'll show you the path... "

Timmy thanked Nadya in his heart and quickly answered, "yes, ma'am!"

She showed him a narrow made shift path that seemed like it went all the way down the mountain.

"Ta~ Da~ behold! A specially made training path made just for you!" Felicity excitedly said as she showed him this 'path.'

Before he set off down the mountain, Felicity stopped him, "Wait, wait… take this, inject any amount of mana into it and it'll fire a signal into the sky, but make sure you point it at the sky. This is for if and when you encounter something or someone dangerous. I'll come and save you or whatever… " She handed him a small ordinary stick with smooth edges.

Timmy reached out and grabbed it while thinking, 'It looks fancy, better keep it safe! It's my lifeline after all!' He then nodded and said, "I'll be back before you know it!"

Timmy had no clue how far the base of the mountain was… After about one hour of running down, he was already exhausted with sweat streaming down his entire body. The end of the path was still nowhere in sight. He stopped for a short rest to catch his breath and find water to quench his thirst. Suddenly, he heard sounds of twigs breaking nearby. Timmy felt a chill down his back and started running down the path again.

Timmy didn't know, but whatever that made those sounds had locked on to his scent and were on the hunt for its next meal.