Chapter 9: Training

That's how August's training days started. August woke up at 5 a.m to eat something and prepare for the training. Hans fed August with various herbs that allowed August to train more efficiently and significantly affected activity. All of those herbs were toxic to some extent, but August was ok with drinking them after the mutation.

In the morning, Hans gave August straightforward exercises, like push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and squats, to build up some muscles. August, at the moment, was too weak to do over 10 in the raw. His body was weak after mutation. But herbs and special teas helped August keep his stamina up and keep on training. Every day, he would train without a break.

They were running a lot to build some stamina and agility. Like this, three months passed, and spring came. Most of the Witchers left for their journey, and Kaer Morhen became empty despite kids training like August.

Until now, August hasn't made a single friend, but he kept on increasing his knowledge of herbs and potions. And now he could be considered quite good. For three months, he had built some muscles to start his training with weapons.

Over the past three months, Hans and August bonded pretty well, considering they were in poor relationships before. Now August would occasionally say one or two words to Hans. Dreams of the visions he saw still kept bothering him, but after the first month of struggling, he could force himself to sleep at least 4 hours a day.

His daily schedule was like this:

5 a.m - breakfast

6 a.m - Start of the training

13:00 - break

15:00 - training

20:00 - end of the training

20-24:00 - reading books

Right now, it is his first training on wielding of sword. He will have to learn how to handle a sword and learn the Witcher wolf school fighting style. After training in the morning on his stamina and muscles, he walked towards the training ground, where all young Witchers were learning how to wield weapons.

When he walked onto the training ground, he spotted Hans standing in front of the dummies. They were made of hay. The training ground was quite an ample open space with a straight floor. There are several other young Witchers training in different corners of the land. For August, it is too early to spar with others. He is just a newbie in the field of weapon-wielding.

August walked near Hans and looked at him. Hans was carrying a leather bag in his hands. It was quite a large bag that was heavy by the looks of it. Hans looked toward August, dropped the bag in front of August's legs, and said.

"In this bag, you will find various weapons. Choose the ones you want to wield. I will teach you how to wield a sword, but you can also choose something else," said Hans and turned around. He walked 10 meters away from August. He took out a wooden sword and pointed it toward August.

August quickly searched the bag until he found two knives and a one-handed long sword that was the same height as him. He took a sheath for daggers and placed it on his waist, bringing the blade into his hands.

Hans looked toward August, quite surprised because of his chosen weapon. Usually, Witchers select something big like a sword, an axe or a halberd, but August chooses daggers as his secondary weapons.

But now, it is not about daggers. Now August has to learn how to handle a sword. August stood opposite Hans and held his sword in front of him. Holding a wooden sword, Hans calmly looked at August and gestured him to come at him.

Wasting no time, August dashed at Hans, trying to hit him. Hans quickly paired an attack coming from August, resulting in August falling. Hans looked down at August and said,

"You need to stand up. Everything you did was bad but good enough for the first time. You need to keep your sword in your sight all the time. Hold balance with a sword. It should be part of your body, not something that will burden you. Your footwork needs working, and you need always to put your legs on the right spots to generate enough force for your slashes with a sword" Like this, Hans instructed August on how to handle a sword.

Hans would let August attack him and then will explain his mistakes. When August failed to follow his instructions, he was hit with a wooden sword in the spots he was failing at. August kept practising with Hans for the whole day until sunset and went back to the castle covered in bruises.

The next day, Hans changed the training regimen for August. Now it is essential to build up reflexes rather than muscles. The first exercise was on training his reflexes. And the speed of his reaction.

Hans stood 10-15 metres away from August and took a pile of small stones in his hands. And threw one into August. Surprisingly he could dodge the rock. Hans's face showed surprise, and he asked August, "How did you dodge it?"

The only response he got from August was, "I just knew". So Hans once again threw a stone towards August, but the rock hit August in his leg this time. Hans kept on throwing stones at August, but August couldn't dodge them 90% of the time.

For Hans, it didn't look brilliant. How would a child dodge something he didn't see and then later could not repeat it? Making up a theory in his head, Hans said, "You don't trust your instincts. You try to force your body to do something, but you have to learn how to trust your own instincts first."

Hans walked towards August, tied a cloth over his eyes, and said, "Now, try to trust your instinct. Don't force your body to do what you want, but try to trust it. Trust your strength. We are still clueless about what changes the experiment Vincent caused, but you have to trust your body to unlock your potential."

August nodded his head and then closed his eyes. Hans, looking at the boy, threw the first stone. August tried to move and dodge, but his moves were once again consciousness. Hans shouted, "Brat, allow your own body to swing freely. Don't force your conscious movements, but let your body do the job for you."

He threw a new stone with that, and surprisingly, August dodged it. Hans kept throwing rocks, and August kept trying to avoid them. But this time around, August was only hit with 20-30% of the stones that Hans threw at him. Unlike before, August was able to avoid most of the rocks.

By the end of the day, August was again covered in bruises, but he was much happier this time around. He finally discovered the powers he received in the mutation despite increased strength, agility, and flexibility—the sixth sense.

Like that August training load increased, now he did not only do some exercises to pump up his muscles, but currently, he was working with his maximum effort. Reflex training, fighting on swords, movement of the footwork to dodge more efficiently, climbing hills, climbing trees, and acrobatics. Unlike other Witchers, August had more gifts, and one of those was great flexibility.

Because of this, Hans trained him in acrobatics so that he could be more versatile in battle and hunting. Hans and August kept on training while other young ones looked at them with inspiration. They trained for longer than August, but the amount of effort he was putting in was double theirs.

Months after months passed by, but the workload for August wasn't decreasing. No, in fact, it was increasing. It was done by August himself. He wanted to see how far he could push himself. From the moment of the experiment, he didn't want to be weak anymore. He could be strong, can be capable of defending himself.

So he didn't waste a single moment. He didn't communicate with anyone, and nobody tried to approach him. August spends all of his time either training or studying. Day after day, he was improving, growing and getting stronger. After three months of training, Hans started to use the metal sword to fight with August, not because August became too strong for Hans to handle, but because of August's tactic.

Wooden swords were not strong enough to handle August attacks. His attacks were furious fast and resembled snakes. He was moving all around his opponent, using every single bit of his natural flexibility. Hans didn't know how to teach August to handle daggers since he never used them, so he let it be on August's shoulders. The only help he provided was a sparring partner for August, who was trying to develop his skills with daggers.

While August was training on his own, two boys approached him one day. Both of them were young. One looked like five, while the second looked around 4. They were the first ones to talk to August.

A young kid with a magnificent structure of muscles with white like snow hair said, " I saw you training hard. Can I join you?"

August only nodded his head, and the white-haired kid trained with August. However, the one with black hair looked at two who were communicating with a minimal amount of words and expressed, "Hey guys, why are you not talking? How could you communicate with just one phrase and a nod?"

Both August and the white-haired kid looked at him for a second and then returned to training. The black-haired kid only signed and added, "At least say your names to each other. I'm Eskel by the way."

August looked towards the white-haired kid waiting for his name until he said, "Geralt"

Both boys Geralt and Eskel now looked at August, waiting for his reply and received a single word "August".

"How bleak, huh," said Eskel. However, still joined the 2. From this day onwards, they kept on training together. None of them would talk much, and definitely not August. The amount of time that had passed after the experiment was almost half a year, but the visions shocked him too much, and it was hard for him to speak with others and trust others easily.

Days kept on passing, and August was getting more proficient with weapons, and also, his relationship was strengthening with his new two friends, Geralt and Eskel. Today was another ordinary day, but after the training, Hans wanted to talk with August about something, so he called the boy somewhere private.

When they arrived at a normal-looking castle room that was almost the same as August's, Hans looked at August and stated, "August, you should know that already, but unlike everyone here, you are a source. You are the one who can use magic. So I want you to learn how to control this power. I have collected all the books that I could find about this topic, and I wish you to read through them, they might not help you now, but you will be able to get at least a hint of what magic is until you go to the Temple in Ellender where you will be able to learn a bit. I don't wish you to join the Sorcerer's community. Their ways and goals are too different from ours."

August said what he thought, interrupting Hans, "I won't join the brotherhood", and took all the books Hans brought with him.

Like this, his first-ever learning experience started in the field of magic. But unlike weapon mastery that August likes, magic were causing him to be uneasy. He still could remember how sorcerers were killing people with a swing of their hands, and it terrified him. It scares him enough to fear magic, but ignoring such a force would be stupid—better fight against your fears than accept them.

With that, August's training continued. In 3 more months, he could get the hang of what magic is. By the end of reading about theories in the books, August concluded.

"Magic is Art, Chaos and Science a blessing, a curse, and progress. It all depends on who calls upon it and for what purpose.

Magic stems from nature. It is in the earth we walk upon, in the fire burning in its heart, in the air we breathe, and in the water that brings life and flows within us. If you happen to be gifted with a particular talent, all you need is to reach out your hand and grasp the magic all around you."

But it isn't that easy-to-use magic. One needs millennia to master a bit of magic, while the other might just take a few years. But one thing he understood for sure, magic is no simple thing, it requires a lot of things, but the main ones are patience, talent and a lot of time free. So August postponed any kind of self-taught magic since the information he could read from the books might be an incorrect use of magic, and it might be deadly not only to others that are around him but also to himself.

Time flew by, and August grew more potent and more proficient. Despite his exceptional talent for the arts of swords, his most outstanding talent lay in herbs and elixirs. The art of science is a science known as biology and chemistry. He read through most of the books that had information on these topics, topics of different herbs and elixirs that could be made with herbs.

On one night, however, August received a vision, a vision that changed his understanding of the world, a vision that allowed him to understand what does this visions represent, and the conclusion he reached will make him know that this power should not be known by anyone, by anyone he cannot trust with his life. . But about that, you will hear in the next chapter.

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