One cannot fly into flying

Ever since Amon lost the fight against the four boys and met Tamea, who had appointed himself as Amon's teacher, he began to develope a new routine.

He spends his early morning doing the medetation exercises that Tamea taught him. They are supposed to help his mind calm down and improve focus and imagination powers.

When Amon meditates, he primarily tries to improve his perception abilities. He hears, tastes and smells the air to imagine the environment around him with his eyes closed.

Where does the wind suddenly break? What animals or insects can he hear? What does the wind that comes from that direction smell like? Such questions eventually allow him to create a picture of his surroundings in his mind, e.g. a tree close by that has a bee nest full of insects and honey on it..

Then he imagines how he could use the environment to his advantage. Can he use a small hill to his advantage in a fight? Can he use a small stream to get some distance to a opponent? Is a branch suitable enough to be used as a weapon in an emergency? Could he manage to flee from a larger group from above the treetop?

He imagines such and countless other questions and scenarios in great detail and then goes from theory to practice. He tries his best ideas and speculations to see if they work or fail.

With each failure he evaluates his actions and then tries to break them down and analyze them in order to optimize them afterwards and finally he tries out his new improved speculations. Amon repeats this process until he succeeds in executing the desired movements.

Instead of putting his foot here, Amon puts his foot there, trying every option he has to improve his movements inside of different areas.

When others see what Amon is doing. As he tries to climb a tree from different directions and keeps falling to the ground and failing like an idiot, they can't help but laugh at him.

When the other children then ask Amon why he doesn't take the easy route up the tree, but instead tries to climb the tree from the musty and wet spots that are at an unfavorable angle, Amon answers them with a single sentence.

"How should I know if the way is the only one or the best if I don't know them all?"

The children would often just end up laughing and giggling and go back to play.

However, Amon no longer took the words of others to heart and instead focused on his training, just as Tamea had taught him.

Amon then moves on to the next part of his busy but orderly day.

He began to train and better perform the movements that Tamea taught him, allowing Amon to better understand the movements and potentially optimize them for his body.

Although Amon has already internalized the basics of combat, he continued to train them every day in order to internalize and master them, as Tamea told him.

The other slaves, meanwhile, would often continue making fun of Amon for jumping around like a fool and some even claimed that he had lost his mind.

Only Nimera, Amon's mother, looked at her son differently than the others.

'Our little boy is growing so fast, I hope that you watch over him Delemun. Do you see how much he resembles you? How determined he trains and tries to improve himself? I am sure about it, our son, Amon, is fated to achieve greater heights than anybody else!' thought Nimera as she looked at Amon from a far with a smile.

Before she met Delemun and had Amon, as well as long before the dragon attacked, Nimera was a simple woman in the countryside. She inherited her family's barn and land after they died in an accident. She did nothing else in her old home than to look after the animals and the barn conscientiously.

At the beginning, many thought that little Nimera would never make it on her own and some were already planning to buy the barn and land from her. However, to their surprise, Nimera not only looked after the place almost perfectly every day and brought up the animals well, but also selled more meat, milk and hide than before.

She endured the hard work in the stables all by herself, even in the cold, icy winter. Therefore, her work was one of the reasons why there was so much fur in the winter that nobody had to freeze. And she provided enough food and milk and therefore many villagers became friends with her over the time.

Her image in the village began to change from the small an fragile little girl to the independent and smart woman Nimera, who gained more and more popularity.

With the arrival of the foreign Elf, whom Nimera then fell in love with and married some time later, she surprised the villagers again.

However, basically everyone was very satisfied with the development at the time. The Elf, even if he is a stranger, would ensure security in their village because he is a Magician and has therefore incomparable powers.

Accordingly, everyone was very happy when Nimera announced her pregnancy.

But all that has long been in the past.

Today, Nimera is known as the traitor and whore who gave her body and morals to the wicked Elf who is blamed by the villagers for the Dragon Attack and the actual culprit behind it.

Where initially there were friends who helped Nimera and Amon, just a few weeks later they began to become fewer and fewer. Where once there were still some who stood by her side and didn't believe the lies, the next moment more and more began to make nasty remarks and lies behind her back.

And so Nimera went from being an admirable person to the hated whore of a mass murderer which no one wanted anything to do with anymore.

But that also had its good side. The men who longed for her body in the beginning and wanted to forcibly take her beauty were curbed by the rumors and the bad image of Nimera and their intentions decreased more and more, especially since there were also younger slaves who were more interesting.

However, in the end Nimera doesn't care about the rumors and other slaves either.

Of course, she was very upset at first when she found out that her supposed friends had betrayed her and were spreading lies about her husband and son behind her back, but after a few years of constant exclusion and insults, she decided not to listen to them anymore and just to ignore them.

In the end, all that remained for her was to worry about her now 8 year old son, who had to be a slave from day one and was beaten and laughed at by other children.

Nonetheless, her little baby grew up into a boy who doesn't let himself be influenced by others and is very intelligent and responsible.

Nimera is therefore very happy that her son still has the will to grow and learn more.

However at the same time, she also hates the children who beat and insult her son. She would like to hold the children's parents accountable, but with no strength of her own and the law against her, since as a slave she is an object and not a human being with rights, she can do nothing against them and can only try her best for Amon to educate properly.

When she first found out from Amon that the blacksmith Tamea wanted to train him, she decided to confront Tamea at the same day and ask for his reasons.

Tamea was not angry or upset about Nimera's sudden appearance and calmly explained to her why he wanted to train Amon.

He explained that Amon reminded him of an old student of his whom he trained long ago in the military. Tamea used to be an instructor for Knights and met many different types of cadets.

The kind that thinks they can do anything with money and have the right to be above others. The kind that just wants to take their chance and escape from slavery and poverty, but also the kind that are experienced and want to fanatically fight against the enemies of the Empire. He has met many of such young people over the years. They all had dreams and wishes that they had hoped to achieve in the military and accordingly enlisted as soldiers.

But Amon is not a type to which such qualities apply. Amon does not possess a selfish will to put his past behind so as to start a new life, nor is he a narcissist who believes that other people should be beneath him and he is certainly not an insane believer.

Instead, Amon is a young boy with a lot of potential who just wants to end his mother's suffering and wants to see the people close to him live in peace. In addition, Amon possesses an iron will. No matter how many times he falls or fails, he gets back up and tries a new approach to his problems.

Where others give up, Amon really starts to fight. Where others lose their courage and will to face danger, Amon sprints head on with his blade drawn.

These qualities of giving everything for the happiness of his loved ones and at the same time having such a natural talent to fight and assess and judge one's own chances, more than convinced Tamea not to let Amons talent disappear and instead to take him in as a student and to teach him the right way of fighting.

After Nimera found out about Tamea's reasons, she made her way to Amon and thought about whether she shouldn't forbid Amon to see Tamea again.

'He runs resolutely towards every danger with drawn sword where others would already give up? If that doesn't sound like you, Delemun. Our son seems to be following in your footsteps even though I tried to avoid it. Just the thought of our little boy facing such dangers as the dragon in the future, breaks my heart into a thousand pieces. Is it so wrong to live a peaceful life away from any dangers, or why do the loved ones in my life always run into battle?' thought Nimera as she walked the streets along to the stinking slave houses.

"Sigh. In the end it's Amons decision that he has to make. I can't just lock him up in my arms even if I want to. This world is dangerous and one with monsters lurking everywhere that could take everything that is important to you at any time. At least Amon will encounter and fight against these monsters with knowledge and skills. Nonetheless, I must teach him that his own life is always the most important thing, no matter the price he has to pay for it!" said Nimera when she decided to visit Amon in the forest.

She found him training there again and spoke to him about agreeing to him continuing to be trained by Tamea, but then stating her own terms.

The conversation between mother and son then ended with Amon accepting his mother's wishes and then moving on to the next part of the day, the work in the mines.

...

The mines of the village are very small and cramped, especially as the villagers dug and built them using only some broken tools and materials.

The mines produce different ores, most of which are iron and coal, and they occasionally stumble upon a small vein of silver, which they then trade to traveling traders in exchange for tools.

The traveling traders often make a larger profit with the trade. However, the village has no choice but to trade with them as they need the traded materials or tools, especially since the next town is too dangerous to reach and otherwise nobody else dares to come here.

Accordingly, the village has to save money somewhere in order not to go completely bankrupt and those who suffer first are always the slaves and servants.

The food they receive as payment is increasingly determined by the contribution they make for the village. Next to the domestic servants, the mine workers get the most food, followed by the field workers and sex slaves. At the bottom are the children and useless ones.

The children are used as cheap labor and the useless are viewed as a germ of society and expelled.

Any slave who gets too old or has an injury is seen as useless and thrown out as food for the monsters in the forest.

Therefore, those who work in the mines are twice as careful not to get hurt or just die when it happens.

However, no one can foresee a quarry or a collapsing shaft and therefore there are numerous deaths every month from accidents that happen in the mines.

Even Amon himself was injured a few times and got to know at a young age how fragile a person can be in the end.

The skull shatters when a falling rock hit it to fast on the head. The muscles and bones will snap like butter if you hit the right angle and your muscles and nerves in your arms will be crushed by rocks if you're not careful.

Amon has already seen a hand full of people dying and has slowly become accustomed with it.

These encounters with death made Amon more and more interested in understanding the physiology of different creatures.

Where and how do the different organs of a living being function? Why do all living things need food and air? Why are all the bodies of different races built the same? Why are there different races in the beginning? Why is there death?

All of these and countless other questions race through the 8 year old's head as he asks himself why the world is the way it is.

But in the end, Amon was only able to leave these questions unanswered for now, especially since he has no opportunity to pursue them for the time being.

...

In the afternoon, with work done, Amon sets off from the mines with a piece of bread to his mother, who has just returned from the field work and has something to drink and some fruits with her.

Mother and son then share the food they earned the day and in the late afternoon Amon goes to Tamea who is waiting for him in the forge.

Once there, Tamea begins to review Amon's daily progress and provides tips and answers some of Amon's questions regarding his training and weapon handling.

Not long ago, Tamea made and gifted some practice weapons to Amon.

According to the law, slaves are not allowed to carry weapons and if they are found with weapons, in the worst case they will be sentenced to death, so of course Tamea did not forge any real weapon for Amon.

Instead, he made two identical 40 cm long batons out of leather, wood and some iron, for Amon to practice with.

The batons were light and fit well in Amon's hands. Also, if you gain enough speed with them, they could even be deadly if you learn to use them properly.

"A weapon is what you make into one. Never underestimate an opponent and think that just because he fights with sticks he must be an easy target. A master can make anything into a weapon, never forget that." said Tamea as he handed him the two batons.

Amon gratefully accepted his new weapons and immediately began training and familiarizing himself with them.

The two batons flowed smoothly into Amon's movements and complemented them.

"That's it. With these weapons as your starting point, we now move on to the next important step in your training, learning a Fighting form." Tamea said as he watched Amon's movements in the forge's backyard.

"Fighting form? What is a Fighting form, teacher Tamea?" Amon asked as he paused his training and took deep breaths in and out.

"Good question my student. A Fighting form which is also known as QI Technique is a sequence of attacking and defensive movements that distinguishes a normal Footman from a Novice Knight and represents the first steps in Body Cultivation." explained Tamea.

"Before you ask me what all this means, let me summarize it briefly." said Tamea when he saw the confused face of Amon.

"A Footman is a regular soldier, of which there are countless in the Empire and here in the allied Republic. They are the army's cannon fodder and are expendable soldiers, countless numbers of whom die in battles all the time. But then, on the other hand, there are also Knights who represent the next level of soldiers." explained Tamea.

"You know that Magicians use a power called Mana right?" asked Tamea.

"Yes Liona ones mentioned it. Mana is the source of power of all Magicians and their Spells." answered Amon.

"Yes, you are right. This Mana is said to exist everywhere in the world around us and those gifted with Magic are thus able to change nature through Mana. Just like Magicians, Knights also use a similar power source, but instead of Mana they use something called QI, which describes a power of their own body in which one can cultivate and improve to gain more power." explained Tamea afterwards.

"Cultivation here means that a Knight throws themselves into training and learns new techniques and forms with their weapons through using QI." said Tamea.

"Every person has QI as their own power in their body and can use this to strengthen their body or a weapon. QI is present in a limited amount in the body and if the QI inside the Body is too low, a Knight can harm himself and can cause damage that may be incurable." warned Tamea.

"Although QI is widely regarded as a Mortal Force and as weaker than the Immortal Power of Mana, QI's utility is enormous and its power should not be underestimated." said Tamea afterwards.

"Enough talking, I'm going to show you a Sword Fighting form so you can see the power and potential of QI with your own eyes." said Tamea as he began his demonstration.

...