In The Woods

Ryu reached home and straight went to his Mother. She was in the kitchen. Amilia knew what was going to happen when she saw Ryu.

As Ryu came into the kitchen, he said, "Mother, I have reached the peak of the Body awakening realm. So as per our promise, you will allow me to work with Father or at Uncle Lin's inn."

Amilia heard it and spoke,

"Ok, I will talk with your father and tell him to take you to work with him," spoke.

Seeing this Ryu was a little puzzled, so he asked, "Mother are you not going to stop me from going to work? "

It was not he did not want to go to work, but seeing Amilia's reaction made him ask.

"I am still against you working. You are still a child, but you will have to go outside eventually, so I guess letting you go now is best for your future."

"But remember to be careful when working with your father,"

She spoke with a slight smile on her face, but she was a little sad.

" Yes Mother!!,"

Ryu nodded a little and went back to his room.

The next day, In the morning Ryu was waiting for John outside the house. John came out and saw Ryu waiting there.

"It seems you actually want to work."

Ryu nodded.

As Ryu and John started walking deeper into the forest. The reason for going deeper into the forest is that there is a special type of tree in the crimson forest which is called 'The burning Tree'.

This tree's wood can burn for a long time. So most of the inns use this wood for their kitchen.

As they came deep inside the forest, John spoke, "Remember to be vigilant at all times. The wild animals or beasts can attack us, so be careful."

"Yes, Father."

As they reached the area around The Burning tree growing, Ryu saw the trees, Red vines falling from the tree, and the trunk with bright red color with the stripes going upward like it's burning at the moment.

John decided on which tree they were going to chop today. After deciding on one, they neared it.

"Ryu, just look how I do it and then try."

Usually, they cut a tree and then chop its pieces and then take them back to give them to the Inns.

"ok father," Ryu replied.

then John lifted the axe in his hands which he had carried and whacked at the tree " bang, bang.."

When John's axe hit the tree, it made a loud sound and made Ryu a little surprised as the axe was hitting at a single point and an inch was only getting cut.

John, after hitting it over twenty to thirty times, stopped and turned to Ryu and said "Now you try it"

"Yes!!" Ryu replied.

Ryu came to where John was hitting the Tree, "No, you go around it and hit there and first hit with your full power and try controlling the place where the axe might hit to a single point."

John gave him instructions. Ryu came to the other side of the tree and lifted the axe. The axe was smaller than John's axe, but was still heavy for Ryu. The handle was made from crimson wood, which is stronger in terms of strength than the Burning wood.

As he lifted and then brought it with all his strength, "Bam..." sound came out after the collision. It was a good hit and can be seen that half an inch was cut. Ryu saw this and became a little sad.

Seeing Ryu sad, John spoke, "You don't have to be sad, as you did well on the first try, well better than me when I first came here. You know what? When I tried it for the first time, I dropped my axe, you see.."

Hearing this, Ryu became bright again and lifted the axe, and hit again

"Bam... thud"

his axe slipped the tree trunk and his balance slipped because of putting all his strength into the hit and he fell with the axe.

"Hahaha, you have to be careful not to put all the force. Remember, the footing is also important"

Ryu's face was red like a tomato after hearing his father laughing. For him, he was older enough to be feeling showing this side to his father.

He quickly got up and lifted the axe. This time, he gave attention to his footing. "Baam.." as the axe made the sound, another cut appeared on the tree, shallow than before.

"This is a little hard"

"haha, you thought it was easier, like cultivation where mental power is the key point, here physical power is the key point"

"So do I have to exercise more to get better?" he looked at John.

"You have to and anyway when you enter the Body strengthening realm you will get stronger with it"

"Then I can use this as an exercise as the foundation, right?"

When John Heard this, he was a little surprised as this actually can be used as training, but to think about future benefits at such a small age is well not natural.

"yes you can use this for the foundation"

Hearing this, Ryu was overjoyed.' Yes, then I can use this as training and help too. This is like two birds with one stone.'

After some time, the hits became better and Ryu got better at swinging the axe, though the aim needed effort. He was doing better because he was already at peak awakening realm.

His whole body was drenched in sweat and seeing Ryu taking big breaths, seeing this John spoke " I think it's time for a break, go eat something and rest but keep an eye out"

"Umm, but I can work for more time"

"No, but's go and rest. I'll finish this "

John did not give room to Ryu, so Ryu went to the side and sat down. After munching on the food brought by them in the morning, he was also keeping an eye out for animals or beasts.

After some time, the tree fell and made a big sound in the silent forest.

"Boom"

John did not start trimming the tree but waited some time so that the beasts alerted by the sound do not have a chance to approach. So he and Ryu hid behind some bushes.

After some time noticing that no beast was there, he began to trim the wood. Seeing this, Ryu came to help but was told to rest as the reason he got.

"For the first day, this much is enough. For a start, you only work on making the tree fall "

He was sad a little, but motivated himself saying ' just a few days so they will pass'

After trimming, they loaded the wood. There was still half the tree left there to trim for which Ryu asked "what about the other part'' and got the answer that "It's for tomorrow "

As the father-son duo began heading out after packing everything, someone was looking at the duo from afar.

The bushes in the dark had Golden glowing eyes, but they did not move and just watched the duo heading out.

Maybe these eyes are planning something.....

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