“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”― Pablo Picasso

  His next month took a familiar shape- training with his dad just before dawn, working out and training by himself between sunrise and lunch, playing with Brioche a bit, and learning from his mother whatever she deemed appropriate, or whatever he requested. This normally entailed things like practicing elvish, learning to cook something in particular, manners fit for a noble, and tailoring practice. Sometimes when she didn’t have time to teach him, she would pick up a book or two from the library for some self-study. He absorbed those as well.

  She still visited the temple frequently and was slowly growing her healing skills despite her aversion to blood and viscera. Three days a week she still worked at one of the tailors as well.

  He also continued to see Rose. In fact, they saw each other nearly every day, taking comfort in their individual practice sessions. She continued to work towards mastering her songs, and he continued to work on his swordsmanship, having new things to train since Ezekiel taught him additional techniques.

  Lios’s body held a consistent ache, the proof of all of his hard work. He lived for the baths in the creek. He kept his days the same, truly enjoying the practice and training. One day, however, made him reconsider some things as he overheard his parents one night.

  “I just worry about him, Ezekiel.” Lios could hear his mother’s muffled voice through the door. “All he does is train and learn. He doesn't play with anyone his own age and doesn't take the time to have fun. To be a kid. I mean, he talks to that Rose lass, but otherwise he doesn’t socialize at all.”

  Part of him wanted to push open the door and say that the training, the reading, the learning was his idea of fun. Or to confess his previous life now, but that felt unwise. Instead, Lios stayed still, waiting for his father to respond. He could imagine him tugging at his hairless chin as he pondered his reply.

  “I am too... worried, I mean.” Zeke’s voice finally wafted through the air, surprising Lios. “But also... I want to see how far the kids’ willing to go. Ya know?” He let out a soft laugh. “He’s so different from the other kids, so driven by... something.”

  “I know what you mean. It just makes me wonder what's got him trying so hard. I mean, what could a six-year-old possibly be trying so hard for? Especially when he’ll have the system to help him in a few years?” his mother then let out a soft laugh, expelling some of her worries. “Have you talked to him about it?”

  “Once. I asked him a couple of weeks ago why he was putting himself through all this. Ya know what he said?” Lios felt his father pause for dramatic effect. “He wanted to achieve his own growth, something that would be entirely his to own instead of aided by the system. He said he wanted to grow on his own for a bit before he couldn't anymore. I found it quite humorous, such a young child trying to act like a sage.”

  “That does not ease my concerns. But how is he doing with his training? He absorbs everything I teach him like a sponge. I return to the library every day. I thought it’d take him over a week to study each book, but noooo. Kid just had to be a bookworm.” She laughed again, showing she hadn’t actually been complaining.

  “Yeah? He’s picking up fighting pretty quickly too. Even faster than some guys on my team did, even with their systems already being present. By the time he’s ten, he won't have anything else to learn from us!”

  Lios stopped himself from listening as they kept chattering. He resolved to spend half of his self-study practicing in the clearing with Brioche, maybe if it seemed he was spending more time being a regular kid they wouldn't worry so much.

  __________________________________________

  About three months later, he asked his father to teach him a bit more about different weapons. Lios knew he wasn't quite proficient with the sword; however, he also knew that there was a skill for overall weapon mastery, as well as specific subcategories of weapons such as simple, martial, blunt, heavy, etcetera. Truthfully, he had his eyes and heart set on [Martial Weapon Mastery], or if that wasn't available to him because of a lack of diversification, [Bladed Weapon Mastery].

  They stood in a circle made of various weapons, a self-imposed ring that was around twenty feet in diameter. Not really a lot of room for sparring but a great space for practicing footwork and martial skills. His father tossed him the spear, having just shown him the basic techniques, like he had with the sword.

  “I have to head into work now, but you can do 100 of each of those exercises and then resume your sword training. Don’t want you to slack off too much.” He ruffled his son’s hair before heading to the house to don his uniform.

  Lios spent the next several hours training with the spear before heading to Brioche’s clearing to practice with the sword. The fox yipped at his feet, creating obstacles for him. It was as though she was helping to prepare for unexpected circumstances, or maybe she was just growing more and more impatient for attention. This was pretty typical behavior, but it seemed the more he trained with her, the more actively she danced around him.

  Over the last few months, he had shown Rose this clearing and introduced her to BriBri as well. She occasionally would tag along, but today she had said there was something she had to do, so he didn’t see her. He wouldn’t lie; it was always a disappointing day when she wasn’t around. Between her comforting, if shy, presence and the music she played, he always looked forward to her company. Maybe my parents are right; perhaps I need to get out more.

  Lios chuckled as he felt Bri nip at his feet and legs, opting to train barefoot most of the time and giving her significantly more opportunities to attack. She had been doing this ever since he had started training here a few months ago. After around three hours of dancing around the smallish clearing, Lios sat down, back against a log, and let the sly fox cuddle into him. He pet her as she yelled, and laughed, as foxes do. She and he rolled around in the dirt for a while until he noticed the sun's position in the sky. Summer was nearly upon them, and the sun beat down on them more viciously, making him glad for the tree cover in the clearing, even if it did increase the surrounding humidity. Typically, he stopped his training right as the sun was no longer visible through the trees.

  Lios stood up, trying to placate the fox’s whining. “Brioche, I have to take a bath now,” he said in a calm voice. She whimpered as though she understood and tucked her tail between her legs. The animals in this world seemed a bit smarter than in his previous one, but he had grown used to her seemingly understanding his simpler words without too much training.

  He’d brought his toiletries along, as he was wont to do. He trudged through the forest towards the brook, noting that Brioche still followed him, albeit sneakily, through the forest. Lios smiled.

  It took less than ten minutes for him to arrive at the brook, and when he did, he set his things down on the usual rock and quickly stepped into the warming stream. Thankfully, it was no longer as chilly as the winter tended to keep it, but it being in the shade didn’t let it get too warm either. As he bathed, he looked over his body. It was still the body of someone between the ages of six and seven, but he could see muscles were becoming more clearly defined beneath the ever-fading baby fat. He was no longer pudgy or plump. In his past life he had been perpetually pale, or red, but after nearly half a year of training in the sun he was becoming quite tanned.

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  Lios sighed as, after nearly an hour, he forced himself to climb out of the creek and dry and dress. He took a leisurely stroll back to the house, arriving in time for lunch. After lunch, he was preparing to learn from his mother. She had said the day before that she had bought a few books about the flora and fauna of Jorial, the country that we lived in. Lios was positively buzzing with excitement at the prospect.

  He stepped into the house after scraping the dirt from his boots, having put them on before heading home but still wasn't wearing a shirt. Setting his clean clothes down on his bed and tossing the dirty ones into the basket at the foot of it, he ventured back out into the common living space. His mother still insisted on doing his laundry down by the river with the other women of the village, but he was growing close to making her let him do it. He wasn't a huge fan of the inequality he was beginning to become aware of.

  In many of the historical documents and even stories they read, women were not placed very highly in society and often had some amount of rights lessened. For instance, they couldn't own property, start their own businesses, or open bank accounts on their own without a husband present. There were certain “traditional” roles that women were meant to take on, including cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry. It reminded him of America in the 1800s.

  Lios frowned to himself as he thought about it, but the smell of the food his mother was making drew his attention into the kitchen. Lios rapidly appeared by her side, salivating as his tummy grumbled.

  “Whatcha makin?” He asked nonchalantly, seeing the sandwich toasting in a cast iron pan.

  “Lunch. Don’t be so impatient. Wait at the table. Afterwards you and I are going for a walk through the woods. And yes, you will put on a shirt.”

  His mother had seemed a bit happier now that it seemed like Lios was at least not spending the entire morning working out, even if he was. He smiled and looked casually to the counter where the scraps of the goat meat she had sliced for the sandwiches were piled up. “Okay! Why don't we bring father a fresh sandwich? I know it's a little out of the way, but I'm sure he’d love to have us visit even for a minute.” Lios smiled at her sweetly. It was a little disgusting how in love the two were. She rarely had time to visit him at work or to bring him lunches. If they already had some time to spare to wander the woods, he figured he could wingman a bit for the old married couple.

  “Ooh, that's a great idea, Lios!” His mother’s stern attitude shifted to something more excited. She flitted over to him, sandwich on a plate that she set on the table. “I already ate, so I’ll just make another one for him. And yes, we can also stop by Bri's and feed her some of the scraps here. I’ve got little use for them otherwise.”

  Lios smiled and dug into the hot sandwich. It was delicious. The meat was only seasoned with the same usual spices. They couldn't afford too much variance even with father’s raise, but even still garlic, salt, and pepper were all one really needed. After he finished eating, somehow before mother had finished the sandwich for dad, he set out a piece of brown paper to wrap the sandwich in, and gathered a small pouch of various fruits. After, while his mother was carefully wrapping the steaming goat meat and cheese sandwich, he looked over some of the veggies they had from the last garden harvest. It looked like some of the garlic and onions would be going bad soon. Lios chewed his cheek, not noticing his mother watching as he considered whether she’d let him make onion and garlic powder.

  “Whatcha thinking over there, kiddo? Contemplating your existence? Staving off an irrational decision to chomp right into a raw onion?” She giggled slightly, and Lios turned to her, still thinking.

  “Nothing like that but... we can't use all these onions and garlic before they go bad, probably. Tomorrow, can I try something with them?” He looked at her hopefully; she still didn't often let him cook. She was adamant that boys should worry about boy things and not cooking. This time she slowly nodded.

  “You are relentless when you want something, Lios. Sure, but make sure you don’t ruin my pans.” She sighed and hefted the package of food as he wrapped the scrap meat into a small bundle with brown paper.

  Lios followed her out of the house, and she quickly started towards the barracks. It was a bit out of the way, having to head into the city proper before backtracking to go back towards the forest, but neither of them minded. While his father could realistically be anywhere in town, the barracks would be the best starting point. They were on the other side of the town, but Arborton was not large enough to make that a concern. With a population of just over 5000, a decent amount for a town but not enough for a city, the town took only around 20 minutes to traverse from one side to the other at a decent walking speed. They made it in around fifteen minutes and opened the door to see his father and three others playing cards lazily in the middle of the barracks.

  When the door opened, the four of them turned towards it, and a smile quickly lit up Lios’s father’s face before he hid it. He stood up and walked towards the mother-son duo.

  “Zeke! You didn't tell us Elaine and Lios were visiting today! I’d have cleaned up better,” the man across from Zeke, Gerald, said. Lios remembered him only vaguely. He hadn't visited his dad at work since he started training and hadn’t paid much attention to him before. He was Regulus’s father, the boy who was picked up by Lord Barriston to be a squire, or knight in training.

  “I didn’t know myself! If you'll excuse me, boys, I think I'd better see what brought them here. Feel free to carry on without me!” Lios’s father said jovially and took them a few steps away before the others had a chance to reply. “Thank goodness you showed up right then; I was about to lose some chips to those card sharks.” He whispered in a conspiratorial tone.

  Elaine rolled her eyes, but a small smile played at the corners of her lips. “I’m sure you were; you always do. We don't have long to stay, but we thought to bring you lunch in the event you haven't eaten yet.”

  Ezekiel took the package with delight in his eyes and sat back at the table, almost slapping the packed sandwich and fruit down. The other three men struggled not to eye the food or look jealous. He grinned at the others and took a large bite of the slightly less warm grilled goat meat and cheese sandwich. He let out a braggadocios moan as the sandwich made its way down his gullet, a glare forming on the other men's faces. Elaine laughed and kissed him before she pulled Lios back towards the door.

  “See you later, sweetheart. Bye Gentlemen.” Elaine said as they made their exit. Lios had half expected her to try to elongate the visit, to chat with his father and his coworkers, but it turned out she was more excited to teach Lios a thing or two. “Now then, Lios, let us go into the woods. I’m going to teach you how to forage and which plants are edible or poisonous in that forest.”

  “Yes, Mother, sounds amazing.” He wasn't being facetious either; it truly sounded amazing. And useful.

  They walked through town, back towards their house and then past it into the Deepbloom Forest. As the duo walked, they quickly reached Brioche’s den and saw her there. Lios grinned as she came up to them, sniffing his mom’s legs before excitedly sprinting around the two humans. Unfortunately, they weren't there to play, but Lios was still able to hand-feed her a bit of scrap meat.

  The fox followed them a bit as his mother began to show him a bit of the various flora, referencing a book with all kinds of different plants. She showed him which berries to look out for and which types of plants were poisonous. How to harvest the meat of an acorn, and what it could be used for. She had him harvest some wild medicinal herbs, and on his own, after being taught about them, he harvested a fair amount of herbs that she knew but didn't go out of her way to find or procure- things like basil, and thyme, and rosemary. She gave him a strange look as he placed them in their herb basket.

  “I wanna try to cook with them. I think it’d be yummy,” he replied upon seeing the confused look.

  “Well... It should be fine at least.” Elaine pursed her lips.

  “Trust me, Ma! If you let me cook dinner tomorrow, you won't regret it! I mean, an adventurer should be able to cook for himself, right?”

  “Fine, fine you win. You can cook for us once. Gods, what would a bloody six-year-old even know about cooking?” His mother gave an exasperated sigh, looking up towards the heavens, before walking up to a tree and inspecting the leaves. After she got a good investigatory look, she flipped the book open to the appropriate pages and examined them until she found the right tree.

  “Look here, Lios, it says this one is a Licton Oak, a less common oak tree whose sap can be used to easily start fires... Maybe you don't need to know that? Oh! But also the roots are used in some minor stamina potion recipes!” She showed him the book, and he confirmed the similarities.

  Their time went like this until only a few hours before sunset, the bright light of the day turning more orange by the time they got back home. Lios’s mind was a bit overstuffed after most of the afternoon was spent looking at plants, but he didn't mind. After dinner, they looked over a bit more of the book, familiarizing themselves even more with the local flora, before eventually heading to bed.