Limits

I didn't believe in those fairy tales. 'A flower that can grant you immortality? Bah, of course it is some kind of made up story to make people search for it in vain' I thought to myself. Nick then said "This concludes the test. You did quite well actually. Only one wrong answer. Of course you would have more wrong answers if I were to ask more questions". I nodded to that. I knew I didn't remember the whole book, therefore there would be loads of questions I wouldn't be able to answer.

Nick continued "Read this book couple of times but start reading the Medical Journal that I gave you as well". I agreed to that suggestion. Nick then turned around towards the poles and said "You are not far away from finding the right balance on the first pole. It will be more difficult for you to make moves but with time you will be able to do what I did". I nodded my head in understanding. I then asked a question "When will you teach me about the art of hidden weapons?" to which Nick snorted and said "Hmph, You already have a lot on your hands. When you master both the wooden poles and these two books, I will teach you new things. For now, every week I will come back to test your knowledge and look at your progress with the wooden poles".

I was a bit disappointed but he was right as well. I didn't have any more time. I trained on wooden poles most of the time and when I had some free time like break between the tasks, I would read a book. There is a saying "Biting more than you can chew" and I didn't want to be a perfect example of that saying either.

When Nick left, I begun my training with the wooden poles again. After a few hours of such training I would lay down in my bed to read the book. This time, I read the Medical Journal. This book explained how different illnesses and diseases are formed and with what to treat them. The book was about half the size of the Thousand and One Herbs book but it contained very small amount of drawings and a lot more writing compared to the other book.

The book described symptoms of said illnesses and diseases as well as precautions if any and possible medication that can fight said ailment. It was quite detailed book and thus very hard to memorize. I didn't give up and read it as much as I could when I had the time. I did read the Thousand and One Herbs from time to time, just to read something else once in a while.

A week passed like this and I was already able to balance myself on the shortest wooden pole. The next step was to travel to the next one. I tried many times but every time I tried jumping or anything, I fell down. I could stay on the shortest wooden pole for a long time but if I moved too much I would fall. I needed to find a balance while moving otherwise this would get me nowhere.

On that day, Nick came back and again asked me questions about both books this time. I answered correctly most of the questions from Thousand and One Herbs but on the other hand, I got only one or two correct from Medical Journal. It was hard to remember all these descriptions and illnesses as well as treatments and symptoms. The solution to that would be to read it many times, then finally memorizing it but how long would that take? I didn't know.

Nick said "You are making progress and you have remembered a lot from the Thousand and One Herbs book. You just have to focus more on the Medical Journal and on your pole practice". He then continued "I will give you a clue about the wooden poles training you are doing. When you are trying to find the balance don't fight against the poles. Become one of them".

I was a bit confused and thought about it for a long time. Then an idea came to my mind 'I think what he meant was that. If I was to become one with the pole then when it falls I fall therefore when it stands I stand too' At that time I understood something and jumped on top of the first wooden pole. If I could become one with it, then standing on it would not only be easy but also I could move with it. With this in my mind, I went straight to practise. I fell down all the time but now I had a clearer view ahead of me and a wisp of understanding.

My training continued like so for 1 month. After that month winter was approaching in huge steps. I did loads of improvements in both memorizing the books as well as the wooden poles training. I could now travel around all the poles but if lost focus then the balance would be affected. Although I could travel between the wooden poles now, it was not as perfect as Nick's demonstration. I sometimes stumbled, misstepped or misjudged the balance. There were still many errors in my movements but I could move around the wooden poles now.

I also managed to memorize about 95% of the Thousand and One Herbs book as well as about 60% of the Medical Journal book. Nick was surprised at how good my improvements on wooden poles were after he told me this one clue. He wasn't that much surprised about me memorizing the books, he even said that the Medical Journal was quite difficult for me to memorize which he didn't expect. I didn't give up either way and continued on with my training.

My tasks also changed a bit. I still carried water in the morning for the whole village but then I had to cut the wood until 11am. Then I had a break for 1 hour and at 12pm I had to go to the blacksmith and produce ingots until 4pm. I was finishing my tasks one hour earlier but at the same time I only had one break so it was comparable to my past timetable.

I also got a lot of my strength back. I was now full of it. I thought about it many times 'Why do I suddenly have so much strength?' and only one answer was flashing through my mind. It was the incident with the fairy. I was sucked dry and left starving. I had to eat a lot in order to not feel hunger and any activity brought more hunger. Simple task of walking was difficult without food. After so much time, I realised that because of the constant hunger and so little food as well as physical labour my muscles developed but didn't grow.

Even Nick was astonished when he checked up on me couple of times. He asked me couple of times if I practiced some kind of manual but my answer was always "No". Thanks to Nick's diagnosis and the experience, I figured it out. My muscles got stronger due to hunger and labour but without enough food my muscles were burned all the time. And although this seemed bad, I gained a lot of strength thanks to that.

There were downsides as well. I was skinny as hell! It didn't matter how much I ate, I would not get fatter. I looked like skin and bones but I was healthy and had a lot of strength. I even suspected that I could probably take on Rand's granddaughter and the guy who always watched me.

But I wouldn't try that yet. I had stuff to learn and because I knew Rand will go back on his word, I would learn from Nick and then I would have my life back.