In a vast, barren landscape, a child who looked about 10 years old, breathless and with a face covered in sweat, stubbornly continued to run.
Whenever he slowed down, a huge, barbarian-like figure would appear behind him, shouting at him to run faster, and the child, much to his displeasure, would start running even faster.
The breathless, sweat-soaked, and faster-running child was Shun. Two months had passed since he fainted, and since then he had been doing a few things according to his father's instructions: running, sit-ups, and reading books until he fell asleep when he got home. When he asked his father why he read books, Ordon had said, "Reading books increases your wisdom and decision-making speed! Even though the information in the books you read won't be very useful later, other things will be useful!"
He didn't understand what he meant by "information in the books won't be useful later," but without saying anything, he continued reading various kinds of books. By the way, novels count as books, right?
Anyway! He continued this routine constantly, and in just a few months, Shun's body had developed excessively!
He had only been nine years old for a few months, but his body had developed incredibly rapidly due to his training, already resembling the average body of a 10- or 11-year-old!
When Ordon noticed this, he was initially surprised and a little worried. He thought that having a body larger than his peers might cause some problems and that Shun might have trouble making friends with his peers. But after thinking about it, he remembered that Shun didn't have any friends anyway and didn't enjoy this social environment, so he dismissed the thought.
Meanwhile, Shun had already run as far as he could, and as his vision began to blur, he came to his senses, sat down on the ground, and began to breathe deeply. He couldn't help but review his life in recent days; it had turned into complete hell!
From morning till night, he would run here, and when he got home in the evening, he would read books until he was completely exhausted! Now, every time he woke up, his body ached terribly, and he was starting to become unable to bear the pain! But in the last few days, he had noticed something: the pain was gradually decreasing.
At first, he didn't understand what was happening, but then he realized that his body had become more resilient due to the training he was doing. He no longer vomited or fainted while running all day! After realizing this, he started working out with more enthusiasm, because the more he trained, the stronger his body became and the less pain he felt! Furthermore, the fact that he no longer felt so tired while running was an added bonus!
Just as he was thinking this, his father suddenly came to him and started talking,
"Son, I think you're starting to improve and you can't push your limits anymore. From now on, I'll add extra weights for you," he said, then turned and started walking home. It was time to go home since the day's training was over.
Shun just stared blankly after his father. After a while, he came to his senses, looked up, and screamed at the top of his lungs, tears streaming down his face,
"DAMN IT!!"
Ordon heard the sound as he left and smiled slightly.
When Shun and Ordon arrived home, Shun immediately took a shower, went to his room, and randomly picked one of the many books on his desk and started reading. He actually enjoyed reading; it was like reading novels, and unlike those tiring things, he didn't have to constantly run and sweat. After reading for a few more hours, he closed the book and placed it on top of the others on his desk. He stretched slightly, making soft noises to indicate his body ached. Swearing under his breath, he lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
When he woke up, his body ached, but the pain was considerably less than in previous days, so he ignored it and got up. He went downstairs and saw his father waiting at a table in the middle of the living room.
"Oh, son! Come on, eat your breakfast and let's go, we have a lot more work to do!"
"What work could we possibly have? I'm the one who has work! I'll be running around in that cursed place again until evening!"
Ordon smiled strangely after these words. Shun didn't understand what was happening, but he couldn't help but shudder; he had last seen that smile a few months ago, before starting this training, and you know the result!
"Today you will only dedicate half of your day to running and doing sit-ups." "
Why? What do you want me to do in the rest of the time?"
"Hehehe, you'll find out then! Come on, eat your breakfast, time is passing!"
Shun reluctantly sat down at the table. Even while eating his breakfast, he was thinking about what kind of disaster he was about to face. After quickly finishing their breakfast, they left the house and started heading towards that barren area.
"Go ahead and start running, I'll be there in a few minutes. If you slack off, I'll punish you, and it won't be a pleasant punishment, okay?" "
Okay, okay, go now."
On the way, Ordon said he'd be back in a few minutes and left, which Shun didn't mind much anymore since he always did this. A few minutes after he went to the barren land and started running, Ordon arrived and called him over. As Shun noticed him and went towards him, he suddenly realized his father had something in his hands and on his back. He had some strange things in his hands, they looked like running weights. On his back were a pair of spears.
Spears? He was expecting running weights, but not spears at all.Were there still people using spears in this day and age?
"Come, son, put on these weights."
As Shun arrived, Ordon suddenly threw the weights at him. Startled and annoyed by the sudden throw, Shun caught the weight, but then felt his arm become heavy, and the weights slipped from his hands.
*Thud!*
They hit the ground with a loud thud. Shun stared blankly at the weight, then came to his senses and turned to his father, asking,
"Dad, is this real?"
Ordon, with a wide smile on his face, looked at his son and said,
"Of course! I wasn't going to make you run around with such simple weights! I want you to prepare for the future."
The future, the future, the future! He silently vowed that if nothing really happened in that future, he would come back and beat his father up, as he slowly tied the weight to his ankles. Even taking a step was becoming difficult!
"Come on! Run!"
Ordon shouted, and Shun, giving up, turned and started running—if you could call it running. Ordon, furious, chased after him and started shouting,
"Hey! I told you to run, not to imitate a turtle's walk!" "You're really good at this, maybe you should have been born a turtle, huh!? Seriously, if I were wearing those, I would have already circled the whole area a couple of times! Don't you dare tell anyone I'm your father, or I'll be too ashamed to even show my face!"
Shun, of course, wouldn't fall for such a silly provocation, but he knew he had to speed up. Otherwise, his father would yell in his ear like a trumpet until he did! He forced himself to go a little faster, but his father was still running after him, shouting insults. Angrily, he yelled,
"Shut your mouth, old man! Do you want me to go deaf, huh!?"
"Who are you calling old man, you bastard!? Keep running faster, or I'll kick you!"
Shun angrily pushed his limits and started running even faster, but soon his whole body was drenched in sweat, and he couldn't help but slowly collapse to the ground. Normally, he could run until evening, but these weights were several times heavier than normal, and since he wasn't used to them, it was normal for him to get exhausted so quickly.
When Ordon saw Shun collapse to the ground, he let him rest for a few minutes, and when he realized he still hadn't gotten up, he went over and started shouting again. Shun couldn't help but take a deep breath; his life had truly become a mess.
After running until noon, he was completely exhausted and collapsed to the ground. He hadn't fainted; he was simply completely worn out and wanted to lie down. Ordon must have noticed this, because he let him rest for a while and then went over and said,
"Come on, get up, there's still a lot to do."
Despite his reluctance, Shun began doing sit-ups from where he was lying. He'd been doing sit-ups for a few months, and his abdominal muscles were starting to show. After deciding he'd done enough sit-ups, he stood up and did a few stretching exercises. He always did this because his father had told him to.
Once the stretching was finished, Ordon arrived and handed Shun one of the two spears he carried on his back. Shun examined the spear in surprise. Actually, it looked quite simple, with its long wooden part and the sharp, triangular iron tip. At that moment, Ordon spoke,
"From now on, you'll practice spears with me every day."
"Practice spears? Why spears?"
"Why spears? Because the spear is the god of the battlefield!"
The spear, the god of the battlefield! A nice and motivating phrase, but...
"But Dad, are spears still a thing these days? Humanity will soon be fighting with lasers, and you're still talking about spears!" "While they're shooting lasers at you, are you going to fight them with a spear?!"
"You don't understand, son. If you get strong enough, even the bullets and lasers they shoot at you won't affect you!"
Shun's mouth dropped open.
"D-dad... do you think you're some kind of main character in a novel?"
"What are you saying, you bastard!"
Ordon got a little angry at these words and shouted at Shun. After calming down, he spoke,
"Hit my arm with all your might with your spear." "
What?"
Shun was shocked. What did he mean, hit my arm with all his might? Even if it wasn't that strong, the tip of the spear was really sharp!
"Go ahead and hit! Nothing will happen, I just want you to realize something!"
Seeing his father's serious face, Shun couldn't help but hesitate. Taking a deep breath, he lightly poked his arm with the spear, but it felt like he was poking a piece of iron! When he looked at his father with a strange expression on his face, he noticed that his father was looking back at him with a smile. He frowned and thrust the spear a little harder, but it bounced back! This time Shun was shocked! If he hit anyone like that with this spear, it would probably pierce their body, but there wasn't even a scratch on his father's arm!
This time, without hesitation, he pushed the spear with all his might, and when it hit the arm, it made a high-pitched sound and flew out of Shun's hand. Shun felt like he was going to lose his mind! Was this... real?
Only the cultivars in the novels he read could do things like this! But right now, right in front of him, was his father, with a body that was impervious to any blows from his sharp spear! At first, he thought it was a dream and slapped himself hard, but he felt nothing but a burning pain on his cheek. This was real!
"W-what is this?! A monster?!"
"What monster, you jerk! How can you call your father a monster?!"
Still in shock, Shun came to his senses thanks to his father's shout and looked at him excitedly,
"Dad!? Is this real? I'm not dreaming, am I!? Speak up!"
"Shut up!"
Ordon, overwhelmed by Shun's sudden excitement and barrage of questions, shouted to silence him.
"If you follow my instructions, you too can become this powerful in the future."
"Really?"
Shun asked, still in disbelief. He loved being lazy, but reading about the main characters in novels destroying their enemies with incredible power was truly exciting! Sometimes he imagined himself as that main character, but the moment he remembered that such a thing didn't exist in this world, his fantasy world collapsed, and he continued reading the novel with great disappointment. Not being born into a world where such development existed was his biggest regret.
But now...
"Okay! What do we do now?"
Right in front of him was a way to become as powerful as those main characters! He loved laziness, but if he was going to become as strong as the main characters, then giving up laziness wouldn't be a problem for him! He excitedly asked his father what would happen next.
Ordon couldn't help but be surprised by this reaction. He had never seen such eyes in his son; they shone with enthusiasm! Thinking about it, he couldn't help but regret it. If he had known he would be so excited to see the strength of his body, he would have shown it from the beginning, so he could have put in extra effort in his training! Anyway, the past is in the past.
"Now just keep up with how I use my spear and clash your spear with mine. Eventually, you will learn how to use a real spear!"
"Okay!" Shun said, picking up the spear that had fallen to the ground and pointing it at his father, waiting. Ordon couldn't help but smile at his son's behavior. Indeed, training diligent people was more fun.
"Your stance is wrong! Press harder with your feet so your spear gains more power!" "Strengthen your grip even more and bring your left hand closer to the spearhead..."
Ordon, while pointing out Shun's mistakes, occasionally demonstrated how to hold the spear himself, and Shun understood everything from the first demonstration; he was a true genius!
And waking up in the morning and running with weights until noon, then doing sit-ups, and finally training with the spear until evening had become Shun's daily routine. And in the meantime, years had passed very quickly...