“Now, get into an athletic fighting stance.”

  Will does so, but it feels awkward. “Uhh, like this?”

  “….You really are from a coddled world aren’t you?”

  Will pales. “That bad?”

  “Yes. But we can fix it.” Amos walks up and moves Will’s right foot back, raises his left fist to right above his jaw line, moves his right fist to just below shoulder height and then instructs Will to bend his knees more. Then Amos sees Will’s fist and sighs. “No, like this.” Amos then shows Will how to make a proper fist.

  “Power, in most form of fighting, comes from weight transfer. The power goes from the feet to the legs, through the hips, into the upper body and finally out of the fist or weapon. The object is to strike through your opponent not at them.”

  Amos demonstrates the proper motions slowly and efficiently, not a single movement wasted. He does this once and then has Will follow suit.

  “Hmm. Not bad actually. Some wasted movement here and there, but that will be ironed out through practice.”

  Amos spends the rest of the morning and into early noon teaching Will the basics of hand to hand fighting.

  “Ok Will, that’s it for now. In the cabin on the counter you’ll find four rabbits. Go and get them and bring the knife and spices lying next to them. You’re to clean them and cook them. No child can become a man until he learns how to cook properly, and that includes properly spicing his food.”

  Will’s afternoon was spent listening to Amos lecture on the importance of spices and how no meal is a true meal without them. A concept completely foreign to Will who is used to heated up meals from a can and peanut butter and jelly.

  After lunch Amos has Will get back into a fighting stance.

  “Attack me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Attack me boy. Slow motion practice is all well and good but there’s no substitute for real combat. Trust me, even if you had the power to hurt me, which you don’t, you don’t have the speed to land a hit on me. And while your concern is touching, I expect to be obeyed immediately. I don’t expect blind obedience, but I do expect you to trust your master enough to know what he’s doing. Now, attack!”

  The shout did it. Will launched himself at Amos, remembering only at the last second to get his hands back up in a fighting stance. They had dropped in surprise when Amos first issued his command.

  Will isn’t fast enough nor skilled enough to get behind Amos, or even angle himself into a blind spot. Attacking head on is his only option.

  So Will barrels forward. Once he’s close he pushes off his back leg, shifts his hips, and follows through with a right hook aimed at punching through Amos’s jaw.

  As his fist gets close to connect, Amos seems to disappear. There one second and gone the next. All Will feels is a breeze against his face and POOF, Amos is gone. The next second Will is literally double over in the air as Amos’s fist blasts into Will’s stomach and sends him soaring ten feet through the air and another twenty sliding and tumbling across the ground.

  Will lurches over onto his hands and knees trying to force a breath into his lungs. After a few agonizing and panic inducing seconds, sweet sweet air fills Will’s lungs.

  Will catches his breath and tries to get his slight shaking under control, and then looks over at Amos. He’s feeling too many emotions to express any fully. Betrayal, shock, and being amazed is chief among them though.

  “What did you do wrong?”

  Will gets up, his shaking starting to fade. His sense of betrayal as well. Reason and logic starts turning in his head. He trusts his master, and he knows he hit him as hard as he felt he could get away with without seriously hurting Will. A real opponent wouldn’t hold back, so his master shouldn’t either. Doing so would be a disservice to Will and wouldn’t do him any good in the future. And besides, Will is 100% sure that if his master wanted to kill him he could. Easily to.

  “Good. It looks like you’re starting to understand. Let me clarify things just in case. This world will not hold back on you Will. And I am a firm believer in putting you through so much that anything this world can throw at you will feel like nothing in comparison. The hotter the fire the stronger the steel. Now, what did you do wrong?”

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  Will walks back to his previous position as he answers. “I was too slow. And I allowed my stance to fall, creating wasted movement and wasted energy.”

  Amos raises an eyebrow. “While true, the first one is not something you can control. The second though is, and I expect that not to happen again. Neither are the biggest one however.”

  “They’re not?”

  Amos sighs. “Boy, what did I say about cycling Qi?”

  Will blinks. He then feels like a lightning bolt hits Will in the head. “I forgot to cycle Qi!” He lets his palm smack his forehand. “I’m such an idiot. Cycling Qi not only allows activation of techniques but also makes you stronger and faster which helps with all combat.” Will repeats the earlier lesson. It is quite literally his most potent asset right now in a fight…and he forgot. “I’m sorry sir. That won’t happen again.”

  “I should expect not. Let’s go again.”

  “Right.” Will cycles his Qi and gets into a fighting stance. When he’s ready, he bolts forward toward Amos again. His plan is to stop just before the man, jerk quickly to the right and then pivot and throw another punch.

  At least..that was the plan. Instead, Will is propelled much faster than he expected and almost collides with Amos.

  Amos sidesteps away and puts a foot out. Will stumbles over the outstretched foot and goes tumbling forward and slides a good twenty feet across the ground.

  “It’s concerning how often I’m finding myself on the ground.”

  “It would be concerning if you weren’t. You’re 15, brand new to cultivating and have zero combat experience. How did you think this was going to go?”

  Will stands back up and dusts himself off. “That’s fair I guess. And this time, what I did wrong was not anticipating how much cycling Qi would affect my body and my movements.”

  Amos nods once. “Correct.”

  “Please. Let’s go again master.”

  …

  Amos keeps his face stoic and straight. Inside though, he can’t help but be impressed.

  Will makes mistakes…a lot of mistakes. But the mistakes happen only once, and then Will rarely makes the same one a second time. Getting used to how his body moves while circulating Qi, Will attacks Amos with only slightly more speed than his first attack. Slowly though, he increases it until he’s used to his new strength.

  He knows Amos is immensely stronger than him, so instead of barreling into a straight on attack like his first attempt, the boy instinctively starts attacking in a more calculated manner. He tries to get a gauge on Amos’s speed and strength. Never over committing to an attack until he thinks he’s found an advantage. It never ends up being one of course. Amos allows openings into his guard to see if Will can spot them on his own, and for the most part he does.

  The boy is a natural fighter. Instincts and technique are of course rough, but Amos can see him learning through the sparring. Getting sharper after every exchange.

  It is only the one time that Amos see’s the child that still lingers inside Will come to the surface. After Amos first struck him, he could see Will struggle with himself. Hurt and betrayal at being hit so hard by a figure he’s supposed to trust. A figure that is supposed to mentor him.

  It took him a second, but Will came to the conclusion himself that was exactly what Amos was doing.

  It’s a good thing to, because Amos was not lying when he said he would make sure that whatever came at Will after this seem like nothing.

  Amos strikes Will again and again. Each time pulling his punch or kick only just enough to not do serious damage.

  And each and every time Will stands back up with a determined look in his eyes and says the word Amos no longer has to. “Again.”

  For many reasons, Amos is determined to give this boy his all. But even without the majority of it, it would be a shame to waste this kind of talent.

  …

  By the end of the day Will is a mess of bruises. He’s almost positive he has multiple cracked ribs, and he knows for a fact every single one is extremely bruised. His face is puffy from consecutive hits, his forearms, thighs, shins, and back are all more black than blue. His stomach is so tender that breathing would be difficult even if it wasn’t for his damaged ribs.

  “That was a good first day Will. Now I want you to go to the stump and use your first real experience with Qi to meditate on it. In two hours, come back to the cabin and we’ll eat.”

  Will looks at his master with disbelief. After a few seconds though he resigns himself to his training. Still better than dealing with Brad, he thinks to himself.

  The next morning Will wakes up with most of his bruises already yellow and his breathing nice and easy. He’s still absolutely sore, but he’s not almost immobile with pain like he thought he would be.

  “What the?”

  Ten minutes later as Will is making breakfast for his master and himself he asks Amos about it.

  “Three reasons. One is that cultivators naturally heal faster than non cultivators. Second is the section of this forest that the cabin is in is a Qi dense area which helps with recovery and cultivation. That stump you go to is the epicenter of that density. And third, and probably most important, is that I was once taught how to create a healing aura. I’m not particularly good at it, but because of the extreme difference in our cultivation levels and the fact that your injuries aren’t life threatening, it’s enough to make a significant impact on your healing.”

  Will blinks in surprise. “You kept a healing aura on me all night?”

  “Of course, but don’t thank me too fast. If I’m going to push you to your limits, I’ll have an easier time doing it if you’re able to move the next day. Besides, those internal injuries would have become a problem if left alone and then made worse with day after day of pummeling.”

  Will’s eyes go wide discovering he suffered internal injuries yesterday. But then again, he guesses he shouldn’t be surprised.

  “All the same. Thank you master.” Will bows his head slightly to Amos. Back home that gesture would feel weird and awkward. But here, in this situation, he internally shrugs, it feels right.

  “You’re welcome. Hurry up with the food. We have a lot to get through today and you still have to go cultivate.”

  Will smiles. “Yes master.”