Chapter 09
The next day, Zirken and old Ezir woke up just before sunrise. Both ate a breakfast consisting only of a whole loaf of bread and a glass of water. A few minutes after finishing their meal, they were already near the lake, still inside the farm, but far away from the old wooden house where they slept during the night.
"This is where we will train from now on. Your routine will be training for 4 hours in the morning, tending the farm for the rest of the day, and at night running at least 20 laps around the lake." - Old Ezir.
"Isn't that a bit heavy for a 9-year-old?" - Zirken with a worried expression on his face.
"That should be a simple workout for those who have Ackerman blood running in their veins." - Old Ezir.
"!!" - Zirken with a surprised expression on his face.
'How does he know about the Ackerman genetics?"- Zirken.
"How so?" - Zirken tilting his head while feigning confusion.
"'You're not ready to know that yet. Besides, I'm sure you still have several secrets kept to yourself." - Old Ezir.
"Tsk, crafty old man." - Zirken.
"My hearing is still good, you see?" - Old Ezir
"Okay, when are we going to start training?" - Zirken.
"Don't be in such a hurry. To get us started, take this wooden stick and try to hit me with all your strength." - Old Ezir.
The next instant, the old man threw a stick, the same size as the handle of an axe, in the direction of the white-haired young man. As he picked it up, the boy almost dropped it because of how heavy the equipment was.
'How can he hold that so easily?'- Zirken.
"'I just have to try to hit you? Are you sure it won't be bad if I manage that?" - Zirken.
"It won't be a problem, but I highly doubt that will happen." - Old Ezir as he frowns at his cane.
"Right..." - Zirken.
The young man then increased his grip on the heavy cane and ran towards the old man, who still remained standing in the same place. In a matter of seconds the young man had already reached his opponent and was about to deliver his blow to his shoulders, however...
*fall*
"Huh?"-Zirken.
When he least expected it, his vision turned upside down and his body was already lying on the ground. The boy was extremely confused as he didn't even have a chance to see what hit him.
"I see that you are rash even during your attacks. I will need to get this off you as soon as possible." - Old Ezir.
"What happened? How did you do that, sir?!" - Zirken completely shocked and with his levels of respect, suspicion and curiosity for the old man getting higher and higher.
"You will soon understand, keep trying to hit me." - Old man.
He kept advancing against the old man more and more times, but in all of them his body always ended up on the ground without any traces of how he was hit or even where he was hit.
"Let's finish for today, rest for another hour and I will show you how to take care of these crops." - Old Ezir as he started walking towards the house.
'How did he still say he could barely take care of the farm???' - Zirken.
After a few seconds, the boy got up from the ground. His only set of clothes were already completely dirty with dirt and some small scratches could be seen on his legs. He quickly went to the lake to drink some water and then sat down on the shore while enjoying the light breeze on his face.
After an hour's rest, the old man returned and took Zirken to the small plantation next to the old house.
"It would be very easy for you to tend only this little piece of land, so your task today will be to extend the plantation to cover as much ground as possible." - Old Man.
"Isn't that a bit tricky to do by yourself?!" - Zirken a little indignant.
"You're young, I'm sure you can do it." - Old Ezir.
'*sigh* Will I be able to survive this routine?"- Zirken.
Following this, the old man returned to the wooden house and the white haired boy began his hard manual labor on the farm. At first there seemed to be no difficulties, but after a few hours his body began to feel increasingly tired and sore from the repeated movements.
"We will have lunch now and after that you can rest for another 1 hour." - Old man who has just approached suddenly
"Finally!!!" - Zirken.
The boy returned inside the residence and enjoyed his well-deserved meal consisting of only a soup made from vegetables grown on the farm. After his short rest, he returned to the same manual labor as before and continued the same process until the sun began to set on the horizon.
Zirken then stopped his day's work and went back to his dwelling to enjoy another meal. He then rested for about two hours until he finally began his 20 laps around the lake behind the house.
"The minimum will be 20 laps, but try to run until you can't run any more." - Old Man.
"Will you ever feel sorry for me, sir?" - Zirken.
"I don't know, probably not..." - Old Man.
He started to run and only after a few minutes his breathing started to become irregular. Zirken was still on his 9th lap, but his body was already feeling the effects of exhaustion.
*heavy breathing*
After circling the lake for the 21st time, the boy couldn't take it anymore and lay down on the cold ground while trying to regulate his breathing again.
"Not bad for the first day, I thought you would quit before the 10th lap." - Old.
It was at this instant that once again something came into Zirken's somewhat embarrassed vision.
[Disclaimer: There are approximately 18 hours left until the awakening of Taiyo grace]
'I need to get ready. I don't know what will happen to the farm if I can't control it when it awakens.' - Zirken.
"Hey sir, tomorrow I will need to leave for a moment. I need to take care of something personal." - Zirken after catching his breath.
"I thought you were running away from home." - Old Ezir.
"It is as you said, we all have some secrets kept to ourselves, but I assure you that I will not do anything bad or that will harm you." - Zirken.
"As long as you return to do your job, I don't mind." - Old Ezir.
"Thank you." - Zirken.
After a few more minutes resting, the boy and the old man returned home and finished their day.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ZirkenSensei
ZirkenSensei I don't know if this fits as a training arc, but... Anyway, next chapter: Official Awakening of Sunshine!
(Who will this old man be?)
Thanks for read!!
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