Chapter 27: Remedy
The doctor examined her with a watchful eye. He took her pulse and asked about her symptoms. With a swift hand, he took notes and after a while, he came to a conclusion.
"You've been poisoned and thankfully for you, I know how to counter it," he said.
"POISONED?" the father asked.
"Yes, it's a vicious poison that always leads to death if left untreated."
"Who could have done such a terrible thing!" the father exclaimed.
"Please cure her," Ralph said.
The doctor looked through his stash of medicinal leaves and grabbed a select few. He placed them in a mortar and used a pestle to grind them into a fine powder. He placed the particles in a glass and filled it to the brim with hot water. The color slowly diffused into the liquid and soon enough, the water turned green. With a stirrer in his hand, he thoroughly mixed the concoction.
Slowly, Ralph's mother drank the potion. Her face regained color and her expression showed relief. Over the next thirty minutes, she regained part of her physical health and she was able to utter a few words.
"Take care of her and within a week, she should be back to normal," the doctor said.
"T-Thank y-you," the mother said.
Ralph and his father could not stop thanking the doctor. He had just removed a huge burden from their shoulders. After the show of gratitude, we left the office. You could see the change in the family after this. Ralph appeared at ease and his face was brighter than usual.
"Thank you so much. Because of you, Ralph will be able to return to the academy and pursue his dream," the father said.
"He's my friend, that's the least that I can do for him."
"Both of you please come have food at our place," the father said.
"We'd love to-"
"Don't be so excited Luke. You have to train now. We are going to have to refuse the meal. Thank you for the invitation," Quincy said.
"Right, I know."
"You guys can come dine at our place tonight. You fed this ungrateful brat yesterday, so we would like to return the favor," Quincy said.
"We would love to!" the father said.
"I'll pick you up," I said.
We parted ways and Quincy and I walked towards the clearing. Today was a special day, I would officially begin hunting. The training session had become completely different. I could perform as many bodyweight repetitions as I wanted without feeling tired, so I had to use heavy weights to experience any strength gain. However, the martial arts practice stayed the same. Because of the pill, my energy core was now three quarters of the way to the second level.
The difference in strength and energy could be witnessed when I sparred with Jasper. Even though he was still way stronger than me, he had to take the fight seriously. My face had a wide grin throughout the sparring session.
A punch landed flush on my abdomen which propelled my body backwards.
"Let's go again!" I said.
"No, it's almost time to hunt. We'll do some agility work now."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Orcs naturally have acute senses which you are currently experiencing. Those senses help us dodge attacks. To improve our evasion, we have to train agility," Jasper replied.
"I'll be throwing rocks at you in various angles. Just don't get hit," he added.
The orc grabbed around fifty pebbles and kept them near his feet. I stood ten meters away from him. My eyes were glued to his torso, trying to notice any clues as to where he would throw. His body must have some form of telegraph no matter how strong he was.
"Get ready. I'll start now," he said as he picked up a pebble.
My plan had a grave flaw. I did not account for his speed. Without having time to react, he had already thrown the stone. My ears had become so sharp that I could hear the rock cutting through the air. Without wasting time, I attempted to step out the way, but before I could complete the movement, I was struck in the stomach. The pain was subtle as I had denser muscles, but I did not like the look of disappointment on Jasper's face.
"Is this how you're going to dodge?"
"Throw one again."
This time, the stone only grazed me. With every throw, I learnt more efficient ways of moving my body to evade the rocks. My motion was becoming more fluid and there was no wasted movement. Jasper was throwing with progressively more speed, but that did not affect me as much as I thought it would. By the end of the fifty rocks, my body was covered in minor cuts.
"Let's hunt now. I'll pick the beasts and you just have to fight them," he said.
"And under no circumstances should you use an ounce of energy," he added.
We had to venture deeper into the forest. The vegetation was dense and we had to maneuver through the tree trunks. Each of our stride was so long that it looked like we were flying. Rays of sunlight shone through the leaves and illuminated a path for us. After thirty minutes of running, we stopped dead in our tracks. The sound of leaves crunching reached our ears. A boar was about ten meters in front of us. Jasper gave me a signal and I lunged towards it. The animal noticed my presence and immediately tried to run away. However, my speed was too much for it. My fist slashed through the air and landed directly on its snout. The punch was so strong that my knuckles penetrated through its flesh. It was killed on the spot. The animal's head was squashed flat and blood covered its face. I had to use more force to remove my hand from its head than to kill it.
"What's the point of this?" I asked.
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