Chương 21: Training Trip - Fighting Like a Real Hunter pt 1

About two weeks have passed, and now we're three weeks away from the village. Well, not exactly three weeks. Our first week of travel was pretty intense—I'd say we covered the distance of two and a half weeks during that time. In contrast, the second week was much slower than the first one. Turns out pushing my body to its limits for an entire week wasn't exactly great for my health. Huh, maybe I should make a note of that for future reference.

On the bright side, I recovered in just over a day of rest. The boundless energy of a child's body is truly something to marvel at.

As for the third week, it's been much more normal—some hours of rest every day and a steady pace.

Moving on, I still have no clue where we're headed. Not that it would make much of a difference—we're in the middle of a forest. It's not like there are landmarks or clear destinations out here. Now that I think about it, the village would count as a landmark, but it's definitely an exception, yeah, for sure.

Now, if you look around, you'll notice something strange: Mama Huiya is nowhere to be seen. Oh, and also, I'm crouching in a bush like some sort of weirdo. At this point, you're probably wondering, "Phoebe, did you get lost?" To which I'd reply, probably. But that's not the point right now!

And by the way, you're being way too loud with all your shouting, so keep it down! I'm not hiding in this bush because I'm a creep, but I am, in fact, stalking something.

You see, I'm in the middle of a lesson right now. But what kind of lesson? Well, to explain that, we'll need to rewind a few days.

And by the way, you're being way too loud with all your shouting, so keep it down! I'm not hiding in this bush because I'm a creep, but I am, in fact, stalking something.

You see, I'm in the middle of a lesson right now. But what kind of lesson? Well, to explain that, we'll need to rewind a few minutes.

"So, what's the plan now?" I ask, leaning my entire body to the side.

"Repeating the question every two minutes isn't going to change the answer," Mama Huiya responds monotonously, as though she's already repeated the same reply a thousand times over the past few hours. It hasn't been that many times, okay?

"..." I pout but finally decide stay quiet for the next few minutes.

...

A few minutes pass with both of us in complete silence. The only sounds I can hear are the natural ones of the forest: the occasional howl of an animal in the distance, the wind brushing past, the faint sound of something falling somewhere. Wait, if something falls and no one's around to see it, did it really fall...? Nah, I'm overthinking things again.

That, along with the constant sound of footsteps. Honestly, it's actually quite soothing—if you can ignore the thousands of annoying insects buzzing everywhere, the biting cold of the night, and the suffocatingly humid air that makes my nose run.

In fact, the forest air is so pleasant that I decide to stop for a moment and just take it all in. Thinking about it, we're on a mountain with very uneven terrain, and right now, we're on a relatively high part of the forest. From here, I can see a vast expanse of it, and I can't help but feel enchanted by its beauty—a sea of vibrant green stretching as far as the eye can see, bathed in the soft orange glow of the sun. Sunset will be in a few hours. Even from up here, I have no idea where we are or where the village might be. But that's to be expected; we've been walking for so long at this point, and I don't even know which direction the village is in.

Looking back, the terrain climbs even higher, covered with trees that block my view.

Closing my eyes to enjoy the breeze and take a deep breath, I notice something strange: the sound of footsteps has stopped completely. I snap my eyes open in panic, glancing around frantically, thinking I've been standing still for too long and lost Mama Huiya. But no, I haven't stopped for more than a minute, and she's still nearby thanks to the relaxed pace of her steps.

"Phew," I let out a relieved sigh and prepare to keep moving. But as I take my first step, I notice something strange again—the sound of footsteps returns, catching me off guard and making me stop for a moment, which causes the sound to stop again.

For a brief moment, I stand frozen, deeply embarrassed for being startled by the sound of my own footsteps. Once I recover, I focus again, and this time, I realize something: I can't hear anything at all.

Noticing that Mama Huiya has already moved quite far ahead since I stopped for too long, I rush to catch up, paying close attention to the sound of my steps. When I finally reach her, I confirm my suspicion—she's not making a single sound!

Looking more closely, I realize I can't even see her legs moving beneath her robes.

'How is she doing that?!' I wonder to myself. I even try to imitate whatever it is she's doing, paying extreme attention to each step I take. While I manage to reduce the noise I make, it's nothing compared to whatever technique she's using—and it's way, WAY slower.

...

Despite the oddness of it all, I decide not to mention my discovery, though I suspect she already knows. After all, as soon as I made my realization, she started walking faster than before.

After walking for about half an hour, Mama Huiya decides we'll camp earlier today. As always, I'm in charge of setting up camp, which mostly consists of pitching two hide tents and making a Dakota fire pit.

Weirdly specific with the fire pit? Yeah, I think so too. But she insists I make this particular kind of fire. Basically, it involves digging two holes in the ground—one larger and straight down, and the other smaller and angled toward the wind. The two holes need to be connected. Then you put the wood in the larger hole and light it. The wind comes in through the smaller hole, feeding the fire, and voilà! You have a fire pit that doesn't produce smoke!

It takes a bit longer to set up, but in the end, I guess it's worth it. Not having the smell of smoke around is definitely nice, though it would be even better if she at least let me light the fire with runes!

~After finishing the fire pit, I got up from the ground and wiped the sweat from my forehead. That's when I heard her call me.

"Phoebe, come here," she calls from the tents.