Half a year has passed since I began practicing meditation.
The gains far exceeded my expectations. My memory sharpened to the point where I can store and retrieve information with remarkable speed.
I sometimes wonder if this is how the minds of geniuses work.Whenever I think about something, information related to it naturally begins to surface. Because of this, I had to reorganize my entire library.
That led to a new problem: space.
One might ask—why would I even need a library when I now possess such an extraordinary memory?
It is difficult to explain, but it feels as though I am building something meaningful. I do not know exactly what, but the idea of someone one day reading and learning from something I created fills me with satisfaction.
To solve the space issue, I began gathering what little knowledge I had about paper-making.
This took two full months of experimentation. My information was scarce, but I managed to succeed. I used cattail stalks growing along the riverbank, and the hardest part was pressing them. In the end, I built a wooden press that helped me greatly.
Now, with paper available, my library is far more organized. I believe I have written more in this life than in my previous one—and I do not regret it.
Thanks to what I learned from Tim, one of the village hunters, I now have more freedom to roam. I even made a bow for myself. It is nothing impressive yet, but I plan to improve it. Unfortunately, I have very little knowledge about bows, so this will be an experiment from scratch.
Thanks to that—and to the three rabbits I managed to hunt—I even have a backpack now.
The past six months have been peaceful. I was so euphoric about learning and my own progress that I nearly forgot where I was.
This world is not peaceful.
Although Carvahall is currently far from the major events, danger still exists. I was reminded of this by a traveling merchant who spoke of a village to the east that had been attacked by Urgals.
It is time to add combat training to my routine.
There are no soldiers here, and no one would waste time teaching a child how to fight.So I must rely on what I have.
My knowledge.
My first priority must be survival. I need to condition my body for flexibility and agility—so I can dodge and escape effectively. After that, I must improve my reaction speed to properly utilize these improvements. It is also time to increase my physical training.
From what I remember, I can use Chinese boxing forms to train everything together. Learning alone will be difficult, but I have no choice.
I also need to find a suitable place to train, since I cannot explain the source of my knowledge.
I must carefully plan my time. Although my family is not struggling, I have reached the age where it is expected that I contribute to the household.
Perhaps using hunting as an excuse would help—or better yet, fishing. I can build fishing traps, so while I claim to be fishing, I can actually train.
Of course, I cannot go fishing every day. The best disguise will be to alternate: one day I go out, the next I help my father or another villager.
Yes. This is a good plan.
I have not forgotten about magic. However, I am at a point where there is nothing more I can do except continue practicing and wait for my breakthrough. Forcing it will only frustrate me and waste time.
So it is better to let it be.
Whatever is meant to be, will be.