The world is a vast and wonderful place

I am growing and learning, I started my training helping my father with the blacksmith, the tribes of the great black forest have a shortage of blacksmiths, so skilled blacksmiths like my father are in high demand, chopping wood and cleaning the rubble are my first tasks.

I must also carefully observe my father every time he calls me and gives me explanations about the various blacksmithing techniques, this is very gratifying, in my previous life one of my pending was learning artisan blacksmithing.

I remember being fascinated once by observing a blacksmith from the Middle East making a knife with Damascus steel, I had set myself a goal but I could never achieve it, in the modern world artisan blacksmiths are just a curiosity so it is impossible for me to get a master, currently, I am very excited to become my father's apprentice.

My mother Ivina looks at me with joy, possibly I am making a very funny surprise face at this moment, at night my father teaches me to read, among his few possessions my father brought some of the books he used to study when he was young, he told me that it is important that I learn the languages ​​of the northern nations.

My mother teaches me about the various medicinal plants and poisonous plants that exist in the gigantic black forest, she keeps samples of dried leaves of each species between thin sheets of skin, she also teaches me the traditional songs of the black forest tribes, they passed the weeks, months and years, as I grew and developed.

I began to practice archery, my mother is simply a prodigy, her technique is truly sublime, I also increased my work in the smithy, before I only had to cut firewood and cleaning, then I was free to play with other children, at first I wanted my father to be more demanding with me, but he told me "children should be children and enjoy their freedom" and to tell the truth, although I keep the rational mind of an adult in part, I am also influenced by psychological and hormonal growth changes, so the other parts of my mind do behave according to my physical age.

I learned from my grandfather the fine art of skinning skins and tanning leather, my grandmother taught me sewing and leather crafts, so I started preparing sheaths for the knives and tools my father worked on, I still haven't made much progress with the smithy, in my father's words I must become stronger.

When I was 10 years old I also began to train magic, starting with the most basic, the first challenge was to feel the magic power inside my body, while my father held my shoulders tightly from the back, my mother took both of my hands, they told me to close my eyes and make a void in my mind, then they both began to circulate their own magic power inside my body.

At first, I didn't feel anything until first it was like a slight drip, it was increasing, until the sensation was similar to being crossed by a torrent of water when the first exploration finished, my parents had strange surprised faces, then they told me that my level of magic power was much higher than normal, but just like my father, my compatibility was low, making it impossible for me to cast ranged attack magic.

I was slightly disappointed, but I would not give up, I can still use basic techniques like increasing my strength, as well as infusing weapons in magic to increase their power, I asked my father if it was possible to increase concentration and reaction speed, but it seems I did not understand what I was talking about, but as an old saying from my previous life said: "if you can imagine it, you can do it".

Another new thing that they allowed me was to accompany my parents when they went to the city to trade, I felt very excited about my first trip out of the village, it was about 7 days of travel in slow carts, about 10 2-wheeled carts were organized in a caravan, pulled by what could be described as domesticated 《Moose》

In each cart 4 adults would travel, except for ours where only the 3 of us were going and my mother would be the head of the expedition, the trip was very quiet despite the dangers that lurk in the great black forest, after all, Ivina is the best hunter and Erik the best warrior, with them in command the trip was more of a family picnic outing than a commercial expedition.

The closest city was called 《Ciliana》 and belonged to the 《Castial Kingdom》 located on the other side of the central mountain range, which divided the Great continent in two, it was a country with abundant fertile soils and a generous climate, which made it the largest food producer on the continent.

So that in times of scarcity they were always in the sights of their neighbors, which I take to build a large number of border fortresses, with a very well planned defense taking advantage of the geography, with mountain ranges and large rivers delimiting its borders, as for the city of Ciliana it began as a military post to protect the only pass between the northern part and the southern part of the great continent.

Given the fears of possible invasions by the barbarians of the south, although some tribes were bellicose they were never unified so there was never a real risk of an invasion, as I explain myself to my father while we walked, the castle to protect the pass was built by a quite paranoid king, the tribes began to trade with the castle garrison and finally traders attracted by exotic products from the south began to arrive until it became a commercial city.

The tribes of the great black forest did not know the value of money, they only bartered among themselves when they needed to trade, although Erik kept gold coins in case of need, he also taught Ivina the minors of the use of money, we carried a large shipment of tanned skins, medicinal herbs, and rare wild spices, which were highly coveted in the north.

When we reached a hill some distance from the city I could see it on the horizon, the last 10 or 15 kilometers were of a large meadow, we stopped the march and we began to build a camp, they had told me that the meadow was very dangerous at night, my parents and other adults who accompanied us began to raise the tents and a defensive palisade.

While they had commissioned me to light the fire in the center of the camp after a light dinner we went to sleep, while he was sleeping peacefully, a cry of alarm from one of the sentries woke us up suddenly, several beasts if they got dangerously close to the palisade.

My mother Ivina carried me to a makeshift pre-fabricated observation tower that was erected next to the fire pit, where she had a view from all angles to support shooting arrows, my father Erik formed the warriors into 4 groups while he stayed more advanced, the hill where we set up the camp has a rectangular shape with one of the major faces pointing to the city, 3 sides are steep ravine so only one side needs defense.

The men hurriedly light torches and more fireplaces to illuminate the night, after all the darkness is the enemy of humans, they are 6 great beasts, they vaguely resemble a baboon, but 3 meters high, "prairie monkeys" Erik yells, warning the others.

Ivina aims her arrow at the farthest monkey, the arrowhead begins to emit a faint orange glow, she has infused fire elemental magic on the metal tip and a barely perceptible mist swirls around the arrow's body, he will use wind elemental magic to give him more momentum.

Despite his robust appearance, Erik's fighting style was more one of speed and technique than brute force, he used 2 one-handed swords and his technique took advantage of his speed to launch a torrent of stab attacks, his magic was only basic, he could only increase his strength and speed, and he imbued his swords with magic to increase their edge.

He was also capable of projecting an aura of intimidation with his magic, but he could only do them while still, from what he had learned, the monkeys of prairie were opportunists, they would only attack humans if they were sure of winning, they were much stronger but when facing almost 40 adults they were watching from the other side of the defensive palisade.

Erik took advantage of their doubts and released his aura of intimidation, the air seemed to turn icy, even though it was just a mental trick, I got goosebumps despite being almost 30 meters from it, when they seemed about to retreat a wild howl today or behind them, a much larger monkey appeared behind them accompanied by 4 more normal monkeys.

"An ALPHA monkey !!!" shouted Ivina next to me, the other men took a step back but Erik remained firm and intensified his aura of intimidation, time seemed to freeze, I saw my mother sweat due to tension, it was an intense stare duel, then a monstrous sound sounded "GUAAAAAAHHHHHHH" that shook the night.