“I have nothing more to teach you... You have mastered the Peaceful Art to the point where I can’t hold you here anymore...” His tears ran down his face.

“So, I can leave the mountain right, Gramps?” She asked with a calm look on her face.

“That was part of our agreement... Once you could reasonably defend yourself, I would let you finally leave the mountain and find your path in life...” He spoke as if she was leaving forever.

“Good! Bye Gramps!” The young girl turned and started walking away from the simple wooden house with a bag over her shoulder.

“Wait, Alice! Are you sure you don’t want to spend a few extra years with Grandpa?”

“Yes, I'm sure. You left home on your own at the age of 10. Compared to you, I'm three years late on my journey.”

“I had to make sure you knew how to protect yourself. The world is more dangerous than it was when I was a child. Remember to not talk to any boys! All men are wolves and only have their minds on one thing when they see a cute young girl!”

“Yes, Grandpa. I’ve heard it all before. Stay away from boys, continue to my training, and run away if my life is ever in danger.”

“Don't forget about---” He tried to yell something but Alice already knew this part as well.

“Money is everything, the scariest creatures in the world are humans, and if I find someone I like they must beat you in a fight before being able to get together with me.” She said as if she’s heard this a million times.

“Do you really have to go so soon?! It wasn’t that long ago you were just the tiniest little thing that always wanted to play Knights and Mages with your grandfather.”

“Yes, Grandpa. You said it yourself. You can’t teach me about the world without me experiencing it for myself.” Her grandpa was now beating his head against the wall.

“Why did I have to say something so stupid!?” He anguished.

“Bye Gramps. Take care of yourself while I'm gone.” He was lying in a puddle of his own tears as she waved goodbye.

“ALICE!!!!!!!” She heard his cries as she descended down the mountain.

Once she made it to the forest, she gained a little pep in her step and a grin on her face. It was an entire world out there and she was no longer stuck on a stupid mountain for all her life! Her grandpa told her countless stories of his adventures back when he was young. Giving her a craving for such things as well. Alice dreamed of making it in the world on her own just like him ever since she was 3 years old.

Back then she was a curious girl. She asked her grandpa about everything and anything. Why couldn’t she ever leave the mountain? Where are her mom and dad? Where did she come from? Why did she need to be strong before she could leave the mountain?

That was around the time her training with her grandpa first started. After telling her the outside world was dangerous, she replied that she really really wanted to see the outside world. After that, she was given a very thick book filled with hundreds of pages to memorize.

“Until you can memorize this by heart, don’t count on trying to leave this mountain.” He told her.

The book he gave her was almost as big as she was! But she was only three years old back then and filled with dreams of the outside world. She spent the next two years staring at that book until the very sight of it sickened her. Each page was slowly etched into her brain every day, regardless of whether she wanted to read or not. Her grandpa would say, “You asked for this.” When she fully memorized it, Gramps allowed her to burn it herself! Seeing that stupid big book slowly char and burn into ash was one of the happiest things that ever happened on one of her birthdays. But that was barely even the beginning of her training.

“HAHAHAHA! Burn! Burn! Never again will I have to see it again!” That was her celebrating the burning of the book.

“Heheh. Saying something like that might make someone think you were a fire mage.” Her grandpa chuckled.

“Now it’s time to start body training. Wear these on your wrists and legs until I tell you to take them off.” He gave her these pretty pink bracelets that matched her hair.

She thought it was a nice gift from her grandpa to celebrate her learning about all the vital points of the creatures but it was actually the start of her real training. The bracelets he gave her were a magitech accessory. A magical artifact that added 5 lbs to her arms and legs and could continually increase in weight. He looked so happy when giving a child something so crazy.

“These are heavy, grandpa!” She complained.

“Of course, they are sweetie. If you can’t handle something like that, don’t even think about leaving this mountain.” He smiled. She would come to hate those words soon enough.

“Do other kids have to do stuff like this too just to leave home?” She asked while kicking a wooden pole. Bruises were all over her leg from the harsh training.

“Yep! The outside world is dangerous. No parent allows their child to go outside without making sure they are ready.” It wasn’t until she was older that she caught on to Gramp’s horrible lying skills.

For the next four years, she would find herself training her body to the limit every day. She spent them doing things that were expected out of no other child but herself. Striking wood every day until her fingers could pierce through it without any pain. Hitting rocks every day until her palms could crack them in a single thrust without a single injury on her hands. And punching iron until it felt like she was punching cotton.

It was painful and she cried nearly every day but Gramps said it was necessary if she ever wanted to leave the mountain. At times, she wondered if going through all of it was worth it. If she should just give up and live the rest of her life with Gramps on the mountain. Her heart fiercely told her no exactly at the exact moment she questioned herself.

Alice buckled up and endured the absurd training for 5 years. By the time she was 10 years old, she could dent any knight’s chest plate with just her fingers, crack a large boulder with a single palm, and crush any type of wood with her fists. Alice doubted that she could’ve made it through her Gramp’s insane training without his Miracle Medicinal Bath and her own determination to leave this stupid rock one day. After a hard day’s work of training, she bathed in the pale green steaming waters, all of her fatigue would slowly be washed away. She believed it was another magitech device but her Gramps said it was all-natural this time.

“This is the bare minimum required for any mage.” He said to her after she asked if she really needed to do all that training to become a Grand Magus like him.

“But I don’t even know my own element yet!”

“Don’t worry. I think I know just what kind of mana core you’ll unlock.”

She awakened the worst mana core known to man. No element and a bronze core. She could’ve awakened to the fire element, water element, air element, or earth element. If she was lucky, she could’ve had some sort of combination from two or three of the six in total and gained a rare element. A bronze magical core was the lowest ranking core. The best-colored core one could get was a platinum core. Then it went down to gold, silver, and bronze.

Her Gramps tried to cheer her up by saying the type of element and color of one’s mana core didn’t matter in the long run. All that mattered to a mage was their dedication to working hard and seeking to overcome their limits by constantly pushing themselves. She still cried her eyes out after realizing that she couldn’t use lightning magic like Gramps but it did make her feel better when he taught her a mana circulation technique to help grow her mana core. It was also because of her horrible magical talent that she was taught the Peaceful Art instead of a magical technique.

The last few years were spent learning every move with the Peaceful Art and sparring with creatures from the mountain and forest. Every day for the past 3 years, she has sparred with some type of creature in the morning. Alice fought against slimes, wolves, bears, goblins, kobolds, undead, juvenile orcs, and even a double-headed baby troll. Sometimes she sparred against Grandpa but that was only when she made a mistake in a fight the day before to correct her moves or thinking.

At first, she had trouble with not finishing her opponents off. In a battle between her and three goblins, she defeated them without killing any of them. Her grandpa told her, again and again, to not spare mercy for her enemies but since she could handle her enemies without killing them, why wouldn’t she? That type of thinking was corrected on that day with the goblins.

She turned her back on the three defeated monsters and before she knew it two of them grabbed her by the legs and the third one was running at her with a sharp tree branch. Imagining what would happen if that goblin made it to her sent her mind and body into a frenzy. She was scared for her life. The goblins holding onto her feet were laughing as they saw her crumbling into fear. They held on with dear life no matter how hard she tried to get them to let go. All of the techniques she’s learned at that point seemed to disappear from her mind and she was nothing more than just an 11-year-old girl with no means to defend herself.

“Alice! Calm yourself! You can kill those two at your feet with a single thrust of your fingers! Aim for the central mana cortex!” Her Grandpa yelled in a tone she never heard before.

The sharp and commanding tone made her more afraid of her Grandpa than the goblin coming to take her life. Her body moved on its own as she jabbed the two goblins holding on to her with her mana-reinforced fingers and instantly took their lives after two thrusts. Their grip didn’t loosen but at that point, she didn’t even need to move to handle the incoming goblin. Its movements were filled with flaws and exploitable weak points. Alice nudged the tip of the branch with her fingers, directing it out of the way of her body, and spun in close to the goblin. She unleashed strike after strike with her fingers that targeted numerous vital points on the monster. It was helpless under her assault and she finished it off with a palm thrust to the heart, ending its life.