Chapter 11 - Food

[Speed: 50]

"So you do have it in you after all. For a second I thought that I might have to make your training regiment a lot harder to make up for all the disappointment in your physical body. But seeing as you're able to grow at an exponential rate, you'll do just fine," said Jun.

"So can we go back to the sword training now that I finished my punishment laps? I want to wield a blade already," Julius complained.

"No no, you'll just drop it again. You're not ready to wield a blade yet. Maybe it's your arms which lack strength..." said Jun before looking around for a stick. Once he found what he was looking for, Jun used the stick to whack Julius' triceps.

"Ow!"

"Why do you keep hitting me for no reason?" Julius asked.

"It's just as I thought... I'm sorry Julius, it must be hard for you to hear this. Please sit down for this, you might need to catch your breath after this," said Jun as he prepared to tell him the horrific news.

Hearing this made Julius' heart sink. For the first time since their encounter, his teacher had a serious expression on his face. There was truly horrible news coming his way.

"What did I do? Is my training over already? Will I be deemed a failure?" Julius asked himself in worry.

"What is it master Jun?" Julius asked as he grew tired of the anticipation.

...

"You're weak!"

Once Jun said those worlds, he began to cry out of utter disappointment. Although he had thought Julius' physique was disappointing, he didn't expect the prince's arms to be so skinny and weak. There was no muscle to them. However as he cried in disappointment, Julius stood up from the ground as he prepared to end the old man's life with a single strike.

"Quit messing with me!" Julius yelled as his teacher before throwing his fist forward. However before his attack could land, Jun whacked Julius' chest with the stick in his hand which caused the prince to be sent flying a couple metres back.

"I swear to you on behalf of my entire kingdom, I will land a devastating blow to you one day old man!" Julius promised.

"Is that so...?" Jun asked with an evil grin.

...

"Well, I guess I can't train you. Take your things and leave, I won't train someone just so they can hit me when they get stronger," said Jun as he turned his back and began to walk towards the door which led to his house.

"I was just kidding! I would never show disrespect to my teacher!" Julius yelled out as he tried to get Jun's attention which in fact he did.

"If that was the case, you're terrible at telling jokes. Nevertheless, I'll train you but you better be prepared for a life of hell for the time being," Jun stated before turning back to help his student learn more.

"Thank god he took the bait. You've got to be insane if you think I'll be letting you torment me and get away with it. I'll use you to get strength then I'll torment you just like you did to me," Julius thought to himself before gently smiling at his teacher.

"So what do we do now?" Julius asked with anticipation.

"You've got to be hungry by now right?" Jun asked his student which right in that moment Julius' stomach began to growl.

"Hehe"

"I guess you're right. I didn't notice because of all the training you've been making me go through," Julius said as he was a bit embarrassed.

"Good then. Well you're going to go earn your food here," said Jun with a sinister smile.

"What do you mean?" Julius asked as he thought that Jun would make him do a couple more exercises before they could finally eat.

"I meant exactly what I said. You're going to have to earn your food as in, you have to go hunt it down," Jun told his student.

"... do you mean like fish or something? If so, can you give me a fishing rod?" Julius asked.

"No you idiot, I want you to go battle some animal and bring it here so we can eat it," Jun said.

"Sure I guess. Can you give me a dagger or something so that I can kill it?" Julius asked as if he had heard nothing wrong with what his master wanted him to do.

"I will not. You're going to have to fight the animal yourself and bring it here. Although, I should warn you, there are bears in the forest," said Jun.

"So you're saying I have to battle against bears while trying to catch my prey and I have to do this without any weapons provided?" Julius asked.

"That's exactly right. Good luck and get going now, you're going to need all the time you can get. After all, the forest is much more dangerous during the night," said Jun as he pointed Julius towards a large forest which was under the mountain they were on.

"This man has surely got to be insane. There's no way I can survive even a day with him let alone a week. When do I even go back home? I could end up living with him for a month... or a year," Julius said to himself as his heart sank in fear.

While Julius was having an inner monologue with himself, Jun had already went inside his small shrine like house as he relaxed while he sent his student off on a suicide mission.

"I seriously hate this," said Julius as he descended down from the mountain slowly due to it being quite steep.

"How am I even going to get back up there?" Julius asked himself before telling himself "I'll worry about one thing at a time."

Once he actually got to the ground, Julius realized how big the trees really were. They were larger than any tree that he had ever seen.. The only question remaining was if the trees were the only thing which were large in the forest.