They rested through the night, and when dawn finally broke across the sky, they resumed their journey with renewed determination. Their pace quickened, and they managed to cover an impressive distance from where they had started, though their destination still lay far ahead, buried in the unseen stretch of the horizon.
As night descended once again, they set up camp amidst the wilderness, preparing to rest and recover before the next day's march. While most sought solace in the warmth of their tents and the comforting flicker of the bonfire, one knight took a different path.
Captain Edward, ever vigilant, had taken it upon himself to scout ahead during a handful of nights, aided by a few knights he had picked, they surveyed the terrain, ensuring no threats awaited them beyond the veil of shadows.
But tonight, something different was unfolding.
In a quiet corner of the bonfire's reach, two figures stood apart from the rest, Harrison and Tyberius. The boy, small yet brimming with uncontainable energy, faced the seasoned knight with bright, expectant eyes.
A walking distance away, the remaining knights lounged near the fire, some exchanging quiet words, others merely basking in the warmth. But Tyberius paid them no mind.
"Alright, Sir Harrison! What are we starting with? Sword swings? Footwork? Or are we diving straight into combat drills?" Ty fired off eagerly, his words tumbling out like an overexcited waterfall.
Harrison regarded him calmly, his arms folded as he let the boy's enthusiasm wash over him.
"Have you ever wielded a sword before?" Harrison asked bluntly.
Ty blinked. Virtually? Sure, plenty of times. In his old world, he had played countless games where swords were his bread and butter. Realistically, though? He was four years old. Not exactly a time in life when one had any business swinging metal around.
"No," he admitted.
"Figured," Harrison said flatly. "You've got no experience and no knowledge of the fundamentals. That means we're not starting at the basics, we're going beneath them. Past novice, below beginner."
Ty's smile faltered a little. "Exactly how... beneath basics are we talking here?" There was a distinct thread of unease woven into his tone.
—
"You want me to carry that?!"
Tyberius stared, wide-eyed at the object before him.
A massive rock nearly his own height and easily as wide, it wasn't just large, it was monstrous. If he had to compare it, it looked to weigh as much as a filled fifty-litre water keg.
"You can't do it?" Harrison challenged, tone devoid of empathy. "If you can't lift a measly thing like that, how do you expect to hold a sword with strength and control?"
Tyberius gaped. 'Did this man hear himself?'
An adult might struggle with that thing let alone a four-year-old, barely four feet tall and not even remotely bulky. To call this unreasonable was generous.
Still...
"No, I can do it. I can try."
He had already made a promise to himself, to this life. He would do whatever it took to rise to the top, and learning combat is one of those requirements to get to the top. Hence, he wouldn't back out now, not without even trying.
If he failed, then at least he would've earned the right to protest, but making excuses without effort? That wasn't the resolve of someone committed to this path.
He stepped toward the boulder and sighed. A madman, Harrison is a madman. Still, somewhere inside, Tyberius knew this was the kind of madman he needed.
Kneeling, he stretched his arms around the cold, rough surface, his fingers dug into the crevices, and he planted his feet firmly into the earth.
"I'm doing this," he muttered, breath held tight in his chest.
Harrison watched from the side, arms crossed, waiting to be amused by the child's inevitable failure.
But then...
Tyberius groaned, then gasped as the rock lifted effortlessly in his grasp.
Too effortlessly.
Thrown off by the unexpected ease, he lost his balance and stumbled backwards. The boulder tilted with him and almost crashed into his chest, though not hard enough to injure, The weight hadn't crushed him, it had been too light for the strength he'd applied and was using to keep the rock at bay from landing and crushing his chest.
"What the hell?" Harrison muttered, stunned.
That had not been the outcome he anticipated.
Instead of struggling and collapsing in a heap, Tyberius had lifted it as though it were little more than a sack of grain. He had fallen not from weakness, but from misjudged strength.
"Did I... actually just lift that?" Tyberius whispered, still stunned.
He shoved the boulder off and rose to his feet, body intact, gaze bewildered.
"No way I just did that..."
Determined to make sense of it, he tried again. This time, with better focus, he gauged his strength. He took hold of the boulder and raised it with practised ease.
It felt light, too light.
He stood there, frozen, holding the impossible like it was a toy.
"This is insane," Harrison muttered. "You shouldn't be able to lift that."
"Yeah... no kidding."
"Put it down, now."
Ty obeyed, setting the stone back down with a soft thud. His hands lingered on its surface, still unsure of what to make of himself.
"I need to see what trick you used here," Harrison said, walking over. "Did you shift the weight somehow? Hollow out the bottom? There has to be a trick."
He bent down and lifted the boulder himself.
The weight was exactly what he expected it to be, solid, heavy, unyielding.
No trick.
Something else was going on.
"This makes no sense," Harrison muttered. "Let's try something else."
He was hoping to embarrass the boy, instead, he'd stumbled into a mystery.
And Ty? He wasn't letting go that easily.
"Sure, I'm ready, let's go," Ty said, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
His heart thumped with questions. What just happened? How did I do that?
Then it happened.
A crisp, electronic chime echoed in his head, unseen, unheard by anyone else.
[Ding! requirements met!]
[You have awakened the Extra Skill: Superhuman Strength]
---
"Uh... what?"
Ty froze, eyes wide, staring into nothing.