A Dragon and his boy

Chapter 3

Jack was puzzled, “Is this a speed session? You should know I’m quite the runner”
Vast sighed at Jack but still smiled, it’s more accurate to say he smirked. “Your father’s farm is no longer yielding crops any more”.
Jack was amazed, how did the man know? But come to think of it, his father’s farmland didn’t give off a good vibe.
“A crop that was grown here; Cassava, it was usually washed here. Its water is very acidic” Vast explained, “Luckily for you, I mastered some base solution spells”.
Vast placed his hands on the soil for a while and released it after a while. He picked soil from the ground and examined it with his eyes.
“There! I neutralized the acidic solution to a perfect pH of seven” Vast said, even though he could tell Jack only understood half of it.
Although with Jack’s confused look he had to break it down. “The soil should be able to yield crops now” Vast explained.
Jack was happy that they could start farming again as it was his father’s major source of income. But then he realized something; this guy was shockingly always very accurate. He could read the whole situation of their farmland with just a quick glance. That was all praise worthy but the man had mentioned training earlier, what did all that have to do with training?
Jack was about to talk when Vast spoke up, “We have to spread the seeds I’ve gathered. No, I mean you have to spread the seeds”.
Jack was listening earnestly
“For newbies, when battling they tend to experience so much nervousness which leads to severe pressure. It causes lack of mobility in battles and the battle becomes quite boring” Vast taught with his heart, “That’s why you’re going to carry a heavy sack filled with seeds that is torn at the bottom while running around the farm. The leaking bag indicates the reducing pressure as one gets used to the battle”.
As someone of the hero rank, he had seen his fair share of battles and in terms of experience he had tons of that stuff.
Jack on the other hand was thinking, he could see reason in what the man said. Newbies would definitely be terrified in battle and unless they learn to clear their heads they would be liabilities…Wait clear their heads.
“Teach me to clear my head!” Jack suddenly yelled out
“What?”
“I’m not saying I won’t do your training” Jack explained, “But I’ll only do it to increase my speed and I don’t know something tells me that the pressure of battle can never be compared to a sack of seeds”.
Jack paused for a while before going on, “Clearing my head and adapting immediately, that is the way to overcome the pressure right? Teach it to me…in a real battle”.
Vast was surprised; did a mere peasant just ask a hero ranked figure to a battle?
Jack himself wasn’t feeling well. His whole body was trembling, he had just asked to court death.
“Fine, I’ll fight you” Vast said, “but it’ll only be as a reward for carrying the bags for a whole week”.
To be sincere, Vast was quite stunned. The boy at his front had given a perfect solution after just hearing of the problem once. He couldn’t say that Jack wasn’t right to change the training but he had more experience than Jack and had also thrown in some speed training in just that one training course.
Jack was about to accept the offer when he suddenly realized something, “A whole week!”
Vast answered blankly, “You also have to change to a good bag filled with stones until the next training session. That way, when you are finally let loose you’ll feel as light as ever”.
Jack breathed in and out before saying, “I’m Ready”
It was like that for about two days. Jack would always be carrying a bag full of stones at his back while trying to stand or walk upright never to run. It wasn’t as if Jack’s parents didn’t care when they saw him putting on a heavy bag, it was just that he done much worse things that they simply didn’t bother asking.
Then at night, he would sneak out to meet up with Vast and then change to a leaking bag filled with maize seeds. He would try to run around the field but every time he would fall.
He could always hear Vast’s voice saying “Don’t worry and just keep pushing. You want to be a legend don’t you? This is just one step out of a million” or something like that.
Jack continued like that for another day until he fainted.
Vast walked up to him and touched his chest before he woke up. Then he carried him and placed him by his punching tree.
Vast smiled, “Your body is adapting quickly; you were only supposed to faint after a week. But you’re still not ready”.
Jack smiled weakly, “Am I ready yet?”
“To be sincere, No” Vast said, “Think about it, if you were to come across a battle you still have no way of fighting so you’d still be frozen”.
He formed a light sword out of his palms and threw it to Jack, “I’ll teach you to slash”.
Author’s Note
You guys reading my book should drop jokes or questions about the book in comments so I can post it in the next Author’s Note with answers.
By the way, who do you think Jack should battle in a raid, Orcs, Elves, or Beastmen?
Some of my friends voted Beastmen so Beastmen it is!