Chapter 16: The Beginning of Brutal Training

As soon as they reached the house, Valdrin looked at Adrian and said, "You can put him in one of the rooms. Let him rest. I'll prepare some medicine for him. It should help him recover quickly."

Adrian nodded, then supported Dan, who could barely stand on his own, and helped him into one of the rooms. He lowered him gently onto the bed. Dan was breathing heavily, his eyelids barely able to stay open.

Adrian approached him and said softly, "Get some rest now."

Dan gave him a faint smile before closing his eyes and surrendering to sleep.

Adrian left the room and quietly closed the door behind him. When he raised his eyes, he found Valdrin waiting for him by the front door. Adrian walked over to him.

"Valdrin..."

Valdrin turned toward him.

"I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

Adrian took a slow breath before saying, "For standing by me and letting us stay in your home... and for helping me and Dan. You didn't have to do any of this, but you still didn't leave me on my own."

Valdrin remained silent for a moment before answering, "There's no need to thank me. In the end, you two needed help."

Adrian gave him a faint smile.

"Even so... I'm grateful to you."

Valdrin looked at him for a moment, then turned toward the road.

"All right. Save that gratitude for later."

Adrian frowned.

"What?"

"Come with me."

Adrian glanced back at the room where he had left Dan before looking at Valdrin again.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going into the forest. We need to gather some medicinal ingredients."

Adrian looked toward Dan's room with concern.

"Are we going to leave him alone?"

"Don't worry about him. He'll be fine."

Adrian hesitated for a moment before following Valdrin in silence.

After hours of walking, they reached the depths of the forest, where the trees grew denser and an unnatural stillness surrounded them. Adrian followed behind Valdrin, keeping a cautious eye on his surroundings, until Valdrin suddenly stopped in front of a wide river whose waters shimmered between the trees.

Adrian turned toward him.

"So... what are we looking for?"

Valdrin pointed toward the river.

"Look."

Adrian approached the water's edge and peered into the surface, trying to see the bottom, but the depth of the river made it impossible.

Valdrin said, "This river is about forty meters deep."

Adrian's eyes widened. "What?! Forty meters?!"

He stared at the river in disbelief. "How can a river be that deep?"

Valdrin pointed toward the depths. "There are rare green algae growing at the bottom. We're going down to retrieve them."

Adrian looked at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief, his expression making one question obvious: Are you serious?

Valdrin gave him a faint smile before asking, "Can you swim?"

"I can swim... but I can't dive. Especially not when the bottom is forty meters deep."

"An ordinary human couldn't even reach half that distance."

Valdrin looked at him calmly before saying, "But you're... no longer an ordinary human. So stop describing yourself that way."

The moment he finished speaking, he jumped into the river and disappeared beneath the water.

Adrian stood there silently, watching the surface.

Several seconds passed... then half a minute... then a full minute.

Suddenly, the surface of the water churned violently as Valdrin emerged, a handful of green algae in his hand. Yet there wasn't even a hint on his face that he had just spent a full minute at the bottom of a forty-meter-deep river.

Valdrin gave a faint smile, tossed the algae onto the riverbank, and said, "Now... it's your turn."

Adrian stared at him for a long moment, almost expecting him to reveal that it had all been a joke.

But Valdrin continued to look at him with complete seriousness.

Adrian sighed. "Me? No... I can't dive that deep."

Valdrin stepped closer.

"That's exactly why I brought you here."

He paused for a moment before adding, "This is your first training exercise."

Adrian frowned. "Training?"

Valdrin nodded. "There are two stages to this training."

He pointed toward the river.

"The first stage... is for you to retrieve those algae."

Adrian looked down into the depths as Valdrin continued, "It may seem simple, but the deeper you go, the greater the water pressure becomes, making it harder to move. At the same time, the air in your lungs will begin to run out."

Adrian listened in silence.

Valdrin continued, "On your first attempt, you'll reach a certain depth before being forced to come back because you won't be able to hold your breath any longer."

He added, "But when you try again, you'll realize that you need to move faster. The faster you move, the deeper you can go and still make it back before you run out of air."

Valdrin looked directly at Adrian.

"This training won't just teach you how to hold your breath..."

"It will force you to become faster than the moment your air runs out."

Adrian looked at the river again before asking, "And what's the next stage?"

Valdrin replied, "You'll find out... after you finish the first stage."

Valdrin raised his head toward the sky, where the first rays of sunlight were beginning to filter through the branches.

"Daybreak is here. I'm leaving now, and I'll return by nightfall."

Adrian frowned in surprise.

"What? You're leaving me here to train alone?"

Valdrin nodded calmly.

"I have other things to take care of."

He glanced at Adrian from the corner of his eye.

"Or did you expect me to sit beside you all day without food or water?"

Adrian frowned.

"What about me? Am I supposed to stay here without food too?"

A faint smile appeared on Valdrin's face.

"Then finish your training quickly. That way, you'll have enough time to find something to eat."

Adrian looked at him skeptically.

"Why can't I return to the village after I finish training? Do you really expect me to succeed in retrieving those algae in a single day?"

Valdrin shook his head.

"This is all you have. And if you succeed, you'll find your food here, not in the village."

He turned to leave, then added without looking back, "I'll return by nightfall, and I'll bring food with me."

He paused for a moment before continuing in a firm tone, "But if I find that you've abandoned your training... you won't eat anything until you finish it."

Silence fell between them.

Adrian clenched his fist and was about to respond when he suddenly turned his head, his attention caught by the faint sounds coming from somewhere among the trees.

His expression changed.

He looked around cautiously.

"Did you hear that...?"

The sound came again.

Adrian's eyes narrowed as he searched the surrounding forest, convinced that he had heard the movements of some kind of predator.

Valdrin continued walking without stopping.

Adrian raised his voice slightly. "But when I succeed... you'll take me to see my grandfather."

Valdrin didn't stop or even turn around. He simply continued walking through the trees and called back, "You'd better be careful. You're standing in a place where animals come to drink water."

Adrian remained frozen for a moment before swallowing nervously.

"Animals...? That's the last thing I needed."

He turned toward the spot where he would continue his training.

"All right... let's begin."

Adrian sighed and turned toward the river. For the first time, he studied it carefully. This was no ordinary river. Its violent waves crashed against one another without pause, while the current surged with tremendous force, making it seem impossible for anything to approach its depths.

Adrian lowered his gaze to the water and whispered, "How did I think I could do this?"

He slowly took off his black jacket and glanced at the bandages still wrapped around his arms and chest. After a long sigh, he said, "I'll do it... even while I'm injured."

He jumped into the river.

The moment his body touched the water, the current swept him away with brutal force. The waves slammed into him, pushing him first to the right and then to the left until he completely lost his balance. He fought against the current with everything he had, but the river was far stronger than him. Within moments, the waves dragged him farther away.

The air began to leave his lungs, and his vision grew increasingly blurred before his body suddenly slammed into a massive rock jutting out from the middle of the river. His hand reached out instinctively and grabbed onto it with the last of his strength. He clung to it for several moments before struggling to climb up.

Once he reached the top, he bent over, gasping for breath. After taking a moment to recover, he looked down at the water below.

"My God... If it weren't for this rock, I'd be finished."

He raised his head toward the waves, which hadn't calmed for even a moment.

"I couldn't even get past the waves... So how am I supposed to dive forty meters, then swim another forty meters back?"

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and let out a muffled cry before kneeling on the rock and watching the river in silence.

Several minutes passed, his eyes never leaving the waves. Suddenly, he furrowed his brows.

The waves surged violently, then calmed for a few moments before returning again.

Adrian watched the same pattern once, then twice, then a third time.

"Wait..."

His eyes followed the movement of the water as he counted the time between each wave.

"There are ten seconds between each wave..."

He continued watching the river's surface until a faint smile appeared on his face.

"It's a short window... but it's not impossible."

He thought for a moment before telling himself, "All right... all I have to do is find an opening between the waves."

Adrian fixed his eyes on the water and began calculating its movement. One wave... then another. He waited until one of them began to recede, then tensed his body and prepared to jump.

"Now!"

He leaped into the water at full speed and tried to dive immediately, but the waves were faster. They slammed into him with tremendous force and threw him back to the surface before he could even descend.

Adrian emerged from the water, gasping for breath. He stared at the river in disbelief.

"Damn..."