I decided to take a break and try to exercise, my body was too thin and without any muscle volume. It bothered me, I couldn't recognize myself in this new body, but at the same time I was accepting it, the memories in my mind were causing me ambiguity.
In enlightenment, the body and mind must be strengthened, so we become stronger, because if we only train the body, our mind will become weak, and the opposite is also true. That's why I always trained my body during the day and studied at night. Vespera always taught me what I needed to learn, she was only a few years older than me, but she was much more intelligent. Her clan was the scholars, mine was the enlightenment, and each of the clans specialized in a certain area, which strengthened our race as a whole.
I got tired quickly, a few push-ups were already more than I could bear.
When I got home, I put what I had collected in the kitchen.
My father stared at me.
"Where did you get all this?"
"Along the way, I just collected what I saw."
"Maeli," he shouted.
"What?"
"Look at the amount he collected."
My mother stared, I thought it was strange, but then I understood. The amount was considered huge, even my older brothers wouldn't be able to collect it all, at most they'll bring a rabbit and some potatoes.
"Apparently your son is better than you," she said, laughing. My father didn't like the joke, but it was true, my father had become a useless man for some jobs, he was never very good at anything, in fact, he was good at using a sword, but when he took over the land, he settled down and became what he is today.
My mother prepared the food and at dinner, my older brothers stared at me. I felt looks of envy, which made sense because I had collected more than they had.
The next day I started exercising, I really needed to strengthen my body. To do this, I needed to eat more meat. My brothers hunted and always brought back one or two rabbits and the meat was barely enough to meet our protein needs. I don't think they have that knowledge here, at least I've never heard anyone talk about it.
I needed to solve this problem, it would be suspicious if I just brought in more animals for us to eat, but that's the only way. Or I could just hunt and feed myself in the forest, then I wouldn't be considered suspicious.
I went downstairs and drank some milk and ate a piece of bread, then I went into the forest to start collecting more vegetables, this time the collection basket was near the entrance, I took it and a fishing rod that was next to it. It would be a less suspicious way to get more meat. Fish are nutritious and could help with the nutritional supply I needed.
On the way I collected some vegetables and then went to the same place as the day before, the waterfall was a bit noisy, but after a while that sound calmed me down somehow.
I used some spiritual energy on the hook, I wasn't sure if it would help at all, but it didn't hurt to try.
In case it went wrong, my plan was to look for a worm or some other insect to use as bait. But I didn't need to do that, somehow the spiritual energy attracted a fish, it was small, but it was something. After a few hours I managed to fill half the basket and so that the vegetables wouldn't touch them, I put some leaves on top of the fish and then put the vegetables on top.
I did some more exercises and went home, I was tired.
My father and my older brother, Caldor, were waiting for me at the door, their gazes like those of angry bulls.
"Because of you we won't have any fish, you shouldn't have taken the fishing rod to play," my brother was very angry.
"That's why you're going to lose your lunch..."
I put the basket down and took out the vegetables and leaves.
"I used the fishing rod to fish, not play, since fishing is what it's for."
My father and brother were silent as they looked at the amount of fish, there would be at least three fish for each member of the family.
"How did you manage to catch so many fish?" My brother almost stuttered.
"I don't know, I just tried to catch them and I did."
He wasn't ashamed of having shouted at me. In fact, he was ashamed that I had managed to catch all those fish, because he couldn't do it. Somehow that made me a bit happy, seeing him embarrassed was an interesting feeling, I didn't know how to describe it. I don't like Caldor, I've always considered him arrogant and maybe that's why I like seeing him like this.
My father said no more. My mother was happy with the amount of fish I got, as well as the amount of vegetables, so we had a great meal.
My sister said that I should be the new leader of the family, Caldor got angry, but he didn't fight with her.
My family didn't use to read, so the library had few books and nobody went there. It was a perfect environment to study in peace.
I learned some interesting subjects, such as the geography and politics of the continent, as well as some magic, at least the theoretical part. Since I couldn't use magic, I don't know if I hadn't been gifted with mana, which was almost impossible. All living beings have mana, some more than others, but what separates a normal human from a human who uses magic is the ability to manipulate mana for use, so I can only be in the group of people who can't use mana.
In enlightenment it's a bit different, what separates a person who does or doesn't use spiritual energy is training.
After a bit of reading, I went out and collected more food, as this was great exercise and would prevent my body from standing still.
The fishing rod was no longer there, my brother must have hidden it.
As I had managed to attract the fish with spiritual energy, perhaps having a fishing rod wasn't so necessary. But I'd better get at least a hook and a piece of line, so I asked my father, he gave me a rusty hook that was in a shed and I got some sewing thread that my mother used.
When I left the house, my brother kept looking at me, and when I turned around, I could see part of a small smile on his face.
I used more spiritual energy, I seemed to be able to use more energy than the day before, maybe it was just lack of practice, but I was still weak, maybe a newborn would have more spiritual energy than me, well, at least a newborn in my family would.
This time I decided to fish more, as I still think I need more protein than I'm consuming.
While I was fishing, I was able to use more spiritual energy on all the line and hook, which made some fish jump at me.
So I filled the basket with spiritual energy and put it in the river, and the fish were attracted. In this way, I managed to fill the basket. It was a bit difficult to carry, but I managed.
My brother was laughing, he had another basket with some fish, they wouldn't be enough for everyone to eat.
"I hope you got some vegetables because I got the fish."
"I unfortunately only got fish," I said, opening the basket and showing that it was full, everyone could eat as many fish as they could.
The anger on my brother's face increased.
"How did you get all those fish?"
"I just sat there and waited for the fish to take the bait."