Even though things now were getting colder, and the cloudy skies threatened to snow, and the mornings blanketed the plains in frost, Beam would still wake up at the same time every day, along with his master, and he'd meditate in the cold water, looking for further insights into his progress.
For indeed, now it was his progress – it was his ideas that were driving him forward. Along with giving him the responsibility to protect the village, Dominus had said something else.
"If you wish to reach the highest of peaks, you must learn which routes to choose yourself, as I did. My role as your teacher is merely to guide you in doing that. You've improved your strength, your speed and your martial skill under my tutelage – but the true progress came by your own hand. Since you have seen such a thing yourself, I need say no more," Dominus told him.
"But even if I need to come up with the ideas myself, you'll still guide me in my training, won't you?" Beam asked, anxious to be suddenly thrown out in the cold.
"I will observe you, and I will offer advice when needed. But outside of your duties, I will no longer make you do anything. You may train your marital skill when you wish, and you may run when you wish, or you may do something else entirely. Those decisions will be left up to you," Dominus told him.
"Does that mean… you won't spar with me anymore?" Beam frowned. The true boon of having someone of Dominus' strength as a master came from the sparring. Every time Beam fought, he had to confront that massive overwhelming wall that was Dominus' true power, and each time, he came away with some new insight, though often it was only a small thing.
Dominus was the means by which Beam could test whether he had truly gotten stronger or not.
Dominus grinned at that. "I'm glad you value my tutelage so strongly, but now you will need to discuss such plans with me in advance. You must tell me when you wish to spar the day before. For I am busier than I was."
"Busier? Has something come up?" If it was something enough to make someone like Dominus busy, it had to be quite a challenging task indeed, or so Beam thought.
But Dominus just shook his head, wearing the same smile. "Actually, it is your fault boy. Just as you have inflicted a change in Nila and the merchant, I've started to get the faintest glimpse of a path that I might too might walk."
Beam tilted his head, not entirely understanding. Dominus had guessed that he wouldn't, so he merely shrugged and continued to explain.
"The Pandora Goblin poison runs thick through my veins, as I'm sure you know. If I exert more than ten percent of my true strength, my hold on it loosens, and I will die," Dominus said bluntly.
Beam blanched in horror at the proclamation. Of course, he knew that Dominus was in a dire state, for his master was very forthright about it. He sought to get Beam into a solid enough position that he could continue to grow without him. But even knowing all that, it hadn't truly clicked just how much the poison was affecting him.
"Come on, don't make such a face. You know as well as I do that I am lucky to be alive after having fought with the thing. Many were not so lucky. And yet, for me, life itself was the problem. I had very much intended to die there, on that day… And yet I lived. To find purpose in that was a struggle.
I failed to find it. That was, until, Claudia, our Goddess of Progress, intervened," he said. "Now I see it. Through both you and that chance encounter provided by Claudia. The way forward. The way out of stagnation.
The way that has been closed to me for many years – a chance to improve my blade."
Beam widened his eyes in surprise. "You're going to get even stronger, master?"
Dominus nodded. "Such has been the purpose of my life, boy. I gave everything for this. I thought I had given too much. And yet, now, in these final few months of life, I've been granted a new insight, and I intend to hone it. Though I cannot use all my power – I can still train.
I can still attempt to surpass what I once was," he said, with a smile that contained all the joy in the world.
Beam was shook by such an expression. The look of a man who had resolutely accepted death, who was well aware that his time was fast approaching, and yet who knew just how to spend his final days on earth. Beam hadn't reached such a level yet, and so a wave of sadness washed over him.
"If I'm careful, I'd suppose I have around a year," Dominus mused. "In that time, I will surpass my old limits, and then I will entrust the fruits of that labour to you. You've given me purpose, boy, and for that, I thank you," the old knight said bowing his head.
Beam didn't know what to say. He didn't want Dominus to die. He didn't even want to think about it. And yet the old knight looked so excited, so content, that it felt wrong to Beam not to share in his happiness. Beam tried a smile of his own. "Well, I guess I'll get stronger too along the way, so I can better understand what you attempt to pass onto me."
Dominus' smile only widened at that, and he nodded with enthusiasm. "You had better get much stronger indeed then, boy!" He said with a laugh. "We march down the same path here. We must both ponder ways in which we can push forward. If you need my advice for your training, as I said, I will still give it to you, but now is the time for you to hone the weapon that is your mind."