While Max was busy watching the system status, Alex and Anastasia thanked the old woman, who was one of the few cultivator they had in their village and had decided to help them deliver the baby, and went back to their house made up of woods with a garden in the back at the edge of the village, Lantus.
Lantus was located at the outskirts of the Astryden Kingdom.
It was a small settlement of about 100 buildings mostly made out of woods. It was surrounded by forest all around them with the nearest city being 100 km away. The main profession was that of wood cutting, hunting and farming. Alaric was a wood cutter and a hunter with Anastasia being a housewife. They were famous throughout Lantus due to their contrasting and beautiful looks. Alaric provided with one of the largest amount of wood to the traders and was believed to be the best hunter in Lantus. Still they lived at the edge of the village for peace and tranquility.
The most curious thing was not their looks but how the wild animals like the squirrels, rabbits, birds who stared or ran away when someone came near them to pet or touch, loved being nearby Anastasia. They become as docile as pets when they were near her. They looked peaceful and happy when near her. There would always be animals frolicking in their garden to be near her.
As Max was growing up, it seems the attraction of animals was passed onto him from Anastasia as the animals would always frolic around him looking like they were protecting him.
At the age of 10, after constantly begging his parents, he started to help his father cut down trees and transporting them near their house to trade. His parents didn't allow allow him to join him on hunts, just yet.
When he was 12, he started to have swordsmanship lessons with his father as a condition before allowing him to come hunt with him. He used a wooden sword made by his father to practice basic sword moves like horizontal, vertical, and diagonal cut and stab. He used to run 2 or 3 laps around the village, some pushups, squats and core exercises in the morning. In the afternoon he would practice the sword move and in the evening he would play around with animals or kids in the village.
After one year of practicing the basic moves, he performed a hundred basic sword moves in a row with perfect form after which he started his balance and footwork training.
It was hard for him to perfect his balance as he was in the body of a 10 year old while he used to have the body of a fully grown adult.
He did the footwork and balance training for a year and half, due to his condition after which he started with guard stances, defensive moves like parry, feint and basic combos.
He practiced those moves for about half a year, before he finally manage to convince his father to let him join on the hunts, he had to spend some more days just to convince his mother about letting him go to hunt. Anastasia has always been overprotective about him, such that she would sit nearby the training ground to make sure he is not overexerting himself. She finally agreed to let him go on a hunting trip with a condition that he should always be in Alaric's eyesight.