"Morning, Tang."
"Morning to you too, Ge... Gen!"
"Do you have anything to do today?"
Uchiha Gen had gotten up early. Seeing that all the other Catmen had work to do, he asked this question.
"I don't." Tang scratched her head awkwardly when the topic came up. "Because my constitution is too weak, the village only assigns me easy tasks, like gathering Cat Grass or drying fish."
Uchiha Gen nodded to show that he understood, then took Tang to a hillside more than ten miles outside the village.
"To become stronger, the simplest method is to pass on power directly, but it also carries the greatest hidden risks. What do you think of your own talent?"
"My talent?"
The Catman looked at her thin arms and legs, then at the fair-skinned Uchiha Gen. She lowered her head in disappointment and rubbed her hands together.
"I seem to have... nothing."
"..."
After Uchiha Gen explained what talent was, Tang recovered her spirits. For Beastmen, enduring hardship and persevering were instincts that flowed through their blood.
Without those instincts, they would not have survived until today. Though they were busy every day and had to worry about this and that, they truly wanted to live on.
"Good. I've received your determination. From now on, everything about you will change."
Uchiha Gen raised a hand and pointed at an empty patch of ground. After flicking his fingers a few times, a set of training equipment appeared.
The equipment included weights, protection, and easy-to-wear features. It fit Tang perfectly, since Uchiha Gen had specifically shaped it to her proportions.
"The first training exercise: endurance."
"Endurance?"
The most common endurance exercise was horse stance, but it placed too much demand on the legs, so it was usually replaced with the simpler exercise of running.
When