Life is slow or fast depending on your perspective and nature; you will experience it differently. Deep in the forest, life is more relaxed; everything moves at its own pace, from the stream's current to the falling of the leaves. But above all this, the soft grunts of a young woman, flushed with effort, can be heard. The rock she was supposed to move to a mark had not advanced a single millimeter.
Emily, completely exhausted, fell face down on the ground. A man sitting on a tree branch threw a seed at her head and said, "Who do you think you are? Get up, useless girl! You're wasting my time!" He finished by jumping down from his perch. The girl responded between heavy exhales, "I'm sorry... but... my arms hurt... I can barely breathe... I know I'm useless... but please don't give up on me..." The man simply walked to the mark and erased it. He walked a few more meters, creating a new mark. The girl, still without the strength to stand, asked, "...What are you doing...?" to which he replied, "Doubling the distance to your goal. Every time you fall, I will double the distance. If you previously had to move the rock five meters, do the math." The girl mustered all her remaining strength just to lift her head to look and question him again, "But if I couldn't move it at all before... how can I now, even less?" To this, he simply sat down and said, "Get up before you have to move it a kilometer."
Evening was falling. Exhausted, Emily fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Her arms trembled, the veins in her hands were prominently visible. Reaching a point of immense pain, the girl simply refused to fall because she already knew what would happen. But for someone whose mind is set on not falling, the pain can be far superior, and no matter how hard you try, it will always win. The girl hugged the ground, crying softly while clenching her fists tightly. The warrior, who didn't see this, moved the mark again. The girl simply accepted this fact, began to get up to return home, and said goodbye to the man.
The Sword Master simply walked to the rock and saw that the girl had managed to move it two meters. Smiling, he said, "Good," and returned the rock to its starting point, reducing the girl's progress to absolutely zero. Then he disappeared from the spot.
Night usually brings calm, but for a young woman who, after showering, felt that the water simply wouldn't quell her immense body heat, it didn't. Without eating dinner, she threw herself into bed, struggling to sleep against the enormous pain she was suffering, only managing to fall asleep several hours later. Waking up to her father's voice, she got ready quickly, grabbed some books from home, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her, barely managing to catch the bus that would take her to her destination. Upon sitting down, she noticed that the pain she had suffered yesterday had now increased significantly.
Arriving at school, she quickly entered the classroom but was stopped by a red-haired girl who said, "So you finally arrived. I hope you did my homework and my friends'." Emily quickly searched her backpack and pulled out a stack of papers. The redhead took them and handed our protagonist some bills in exchange before leaving. The only thing the girl could think was, "How did that Leslie manage to pass anything without help?"
Back in the forest, the girl began to push the rock towards her new goal. After about three hours, she let out a deep sigh as rivers of sweat fell to the ground. Utterly exhausted, she was snapped out of her thoughts by his voice saying, "Hey, let me clarify something for you. Strength isn't only in your arms." After saying this, he took out a fruit and started throwing the peel at the girl, who retorted, "Hey... I'm not a trash can!" As the day ended, the girl got ready to leave when she saw the man return the rock to where she had had to move it.