ViciousPepper
Ongoing, as you know he is still only a 14-year-old youth. As he travels to different places, comes across fateful encounters and faces numerous adversaries on the way, he will naturally come out of his shell once he leaves the empire he is in currently. Amon is kind of a guide/Nanny/mentor/partner to him and will shape his character to meet the book's title. Hope I was able to clear some of your queries without giving much spoilers.
Sigh… more dragging. Author, please don’t do this again? It’s really ridiculous, especially since this isn’t even an important fight. It’d be one thing if it was the climax of a volume, or at least of a major arc, but this is just a bandit attack on their way home. It’s an inciting incident, not a climax.