After the tragedy in your home town, the wizard gives you a quest to slay a Bonca.
Power Up
From Martridge's cabin, go south by one screen to get to the screen with a tree in the middle. Go west from the tree and punch the treasure chest to get a golden heart, which permanently increases your life gauge. Then break the barrel above that to get some meat. You can go back to Martridge's cabin and punch the barrels there for more meat.
Go west from your town. You will reach a screen with a bunch of ducks. On this screen, you might see a couple of knights attacking a wanderer. You should just exit the screen if this happens, because the knights are too strong for you to defeat right now. Go north from the duck screen.
Head west to find a barrel that contains more meat. Continue west, then go north until you reach some cliffs. Head east and you will see a big rock. Stand on the left side of the rock and push it to the right. Then crawl into the cave.
Find the Bonca
Head north. Don't go west unless you are low on hit points. The treasure chest there contains a big red heart that will refill your life completely. Don't use it unless you need it.
Go east to find the Bonca. Carefully punch it over and over until it dies. You might level up after killing it. You can choose an attribute to increase by one.
Learn Magic
Exit the cave and return to Martridge's hut. He is gone, but there is a letter on the table. Read it to receive 200 gold pieces and learn the fireball magic. Be sure to select the magic from the inventory screen to be able to use it.
All magic spells have a green loading bar. Once the bar has completely outlined the image of the spell, you can cast the spell. The loading bar progresses more quickly as you level up and increase your magic stat.
Power Up More
Before you leave this area, go south from Martridge's hut until you can't go any farther south. There is an area with some trees on the right side of the screen, just past some bushes. Burn the topmost tree and you will be able to exit to the right and explore a new area. There is a chest in the northeast corner of this area that has some gold in it. There is a chest behind a tree in the northwest corner of this area that has a golden heart in it.
And there is a cabin in this area where the pharmacist will sell you the Herb Boots, also known as the Hyper Boots, for 500 coins. They may seem useless at first because you can only fight with your fist when you have them equipped, but they are actually very useful for helping you stay out of range of your enemies' attacks. You should buy them when you get a chance.