As we passed the guards at the fenced gate entrance, they gave each Myeyl, Jhan, and Odelia a nod of acknowledgement, but only looked to have taken note of my face. “Odelia really does have a good connection with the House if even the guards are acknowledging her.” But surprised that Myeyl was dragging us completely around and behind the very wide manor, I mentioned “I don’t know where we’re going, but wouldn’t it have been faster to go through the inside and then head back out?”

“It would’ve, but some of my siblings are very jealous that I’m being trained by Odelia exclusively, and I want to keep it that way.” Myeyl mischievously smirked, “If we went inside, they might just privately beg her to replace their trainers, but if we stay outside, their pride won’t allow them to beg where they could be seen by others.”

“Sounds like you have a pretty big family, but there’s no way there’s enough of you to occupy this whole manor, right?” Slightly curious about the number.

“Of course not, there's only 10 of us, you know?” But she noticed that I didn’t know and elaborated, “Besides Mother and Father, there’s also my 4 elder brothers, my 3 elder sisters, and finally myself; not to forget each of our vassals, like Jhan here, or the multiple other loyal servants and guards who are happily housed here.

“Wait, you have 7 older siblings?” Shocked at the number, “That means you’re the youngest, right? And I assume one of them is going to be the next Head of the House?”

“That’s right, and it's my eldest brother Thereyl who’s next in line to be Head of House Fre’Nddare.” Myeyl informed me, with a slight look of admiration on her face. “He’s the most competent, talented, and decorated out of all of us siblings; he's even achieved the amazing feat of becoming a Trinity Archer at his early age of 105.”

Shocked by another unexpected number again, I thought to myself "Wow, that's a crazy age difference if Myeyl’s only 20 years old! And if it took the most talented member in their family 105 years to become a Trinity Archer, how long is it going to take me to accomplish it?"

“That’s untrue, milady." Jhan suddenly interjected, "I truly believe you’re the most talented out of all your siblings, even compared to young master Thereyl.”

“Pfft, don’t believe him, Eyes. I’m definitely not more talented than Thereyl, but I will agree that I’m much more talented than any of my other siblings.” Myeyl confidently stated, as we finally arrived at the back of the manor.

Right in front of us was a large and beautiful stone courtyard, but what really stood out to me was a large stone gazebo at the very end of it—overlooking the endlessly vast blue sea past the edge of the peninsula. Though what also stood out to me was a larger, slightly elevated, and circular stone platform right in the center of the courtyard; with thick 30ft tall stone pillars bordering around the platform, and multiple straw dummies on the edges of the platform.

While I was being dragged towards the stone platform, I glanced back at the manor as I felt multiple people inside beginning to watch us, and vaguely saw about 30 people currently doing so from the different floor windows. Most of them looked like they were servants or guards, but a few seemed to be vassals like Jhan, as they each stood beside 4 individuals hiding and peeping behind the window’s curtains; though there were another 3 individuals that watched freely, not caring to hide from sight.

“Don’t worry about them, Eyes, it’s just Mother and my siblings.” Myeyl said, noticing them as well, “I'm sure they’ll get fed up watching me finally get trained, and will soon leave after they get too jealous of the sight.”

“What about your father? Doesn’t he want to watch you get trained?” I asked, trying to ignore the stares from the windows.

“He did, but there was apparently an emergency call for the Council this morning. He's probably stuck dealing with whatever it is.” Myeyl explained, as I looked to Odelia who nodded that it was definitely about our barrier, “But I’m sure it’ll be over quickly if it isn’t anything important, and then I’ll happily introduce him to you when he gets back.”

“It would be an honour to meet the Head of House Fre’Nddare.” I graciously replied, giving a little bow to show I was being respectful.

Then as we stepped onto the stone platform, Myeyl noticed that I didn’t carry a bow or a quiver, and asked “Do you need me to ask Jhan to go fetch you a spare bow and quiver from inside, Eyes?”

“Oh, thank you for offering, but I already have both right here.” I pulled both Infinity and Shame out from my Inventory and surprised all 3 of them by the random appearance of the items.

“H-How did you do that!?” Jhan questioned, “That was unlike any spatial magic I’ve seen before, and I didn’t even see the moment you casted, or the space you stored them in? It was like they appeared from nothing...” losing himself in thought.

Odelia curiously looked at me while Myeyl exclaimed, “Who cares about that!” as she stared intently at my bow, “Is...is that a bow Odelia handcrafted, Eyes?”

“Uhh…I think so? You said this was the first bow you crafted, right Odelia?” I asked her, making sure.

“Indeed it is.” She replied simply.

“Hey, that’s not fair, Odelia! You’re already picking favourites!” Myeyl pouted.

“I’m not picking favourites, Lady Myeyl.” Odelia assured her, “Eyes simply already owned the bow before I ever met him.”

“If you think it’s unfair, do you wanna borrow it for training today?” I offered, presenting Shame to her.

Myeyl instantly became ecstatic, “Really?! You’ll really let me borrow it!”

“Well yeah, we’re just training, so feel free to try it out.” Gladly handing over Shame to her and thinking, “Even though she still owes me for helping get her accepted as a student, I should still try my best to get completely on her good side.”

“First you help me become Odelia’s student, now you give me the opportunity to wield our teacher’s handcrafted bow; your kindness towards me is just unending, Eyes, thank you.” She showed me such a stunningly beautiful smile as she handed me her bow to use. However, shaking my head from her beautiful sight, I decided to look at the Stats for the surprisingly heavy longbow she handed over to me.

Fre’Nddare Longbow

Uncommon

Attack: 230

Requirement: Lv.20, Str 110

“Wow, this bow is almost as good as Shame in terms of Attack, but too bad it doesn’t have the Effect and +25 Strength Shame has.” Then as I lightly tugged on the bowstring, I was surprised to feel that it was actually slightly harder to do so compared to Shame. “Interesting...Odelia’s bow already had a pretty heavy draw weight, but this bow’s is somehow heavier. I wonder if it’s because of these unusually thick limbs.” I carefully inspected the total make of the bow as Myeyl did the same for Shame.

Loudly clapping her hands to get our attention, Odelia said to us “Now that you two have your bows sorted out, why don’t I go ahead and evaluate your archery skills. But first...” She turned to speak to Jhan, “I need you to do me a favour and silence this whole platform for the remainder of the lesson, as well as ask of you to remain outside for the entire duration, Jhan.”

“Of course, Lady Odelia.” Jhan readily accepted; then pronouncing the word “Silence.” and creating a slightly larger purple dome around the whole platform area and walking himself right out of it.

Curious, I asked “Why silence our training, is it supposed to be secret or something?”

“I was wondering the same thing.” Myeyl added, then mentioning “I’ve never seen my siblings' teachers make such a request when they were training out in the open, so is there really something we’re learning in secret, Odelia?”

She chuckled at the both of us, “There’s no secret here. It’s simply the environment I prefer to privately teach students in, as it very much reminds me of how I once learned from my own Master.” leading us to one end of the platform.

“Grandfather taught you and Father this way? I wonder why Father never mentioned such an odd training method to us?” Myeyl questioned out loud.

“Probably because he didn’t want to tell you and your siblings that Master only preferred the silence so that others wouldn’t hear him yelling at your father and me for making all our mistakes.” Odelia then seemed to reminisce at the memories.

“You don’t think we’re gonna get yelled at, do you?” I whispered to Myeyl.

“I’m not sure, but now that I think about it, I heard Odelia was once the strictest professor in the whole Academy, so I wouldn’t put it past her.” Myeyl whispered back.

“You know I can hear you both, right?” Odelia glared at us and we immediately shut our mouths. She then shook her head and grinningly sighed, “Why don’t you both show me what I’m working with. Shoot a few arrows at the dummies on the other side, and let me examine how well you both naturally shoot with a bow.” Not wanting to be first to get yelled at, we both quietly nodded at Odelia's instructions and lined ourselves up with a dummy on the other side of the platform—I estimated it was about a 50m distance away.

Confidently straightening my stance and pulling an arrow from my quiver, I thought “With a longbow at this distance, it’ll be a piece of cake.” In one smooth motion, I nocked the arrow, drew the bowstring back, raised the bow up in front of me, and held the bowstring to my anchor point beside my mouth; then using the arrowhead as my guide, I carefully aimed at the dummy’s head, and released the arrow flawlessly. While I listened to the arrow fly and the bowstring rubberbanding back in place, I instantly knew I didn’t like shooting this bow whatsoever. I could already tell it was way too heavy to reliably keep stable while aiming, and the vibration it had after being shot was unusually intense; but nevertheless, I still watched my arrow pierce the center of the dummy’s chest.

“Wow, fantastic shot, Eyes!" Odelia sounded genuinely impressed, "Fre’Nddare bows are notoriously difficult to shoot, yet your form was perfect, and your arrow true.”

“I could tell, but I’ve been doing this for years, and all I need is a few shots to get used to how it feels and I’ll be good with any bow.” Already drawing another arrow and readying another shot.

“I see..." Odelia noted, watching me shoot my second arrow right next to the first. "I was always curious about how good of an archer you were ever since I saw all those dead goblins at your…‘home’, but now I think I’m beginning to understand just how you slayed them all.” Slightly grinning, she looked over to Myeyl who was trying to perfectly nock her first arrow correctly.

“She looks exactly like an amateur at a local shooting range.” Observing her shakingly draw and aim my bow, and releasing the shot soon after. “Huh, it really does seem like she hasn’t been taught any archery before, but at least that means she’s a blank slate Odelia can perfectly mould into a fine archer.”

Then to my surprise, the arrow struck the right in the center of the dummy’s head and Myeyl cheered, “I hit it!"

"Woah, she hit a 50m headshot on her first try! Now was that just beginner’s luck, or was that talent Jhan was talking about?" I wondered, releasing my own shot and creating a tight grouping of arrows.

"How was that?” Myeyl excitedly asked Odelia.

“It was very impressive, Lady Myeyl.” Odelia lightly applauded. “Although, we’ll still need to work on your stance and form, as well as how to properly breathe; but all in all you did great, so keep shooting.” And she did just that, getting naturally better and better the more she shot; though not wanting to be outdone, I did so too.

After about an hour of alternating shooting hands every couple dozen arrows, my proficiency finally leveled up again.

Archery proficiency increased by 1 Level.

Soon after Odelia stopped us, "That’s enough. Go ahead and retrieve all your arrows." and as we did so, she loudly asked “Now do you two have a preferred Archery Style you wish to train in first?”

“Mmmh...I’ve been using dual-blades ever since I was young, so I think I’d prefer the Combat Style." Myeyl answered first, already knowing the choices.

“And you, Eyes?” Odelia asked me next.

“Uhhh...I don’t know any of them.” I answered truthfully. “Maybe knowing a little summary could help?”

“Hold on, you don’t know the 3 Archery Styles?” Myeyl questioned in disbelief, “I mean how can you even call yourself an Elf if you don’t know that?”

“Hey, give me a break. I was born outside the Kingdom after all.” But I could tell Myeyl was still judging me in her head.

“Apologies, Eyes, I forgot that fact. But allow me to explain." Odelia walked over to us to educate me, “There are 3 types of Elven Archery Styles: the Dark Elves’ Close-Combat Style, the High Elves’ Magic-Wielding Style, and the Wood Elves’ Long-Range Style—or Combat, Magic, and Range Styles for short. And as tradition, aspiring Trinity Archers would usually start by training in their own Races’ Style first, but in the last 250 years we’ve shifted into the idea of allowing one to choose the Style they prefer to train in first—pioneered by yours truly of course. ” Proudly claiming the fact.

“Okay, well is there one that’s stronger than the others? Or maybe one you suggest to learn first?” I inquired, genuinely interested to hear Odelia's opinion.

“There’s no one Style stronger than the other, even though you might hear people claim otherwise, or see peoples’ natural affinity for a particular Style display a sense of superiority; but in truth they are all equal, and when one finally reaches the Trinity Archer Class, they’ll come to understand that as well." Odelia made sure Myeyl understood that too before continuing. "And as for my suggestion...I say you choose the Style you lack the most in—to help balance your flaws in combat. Or you could choose the one you have the most affinity for, like Lady Myeyl—it’ll greatly increase your immediate combat strength, and help you get used to and learn your first Style faster. But ultimately, it’s really up you, Eyes.”

“I’ve always been a fast learner when it comes to archery, so I don’t think needing to learn faster will be a problem, but I still don’t know what to choose? Combat, Magic, or Range?” While I contemplated the 3 choices in my head, I asked Odelia “Do you think you could show me an example from each Style, it would really help me decide?”

“Of course I can, but may I have permission to break the pillars a bit, Lady Myeyl?” Odelia asked politely.

“Definitely! Break all of them if you want!” Myeyl happily suggested, anticipating a firsthand demonstration from her Master.

“Then may I also have an arrow?” And Myeyl immediately passed Odelia one, “Well then, the first Style I’ll be demonstrating is the Range Style. It specializes in precise and accurate long distance shots, controlling and multiplying your arrows, and can be used at such distances that your enemies will only be able to see the arrows piercing straight into them.” Odelia then walked to the base of a pillar away from the manor, in the direction of the water, and aimed her bow diagonally up at it. “This Skill is called Piercing Shot, and it’s one of the later Skills you’ll learn when training in the Range Style, so watch carefully.”

Not doing anything out of the ordinary, Odelia simply fully drew her bow, and released the arrow at the pillar a moment later; but as Myeyl and I both carefully watched, we immediately noticed the arrow suddenly begin to spin at incredible speeds in the air. Then the moment the arrow made contact with the pillar, it completely drilled a hole straight through the solid stone, only leaving a clean arrow-sized hole left behind; though not stopping its momentum, the arrow kept flying upwards over the water, and disappeared from sight in the clouds above.

We both applauded in amazement, and Odelia explained “Piercing Shot may not be as damaging compared to Magic-Type Skills, but the usefulness it has against heavy armour and dense structures truly makes up for it, and should be used when physical attacks are needed rather than magical one.”

“That’s not damaging!?” I exclaimed to myself, “She just drilled a hole in a solid stone pillar with a regular arrow like it was paper, how much stronger could other Skills be?” excited at the thought.

“Another, another!” Myeyl demanded, wanting to see more.

But as Odelia was about to show us another Skill, she suddenly stopped herself and looked past Myeyl and I; smuggly smirking while she asked “Is the Council going to make trouble for us, Zebey?”

We then heard a smooth voice respond behind us, “Maybe, but everything should be fine for now—well besides the other two deciding to send a few undercover guards to keep watch on your House.”

Recognizing the voice, Myeyl quickly turned around shouting, “Father, you’re here!”