His body rocked forward as a powerful blow was laid across the back of his shoulders, “Your posture is all wrong!” She snipped. He exhaled and released his bowstring harmlessly, the twang of the string’s vibrations unaccompanied by the usual arrow that flew from his weapon.

“Sorry.” He drew in a deep breath.

She continued, “Do it again. This time, your body must be perfect. Rigid. Only when your posture is perfect can we worry about shooting at a target.” He did as he was told. He steeled his body, tensing his muscles. He withdrew the string back as far as it could go, as if he had an arrow ready to fire. He sighted the target downfield and raised his left arm slightly. If he had an arrow to fire, this one would be a bullseye. He smiled slightly.

Another blow fell upon him, this one cracking across his backside. He jumped slightly, his body losing the tension that gave it strength. The bowstring slipped from his grip. He wheeled on her, mouth open to protest. She cut him off. “Your posture was great that time. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect distractions. You must be as solid as iron. As fluid as water. Only then will you begin to approach a higher level of skill.”

His jaw snapped shut. He nodded. Grumbling softly below his breath, he prepared to assume the posture once more. His air filled with lungs, steeling his abs and back. He retracted his shoulder blades, pulling the bowstring back as far as he could. He expanded his Qi cloud around his body, then further, and took careful aim at the target. His body strained against the pull of the bow, but his time in the Dungeon had increased his strength significantly, allowing him to hold the position for quite some time.

He felt a disturbance in his Qi and focused on remaining still. Rigid. The blow fell across his knees, gentle but well aimed enough that if he wasn't prepared he would lose his balance. He stayed strong at his core, but bent his legs to diffuse the threat, sinking lower to increase his balance. "Better." She said. He felt another disturbance coming for the backs of his knees.

This time, he felt fingers dragging across the backs of his knees gently. It wasn't fair! Nobody would tickle in the middle of a fight! He couldn't help it. He tilted his head back and laughed, concentration broken, posture deflating. She stopped tickling his knee as he turned his head to look down at her. The lovely elf was crouched beside him with a small smile on her lips. She seemed like she'd had fun with that one.

"Now, to use a bow is to pursue perfection. You want to be perfectly precise, perfectly accurate. You want to know that each shot has a chance of doing the most damage possible." He nodded. That much he could agree with.

She continued, "We will be working on your accuracy first. I'm going to have you turn your back. I'll set up several targets. When I say, you turn and shoot them. You only get one shot per target." She gestured to a spot about forty paces away. He marched over there and stood with his back turned to her.

'Looks like Ishan is having fun,' he thought, a grin playing on his lips. His friend was sitting cross legged with several books floating around his head and several more balanced on his head. Every so often his master loomed over him. Based on the elf's raised hands and the slight sounds of his voice from across the way, Saul safely assumed he wasn't praising Ishan's efforts.

From the corner of his eye he could see Basi running through the strange obstacle course at his master’s behest. There seemed to be targets set up at varying heights after obstacles that the lizard would have to bite, or rear up and slash. Saul didn’t have long to observe Basi’s training. “Go!” Alwyn yelled.

Saul turned and readied his bow. The first target that caught his eye was the closest, hung on a string and moving back and forth across the clearing in pendulum motion. He smoothly withdrew an arrow from his quiver and aimed at the point he expected the target to be. As it rose to the top of its arc, he released. He didn’t bother to watch his shot, already focusing on the next target.

It was twice as far away and it was also on a string, though it seemed to be moving straight up and down rather than in an arc. He withdrew an arrow and had it nocked in a fraction of a second. He drew in a deep breath and aimed for just a moment, releasing as the target was just reaching its lowest point.

His gaze moved to the next target. Nearly three hundred yards away from him and the smallest of all the targets, this would be a challenge. It moved on a horizontal plane. He drew in a deep breath as he nocked the next arrow. He released the breath, then drew in another breath as he pulled back on the strings. His body steeled. His mind focused. His aim was sharp. Release. The projectile soared away towards the target, crossing the massive distance in a short period of time. He saw his shot nick the target, but it spun out of the path of the arrow which continued past it into the woods.

Cursing, Saul went through the next few targets. When he was done, he jogged over to stand before Alwyn. “Six out of eight isn’t bad, you know.” She said. She looked at the targets she’d set up, their strings all leading back to her fingers which wiggled slightly. “It’s not great either. That’s not even addressing the fact that it took you a while to take some of your shots.”

He nodded, “I thought I had the farthest one, but I must have mistimed my shot. I’m not used to taking such long shots.” He had done well, it was true, but not well enough. “I’d actually like to get better at long ranged shots in particular.”

She smiled at him, her entire face lighting up as he spoke. The smile reached her eyes in a way that took his breath away, “That’s good! I think as a ranger you should be most capable at long range attacks. Ideally, you should get so good at archery that you never even need your spear. We’ll focus mostly on distance shooting today, but we’ll mix in a little of what I like to call mobile archery.” She wiggled her fingers again and the targets began to move once more, “What do you think?”

He smiled in response and lifted his bow, “Sounds good to me.”

She moved over to the spot he’d stood when he fired upon the targets. She beckoned for him to follow her. He moved to stand beside her, his bow at the ready. “The farthest target - It wasn’t that you couldn’t propel your arrow all that distance. The issue was one of sighting the target. I have a way to help you overcome that. I want you to take your stance and sight the target. Then, draw and hold.” He did as she asked, turning his body sideways and bringing his bow up to aim at the target without preparing an arrow. He drew the string back. “You can use Qi, right?”

He nearly jumped at that. He was so surprised he released the string and turned to look at her. “Yes. Can you?” She nodded. “Oh… I didn’t think many elves could. Sorry.” He resumed his stance and drew once more. Waiting.

“Many can’t, but I can. I’ve developed a technique to help me sight the farthest targets. I want you to reach into your core. Feel your Qi within. Coax it free. Guide it up along the pathways that take it highest.” He did as she asked. Reaching for his Qi was made more difficult by his held breath, but he managed to touch the power. He tried to tease it along its pathways. It was stubborn. Resistant. He struggled with the power, grasping firm hold of it and yanking it upwards. Resistance broke. Power flowed.

He directed it upwards, just as she said. Along his neck. He could see her watching expectantly out of the corner of his eyes, “Now, infuse your eyes with that power while keeping them on the target. It might be a struggle, but if you can manage it…” She didn’t finish. He didn’t ask. He got the power up to his eyes, but he was having a hard time getting it into them. It was almost as if there was a blockage that stopped the power from advancing.

His lungs burned. He struggled with his own power, his entire body quivering. Something broke. He let the stale air in his lungs out and drew in a ragged breath. Failure. “Don’t feel bad. It may take some time for you to get this technique down. It’s called Telescopic Sight. Your Qi will grant you the ability to see far beyond what is normally possible.”

“That sounds… Really… Useful.” He gasped.

“It is. It’s one of the most important techniques for true mastery of archery, as far as I’m concerned. It may be easier for you to break through your blockage by using whatever breathing technique you perform while cultivating, but it is important for you to figure out how to control Qi without breathing.”

“Why?” He shook his head and straightened as his breathing calmed.

“Think about your breathing while you shoot. You don’t breathe steadily the whole time. You inhale, aim, and shoot. Holding your breath is important in archery. Cultivating and Qi manipulation are often tied to breathing, but in archery that can hurt you.”

He nodded. It made sense.

She didn’t make him work on the Telescopic sight technique again that day. “We’ll save it for tomorrow,” She’d said, “I want you to work on breaking through your blockages tonight.” Instead, she’d had him repeat the same drill she’d started with over and over. As the day wore on, he found he was growing tired, but he could see a marked improvement in his abilities. Then, suddenly, the masters all seemed to act as if hearing the same signal. Alwyn smiled at him patiently. She was a great instructor, “Time’s up for the day. You all should get some lunch. You’ll need to recover some strength in order to fight off a horde of monsters later today.”

Saul made it back to the cabin first. He didn’t waste any time getting settled into one of the large, comfortable chairs in the living room while he waited for his companions. Ishan and Basi weren’t far behind. The wizard held the door open for the reptile who went into a corner and promptly slumped to the ground. “I don’t blame you.” The man said. He had a scowl on his face and kept looking down at his hands with his brows furrowed.

“Alright there, Ishan?” Saul asked. He saw a darker expression cross the man’s face before he shook his head.

“Not really, no. I don’t feel like I’ve learned anything at all today. I was belittled, berated, and admonished, but I don’t have anything to show for it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make a bite to eat and get some rest before we have to fight for our lives this afternoon.”

Saul had never seen the man in such a foul mood. He nodded his understanding and relaxed back into his chair. If Ishan wanted space, Saul could provide that. He napped for close to an hour, only waking up when his stomach growled loud enough to interrupt his sleep. He made a sandwich from an interesting looking meat spread and a bread that was reminiscent of french bread and ate it with gusto. ‘The one good thing about the Dungeon is the food. I haven’t met something I could eat that I haven’t liked yet.’

He fed Basi a mixture of meat and vegetables that he literally just threw together, then fell in his chair again until it was time to train. They fought monsters. The monsters that seemed most enraged by the monolith today were more of the DemonKin, a swarm that was nearly as big as yesterday’s coming to try and exact revenge. Between the three of them, they managed to make short work of the monsters, though Saul had seen their masters waiting by the cabin. Watching. Analyzing.

That night, Saul settled down to cultivate. He worked long and hard on it. Teasing the energy to his eyes, trying to force it through. It took him far longer than it should have, but eventually he found success. When he went to sleep that night, he had a huge grin that wouldn’t go away. He was improving in a major way, and had an awesome new technique that could help him get home by keeping him safe. ‘I didn’t even have to use my AK… I’ve gotta say, it was a good day,’ he thought as he drifted off to sleep.