Chapter 42 - Long range training

Melvin had her eyes closed, fully absorbed into the task. An image of an impeccable arrow forming in her mind. With slow breath she reached for the weapon.

One of her hands was the bow itself, the other took the string and pulled. The string tension increases exponentially. At the same time she focused on her mana and willed it into the physical world, giving it a mass and a form.

The arrow manifested in the right position, already placed on the bow, ready to shoot. It was perfect. Exactly what she imagined.

Arrow ok. Bow is ideal. String tension to the maximum. Position is impeccable!

Her eyes shot open, her gaze fell into the target just a few steps away. It was time.

She let loose the string, shooting the arrow with her full power.

…

…

"AGAIN! How can you be this incompetent? It's the same as the exercise!" Emma yelled, but it was more an overall warning to the class than a direct call to Melvin. I think...

The projectile was sent flying correctly, but it vanished mid way, it never got to the target. Her connection to the arrow mana broke almost as soon as it left physical contact with her hand.

I lost count of how many times Melvin had done this exact same thing. Not to say she was not improving. The arrow flying to almost half way was the improvement.

Just two days ago she could not even form the arrow. Yesterday she found out the importance of focusing on the bow's string, it's durability and flexibility. It took her the entire day until she discovered the right balance for the strand to no longer snap at the slightest tension.

Today morning the arrow vanished almost before even leaving her hand. It is true that she is still failing, but her projectile is now capable of maintaining the form away from her body for a couple of milliseconds. Just a few more and she will be able to hit the first target.

"Melvin... Melvin!" Honda whispered enough times to bring Melvin's back to reality. "Don't be too upset, and keep trying!"

My distracted host smiled at her friend and murmured back "Thanks". Taking position for another shot. Repeating the steps with closed eyes. She failed again.

After a few more shots she stopped a few seconds to observe Honda. She was already able to hit the first target successfully and was now training with a further target than Melvin, about twice the distance. Which was not that far, and still useless in real battle, but a lot better than Melvin anyways.

I can't lose this bad! I don't want to be left behind!

With renewed determination she kept shooting arrow after arrow.

I will hit the target today!

Honda had tried to help with some tips about how to keep the mana contained in the arrow form and away from her body, but Melvin was incapable of understanding her logic. When it came to mana manipulation there were quite a few girls in this class that far exceeded my host's ability. Yet she was still in the top 10 or so people when it came to physical strength, resilience and brute combat power. She really just fell behind in mana related stuff, but she sure had the dedication needed to prevail.

Melvin was indeed able to hit the first target by the end of the day. The arrow's strength was a joke, it did not even dent the target, but it hit anyway, and she was happy. By the rules she would be able to start with the further target, but decided to keep with the closer one and improve the damage and control.

I admit that I had to keep pestering her a bit with my "suggestion power". It was hard, but I succeeded in convincing her that improving the projectile was more important than the distance right now. It would help with her mana control and it would certainly help with hitting further targets in the future.

It did cost me quite some time of yelling at her 'soul' for the idea to even pop in her mind, but I was successful and this time, I was absolutely sure that no harm would come to her because of me.

It was definitely an inoffensive suggestion...probably.

Ever since the incident with Lucyra I kept my suggestions to the minimum, and only tried to influence my host when I was absolutely sure that it would not cause disastrous consequences… I promised to never again interfere with someone's core personality... and I will keep that vow.

The long range combat was a lot less physically taxing than Jade's training, but it took a lot of mental power and concentration. Up until this point in time all the weapons we were trained to make had a direct link to the person's body. But now the arrow broke this pattern.

Every weapon was a mixture of ambient mana and inner mana, and it directly altered the body to transform in the weapon. Even the bow was a direct part of the body, it was more durable, easier to make and maintain, faster to morph and also simpler to modify.

The arrow itself was not like that. Obviously, it would make no sense to have a projectile that could not be thrown.

Which is why, the first days of training, following the last of Jade's murderer class, we were able to fully recuperate and rest our bodies while still training.

Emma had us start with a simple pebble of mana that we would leave on the floor and try to keep it up for some time. "Simple" does not mean it was easy. But everyone was able to do it eventually.

After that, Emma taught us how to increase the distance and we would throw the mana pebble a bit far away from the body, then further and further. Then we were instructed to morph it into a real arrow and such, progressively harder.

It was only after everyone succeeded with keeping the pebble a single step apart from the body that the bow itself was included in the exercises. But even then, the training was more of a mental training and mana manipulation than anything physical.

Just pulling the string and aiming was too easy to tire the Efalem body. The entire class was able to rest their bodies to a full condition, ready for a new beating, but wishing for none. Of course this leisure of a time ended. It is always like this, it is fun at first but then comes the hellish part. It is not even surprising anymore.

The pattern of the last classes repeated itself: we now had a controlled combat between the trainees. Or something similar, we were required to BE the target for someone else.

Yes, Melvin was now standing with her full mana shield up and another girl was aiming the ranged weapon at her. The attacker's goal was to bypass the shield and the 'target' goal was to survive using only the mana shield as a protection.

No grabbing the arrow with hands or evading was allowed. Using the shield to just redirect the arrow to miss you was ok, you did not actually have to stop the arrow, just survive and avoid serious injuries.

Of course, the teacher's objective was not to kill everyone (probably). The attackers were asked to aim at a non vital part. But you know… accidents may happen, it's not like the students had perfect aim or had the ability to hit the intended place every time.

Accidents did happen. But no one was "unalived" this time. A few got a serious injury and got very, VERY close to being recycled, but they managed to recover, and that even took their healing skill up to a whole new level. Melvin was one of them.

She failed to protect her neck from an arrow and… you know, the neck is a very important part of the human body and the Efalem were no different.

The instructors were making sure to match the duo for their abilities. The attacker could not be too much stronger than the defendant as it would cause too many casualties and hinder the training. But the target's shield could not be too superior to the attacker or it would not cause the dred sense of danger that made them improve faster and fight for life.

This skill level matchup was the main cause that allowed this training to end with no deaths. The other main reason for no recycling was Leah, a skilled supporter to heal the accidents.

At some point Melvin's shield had improved enough for her to be 'upgraded' and assigned a stronger companion. Long story short: She lost.

The companion was Honda, one of Melvin's few friends, and a lot stronger when it came to ranged attack with mana. Of course Honda did not aim to kill Melvin, she was just bad at aiming as much as she was good at manifesting strong and durable mana arrows. She also wanted to impress Melvin with how much better she had become in the last few days…

The end result was a stronger-than-normal mana arrow directed at Melvin's face, which she was able to deflect a bit with the shield and it 'only' hit her neck, not killing her immediately. A success I would say.

Instantly after the impact Honda released her mana, the arrow and bow dissipated into small globes of light and she sprinted across the arena to help.

"Melvin! I'm so sorry! Melvin!!! Oh no! So much blood, I'm sorry Melvin!"" Honda was devastated by the unfortunate outcome and terrified with the amount of blood already on the floor.

"I ….. Ok…." Melvin failed to talk.

"I'm sorry! I'll heal you!" As a desperate measure to save her friend Honda reached her glowing hand to try and save Melvin, but was interrupted.

"Please step aside" Leah appeared out of nowhere and said calmly, Honda obeyed but kept sobbing in the side, murmuring 'I'm so sorry' the entire time. The instructor kneeled beside the injured, lots of blood squishing from her neck, but the peaceful expression never left the teacher's face.

"Melvin, focus on my voice. Now, Breath in…. Breath out. Yes, that's good, keep doing that. There is no need to despair." She calmly talked to Melvin all while healing her.

Leah was able to stop the bleeding until the inexperienced and panicked person regained enough composture to help the healing.

"You are no longer bleeding, as long as you follow my lead and help me heal you, everything is going to be fine. I can only do so much externally, I need you to work with me." The healer then continued to help and teach. She manually guided Melvin's healing technique, and in time they were able to heal the injury completely, not even a scar was left behind.

Honda kept crying and apologizing almost the entire time, but calming down a lot by the end. At least Leah had the compassion to leave her to her suffering, for I'm pretty sure Jade would have kicked her out and made her go back into training right away.

"Good job Melvin, your healing was great" Leah complimented Melvin's healing. "Now, Honda, what were you trying to do?" She asked in a monotone. Not a hint of the previous smile and kindness on her face.

"Hea… Heal… Save her" Honda managed to answer.

"I did warn everyone that healing someone else was possible but it needed complete mastery of self healing before even attempting it. Did I not? Are you a master healer that I missed?" Clearly a rhetorical question but Honda tried to answer anyway.

"No, I..." She was not permitted to answer. Leah continued her lecture.

"Don't EVER try to mend someone before being qualified to do it. You could have killed both you AND her. You understand? You do NOT possess enough ability to match your mana with others yet! You have the potential, but not yet the skill. You don't... " She was mad, I don't recall seeing Leah that mad before, but the scolding was interrupted by another accident, very similar to what happened to Melvin. Leah vanished without any extra word and appeared beside her next patient. Leaving the two girls alone.

I thought Leah was being compassionate with Honda by leaving her be, but I think she just wanted to censure her actions once Melvin was fully healed… The teacher successfully made Honda double sad about almost killing one of her best friends… Twice!

"Honda, it's ok, I know you were trying to help, thank you" Melvin noticed her friend's demeanor and tried to ease her guilt. It did not work.

This was a very serious injury that Melvin had no skill to survive alone. It almost had a double tragic ending. But it did not. On the contrary, the incident did wonders to her healing skills. Really, not one single training until now made Melvin improve as much in so little time. I guess being so near death and literally having to manage mana to survive helped a lot. It even made her understanding of mana manipulation in general leap to another level.

Melvin really should be thanking Honda about the arrow in the neck.

After the incident Melvin's arrows were better, the range in which she was able to keep the arrow's up increased. Her shield got stronger and with faster response to attacks. Her speed to morph her weapons doubled. Healing three times as efficiently. Body enhancement using mana just lept to another level…

An overall and amazing improvement in mana control. This moment may be the point in which Melvin became the perfect soldier. She was still a bit slow to think… And not on the same level as Mayara, or Brianna but they were just monsters outside the norm.

Melvin was the closest to a normal perfect soldier.