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Chapter 13: I Love Peace III

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'Just as I thought, someone was always watching me in my entire time in prison. That someone is probably the person who made sure I stay safe all the time and have no encounter with any ether entity.'

Val mused to himself as he read through a thick black book. The book's name was Ether Entities. It introduces many ether creatures living all across the northern continent.

The ether brings way too many benefits to humanity, but the problem is that it brings just as much danger.

This world is anything but safe, especially for the weak and the unwise. Such people's fate is convoluted with so much uncertainty. Their chances of dying at any point are way too high.

All they can do is escape, seek aid, or strive for greatness and power. The problem is that where ether exists, danger comes along with it. Escape is no option.

The subject of ether entities doesn't include just ether beasts and monsters but also ether specters. The latter can either be much easier to get rid of than the former or numerous times harder.

Brute force works against all ether beasts and monsters as long as that force is big enough. Ether specters, on the other hand, need other methods, including force.

That's why Alchemists and Formation Masters are highly regarded in this world.

It's said that one of the prime scholars of the ancient world, not long after the disappearance of the ancient gods, used numerous human lives as experiments until he received a fascinating result.

The existence of Specters is directly related to one's soul, will, and desires. All of the previous add up to explain the existence of such imaginary entities.

"It's time."

Hearing that, Val closed the book before following after his brothers. It's time for some archery.

They went down the castle, and the lower they went the higher their speed became. With how big the castle and its surroundings, it's safe to say a walk towards any place within is a training of sorts.

They started running to the top of their abilities the moment they left it, and Val did his best to keep up with them, or at least keep them within his sight.

They look like they have very little muscles, a bit skinny in fact, yet, their physical prowess is quite high.

Ether is impartial. It doesn't matter how you look or how you feel, its job is simply to fill the body's empty cells, and it will not cause any change to one's looks, that's ether arts' job.

Eventually, Val reached the training location, and despite running several miles, he found himself barely spent.

As expected, he found them in the archery range with everything already prepared.

"Here, use this until father makes you a better one. This one isn't that bad, it can slightly make use of the ether."

Val took the grey bow Noah handed him. It looked just like any bow except for the triangular engraving with a strange rune within it.

'An ember artifact? Though it's quite a simple one, most likely just a first-grade ether artifact.' Val noted after observing the bow for a bit.

Most materials that are ether conductive are called embers. Formation masters can engrave specific and complicated formations or just runes to give them a certain function or edge against other artifacts.

Embers have the same grading system as ether artifact just to make things simple and unified across the entire world, a system agreed upon by the major powers of the world.

Ether artifacts so far have only one known rank which is 'Noble'. That rank in itself is divided into ten grades from one to ten. Embers are raw materials with the same grading system as artifacts.

The relationship between embers' grades and ether artifacts should be quite obvious.

Usually, a first-grade ember can be made into an artifact of the same grade though it's said that some formation masters can even elevate it to the next grade.

"Watch us carefully, then try to mimic our actions and we will fix any mistake you make." Instructed Nious as he and Noah got ready to demonstrate their archery to him.

Val gave them his utmost attention as they continued their explanation, "First is stance. Stand upright with feet shoulder width apart, and feet at 90 degrees to the target. "

They explained and demonstrated at the same time, their actions were perfectly synchronized as if they're one person.

They lifted their hands keeping a relaxed grip on the bow handle. "Keep your grip as light as possible. What you want to do is to align the bow with your target, everything else comes naturally."

As always, even their words were synchronized. They look like a mirror of their own self, two exact same people doing the same action, or one person performing an action and another reflection of him.

They first turned the bow so that it's horizontal, and the arrow rest is facing upwards. They then Placed the arrow on the shelf of the arrow rest.

"Push the nock of the arrow onto the string between the two brass nocking points, ensuring that the cock fletch is pointing upward. Bring the bow back to a vertical position."

"Now, for the finger position. Observe ours closely and try it then see if you're comfortable with it. If not, then all you can do is practice until you find what you're pleased with. We will give you a book later to set a foundation for you in archery."

He observed them closely as they drew the string slowly with little change in their stance. They pulled it until the index finger of the pulling hand was under their chin, the string almost touching their nose and lips.

They then aimed using their dominant eye, aligning the arrow with the target dummy.

"Release the grip on the string and allow your fingers to slip backward... Naturally, like a fleeting wind."

As they muttered those words, they followed their own instruction and released the arrow.

Like an illusionary ghost, they went through the calm winds and pierced the target dummy's head, two swift dark arrows in the same frail head.

They took a deep breath before relaxing their stance and turning their attention to Val, who seemed to be in a contemplative state, carefully going through their instructions in his mind. His eyes were tightly shut.

After a bit, he opened his eyes and walked to the shooting position. He took his time getting into the archery stance, and he did the same for every other step.

He took even more time trying different finger positions until he finally gave up and just mimicked theirs. He had no training in archery at all.

He saw no need to. In his past life, he had a better alternative to use, guns. In fact, even the previous Val didn't learn it. He mostly trained swordplay in what little time he gave to practice.

Pulling the string despite its strength wasn't hard for Val. He's after several times stronger than ordinary people.

He started aiming at the target and took his time doing so.

Then he aimed at other things to see how the string would react to sudden movements, and only after he got comfortable with the stance did he decide to take the shoot.

He heard no word from Noah and Nious as he took a deep breath and again aimed at another target dummy.

He aligned the arrow with the target, then relaxed his grip and let the string slip out.

Val frowned directly after that. He knew he missed before the arrow even reached the target, and indeed, the arrow collided with the wall a few meters away from the target.

"How many mistakes have I made?" Asked Val, already knowing they gave him the freedom to do what he wants to see how he'd handle his first try.

"Not a lot. As we said before, it's all about practice until you get consistent. Of course, setting up a sturdy foundation comes first."

Whatever emotions they felt seeing his performance, they showed none of it. Their faces were unquestionably calm.

Then they pointed his mistakes for a while before he again took a shoot. A process they repeated for over an hour.

By the time it was dark, they started their own training with Val repeating the same process again and again, getting used to archery.

However, even with the ether within, he still can get tired. All the ether does is be useable miraculous energy for seekers, increase their resistance and force.

They're of course might be some hidden benefits that have yet to be found and explored.

The moment Val's muscles started hurting, he stopped. The two brothers noticed that they nodded at him saying.

"One of the most important things to beginner archers is knowing when to stop. The shelf to the left of the library table has a book called 'The Vastness Of Archery.' You should read it."

Val nodded and made his way towards his room, desperately needing to take a shower. 'I mean, it's common sense, right? Pain usually means either escape or stop... And I hate pain.'