Hm, a chapter every 5-7 days. Eh, good enough.

Also, how do I get to change my username? I realized that KaosChild is far too common a name on the net.

Okay. Got my new name!

Also as a precursor to five future fics.

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Although Aimi mentioned that she practiced Archery before, Cavaron insisted on having her try a variety of weapons before finally deciding.

"Even if you see me carrying swords, I am practiced with a myriad of other weapons as well." Cavaron spoke out while Aimi was getting dizzy from the number of weapons, "I had to practice using the other types of weapons so I get to have an idea on their strengths and weaknesses. I chose swords because of its perfect balance, the way to swing it, the strength needed, the speed, parrying other attacks, and the like. In your case, while your primary weapon could be a bow, you may need secondary weapons like a dagger or or another melee weapon just in case an enemy rushes past the minimum effective range of your bow. Trust me, arrows are good for melee emergencies but are useless against trained or well-armored enemies."

Aimi picked up a sword. It was a double-edged sword made from mithril. Looking closely, the flat sides of the blade were covered with runic enchantments. Aimi analyzed the weapon in her hand and tried swinging it around; it was very light as expected from a mithril weapon.

Cavaron watched Aimi and explained each weapon she picked up, "What you are holding is a rune sword. It is similar to the short swords on my waist, except my swords don't have external runes. The metals used in the forging of my swords have high affinity with magic thus taking away the need for runes."

Next, Aimi picked up a dagger with a pair of prongs jutting out of its hilt. The dagger was fairly light with a yellowish glow. Aimi felt something weird coming from the dagger and tried to put some of her mana into it. The moment her mana came into contact with the dagger, lightning shot forth arcing towards Avani. Avani noticed the lightning arc but merely brushed it off as it made no damage to an Earth Elemental. It surprised Aimi, "I-I'm sorry!" and she apologized. Avani just smiled it off.

Cavaron still stood there like he expected it, "That's an enchanted parrying knife. I picked that one up when it was being used as a lightning rod by some mad sorcerer. Don't worry, it isn't cursed."

Aimi took extra care with the succeeding weapons she picked up. The next one was a metallic hexagon staff. It appears ordinary at first glance, but knowing Cavaron will make people think otherwise. Aimi was carefully eyeing each part of the staff looking for hidden gimmicks or mechanisms. Eventually, she found three equidistant lines around the staff and a button on either end. She pressed one of the buttons, while aiming it away from the others just in case, and the staff shot off to four equal parts connected by chains. It was a four-section staff. She pressed the button again and the staff reconnected with a click.

Cavaron didn't bother explaining what it was since she already figured it out. After the staff, Aimi picked up and wore a pair of gauntlets. Like the dagger from before, she felt something from them. She looked at Cavaron and he returned a nod, and loaded the gauntlet with her mana while, again, aiming away from the others. The moment the gauntlets received mana, ethereal claws grew from the back of her hands.

"I received that from a clan of Martial Mages. They were proficient in both material and magical weapons, and were able to incorporate both into their art." Cavaron explained as Aimi was touching the back of the claws. While it appeared ethereal, the claws were as solid as steel.

Aimi stopped the mana from flowing and took off the gauntlets. She picked up a halberd that was taller than her. However, the tip of the halberd wasn't a spike but a hollow shaft. She became curious and tried to look at the other parts of the halberd. At its base, near where one would hold it, was a button. Aimi pressed it and was surprised at what happened, *BANG!* A loud bang came out of the hollow shaft, good thing she was holding it upright because a few seconds later, a bullet fell from the sky and hit Burkhard with a clang. Burkhard, like Avani, ignored it. Aimi was trembling at the halberd she held.

Cavaron let out a small chuckle, "What you're holding is a gunlance. It actually doesn't have to look like a halberd, but the Combat Gunners where that came from made gunswords, gunlances, gun-everything. They were absolute gun nuts but they were powerful at any given range."

Aimi stepped away from the stacks of melee weapons and skipped over to the pile of ranged weapons. Short bows, long bows, great bows, bow guns, crossbows, hip-fired ballistae, throwing knives, darts, boomerangs, chakrams, javelins, slingshots, guns, etc.

For each ranged weapon Aimi picked up, its ammo came with it. Aimi picked up a bow gun that can be carried with one hand and it had a box of bolts underneath it. She tried shooting at a target, the one that's a hundred meters away, and hit it far from the center. Aimi's face turned into frustration but it disappeared when the bow gun automatically loaded the next bolt.

"Bow guns are small, one-hand crossbows that fire smaller bolts. Its effective range is around 80~100 meters depending on the material and ammunition." Cavaron inserted another explanation as Aimi fired one bolt after another in quick succession. Finally, after a box of thirty bolts, she hit the center of the 100-meter target with her 27th shot, if you ignore that all of her shots landed inside the target. Her dispersion at 100 meters was very small as though she had been shooting since birth.

Cavaron watched each shot she made with great interest. Without having Aimi realize it, he already put away a large majority of melee weapons leaving only small weapons like daggers. Aimi finished testing the bow gun and picked up a short bow with a quiver of wooden arrows. She once more went over to the range and, this time, aimed at the 200-meter target. Aimi took an oblique stance as she nocked an arrow onto the bow, taking time to aim, and released the arrow. It flew straight and true, to Cavaron's heart, and killed him. and hit the center of the target. Satisfied, she nocked eleven more arrows and hit each of the other targets. The range had four targets at each of the 100-meter, 200-meter, and 300-meter distances. The final eight arrows were shot at the moving targets, but each were far from the center. Unsatisfied, Aimi took a larger quiver carrying 50 arrows, and shot all of the moving targets until she hit each center. On her 36th arrow, she finally hit the center of all eight moving targets.

Again, without Aimi realizing it, Cavaron put away the other ranged weapons and left the bows behind. Aimi came back and picked up the long bow, and did the same thing as before. It was also the same with the great bow, although she had a bit of difficulty due to the sheer size of it. Ultimately, she shot 238 arrows in three hours, and everything hit the targets with 218 far from the center.

Aimi came back to Cavaron and noticed the other missing weapons, "Eh? Where are the others?" and asked Cavaron.

Cavaron was smiling all the while Aimi was lost in her endeavor, and frankly creeped her out. Cavaron placed both of his hands on Aimi's shoulders which warranted an "Eep!" from her, "Time to work on your agility!" and said with a sadistic grin, "We still have time before dinner."

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Cavaron had Aimi jog and do shuttle runs until dinner. She jogged and ran nonstop for two hours with short five minute breaks in between. Tirta readily gave Aimi some water to rehydrate herself, and cooled her down right before dinner.

The entirety of Aimi's body ached and became sore, "Hey... Huff... Do you... Do you have something... To relieve the pain?" and wanted some relief.

Cavaron answered, "Get used to it, it is better than having me artificially and forcefully breaking and mending your muscles. You need to build up strength with your own efforts, I'm just here to guide you."

Aimi could only let out an "Aww..." and ate some berries that Aomi brought for her to eat.

Dinner was different with a plate of strange looking meat. It was laid on a plate as big as a shield, and the meat itself was massive, good for eight people. Good thing the table was made from hardened earth or else a wooden table might be crushed under its weight.

"What is this?" Aimi had to ask what the large slab of meat was.

Avani and Tirta came inside and, upon seeing the large slab of meat as big as Cavaron's crouched body, immediately took their seats, "Hey, let's eat up already!" Tirta excitedly exclaimed. Aimi was surprised by the two elementals actions.

Cavaron pulled back from the stove and placed a bowl of salad next to the massive slab of meat, and sat down on his seat. Burkhard, being a spirit, didn't need to eat but was affected from seeing the slab of meat.

Aimi asked her question again and finally received an answer, "It's dragon meat." from Cavaron himself as he pulled out a sword to slice the slab of roasted dragon meat.

Aimi could only stand and stare with a gaping mouth at the revelation. "Dragon? As in those things that breathe fire and devour virgins?"

Cavaron raised a brow at her question, "Not sure if that's how they are depicted in your world, but sure, let's go with that." and answered indifferently, and began to distribute the slices of dragon meat, "Come on and sit to eat already."

Aimi sat on her seat and stared at the slices of dragon meat in her plate. There were two slices and each were an inch thick. Steam was still floating from the freshly roasted meat with meaty juices flowing out each time the others pierced theirs with forks and knives. The dragon meat that was left on the shield-like plate was still large enough for four servings. Unknowingly, Aimi began to drool at the sight of the meat on her plate. Being subjected to the mental and palate torture of bitter melons, she couldn't help but be mesmerized at the sight of the red gold slices of juicy and tender roasted dragon meat. Each time she glances at Cavaron and the two other elementals, she sees the illusion of ecstasy as they devour their shares piece by piece.

Not being able to take it any longer, the pangs of hunger finally won out against Aimi. She sliced off and ate a small piece of dragon meat. Expecting a weird taste, her face instead melted as the meat itself melted within her mouth. The meat and its juices flooded her senses and left her with ragged breathing after swallowing it. Piece after piece, like an unstoppable meat grinder, the two slices of dragon meat were devoured by Aimi. Aomi, who was under the table, ignored the massacre on the table and was busy eating the berries she collected but was unable to ignore the aroma of the dragon meat. Curious, the Azursa climbed atop the table and saw the four seated people in ecstasy. Cavaron noticed the Azursa on the table and gave it a small piece of dragon meat. From what was seen before, the Azursa primarily ate berries but since Cavaron is familiar with the fauna of Edeortha, it wouldn't be surprising if Azursas are omnivores. Aomi, seeing the piece of dragon meat being offered, was curious and accepted it, and immediately took a bite. A light flashed through the eyes of Aomi as she ate the dragon meat. Little by little, faster and faster, the meat Cavaron gave the Azursa was finished in a minute. Aomi became a Dragon Devouring Azursa.

After dinner, Aimi noticed something different, 'I... I don't feel tired?' She realized that her fatigue disappeared, 'My body is still aching, but I don't feel tired at all.'

Cavaron noticed Aimi looking over her body, "I guess you felt it?" and asked her, "Dragon meat has reinvigorating effects. It can't numb the pain, but you will feel fresher than before. So, are you ready for nighttime exercises?"

Aimi looked blankly at Cavaron, 'Oh no...' and realized his intents, "More training!?"

Cavaron pulled Aimi out of the house, "Yup!" and happily brought her outside.

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I pushed my imagination hard for that dinner scene... I think I may have BS'ed it... Meh, the world's a fantasy.