On Target
( Skrrsh! )
The arrow made contact.
"Wow!" loudly said Ilia.
Ilia looked over to Brune and smiled before praising him, "In my entire life I have never, I mean never seen someone shoot an arrow so bad hahaha, go again,".
The arrow landed on the ground in front of the target. Taking Ilia's words for face value, Brune let the arrow pull him too far and his body dipped forward causing the arrow to have a downward trajectory.
"This time feel the flow of the arrow but don't be controlled by it," Ilia told Brune.
"Easier said than done," Brune thought to himself.
Brune takes out another arrow from his quiver and sets it. He then drew and proceeded to aim. Taking a deep breath and relaxing he tried to aim as best as he could, slowly paying attention to his unconscious micromovement he made little adjustments before releasing the arrow. Learning from his earlier mistake, this time instead of continuing with the flow and not stopping, he let go and stopped at a certain point.
( Swoosh! )
The arrow flew past the target on the upper left side and never had a chance of even sniffing the target.
"Again!" shouted Ilia.
Brune fired eleven more shots, none even coming close to hitting the target.
"Ahhhh! Maybe you suck at teaching, maybe you aren't even good with a bow," said Brune angrily.
"Someone is mad, here give me that," Ilia demanded the bow from Brune.
Receiving the bow from Brune, Ilia set up the arrow and drew before pausing and turning his head towards Brune. While looking Brune dead in the eyes Ilia says, "I don't suck at teaching, it's you who sucks,".
( Swoosh! )
( Thuch! )
Never taking his eyes off Brune, Ilia fires the arrow and hits the bullseye.
( Swoosh! )
( Thuch! )
( Swoosh! )
( Thuch! )
Ilia fires two more arrows each also landing on the bullseye.
"Here, you can have this back and you stop the flow whenever you feel your body fall and not the arrow," said Ilia as he handed Brune back the bow and quiver of arrows.
"Stop making it sound so easy, "stop whenever you feel your body fall", eat a bag of ass," Brune mocked Ilia in his head.
Pulling out an arrow, Brune sets the arrow before drawing, repeating the same steps of taking a deep breath and adjusting his movements, he let go of the arrow. Following the flow, right as before he felt the motion of his body dropping, he stopped.
( Swoosh! )
( Thuch! )
The arrow landed on the target.
"Yes!" shouted Brune.
"Calm down, it landed on the target, and also it still didn't come anywhere close to the circle of the target, if that shot was scored it is scored as a zero," said Ilia as he rained on Brune's parade.
Now being able to hit the target, Brune slowly made minor adjustments, for example aiming higher to compensate for the drop in the arrow's trajectory.
( Swoosh! )
( Thuch! )
After twenty-two shots Brune finally hit the bullseye.
"Let's go!!" said Brune as he was pumping his fist in the air excitedly.
"Nice shot, Brune!" said Ilia happily.
Getting the right feel for the bow, Brune was now on target with every shot and surprisingly even landing some shots on the bullseye.
( Swoosh! )
( Thuch! )
"Nice! Two bullseyes in a row!" celebrated Brune.
"I told you it was you who sucked," Ilia mocked Brune.
How Ilia became a good teacher was not only because he taught other kids before but it was that he enjoyed teaching. Mostly the part where he gets to show off and be praised.
"Ilia, Brune, come back it's time to end class!" Ren shouted.
"Yes, give us a second," replied Ilia.
Ilia tells Brune, "Help me pick up the arrows and put them back in your quiver. After that, you go join the others while I put away the target,".
Quickly picking up the arrows and putting them back in the quiver, Brune quickly joined the others while Ilia later followed.
"Since everyone is here, now for today's closing question, how do you determine if someone is stronger or weaker than you?" Ren asked.
Babo answered, "By the color of their aura, you could tell how many aura points they have connected,"
"What if they are four-point users but only exude one-point aura, do you still judge them as an one-point user," Ren replied.
"Analyse their control of aura, since high-level aura users are better at controlling their aura," answered Norah.
"Good guess but no matter how well the one-point user controls their aura if they are faced by a five-point user then the one-point is most likely dead," Ren replied to Norah.
"But what if the one-point user's aura chamber is six times the size of the five-point user's," rebuttal Norah.
"Very good question, then the one-point user has a chance, that right there is a clue on what the answer is," said Ren with a big smile on his face.
"Hmm, I don't there is an answer," said Vanessa.
"Getting closer, but there is an answer," Ren urged his students to keep trying.
Struggling to come up with a reasonable answer, Ilia gave in to his frustration and blurted out what was on his mind, "If we can't judge based on aura color or aura control, then we might as well not judge anything,".
"And that right there is the answer if you assume someone is stronger than you then your mind plays tricks on you, instead of thinking calmly you start thinking fearfully. Now if you assume someone is weaker than what they are and get caught off guard, that single mistake can be fatal. The message that I want y'all to remember is that no matter how strong or how weak your opponent is, there is always a way you can win or a way you could lose," said Ren as he interrupted Ilia's monologue.
Ren continued with his speech, "Since everyone here is getting close to the age where they can apply for the Arnic Academy, we will be ramping up the intensity of the training and will focus more on trying to become a two-point user as the chance of getting accepted is way higher for two-point users. So if you don't want to do this anymore now is your time to quit. Those who wish to stay late could do so but remember to lock the door behind you if you're the last one. Class dismiss!".
All of Ren's students decided to stay and get some extra practice.
Leaving the archery range and heading outside, Brune and Ren are about to make their way to another destination.
"So where are we going?" Brune asked.
"Somewhere that could help you in the alchemy department," said Ren as he continued to walk.
Turning the corner and walking for only about thirty more seconds, the two stopped at what seemed like some sort of shop.
The shop had a huge wooden sign with "Pinch Of Alchemy" painted on it. The shop was built out of wood and stone.
Looking through the huge circular widow, the interior looked to be some sort of waiting room with a bunch of chairs placed around each other.
Ren opens the door of the shop.
( Creak! )
"How many times do I have to tell you, I need the potion to be ready by today!" a voice could be heard yelling as the door was open.
Peeking his head inside, Brune observed his surroundings. The waiting room was big enough that it could fit fifteen people maybe more if you don't include personal space in the estimation. In front of the waiting room was a front counter. Two men arguing could be seen and heard inside.
"I'm sorry but I won't be able to finish your order until tomorrow," pled the man behind the counter.
Towering the man behind the counter, the aggressive customer was taller and had a stockier build while the man behind the counter was skinny and looked less imposing.
"Last fucking warning, I get the potion today or you won't see tomorrow," the customer threatens the guy behind the counter.
"Enough!"
( Thssh! )
The room shook as Ren emitted a black aura from his body.
Standing next to Ren, Brune observed the aura particles around Ren. Some of the particles scattered and swirled around Ren, while some flowed closely around him creating some sort of layer of black aura.
Changing his expression quickly, the angered customer quickly apologized and sprinted for the door.
"Teo, how many of those do you get a week?" Ren asked jokingly.
"Too many to count, did something happen with Norah?" the man behind the counter replied.
( Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! )
The sound of Brune tapping his knees could be heard as he sat on one of the chairs in the room waiting for the two's conversation to end. Brune tuned most of the conversation out as it was about how Teo, the man behind the counter and owner of the alchemy shop was doing and how his daughter Norah, one of Ren's students was progressing in her lessons. Not trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, Brune couldn't help himself as he now heard his name being used in the conversation.
Listening closely, Brune now knows why he was brought along.
"Ren I don't know if.... Hmmmmm,"
"Hmmmmmm,"
The man behind the counter thought long and hard before saying, "Yeah, it should be ok for the boy to stay or visit as I wouldn't mind an extra hand to help out,".
"Wait!" Brune objected.
"How much am I getting paid?" said Brune with a smirk on his face.
"Paid? I was thinking you're gonna do it for free," replied Ren.
( Crash! )
Quickly, the image of bathing in coins shattered in his head as he heard the words, "F o r f r e e" come out of Ren's mouth. The smirk on Brune's face turned into a sad frown.
Noticing the change in Brune's expression, Teo interjected, "Depending on how helpful you are, I'm willing to pay a fair amount,"
"It's ok, you don't hav-"
"What do you need help with?" Brune quickly interrupts Ren before he finishes his sentence.
"Why don't you come over to this side and I show you what I do first," said Teo.
At the left end of the counter, there was a gap for someone to walk under and through. The gap was big enough that Brune didn't have to crouch down as he was small enough to just walk right under.
Now with both of them behind the counter, Teo explained to Brune what it was that he would do on a day-to-day basis. There were four booklets each used in its own way, two were for keeping track of inventory while the other two were used for transactions and daily agendas.
"Want to see the rest of the store?" Asked Teo after explaining what each book was meant for.
Brune nodded his head excitedly. In his head, Brune felt as if this was his first step in becoming the strongest drug dealer.
"Maybe I don't have to call myself a drug dealer anymore, the strongest alchemist doesn't sound too bad either," Brune thought to himself.