Master Of None

The wind elemental mana gathered and formed a slight spiral around  the arrow. At first, the shift in the air made the crossbow crafter fearful. But when it seemed to calm he was sure that there was still zero chance it would even stick in to the target. "When it only dents the target, don't whine about a broken arrow." Gil didn't even hear these words as his focus had tuned the outside world out.Â

He looked at the dead center of the round metal target that could take the fastest and hardest metal crossbow bolts and felt that it would never even scratch the arrow he and the elves tested over and over. His arm drew back and his breathing stopped.Â

In the next heart beat, Gil released the arrow. The air shifted again and the spiraling wind became a torrent swirling around the arrow head. The speed was just as fast as any crossbow bolt the crossbow crafter had ever seen or made. The arrow head touched the metal target and a tearing sound pierced their ears.Â

The three witnessed the wind carve itself through the target and then through the stone with a grinding sound. The pieces of metal and stone that were blown around in the wind made them all close their eyes until it had subsided.Â

When Gil opened his eyes he was in time to see the crossbow crafter rushing towards the target. Gil looked and saw the perfectly carved hole in the metal and then to the perfectly carved hole in the stone wall. "My soup!" The crossbow crafter sprinted inside after looking through the hole and seeing the spilled in two pots of soup in the kitchen. It had been completely destroyed by the arrow which now sat on the ground by the stove without a scratch.Â

"I killed his soup...maybe, I'm the jerk." Gil had not meant to kill the soup but knowing that it was hard made food he felt that he had committed a crime.Â

"He might kill you. I know you're a hero with a spirit forged bow and helped the dwarves. But our craftsmen really likes that soup. It's his great great grandmothers' recipe. Yeah, he might kill you." Gil flinched hearing these facts. He was sure that he had just wrecked any chance at getting the slider spider silk and any possible wind elemental ores.Â

After some time there was a noise at the door and the crossbow crafter emerged with a bowl in his hand. "You're lucky you didn't take out both pots of soup. If you had, I would need to make you in to the next batch." The crossbow crafter slowly sipped his bowl of soup with a warm smile. "Also, what in the deep caves is this arrow? It isn't even dented."Â

Unsure of how the crossbow crafter had just casually gotten a bowl of soup and completely ignored the fact that there was a hole in his home Gil just stood there frozen still waiting for the anger to drop. "Hey, kid hero? Bow boy? Windy? You there?" After a few random taunts from the crossbow crafter, Gil finally snapped back to reality.Â

"The forest elves use a lot of arrows since they have some arcane archer system users. So they make a lot of their own. These elemental arrows use specific materials so they can take on the elemental manas that coincide with the materials. This is a wind elemental prototype arrow. I'm sure they have already refined it more. This one doesn't even have runes." Gil knew that the next time he visited the forest elf city that there were sure to be many better arrows to try out.Â

"So they are similar to how I inscribe wind runes and earth runes on to the crossbow bolts to make them move faster and retain their strength when hitting a target. Interesting. But how does the wind elemental react so violently?" The crossbow crafter was falling in to deeper and deeper thought as he explored this problem.Â

"Well, we use a wind elemental mana crystal to fill the arrow with wind elemental mana. Some of them don't need it due to the materials they are made of or the runes. But most of the time they need the mana from a crystal to be transferred to the arrow head. That makes the elemental mana crystals break when I use my skill but elves will use multiple."Â

"So the answer is mana manipulation. I can't do that to that degree. Runes are the depth. Most dwarves can't. If I worked with an elf though'¦" The crossbow crafter didn't care who he needed to work with. He wanted to find a way to make magical crossbow bolts and nothing would stop him. "Anyways, about that glider silk. Come in and check my store room. I have enough to make a few hundred crossbows from the last expedition in to the mountains for rare materials."

Gil finally entered the inside of the crossbow crafters home and found that the kitchen around the corner was a royal mess. There were kitchen utensils and food everywhere. Not to mention the second hole where the arrow had begun to burrow in to the next wall before losing the energy and falling to the ground. "Sorry...about all that.." Gil felt very bad for the damage.Â

"About what? I challenged you. Come on over here. The store room might have some ores you want too. But I want you to show me how to make those arrows. I doubt I can copy it but I will know the process." The three went in to the storage room and Gil saw the spools of glider spider silk.Â

"Take one of those. It will be useful for other things other than just bows. My clothes are even made of it." The crossbow crafter showed off his shirt while finishing his bowl of soup. Gil still wasn't sure how he was so calm after losing an entire pot of soup.Â

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