Master Of None

Chapter 369 - 369. Gil's Quest

Sierra led Walker toward what he had believed to be a massive tree root, however, he was surprised to find it was more like a wall made of thousands of vines. When he touched the wall of vines he could feel a small amount of his mana get pulled and absorbed in to it. The tree really did absorb the mana which surprised him. He had not expected it to be so strong.

"I wouldn't stay in contact for too long with those vines, they will keep consuming your mana. It is better to let them absorb the excess from training than from contact." Walker heeded the warning and pulled back his hand. He didn't want to use any more mana and exhaust himself before he learned more from the day.

Sierra stopped outside of the wall of vines and waited staring at them. Walker was just about to ask her what was wrong when the vines began to move away for her. This was another one of the magical doorways that they used to keep things properly secured. Walker was still amazed by this magic and he wondered if it was a skill they all had or if it was a spell left embedded in the vines that recognized elven mana.

The moment that the vines had opened Walker heard the familiar twang of bow strings and thwacks of arrows. There were also sounds of metal on metal that he assumed were daggers. The massive space was more than just an open archery range. It was a mix of targets, sparing flats, and branches to run along. This was an ideal place for an arcane marksman to practice traveling through the trees and aiming at targets. The use of daggers and the bow in partnership was the most common form of combat here and it was evident in the training weapons on the nearby racks. 

Walker watched as the younger arcane elves rand from vine to branch trying to fire arrows without arrow heads at their opponents. Some were only using the daggers to try and sneak up on an opponent or to dodge an arrow and get in close. The remainder of the space had a range that went directly to the wall. This was where some elves were huddled around tables examining arrows for elemental arrow production and use. Walker was not surprised to see Gil there. 

"Good Walker is here. Come and show off more of the arrows. I have been telling them about the wither spike arrows but only had a few of the versions we made. They have a similar kind of arrow bit the arrow head is made directly from elemental crystals made by elemental spirits. They are a one time use but they have a stronger effect." Gil had been in a very in depth conversation in the arrow creation. 

Walker looked at the table and saw multiple varieties of arrows. There were some that ad a carved elemental crystal as an arrow head. Others had other rare metals that formed an arrow head that housed the elemental mana from an elemental mana crystal. The other was the basic arrow made of the same mana eating vines that the walls were made of. Walker could tell that the mana was avoiding it since the wood itself wanted to absorb the mana. The problem Walker had with this iteration of the arrow was that it would most likely make the skills used cost more mana.

Walker pulled out five of each elemental wither spike arrow including the ones that could be filled with poisons still. The young elven archers that had been crowded around the table explaining their arrows jumped for the arrows Walker took out and wanted to start to analyze them. One immediately held it and tried t remove the arrow head, only to find that it was perfectly attached and would not easily fall off.

"Like I said, you should be able to use it multiple times since it is made from a tough minster material. The wither wood arrow shaft can also act as a tough but light material keeping speed up and durability." Gil made sure to point out the parts on the arrow head that could open and receive the poison. 

"Walker, do you have an elemental crystal I can use? I want to make one to show them." Gil was letting his excitement drive him and Walker could only go along. Walker handed him a light elemental crystal he had in his inventory. The elves weren't even phased by the use of the inventory spatial magic. All that mattered in their eyes were the arrows.

Gil began using his mana to draw in the light elemental mana to the wither spike arrow head. The elves watch starry eyed. They saw the small cracks start to form in the light elemental mana crystal and became worried that it would burst in to shards. Some stepped back knowing that it could happen at any moment. 

When the cracks started to become more prominent Gil pulled the remaining light elemental mana in to the wither spike arrow and let the shards of the mana crystal fall on the table. The elves grabbed them up to see what they were like. This was a very different reaction than they had excited. The arrow Gil had made in front of them didn't leak any light elemental mana at all making them talk furiously with each other. 

Gil had come to learn something from them but it appeared he was doing more teaching. The fact that he had needed to figure out the skills to make the arrows on his own had taken him down a different path than the elves. "Hero Gil, please allow us to show you how we make an elemental arrow." One of the elves pulled out five blue water elemental mana crystals and placed them in the center of the table. Another elf grabbed an arrow with a silvery crystal tip. It appeared to be a shard of an elemental crystal carved and held in place by silver.

"This arrow is ideal for defeating the undead. It is made with elven silver that can disturb the darkness elemental mana that connects it to death. Then we add an element, in this case, water, and it will produce a violent reaction." The elf that spoke held the arrow above the crystals and started to draw out the water elemental mana. 

The process was slow and there were no cracks forming on the crystals at all. To avoid the shattering of the crystals the elves would use multiple and only take some of the mana from each. This was the main reason the process took longer but it was also safer for them to create an arrow. "That is it. We won't have any broken mana crystals and we get an arrow. The water spirits will either channel more elemental mana in to the crystal or safely extract it to be made in to arrow heads.

"The problem I have is that it is only one use. If I am somewhere far away without enough arrows or I can't get to Walker then I won't be able to restock my arrows. I will need to use them again and make elemental arrows on the fly." Gil was very frustrated with this fact. He had seen it as a major downside to the way an archer needs to either have a constant stock of arrows or rely on the dagger after. The [robem was that the dagger skills would always be less than the archery skills, significantly cutting combat power. 

"What do you mean? You don't have the weightless quiver skill? It lets you store multiple arrows in a hand made quiver with no weight and almost no limit. It's similar to spatial magic but relies on your mana to create it though. We all get the quest when we first unlock our system, we go hunt for the monster materials and then need to use our arrow crafting skills to build our own quivers." 

The elves were talking like this was something Gil should have long done. "Nope, no quest. My system was a unique case that I didn't start out with. The hero title really changes things." Gil looked frustrated but as he spoke his jaw soon dropped. 

"Should I take a guess that the second you were told about the quest then that quest showed up?" Walker had the feeling that the system was listening in and had been waiting to give Gil such a quest. 

"Is this how you feel when you get skills? Like the things you need are always within an arm's reach?" Gil had gotten a peek at the way Walker's system acted and he had to say that he was interested. "I have some hunting to do, anyone want to help me go after a...leather skinned fruit bat?" 

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