Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 103 - Fletching Failure (2)

With the feathers sitting safely within his shadow sack, Rino decided on a few experiments. The tutorial for crafting bows and arrows was no help. Rino did not know much about archery, so he could only improve the creation through a series of trials and errors.

He knew very little about archery, but Rino knew the basics. The bow's wood, according to the tutorial, should be hard but flexible. There were a few parts to a bow that was self-explanatory, but the grip was the most complex to craft.

Unlike the overly simple bow spine that Fowler crafted from a bendy branch, Rino was going to start from the basics. The tutorial suggested using hardwoods like oak or maple. Thankfully, the forest was full of oak trees that Rino could choose from. A branch that wasn't too thick was ideal, but Rino knew he had to look for a particularly long one for the experimental longbow.

The average longbow was as tall as a man, and a shortbow was half of that. Honestly, Rino did not know the difference between the two bows, but he supposed the shortbows would be easier for the less muscular archers to carry along whilst running. On the other hand, longbows were better for stationary shooting and defences.

Maybe the hobgoblins could use the longbows while the hunting squad could use the shortbows after everything was crafted. Rino still had no clue, but the bows should not be too difficult to create once he had the right branches to work with.

The oak trees in the area were rather gnarly, so Rino had to look for a younger tree than those ancient oaks full of galls and acorns. It took the lich a while to find what he was looking for. When he came across a young oak, Rino did not hesitate to cut off the growing branches that matched the length he needed.

Happily, Rino stored the wood away and headed back.

Without sinew for the bowstring, Rino could only replace it using linen that he twined many times. Crafting the bow's main piece was tricky because the branch he chose was straight and covered in barks. Rino used magic to dehydrate the wood and sought Griffith out to borrow the crafter's workshop space in the stone quarry cave.

The pygmy dwarf helped to sand the wood as Rino helped to press on the longbow so that they found which parts of that wood needed more filing to bend in a beautifully even arch. Once they had the right arch and balance for both bow pieces. Rino referred to the tutorial once more.

With their bendy bow bodies, Rino drilled careful holes onto both ends of the bows just enough to pass the linen woven bowstring through.

The bow body was hung and balanced on an empty loom and slowly drawn. Rino held the bowstring down and adjusted the bowstring's tension on both ends using shadow tendrils while the gnomes helped to carve the bow's body where tension was seen. Rino did not know how much a bow could be drawn back before it snapped, but he used his arm length as a guide on how far it could be pulled. Archers do not draw a bow longer than a straightened arm's length, so Rino stopped when his arm could pull no more.

Once the tilling process for the longbow was done, Rino quickly cast layers of enchantment spells on the prototype bow. He did not want this bow to break, not when it was so beautifully made.

"Is there a way to carve the grip of this bow where the arrow can sit nicely for firing in a straight line?" he asked the red-bearded pygmy dwarf.

Griffith flipped the longbow twice as the other gnomes started carving and preparing the shortbow for tilling. The crafting manager hummed with a deep frown.

"It is possible. However, once it is carved, the archer can no longer decide where they want to aim except for straight ahead. Multiple shots will also not be possible."

Multiple shots? Rino was interested now. Was there a reason why Fowler crafted his bow so simply? Maybe there was more to what Rino thought about archery. This world's skill in archery might be more advanced than the archery experts back in his previous world.

Griffith tried to explain it to Rino in simple terms. Although uncommon, multiple shots was a skill that very good archers used to fire more than one arrow at the same time. Archers who ran out of arrows can also use stones as ammunition, but Rino's bulkier bow design would make any of these impossible.

Hearing that, Rino took more interest in the designs of bows in this world. Griffith claimed to not be an expert in weapons, but he knew a fair bit that helped Rino come up with design variations. Honestly, he wanted to build a basic bow that anyone can use if they could draw the bowstring. Bows that could shoot in a straight line without much control were best for amateurs like him.

"If so, why don't we make a few kinds of bows according to the bow user's skill level?" Griffith suggested. 

Very quickly, a design was sketched using charcoal on paper. Griffith explained that he could carve slightly more delicate arrow rest placeholders that could be attached to the bow's body or beginner bow users instead of carving a permanent arrow rest placeholder.

"However, this requires more precision crafting. The longbow in your hand is too bulky."

Rino agreed. "I will leave the adjustments to you. Let me know as soon as you have the arrow rest placeholder ready. I want to test them."

Leaving the crafting workshop, Rino headed back to the forest to search for branches that he could craft arrow shafts out of. He found what he was looking for with ease but decided to only craft five using shadow slicer magic. The shafts were a lot straighter than the arrows Fowler made, and the tips were made with slightly rounded edges because Rino did not want the arrows to hurt anyone if it flew off its course when Rino fired.

Now, the lich looked at his arrow and compared it to Fowler's crafted arrows. He made a little indent at the back of the arrow he made so that they would sit nicely when he nocked them on his bow.

Satisfied with the little modification, Rino wondered how many feathers he should attach to the arrow. He could not recall if there were three or four feathers on the arrow ends. So, Rino created two arrows with three feathers and two arrows with four feathers tied tightly using linen threads.

Now, he was ready to fire some test shots when Griffith informed him to collect his trial bows.