Master Of None

Gil let the arrow fly off toward the dummy. Unlike the last arrow, this one flew and easily impacted the training dummy. With a slight burst of water elemental mana the dummy was suddenly coated in dripping water. These drops began to solidify and create very thin needles of ice all over the dummy. 

Gil ran up to the dummy and inspected it. "The ice needles penetrate only in to the top layer of the dummy. The arrow looks fairly intacted. The power may be lower but the durability against the water element is very good. It has nearly no damage to it and could be used seven or eight time by my guess." The elf jumped in joy hearing this. 

"Sir hero, I will immediately record this and request that one of the arrow smiths take it for production and improvements." The elf was overjoyed that they had managed to come uop with this new arrow. It may not be powerful but it was great for single target strikes and reusability. 

"That arrow will be great for taking prisoners or even stopping thieves." Scylla saw the strength of the arrow for what it really was. It was not a killer but instead a way to easily stop an enemy in their tracks. 

"I believe that will be very helpful for when crime jumps due to the city opening," Walker said this and saw many of the worried looks from the levs around him. "It is an inevitable part of travelers. Don't worry it will be spoken about with the queen and such arrows will assist in preventing things." His reassurance made them relax again and focus back on Gil. 

"Sir hero, my arrow is made from the nettle vine and the arrow head is taken from the horn of a moss deer. They shed their horns once a year and are rarely used for anything but jewlery. But they are great for enhancing earth elemental mana." The elf had created an arrow with a green and brown coloration leading to an arrow head that appeared to be growing some small pieces of moss. 

"The arrow head appears to be durable but if it grows moss too easily it could throw off aim. Overall it looks good though." Gil was happy to see the common materials that had been repurposed in to the arrow. If this worked then the material that was thought to be only usable for jewelry. This meant that there would be plenty to make arrows out of and not much trade for them. 

Reading the bow with this third prototype arrow Gil used his mana to activate it. The earth elemental mana started to grow dense in the ara making every elf focus immediately. This was more powerful than normal and they all knew the reaction would be as well. 

When Gil released the arrow there was a slight shift in the earth on the training floor. The earth was slightly uplifted in the path that the arrow had traveled and when the dummy was struck they all witnessed one of the fastest movements of earth they had ever seen. 

The earth jumped up and began to reclaim the arrow while also dragging the dummy underground. In a matter of minutes the arrow, dummy, and their breath seemed to be pulled under the earth. "I would say that is a success. The arrow is lost underground, but the dummy is also completely destroyed. Congratulations on this. Still one use arrow but it can deal with an incredibly strong enemy." Gil could only praise the elf for his creation. It was a massive boon for the arcane archers. 

"Yes, thank you very much for evaluating my creatin. I will do my best to improve it for the future of my people." The elf was nearly in tears seeing that his prototype arrow had performed so well. This was something that any of the arcane marksmen would remember for generations. It was not every day that a powerful new arrow was successfully created, But it was also rare for them to be able to solely focus on making them. 

"Now for our last and final arrow." Gil had waited for the trainees to move another dummy in to place and return to a safe distance. 

The elf that had rushed up with their arrow last minute came forward again. "Sir hero, my arrow is made from the white pine tree that requires high amounts of light elemental mana to grow. The arrow head is made from silver quartz, it is common and only forms in the sunlight as well. I tied them together with a single strang of unicorn hair from my bow," The elf appeared to be nervous. 

"Are you sure they can even hold the light elemental mana? Those materials are for channeling it not storing." Another elf was worried that the arrow wasn't going to do anything. 

"I don't want it to store it. I want it to gather from the air as it travels." This was an interesting change of ideals. The elf had given up the idea to store away the light elemental mana for one that would gather it in transit. "It only needs a little of the user's mana to start drawing the light elemental mana toward it." The elf had their theory and the others started to accept it slightly. 

"So you have tried a different path altogether. Isn't this like the light elemental rune formations then?" Gil made the relation and the elf nodded in reply.

"I think if they were carved with light elemental rune formations that the arrows could be even stringer. But it needs to be tested." The elf was excited and visibly biting their tongue to keep from rushing off on their theories and tangents. Seeing this Gil decided that it was best for him to move on and give them the final tests they needed to prove or disprove the creations and theories they wanted to pursue. 

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