In one of the spacious courtyards of the Barbarian Village, two men were working with wood, one barbarian and the other an elf. The Barbarian had gray hair and a wide frame while the other possessed slightly pointed ears and a lithe body.
Both of their hands moved agilely as they chopped and smoothed the tree branch in their hands to make it into a perfect arrow body.
"The key to achieving higher accuracy while shooting is a straight, uniform shaft. Your arrow shaft can already meet the standards."
Bowsmith Sangma commented, impressed by my technique and the speed of my progress. Yet, I did not feel I was fast enough. So far, I had wasted three hours and numerous pieces of timber before I received the Bowsmith's approval.
With his comment, a notification chimed in my ears.
[The progress of the Arrow Crafting Technique has increased by 25%. Current Progress- 50%.]
The old man then moved to his shed and began to rummage through it, searching for something. Even as he moved, he did not stop teaching.
"Like the tailfeathers determine the speed and the shaft determines the accuracy of path, the arrowheads determine the range and the damage of an arrow."
"Make the arrowhead too heavy and the arrow will fall short of reaching the target. If it is too light, the arrow will not carry enough momentum and it will shorten its range anyways ...."
The old man trailed off as he found the box he was looking for. He took out three different types of materials from the box and placed them before me.
"Remember Samar, the arrow tips can be made from any material but to imbue the power of runes, you need ones that can hold energy."
After giving his valuable insight, Bowsmith Sangma then began to prepare for the next step.
While his back was turned, I stepped closer to the materials on the table and inspected their information.
—-
Condensed Metal Alloy
Grade: White-Wood
~ An extremely hard alloy with energy conserving properties.
—-
Strengthened White Fang
Grade: White-Wood
~ The Hardest Fang of the Wild Dog which has undergone energy circuit strengthening.
—-
Meltree Sap
Grade: Ash-Gray
~ Extremely sticky sap that hardens on drying. Objects stuck together by this sap cannot be pulled apart even with the strength of two elephants.
—-
"...So, for carving runes, organic material is best."
I had missed quite some part of the lecture while checking the material descriptions but I understood the gist of it. Sangma shook his head and continued his steps.
He put the Condensed Metal piece into a furnace and pumped the furnace to the highest temperature possible.
"Now let the alloy melt while we carve the rune on the Strengthened White Fang."
Sangma said as he took out one White Fang from the box and sat on the workbench. I moved forward as this was the most important process in the Arrow Crafting Technique.
When Sangma took out his Chiseling Pen, I could not help but be surprised. It was actually glowing in golden color meaning it was a Heart-Gold Grade equipment!
The old man ignored my surprised face and began to carve a mysterious symbol onto the bone.
His each stroke was precise and uninterrupted, a work of beauty. He made the chiseling look so easy that it felt like he was not carving but simply writing with a pen.
A few moments later, he put down the pen. The symbol was completed but it was nothing like anything I had seen before.
The old man traced the symbol with his index finger while chanting a hymn in a tune I found vaguely familiar. Before I could place where I had heard it before, the symbol began to glow red like a rising sun and began to heat up the temperature in the shed.
The old man chanted faster and the light and the heat was contained inside the Fang by the time the old man finished chanting his hymn. The symbol had also disappeared and the only proof that it ever existed was the warmth radiated by the White Fang.
Sangma took a few deep breaths and then began to explain the Rune to me.
"The written script of the Archean Language is what we call Runes today. Each Rune represents an element or a rule."
"The Primeval Elves studied and comprehended these Runes until they deduced their meaning and powers. They encapsulated their findings in the form of hymns for future generations."
The Bowsmith's eyes were full of reverence and respect as he explained the history of the Runes. Then he gently caressed the golden chiseling pen with wistfulness in his hands as he whispered-
"Unfortunately, I could only learn the First hymn for the Fire Rune from my Teacher before he left to fight in the War. If not for my limited understanding of the rune, the arrows I made would not be limited to White-Wood grade."
The Bowsmith let out a loud sigh and quickly shook off his melancholy. He tossed the carved Strengthened White Fang into the mold and poured the melted Condensed Metal Alloy over it.
The molten substance fizzled and frazzled as soon as the White Fang came into contact with it. Sparks began to fly everywhere like someone had lit up a sparkler stick.
I flinched and stepped back when one of the sparks fell on my skin, burning away 10 points of my health but Sangma was unperturbed. He adjusted the White Fang using a tong and pushed it to the tip of the arrowhead in the mold.
Soon, the reaction began to calm down.
The White Fang absorbed heat in the molten metal, rapidly bringing down its temperature. Some time later, the fang had turned blazing red while the silvery red molten metal had returned to its solid form.
The old man took the arrowhead out from the mold and gently tapped it with a hammer to smooth it out. He then drenched it in extremely cold water and proceeded to sharpen it until it gave off a wicked glint.
All that was left was to attach the arrow head to the shaft.
Sangma evenly coated the tip of the arrow shaft with the Meltree Sap and then inserted it into the socket on the arrowhead. The combined arrow began to emit a bright white glow which quickly faded away, leaving behind a simple halo of soft white light.
However, this simple white glow meant that this arrow had already reached the White-Wood Grade!
Just as I was marveling at the incredible craftsmanship of the Bowsmith, another ding sounded in my ears.
[Congratulations! You have witnessed the creation of White-Wood Grade Arrow using an ancient skill. You have learned the Arrow Crafting Technique.]
Great! I don't have to waste another few hours to make that complicated arrowhead!
Or so I thought.
Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. I read the notification once again and realized that there was no mention of Runic Arrow Crafting Technique as the Bowsmith called it.
It simply said [Arrow Crafting Technique].
I quickly searched through my status window and found the particular technique.
—-
Arrow Crafting Technique
Novice (Lv 1, 0/100)
~ Allows players to craft arrows with abnormally high success rates.
~ Supports automated crafting. (Unlocks at Lv2)
—-
This skill was not what I was expecting but it impressed me nonetheless.
The description of "abnormally high success rate" was very apt. According to the information released to the public, the basic success rate of Life Profession players when manufacturing equipment, even consumables like arrows, was only 30 to 40%.
Only when a player mastered the relevant forging skills and the blueprints would their chances of success increase to 80 to 90%. Yet, this skill offered the same success rate right off the bat!
Although the 90% rate was only for Ash-gray grade arrows, it was nonetheless impressive.
However, what was even more astonishing was the Auto Manufacturing Support.
'Auto Manufacturing' feature was exclusive to production class jobs in most of the games and Dreamverse VR was no exception. It was unlocked only after a production class player's skill reached a certain proficiency.
Yet the skill I learned supported this feature and I didn't even need a production class job! Still, it was not the skill mentioned as the Quest reward. So, I turned to him.
"Master Sangma, the skill I learned is not the Runic Arrow Crafting Technique you promised to teach."
I asked with slight suspicion and confusion in my voice. In reply, the Bowsmith nonchalantly said -
"This is the preceding skill for Runic Arrow Crafting Technique. You need to become an Invoker and fulfill certain requirements to advance further."
Instead of clearing my confusion, his answer only made me more perplexed.
Sangma noticed it but refused to speak anything further on the subject, no matter how many times I asked. He only had one sentence to say, "You will understand when the time is right."
I threw my hands in the air knowing I could not get a straight answer from him. Just when I had given up, he smiled and said,
"Now let's get to your final reward- the clue regarding the Shard of Myth."