Legend of Ransera

The duel between his father and his teacher from days ago had kept the boy in such an excited state that it was not until now that his lessons on how to use the bow and arrow could truly begin and even then, the duel was still on his mind. Like a child find-, actually the child finding a new source of amusement, Shuai was all about the duel and constantly reminded his teacher about it. The man did not enjoy having to answer all the questions like "Do you remember how you kicked off the wall? Then how my father went under you? Then you got on the wall? Then he got on the wall too? Then you both just went clang clang clang with your swords until father went down and- and- and-" enough. The man got it. He was there! He thought he had gotten the last laugh by inflicting upon Youdu the classic guilt trip- the old twist of the knife by nobles who could not take the big L gracefully because they believed they were truly better than their opponents. The perfect strike against a man who valued his honor so much, by slapping to his face an even more bigger display of honor even if doing so was contrary to the idea. What? He was only human and humans were not perfect beings. This was the reason why in his lessons he always strove to push his students into perfection or at least as close it as he could.

However Shuai's sudden increased interest in the sword because of the duel, which was all his father Youdu wanted, was like the final slap to the face on the teacher. It had taken days for the man to wean the boy off training with the sword and it was only when he indicated the interest of "would I get those bigger arms like the moratallen by swinging the sword, or by using the bow and arrow?" that the man took the opportunity to bring back the bow because whether bow or sword, Shuai had to learn how to use both to train them at the same time. Remember? Training to become progressively stronger? Training by switching between weapons and methods so the body could get enough rest and the training would have a greater effect on the young boy's body in the long run? Everything he had been learning over the last three seasons? "Oh yeahhhhhh, I know what you mean now. Bow and arrow today, sword tomorrow, polearm the day after that, then the knife the next day, then running and swimming and lifting and all that then, back to the bow and arrow again to start all over again? Am I right?" Right, not exactly in that order because it was quite frontloaded to the boy's interests, but the boy was right only it was the teacher to determine the schedule and order of days and not Shuai himself. "Right, right, right. Follow your your each and every instruction. I remember perfectly" the boy assured the man while tapping his forehead. Remember.

Knowing the limits of the boys training from the yearlong observation of his progress in training, the teacher easily picked out the bow with just the right weight behind it. They were going to do it like the axes. With a new bow each time he felt he had broken through his limits, it would be the perfect way to gauge the young Shuai's progress in strengthening himself but first, he needed to learn how to fire it. Shuai was told to just hold the bow however he wanted to and how he believed the weapon should be wielded. Pfft. Easy. One hand holding there and the other holding there. Where else could they go? It looks like the boy was fast mastering this weapon but he was putting the cart before the horse. Next he was told to hold an arrow with his bow and draw it as he would in an attack. Shuai fiddled around with the two as he tried to figure out the best way he could use the weapon and the most useful method he could use to gauge that was how comfortable they all fit with him. Both hands on both bow and arrow, "like that? I'm not feeling any pain in my hand so it has to be. Did I get that right? Sir?" but there was no answer to those questions, only the instruction for the boy to attack! Draw and shoot the bow and arrow towards the target right in front of him.

His arrow did not even fly. In fact it plummeted right down into the ground in front of him as soon as it left his hands. There was his answer. Not right at all. What did he do wrong? According to his teacher, everything but just to make sure the young boy would not get demoralized enough to call it quits, he made sure to give the little encouragements like he always had every time he went through a brand new lesson with his young student. Shuai had the right idea and would have gotten there eventually but he had the benefit of having a teacher and with the right guidance, he will end up being able to make a shot with both bow and arrow by the end of the day. Shuai immediately perked up. His teacher was right. He was going to end the day by being able to make a shot with the bow and arrow. Believe it!

The guidance came from the older man's lifetime of experience and Shuai soaked it all up like a sponge. Shuai felt his hands being pushed here and there, his arms being drawn back and his legs being kicked about while his back was strained to its limits by the older man wanting Shuai to 'put his back into it' while making his shot. The problem was Shuai could not see the changes being done to him to fix all his mistakes. His teacher believed there was no reason to see anything as the eyes would fool him and brain would start making excuses for him to not do, but continue as he were. Remember with your body. That was all he had to do and his teacher will be there every step of the way until Shuai could assume his stance perfectly out of habit each time he had the bow and arrow in his hands. No need to aim, that could be a later lesson all Shuai had to do was concentrate on letting the arrow fly way from the bow as far as possible, a direct contrast to his piss poor performance from earlier but a great chance to redeem himself and regain his confidence.

Now to draw the bow. Shuai pulled back and it was clear he was already making mistakes but just as his teacher had said, the man was there for him and gave him the necessary adjustments, a strong grip over his elbow and his arm to get him started out. "Now?" Not yet, he still had yet to be told to release the arrow from the bow and Shuai could only wait as his teacher pressed him down by the shoulder to teach the boy how to put his back into it. A term repeated twice. That had to be important and if he was doing it all correctly, "now?" Yup, correctly because the time was now. The difference was clear as he saw the arrow sail from right out of his bow into the air and far beyond the distance of what he had expected from the shot coming from him. Yes like his teacher had said he was definitely going to remember that for next time and what was next time but the next attempt to do right after? He decided to do it so suddenly and did it so fast because he wanted to see if he could make the shot without his teacher and the man could not react in time as the bow backfired on him with a rap to the wrist. His teacher was furious. Whatever happened to following- waiting on his instructions? Shuai was really lucky that he had only gotten a rap to his wrist by the bow for his improper use of it because he could have taken his own eye out and that would be hard to explain to Youdu who never wanted his son to learn how to use the bow. The teacher check the wrist to be sure but fortunately there was no risk to serious or long term injury. Vhexur was really on their side, this time and when he got the opportunity Shuai should give the deity his thanks wholeheartedly.

Would it be too soon to ask right now after that mishap? Maybe it would be too soon but the boy remained uninjured and they still had a lot of time left in the day. "Do you think I can learn how to aim now?" Now that was really pushing his luck and not even Vhexur could protect the boy from his teacher's rage but the man was surprisingly calm. A shot was a shot and nothing too bad happened. Even with Shuai's assurances that he would follow all the instructions from now on, even if the instructions forbade him from practicing his aim, the teacher knew the boy was going to take a chance on it after the day was done anyway. He could not give in too easily however, it would set a bad precedent so he gave the boy a goal to reach. Ten consecutive shots by the man's instructions without any failure like the plummeting arrow of the first attempt or and angry bow attacking its master from treating it badly like in Shuai's last attempt to go at it solo. The teacher had deliberately crafted the last part of that statement that way to make Shuai more careful when using the weapon. He had found it much easier to make kids gain a healthy respect for weapons not by telling them of the dangers like one would to an adult, it would only make them want to go at them even harder for the challenge, but to make it seem like the weapons were living entities with their own feelings and emotion and children or at least the good ones did not enjoy hurting the feelings of anything.

Which was a relief for him to have found out that Shuai was one of the good ones and it encouraged him to continue with the exercise, without making it ridiculously hard for a boy his age who needed a lesson to remember not to take risks that would harm themselves. It was the same as the first time that they shot the bow together but there were no more failures or mishaps made sure to guide his student as best as he could and Shuai did his best to follow all the instructions spoken to him. By the third shot, there were less things his teacher had to remind the boy of. By the sixth, the arrow was sailing forth from the bow under more of Shuai efforts rather than the through the assistance of his master. By the ninth, there was nothing more that Shuai had to be reminded of as it seemed like his body was taking to the lessons by itself. The tenth? Well Shuai was not much of a prodigy that he was able to let the arrow fly loose of off his bow but his teacher was able to be a lot less hands on when guiding the boy.

That was unexpected as it was believed Shuai would be too willful that he would fail this exercise on his own terms but a promise was a promise although his teacher would rather prefer that the next stage could be left to the next lesson they had together. How to aim. It was just like the exercise Shuai had been doing actually except that now he would have to take the time to do it. Shuai scoffed, they had already taken a lot of time. It had been nearly an hour just to get ten arrows off of his bow. How much time exactly would be needed if he wanted to aim now? And if it was not just about taking more time for the shot, why mention it at all? There just had to be a secret. There was. It was called lining up the shot. Shuai did not understand, one moment his teacher was in a tirade about the boy possibly poking his eye out and the next he wanted the boy to stab himself in the eye with the arrow to aim his shot. The teacher was at a loss for words and did not know how he could explain it to the boy and it was not like he could guide the boy by setting his stance and hold of the bow and arrow correctly just so he could line up the shot. This was completely different to merely firing the arrow from the bow.

There was no other way to do it and the man hoped his student had enough intuition or understanding for the demonstration he was about to give. He gave the boy the run down, going through the motions from the start for his benefit first holding the bow like this, setting the arrow like this, and then bringing it to eye level and you just have to you know, line up the shot. Shuai kind of got it? But he was not quite there. He lined the shot up as best as he could. Taking aim. Putting his back into it. Then firing. That did not hit the target either but he was really close in that attempt. A good job! In a few days maybe he can improve it a lot to actually hit something his teacher suggested, trying to give words of encouragement. That was right, his student was no prodigy but at least he was capable.