Chapter 7: Improving Oneself
"Otto… Otto, wake up! Your teacher is here."
Slowly opening up his eyes, Otto woke up reluctant. Looking around with hazy eyes, he noticed that his mother was standing at the door opening, pointing towards the room.
"Your teacher is here. She has been waiting for some moment now." Anna said in a soft voice, as if she was whispering.
Because of the stress and adrenaline of the previous day, Otto was exhausted to his bones. Realizing that he overslept, Otto hastily got out of his bed and changed his cloths. Rushing into the common room, he noticed that his mother was preparing something to eat. At the table, the wood elf Iarra was seated, sipping something hot from a cup in her hand.
Looking over at Otto, she spoke up, "Finally you are awake. Given the events that unfolded yesterday, I will ignore this. However the next time, I will not be this kind. I do not like waiting. So starting today, you will wake up before the sun rises and be ready for me outside before I come here. The moment I knock on the door, you will fail on this aspect and will get punished."
Hearing the words from the wood elf, Otto tensed up as he looked with shocked eyes to Iarra. Trying not to anger the wood elf anymore, Otto gave a stiff nod.
"Let's start." The wood elf stood up and walked outside.
Quickly following Iarra, he walked outside. The sun was barely rising when he got outside. A cold wind was protruding through the field. Shivering a bit, he took a look in front of him. There he saw a makeshift table. On it there were a couple of bows placed.
"As my specialization is with the bow, I will first teach you how to use it." Iarra said as she was walking closer to the table. "As you can see, there are different types of bows." She picked up the shorter bow of the two that was n the table and continued, "The one is called a short bow. The other one on the table is an Elven bow, which is enchanted." Seeing the confused look of Otto, she continued, "Enchanting is done with magic. However as that is not our current focus, I will not dive deeper into it." Walking towards Otto, she continued where she left off, "These are not the only bows that exist. There are hundreds of different types of bows. But I cannot show you those, as I do not posses them. It is therefore up to you to learn about them on your own.
Iarra passed the short bow over to Otto and continued with her explanation, "You will be using this short bow for now. The short bow is the easiest way to learn and get familiar with the techniques of a bow. The bow in your hand actually belonged to me. When I just started training in the way of the bow, I used with that one."
Receiving the bow, Otto was already exited, as his eyes were sparkling. However after he heard that the bow actually belonged to Iarra, he started to actually treasure the bow. This was the bow that the wood elf used to train with.
Iarra started first by explaining a bit about the bow, "This thread is called the string, the arrow that is shot is placed in here. At the front, you got the grip and the limb that hold the bow together."
After explaining how a bow works, she went to the table and picked up her own bow. Walking to a clearing, she took out an arrow and aimed at a target that was prepared beforehand. "It is important to know how to use a bow properly. If you understand it, this will become easier." With a swift and elegant motion, she released the arrow. Cruising through the air, the arrow hit the dead center of the target.
Seeing the archery skills of Iarra up close, Otto exhaled in amazement. The arrow traveled a distance and hit the target in the middle.
"Now, let me see what you can do. Try to draw back the string of your bow." she said. However, as Otto did not understand what she meant with that, she showed the motion herself as she explained, "This motion is to drawing back the bowstring."
Otto tried to mimic the motion, however he soon discovered that it was a lot harder than it looked. He had to put all his strength into drawing back the string, and even then, he was not able to get it all the way back.
Seeing this, Iarra chuckled a bit and spoke up, "You still lack the proper strength to draw the string all the way back. This is something that you need to practice a bit more. There are ways to make it easier."
Iarra continued to explain further basics about the bow and how to use it. When Otto received the bow, he did not expect that using it would require a lot of strength. Even though he had improved his strength when swinging his axe, the amount that he needed to draw back the bow was a bit more bothersome. However, as Iarra showed him the basics as well as some methods on using the bow, it started to get easier as time progressed. She even helped him out several times when he got a bit stuck.
As time progressed, Anna walked outside with some refreshments. There was a clear worry in her eyes as she watched Otto using the bow. Trying to hide her worry, she called out, "I have brought some refreshments. You should take some rest."
Initially Otto wanted to rush over to his mother and take the refreshments. However the moment that he made a move towards his mother, Iarra coughed deeply. Frozen in his steps, he turned around with care and bowed respectfully, "Master, can I take a short break."
Seeing the quick change of Otto, Iarra gave a faint smile as she nodded. Turning around, she also made her way to Anna to pick up some refreshments.
After the small break, the two returned back to the lessons and training. As time progressed, Otto slowly started to get familiar with the bow. 'If I keep going on like this, I am sure that one day I will also be able to shoot arrows like Miss Iarra.' Otto thought to himself. He even felt that he might eventually master the bow. This gave him confidence, 'If master keeps on helping me, I am sure that I will be able to defeat wolves. When that time comes, I will not be scared anymore and be able to defend both myself and father.'
The training continued until the sun was high in the sky. During this time, they only focused on getting familiar with the bow, techniques to use it and drawing back the string. Otto was even able to shot a few arrows before the training was finished. However as his knowledge and strength is lacking, the arrows missed its target.
Sensing the time pass by nicely, Iarra looked up in the sky. Nodding with agreement, she spoke up, "We have been training for quite some time. You should take a small break. After that we will continue with the second part of our training, in which I will explain you about magic and see your capabilities."
Even being exhausted, the excitement within Otto did not die out. With big eyes he looked over at Iarra and nodded frantically. He had only heard about magic in stories that the elders used to tell. However, now he would able to see and even learn it personally. This was something that a normal child that lived in a small village would never be able to reach, however he would soon be able to reach this. Otto felt that he indeed had some strong luck.
Besides the small break, he had no real time to rest. Because of this, he was delighted and willing to take this break. Luckily, his mother prepared something. Receiving something from his mother to rest and eat up, Otto was enjoying what was provided to him.
As he was started to rest up a bit, he felt that his muscles were starting to ache. Using the bow proved to be even more of a burdensome to his body then he expected.
During this break, Otto saw that Iarra was taking out several items and placed them on a table. Some of the items he had never seen before. It was amazing to see so many different wonders that the world offered. One of the few items that he recognized was some papers. However there was something written on it, which he did not recognize.
After placing all the items on the table, Iarra called over Otto. It was finally time to start the magical part of his training.
Iarra started without waiting for Otto to arrive. "First it is important to know and understand the magic in the world and the elements surrounding it. The magic in the world are divided into 12 elements." She pulled out a paper that had the elements name written on it as well as the accompanying symbols.
As Otto could not read, he just looked at the accompanying pictures of the elements to understand what Iarra was talking about.
Iarra continued by pointing at the pictures on the paper, "These 12 elements are as followed, you have four primary elements, Fire, Wind, Water and Earth." Pointing to the outside of the paper she continued, "Besides these four primary elements, there are also four secondary elements, Lighting, Ice, Nature and Magma." The last four elements were located in the middle of the picture. She pointed at them as she continued her story, "The last four elements are divided into two groups. You have the special elements, such as Light and Dark. And the two rare elements known as Time and Space. Those are the 12 elements that make up magic."
Otto could not believe what he was hearing. He didn't know about a single element, and now Iarra told him that there were a total of twelve.
Iarra pointed at Otto's abdomen and continued her explanation, "Magic is drawn out from the Magical Essence. Every creature has one. Some are stronger compared to others. This dictates the amount of magical potential one has as well as the power that the spell can achieve." She opened her hand and started to concentrate. After a small moment, there was a small tornado swirling on her palm.
Otto's eyes grew wide open. He had not realized how this happened, yet out of nowhere Iarra had created a small tornado. "How… how did you do that?"
"Once someone has been affected by magic, their magical essence activates. After which everyone will be able to summon a small amount of magical power if they concentrate enough. Of course, the younger you start, the easier it will become in the future. So it is a good thing that we start now with your training. It will help develop your potential for in the future. But first, we need to understand what your magical affiliation is." Saying those words, she walked over to the table and picked up several items and put them on the floor accordingly. These items were daily used objects. A lit candle, a bowl of water, a fan and a stone.
After putting the items on the ground, Iarra looked back at Otto and spoke up, "Your first test starts here. To help understand which element you have an affiliation with, I want you to pick up every item and concentrate on it for a moment. Depending on the results, we will move on to the next test."
Seeing the four items in front of him, Otto started to wonder which element he would be able to use. Sitting in front of the items, he felt that the candle was drawing him closer. Instinctually, he picked up the candle. Closing his eyes, he started to concentrate on the candle that was now in his hands. He remembered what Iarra told him, that the magical power comes from within. As he was concentrating, there was a strong burning feeling within him. Surprised by this, he started to concentrate on this burning feeling. As time started to progress, this feeling started to become more familiar to him. It was as if he could manipulate it.
"Good, now focus on the candle in your hand. Try to increase the fire, guide your power into the flame." Iarra started to guide him through the process.
Following the steps that Iarra was telling him, Otto felt that the flame started to build up. Even though his eyes were closed, the light in front of him started to burn brighter.
"So fire it is." Iarra said with a happy voice. She continued, "I did not expect that the first element you choose would be the one correct one."
Hearing this, Otto slowly opening up his eyes. Looking at the candle, he noticed that he was able to increase the power of the candle at will.
"It is good that we discovered your affiliation so early. This will save us time, as we do not have to test the others. However, if you want to, we can also try the others?"
Otto did not know how to respond. He was just happy that he was able to control the flame on the candle. Still being concentrated on the candle, he heard Iarra's voice. However this time it was a bit louder, "I asked you a question."
"I am sorry, what did you ask?" Otto said with a smile. He could not hide his excitement at all.
With a sigh, Iarra slipped out a smile before saying, "Do you want to try the other elements as well?"
"Can I really try it?" Otto asked with a surprise. "Of course I will try it." He then moved to the next item and tried to repeat the same process.
In the end, testing the other primary elements had no effect. However, Otto was not disheartened at all, as he knew that he could manipulate and use the fire element.
"I wanted to test your affiliation to the secondary and special elements as well, however seeing that fire is your primary element, there is not needed to test the others for now. Maybe later on you might try to focus and bring out another elemental power." Looking around with a smile, Iarra continued, "Instead of that, we should focus on improving your current element. For this, I want that you to conjure fire with the help of the candle."
The rest of the day, Otto focused on trying to conjure a small fire ball with the help of the candle. This process was even more difficult compared to his training with the bow. But with the help of Iarra, the process followed easier. With the help, he believed that with enough training and focus, he would be able to conjure a fireball without the help of the candle in due time.
…
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