I was late for the meeting with Elder Shadow. Not because I hadn't arrived on time, but because he was not in his office. An office that was buried in the depths of Training Hall. I finally found him out at the training grounds, watching as a line of archery blocks were being installed and set up.

The grounds themselves had been segmented into specific training sections. There were open areas that allowed for a number of people to train next to each other. These areas weren't used for sparring, instead, the areas were where muscle memory could be developed using training dummies. The Sect had a number of the Wing Chun Dummies, crafted of wood with arm and leg configurations that were designed to allow a cultivator to train fighting skill and Qi attacks simultaneously.

The use of array and runic script gave what would have been a stationary block of wood some interesting features. The scripted acted as programming, and the forms were elevated from more than a stationary piece of wood. They had been created to absorb damage, but with the arrays and scripts, they had become capable of turning absorbed Qi attacks back on the attacker.

By injecting Qi as you fought, the Wing Chun responded. It moved to counter-attack, making it much more efficient than any stationary construct. They weren't as effective as sparring partners, but they worked well for those times when you needed to train the same attack or defense over and over again until it became second nature.

I moved to stand next to Elder Shadow once I had located him, watching and listening as he directed staff. I was certain he was aware I had arrived without the need to interrupt his conversation.

"The blocks have grooves on the bottom," he was explaining to a beginning cultivator, "you need to align those grooves with the track so that they can be moved easily."

"Why do you need them to move?" the young man he was instructing asked.

"A person wielding a ranged weapon needs to be able to target and hit what they are targeting when those targets are at different distances. Anyone that can hit a stationary target at fifty paces has only taken the first step in mastery," Elder Shadow explained. "but what about if that target moves as you release your shot?"

"What about if the target charges at you after your first shot lands without killing it? Or if it turns to flee?"

"Jay," he said proving I was right, and he had known I was standing near him without the need to interrupt and inform him, "the target block in aisle one has been installed and is active, demonstrate the advantage of a block that can move has for training purposes."

I wanted to refuse, my resentment that once again I was being screwed still simmering after yesterday's meeting, something I wanted Elder Shadow's advice about. But I had an entire past life of experience to draw upon, I knew how to hide my feelings and do what needed to be done. I wasn't just the hormonal young Elf that felt betrayed that someone with power or influence had forced Elder Dill to act. So, I squelched the vitriol I wanted to release, swallowing the words of anger and hurt that Elder Dill's adherence to Oath had caused.

I equipped my new Spirit Bow. If I was going to be giving a demonstration, I would take the chance to practice with this new weapon. It had already begun to become a part of me, to fit the palm of my hand perfectly, I just needed to familiarize myself with it.

Weapons, especially non-spirit or growth type weapons had a personality to them. There were slight differences in fit, form, and balance that an expert could discern immediately, something I would be able to do in time. But that wasn't what I meant by personality. There were weapons that seemed to exult when being used, that thirsted for blood. While others seemed almost reluctant, a reflection of the person that had wielded them. I was skilled as an archer, but it would be decades before I could consider myself at the masterclass level of proficiency, especially since the Tessen was my main weapon.

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I activated the array safety protocols once I'd stepped into the aisle Elder Shadow had assigned. An air-infused Qi barrier formed, protection that would stop any of my stray arrows from striking any bystander. The practice field was about 3,000 feet long, a bit more than half a mile. That seemed extensive, the farthest anyone on Earth had accurately fired a bow was around 800 feet, but I had Qi and the increased musculature of an Elf to draw on. That as well as a heightened sense of perception that was powered by an amalgam of all the elements that were mine to command meant I could hit targets at that distance.

Accurate shots of half a mile was only the starting point for me, as I increased my Realm, the distance I could see, aim, and fire would become tens of miles. As long as I nurtured my spirit bow so that it increased in power as I did, it was possible that I could make shots from so many miles away.

Line of sight would become the real stumbling block as I advanced my proficiency with the Bow. But my control and affinity with air would allow me to make the micro-adjustments needed to account for breeze and wind gusts.

With the archery blocks activated, I took my time before releasing my first shot, testing the draw of the Bow. It took more effort than what I was used to, but nothing so onerous as to make the weapon unusable. It would probably be a perfect draw weight once I advanced to the Qi Gathering Realm.

One of the adaptive features of spirit weapons was their ability to change to meet the user's needs. As I gained power and Realms, the draw weight for the bow would increase, keeping in perfect alignment with my needs. It was why the Bow and Tessen were worth the cost.

If I treated them well, they would eventually grow to become legendary weapons. It was possible that sometime in the future, they would become more by earning and gaining a Name. Named weapons were few, the cultivator that wielded them either ascending to the Heavenly Realm or destroying them when facing that last Heavenly Tribulation trying to breach the path and gain the Heavens.

I channeled my Qi to form an ice/air arrow that would explode on impact. It was one of my favorite attacks because it could do real damage even if the arrow didn't fly true or I missed what I was aiming at by a few inches.

Archery, at least when target shooting, required a calmness of mind. The ability to center and ignore distractions. Perhaps that was why Elder Shadow had me demonstrate my proficiency. His perception was high enough he had to have recognized my emotional state, and he knew I would need to bring those emotions under control to have any hopes of hitting the archery block that he had set so far away.

Once I had reached an inner calm, I usually only gained by meditation and cultivating, I took a deep breath and drew the bowstring back; the arrow forming as I controlled air and ice and cycled my Qi for [Pierce]. Those people who tried using the muscles in their arm would find themselves easily fatigued, drawing the bow was done using back and shoulder muscles. Once the arrow I had created was nocked and the bow in the anchor position, I released the breath I had taken as well as the bowstring. The arrow traveled screaming towards the target, only to miss.

The arrow exploded against the protective barrier, as I looked at the archery block in disbelief. It had moved. Without any prompting on my part, it had anticipated where my arrow would land and had dodged to the side.

My reaction went from stunned to betrayal. Since when did archery blocks move side to side, ducking and dodging? These weren't like Wing Chun; archery blocks had always been stationary. I could alter distance, but I'd never had an archery block respond to my attack before.

They certainly never had at Flowing Water Sect, but I was coming to understand that was to be expected. My computer sprite had spoken of a lack of resources as the reason mid-tier Sects didn't develop cultivators that were proficient in multiple professions, but the computer, the lab in my room, now animating archery blocks all highlighted those discrepancies.

I had to wonder if this disparity in resources wasn't more calculated. A means to keep a vast number of cultivators from ever gaining true power. The resources were available, if the high-tier Sects shared some of their bounties with lower-tiered Sects the number of cultivators that reached advanced Realms would increase.

I thought that was probably the reason those resources weren't shared. The fewer people competing for the rarer and more powerful resources, the better those people's chances stood. It made me see Elder Dill in a better light. At least he was screwing me over because of Oath and Honor. That was much more palatable than to find he had denied me resources because I came from a mid-tier Sect.