Sophia never thought she would feel nostalgic about combat training with Paolo. But now they were about to get started, she could feel how much she had missed it.

"So, what's your goal this time around?" She asked Paolo, absent-mindedly playing with her twin blades.

He looked at her dumbfounded:

"Did you already forget? I told you yesterday I want to get a second boon from the Battlemage archetype."

"I remember," Sophia conceded, "But last time, you had a really broad objective of taking from Fighter book, purely for the sake of survival. Now, we have a dedicated Fighter. So I'm going to ask again: which aspect of the Battlemage archetype do you want to work on?"

This gave her training partner pause as he considered the question:

"I now have four concentration spells, one to empower the team speed, one to strengthen the team defense, one to strengthen the team attack, and one for area denial." He summarized. "Clearly, I need to be able to take a beating without breaking my concentration. So I guess that's that."

His voice was slightly trembling at the implications but Sophia could tell he was serious about it.

"If you are sure..." She answered uncertain.

Sure, she could hurt him and break his concentration without causing any lasting damage. But still, even like this, if she took him seriously, their relationship would suffer. It was one thing to know he needed it, and another entirely to go through it.

He nodded, with renewed determination.

"Okay. Try not to hate me too much."

And then, she got on with it.

★☆★

So far, Paolo's training had not bore any fruits. Sophia had expected as much. But her companion understandably did not share her patience and went straight to bed disheartened. And then, she was distracted by someone else whistling.

"No offense but I don't think I wanna train with you after this," Lono commented casually.

"None taken," Sophia replied, chuckling nervously. "Paolo's idea, not mine."

"What was the goal anyway?" Lono snorted at her poor attempt at deflecting responsibility.

"He wanted to learn how to maintain concentration on spells under duress." She tried to explain.

"And how did he fare?" He asked again.

"He showed limited results with mage armor, as the spell is protecting him against getting hit. But that was defeating the purpose of the training. So he switched to magic weapon and basically anything, from fear to actual pain can break through his concentration in under three seconds.

It's not for the lack of trying though. But I think his recent progress made him forget who he used to be weeks ago. And today's training had been a harsh reminder that he has still a long way to go. Not sure he is going to be up for it tomorrow."

Her analysis was clinical and emotionless. Her brain was so mercilessly pointing at all Paolo's weaknesses like a hawk that she almost let it slip to a total stranger what little confessions Paolo had made about his past and how much she had guessed on her own. But at least, she had been able to reign herself.

Paolo sure had come a long way, from being someone else bully to somewhat standing his ground against her assault as she played the same role. But while maintaining concentration on a spell that was testing his inner strength? The mask had cracked a lot sooner than he was happy to admit to himself. He was still weak-willed and needed to work on it.

Not that she could blame him.

How would she have fared without her brain rewired? Would she have severely limited herself for fear of another injury? Or would she have let her recent trauma get the better of her like many others?

In some ways she knew that the brain rewire had limited her ability to feel, disconnecting several counterproductive connections of her reptilian brain while reinforcing others. Albeit she could still feel every emotion alright, and they were still a huge factor in her decision-making, they felt more like a wild undercurrent than the erupting bout of pure emotions she once felt.

She could not remember the last time she had felt physically transported and high on her own emotions.

Fear felt less intense but omnipresent. She was now quick to Anger but also quick at cooling down. Sadness was now a shameful secret friend that she had found herself able to bottle up and put on a shelf until it felt appropriate to let go. And Joy was now so flitting and unreliable that she felt no more of the occasional bout of gratuitous Joy here and there. It only came back in strength all at once and yet proportionally to her achievements toward ensuring her own survival.

As promised, the system had completely rewired her brain toward the singular goal of ensuring her survival. And anything that could have distracted her or compromised that goal simply did not make the cut.

"You should have more faith in him," Lono commented, getting her back to the here and now.

"I have faith in him." She retorted immediately. "I'm just trying to be a better person and not to crush him under the weight of my usually unreasonable expectations."

And somewhat, that triggered Lono's laughter: "There are so many wrong things with what you just said that I wouldn't even know where to get started."

This obviously left her puzzle and so he tried to explain while trying - and failing - to hold off his laughter:

"You are trying to be considerate and yet come out patronizing. And you are surprisingly self-aware and harsh on yourself and yet somewhat managed to genuinely say something like this. And that's just the surface-level of what you just said."

And Sophia would never admit she only just realized that Lono had a more profound side to him that had gone completely over her head until then. He was always such a caricatural macho man, emotionally reserved and always so protective of his twin sister that she had never even tried to get past that. And he had just proven her wrong.

"I could really use your help." She admitted, not in the slightest bit shameful at the admission.

He obviously had the social smart and emotional maturity she was lacking despite her enhanced brains. And she was all up for shoring her weaknesses, at minimal cost to herself. Pride wasn't even a factor.

"Maybe not with what you had in mind, but yes: I know you happen to be struggling to turn that quarterstaff you just made into a functional shortbow."

And yet again, he had taken her by surprise, denying her help there but self-volunteering on another subject she did not expect him to.

"You know how to make a bow?" Sophia exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

"Nope. But I happen to know about the working and bending of wood techniques used in naval construction. I used to be fascinated with stories of our heritage as a kid and went over-the-top researching it."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

So, he just flaunted the fact Maori used to be the best navigators of the Pacific Ocean and established that some related knowledge he had might also work the same about making a bow? It was a bit far-fetched. But at that point, what did she have to lose?

"Okay. I'm hooked." She admitted. "Let's talk."

And so they did.

★☆★

With Lono and everyone else help, they had basically reverse-engineered her shortbow. Though contrary to her main weapon, that crude bow would be 100% wood, they still managed to achieve a step-by-step blueprint for it.

Shaping and reducing the thickness of the quarterstaff had been maddening: One wrong cut and they would have to start all over again. Thankfully, Lono knew his business and got them to the next stage without any issues.

Who would have thought that cooking the wood could help bend it without breaking it?

Yet, for the entire hour that it took to steam each side of the bow, she had been anxiously waiting in the kitchen as if her life depended on it, before they even got to the actual bending, holding it into place, so that it would retain the nice curve of her shortbow.

And yet, when they were done, Lono insisted that they reinforce the tips with hardened wood overlays, and then heat-treated the wood, before tilering the bow and sanding it once more to balance the bow perfectly.

It was an utter work of art. And yet...

You have crafted a basic, primitive, recurve, Wooden Self Bow. The item's material quality is average, its crafting quality is abysmal, and its durability is meager. It has no special characteristics.

The system evaluation of the material quality had been downgraded from outstanding to average, the durability from average to meager and the quality of their collective effort had been qualified as abysmal instead of crude.

According to the system assessment, all their hard work amounted to shit. But yet, it did recognize their efforts. And according to Prince, it should be good enough to get the related bowyer boon after using it. Which had been the whole point of this three-day crafting marathon.

Now, it was the moment of truth.

And everyone, even Moana, had gathered before the shooting range to show their support for the occasion.

Eight training arrows, one crappie bow to test until it breaks, and two boons related to archery: Those were the resources she would be working with. Even doing her best, the weight distribution was slightly off. But this bow poundage was also actually higher than she had been used to. And she knew those two factors would affect her speed archery.

She took a breath and started shooting, one arrow at a time to get a feel for the bow and adjust her aim accordingly. Then, once she was a little bit more confident, she started chanting the bone chill cantrip and imbuing it onto her arrows.

And she kept going slowly but surely speeding up, before adding some acrobatic Archery to the mix and finally, moving on from stationery to moving targets with Michel and Lono's help.

She didn't know if speed casting was a thing, but by the time she had picked up the pace to her usual speed archery speed, she was encanting so fast that it had turned into a song, a repetitive staccato that got the magic in her veins roaring. She had not tried to resist as the surge had built up. And now, every volley she was shooting was showing a wild range of magical effects, one per arrow she was shooting, wreaking havoc across the training range and forcing her courageous companions to take cover.

Among other random effects, one ball had spontaneously combusts on impact. Another had turned into a live chicken. One arrow had phased through the ball before ending its course stuck in the wall. While another had turned into a dart. And those had been the most tamed.

Though the worst part of it was that she was rapidly losing arrows, about one every two volleys on average.

She was down to only three training arrows when the system finally acknowledged her effort.

You have gained a new boon [Wælstów Arcuier]

It is currently disabled and can be enabled at any time.

The boon name was so weird that she did not know what to think of it. But a boon was a boon and she had Prince, Lono, and basically everyone to thank for it.

"I did it!" She shouted for everyone else sake, letting them know that she was done and that there should be no more accidental bout of wild magic.

Wild Magic which was again pacified after being allowed to do its own thing for about fifteen minutes straight. Except this time, not only did it feel incredible but she had suffered no injuries from it: Intentionally releasing it instead of waiting for the next incident was indeed the way to go.

And then, after giving everyone a good fright, they erupted in cheers for her accomplishment.

She did it. She got the unpronounceable Bowyer boon.

"You did it" Lono confirmed. "Which makes it a good time to announce it: I got a boon too. Though it is definitely not as good as yours?"

"You did?" Sophia exclaimed happily. "Why haven't you mentioned it sooner?"

"I got [Strategist] for playing games with my sister." He shrugged "It was hardly a feat worth celebrating. At least now, we can do both."

And so they did. They feasted on junk food, sang, and danced for about half an hour before things became awkward and Sophia excused herself before anyone else did. It was hard to have a party with only six people, without any music but what they could sing, without anything to drink but clear water, and first and foremost, without any sort of preparation.

And it was impossible to forget the context of this short-lived celebration.

They weren't friends. They weren't here because they wanted to. The little boons they got felt insignificant compared to the mammoth task of surviving and clearing the tutorial. And what might happen to their loved ones if they failed was a constant threat looming over their head.

So it was hard to let go long enough for it to truly matter.

★☆★

Wælstów Arcuier

You are a martially trained Self Bow maker and user, a relic of ancient times, also known as Praelium Arcuarius, the Legionary Bowyer. Tasked with mass-producing and repairing minimum viable bows for recruits, you are a fast and decently skilled Bowyer.

[Criminal Mastermind Archetype]

Your proficiency in crafting and wielding Shortbows is increased. You got foreign knowledge of how to craft, modify, repair, and wield your creations, allowing you to make the best of whatever you have on your hands.

[Magus Weavesinger Archetype]

You got foreign knowledge of how to better attune any bow to its wielder, lessening the risk of the destruction, disrepair, and mishandling of any bow crafted or modified by you.

While the boon name had been weird, its effects had been straightforward and offered quite a lot of synergy with her two other archery boons. But it also made her newly crafted bow completely obsolete.

Not that she ever seriously considered making the switch to that new bow. It had been far too imbalanced and capricious compared to her older one.

No. What she was now considering was improving her older shortbow with her newly acquired knowledge. While it was impossible to improve upon its performance, its poundage fixed and its balance, already optimal, she could improve its preexisting attunement and adjust it so its durability would never significantly drop from the stress she put it under with speed archery.

It would still be a fairly average bow by every system's standards. But it would truly make her first bow hers, and therefore, allowing her to make the best of it. As that difference, no matter how small might make the difference between life and death.

The question was: what to do with her recently made and already discarded creation?

Moana and Michel were using Hand Crossbows as their secondary weapons while still preferring their daggers. Lono was a pure frontliner, using a sword and shield. And Paolo already had his hand fulls with his daggers and quarterstaff.

No one had use of it, but leaving it behind would be a glaring waste of resources. They might sell it later on. But until then, it would be better to keep their options open. And though it did not suit him, Lono was the only one of them with no ranged option whatsoever.

So he had been her default choice.

The next question was, how to gift him the bow without making sound like she was disposing of her garbage or using him as her mule?

Because in a sense, that was exactly what she was doing. It was a wasted resource, that they might turn into gold later on, that she could not carry on her. She would be far too encumbered with two bows and Lono did lacked the ranged options. And she was afraid she wasn't good enough to talk her way out of this without insulting anyone.

"Lono!" She called out for him anyway. "Thanks for helping me unlock that boon. But I already have a bow and you don't so if you..."

"I would safe-keep your bow alright." Lono cut her out, unceremoniously taking the bow from her.

It was one awkward speech she was gladly wasting on him. But he wasn't quite done yet:

"If you are grateful, you should thank Michel for it. However, if you truly feel like returning the favor, my sister could use your help. I know she had solicited you quite a lot already, but she never used her Crossbow. And I'm afraid she would never ask for help."

It was already clear that Moana's pursuit of alchemy was a dead-end, and that she would never get that boon without the help of the system, if ever. And with the two boons' minimal requirements, she would not get it before the seventh floor, which might be weeks or months away. But Sophia had not thought of an alternative.

An alternative that Lono just presented to her.

A Crossbow was an entirely different beast, especially a Hand Crossbow. And yet she understood perfectly that she was the team ranged weapon expert and therefore should be able to help Moana learn how to use her backup Weapon. Even if it was only in theory.

It was an entirely different weapon, with mechanical parts that needed completely different maintenance. And the thing was a damn slug to reload, making it a one-time-use in most combats. So the only thing she was confident about was self-teaching how to aim and shoot with it. And yet...

"I would see what I can do." She promised.

She could not guarantee any results. But at least, that challenge was indeed right up her alley.