The training of my three techniques turned out to be beyond my expectations. First of all, there was my archery technique that I had tested with Accalia’s help. Originally, this ability only had the offensive power of the arrow that I used to fire. However, Accalia was patient, and she explained to me several different techniques of the Archer class that could enhance my arrows without the need for divine energy.
When she explained these abilities to me, I realized that the Archer class was far more complex than I had originally imagined. Although I knew that they could use special arrows, I imagined these arrows as the results of enchantments or spells cast on the fly. And while I was not strictly wrong, that was an incredibly narrow view of the class.
For instance, one of the trademark abilities of an archer is their ‘void shot’. This is one of the lowest-level powers which use the void as a base. By firing an arrow with the proper energy configuration, it is possible to allow that arrow to pierce the void. This arrow will then vanish, the energy imbued within causing it to exit at a predetermined point. This exit point must be set with coordinates relative to the entry point, and can even include a time delay.
In order to truly master the technique, an archer must be capable of accurately hitting a target over a hundred meters behind them with a standard arrow. Although this seemed like a rather easy demand, given that the nature of the power itself was to cause arrows to teleport, there was a terrifying facet of this test that could not be overlooked. This feat had to be performed with a standard arrow.
This means that the archer’s control of their energy must be so precise and gentle that they are capable of infusing a simple wooden arrow with the power to pierce the void, without shattering the arrows itself. As someone that had performed numerous enchantments during my time as Keeper, I could attest that all materials had an upper limit to the amount of energy that could be stored within them. For a simple arrow to be able to perform this feat, it meant that the archer’s control of their energy was at its peak.
It was due to this strict requirement that people stated a void arrow could not be further enchanted. To try to force any more energy into the arrow would ultimately result in the arrow being destroyed.
This leads to the next trademark of the archers, the condensed arrows. Any archer above level two hundred was expected to be able to produce arrows composed of the four primary energies, and be able to use them in conjunction with other archery techniques. This includes the void arrow.
As anyone that had attempted to merge energies could say, this would be a nearly impossible feat to pull off. Once again, the control of an archer was put to the test here. In fact, Accalia told me the training regime that archers had created for this technique.
Every day, an archer would attempt to create one thousand arrows of each energy type, firing them into the horizon. They were not allowed breaks during this process unless their energy was fully depleted, or if they were between energy types. Doing this served multiple purposes. First, they solidified the image of an arrow in their mind, allowing the process to be handled more smoothly.
Secondly, they exercised the energies at their disposal, most importantly their spirit. This training regime forced the archer to temper their spirit more and more over time, granting them even finer control of themselves. Finally, they developed their stamina, allowing them to endure the grueling training.
This regime was considered completed when an archer was able to complete all four thousand shots within one hour, averaging less than one second to complete the process of forming and firing the arrow. After this, they would modify the arrows that they created with their energy, leaving specific paths that were used in order to execute various techniques. Once they had mastered this ability, an archer would no longer carry their own arrows, unless these arrows were made of special materials or contained enchantments beyond what the archer themselves could bestow.
All of this came together to turn archers into a terrifying class, but it was not the end. Every archer required a good bow, one that was capable of accompanying them on their journey. No, archers were not like knights or elementalists that had special techniques to create unique bows out of nothing. Well… they could do so through other methods, but it was not a standard archery technique.
The training bows used by low level archers had numerous energy paths tied together within the body of the bow, intentionally making it harder for the archer to use their energies. Even a simple application of reinforcing the arrow with ki could take twice the focus as normal. This was done in order to force archers to practice their control from the very beginning of their training.
As the archer grew, so too did their bow. A standard training bow could not handle the stress of a high-level archer, so stronger materials were used. These training bows had even more complex energy paths to continue the training from the early days, and there were only two circumstances in which an archer was permitted to use a normal bow. The first circumstance was if the archer made the bow themselves, in which case they were permitted to use it.
The second circumstance was considered the ‘true graduation’ of an archer, and was when their level reached triple digits. Only then was an archer granted a true bow, one with neater energy paths that helped to guide them rather than hindering them. An archer that went through the full training and graduated according to the program would experience a mind-boggling increase in power when they were given their official bow.
It was for this reason that archers tended to skyrocket in levels between one hundred and one-fifty. Without their equipment holding them back, they were able to release abilities far beyond their previous level.
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However, the archers were always learning and evolving, unwilling to allow themselves to be left behind with the inventions of guns and spaceships. Accalia herself served as one of the three seats in the Arrow Council, given the title of ‘Head’. The other two seats, the ‘Shaft’ and the ‘Fletching’, treated her with the utmost respect. And yet, all three discussed the growth of the Archer class as equals.
It was the goal of this council that one day, a mortal archer would have the power to rival a god. In order to achieve this, they had to devise new techniques, new training regimens, and find more powerful types of bows that could be used. Accalia even bragged that the concept of firing a thousand arrows a day of each type was her own suggestion in the council. Though, originally she had proposed ten thousand, but the other two had managed to talk her down.
Regardless, her teachings enlightened me on just how complex this class could be. At the same time, she told me that she had prepared an information orb in the Admin Room with training methods for various archery techniques. Given that I planned to rely on this power in the future when fighting, I decided to try it out once I returned.
Next, there were the other two techniques that I had taken from Tsubaki’s list. For the first one, we found a roaming space monster to use as a test subject, suppressing our own auras to avoid scaring it off. Afterwards, I used the Mirrors, Analysis, and Balance domains to conjure an identical copy of this monster.
The space monster was confused, but my copy immediately attacked it, causing a large battle to break out. In the end, my own monster won, albeit barely due to having taken the initiative. This showcased that their powers were truly equivalent to one another. The only drawback that I could see to this ability was the amount of energy it used to summon a creature to fight.
In my opinion, it was almost not worth it to summon the creature when it consumed energy equivalent to what I was summoning. However, Accalia offered me a solution to this dilemma. That is to say… it was possible for me to create an enemy balanced against an entire group, rather than for a one on one fight. With that in mind, I could turn the tables in a difficult situation, so long as I had the energy to spare.
And finally, there was the ability involving the Life domain. This one held the least suspense for me, given that I had experience with something similar from long ago. However, this new ability allowed me to kill a target from a longer range, and did not require me to make any opening moves. So long as I paid a satisfactory price in divine energy, I could eliminate a target’s health, wiping out their ki and replacing it with my own illusion.
The one downside for this power over my own was that I had far less control of the individual after activating my power on them. With my old ability, I could cause the target to obey me after having them fall under my illusion, but that was not how this power was designed. Instead, I was able to further use my illusion powers on those I had targeted with it.
For instance, if I were to snuff out a warrior in the heat of battle, I could use my illusions to make them see their former comrades as the enemy. However, I could not directly force them to attack their friends, nor could I make them give me sensitive information without the proper motivation.
Still, the ability to use this power without needing to launch an overt attack made it far more terrifying than my previous use of the ability. After all, this made it possible for me to use the ability out of battle, the other party never knowing that they had become my eyes and ears.
Once I was done with these tests, I returned to the citadel, deciding to have a meal together with Tsubaki, Dana, and Lifre. It felt right to enjoy a meal together with them. I had only been descended for a few short days, but I had spent that entire time training myself, leaving very little to socialize.
After the meal was over, I decided that I wanted to impart the training method of Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads to the three of them. When they heard that it was a technique that I trained in personally, they were each shocked. Tsubaki looked at the book I had given them--courtesy of the Education domain--as if it were a worldly treasure.
“None of that.” I smiled, shaking my head. “I’ve taken this ability about as far as I can. Think of this as a form of multitasking course. The further along you get, the more naturally you will be able to do multiple things at once. However, it similarly gets more difficult the further you go.”
“What level did you get to, boss?” Dana asked curiously, and I actually blinked at that. It had been a while since I properly counted the threads that I could produce, having simply focused on pushing my limits.
“Well, let’s see?” I smiled back to her, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. With my ki in one hand, and mana in the other, I brought them together with a clap. The two energies fused seamlessly, the resulting chakra spreading across my body before stretching out as numerous threads in every direction. Each thread had to be individually controlled, and I felt my mind starting to tense as I stretched this control to the limits.
Nearby, Tsubaki was diligently counting the individual threads, her eyes glowing softly. “Nine hundred and eighty three… nine hundred and eighty four. Is this your current limit?” She asked in confusion, having been told previously that the upper limit of the technique was ten thousand threads.
“That’s right.” I grunted, before letting out a sigh as I pulled the threads back into my body. “Like I said, the ability gets far more difficult the later you go. It’s my belief that the ‘ten thousand threads’ stage is something that is only theorized, without the intention of it being mastered.”
I couldn’t say that Terra had displayed the full power of this ability, or that it was truly a technique designed to help someone perform at the level of a companion. After all, the concept of a ‘companion’ was one that not even Tsubaki had been fully informed about. “For me, it looks like I’m nearing the Thousand Threads rank. If I can get there, I’ll have another new ability at my disposal.”
Dana blinked, opening the book and flipping through. “That’s… the Ten Weaving Hands?” She asked curiously, to which I nodded my head. If one mastered the Thousand Threads rank, they could combine ten threads into an ‘arm’. One thousand threads become one hundred arms. But these arms are merely anchors that can attach to an item.
One hundred threads woven together can create a clone, essentially an avatar that exists within a limited range. However, this avatar has a low durability, allowing it to easily be destroyed. The Ten Weaving Hands reshapes the hundred threads that would otherwise make a clone, forming them simply into a solid, full-bodied arm. This arm would have a greater resilience, and still be able to use my own powers.
As each arm requires one hundred threads, the Ten Weaving Hands creates ten of them at once, allowing me to pull off combination techniques with myself. Granted, I wasn’t sure how useful this would be to me as a god, but… I had the feeling it would be useful to both Dana and Lifre.