Chapter 113: Taste of Success (2/2)
Pronos latched around his neck while he picked up Tyran. ”Since you're small enough, I'll let you stay outside for now. The storage of this ring is probably not the most comfortable of places,” he uttered and the T. Rex let out a happy cry. ”All right. Hold tight,” he said and took off into the sky with a burst of mana.
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When they arrived in Black Steel, Pronos kept his spot around Rakna's neck while Tyran ran in all directions, enthusiastically viewing the surroundings. When they arrived at the Pavilion, they quickly went to one of the training rooms.
”This place will become my home at this rate,” Rakna snorted and let Tyran run free. ”Pronos, it's time to work on your magic.” The little snake nodded at that and climbed down from his master's neck. ”Alexa told me you used your magic in a sort of trance-like state. Do you think you can do it again?”
Pronos looked hesitant at the question and he ultimately shook his head. ”I see. I guess you mean that you don't know rather than can't,” Rakna corrected and he nodded. ”In that case, let's make some tests. Let's see… using star energy may be detrimental more than anything. Trii, can you give me a bow and a full quiver?”
|| Any particular features? ||
”No, just give me a regular wooden bow.”
|| Acknowledged. ||
Without delay, in a flash of light, what Rakna requested materialized floating right in front of his eyes. He grabbed the bow first, feeling its weight and balance, then placed the quiver with around twenty arrows in it at his feet.
”Here's what you will do. I'm going to shoot these arrows and you will try to use your magic on them. Arrows are straightforward projectiles. It's easy to picture what it does; fly and hit. I want you to focus on just one aspect; acceleration, or to be exact, velocity. The former is literally how fast an object accelerates.”
”The arrows I'm going to shoot have naturally a negative acceleration for the most part so it would be unwise to focus on that. Velocity, on the other hand, is simply how fast an object moves so it'll be far easier to manipulate in all logic. Maintaining your concentration might also be crucial to manifest your magic. Do you get it until now?”
Pronos nodded again.
”Good. From what I heard, when you used your magic, a circle with an infinity sign in it was used to apply the effects on the rock,” Rakna said and nocked an arrow on the bow. ”The first thing I'll have you do is to imagine the circle appearing in the arrow's trajectory. In the end, this is the process you need to remember: Step one, judge the speed of the arrow. Step two, theorize a change in velocity. Step three, create the magic circle. Step four, let the arrow fly through.”
”Ready to go?” Rakna asked and the little snake bobbed his head up and down. ”Then, here's the first one,” he announced and aimed at the opposite wall of the room. He let go of the string and observed Pronos who promptly released his mana with a fixated gaze.
Rakna had purposefully shot the arrow with a weak pull, thus it stayed airborne for around three seconds. During that time frame, his Fabled Sight was constantly active but nothing was spotted before it landed.
Pronos looked sad for a moment but Rakna's voice quickly jolted him. ”Never be disappointed by a first failure,” he said as he prepared another shot. ”Before feeling disappointment, feel the pain of working yourself to the bone. Second shot,” he uttered and let the second arrow loose without waiting for the little snake.
”Trii, whenever I run out of arrows, fill the quiver,” Rakna instructed as he nocked a third arrow.
|| Acknowledged. ||
”Third,” he continued to shoot the arrows, never letting time for Pronos to even think or try to wallow in pessimism. This had been one of his uncle's most important lessons.
Expectations have no place in practice. Whether you are talented or not, it is wrong in itself to be expecting specific outcomes. Never expect success. Never expect failure. There is no time to waste on thinking about either. You just try and try again.
If after a thousand tries, nothing changes, then you accept the failure and try something else. If not, you persist. Never relenting, never hesitating, never compromising.
'Amazing…' Higure thought. 'The sheer intensity of his conviction is enough to make ripples in his soul realm… This is the mentality of someone that never gives up. Truly frightening.'
After fifty arrows had been shot, the first results began to show. Rakna's slit eyes squinted as he spotted a brief golden glow at the arrow's tip. He glanced at Pronos who was panting with his tongue out and nocked the next arrow.
He would not tell him anything. Hope is one more misleading feeling. People find consolation in the most minor achievements and more often than not, they get complacent. Pronos was on the right track and as long as he continued firing, the tension would not disappear unless he succeeded completely. This was something his uncle had used more than once on him.
Though, it was more violent than this. In the case of his training in the spear, Arimane would attack him with the intent to kill. He had no time to think, to breathe, or to rest. The only thing he could do was try to parry the attacks over and over again. Stopping meant death.
In this case, his continuous firing at a constant pace and pattern forced Pronos into a mentality of never-ending activity. In other words, it was conditioning. When one arrow touched the ground, he already knew that there was another one coming.
At the 185th shot, Rakna saw a near-complete magic circle appear. The arrow passed through and indiscernibly accelerated. But he didn't stop. He continued to shoot the arrows and, finally, at the 228th shot, a complete magic circle was formed and the arrow accelerated to such a degree that it became a blur and broke apart on impact.
When that happened, Rakna lowered his bow and Pronos froze on the spot. It was as if he had lost the ability to move. The next arrow wasn't coming; the routine that had been ingrained in his body and mind had abruptly been interrupted. And that's when he caught up. He blinked in shock at the broken arrow and turned toward Rakna who had an invisible smile on his face.
”Congratulations, little guy. You did it.”
Then, the little snake's expression went from a shocked one to one full of joy. He hissed loudly and sprawled the length of his body on the floor. Tyran who had been watching everything since the beginning ran to him and began to celebrate with him in their own way.
”{Haha, the sweet taste of success,}” Higure said cheerily. ”{Isn't it wonderful?}”
Rakna snorted as he tapped his shoulder, stiff from the shooting session. He looked at the two pets interacting with each other and opened his mouth, ”Certainly is.”