Chapter 103: Fletching Failure (2) (1/2)

With the feathers sitting safely within his shadow sack, Rino decided on a few experiments. The tutorial for crafting bows and arrows was no help. Rino did not know much about archery, so he could only improve the creation through a series of trials and errors.

He knew very little about archery, but Rino knew the basics. The bow's wood, according to the tutorial, should be hard but flexible. There were a few parts to a bow that was self-explanatory, but the grip was the most complex to craft.

Unlike the overly simple bow spine that Fowler crafted from a bendy branch, Rino was going to start from the basics. The tutorial suggested using hardwoods like oak or maple. Thankfully, the forest was full of oak trees that Rino could choose from. A branch that wasn't too thick was ideal, but Rino knew he had to look for a particularly long one for the experimental longbow.

The average longbow was as tall as a man, and a shortbow was half of that. Honestly, Rino did not know the difference between the two bows, but he supposed the shortbows would be easier for the less muscular archers to carry along whilst running. On the other hand, longbows were better for stationary shooting and defences.

Maybe the hobgoblins could use the longbows while the hunting squad could use the shortbows after everything was crafted. Rino still had no clue, but the bows should not be too difficult to create once he had the right branches to work with.

The oak trees in the area were rather gnarly, so Rino had to look for a younger tree than those ancient oaks full of galls and acorns. It took the lich a while to find what he was looking for. When he came across a young oak, Rino did not hesitate to cut off the growing branches that matched the length he needed.

Happily, Rino stored the wood away and headed back.

Without sinew for the bowstring, Rino could only replace it using linen that he twined many times. Crafting the bow's main piece was tricky because the branch he chose was straight and covered in barks. Rino used magic to dehydrate the wood and sought Griffith out to borrow the crafter's workshop space in the stone quarry cave.

The pygmy dwarf helped to sand the wood as Rino helped to press on the longbow so that they found which parts of that wood needed more filing to bend in a beautifully even arch. Once they had the right arch and balance for both bow pieces. Rino referred to the tutorial once more.

With their bendy bow bodies, Rino drilled careful holes onto both ends of the bows just enough to pass the linen woven bowstring through.

The bow body was hung and balanced on an empty loom and slowly drawn. Rino held the bowstring down and adjusted the bowstring's tension on both ends using shadow tendrils while the gnomes helped to carve the bow's body where tension was seen. Rino did not know how much a bow could be drawn back before it snapped, but he used his arm length as a guide on how far it could be pulled. Archers do not draw a bow longer than a straightened arm's length, so Rino stopped when his arm could pull no more.

Once the tilling process for the longbow was done, Rino quickly cast layers of enchantment spells on the prototype bow. He did not want this bow to break, not when it was so beautifully made.

”Is there a way to carve the grip of this bow where the arrow can sit nicely for firing in a straight line?” he asked the red-bearded pygmy dwarf.