Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Training/Tenma]

“So…” The redhead stared at the one eyed man, wanting to question his intention. “I don’t really understand why you want me to teach you archery when I think our skills are pretty much the same at the moment.”  Altan would take the large wooden mug filled with ice tea in front of her as she waited for the black haired man to reply to her curiosity, with an ease, she held it up with her Fanalis strength and slowly brought it to her lips, thinking how she ended up to be in a ‘friendly’ lunch with this swordsman when she just met him and fought together with him at the clinic.

It was very sudden since Tenma asked Altan to train him in archery right after they managed to subdue the entire troublemakers, not only that, she blamed her stomach for bringing her into this kind of situation. Her belly made a growl sound as a reply to Tenma’s request, with no shame and no hesitation. She wondered why part of her body that she loved so much would betray her like that. However, since the man said he would treat her for a lunch while she literally didn’t really have money, the Fanalis accepted the invite with no hesitation. As embarrassing as it was, she couldn’t go back now.

Judging from the previous fight, Altan thought that Tenma was very skilled in handling various weapon and the fact he not only knew how to use medium ranged weapon, he also knew how to use bows and arrows to fight which means he could be a fearsome enemy that could kill you in every range. ”I have to learn something from this man… it could be useful if im good at provoking people like him…”

“When did you start to learn archery?” Altan would ask after she put the big wooden mug on the table.

With a bright smile carved on his face, the black haired man offered the Fanalis to take a seat on any table that she wanted. It was a nice eatery at least for Tenma and he often come here to taste some of the local delicacies, it would be nice to treat his new companion to something that he also like. As they took a seat, the waiter came towards them to bring them two large wooden mugs filled with iced tea, a complimentary drink from the eatery itself. As if she didn’t have any intention to order anything, Altan ignored the menu book that was placed right next to her and went straight to spout a rather amusing word.

Tenma chuckled as he saw Altan gulped the iced tea, glad she drank it all like a thirsty creature. “You are underestimating yourself, I can tell you have been using your bow and arrow for a long time now.” The black haired man would take the large mug as well with one hand before sipping some of the refreshing liquid. “I just started using bow and arrows for like… 1 month? I shot like a baby and you shot like an experienced archer.” A soft laugh came from his lips as he scratched the back of his head before changed his expression back to a bright smile and continued, “Was it so strange that an immature like me asking someone who was an expert at this skill to train me?”

The Fanalis was a great archer indeed, however perhaps she underestimates herself due to the lack of fighting experience and that was not even a problem. Her race was designed to be a natural combatant, which means her body would follow every single fighting instinct that she might have when the time came. It would be a nice experience to learn something from a Fanalis, not to mention he could have another ally as well for his adventure.

Never before Altan felt so dumbfounded, the man’s answer was as straight as flying arrows and it pierced right to her heart. “W-what? One month?!” She lost her cool and this was not something that happened every day. The redhead was curious on what kind of training that the man had before and the reason why he wanted to use bow and arrow while he already had a nice Katana as his ally. Judging from his stance from earlier, the man was not an ordinary person, he had to be a natural born expert for weapon handling. Someone like him was a person she looked up a lot sometimes… “If you say that I am better than you in archery… maybe I can say that hard work beats natural talents? However, I do want to make my archery better as well. So perhaps rather than training you, how about we just train together and share some insights?”

The man smiled brighter when Altan brought up an excellent idea, training together sounded amazing and that way both of them could be better together. One that captivated Tenma’s attention was her eyes, although her amethyst orbs gave her bright looking eyes already, however something inside her, a determination perhaps made her eyes looked even brighter. He wondered when the last time he saw someone was so straightforward and bright like this… “That sounds like a good idea, would you mind if we start our training right after this?” The one eyed man would chuckle towards the girl, couldn’t wait to make himself stronger.

If the Fanalis agreed to start right after they had their lunch, Tenma would enjoy a nice lunch together with Altan first before he paid it all, happy that the red haired girl want to have lunch with him. After spending several minutes walking to a nearby training field, Tenma would bring his bow and arrows out and would wait for Altan to do the same. He admired his own bow and arrows although not as much as he loved his own Katana, but his Katana had some kind of attachment with him so he was hoping to get the same kind of attachment towards all of the weapon that he had at the moment.

WC: 219/500

The redhead glanced towards Tenma’s bow and arrow, couldn’t help but to think that it was indeed a fine bow. Just like her own, Tenma’s bow was a recurved composite bow. Not only that, the material used to make his bow and arrows were the same as well. She was surprised to see someone was using the exact same thing as her though, not to mention she crafted her own bow alongside with some elders from her clan. “That bow and arrows… did you craft it by yourself?” Altan tilted her head while waiting for Tenma to answer. She would guess that Tenma didn’t craft it by himself, but if it was like that, she wondered who made his bow since it was finely crafted.

With a sigh escaped from her lips, Altan decided to use her basic bow instead of the crystal bow that she got from an antique market. Like the elders said, she had to go back to the basic before she explore to the other things. “So…” she paused before walking towards the end of the field and placed something similar like a white tablecloth with a large red dot painted on it before tying it between the trees. “Before I start my training, I usually spend the day to meditate and studying the wind. After that, I will start shooting arrows after it got dark to train my vision.” Although she confidently locked her eyes with the one eyed man before, Altan shifted her gaze from the man when she wanted to continue speaking, “…and I usually take more than a week to train myself in order to get used to it. It’s complicated indeed, however it was something like a ritual that I always do. What about you?”

WC: 294/500

“Oh?” Tenma raised his bow a little bit and shook his head, smiling towards the redhead. “No, I asked a blacksmith to craft it for me. Although i did ask him to use specific material. Is there something wrong with the bow and arrows?” He would start to inspect his bow, wondering why the girl would ask him that question. Perhaps it looked sloopy? But it was still perfect for him though and it fits his hand perfectly.

Altan’s ritual was not a problem for Tenma, not at all. In fact he was pretty happy to be able to meet someone who was so dedicated in training like the Fanalis. He could say he might be the same as well, it never took one or two days for you to master something, let alone to become stronger then you were at the moment. “I dont mind. Well then, shall we do it? You can take the lead.”

At first they would meditate, a simple thing for some people but actually a very good thing to do. It really helped to control the thoughts, calming the mind and let Tenma to feel more relaxed. Usually, he would feel readier after he did a meditation and he knew it was because his focus was increasing. One or two hours, he could meditate as long as he like. One time he spent around 8 hours to meditate and the result from it was incredible, his sense were heightened for a short time and he was able to move freely. Although he wondered what Altan said, studying the wind was never a thing for Tenma although he knew the importance. But perhaps Altan could show him what was so interesting about studying the wind later after they finished their meditation.

wc: 515/500

Altan shook her head as well after hearing Tenma’s answer, perhaps she could ask about the maker later after their training. She could notice that the man was excited about the training, even went as far to ask the Fanalis to take the lead. She let out a sigh before sitting leg crossed next to Tenma, she would begin to close her eyes and concentrate. Meditate helped Altan to focus better, one of the perks that she should have as someone who always use bow and arrows. She was pretty amazed by the fact that the man could easily meditate and looked so focused in it in just several second, however she knew best that meditation was not supposed to be a competition.

“Phew....” The redhead sighed before breathing in and out, slowly opening her eyes to get herself ready for the next part of her training. It would be hard to explain how the wind reading work if Tenma asked, however Altan did understand how it worked by using her wet pointy finger before she put it up on eye level just to feel where the wind was going. If she was able to know where the wind was going, then the arrow that she would shot wouldnt sway and miss the target, except the person had a bad control over their own arrows. “So actually I only wet my finger and use it to determine where the wind is going. What makes me need a long hours to train? Because I always try to find the strongest wind blow to shoot some arrows alongside with it.”

WC: 562/500

Tenma whistled playfully after he heard Altan’s explanations, “I understand, it seems you like to do something perfectly, eh? If not perfectly, you just like to do things right and seriously.” A chuckle escaped the man’s lips as he praised the Fanalis, “I like it, it has been a long time since I do things seriously.” There was a several meaning behind his words, but he didn’t bother to explain it further and would just move along with the training. He would remove his glove and starts wetting his finger, just enough for him to feel the chill of the wind caressing his wet finger. It was actually something that his father taught him a long time ago, but he was not that eager to use bow and would rather use sword all the time so he neglected that training. “The wind is blowing towards the north, a perfect time for us to practice our shooting don’t you think?” Tenma said as he raised his hand up, feeling the wind once again.

The man would then grab his bow and arrows, couldn’t wait to shoot it any longer. He felt excited just like a child with a new toy. He would slowly put himself in a position and would try to determine the target of his shooting, he found several birds flying around the sky and thought it would be perfect to target one of them so he could use them as a meal for tonight. So he would aim his arrow towards the bird and slowly pull the string before releasing it towards the bird, successfully pierced one right at its left wing and waited until it fell down towards the ground.

WC: 500+/500

“Mm…” Altan nodded, agreeing to what Tenma said, “Well, I do like to do it perfectly. Not everything has to be perfect but it’s just satisfying for myself. Plus me being serious maybe just because of my own personality.” The woman would do the same thing as the man, trying to feel the wind. “Although you seems to be a serious person too when I first saw you, with a hint of sadness apparent from your eyes. Correct me if I’m wrong though.” With another nod, Altan agreed to just start shooting practice with Tenma after he suggested it and stayed still when she saw the one eyed man shot the bird. His stance and pose was definitely okay, she couldn’t find anything wrong with it and still wondered why the man would need her assistance for archery. The female would follow what Tenma did as well as she aimed her arrow towards the bird, using the wind as a supporting strength as the arrow smoothly pierced towards the other bird. “I guess this could be our dinner tonight?” She smiled a little, recalling her time at her tribe where things like this was her daily task.

After she removed her arrow from the bird and put the bird away together with Tenma’s victim, Altan would clean the arrow from blood, didn’t want the stain to stay there because it would be hard to clean. She would began to aim for a harder thing, a smaller and moving object so she thought that shooting some flying leaves would let her get some kind of difficulties in training and help her to aim better in the future. “Do you want to make it as a competition? I want to try my luck by shooting the falling leaves.” Altan smiled at the one eyed man, challenged him.

WC: 500+/500

Altan was a very good archer in Tenma’s opinion and he aimed to be as good as her or even better than her, however it was not the time to think like that because he enjoyed the training with the Fanalis and could only hope it would be as entertaining as that moment until they finished their training. “You are not wrong, my fair lady. Also, I agree, the birds could be our dinner tonight.” He beamed the redhead with a bright smile, happy that she understood why he aimed the bird and not a more difficult object.

“Competition?” Tenma raised an eyebrow, smirking as he was interested to what Altan had suggested. “Falling leaves… interesting. Let’s do it, I will try to not lose.” The man chuckled as he suddenly raised his bow and shot one of the falling leaves immediaetely without any warning. “Well, I got one.”

WC: 500+/500

The redhead raised an eyebrow when the one eyed man stole the start, staring at him with a judgemental gaze. “Stay calm, Altan, you can win this.” The Fanalis said to herself mentally before adding some more motivational word to calm down, ”Remember this is also a training…”. Right after that, with a swift move, the redhead began to shot her arrow towards the falling leaves twice, didn’t want to lose against the swordsman at all. “Two.” She said with a straight tone before preparing herself to shot more, she missed some because of the change of the wind direction, but so far her eyes and aiming method were adapting to it. After she spend several days or even weeks training, she was sure she would be better than Tenma, or even better, to win from him.

The Fanalis made sure she forced herself to do the same training routine for two weeks, starting from, several hours meditating, aiming training, shooting training and even the competition that she did with Tenma to make the training more fun. By the time she had finished her training, it was visible that Altan had developed a better aiming method although her finger are kind of bruised because of the excessive shooting that she did. It was a little sacrifice in order for her to get stronger though. “So… how many do you got?” She would ask Tenma, determined to get more score than the man.

WC: 500+/500 [Ranger training D->C ]

It was fun seeing the Fanalis get all worked up like that, especially when she started to retaliate for Tenma’s action from before where he stole the start without warning. With a chuckle, he thought the game was finally on between Altan and him before preparing himself to shot more arrow towards the falling leaves. The more he shot him arrow towards his target, the more his body remember the way he wanted to move and slowly adapting to it. It was fun doing this kind of thing during their training, while it was important to pay attention to his own stance and shooting method, splitting his concentration while doing both the training and the competition was difficult ye fun and challenging. The routine meditation helped him to focus on daily basis, the wind tracking helped him to determine the good direction and shooting method, not only that, all this shooting that he did really made Tenma happy with the result of his hard work.

Two weeks training was not a waste after all and not only that, he was pretty sure he did a great job in the competition as well. When Altan asked him about how many leaves that he managed to shot, Tenma just chuckled before replying, “Well, i dont think i shot as many as you. Less than 500, i think?”

WC: 500+/500 [Ranger D-> C]