10 Training and Comprehending

Cough!

"Lady Isolde... is your..... behavior appropriate?" asked Alec with a light smile. Isolde suddenly realizing her place let go of Zhen Shi, with her face a bright shade of red, the tears still lightly visible on her eyes.

Old man, what are you doing? You ruined this handsome self's fun! Could it be that you're jealous?AHHH!!! System this time you're colluding with this old man Alec right?

System "...."

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"Isolde, what's wrong? Did someone trouble you?" Zhen Shi asked her in confusion while simultaneously wondering, 'Could it be that this handsome and scholarly self's archery talent is so godly, that it made her fall in love with me?' and staring daggers at Alec.

Butler Alec could only force a smile as he felt Zhen Shi's unhappy gaze. "Shut up kid. Forget it, in return, this old man will help you to perfect your skills." Zhen Shi grimaced, "Old man, I didn't even say anything to you. More importantly, do you think you're worthy of being my teacher?" Alec grinned and said, "meh... young man, if you don't want my help just say so."

Zhen Shi smiled, no matter what this old butler's archery skill and experience was the real deal, "No, No, Butler Alec is truly skilled, the God of Archery! Now come and give this young and unexperienced self some guidance." Alec grimaced, this kid...!

Isolde who had been watching their conversation had a smile playing on her lips. She had been feeling guilty and unhappy before but this warm atmosphere had completely thawed away her sorrow. Butler Alec had taken care of her since she was a little child. To her whose father was always busy with official duty, old man Alec had been the real father figure, but he was rarely truly happy even though that kind smile was always on his face. Seeing him enjoy himself in this manner filled her heart with happiness. She felt even more satisfied with Zhen Shi.

Alec shook his head and said, "Come, young man, follow me," while starting to walk back towards the mansion. Zhen Shi and Isolde followed him. Zhen Shi was currently happily following the role of a good and obedient student. After all, he wasn't going to slap a gift horse in the face! On the way, they ran into several servants, who bowed respectfully. Lightly acknowledging them they continued onwards.

Along the way, just when they passed an isolated hall, Zhen Shi's advanced hearing and attunement with the air aether let him hear a light and muffled sound of screaming originating from deep within that hall. These screams were simply animalistic as if the person in question had fallen into complete despair, under never-ending pain.

Zhen Shi frowned and stopped staring at that hall, FUCK! Does this place have a torture chamber or something? He didn't doubt Isolde and Alec but he couldn't help but frown in worry.

Seeing him stop, Isolde and Alec paused as well. "Kid, what's the matter?" asked the old man with a questioning look. Zhen Shi shook his head, "Nothing. I thought I heard someone screaming from within this hall. I suppose it must've been a torture chamber?" Alec lightly frowned while looking at the hall in question but still nodded and said, "Of course. Our mansion has captured countless spies and criminals. Torturing them isn't all that unusual..." Zhen Shi nodded in understanding albeit slightly skeptically.

But now with the question solved, Alec walked forwards with Zhen Shi following him. However, Isolde paused for a moment and turned to look at the hall with a face of disgust and anger. But moments later she too followed the duo with a light sigh of helplessness.

Pretty soon, Butler Alec walked into a dark corner of the mansion, which looked dreary and slightly uncared for. Zhen Shi was slightly surprised to find such an area in the pristine and perfect noble mansion he had seen so far. Butler Alec lightly waved his hand causing a nearby wall to disappear revealing a passage hidden behind it.

NANI? Is this the legendary secret passage that leads to the treasures, skills, and pills of the mansion?

Zhen Shi found it unbelievable as he had previously swept the corner with his powerful spiritual sense. He grew weary in his mind as he realized that if the count's mansion held such powerful illusions, the Lyonesse kingdom was definitely not simple either!

Isolde calmly spoke out, "This place leads to a secret chamber discovered by Grandpa Alec and me when I was a little girl. My father gifted it to him and Grandpa Alec used it to set up a training ground." Zhen Shi nodded as they continued into the passage. Soon they arrived at a dark and open space. From initial probing, Zhen Shi could feel that this place was fairly large. Actually, it was larger than what could be held within the mansion walls leading him to believe that some spatial magic was at play.

Alec clapped, suddenly causing the roof to rumble and spread apart giving way to the sky and sunlight lightening the room. The now sunlit room revealed itself to be filled with shelves of weapons and randomly assorted targets for practice. There were some uniques setups that Zhen Shi felt had come straight out of those martial art stories for the main character to train and grow stronger. He grinned happily as he imagined himself growing stronger here...

Alec noticing his gaze frowned, "Kid what are you staring at and grinning for? Those are some stuff I made for children. What you'll be using are those," pointing at two distinct devices. Zhen Shi looked at what he was showing and gaped,

YOUR MOTHER! Are those TORTURE DEVICES? Is this why people were screaming? Could it be that you want me to train to become a torturer or a male DOMINATRIX? Could it be that... this kind and simple Alec was a DOMINATRIX as well?? though Zhen Shi as he stared at Alec with judging eyes.

Butler Alec frowned under his gaze, "Shut up kid. This is some of my best training equipment, many would fight over a chance to use them. Here I'll show you how there used."

Butler Alec shook his head lightly smiling as he walked over to the equipment. Isolde giggled seeing this comedic show between the two. Alec put his hand into a small cuff, that Zhen Shi had previously thought was used to restrain people, and tightened it. It spread out to form a glove.

"Young man, this is a glove that can be used to strengthen your finger strength. Fingers are important tools for an archer. I noticed that although your power was overwhelmingly great, it was still not sufficient the bow you wield."

He then pointed at the pool which was sealed except for a small entrance, which Zhen Shi had figured was for drowning people or some strange type of water play, and said, "This is filled with a special type of liquid diamond. Although diamond is valuable, there are very few uses for this liquid diamond. It is at least 10 times denser than water and can be used to train movement techniques."

Alec continued speaking, "Furthermore, by strengthening your ability to move around in it, once you come out it will help you to grow closer to air aether. Control over the air is another important factor for archers. But the liquid diamond can also be deadly if absorbed through your pores. So sealing off your pores will have to be done simultaneously while training. This drawback is one of the reasons that many do not use liquid diamond for training."

Alec also brought out a bunch of black bands and a vest. "These are specially made heavy equipment, wear them while you train. Also once I am satisfied with your performance I'll impart onto you a fairly good close combat skill for archers."

Isolde's eyes widened at Alec's words. But Alec looked at Zhen Shi curiously to see how he would react.

Zhen Shit took in all of this. He had been wrong regarding his initial guess, but they could all go to hell if he'd ever acknowledged his mistake! Thus he nonchalantly asked, "Old man, I'm thankful for all of this. In fact the entire time, I was thinking your training equipment is TOPNOTCH, but why are you even going this far to help me?"

Alec was surprised by his shameless statement and the sudden question. In the end he laughed out loud shaking his head in exasperation and saying, "Shameless kid, get to work!" Zhen Shi grinned in a satisfied manner as he put on the finger training gloves. They greatly tightened his fingers and made their movement next to impossible. He also put on the weighted clothing. Although rather heavy it wasn't unmanageable for his core formation physique. He then immediately jumped into the diamond pool.

"Wai---" shouted out Alec. He ran over to the pool to help Zhen Shi out. It was extremely difficult to manage all three types of training simultaneously even for him and this kid had jumped in without a warning...

Indeed, Zhen Shi had been initially stifled. He had underestimated the pool, so he had immediately cranked up the level of up to 50% strengthening his body hidden under the liquid diamond, with scales and feathers. With these scales and feathers, he did not need to seal off his pores as they completely eradicated the one disadvantage of this training. As the old man arrived at the entrance to the pool with a worried face, Zhen Shi nonchalantly lifted his head, "Old man, what are you looking so worried for? Worrying isn't good for the elderly you know?" Alec looked at him in surprise and admiration, however, he noted the light bestial nature in his eyes and thus assumed a special technique.

Visibly relaxing, "Idiot kid, get out now before you drown yourself," he said. Zhen Shi shook his head, "Old man, relax, I can handle this much." Alec shook his head as well, "Fine young man, let's see how long you last with that technique" and walked back.

Isolde who did not have a clear understanding regarding this watched on in an amused fashion. Since that moment in the archery grounds, she had decided to trust Zhen Shi's ability and not to doubt him so easily.

As Alec walked back she asked him, "Grandpa Alec, why DID you go so far to teach him? Even planning to teach that skill of yours?" Butler Alec shook his head, "Nevermind that, my lady, but are you aware that his name is Zhen Shi?" Isolde frowned questioningly, "So?" Alec continued with a light smile, "It's highly possible he is of that Zhen Clan. With his level of talent, he could even be someone of important stature in his clan. Do you think we should report this to Lord Count?" Isolde frowned even further, "Just because his surname is Zhen doesn't mean he is of that clan. More importantly, I don't want to see him get hurt." Alec smiled deeply and nodded, "Neither do I."

"So?" asked Isolde once again. Alec looked at her questioningly, Isolde smiled and continued, "You ignored my first question. Why are you teaching him?" Alec smiled, "I'll tell you... if you tell me why you suddenly jumped off your balcony and hugged him." Isolde was speechless at this, but their conversation halted as they looked on in stupefaction at Zhen Shi in the diamond pool.

In fact, Zhen Shi could've handled this task fairly easily with full but that would've beaten the point of the training. Thus he had decided to maintain it at 50% and had attempted to walk about while moving his fingers. However, this too proved fairly easy as he soon started to practice more complex moves. Punches, strikes, flying kicks, jumping jacks and all sorts of complex motions. As his resistance to the high-density liquid diamond improved, he slowly weakened and continued his training by repeating his previous movements.

Alec and Isolde were greatly impressed and continued to watch his training as he continued to practice in this manner for several hours.

By the time the sun visible through the gap in the cavern had started to set, Zhen Shi had gained insights into aqua and earthen aether. Since liquid diamond was several times denser than water, rapidly gaining insights into water aether was not surprising. As for earthen aether, diamond is a type of mineral originating from the earth, no matter how special it was or what state it was in.

Now feeling rather tired, Zhen Shi started to get out of the pool while canceling . Isolde started to hurry over to welcome him but Alec held her back, as he continued to watch Zhen Shi in expectation.

Meanwhile, Zhen Shi was very satisfied with the training because when he had used the at a higher level he was able to speed up the rate of Otaku Point gain and had gotten 5 OP so far. In addition, he was now able to maintain his previous level of movement within the liquid diamond at just 40% of the skill. But for now, he seemed to have hit his limit in improving his movement in the diamond pool.

But he soon forgot that, as a strange feeling came over him just as he came out. As he exited the pool, the pressure he had been under disappeared replaced with the cool touch of air. The air lightly danced over his body as if in pity for the rigorous training his muscles had undergone. Indeed, the level of improvement Zhen Shi had shown in just a single day would have been completely impossible had it not been for the physical strengthening by the dragon and vermillion bird bloodlines.

But now, he closed his eyes reveling in this newfound comfort. He felt as if he was one with the air itself and began to move about like a light breeze. He danced about as if he was a part of the wind itself. As a result, Zhen Shi was able to just barely comprehend the true nature of wind aether and something much more complex, which even he felt impossible to explain. Isolde and Alec watched his wind-like movements in surprise.

Now coming to a stop, Zhen Shi felt his understanding of air aether interact with the bow shadow in his dantian. Thus he brought his hands into the position of holding a bow and arrow, as if in a trance. Miraculously a bow similar to his own appeared materialized using pure air. Then he stretched the string with an arrow of air while wearing the finger gloves.

Alec looked on in stupefaction, but with a hint of pride in his eyes. Materializing the bow! This was something only someone with both a sufficient understanding of air aether and the art of archery could achieve. The former Zhen Shi's arduous archery training had paid off now.

But Zhen Shi's mind was empty, free of other thoughts, and the arrow shot out! There was no sound, after all, all he used was air to shoot. Thus the arrow was completely unimpeded by air as well. After all, how could the same thing impede itself? The arrow shot off like a fish in water, happily dancing about as if it had returned home. Still, this did not affect the speed in any way, as the aerial arrow which had been in Zhen Shi's hand suddenly reappeared struck on a target. These targets were several times stronger than the previous ones and did not break under the power of the materialized arrows.

Still, most skilled archers, even those able to materialize the bow didn't use it to attack. This was because they could usually reach a better level of strength with an actual bow, but most importantly because the manifested arrow disappeared almost immediately after striking a target unless the archer had a very powerful spiritual sense. Thus using the materialized bow greatly reduced the dealt damage unless you had a very powerful cultivation or soul. However, Alec was even more stupefied.... as Zhen Shi's arrow did not disappear.

In reality, Zhen Shi's hands were a blur. It wasn't that his aerial arrow did not disappear. It was just that he kept on shooting arrow after arrow. So that when one disappeared it would immediately be replaced by another. His speed of shooting was so great that even Alec, a spirit formation expert could see nothing but a lasting aerial arrow.

To achieve this speed Zhen Shi was utilizing almost all of his spirit roots. Earthen to strengthen the arrows and his connection to the earth itself, Fiery to give an explosive start, Aqua to let them swim about in air and obviously Aerial. He was even subconsciously using primordial chaos to teleport these arrows, albeit lightly. Only then could he reach this speed at his current level of strength.

Moreover, he wasn't using Vermillion Dragonification at full power and was being impeded by the weighted clothes and finger gloves. However, using primordial chaos again would be difficult as this was a moment of epiphany.

Isolde watched on in amazement, his body lightly glistening under the now setting sun, his hands a blur causing these miraculous events to occur... he looked godly. Alec too was greatly impressed and was now confident that Zhen Shi had surpassed him in sheer power, but had still a ways to go in terms of comprehension. Zhen Shi was indeed born to be a divine archer!

As Zhen Shi gradually left this state of comprehension, he slowly let the bow dematerialize. He gazed at his palms in surprise as he too was unable to believe his gains in one mere day of training. Now finally free, Isolde ran over to him smiling and grabbed his hand saying, "That was amazing Zhen Shi, I have never seen even Grandpa Alec doing something like that!"

Alec smiled walking over, "HMPH, don't underestimate the elderly, young lady, and especially you, young man. I just never showed off this skill."

"Huh? Old man your just jealous that Isolde is holding my hand right?" said Zhen Shi grinning. Immediately Isolde let go of his hand blushing bright red. Zhen Shi grimaced, Me and MY SCHOLARLY MOUTH!

Alec grinned happily at this turn of events and continued, "Kid are you done with your training now?"

Zhen Shi shook his head, "No, Old man I feel like I could do better." Old man Alec nodded in agreement, "Indeed, you're pretty close to my current level, but reaching it won't be easy to reach it. Here," he said while throwing him a leatherback book titled, Descending Bow. "That holds my close combat skill for archers and also some of my understanding and conclusions. You've already earned it. I can't make you understand the art of archery, as such it'll be up to you..."

Zhen Shi was grateful for his help, but still quite unhappy at being underestimated. Old man, what do you know? If I wasn't wearing a pair of pants right now, a mere flip and you'll be stupefied and become a sitting duck under my !

Alec lightly paused and looked at Zhen Shi with a frown. Zhen Shi was stupefied, FUCK! CAN THIS OLD MAN READ MINDS? Still, Old man Alec shook his head with a smile and continued, "Kid I have some work to take care of. As for this place," he said while looking around at the secret room now just barely lit under the setting sun. "Isolde will be with you so she'll be able to take you in and out. But..... you better not do anything ungentlemanly!" he said with playful anger in his eyes. Isolde blushed again but with a slight smile on her face.

Zhen Shi played along, Jeez! It's an old man, so I shouldn't give him too much to worry about.

"Of course, I'm a gentleman. If I dare to call myself the second in being a 'gentle' man, no one will dare call themselves the first! So no need to worry, and increase your blood pressure for no reason." Still, he grinned as well, "See you old man," said Zhen Shi waving his hand. Alec laughed out loud and waved his hand in return as he left the room.

Isolde smiled again in satisfaction as she looked at their interaction. Her heart was filled with a deep desire to protect this satisfying feeling. As for Zhen Shi, he was now oblivious to his surroundings as he sat cross-legged on the grounds reading the old man's skill book.

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering skill

But Zhen Shi didn't pay any attention to this, as he was focused on reading the old man's understanding and conclusions. He couldn't improve simply from it, but it did show him a clear path to follow for the moment. After some time having finished reading the skill book, he finally paid attention to the skill he had learned. Unlike comprehension, skills could apparently be learned directly using the system.

His eyes widened. FUCK! This will definitely catch anyone off guard. The was an unconventional skill using the bow itself as a weapon to attack. Although Zhen Shi could use spells and punches, this would give him a chance to surprise the enemy. Of course, the skill wasn't merely hitting with a bow. It was a refined and clever skill compiling the old man's achievements in the art of archery. It could be considered his legacy!

Zhen Shi's eyes glistened maliciously as he imagined himself wreaking havoc all over a battlefield, whacking people left and right with his divine bow!