"Since I've taken on the task of teaching you archery, I'll be sure to teach you well. First, the way you draw the bow. If your form is incorrect, it's very easy to injure yourself."
"Teacher Elysia, I've used the Longbow of Peace before. I know a thing or two about archery; I'm aware of the basics."
"You know a thing or two my foot! Was that drawing a bow? That was launching a missile! Watch carefully and learn properly."
"Oh..."
Still, does teaching someone how to use a bow really require getting this close?
Looking at Elysia holding his hands, teaching him step-by-step how to use the bow, Chen Li pondered for a second before choosing to abandon all thought.
Chen Li's super comprehension told him that now was the time to learn archery.
---o---
"Your stance is the foundation of archery. It determines your body's stability when you shoot."
"Nocking the arrow is just as important as drawing the bow. Especially the draw—as a beginner, you need the bowstring to touch your face to better lock onto the enemy's position. From that perspective, it can be quite troublesome for girls with good figures to learn, you know. Like me."
"When aiming, keep your breathing steady and minimize any swaying of your body."
"Very good. you're a fast learner. You've already mastered all the basic techniques of archery," Elysia said, looking at her student with considerable satisfaction.
"Mhm, I have indeed reached the entry-level," Chen Li said, glancing at his skills panel.
Bow Combat Arts LV2 (11/200)
With the buff from his Level 2 Curio Forger profession, Chen Li could quickly master any LV1 skill.
Coupled with the fact that he had put all his points into comprehension and learning speed, mastering Bow Combat Arts was simple.
"Learning Bow Combat Arts requires patience and calmness. Since you've already learned all the basic techniques of Elysian Bow Combat Arts, now... go take down that five-meter-tall Chariot-class Honkai Beast." Elysia pressed the practice button in the Flame-Chaser training room, and a Honkai Beast was released into the chamber.
"Huh? Can I use my killing aura?" Chen Li asked casually.
[The Arrow That Once Slew a Million Youkai] (Miracle Card), Effect 2: Your learning speed for any skill related to "arrows" and ranged combat will skyrocket, and you will imbue your ranged weapons with a "killing aura" effect. This effect grows stronger with the number of youkai, demons, ghosts, monsters, and evil people you slay.
"No killing aura. You have to kill this Honkai Beast with a standard-issue weapon," Elysia called out from the side.
It was precisely because Elysia knew Chen Li had this skill that she hadn't stopped him from learning archery.
Times had changed. If you couldn't gather magical energy to form magic arrows, and you didn't have a killing aura to enhance your arrows' power, you might as well just use a gun.
"Ah?" Chen Li looked at Elysia, his eyes filled with confusion.
Are you serious?
This was like playing Elden Ring. You start as a Wretch, and the tutorial teaches you how to use the directional keys, jump, and roll...
Very good, now go defeat the Tree Sentinel!
"This is the only way to get effective training. Besides, if you can kill this Chariot-class Honkai Beast within half an hour, there's a reward," Elysia said with a mysterious smile.
"Even if you say that..."
"Plus, I'll give you something that's guaranteed to contain a precious Entry!"
"Ooh! I'm fired up!" Chen Li instantly gripped the longbow tighter.
Chen Li's super comprehension told him it was time to use super combat intuition!
Then, Chen Li poured all the experience from his other skills into Bow Combat Arts!
---o---
Chariot-class Honkai Beasts were notorious as rookie killers in the Flame-Chaser's records.
Even a well-trained soldier, armed with only a cold weapon, had an extremely low chance of survival against a five-meter-tall Chariot-class Honkai Beast.
For a novice like Chen Li to face one, the odds were 50/50.
The Honkai Beast would run Chen Li ragged in five minutes.
At least, that was what Elysia had originally thought.
She had even prepared a consolation prize for him already.
"..."
"Uh, Teacher Elysia, why are you staring at me like that?" Chen Li asked in a small voice, feeling a little creeped out by her intense gaze.
At his feet lay the successfully slain Chariot-class Honkai Beast, which was slowly dissipating.
"Don't call me teacher. You're better at Elysian Bow Combat Arts than I am. I should be calling you teacher," Elysia said dejectedly.
"Alright, little Ely, why are you staring at me like that?"
"???"
Seeing Chen Li look at her with such earnest concern, Elysia couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Are you being serious?" Elysia reached out and pinched Chen Li's cheek.
You rebellious disciple!
"Ah, sorry. I just put all my points into combat intuition, so my EQ dropped to zero." Chen Li, whose eyes had been as clear as a college student's, quickly returned to normal and clasped his hands together in apology.
"Points? What points?" Curiosity once again took over Elysia's thoughts.
Of course, the reason the topic changed so quickly was also because Chen Li's words were sufficiently "sincere"—he had always found Elysia very beautiful.
"It's an allocation ability. It lets me reallocate my body's objective attributes and the experience from all my skills. It seems that while allocating too extremely can increase efficiency, it also creates various problems," Chen Li said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Elysia had clearly been expressing her curiosity just now, but the Chen Li of that moment genuinely hadn't been able to see it.
He was the ultimate straight man.
"I see. So just now, you poured all the experience from your other skills into my Bow Combat Arts, which is why you dealt with the Chariot-class Honkai Beast so easily, right?" Elysia said thoughtfully.
"That's right. And I've noticed that even after deactivating that state, my experience in Bow Combat Arts has genuinely increased quite a bit," Chen Li said.
Bow Combat Arts LV2 (101/200)
He had trained for over half an hour and only gained 111 EXP, raising his skill to LV2 (11/200), and that was with the bonus from his Curio Forger profession level (Position).
But after spending five minutes defeating one Chariot-class Honkai Beast, he gained 90 EXP directly.
This meant... practicing the skill after reaching a high level in it yielded a massive amount of experience.
"Coach, I want to learn this! I'm willing to trade my insomnia for a faster metabolism. That way, I can get a good night's sleep every day and eat whatever I want without getting fat!" Elysia quickly raised her hand.
"You want all the good things for yourself, don't you? But I've never used this skill on anyone else. Let me see..." Chen Li gestured at Elysia while placing a hand on her shoulder, attempting to "allocate" her stats.
After a good while, Chen Li removed his hand from her shoulder and shook his head at her regretfully.
"Doctor, what's wrong with me? Don't tell me I'm a lost cause?" Elysia quickly grabbed Chen Li's hand, looking like she was on the verge of tears, seeming extremely nervous.
"It's hopeless. I recommend burial. And leave my name in the will."
"Wuwuwu~"
"Ahem, okay, let's be serious. The good news is, it can be adjusted. The bad news is, the allocation is permanent, and you can't trade your insomnia for your metabolic rate," Chen Li said with a shrug.
"Is that so... then never mind. Let's just keep practicing archery. But this time, let's switch up the teaching method," Elysia said, raising a finger.
She had an idea.
"Hmm?"
"You teach me. I have a feeling your Elysian Bow Combat Arts skill level might be even higher than mine now," Elysia said, patting Chen Li's shoulder.
"That makes sense." Chen Li nodded thoughtfully.
He remembered a method called the Feynman Learning Technique: explain what you've learned to someone else. If you can explain it clearly, then you've truly mastered it.
Chen Li had just checked; Elysia's Elysian Bow Combat Arts was LV8, while his was LV10, but his current skill experience wasn't enough to support a limit break.
The experience required to break through to LV11 was an astronomical figure.
Everyone was constantly improving.
In the Previous Era, Kevin improved the fastest, but Elysia's pace was not slow either.
"So, let's go!" Elysia was full of motivation.
Next time, I'll definitely solo a Herrscher!
"Go where?"
"To the battlefield for some practical, hands-on instruction, of course." Elysia grabbed Chen Li's hand and ran out of the training room.
"Oh, right. Weren't you going to give me that precious Entry? What is it?"
"You blockhead, shouldn't you ask what reward I prepared for you first?" Elysia shot Chen Li a look.
"Good point. So... what's the Entry?"
"..."
---o---
"Hmph! See for yourself what the Entry is!" Elysia crossed her arms and turned her head to the side in a pout.
"Emm... I think I'll look at the special reward first." Chen Li's instincts told him that since he had already gotten the item, saying a few nice words wouldn't hurt.
"Really?"
"Alright, that was a lie. Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is simply a perfect creation!" Chen Li looked at the crystal before him, marveling.
Look at this translucency, this posture, this color, this...
Elysia had dragged Chen Li to a place teeming with Honkai Beasts, where they engaged in intense practical combat for the entire afternoon.
In Chen Li's words, he felt like Elysia had drained him of all his knowledge, while Elysia herself was growing at an extremely rapid pace.
Seeing this, the drained Chen Li felt that his life was without regrets.
And now, it was finally time for Elysia to fulfill her promise.
"If you put it that way, then I can't really stay mad. What do you think? I originally intended to give this to you as your ultimate graduation gift. But... now it's hard to say who graduated first." Elysia was very pleased with Chen Li's current expression.
"But Elysia, what made you think of carving a crystal into your own likeness?" Chen Li asked casually as he looked at the statue, which was practically a life-sized figure of Elysia.
The entire statue was formed from pink crystal, mysterious and magnificent.
"Don't you need Entries to forge Curios? I think the greatest miracle in this world is me," Elysia said with a wink of her left eye, one hand on her hip.
A beautiful girl like Elysia, how could that not be a miracle?
"You're quite self-aware."
"You're not allowed to refute... Ahem, you've got good taste." Elysia, who had been about to argue, paused for a moment and masked her delight with a compliment towards Chen Li.
So direct!
Who taught you that?
Don't tell me you put all your points into EQ?
"Wipe that smile off your face. I'll give you ten seconds," Chen Li kindly reminded Elysia, whose lips were curled into a smile she couldn't suppress.
"I won't. Sincere praise from others should be accepted as it is. This gift is also part of my thanks for helping me forge my Curio. But... you are absolutely not allowed to sell this gift to people from other worlds like you do with ordinary crystals. People from this world are off-limits too. Otherwise..." Elysia trailed off, simply making a fist to threaten him.
"Don't worry, my EQ isn't that low. Selling some fake panaceas is enough. I will treasure this gift. After extracting the Entries, I'll display it at home and worship it every day. I'll only use the Entries to forge Curios for myself or for you. How does that sound?"
"Fake panaceas?"
"I meant longevity pills."
"I seem to have heard something I shouldn't have," Elysia blinked, then decisively chose to forget what she had just heard.
"In any case, I am extremely satisfied with this statue. Thank you very much for this gift," Chen Li expressed his gratitude directly.
[True Self], [Innocence], [Beauty]...
Just as Elysia had said, this was indeed an item containing precious Entries.
Perhaps because Elysia had poured a considerable amount of her own emotions into creating this statue, the color of the [True Self] Entry was not faint.
Besides being influenced by the inherent nature of an item, Entries could also be born from the meaning bestowed upon the item by time, space, and fate.
This also meant that under specific circumstances, people who could create miracles and produce moments of great significance to time, space, and fate could possess their own exclusive Entries.
For example, Elysia's [True Self], Vill-V's [Helix], or even the Aeon of Abundance's [Abundance].
These Entries often had special uses.
For instance, they contained a vast amount of information. Using just a single one of these Entries could potentially forge a Curio with outstanding effects.
"I'm glad you're satisfied. So, are you really not curious about the secret reward I prepared for you?" Elysia hovered around Chen Li, repeatedly urging him to ask the question.
"So, what is the secret reward?"
"Treat me to a meal!"
"???"
"And then, you can unlock a feature with me called [Elysia's Mystery Shop]."
"So what products are currently in this mystery shop?"
"Lots of things. For example, Elysia's lessons, Elysia's sparring partnership, the adventure commission function, and changing nicknames."
"Adventure commission?" Chen Li felt that should be his line.
"For example, if you want to see another side of Dr. Mobius, you can commission me to find a way to get her into a pink dress," Elysia said, feigning thoughtfulness on his behalf.
"That's clearly what you want to see, isn't it? What about changing nicknames?"
Alright, Chen Li had to admit, he did want to see that, just a tiny bit.
"It's just as it sounds. I'll change how I address you."
"Is there anything else? Like a service to lull me to sleep?"
Who wouldn't want to drift off to sleep to the sound of Miss Pink Elf's singing?
Although in that situation, it would probably be impossible to fall asleep at all.
"A very honest statement. Good, very energetic! But... subsequent products will be unlocked after you increase your affection level with Elysia," Elysia said with a mischievous smile.
"Alright, let's go eat! You can have as much as you want." Chen Li took out a pink salary card.
"Hey, wait, isn't that my salary card? Treating me to a meal with my own salary card, you really are a clever little devil." Despite her teasing, Elysia followed Chen Li out.
Words were pointless. It was time to eat!