The Marvelous Lightning Bow

Early the next morning.

When the carpenters came to visit Blair again with their tools, they were astonished to find the guards using rollers and planks to move a strange, thick piece of charred wood beside the stone house.

Their eyes immediately widened—

As carpenters, they were more familiar than anyone with every kind of tree on this island.

Though that log was blackened all over,

they recognized its origin at a glance.

It was the Redwood bestowed by the gods.

"Divine Wood!"

"Chief Richie kept his promise and bestowed the Divine Wood upon Blair."

"But why is it pitch-black, as if it had been scorched by fire?"

"Could it be different from the redwood trees by the shore?"

The people began speculating and discussing it heatedly.

Richie had the guards temporarily disperse the excited crowd of onlookers.

Then, facing the kneeling Blair, he gestured for him to come forward.

"Try touching this redwood."

That was what Richie said to Blair.

Blair froze at first. Encouraged by Richie's gaze, he cautiously placed his hand on the redwood.

Immediately, a tingling numbness ran through him.

Startled, he jerked his hand away on instinct.

The strange force flowing from the charred redwood into his body made him stiffen violently. Only after a while did his body gradually regain its flexibility.

For those few seconds, it felt as though his body no longer belonged to him.

"This is what makes this redwood, which was once struck by lightning, so extraordinary. It possesses the power to temporarily paralyze living things. If you keep touching it, your entire body will collapse to the ground, unable to move, just like animals struck by lightning and scorched black. Only animal hides can block the transmission of this power."

Only after seeing Blair experience that power firsthand did Richie explain everything to him.

He looked at Blair meaningfully.

"Now, it belongs to you. What you name it and how you use it will be up to you. I hope you will not disappoint the gods' expectations and will truly bring out the value of this Divine Wood."

Hearing the chief's words, Blair knelt there in stunned, fearful amazement.

Because he knew what an immense honor this was.

Originally, he had merely asked whether he could take a small piece of wood.

Yet Chief Richie had actually rewarded him with an entire section of magnificent redwood.

And this redwood bearing the power of lightning was likely the most extraordinary of all redwoods.

It represented the chief's trust in him.

At that thought, Blair felt both thrilled and deeply uneasy.

"Chief, I... I..."

Struggle showed on his face.

This reward was simply too precious.

So precious that he was even afraid to use it.

He feared that he might accidentally damage this magnificent wood.

But—

Seeing the object of his dreams right before his eyes,

he could not bring himself to utter a single word of refusal.

"Blair, since you asked for something bestowed by the gods, you must possess the courage and resolve to bear it."

Richie saw through the turmoil in the young man's heart.

He merely looked at Blair, kneeling on the ground with struggle written across his face, and spoke calmly.

Blair stared at the chief for a long time.

At last, the uncertainty in his eyes faded.

He bowed heavily to the chief.

"Chief, I have made up my mind. This god-given wood will not belong to me alone. It will be a precious treasure belonging to the entire Tribe."

"Let it be called Thunder-Struck Wood. I will study it properly and contribute to the Tribe."

Over the next few months, Blair shut himself away like a man possessed, studying the Divine Wood.

No one dared approach and disturb him.

Only a few guards, clad in fur coats, occasionally went to his home.

They carried out their duty of protecting Blair, fearing that he might accidentally touch the Divine Wood for too long without animal hides and put himself in danger. They were also there to watch Blair at all times.

Such days continued for a long while.

Then one day, Blair, his eyes bloodshot, slowly pushed open his door.

Gaunt yet excited, he ran around the stone house and announced to everyone.

"I succeeded!"

After spending several months studying the peculiar lightning properties of the redwood, Blair had successfully invented a weapon that could make the fullest use of those properties.

The Lightning Bow.

A ranged weapon.

The name of this weapon quickly reached Richie's guard unit.

The close-combat warriors, who knew only how to fight at arm's length, found the finely crafted ranged weapon incredibly novel in appearance.

The weapon known as the Lightning Bow looked like a strange, uneven wooden stick.

White resin had been applied to both ends, while only the middle section was left empty.

People were extremely curious about how Blair had applied that marvelous power of lightning to such an oddly shaped weapon.

Inside the cave.

The entire guard unit had gathered.

Even several hunters and Artisans had come over to watch the excitement.

At first, Blair enthusiastically explained in detail how he had come up with the structure of the Bow and Arrow, and how he had eventually used fish-bladder glue to attach the bowstring.

However, the two groups listening below soon had entirely different reactions.

The Artisans listened with great interest.

The guards and hunters were growing drowsy from the explanation.

At Richie's helpless look of warning, Blair could only hurriedly skip over the complicated manufacturing process.

At last, Blair began demonstrating what was truly marvelous about the Bow and Arrow.

Everyone perked up as well.

Blair tied the captured Brown Rats to a tree.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

The Brown Rats cried out in terror.

"So, once it hits its target, the arrow buried deep in the flesh will continue releasing a force that paralyzes the target for a certain amount of time."

Blair aimed at a Brown Rat, drew the bow, and released the arrow after taking aim. It struck the Brown Rat squarely in the belly.

The Brown Rat immediately stopped squeaking.

Its body began convulsing.

Everyone untied the rope.

They found that the Brown Rat with an arrow stuck in its body did not flee.

It merely lay collapsed on the ground, twitching incessantly, with even a faint wisp of black smoke rising from its body.

Everyone clicked their tongues in amazement.

Not only because of the lightning power within it,

but also because they marveled at the Bow and Arrow's unique long-range method of attack.

"I can use it! Let me use it! This weapon is like a slingshot."

"First come, first served! Let me try it first."

Everyone scrambled to try using the Lightning Bow.

However, the guards now appeared rather clumsy.

Either the arrow simply sprang out and fell to the ground,

or they accidentally touched an already electrified arrow, numbed themselves, and flung it away with startled cries.

The people could not help bursting into laughter.

Richie coughed solemnly.

"Cough."

The people who had been laughing quickly wiped the smiles from their faces and all resumed stern expressions.

"Let me try it as well."

Richie suddenly said this with a serious expression.

Under everyone's gaze, he concealed the curiosity in his eyes and calmly accepted the Bow and Arrow.

The arrow flew out.

It did not even fly as far as the guards' arrows had, traveling only a few steps.

Seeing this, people could not help smiling.

Yet out of respect for the chief's authority, no one dared burst into laughter as they had before.

"Barlow, you give it a try. It might suit you very well."

Richie coughed heavily again.

His face remained as steady as ever as he turned and handed the Bow and Arrow to Barlow.

Barlow knelt down.

He respectfully accepted the Bow and Arrow with both hands.

Then he examined it carefully, as though studying a piece of fine jade.

After observing it and pondering for a moment, Barlow raised the Bow and Arrow and drew the string.

Whoosh!

A sharp sound tore through the air.

It was completely different from the sounds before.

Before anyone could even see the arrow's flight path, it had already struck its target.

However, the arrow did not hit the Brown Rats tied up ahead. Instead, it flew over them and buried itself deep in a crack in the cave wall more than twenty meters away.

The lingering force made the rear end of the arrow continue trembling.

Arcs of electricity danced across the stone wall.

The gathered onlookers began whispering in astonishment.

"That's incredible!"

"So the arrow can fly that far?"

"The same weapon can produce almost completely different results in different hands."

Everyone marveled.

In Barlow's hands, they saw the true power of the Bow and Arrow.

Even without its paralyzing effect, the sheer force alone would likely kill any target it struck.

This time, Blair had made four bows in total.

The other bows had been made from different kinds of wood.

However, only the Lightning Bow made from Thunder-Struck Wood had the best flexibility and possessed that marvelous paralyzing effect.

Richie bestowed the most precious Lightning Bow Blair had made upon Barlow.

"Barlow, this powerful Lightning Bow will have greater meaning in your hands than anyone else's. I hope you learn how to use it."