"That's it, Izzy, keep it around there for now, yeah?"

It had taken some effort to explain exactly what he wanted from the little spirit, but she seemed to be getting it now. He hoped.

They were on the back patio, and Izzy was keeping one of the spinners Rylan had folded for her aloft and mostly in one place. As the spinner hovered in front of his straw target painted with concentric black circles, Rylan blew out a breath and drew Arphin.

[We've got this, Boss!] the chatty knife encouraged. [I'm so ready to curve; I bet we nail it on the first go!]

"We'll see, Arphin," Rylan replied with a smile as he limbered up his arm.

Obviously, hitting a floating spinner that hovered in place wasn't really a challenge, nor was curving around it to hit a static target. Instead, the idea was for Izzy to start blowing the spinner either to the left or right. Then Rylan would make a curved throw, to try to nail the spinner to the straw target.

The hardest part to convey to Izzy had actually been that he wanted her to stay low to the ground, and blow up at the spinner from there. He wasn't sure what would happen if Arphin passed through Izzy while charged with Rylan's mana, and he wasn't about to try and find out either.

"All right, Izzy, are you ready?"

Izzy made an affirmative swoop, staying near the ground as instructed.

"Then on the count of three," Rylan continued. "One, two, three!"

As instructed, Izzy blew the spinner to a side, choosing Rylan's left. Rylan attempted to curve Arphin to head it off, but he was just barely too slow, and Arphin sailed by just behind it before hitting the target.

"Well done, Izzy!" Rylan praised, jogging up to retrieve Arphin.

[Ah, so close!] the chatty blade wailed as he was pulled loose. [We almost had it!]

"It's fine, Arphin; it's supposed to be a challenge, remember? Let's go again."

Rotation control required a little more mana than the minimum, about 0.3 points of mana in total, so with what he had allotted for this training—6 points—he could make about twenty attempts. After the first throw, Rylan was confident he could get it with that many.

In the end, he actually managed to hit the spinner and nail it to the target on throw number six.

However... Ethereon remained silent.

With a frown, Rylan retrieved Arphin from the target and removed the ruined spinner.

[Nothing?] Arphin asked. [What now, Boss? Do we try again?]

Rylan shook his head. He couldn't say he wasn't disappointed, but he still felt he was on the right track. "No, I think it was actually just, well, too easy. We need to make it harder."

A few days passed before Rylan got the opportunity he was waiting for. It was his day off, and he'd managed to convince Leahna to come to The Knackered Hag to help him out on the back patio.

"So I just toss it up on your signal?" Leahna asked, eyeing the straw target in her hand.

"Yeah, just along the length of the back patio," Rylan replied. "Izzy will blow her spinner at the same time, and ideally they'll move at roughly the same speed."

"And you're going to try to pin the spinner to the target mid-flight? Are you sure you can do this?" Leahna asked doubtfully.

"No, but that's the whole point."

"Fair enough."

[Don't worry, Big Sis,] Arphin sent to both of them. [The Boss and I've got this! We're gonna show Ethereon what we're capable of! together]

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Leahna smiled. "All right, lil' bro; I believe in you."

"Oh now she has faith," Rylan muttered, to which his sister stuck out her tongue.

Arphin had been the one to start calling Leahna Big Sis, and Leahna had reacted in kind by referring to him as lil' bro. She said it was convenient, as anyone who overheard would simply think she was addressing Rylan, but he'd seen the glint in her eyes as she'd said that, and he felt she was enjoying that idea little too much.

"All right, let's get started!" Leahna said, clapping her hands together.

"Well, I'd like to get a couple of throws in at the moving target before I start throwing curves, if you don't mind."

"Sure sure, I'm at your disposal, milord," Leahna replied, making an exaggerated curtsy.

Rylan let out a long-suffering sigh. "Just throw it, please."

Leahna snickered, but did as asked.

As usual, Rylan did not take out Arphin for his warm-up—he made a point of never throwing Arphin without the protection of his Skill if he could help it. Nor did he use his nice kitchen knives, of course. Instead, he used a set of simple steel throwing knives that he'd bought from one of his first salaries.

They were unadorned but nicely balanced, and he carried them around at all times these days, tucked in various spots around his body.

It paid to be prepared.

After a few tries, he started hitting the thrown target consistently. Although Leahna complained a bit about having to cross the patio after every throw, she dutifully complied.

Once he felt ready, Rylan pulled out Arphin and whistled at Izzy.

This was his new way of calling her, as the little spirit often got distracted, but never strayed too far. As usual, Izzy came in a rush, performing a twirl around Rylan then Leahna, before moving over to the spinner that lay prepared for her.

A whirling breeze picked it up and brought it afloat, while Izzy stayed low by the ground.

[Let's do this, Boss!]

Rylan nodded, drawing the glowing blade back and charging his Skill. "All right. Izzy, Leahna, on the count of three..."

Hitting a moving target had been quite doable. Hitting two with a single throw that required an unpredictable curve, was hard. Very hard. More often than not, Rylan ended up missing both. Still, he persevered.

Since he had gotten Leahna to come all the way here for this, and didn't need to cook that day, he'd reserved his full 14-point mana pool for the activity. Accounting for the mana he would regenerate during, he could make about fifty throws in total.

Still, after using up the first thirty, he was starting to worry a little.

He'd had a few near misses, where he either hit the spinner but missed the target, or grazed the spinner and hit the target, but he had yet to succeed.

To his surprise, Leahna had gotten quite into it, oohing at every near miss, and calling out encouragements every time she scurried to the other side.

"Almost!" she crooned as he retrieved Arphin for the thirty-fourth time. "Come on, Ryles, put your back into it!"

"I am!" he replied absentmindedly. On the last throw, he'd actually curved Arphin too much, making him sail around the spinner before hitting the target. It would've been an impressive throw, if the spinner had just been a little farther to the left...

"No, you're thinking too much," she replied, shaking her head. "I can see it on your face. Just trust yourself! You can do it!"

His brows drew together minutely. Stop thinking? Well... I guess I could try.

Getting his mind to shut down was harder than he'd anticipated, however, and Rylan had to actively stop trying to plan and analyse during the next couple of throws.

He could tell he was getting anxious about hitting forty, which was, frankly, silly. He could always try again another day. He just didn't want to.

On his thirty-ninth throw, he took a moment, closing his eyes and shaking out his hands as he blew out a breath.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt a calm settle over him.

"One, two, three," he recited.

The spinner rose and the target flew. He didn't think, he just threw.

Arphin sailed through the air, leading the spinner to the left. Too far to the left, so he adjusted the yaw to make it more aggressive.

Arphin hit the spinner square on, and kept flying. With a thunk, it sunk in the centre of the target.

Rylan's eyes widened.

"You hit it!" Leahna squealed, throwing up her hands.

Rylan held his breath, waiting tensely.

A moment later, he heard a familiar voice.

《Manipulation threshold has been achieved, Rank-Up conditions met. Applying Augmentation: Curved Throws, to Skill: Knife-Throwing. Do you accept?》

"Yesss! I accept!" he exclaimed.

"You got it?" Leahna asked excitedly.

[Congratulations, Boss!]

Rylan just spread his arms wide, closing his eyes as motes of blue light came flying over, passing through the awning and into his chest.

《Augmentation successful. Knife-Throwing has reached Rank 4. 100 Quintessence Credits have been added to your balance.》

"Ethereon, may I see my Knife-Throwing Skill Window, please?"

Knife-Throwing

Rank 4

Effects

Blade guard

Stable flight

Forceful impact

Augmentations

Overcharge: 2.0 mana

Rotation Control

Curved Throws

While Rylan took in the changes, Leahna went and collected the target, pulling Arphin out and bringing him over. "Congratulations, Ryles," she said with a small smile. "I guess I should head home, then, huh? You're probably going to want to do some more Quinthar stuff, check out your new Augmentation and all that..."

"No, don't go yet," Rylan protested, waving away his window. "We have to celebrate! Plus, Izzy will be sad if you leave already."

Leahna's smile eased. "All right then. I guess Dad can cope without me for a bit longer."

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