Rowan opened his left hand, and then closed it into a fist.

  Open.

  Close .

  Open.

  Close.

  After repeating the motion with his hand several times, Rowan finally stopped.

  Hmmmm. It didn't feel any different. His fingers worked the same just like when they still had bones in them, In fact, Rowan couldn’t tell the difference.

  In the past, when Rowan forcefully grew or transformed his wooden arm, the bones always remained in place. Never shifting or changing with the process. He felt the bones in his arms growing naturally despite the difference in ‘material’ and never put too much thought into it. His fingers were performing the same way even without the bones.

  Maybe bones were optional for his hands?

  The more Rowan thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Tree didn’t have any bones, but they were still able to grow tall without the same support. Branches grew out and scattered while the trunks grew tall enough to rival a castle. Rowan didn’t know what materials that trees were made of, but it was strong enough to support the height a tree can grow to, it must be something good.

  In the end, Rowan didn't put too much thought into what made trees so strong. The wood in his arms worked without any bones and Rowan was fine with that.

  Only time will tell if bones were truly needed for the long run and Rowan was fine with waiting for that discovery.

  For now, there was a more important experiment that he needed to try.

  Rowan inspected his arms. They were in much better shape compared to the rest of his body. There was no pain or any sign of wrongness with the arms. They had grown back to imitate normal looking arms. Not including the outward appearance of bark that covered the entire arms. Otherwise, everything else looked the same.

  The cuts and hits his arms suffered the day before had healed, or rather regrown itself back to normalcy. Unlike his body which was still going through the healing process, it looked as if his arms could bring themselves back to normal after a day. Unless of course, he intentionally transformed his arms and left it, since his hand was still in a spike when he woke up. Perhaps the spike would have returned back to a hand if given more time.

  Hmmm. An idea that might actually be worth testing one day.

  Rowan decided to leave this particular idea for another day as he raised his left arm and focused his mana into his index finger. The transformation process began right away.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Rowan watched as the arrow head was formed, then the body and then the tail. He gave the mental command to cut off the mana flow and the tail of the arrow which caused the arrow to fall to ground as there was nothing to anchor it anymore to his hands. The index finger immediately started growing back right after Rowan gave the command.

  There were a few details of note. The transformation process was much slower when Rowan was battling the red dragon. That was a given of course since Rowan wasn't currently trying to force his mana into action. Still, it was faster when he previously created his own arrows.

  The next thing to note was the creation of the arrow. The arrow was less refined and Rowan suspected that all his arrows made in this fashion would all be lacking in polish. They would not all look the same. Perhap if Rowan practiced enough he might be able to create identical arrows in the future.

  Another idea that needed testing, but it will be left for another time.

  Rowan tried to form another arrow, but only with his middle finger as the base and this time, it was shot upon creation. A target made of dirt was destroyed by the flying arrow. Rowan had originally created target hills for practice and these days he used them less and less as his targets were now the wild monsters beyond the barrier.

  As Rowan looked at the target practices that seemed to have become obsolete, a new thought hit him. He no longer needed to fetch his arrows. As long as he had mana, he would be able to create his own arrows. This would definitely be helpful in more ways than one.

  Overall, the more Rowan thought about it, the more he liked the idea of finger transformation arrows. The technique could use a bit more practice, but it would no doubt be a useful weapon for him.

  Rowan actually like the idea so much that he wanted to go out and test it. His body still hurt, but it was to a manageable degree that didn't interfere with his movements. He had already tested the power on the target mound and it wasn't too shabby as it had destroyed it. These arrows had been able to damage the red dragon, butt hat had been a spur of the moment creation. There was no guarantee that he could repeat the same feat. The fact that a target hill was destroy was a good thing, but he would like other things to practice on.

  More specifically, monsters.

  Their hides were hard and tough and would serve as excellent practice. That was how Rowan found himself setting out with his bow in his right hand.

  There was also one more reason why Rowan wanted to hunt. He wanted to vent. Despite sleep refreshing his mind, the feeling of loss and guilt still lingered in the back of his mind for his failure.

  As Rowan walked, he contemplated his new arrow technique. If he used mana transformation, then he would be unable to apply the poison on his arrows. He couldn't exactly stop and administer poison to his newly formed arrow in the middle of the fight. The whole idea of this technique was speed and adding poison would only slow down the process. That would defeat the whole purpose.

  There wasn't much Rowan could do about it. It did seem like a decent trade off. A faster arrow versus slow poison. Both were situational. If anything, Rowan supposed he could always just keep the poison on hand and use it in case of emergencies. For now, he would stick with the normal, but faster arrow technique.

  As Rowan kept walking, he noticed the sound of rumbling and tree crashing. Curious, he sent out a mana pulse to determine what was happening.

  It didn't take long for him to find out.

  A pack of 20 wolves were facing off against another monster with their numbers quickly diminishing.

  Their opponent?

  A monster Rowan had seen the other day.

  The giant centipede.