Uncle Spot patted Ry's head affectionately. "Oh, little Ry, I know you're eager, but this bow is a bit too big for your tiny hands at the moment. But fear not! Your time will come. When you grow a little older and stronger, the bow shall be yours to wield."

Zen, unable to contain his excitement, jumped up and down. "Yes! I get to use the bow!"

Uncle Spot chuckled heartily. "Easy there, Zen. Remember, this bow is not just a toy; it's still a little big for you as well...but we are not in battle or a hunt, so you can use it. I want you to remember that this isn't just a bow; it carries the memories and spirit of your parents. Treat it with respect and care."

Zen nodded solemnly, realizing the gravity of the situation. "I promise, Uncle Spot. I'll protect it with everything I have."

Uncle Spot smiled warmly, a mix of pride and joy in his eyes. "I know you will, Zen. Now, let's not waste any more time! Let's see if you are worthy of wielding it …"

Zen holds the bow up but notices that there are no arrows to use with it, so he asks Uncle Spot about it: " Uncle Spot, there are no arrows to use with the bow?"

"This bow does not need arrows. Let me show you the reason for that."

After saying that, Uncle Spot pulled the string of the bow, and as soon as he did that, A golden translucent arrow was conjured.

Seeing this, the boys were amazed, but their amazement did not stop there as Uncle Spot shot the arrow in the air, and after a second or two, the arrow fell near the trio, and a golden dome filled with an inscription on it was present right in front of their eyes.

Seeing the kids' faces, Uncle Spot could not stop his hand and shot another arrow right toward the dome, piercing it, and the dome slowly crumbled, filling the surrounding area with a golden hue.

"How was that? Awesome, right?" boasts Uncle Spot.

"It was Awesome!!!" the boys shouted in excitement.

Then Uncle Spot handed Zen the bow. The bow was still a little big for Zen, but he could not handle it, albeit barely.

"Pull the bowstring," Uncle Spot said to Zen.

Seeing that Zen could barely pull back the string of the bow, Uncle Spot gave him a hand and then told him about the way to use the power inside Zen.

"First, calm down and feel the energy of the universe," said Spot.

After calming down, Zen could faintly feel the energy Spot was talking about, but he could not hang onto it. Noticing this, Spot passed some of his Soul energy to Zen, so he could hang onto it and absorb it.

"Hang onto the feeling and absorb it inside of you. We are family, so our soul signatures are similar." After saying this, Uncle Spot gave Zen a moment to absorb the energy and store it inside his soul.

"Uncle Spot, I think this is my limit," said Zen with a pained expression on his face.

But Uncle Spot did not give him the liberty to stop." Keep on absorbing the energy. Keep on doing it until I tell you to stop." Said Spot with a stern attitude.

Seeing his brother get hurt, Ry protested," Uncle Spot, stop it. I feel like he is really in pain...?"

"This is how awakening occurs, Ry. I can notice Zen's potential. This is the first time he has felt the universal energy, but not only could he endure it, but also absorb it and turn it into soul energy. So I need Zen to endure it a little more." Uncle Spot said with one emotion in his eyes.

Hearing this, Ry stood and encouraged his brother to endure a little more.

After a while, Zen could only hear the cold blowing winds and the painful groans that Zen would release occasionally.

Some time passed by, and finally Spot asked Zen to stop now "You can stop now, Zen. It's enough now. Any more and your life could be in danger."

Hearing this, Zen stopped, let go of the bow, fell on the cold sand, and started panting.

Ry, after seeing his brother like this, passed some water to him. " Drink some water."

"Thank you, Ry," Zen said, looking towards Uncle Spot.

"You did well, Zen. I think you have the potential to rival the prodigies of the Hao academy," Said Uncle Spot with a wide grin on his face.

"You are so bad, Uncle Spot. You should have given us a heads up if it was gonna hurt him that much!!!" says Ry with a face full of anger and rage.

"I am sorry about that, but would Zen have been willing to do it if I told him about it? Remember this: No pain, no gain." Uncle Spot apologizes to Zen.

"It's okay, Uncle Spot. You did it for me," Zen Comforts Uncle Spot.

After the boy forgave their uncle, they moved on to the stuff they were doing before.

"Hold the bow and pull the string once again, but this time use the Soul energy stored inside of you to empower your body and bow." Saying this, Uncle Spot picked up and handed the bow to Zen.

[Zen's pov]

I could feel something different inside of me. It was as if someone had filled me with something that I couldn't grasp the concept of, but knew was good for me.

Uncle Spot kept on instructing me about how to wield this unknown strength that I now possessed, and said

"Guide the energy to various parts of your body, then into the bow. Imagine an arrow and try to mold your energy to make it."

I could feel my Soul. I could feel the energy flowing out of it to various parts of my body and radiating outside of it as well. I heard Uncle Spot telling me to pour this energy inside the bow and use it to conjure an arrow.

I tried to conjure an arrow just like how Uncle Spot did, and I did it, but the valor of it paled in comparison to the arrow Uncle Spot had conjured earlier. Maybe with time, I could do it as well.

"Shoot it! " Said Uncle Spot.

I let go of the String and shot the arrow into the sky just like Uncle Spot. But it could not conjure anything and was just a regular arrow. I felt disappointed that there was nothing special about the arrow.

"That was great," said Uncle Spot, but I could not understand what was great about it.

Uncle Spot continued, " I can't believe that you were able to conjure it so soon. You are a prodigy, Zen!!!!"

Saying this, Uncle Spot picked me up and hugged me tight. If he had put a little bit more strength into it, I would have passed out. Ry also jumped onto us, and we fell on the sand. Uncle Spot and Ry could not stop their laughter, and seeing this made me laugh as well. After a while, we got up and Uncle Spot told me to shoot more arrows, but this time also think of the effect it will have.

I imagined an Arrow that could form a shield just like the one Uncle Spot had conjured. As I kept pouring my soul energy into it, I could feel it leaving my body. I invested nearly ten times more energy than the regular arrow. After putting approximately fifty percent of my energy into the bow to conjure this special arrow, I shot it into the Sky.

After a second or two, it came down, and as soon as it touched the sandy surface of the red desert, A dome was formed just like the one Uncle Spot had made, albeit a little smaller than his. I could feel the fatigue kicking in now, but I wanted to continue shooting more arrows, but Uncle Spot stopped me.

"Stop it now, Zen. Take it easy," said Uncle Spot, and made me sit down on the sand. Only now could I feel the sweat covering my whole body.

Ry got away from me, pitching his nose and pointing away from our campsite. "You smell really bad. Get away from me and wipe yourself over there."

I got even closer to him to teach him a lesson for acting smug against his elder brother.

"Get away from me, you stink....aaaaaaancle spot, please tell him to stop." Saying this, Ry started running mindlessly.

Suddenly, Uncle Spot stopped us and poured water on me.

I protested by saying, "Stop it, Uncle Spot. I will get sick."

He didn't stop and replied by saying with a smile, "This is to cool you down and also to save Ry from the smell." But only now did I and Ry notice that Uncle Spot was conjuring water out of nothing. We asked about how he did it.

"This is the result of the water god's blessing. Well, it's the lowest one anyway, nothing special to boast about," said Uncle Spot with a little bit of an embarrassed face.

But to us kids, it was the most amazing thing that we had ever seen a person do.

I inquired about the blessing, "Uncle Spot, what is a water god's blessing?"

"In this galaxy, there exist godly beings. One of them is the water god. I got this blessing when I was a devout believer in the water god. Well, I wasn't that into it, so the blessing I got was preliminary," replied Uncle Spot

"But you can shoot water from your hands. Think about the water battles we can have..... but don't tell me it's your sweat .... is it?" Said Ry, completely missing the point, and in a bit of disgust.

There is more to life than water fights, Ry," I replied nonchalantly, but I can imagine why he thinks it would be fun, because it is. Uncle Spot could not hold back his laughter after hearing what Ry had to say about his blessing, and said this to Ry

"Yeah, it's not my sweat, and we can do that anytime you want. I am always up for a water bottle with you, Ry."

"You'd better watch yourself, Uncle Spot. I can attack you anywhere at any time... so stay safe," said Ry, but was caught off-guard when Uncle Spot shot a water ball at him, making him fall.

"You see, I was something of a water battle champion myself...When I was young," smirked Uncle Spot.

Ry replied as though he accepted his defeat, "I accept that you won this time, but you better watch your back as I will have my revenge, Uncle Spot."

"I will be waiting," answered Uncle Spot, and he handed a towel to both of us.

After we got cleaned and dried our clothes, we looked into the remaining items in the chest.