Lionel had me try out a staff first, then a spear, but both were too long for me to really use properly.

"The spear is longer than I am tall," I complained, watching as Lionel did some complicated moves with his hands to swing the spear around.

"Yeah, and with your height, the only thing you'll be stabbing are people's legs," he joked. "These probably aren't the right weapon for you. Let's try a mace next."

He picked up the mace, which was shaped like a skinner baseball bat with a bunch of sharp points sticking out from the top of the weapon.

"No thanks, I can already tell I'm not gonna like it," I replied, trying to move away from the mace as far as possible.

Lionel nodded in understanding.

"You aren't the kind of person that would go around bludgeoning other people. I get it, it's not really my thing either," he said, dropping the mace on the ground.

"Well, that's pretty much all of the closer ranged weapons," Lionel said. "Which ones did you like the most?"

I gave it a moment of thought before replying. "The sword was probably the best, but I think maybe when I get older, I should try out the spear again, since I can't really use it properly right now."

"I knew you'd like the sword the best," Lionel said smugly. "Although, it will probably take you a while to learn how to use one since you're kind of young right now. Once you grow taller and stronger, you'll learn how to actually fight, but right now, if you choose to learn swordfighting, you'll be stuck with the basics for a while."

"Then should we try out the ranged weapons?" I looked at the bow on the ground, wanting to try and shoot the target.

"Yeah, come over here," he gestured, leading me away from the target.

He showed me how to use the bow, and I watched as he drew the string to the side of his face, just barely touching the tip of his nose, before releasing his fingers. The arrow flew forwards, hitting the shoulder of the dummy.

I copied his stance and drew back the string myself, my arms wobbling slightly. I let the string through my fingers and the arrow flew forward and fell straight into the ground.

"Uhh, you might need a smaller bow for it to work properly since your wingspan is a lot smaller," Lionel scratched his head. "That's the smallest bow we have here though. Try aiming higher."

I grabbed another arrow from the ground and aimed again, this time lifting my left arm higher up and pulling the string back further with my right arm. The arrow veered to the left of the target, still landing in the ground, though it flew much further than my first attempt.

"Yeah! That's good!" Lionel nodded. "I mean, you didn't hit the target, but you got a feel for the bow, right?"

"I kind of like this," I said, grabbing another arrow to try again.

The arrow still flew left of the target, dropping into the dirt.

"The bow will definitely take you a lot longer to master," Lionel commented. "But it's not as heavy or stamina-draining to use as the close range weapons."

"What about the crossbow?" I asked, "I want to try it out."

It was the only weapon I hadn't used yet.

"I saved it for last because it's a little bit more complicated. Let's try it," Lionel picked it up, showing me how to use it.

"It is easier to aim than the bow, in my opinion," he said. "I'm not the best at ranged weapons, so you'd need a better teacher than me, but I can still show you how to use it."

He released the trigger on the crossbow, shooting the dummy in its stomach.

"Nice shot," I said, making grabby hands towards the crossbow.

Lionel helped me reload the crossbow, and I lifted it up, aiming at the head of the dummy. After releasing the trigger, the arrow grazed the side of the dummy and fell into the grass behind it.

"At least you hit it," Lionel commented.

"Yeah, still a long way to go before I'll be hunting any rabbits."