Chương 49: Chapter 031 The Boy And The Bow

Jack grinned as his arrow struck just right of the centre of a target. Ding. The satisfying hiss of blue aether-steam and mechanical clunks of the resetting targets filled the air. Draw. Aim. Loose. Thwack. It was going to be a good session.

"Darn it!" Toma dropped his arrow on the floor. He picked it up and tried again. Jack paused mid-draw to watch. He's doing everything wrong. He completed drawing his arrow and released it. Missing the target, he turned to watch the boy at his side. Toma loosed an arrow, but it fell short and slid across the training room floor. Jack shook his head as he saw the frustration on the teenager's face.

"Have you had any archery training?" Toma jolted at the question.

"N-no. This is my first time using a bow. I-I don't have any arrows at home." He looked embarrassed. Jack nodded.

"Your form's all wrong. Watch what I do and try to copy." He stood in the correct form.

"Stand like this. Note how my legs are spaced and how my feet are angled on the floor. It's important. You try it." He turned his head to watch while maintaining his form as best he could. In the background, he could hear the dings of targets being struck, and the others complaining or celebrating at misses and hits. Toma put himself in a similar position, but it was a bit off. Using [Perfect Recall], he pulled up an illustration of perfect archery form and compared it to Toma's stance.

"Adjust your back leg slightly," Jack advised.

"Yep. That's it. Now watch how I stand and hold my shoulders before nocking and pulling the arrow back." He nocked an arrow, pulled it back, and released. He missed.

"You try." Toma nocked an arrow.

"Straighten your back," Jack corrected, "a little more. Yeah, that's it. Try to maintain that position. Now, slowly pull the arrow back. There's no rush. When you get to the full draw, count to three, and release while breathing out." As Jack was talking, Toma followed his instructions. He released the arrow, and it went a little wide of the target.

"Much better." Jack smiled.

"Keep practising that basic action, and it should help." Toma nodded.

"Thank you. Thanks, Jack."

"No problem." Jack went back to practising.

"We all have to start somewhere. Don't expect to hit too many of your targets the first time. Concentrate on proper form. It's more important than hitting the targets. That'll come with time." The boy nodded and went back to practising with a smile. With the use of his [Perfect Recall] skill, it was easier for Jack to correct Toma's form than his own. Jack grinned and went back to his own practice. I really should stop helping kids.

He imagined Toma moving in with his family and his mom scowling at him for not being nice enough when being nice. I can't win. Damned if I do. Damned if I don't. He missed his next three targets. Soon, Toma landed his first hit.

"Yes!" the boy whooped. The look of pride on his face made Jack grin. After thirty-six arrows, the console gave feedback. Adventurer five. Novice Scribe, Level zero. Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level two. Arrows released: 36. Accuracy: 37%. Wind compensation: 3. Reaction time: 73rd percentile. Recommendation: Decrease difficulty level to Beginner level one. Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Not bad, considering." He'd been a little distracted helping Toma, so his accuracy suffered. Hmm… this is going to throw off all my later comparisons. Around him, others were laughing and groaning. Pip hit himself with the bowstring. Nessa dropped all her arrows on the floor. One of Grey's arrows ricocheted off a shield and smacked him in the knee.

"Is it okay if I disable the individual feedback?" Ella asked.

"It wastes some of our training time." No one had an issue with turning it off.

"System," Ella wiped her brow, "disable individual feedback for the rest of the session." The soft female voice acknowledged her command. Individual feedback disabled for the duration of the training session. They repeated their training twice more, with each maintaining or varying the difficulty of their training session. As the final fifteen minutes approached, Ella made a suggestion.

"Are you all open to a fun team training session for the last quarter-hour?" She looked excited.

"To unwind." Most of the group looked excited. Jack grinned. Guess I'm not the only one who likes to have a bit of fun. Toma looked nervous; he looked towards Jack. Jack smiled at the boy.

"This can be a lot of fun. We can set the settings to something we can't handle and see how we go. Last time I was here, I set the range to Beginner level ten, on the lowest setting, and my accuracy dived to 21%." Jack looked at Ella.

"What settings?" Ella looked at Toma.

"Hmm… Novice Archer, level one, beginner level ten, might be a bit much for the kid. Level zero should be fine. Right?" Jack nodded in agreement and turned to Toma.

"That's the setting I've used. The targets move, the wind increases, and it's like we are fighting at dusk. Some of the targets fire harmless aether-blasts at us. If they hit, the aether-burn doesn't hurt much…" He noticed the boy's wary look.

"Like being slapped on the arm by your younger sister." They both smiled at the imagery.

"Though you'll stink of spent aether-steam for the rest of the day." Toma nodded.

"Okay."

"Hell yeah!" Ella shouted.

"System. Group training, Novice Archer, level zero, beginner level ten." The soft voice acknowledged her command. Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten activated. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The sounds of beginner level ten activating filled the training room. The soft breeze near Jack and Toma turned into random gusts of wind, and the lights in Training Room 13 dimmed to mimic dusk.

Random shouts, screams, and other noises could be heard from hidden speakers around the room. Jack felt the pull of the shadows from [Shadow Veil] while Toma's head went on a swivel, looking for the source of the sounds. Jack chuckled. It was a bit of a shock when this happened for the first time. The stationary targets at the far end whirred, then shuffled aside with a series of mechanical clunks, disappearing into recessed wall compartments. A moment later, new constructs emerged.

Clockwork mannequins bristling with moving panels, some clutching shields, others springing forward on piston-driven legs in sudden, darting bursts. Overhead, the lights dimmed and flickered as embedded runes activated, casting the room in a shifting twilight. Toma jumped behind Jack as one target gave off a loud hiss and launched sideways across the range on a rail-mounted track, trailing a plume of blue aether-steam in its wake. Jack stifled a laugh as the boy went a light shade of pink from embarrassment.

The group of six each grabbed a new quiver of training arrows and prepared themselves. A dozen seconds later, the room was in chaos as they battled against the clockwork mannequins. Bursts of harmless aether-blasts fired across the simulated battlefield, leaving streaks of blue aether steam behind them. Jack laughed as an aether-blast smacked him in the arse after dodging sideways to avoid bowling into Toma.

At the same moment, Toma yelped and leapt into the air, startled by an incoming aether-blast of his own, then lost his balance and collapsed onto his back, laughing. Jack offered the teen a hand and pulled him to his feet, both of them laughing as the room descended into controlled chaos. With there being six people training, the number of aether-blasts and moving targets increased to compensate. The room buzzed with whirring gears, hissing aether-steam, and the crackling discharge of aether-blasts arcing overhead.

The lights flickered, mimicking a battlefield at dusk, while the gusting winds tugged at their clothing, making every shot a challenge. Pip crouched low beside a brass pillar, shooting an arrow that struck a moving target in the chest, just before the mannequin retaliated with a glowing blue burst that zipped past Grey's ear.

"Oi!" Grey touched the side of his head where the blast almost hit.

"I'm a merchant, not a bloody acrobat!" Nessa, with her muscular arms braced against the draw of her bow, grunted as she took aim at a target darting behind a mock barricade.

"Target eleven's a right bastard!" She released her arrow. It bounced off the mannequin's raised shield. Ella loosed two quick shots; one missed, but the other clipped a moving dummy square in the shoulder, earning a ding and a hiss of aether-steam.

"Yes!" She raised her bow in triumph.

"That's for last week, you metal buttface!" Jack moved with growing confidence, shifting between shadowed cover points like he knew what he was doing, his [Shadow Veil] skill making targeting him more difficult. This is complete chaos. Another aether-blast flew over his head and struck Grey in the shoulder.

"I love it." Each time he loosed an arrow, he adjusted for the changing wind and dim light, regaining the rhythm he'd lost while helping Toma. An aether-blast hit a nearby post, causing him to duck. He loosed a shot mid-motion, clipping a shielded mannequin's exposed leg. It didn't register as a kill, but it felt good. A target shot towards him across a mounted rail. Jack turned, drew, and released in one fluid motion… missing by an inch.

"Damn it!" He laughed and grabbed another arrow.

"Next time you're mine!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than Nessa's arrow struck the target. She smiled and gave him a playful salute.

"The next, next time you're mine," he promised as he aimed his bow at another target. At the far end, Toma rolled behind a crate-shaped training fixture, giggling between pants.

"This is insane!"

"It's meant to be!" Jack loosed another arrow.

"Don't think… just react! Have fun." He looked across at the teenager who was beaming. I'll get to do this with my little brother when he's older. The happy thought made him miss the next target by a mile. The room pulsed with movement. The mannequins adapted. One jumped sideways as Nessa took aim, dodging her arrow. Another shifted its shield mid-flight, deflecting Pip's arrow with a smug clunk. The soft female voice rang out over the din. Warning. Remaining time: Five minutes.

Jack gritted his teeth and shot again. Shit. My arms feel like jelly. The arrow struck centre mass, and the mannequin staggered, releasing a puff of blue aether-smoke.

"Bullseye!" Grey shouted from the far end.

"Finally." Jack laughed.

"Took you long enough." Grey ducked a retaliatory aether-blast.

"Worth it." The final few minutes became a wild flurry; more arrows were let loose, more near misses, more aether-blasts flying. The scent of spent aether, sweat, and the faint tang of oiled machinery hung heavy in the air. When the session ended, the mannequins withdrew into the walls, the lights steadied, and the wind ceased. Silence fell, broken only by heavy breathing, occasional chuckles, and the sound of small skittering automatons collecting dozens of spent arrows.

As Jack patted Toma on the shoulder, the soft female voice reported. Adventurer one. Novice Archer, level nine. Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten. Accuracy: 32%. Wind compensation: 10. Reaction time: 71st percentile. Recommendation: Decrease difficulty level to Novice Archer, level nine. Beginner level two. The female voice listed each result in turn. … Adventurer five. Novice Scribe, Level zero. Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten. Accuracy: 18%.

Wind compensation: 10. Reaction time: 58th percentile. Recommendation: Decrease difficulty level to Novice Scribe, level one. Beginner level one. Jack grinned at the announcement.

"That's worse than last time, but more fun." He wiped sweat from his brow while looking at the five other archers in the room. I had a lot of fun. The female voice listed Toma's results. Adventurer six. Non- c lassed. Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten. Accuracy: 4%. Wind compensation: 10. Reaction time: 68th percentile. Recommendation: Decrease difficulty level to Non- c lassed, level zero. Beginner level zero. Toma looked dejected. Jack patted the boy on the shoulder.

"That's a good result. Anything above the 50th percentile means above average for your level. You're being compared to other non-classed teenagers." Toma's eyes brightened.

"Really?" Jack nodded.

"Yep. Looks like you might make for a good archer." He considered Toma's performance; the boy had never fired a bow before today. Damn. He might just be a prodigy. Toma smiled. Ella stretched and cracked her shoulders.

"That was brilliant."

"Agreed." Nessa took a mouthful of water from her canteen.

"I haven't had this much fun in weeks." Grey was already collecting his belongings.

"We should do this again. Next week, maybe?"

"I'm in." Pip nodded as he collected his printout. Jack collected his own printout.

"Only if we do level ten every time for the entire hour." They all laughed at the hell scenario he'd suggested. A moment later, the training room console chimed again. Archery training sessions complete. Individual archery training session results available as printouts at the main console. Please collect all your belongings and exit the training area within the next ninety seconds. Thank you for using the Adventurers Guild's training area. We recommend visiting the Guild's spa after a heavy training session.

For only 3 silver, experience half an hour of bliss as trained attendants cater to your every need. Why not book a group session and enjoy a 10% discount. Have a nice day.

"That was the best thing ever." Toma beamed. He was still catching his breath; his cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were wide with excitement. Jack glanced at the red-faced teen while taking a large mouthful of water from his canteen.

"Not bad for your first time." He offered Toma a drink—the fourteen-year-old hadn't thought to bring water to his first training session. Toma gulped down the water.

"Thanks, Jack."

"Me and Nessa will be here again at the same time tomorrow if anyone's interested?" Ella looked to the group with an expectant expression.

"We plan to train an hour every day for the next few weeks, but we can't afford 26 coppers every time." The cost for the training room for two people was 26 coppers an hour; each would have to pay 13 coppers. Jack nodded.

"I plan to train daily for the rest of the week. After that, I'll start working as a scribe. So if I see your listing, I'll join." Ella gave him a thumbs-up and a smile.

"We'll try to book a room for around eleven-thirty in the morning… but you know how the waits are." Toma frowned.

"I'd like to, but I can only afford this once a month." The soft female voice spoke again. Please collect all your belongings and exit the training area within the next sixty seconds. Thank you for using the Adventurers Guild's training area. The Guild bar is open twenty-four-seven, where there is currently a special on elven fire whisky. Have a nice day. Jack rolled his shoulder and winced.

"Ow…" But he was smiling. He did a couple of stretches to loosen his sore muscles. Together, the group filed out of the training room while chatting and laughing as they stepped into the corridor. The puff of blue aether-steam followed them out like a farewell from the mechanical beasts they'd just battled. Outside the room, six masked and cloaked adventurers in near-identical black gear waited.