Chương 12: The Competition

He moved to the side of the archery range and nodded to one of his helpers. They blew a horn, signaling the start. The sixteen of us lined up at the shooting stations, each with three targets set at varying distances.

"First round!" the assistant called.

"Aim true, and may the best archer win!" We each had three shots for this stage. My first target was close; a warm-up, really. I nocked and released with no adjustments, the arrow whistling as it sped toward the wooden circle. It pierced through the bull's eye, dead center. A few participants cheered for themselves as they hit the mark, while others groaned at missed shots. The second target was farther, and the wind had picked up as well, but it still meant no challenge to me.

I drew the bow past the anchor point and sent another arrow right through the middle without much thought. Same with the last shot of the round. The first stage was, in all honesty, child's play to me. I adjusted just a little to consider the wind, I loosed, and scored another three points. I was the first to finish all three targets, so I looked around. The young girl, the bearded man, and the hawk-nosed Ranger all had nine points, as well as the two NPCs I'd taken notes of earlier.

The second round started just a minute after the arrows were cleared off the field, and this time, they put quite the distance between us and the targets. I tightened my grip on my bow. The first target was still very close compared to my regular training, though the wind was getting stronger. Regardless, I hit the circle right in the center. The second target was trickier because the wind became strong enough for a second to threaten the stability of the tents.

I waited for the perfect moment and fired, the arrow sinking into the bull's eye. I stretched. The last shot of the round would have been a challenge to most hobby-archers. I was no hobby-archer. Everybody took longer to aim, wanting to maximize the points. Quite a crowd had gathered around me, and I humoured them a bit. Instead of aiming, I calculated with both the wind and the distance, and did an instant shot — the arrow leaving the string in less than a second after drawing. 3 points.

The crowd cheered, and I let out a smile, too. I was getting adjusted to my virtual body, and it felt amazing. Once again I was the first to finish, but the leather hat wearing NPC was just a couple seconds late, and from what I've seen, he still hadn't missed a single shot. That made me excited, adrenaline rushing through my veins. It wasn't often that I had actual competition in archery, after all. For the final round, the targets were farther than ever, and the wind was roaring ferociously.

The official raised his hand.

"Three shots each. Make them count!" I nocked my first arrow, steadying my breath. I slowed my heartbeat until it was all I could hear, beating in my ears. The center of the target was all I could see. For a moment the wind settled, and I released. The arrow flew straight into where it should have. I sighed, put down the bow, and started stretching while waiting for the others to finish. Most had missed, but some participants were still going strong, and that impressed me.

We were getting into real archery territory after all. For the second shot, I adjusted my stance, accounting for the wind and the sway. The arrow found the bullseye once again, and the crowd erupted in cheers. One more. The last target was quite distant, and for the first time since the event started, I turned completely serious. My hands were steady as I drew back the bowstring. I exhaled, my vision narrowing to just the glowing center of the target.

I was waiting for the weather to settle down once again, but it felt like it had decided on raging for the foreseeable future. I sighed and tilted my bow to the left, accounting for both the wind and the distance. This was farther than an Olympic shot, and I wasn't even using my own body. Still, I was Bow God Zephyr. I released. The arrow flew, cutting through the air with perfect precision. It struck the bullseye dead center, splinters flying around the hit, and the crowd burst out roaring. A perfect score.

After a while, everyone finished their rounds, and the three best scores were announced by Nolan.

"At third place with 24 points is Castiel! Castiel, come and get your reward at the tent!" The man wearing the leather hat wasn't particularly emotional about his results, but when he realized people were looking at him, he forced a smile on his face.

"At second place, with 25 points, Lorrando! Adventurer, come, take your prize!" The hawk-faced player looked surprised as his name was called. He was the farthest away from me in the competition, so I couldn't see his shots clearly, and he was probably in the same situation because he looked like he didn't expect anyone to beat his score.

"And our champion! 27 points, a perfect score! Orion! The only competitor today who hadn't missed a single shot! Orion, come to the tent and gather your rewards!" I was satisfied with my performance, although having someone this close to my result was quite surprising. Getting to 25 points is pretty decent, I thought. I wasn't too surprised that an NPC did well in an event like this.

Archery was part of this world just as much as building IKEA furniture was part of ours; no wonder the residents of Godsrealm were good at it. Still, if among the roughly six-hundred adventurers of Carpa, there was someone only 2 points behind me, that would mean… what exactly? Were there around 6, 000 Rangers among the two million players on his skill level? Of course, this was still just the beginning, and the gap between good players and great ones would become more apparent later. Regardless, I was impressed.

As I got to the tent, Nolan reached out for my hand.

"I have never seen anyone being as good with the bow as you, young adventurer. You champions are truly godsent," he congratulated me and handed me my 60 coins.

"And your special reward," he said, opening a small wooden chest. There was a silver necklace inside, with a little feather medallion attached to it. Windstrider Necklace Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Uncommon Level 5 Attack Speed: +10% Dexterity: 2 Restriction: Ranger This was the perfect early game accessory for a ranger like me. I equipped it instantly.

"Also, since you're the first player to end the event with a perfect score, you have been qualified for the secret reward!" Nolan said. SYSTEM LOG CONGRATULATIONS! You are the first player in Tidemark county to finish the Spring Festival's archery competition with a perfect score! Additional rewards available. Accept? Yes No Yes! I was thrilled. This was my second secret reward, and judging by the first one, I expected it to be good.

I was hoping for a unique bow or a set of armor that boosted my dexterity, but what I got exceeded my expectations. First of all, I jumped to level 7 and was already halfway to level 8 by gaining over 3, 000 experience points. However, the real prize was the title I had unlocked. 🏆 Title Unlocked Archery Adept (growth) Dexterity: +10 Two level's worth of dexterity from a single title! Later on, 10 DEX might not amount to much, but this early it was gaming changing.

And judging by the "growth" suffix it had, I had a feeling it would still be relevant as time advanced. And it was nice getting some of it next to all the Strength I had. Speaking of strength, I put my five new attribute points into it. With all my new items, stats, and my newly acquired title, I was much stronger than before. After I got my rewards, I quickly checked out the ranking of the event, curious about how the others had placed. Fourth place was called Sylph with 23 points.

I had counted the points of the ponytail haired girl and the bearded man as well, and none of them should have had 23 points, so this Sylph fellow was still unknown to me. Fifth place was Alysanna with 22 points, which checked out. She was the girl with the crafted bow, most likely. At sixth place was Frederick Gatling, 21 points, which sounded like an NPC name, so it could have been the chain mailed soldier. Seventh place reached 20 points, and it was most likely the bearded man with the goblin bow.

His name was Garret. I made mental notes of all these players since I wanted to keep a close eye on talented archers; they could be friends or rivals, after all. As I was thinking about this, someone gently touched my shoulder. As I turned around, I saw the chain mail-wearing soldier — Frederick, I assumed — standing next to me.

"You're a natural talent, Orion, if I do say so myself," the man said while caressing his impressive moustache.

"My name is Frederick Gatling and I'm captain of the Carpa Militia. I knew I didn't have much of a chance at winning the competition, since Lord... I mean, Castiel was also taking part, but I didn't expect so many adventurers to beat even him. I watched all three previous rounds, and the most points there were 21, and that was by Zieck, our best archer in the militia."

"We did our best," I nodded.

"Truth be told, I was disappointed at first. I know you adventurers are still getting used to this world, but... I don't know, I expected you all to be demigods from different worlds," he said with an embarrassed grin.

"Give it time," I said, smiling, "we're working on the demigod part." He laughed.

"That, I believe. You folks can return from the dead, after all," he glanced into the distance longingly before shaking himself and getting his smile back on his face.

"I hope I didn't offend you, Orion. It's just that you all turned out to be so similar to us."

"Don't worry, no offense was taken."

"Besides, just now I was proven to be wrong. I saw you and Lorrando, and all the other amazing adventurers in this competition, and I realized that not all of you adventurers are equal to one another. Just like us, there are more talented ones among your ranks, too. And some of you really are quite something." I nodded and shook his hand. He had a point. Looking at his equipment, it was obvious that I was too low-leveled to fight someone of his caliber just yet.

NPCs had levels also, but just like with players, you couldn't see it unless you were in the same party. Can you even be in a party with NPCs? I thought. My guess was Captain Gatling was around level 25, while the other militia roaming Carpa's streets were level 15-18, just judging by their equipment. Beating him in target shooting for someone of my skill level was a non-issue, but a straight up fight would be much different. Targets didn't care about the damage you did; it only mattered that you hit them.

"I almost forgot!" Frederick realized.

"The reason I came to talk to you was that Castiel wants to see you." Castiel. The NPC with the leather hat.

"Who is he?" I asked the captain.

"Well, it would be better if he told you himself," the captain said, almost whispering. He looked like he wasn't sure how much to tell me, but I saw the respect he had for me in his eyes, so I patiently waited. In the end, he let out a huge sigh and continued.

"He's an important figure, but he's incognito right now. The fact that he wants to talk to you is already rather impressive. I wouldn't make him wait too much if I were you."