"Again!"
"Are you even aiming?"
"Don't just use your eyes. You also need to use your head!"
Elanor's advice keeps knelling through my ears, interposing at every shot I take for the last couple of hours. Not even once did my arrow land near my target, or even in the nest's direction. The bolt always sinks at the cliff where the sett of monstrous badgers lives, while gnawing their newest prey.
Ironically, they took inside their lair is the same animal that I have wanted to kill, yet my dart cannot hit its target.
I am close to giving up after failing countless times due to this wind disrupting my angle. If I had a copper for every missing discharge, I could have bought a wooden inn this instant.
"Elanor, why don't you demonstrate the complete process to me so I can, you know, emulate what you would do?" I lean over to his shoulder, pestering him for any hints that I can use.
"Not a chance, goblin," Elanor answered in a lackadaisical manner while deliberately shaking his head, arms crossed.
"Why?"
"Because it beats the reason for you to improve,"
Elanor tosses yet again another set of arrows with the same length and weight as before.
I tried every normal means as far as I know. I prepare a bolt, pull the string, and even cast my [Aim Shot] to ensure its velocity. However, I still fail miserably at my hundredth shot this afternoon, making me depressed and lying on the side, under the shade of the tree.
"Am I missing something?" I ponder to myself while placing a slender twig inside my mouth, taking out all the leftover from my teeth.
"If only I am practising both of my magic and archery skills,"
And then it hit me. The only thing that I haven't tried since yesterday was imbuing my dart with my water jet and guiding it towards my target.
'That's it!' I jerk off and head back to the cliff, firing my bow once again, this time aiming for the kill. "Why haven't I thought about this earlier?! It was that simple!"
I confidently fling the string and conjure spurts of controllable water jets at each side of the bolt. As I project it to the air, the torrent continuously pushes the dart upon my will.
"Amazing!" I regarded it while overseeing the direction where I want the dart to go.
If I pay close attention-like a joystick inside my mind-I can steer the bow's wheel even with the wind impeding my way.
"Good," Elanor gets back up on his knees and observes the bolt hovering above the skies.
"Now, let the proper test begin!"
On his signal, I recognised the intimidating aura he had from our mock-battle and quickly jolted away from my location. I am fully aware of his motives. He wants to distract me with his attacks while I simultaneously aim for the nest. But, the thing is, I can only think of one event separately, particularly dodging my body in breadths of harm from Elanor's strikes.
Eventually, I lost focus from the dart and watched it descend from the sky, hitting the stones, branch, and finally, the waiting arms of the hungry monsters.
"Why would you attack me from behind!" I grumbled.
"Again,"
I gaze into his eyes, checking whether he was bluffing me with his words. But the closer I peered at his globes, I realised he was not jesting me around and replied seriously to my question.
Recognising my defeat, I shamefully walk back again, this time attaching more arcane to get excellent control over my arrow. I glance over at my rear and check Elanor's figure, but my worries get the better of me as he was still there, observing my actions.
After my preparation, I hurl the arrow high above the sky and immediately manipulate its speed, pointing straight forward at the target.
As if on cue, Elanor jaunts ahead, avoiding my body, and jumps over the cliff, aiming for the arrow I had launched. All this was an elementary test if I could only land a hit over my target with a third party deranging my goal.
"I understand now!" I uttered while conjuring my water jets on my feet and hands, boosting my speed by three folds.
Luckily, Elanor was holding out his strength and let me catch up on him in the nick of time, enough for me to obstruct his path. Using my excess arcane from my dart, I cast a protective water sphere and allowed it to go deep through the forest, hitting the variety of leaves for it to camouflage.
The elf clicks his tongue for every twist and turns he has to make to follow the bow in a roundabout route. At long last, he understands that I have to ascend the dart upwards to avoid collision against the mammoth boulder blocking the way. Thus, I did and mistakenly gave him a chance to fend my arrow off the mark, stopping it from its tracks.
After grabbing the arrow, he glanced around and let me see a smirk curling upwards from his lips, celebrating his premature victory.
"All part of my plan," I voice out my plan and reveal the second arrow swiftly swimming across the air, bypassing Elanor and the flock of birds through the clouds.
Regaining its momentum, I ordered the water ball to head directly at the designated nest and kill the bastard monsters from yesterday.
"You're quick-witted, Lake," The King of Elves finally acknowledges my capabilities, changing his snicker to a sincere smile carved beneath his face.
"However, I won't lose that easily!" He retorted and heightened his speed using his wind element, just like my liquid forming my feet and the dart. His speed improved compared to what he was showing previously to me. Not a moment soon, Elanor closes the distance, reaching forth for the drifting arrow.
[Water Sphere]
I materialise multiple orbs of liquid over to Elanor, protecting the moving dart while battling against the veteran elf.
Elanor gracefully dashes to his side, completely dodging the airstrike that I summoned while counter-attacking my spell with identical spinning orbs.
I swivel my body and elude most of the incoming slashes for the sake of getting my view over to the speedy bolt. The wounds that I have accumulated were nothing compared to if I obtained victory in this match, which was the only thing driving me to meet my goal.
Crashing echoes ejects from the missing spells we have released, but we did not mind it and emphasised what is ahead of us. All we ever wanted was to complete our goal and see who would be the winner of this competition.
I, who wants to hit that damn roost, and Elanor, wanting to spoil my plans. Both of us want the same thing.
"To win!"
With a flash, the world illuminated our environment, blinding us momentarily. We hurriedly peered our eyes open and saw the tip of my arrow piercing the head of a golden pheasant. Although the name is peculiar to mention, it painted its eyes with scarlet red, opposite its golden hue covering his feathers. It fills its chest with a pint of orange and red like a chicken would have had. If observed intimately, one could see the bluish feathers on its side.
"I did it!" I exclaimed while untangling myself from the vines binding me from the nearby tree.
"You beat the test over for a day," Elanor mumbles to himself, as he too finds it difficult to believe what happened beforehand. Amusingly, the plants wrap around him and seals his body in place, unable to move a muscle despite wriggling intensely.
"So, did I pass?"
I said while shifting my look over to his side, with my ligaments still levitating slightly above the ground.
Elanor averts his gaze and quickly gives me a nod, affirming that I accomplished the task.
"I know I could do it!" I shouted out loud, rocking the vines and eventually snapping me from its latch.
Elanor summons his spell with the movements of his eyes and slices the plants with ease. We both look at the fallen animal struck with a wandering arrow, killing it without having to defend himself.
"That concludes our training for archery and magic manipulation," Elanor casts a spell and creates a pair of quiver and bow, with its design and materials related to the ones he has, apart from the crystal orbs and golden linen surrounding it. Apart from these, the recurve was the replica of the bow that the King of Elves uses.
"Here, take this," He throws the items to my waiting hands. "Remember how I grabbed a bolt without preparing something inside my quiver?"
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Well, try it for yourself,"
I reach for my quiver and imagine myself grasping a petite tube-like object with a triangular point at the tip. Much to my surprise, the same radiance that I have seen from Elanor happens to me right now and forms a tangible item on my hand.
"Congratulations. You are now an official S class Ranger."
[Class Gained: Ranger]