Chapter 39
After closing the store door, Aakesh had nothing to do, so he decided to train his archery. During these past several millenniums, he learned to use many of the weapons, but he particularly loved archery more than any other weapon style.
No weapon style challenged him more than archery. He even asked the system about it; why's that. It answered him because archery is unpredictable, unlike sword-style, where you can fight by predicting the next movement from seeing the body movement, particularly the movement of hands. Whereas in archery, the enemy not only needed to focus on the way the bow was pointed at, they also needed to consider the direction of the arrowhead in mind. In addition, the enemy also has to consider the movement of the finger on the bowstring.
The system also told him that Aakesh found archery more challenging because it was a long-range battle system, but he was particularly interested in close combat. Swordsmen are known for their agility and quick movements in the battle, so it was always going to be difficult for him to fight swordsmen in close combat using bow and arrow.
He appeared in the selection ground with Lily. "Go and train with your ancestors," He then pushed Lily onto the training with the creatures belonging to Epochal Feline. He wanted her to get perfect at using every skill she gains with the time passing. Lily looked begrudgingly at him but still followed his order and pushed the switch.
She didn't do any antics with him here because he never joked with her whenever it came to training. Once she decided not to follow his order, he didn't talk or play with her for several centuries. She didn't want to go through the same thing, so she never refused training again.
After Lily pushed the switch and entered her training ground, he picked up the bow he had been using for the past several millenniums. After selecting the environment he wanted to train in, he pressed the switch.
The next moment, he appeared in a familiar setting. He has been training in the same environment during the last few days when he was in the previous store.
"Boo!"
Suddenly, the sound of booing echoed. He looked around and saw millions of people booing him. The environment he chose was a battle arena. He has been battling with the swordsmen in the presence of these people. They were booing him because of losing every battle he had fought here.
Aakesh smilingly waved his hands at the crowd, and the boos got even louder. He laughed, even more, seeing the situation. It felt great for him to poke this bunch of people who hate him with a smile.
Suddenly, the boos disappeared, and instead, loud cheers erupted. Aakesh's face turned serious as his competitor entered the arena.
The competitor had the same body structure as humans. He had the head of a goat with two horns of the bull. In comparison to Aakesh's body size, he looked like a child, but Aakesh had never been more serious than he was right now.
The competitor didn't speak anything when he reached the center. He casually took out his sword and gestured for Aakesh to make a move first.
Aakesh had already gotten used to this, so he didn't wait and shot an arrow aiming at the competitor's heart. But the next moment, he immediately took two steps backward. A sword swung at that exact place right after he moved away.
He didn't have the time to care for it, so he moved to his right and shot three arrows at the same time, aiming for the competitor's both eyes and his heart. Within seconds, another attack passed his head by a hair's length, causing him to have to move back once more.
Aakesh's shooting speed was almost hundreds of arrows within a second, but not a single arrow could even touch the competitor's sword, let alone injure him. But the same couldn't be said for him; he already had several cuts all over his body despite having the same movement speed as the competitor.
A few seconds passed, and Aakesh's situation was only getting worse for him. His entire body was covered in his blood, but he was able to hit his competitor for the first time in his training. The competitor had an arrow stuck right at the joint of his right arm, causing him to use the sword with his left hand.
But Aakesh didn't expect the competitor to be even better at swordsmanship with his left hand. He was not even getting a chance to shoot after the competitor started using his sword by his left hand. After a few seconds, his bowstring was cut by the competitor, so he was forced to stop fighting.
"You win!" He said, raising his hand after the bow became useless.
"BOO!"
The crowd booed Aakesh even louder than before as it was his tenth straight defeat against the weakest champion. His injuries all over his body also started healing after he gave up.
"You fought better this time," said a hoarse voice as Aakesh was waving at the crowd while laughing out loud.
"I guess. Otherwise, how would I've ever known that you're even a bigger monster when you use your left hand," Aakesh responded with a smile. The competitor had already thrown away the arrow that hurt him, and the injury was already healed. There wasn't even a mark present at the spot.
"See you in the next challenge," The competitor responded and turned around to leave.
"Okay, I'll see you losers next time," Aakesh, in response, shouted back to the crowd booing at him, resulting in it getting even louder and disappeared from the battle arena.
He then appeared in the selection ground. Since his fight only went on for several seconds, there was still a long time before Lily would come out, so he sat there and visualizing his battle. He would do this every time after his every fight to make him better than before.
Hours passed in the blink of an eye. Lily also came out of her training. She had an aggrieved look like she had been beaten very badly. She saw Aakesh sitting in the center, so she jumped on his hand and started telling him what she faced. Aakesh only smiled hearing it and then came out of the selection ground with her.