With a bow in his hand, past experiences suddenly flashed through his mind.
Adam recalled various scenes from his past, smiled involuntarily, and released the string.
With a whoosh, the long arrow shot forward and hit the target directly, filling the not-so-big target in front of him.
Looking at the scene before him, Adam didn't feel surprised at all.
"Good."
From a distance, applause was heard.
Adam turned around, looking to the side.
At some point, a young man had walked over and was now standing there, his gaze focused on Adam.
His face was filled with admiration: "Impressive archery skill."
"What's your name?"
"Adam."
Looking at the young man in front of him, Adam put away his bow and arrow and asked with a hint of surprise: "And you are?"
"My name is Isius, and I joined the school not long ago."
The young man in front of him looked very graceful, and now reached out his hand to Adam, with a polite smile on his face: "It's nice to meet you."
"Same here."
Adam nodded and remembered the name.
The person before him looked quite extraordinary, most likely from an aristocratic background.
However, according to the customs here, when aristocrats meet for the first time, they usually introduce their family background.
But clearly, neither Adam nor the other party had any intention of doing so.
Adam felt that there was nothing worth mentioning about his surname.
In the past, he would have deliberately included his surname in his self-introduction to emphasize his aristocratic status.
But now, he had seen through all this and couldn't be bothered to do so anymore.
After all, in Hodge Academy, there were numerous nobles from prominent families. His own status as a Baron's son was nothing to show off.
Introducing one's family background wasn't that necessary in the first place.
The reason for Isius's silence, however, was unknown.
After a brief introduction, the two fell into silence.
Adam was not the kind of person who was good at making conversation.
On the contrary, most of the time, he was quite reticent and didn't like talking. He didn't know how to start a conversation at the moment.
But Isius seemed to be an expert.
Seemingly realizing Adam's thoughts, he started speaking proactively, talking to Adam word by word.
His words were relatively short, but they had little superfluous filler. Even small talk felt good, making it hard not to listen patiently.
Moreover, he was very talkative. Even with someone as taciturn as Adam, he could quickly find topics to discuss.
"How about a friendly competition?"
Isius smiled, "We'll see who can hit more targets. The bet is one gold coin, what do you say?"
"Sure."
Adam nodded without any objections.
If it were something else, he might have hesitated. After all, one gold coin might not be a lot to him now, but it was still a significant sum.
However, when it came to testing his archery skill, he was very confident.>
This confidence had been built up during his time hunting demonic creatures in the forest.
In Hodge Academy, even the coaches and teachers who specialized in archery couldn't surpass him in this aspect.
Seeing Adam agree, Isius quickly smiled.
Before long, they each grabbed their bows.
The bow and arrows Adam used were the most ordinary kind, whereas the arrows were homemade, without iron tips. They were only useful for practice.
The bow and arrows in Isius's hand were obviously much more luxurious.
Adam noticed that each of Isius's arrows was very exquisite, with steel tips on them. Their lethality was quite impressive.
Apparently, this was what a truly rich person looked like.
In terms of lethality, even if Adam shot ten arrows, they wouldn't hurt as much as one of Isius's.
However, their competition wasn't about lethality, but accuracy.
Adam acted first, without much hesitation. He shot ten arrows quickly.
Nine of them hit the bullseye, and due to the wind, only one arrow deviated slightly from the target.
Following him, Isius also took his turn, shooting ten arrows.
Nine of the ten long arrows hit the bullseye, but during the last shot, he hesitated for a moment and also missed the target.
The final results seemed to be the same as Adam's.
However, the difference was that the arrow that missed the bullseye had deviated much more severely in Isius's case.
The outcome was clear.
"It seems that I lost."
Looking at the final result, Isius put down his bow and arrows, and spoke with a touch of sentiment.
"No, you didn't lose."
Adam shook his head and said, "During the final shot, you deliberately waited for the wind to change before letting the arrow go."
"If you hadn't waited, the last arrow wouldn't have ended up like that."
"I can't take your bet."
"Let's call it a draw then."
Isius looked deeply at Adam and suddenly smiled, "Are you a student of the Knight Academy?"
"I believe we will have many more opportunities to meet in the near future."
"All the better."
Adam smiled and said, "It's getting late, I must take my leave."
"I've been in this place for over a year, so if you need anything in the future, just have someone call me."
"So, if I need help, you'll come to my aid?"
Isius looked at Adam with interest and asked.
"Of course."
Adam nodded, calmly saying, "As long as this so-called help doesn't harm others."
"Naturally."
Isius nodded, watching Adam turn around and leave the area.
"Interesting, really interesting."
After a while, when Adam's figure had completely disappeared, Isius muttered to himself, "I never thought that I would meet such an interesting person in a place like Hodge Academy."
"This trip wasn't a waste after all."
With that thought, a smile appeared on his face, and he also turned around and left.
Adam left the target range and walked to the side.
"A total of fifty gold coins, are you sure you want to exchange them?"
At a window, the person in charge looked at Adam and confirmed once again.
"Help me exchange."
After some thought, Adam nodded.
After returning to the academy, the gold coins he had collected earlier were still there.
But to use them properly, they first had to be exchanged into the universal currency of the Kingdom of Hodge.
This task was not particularly difficult.
As an official institution of the Kingdom of Hodge, Hodge Academy also had merchants who specialized in currency exchange.
Adam checked a few places before finally choosing this one.
Due to the difference in gold content, more than eighty other-worldly gold coins were exchanged for only fifty Hodge gold coins.
Although the quantity had significantly decreased, it was still quite a fortune.
At least for Adam, it was more than enough for his daily use.