"Blacksmith Buka, do you not sell Bows and Arrows?"
Hearing my question the Blacksmith smirked with haughty arrogance.
"Lad, I am Ironsmith, not a woodworker. I do not make Bows. I do have a quiver full of arrows there but I doubt you will be able to afford or use it."
As he spoke, he stabbed his thumb in the air, pointing to a shelf behind the counter. I followed his finger and noticed a quiver hiding behind a large white cobweb.
—
Blood Feather Arrows
Grade: White-Wood
Requirements: Lv 5 Bow, Bow Mastery (Initial Stage).
Attack: 8-8
Made from the feathers of Blood Hawks, these sturdy arrows possess speed and strength far beyond that of normal arrows.
Exchange Requirements: 8 Blood Hawk Feathers per Arrow
—
Si!
I let out a gasp after seeing the attack power of the arrows. It was even higher than the attack of most melee weapons in the shop!
Moreover, the attack power of the arrows was combined with the attack power of bows when calculating damage.
This meant if I used this arrow, my damage would be even higher than any of the melee attackers, almost matching the Mages!
Yet, the exchange requirements woke me up from my fantasies. Each Arrow needed 8 feathers of Lv 7 Mobs, Blood Hawks.
As flying creatures, the difficulty of killing Blood Hawks was much higher than any of the other beasts around the Village.
They had good attack, excellent speed and almost pitiful HP for Lv8 creatures. However, due to their flying abilities, only Archers or Mages could target them. Even they would miss most of the shots because of the evasion ability of these hawks.
At my current level, it was impossible for me to hunt Blood Hawks. So, I decided to keep this thought aside for the future.
Even so, one of the chief requirements to use arrows was possessing a Bow and I was missing that.
It disheartened me and it showed on my face.
Blacksmith Buka noticed my disappointment and said, "Don't be so depressed. Just because I do not make a Bow doesn't mean no one makes one in this settlement. You can look for Old Man Sangma two tents down. He has lived with the Elves and crafts some mighty fine Bows."
This news brought light to my eyes. I finally saw a hope of finding a Bow!
I quickly exchanged two White Fangs for a dagger with significantly better attributes than the one Zamir was using right now and bid the Blacksmith farewell.
As if possessed by the wind, I bounded down the street to the Bowsmith Sangma's tent.
When I reached the aforementioned tent, I saw an old and thin Barbarian being harassed by two players. He looked haggard and worn out and did not bother to respond to the two players.
I walked towards them and sneaked a glance at their levels. Lv 2 and Lv 3.
God knows where he found the courage but suddenly one of the two players outright threatened the old man.
"Look here you ancient fossil! Make a bow for us and we will go find your son and grandson right away. Take our offer while we are still being nice or else no one will help you save your kin!"
This finally elicited a response from the Old Man. He sneered at them and said, "You two pipsqueaks? Are you even capable of hunting the Wild Dogs? If you have the capability, bring me 10 White Fangs or else don't even show your face before me."
The faces of the two players turned red with rage and embarrassment. They had turned around and just started to walk away, when their eyes met mine.
"Are you here to get a Bow as well?" Lv3 Player asked me with slight respect. He was respectful because he could see my level.
I nodded but did not say anything. I was just about to walk to the old man when the second player stopped me.
"Don't bother. He wants us to kill Wild Dogs in the Golden Slopes map. They are Lv5 Mobs, far beyond the reach of us newbie players."
The Lv3 Player said in a dismissive tone.
"Yeah! An elite party of 10 Lv5 Players from Fortune guild went to that map to level up. It was wiped out by the packs of Wild Dogs! Not only you, anyone would be crazy to go hunt Lv5 Wild Dogs just to buy a Bow from him."
The Lv2 Player explained to me with good intentions. The Lv3 player also glared back at the old man venomously and said, "Yep, it is an impossible quest. We can just find the Faction Representatives to buy Bows and other equipment."
I was astonished by the amount of information these two had. Still, I could not trust their words. How could Lv2 and Lv3 noobs have more information than Stivi who was the head of a major guild's development in this Village?
I smiled at them for their good will and made my way to the Old Man.
"Tsk! So what if he is Lv5? He will also become dog poop if he goes to the Golden Slopes."
"Yep even those Elites of Major guilds are grinding those Lv4 Sloths. They deal huge amounts of damage in a single hit, but at least they are slow as hell. Compared to them, those Wild Dogs are simply too ferocious!"
Ignoring their chatter, I arrived before the Old Man. He scanned me from head to toe and turned his head away in disappointment.
I mentally patted myself for not spending all of my White Fangs at the Blacksmith's as they would now come in handy to prove my strength.
"Master, I have 10 White Fangs here. Is that enough to prove my capabilities? Will you make a Bow for me?"
Upon hearing my words the old man whipped his head so fast to look at me that I was afraid his neck might break. He looked at my hands and saw the bony White Fangs shining under the dim sunlight.
"These really are the White Fangs!" The Old man excitedly picked up the thumb-sized fang from my palms and carefully observed them.
His shout attracted the attention of the two players who had just claimed that it was impossible to kill Wild Dogs at the moment. The Lv2 Player looked at me with shock while the Lv3 player was sour.
With an envious voice, he muttered, "He must have picked them up by following behind some Guild's Super-Elite Party…"
However, the Old Bowsmith's words proved him wrong. Again!
The old man looked at me with bright, shining eyes as he exclaimed, "You! You also have the blood of Wild Dogs on your hands!"
It was my turn to be shocked. This old man had a mysterious skill that could see through my kills!
It just showed that this Barbarian was not a run of the mill, ordinary NPC.
Even though I realized this fact, the two fools behind me obviously hadn't. To hide his own insufficiencies, the Lv3 Player once again tried to denigrate me.
"Tsk! So what if that guy can kill Wild Dogs? By the time he kills the hundreds of Wild Dogs in Golden Slopes, the Old Man's son and grandson would've turned into dog food!"