"34!"
"Swordswoman, move your left leg forward and adjust your posture. You need to compensate for your lack of strength by putting the weight of your body behind each strike."
"Young Chief, the Mace is a top heavy weapon. Control its momentum when attacking or you will easily lose your footing."
As we practiced, Trainer Basak made rounds around the ground, correcting postures and providing useful tips. Only if we performed to his standards would our swings and shots be counted.
After watching Goku for a while, Trainer Basak made his way towards me. I noticed his approach but decided to ignore him.
The Redwood Long Bow I had picked required 14 points of strength to use. This meant every time I wanted to pull its Bowstring back to a full draw, I had to give it my all. My arms trembled just from pulling the Bowstring back to my chin and yet, Trainer Basak had asked me to hold that posture for the next 10 minutes.
Every second passed excruciatingly slowly and sweat beads formed on my forehead. My back ached from the strain but I held on. When the 10 minutes were over, I released the bowstring with a thundering twang.
I released the breath I had been holding as my body had felt like it would give up any moment. Yet, the extra stat point beckoned me.
After resting for a minute, I picked up the Bow again and got ready to shoot some arrows.
I took out the first arrow and notched it on the bow. With slow but steady movements, I pulled back the bowstring until it almost touched my chin. Sure of its trajectory, I let the arrow loose.
Zuup!
The quivering arrow embedded itself in the center of the target and I secured the first Bull's eye of the day, earning myself another stat point.
[Dexterity +1]
It helped me ignore the pain in my arms and ruthlessly persevere in my task.
One arrow, two arrows, three arrows… I kept on shooting until I emptied a quiver full of arrows. Then I took a break to get the next quiver and continued shooting.
During this time I had hit 2 more Bull's eye shots, raising my dexterity by 2 more points.
As my third quiver was about to be emptied, I hit another Bull's eye, bringing my tally up to 4.
The notification indicating the increase in Dexterity showed up once again, just like it had after the last three Bull's eye shots. However, now that I reached the first milestone of 5 points, it won't be as easy to increase the stat.
As I got ready to shoot another Arrow, Trainer Basak stepped forward after observing me for a while. He clapped hard on my shoulder, instantly reducing my HP by 30 points.
"You are a naturally gifted archer, Deathless Samar. Since you already possess a bow of your own, let me help you master it."
Immediately a quest window popped up before me.
[Mastering the Bow]
[Hit the target 50 times from the remainder of arrows. (0/50)]
[Reward: Passive Skill
Usually, a weapon mastery skill could only be learned when a player had chosen his profession. However, Training Grounds were an exception.
Any training ground would allow a player to learn a Weapon Mastery skill of his choice weapon as long as the player fulfilled the hidden requirements of the overseeing Trainers.
I had obviously fulfilled both. I had not only defeated Goku, but also impressed Trainer Basak with my talent in Archery. Hence, I could learn Bow Mastery ahead of other players.
However, it did not mean my options were limited to just this one Weapon Mastery skill. I could also learn Dagger Mastery or Sword Mastery as long as I could impress Trainer Basak with my Dagger or Sword skills.
However, it was an impossible task for me at the moment so I decided to stick to the quest at hand.
Once I finished reading through the quest, I was slightly perplexed. Hit the target 50 times? Not even Bull's eye but simply hit the target?
The Quest seemed a bit too easy for a precious passive skill like Bow Mastery.
I looked up at Trainer Basak and saw him fiddle with a rope hanging near the targets. A moment later, all the targets started to move erratically.
Some spun on the spot, while others oscillated with varying speed. They even bumped into each other causing their speed to vary every instant.
"As long as you hit any of these moving targets 50 times from your remaining 65 arrows, you can be considered to have become familiar with the bow."
Now the quest's difficulty made sense. No wonder it only asked me to hit the target 50 times.
When one learned this skill from a Professional Instructor, the player would at the least receive the assistance of a projectile guidance function. Yet, I had to achieve the same results without assistance.
I went through the usual actions of taking out an arrow from the quiver and notching it on the bowstring with familiarity. Still, I could not launch my arrow as a question stumped me: Where should I aim?