The Dark King – Chapter 98
Thousand arrows
I would like to thank MrMartinke for doing an awesome job by editing the chapter!
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The Archers’ training field was located on the other side of the castle near the river. It was a very wide place with nothing but grass. At the moment, there were five figures standing there. They had bows and arrows. The targets they shot at were 100 meters away from them.
Four of them were men while the fifth was a woman. Each had two servants by their sides waiting to deliver arrows or other needs.
The youth came to the venue and patted his palms. Five of them stopped and turned to look over.
“I’m here to introduce a new companion to you. Actually, in a sense your predecessor. ” Said the youth as he pointed over to Dudian: “His name is Dean and he will be training with you from today onward.”
All five of them checked Dudian. The first impression was handsome while the second was quiet.
“Instructor, he is a newbie right? How come he is going to be our predecessor? ” One of the white skinned youth’s frowned.
The youth smiled: “Dean used to be a scavenger but accidentally got the magic marks. He is a worthy hunter, but lacks vocational skills. He will study here for a year to graduate and naturally will be your predecessor unless you can finish your training before he graduates. ”
All of them were surprised, they couldn’t help but take few more glances at Dudian.
The youth came towards a vacant shelf: “This is your position. Because of your physique, you have to shoot at least a thousand times before your training is over. You won’t be able to eat before you finish your training. So when a thousand shots are finished, then you end the training for today.”
Dudian nodded. He knew about the cruelty of the world outside the giant wall more than the others. So his purpose in training was not to simply complete the task given by the instructors, but to improve his own survival skills.
“For the first seven days, I won’t require anything but shooting 1000 times a day. However, afterward, there will be requirements such as exact hits.” The youth’s previous easy-going attitude had changed.
Dudian nodded.
The youth had apparently arranged for two young servants stand before the vacant track in advance. One of the servants handed over the bow with difficulty to Dudian while the other got the arrows ready.
Dudian took the heavy bow as it was lighter than a feather. He aimed and started to shoot immediately.
The youth got bored with watching so he said to Dudian: “If there is anything you need tell those two. They are the servants who are responsible for catering your needs during the training.”
Dudian nodded slightly and continued to shoot.
The initial training was only repeated archery. Its aim was to improve the accuracy of the arrows. It was the most important way of an attack by archers. Because of an error, it may lead to companions tragic deaths in the claw of the monster. Therefore, the requirements regarding the accuracy were almost at the point where they wanted to archer to metamorphose with the bow and arrows.
13-year-old boys who was standing next to the Dudian looked at him curiously. He wanted to know what kind of powerful effects would the magic marks have.
Soon, the boy was disappointed at Dudian’s archery level was worse than him. After 10 consequent shots, Dudian hadn’t successfully hit the target even once. All of them were off target.
“It seems that hunter’s specialty is nothing more than physical buff, nothing special.” The boy wasn’t concerned about Dudian anymore as he continued with his own archery training.
Dudian repeatedly shot the arrows. He gradually grasped the feeling after dozens of the arrows shot. He was able to understand the visualization of the target, grasping the distance with the actual position, the deviation of the arrows, injection of strength, the deviation of arrows, the angle changes and many other things as he practiced.
It would be extremely difficult to shoot a target 100 meters away in the old days. But Dudian and the five trainee hunters were not the same as ordinary people from the old days. Dudian knew that the trainees have received ‘blessings’ as they could easily pull the bowstrings.
The more you were able to pull the string the more benefits there were. First of all, you would be able to shoot farther. The second was that the accuracy would be higher.
The fundamental principle, the closer you shoot, the easier it is to hit.
“If an ordinary person shot fifty meters the arrows would decline as the strength weakens. Moreover, because of the airflow, there will be a deviation from the target. But in my hands, this heavy bow will have the same effect when the arrow reaches 80 meters as if it was 10 meters away from me. So the arrow will still be in a heyday of strength. Stronger a bow, much better it will withstand the tension. It seems I will need a good bow!” Dudian fumbled with the feeling of shooting but also thought of the future plan.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
He constantly shot the arrows while the servant at the side would help to fill the basket.
After two hundred arrows, Dudian’s target hitting rate was significantly improved. Basically, he would hit two out of 10 times. But because of his improved physique, once he was skilled enough the target rate would increase rapidly.
However, it was the first stage and the target was entry level. So difficulty would increase as the time passed!
The boy next to him, took a break. Unintentionally he caught a glimpse of Dudian’s target. He was stunned as 30 of Dudian’s shots had already nailed onto the target. However, at the same time, the boy had only shot 160 arrows. Even if Dudian was faster than him, but there was a small gap. So even though Dudian couldn’t be compared with him, but his skill was improving at an astonishing rate and was more than enough to reach the instructor’s requirements.
“Change targets,” Dudian said.
A servant immediately put on a black armor suit and carefully ran over to renew the target.
Dudian didn’t take a break and continued to shoot.
He made a shot and it hit the target.
Dudian shot out and once again hit the target.
Dudian continued shooting.
Soon, five out of ten arrows were hitting the target. Although three out of five arrows are hitting the outermost edge of the target, but the results were very good.
Dudian thought of the undead outside the giant wall. He narrowed his eyes and aimed the target’s head as it was the deadest part of the undead.
After four hundred continuous shots, Dudian felt soreness in his arms. He stopped to rest so that his arms could slightly restore.
Soon, at dusk, the sun went down.
Dudian had shot eight hundred arrows. However, his successful hitting rate was declining as the soreness in his arms increased each shot. He kept shooting as he was purely exercising his arms and getting the feeling of shots.
At this time, the five trainee hunters had already completed their respective tasks and were panting because of exhaustion. They said a few words to Dudian before leaving.
Dudian stood as the sun set. There were drops of sweat dripping from his face as he continued to shoot. After every shot, a voice emerged from his heart, advising him to stop and rest. However, every single time he would think of the undead and the beasts outside the giant wall. He would think about their ferocious appearance and about the helpless feeling that he got when he was chased after by them. Then his blood would boil, and he would continue to shoot.
Inertness is innate, but insistence is your choice.
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