Chapter 30: Archery Training
Chapter 30: Archery Training
After dinner, Anna, slightly shy, spoke to Rain, "Rain, can you come to the room?"
After spending the day at Rain's home, Anna still felt a little uneasy, not because Rain's family treated her poorly, but because they were too enthusiastic.
The two of them went up to the second-floor room.
"Rain, I...I want to go back to my own home," Anna said, lowering her head, her hands clasped together, tightly gripping her skirt.
For some reason, although Rain was her savior, every time Anna faced him, her heart would flutter with anxiety.
"This...I'm afraid that's not possible!" Rain shook his head in refusal.
"Huh?! Why...why is that?" Anna looked at Rain with a mixture of confusion and astonishment, her mind in disarray. This answer was not what she had expected. Could it be...
Just as Anna's thoughts were dancing in her head, Rain's expression turned serious as he said, "According to Sheriff Hamilton's information, the black-bearded man I killed last time was the younger brother of the leader of the City Canine Gang. I'm worried that they might send someone to investigate his brother's disappearance!"
"So, for now, it's better if you stay here and not go back home."
"Ah!" Anna's face turned pale.
"Don't worry, I'll be joining the Night Watchmen soon," Rain said, trying to calm Anna's terrified emotions. He shared with her some of the conversation he had in Sheriff Hamilton's office.
After the explanation, Anna felt slightly relieved, her expression becoming more stable. She nodded and said, "Okay, then! I'll help with whatever I can."
Rain waved his hand and said, "If you have time, you can spend more time with Mint. Usually, there's no one at home, and she'll be happy to have your company."
"That's no problem at all. Mint is adorable and well-behaved," Anna said, her eyes narrowing into a crescent shape as she spoke of Mint.
"That's enough, rest assured, things will get better and better!"
Anna looked at Rain's determined expression and nodded, giving a heavy "Hmm" in agreement.
Although Rain was only slightly older than her, he gave her a sense of reliability. She believed in Rain's words!
In the afternoon, on their way to the blacksmith's shop, Rain checked the other core skill of the blacksmith, 'Hammer Expertise', with an icon of a flat-headed hammer placed diagonally.
[Hammer Expertise lv1 (Passive): The host's damage is slightly increased when using any hammer weapon.]
Rain frowned as he read this. He had been learning swordsmanship all along, and now he might have to find a new combat skill to learn with a hammer?
It seemed that, for now, this skill would not immediately enhance his combat power.
However, with this promotion to blacksmith, Rain was content with the increase in strength and the appearance of the active skill 'Smith's Strength'.
Rain flipped the panel back to the first page.
Name: Rayn Kalan
Profession: Blacksmith lv1 (1/100) / Militia lv3 (328/500)
Constitution: 6
Strength: 9
Agility: 8
Spirit: 8
Remaining Attribute Points: 0
Remaining Skill Points: 1
The small letters below the two core skills also had the 'lv' symbol, indicating a high probability of being upgradable.
However, Rain noticed that there was no experience bar in brackets below, which highly suggested that core skills could not be upgraded through practice but only through skill points.
This immediately furrowed Rain's brow.
This meant that the already scarce skill points would now be even tighter.
Rain looked at the remaining 1 skill point on the panel, hesitating repeatedly before finally deciding not to use it.
"The Mammoth Bear Breathing Technique is currently at the second stage, and the progress is not slow. But when it comes to the third stage, the required time will be much longer."
"I originally planned to wait until I reach level 3 of the Mammoth Bear Breathing Technique and then directly add points to increase it to level 4. The improvement in breathing techniques can bring about a comprehensive enhancement in physical qualities, making it very cost-effective."
"But now, with this situation, I might have a problem."
Rain thought about this issue as he walked towards the blacksmith's shop.
"Moreover, based on this trend, the skill point gap will likely widen in the future."
"As for a solution, we can try to trigger more professions, but this is highly uncertain at the moment. The week-long training with the Linti Dog, I thought it would trigger a new profession panel like Dog Trainer or Beast Trainer, but in the end, nothing appeared."
"So, for now, it seems that I can only continue to improve my Blacksmith or Militia profession level."
After a moment's thought, Rain's goal became clearer, and he returned to the blacksmith shop, his passion reignited as he resumed learning horseshoe forging from Blacksmith Boris.
After an afternoon of continued learning, Rain became increasingly adept at crafting horseshoes, while Blacksmith Boris's workload gradually decreased.
This couldn't help but impress Boris, who was surprised by Rain's excellent blacksmithing talent!
Unfortunately, after an afternoon of 'struggle', Rain's blacksmithing profession level only increased by 5 points, currently at Blacksmith lv1 (5/100).
It seemed that after advancing as a blacksmith, the experience gained from some of the original crafting outputs gradually decreased.
As dusk approached, Rain left the blacksmith shop and headed towards the Habsburg Manor.
Upon returning to the servant's dormitory, Rain had a brief chat with George before falling into a deep sleep.
The next morning, as part of the new week's training, the servants were to undergo archery training, led by the experienced archery instructor, Humbert.
Both swordsmanship and archery were mandatory subjects for the Habsburg Manor's guard assessment.
A group of servants arrived at the northwest corner of the outer courtyard, where ten targets were neatly lined up, and next to the shed were bows of various sizes and weights for training.
Rain took a closer look and noticed that there were shortbows, longbows, and heavy bows over one and a half meters in length.
"Today, we'll be practicing archery. Everyone, go and pick a bow that suits your strength and a quiver of arrows," Instructor Humbert said, his voice deep as he folded his arms behind his back.
As soon as the instructor finished speaking, the servants rushed to the shelter to make their selections.
Most of the servants chose shortbows due to their limited strength.
However, many of the pseudo-second generations were tall and strong, so they opted for regular-sized longbows.
Rain also selected a longbow, but he intentionally chose one with slightly weaker draw weight, around the medium-weight range.
Otherwise, based on his current strength, Rain could have chosen the heaviest longbow available.
Browbeard glanced at Rain and noticed that he had picked a longbow with a higher draw weight than his own. He couldn't help but snort in disdain, thinking to himself, "That shouldn't be right! Rain's strength should be weaker than mine!"
However, he didn't ridicule Rain but instead turned and left with a sullen expression.
Apparently, he still remembered that unpleasant brawl.
Thinking back to that fight, Browbeard felt his stomach turn, and he cursed under his breath, "Damn it! What the hell is Drunkard Jack up to? It's been a week, and he's still nowhere to be found."
"But I guess Drunkard Jack is off somewhere, causing trouble!"
"Something similar happened before. That bastard earned some money and then spent half a month with a widow, until he was kicked out after spending his last penny."
Browbeard shook his head in frustration, deeply regretting his decision to pay Drunkard Jack in full that day.
That bastard was so unreliable!
Rain, of course, was also eager to learn archery, but for now, he couldn't afford to invest his precious skill points in it.
So, after a whole day of training, although Rain was very dedicated, his archery skills barely improved. He only managed to add a Basic Archery lv1 (8/100) icon to his original Militia profession panel.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and archery required a lot of practice to become accurate.
This couldn't help but disappoint Humbert, who had initially held high expectations for Rain.
However, this turn of events delighted Browbeard, who had been anxious from the start.
Since archery was a mandatory subject for the guard assessment, Rain's poor performance would negatively impact his overall evaluation during the assessment.
Compared to Rain, Browbeard's ranking was now secure.
(End of Chapter)
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