Chapter 76 The Elf’s Suggestion! (Second Update)
2015-02-26
Author: Zhuseng Futu
The sky was just beginning to brighten.
Soren had already gotten up. He washed up briefly and then went out to the training ground to stretch his muscles. His progress in mastering Sword Intent had once again entered a period of accumulation. Soren was currently training in the White Raven Tactics. This was much harder to master than Sword Intent. He had been practicing for several months, yet still had not made significant progress. Normally, it takes three to five years to master such mid to high-level combat skills.
Sword Intent is a single attack, whereas White Raven Tactics is a series of attacks.
It’s like the difference between a powerful sword technique and a set of powerful sword techniques, which also includes techniques for explosive strikes, breath control, and the continuity of technique combinations. All these require specialized training and the mastery of corresponding skill abilities, much like how Soren could not immediately build up energy to launch a Sword Intent decapitation right after executing a heavy strike. The pinnacle of such techniques is the Sword Saint; many combat skills can only be executed by them.
Soren continued to stretch for a while as the sky gradually brightened.
He took out a three-shot crossbow, quickly loaded the ammunition with both hands, and shot towards a target one hundred meters away. This distance wasn’t too far but it wasn’t close either. Soren barely aimed, simply raising his hand and shooting towards the target ahead. With his current strength and attributes, he almost didn’t need to aim specifically to shoot, and the rate of hitting the target was quite high. All aspects of his abilities extended into various domains, so attributes were the hardest to improve.
Swish, swish, swish!
All three crossbow bolts hit the target, and they all struck the bullseye.
However, there wasn’t a trace of pride on Soren’s face because this was merely the simplest shooting technique, which many people wouldn’t consider impressive. He calmly continued to load the crossbow bolts, then sprinted from left to right at an astonishing speed, simultaneously rolling and dodging while shooting at the target in the distance.
Swish, swish, swish!
All three bolts hit again, but this time only one struck the bullseye.
Soren frowned slightly as he looked at the target ahead. He hadn’t mastered any specialties in long-range shooting yet, and being able to hit a target from a distance while moving at high speed was already rather difficult—it relied entirely on his powerful agility attribute (balance, coordination, accuracy, etc.). However, this really wasn’t impressive; true experts could directly hit vital areas of their targets while both they and their opponents were moving at high speeds. That would truly qualify someone as a master archer. If judged by ordinary standards, most skilled elves with bows could achieve that.
The conditions were still insufficient. Without modern training equipment, high-speed shooting had to be mastered in real combat.
Soren toyed with the three-shot crossbow in his hand, then shot it towards the sky, accompanied by a thud as it hit the ground. A small bird, about the size of a hand, fell to the ground.
Clap, clap, clap!
A round of applause came from afar, and then Soren saw the drow elf he had previously let go approaching. His name was Andrei Darkblade, a Battle Master among the drow and the leader of the drow warriors. Behind this drow warrior were two individuals. He slightly bowed to Soren and then exclaimed, “Your skills are truly astonishing!”
A bit insincere.
Soren was well aware of his shooting level but showed no change in expression, only smiling and saying, “Just some casual practice. Drow are the true masters of shooting!”
Andrei Darkblade revealed a trace of a smile and then pointedly remarked, “Do you prefer to use crossbows?”
“Yes,” Soren slightly furrowed his brows, not quite understanding why the other party said this.
The drow warrior leader looked at the distant target, then lowered his head slightly, saying, “In my opinion, given your strength, you should not be using such a heavy and clumsy crossbow. Only those with insufficient talent would be suited to using crossbows because they take too long to load, and their power is not necessarily greater than that of bows. From my perspective, your strength, agility, and stamina far exceed those of others. From the viewpoint of an archer, you are undoubtedly a genius at using a bow!”
Genius?
Soren couldn’t help but display a pondering expression upon hearing this. From the perspective of attributes, he did indeed possess ample capabilities to use a bow. However, he had always used a crossbow and had formed a habit, seldom considering transitioning to the use of a bow. It wasn’t until the drow warrior leader brought it up today that Soren realized that given his current attributes, using a bow might allow for greater combat power than a crossbow.
“Bring it here.”
Andrei Darkblade turned to look at those behind him and instructed, “Bring me my elven warbow.”
One of his subordinates quickly left and returned a short while later with a dark gold elven warbow. The curves on its surface were extremely smooth, with exquisite carvings that seemed to be coated in some sort of dye, though Soren wasn’t quite sure what it was. This elven warbow was undoubtedly a fine product; in fact, any bow that could be called an elven warbow was of high quality, with at least a +1 rating as an extraordinary weapon. The bows crafted by elves are of superior quality compared to those made by humans, with craftsmanship and materials that cannot be compared.
—— “Elven Warbow (+2) [Second Tier Extraordinary Item]!”
Andrei Darkblade slowly extended the elven warbow towards Soren, saying, “Why not give this warbow a try? You might find that a bow is more effective than a crossbow!”
Soren reached out to take the elven warbow.
In the past, he fought by loading the crossbow beforehand and simply firing away during combat, often discarding it after use. In fact, he rarely loaded ammunition continuously during battles, treating them as disposable items. However, Andrei Darkblade’s words today captured his attention, and he was also curious to test the killing power of using an elven warbow.
A nearby attendant quickly brought over a quiver filled with arrows.
Soren stood about one hundred twenty meters away from the target, then reached for an arrow, smoothly nocking it on the bow and shooting towards the target. Although he hadn’t used a bow often, he wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with it; it was just that shooting a bow wasn’t as straightforward as using a crossbow. After all, once a crossbow is loaded, it’s simply fired, while a bow requires the nocking process. However, the continuity of shooting with a bow was undoubtedly far superior to a crossbow.
Whoosh!
An arrow flew out, and Soren easily hit the bullseye.
His strength wasn’t particularly high, but his agility was 24 points, meaning Soren had excellent balance and coordination; he excelled at anything related to skill.
This arrow didn’t mean much.
Soren had just been testing his skill. Once he found a feel for it, he took the quiver and began shooting continuously at the target before him.
Swish, swish, swish!
Five arrows shot out in rapid succession. Soren’s shooting speed was extremely quick; though his strength wasn’t high, his stamina was quite good. It took him about a second from aiming to shooting, meaning he shot five arrows at a rate of one per second towards the target. Almost in the next moment, five arrows pierced through the air to hit the far-off bullseye. It seemed he had no discomfort in using the bow; perhaps thanks to the effect of his Universal Skillful Hand, his accuracy was quite high while aiming and shooting.
Swish, swish, swish!
Soren didn’t pause at all; his quiver contained thirty arrows. He shot ten arrows at each target, consuming approximately thirty-six seconds in total. During this time, he didn’t need to take a break, nor did he feel any fatigue until he emptied the quiver, when he finally felt a slight soreness in his arm, a clear indication of the benefits of his extraordinary physique.
The target in the distance was now filled with arrows, and Soren had mostly not missed, but only twenty-seven arrows had hit the bullseye, with three missing.
From the perspective of aiming and shooting, this result should be considered good!
The nearby drow elf was somewhat surprised.
Meanwhile, Soren looked at the target filled with arrows and fell into deep thought. It seemed he really had overlooked something before; perhaps a crossbow was not the suitable ranged weapon for him.
………………(To be continued ~^~)
