Return Of Aegis

Chapter 7 - Six

ZeRen nocked his first arrow, then held his bow at a 20° angle, he then pulled back the drawstring till it was like a crescent moon, letting the arrow lose as he exhaled. The arrow flew at a slight arc and hit the center of the target 500 m away.

ZeRen continued targeting the next 49 in the same manner. Slightly adjusting the angle of the bow in accordance to the wind. Only after successfully hitting 40 out of 50 arrows, did he stop.

Based on the board next to him, he had already amassed a score of 400. Way more than the required 100 to pass. He still had 50 arrows to go, so he decided to try and practice shooting further than what the bow was capable of.

Drawing his bow horizontally till he was near a full moon shape, he angled his bow at 45°, nocked another arrow. This time he was targeting a spot 800 m away. Letting loose the arrow, it flew swiftly, but missed.

Unfazed, ZeRen adjusted his stance, steadied his breathing, nocked the arrow and as he drew back, inhaled deeply. When the moment felt right, he then exhaled. Letting loose the arrow.

This time, he hit the target and punctured right through it, impaling another target directly behind it. The scoreboard flashed twice as a new score appeared - 500. Target's 800 meters away gave 50 points each. After his first success, he did another 18 more arrows. But only managed to hit a few more.

With 30 arrows remaining, and being rather exhausted at this point, he just did some quick shots at targets below the 100 meter mark.

ZeRen's final score was 930. Nine times more than what Slyph asked for. Pleased with his score, he collected the score card generated by the shooting range, then headed back to Slyph. Along the way, he saw two other elves talking to Lady Sif. "They are in for a ride," thought ZeRen to himself.

"Back already? I'm guessing you just got 100 points to pass didn't you?" said Slyph as he struck his hand out to take the scorecard from ZeRen.

Preferring to let his results do the talking, ZeRen ignored Slyph's comment. Upon seeing the score, Slyph's eyes literally popped out from his sockets. "How? How? How is this possible? You should not be able to get such a high score without using skills!" gasped Slyph.

In his many years of being a class change guide since Aegis, he had never encountered any newbie who could score so highly. This score was the common average for mid-level archers. "This guy must be either a bug in the system or he is a world renowned archer in reality." Slyph thought to himself.

In reality, Slyph and Sif were not siblings, but actually trainer and trainee. Sif was the trainee, whilst Slyph was the trainer. After suffering a career ending accident during an archery tournament, Sif left the world stage. She only agreed to become a NPC in Aegis after her coach insisted that it was the best way for her to still be able to do archery and guide the next generations.

Slyph was at a loss of words, this new unknown elf player had created a new high score for the tutorial stage. If he wasn't forbidden to reveal that he was a real person, he would have already asked who this player was.

"So do I pass the test or not?" asked ZeRen impatiently, bringing Slyph back down from the clouds.

"Ye..yes, you pass. With flying colors I might add. Due to your outstanding performance, I will gift you with a skill. Use it well." Slyph then left the fountain. "Seem like both siblings aren't just NPCs, they both just walk off after 1 person is done with them." concluded ZeRen.

Before he could check the skill he got from Slyph, he received a message from ZeLin. Looking at the stats of the hammer, he was a little shocked. It was so much more overpowered than what the rumors had said it was.

"Once you've made it, wait for me at the next location. I'll come after getting yours." sending his reply to ZeRen, he continued to read the skill he received.

Opening his skill window, the top most skill in the Passive window was:

{Slyph and Sif's Blessing (Lv MAX)

When Strength Stat is more dominant than Dexterity, 50% of Str will be added to Dex.

When Dexterity Stat is more dominant than Strength, 50% of Dex will be added to Str.}

After reading the description, ZeRen opened his stats window to see the effects.

Character Name: ZeRen

Race: Elf

Age: 30

Title: Surpassor (All Stats +10%)

Stats:

Strength = 11 (10+1)

Dexterity = 11 (5+1+5)