It was important for a knight to know certain skills set in order to stay on top in a battlefield and archery was one of them. Although it was considered one of the least needed talents for a knight, this still a requirent to be part of the Knights of Divine Order. 8 was the minimum archery score a squire needed to achieve to pass. That ant 8 out of 10 arrows needed to hit the mark.
Unfortunately, Ery had missed one and that ant he lost one point. It was quite an embarrassing mistake as well – he was sure that right now, not only the participants were mocking him, but the audience too, as well.
"Is that a Lioness squire? What a joke!"
"That squire is an embarrassnt to the Tournant…"
"Why do they even let Lioness participate in this?"
At literally any other ti, Ery would be grateful for his enhanced senses, but not this ti. He was surprised to feel a little affected by the audience's comnts about him. He never really cared what the audience said in the much bigger arena of? Magus Academy., but when it's closer to ho though, it seed to matter to him.
"Let's see if I can win this," Ery muttered and gave himself a wry smile.
[Ery Ambrose]
[Battle power: 49 (34)]
The na 'battle power' was a bit misleading, considering how it was never only just about muscle strength or body endurance. With each point increase in it, Ery also gained an increased control of his physical body. Control, in this case, included body balance and perception, a quality sorely needed in disciplines like archery.
He just needed to practice for a bit to get used to the arrow weight and bow strength.
He eyed the target, pulled the string and gently released the arrow. This action took him back to when his father taught him archery in the Ambrose Estate courtyard.
Phhiiiuuuu!
This ti, indeed, the arrow hit the target, but it was outside the red mark, which ant another zero.
"Hahahaha, do you guys even see this kid? He was so serious, but the result… Kid, just go ho before you embarrass yourself!"
Ery did not answer, he rely smiled at the guy's direction.
After practicing twice, he finally got used to the bow and arrow he held tight in his hands, becoming more confident to pull this off.
Phiiiuuuuuu!
This ti, he hit the red mark. It was not a perfect center, but it was his first point.
"Finally! Keep it up, Lioness kid, and you may actually have a shot here! Don't even think about missing one or you'll be out of the tournant on your first day, hahaha!"
Ery closed his eyes and let himself feel his surroundings. In this tranquil state, he was able to feel the minuscule movents of each blade of grass, each leaf on the trees and the gentle breeze of the wind.
He took a deep breath and held the bow and arrow tight, connecting what he felt with the bow and arrow in his hand.
Phiiiiuuuuu!
The audience instantly went quiet, the whispers of insults dispersing like dust in the wind, to be replaced with gasps of awe and disbelief.
The jeers were replaced with admiring woos, as the Lioness kid they considered inferior and undeserving to compete in this tournant managed to hit dead center of the target this ti.
The squire standing next to Ery looked at him in silent bewildernt. He himself was rarely able to hit dead center, but Ery accomplished it, either by sheer luck or by his hidden skills.
Now that Ery managed to get his bearings, this ti he raised the bow higher, pulled the string taut, releasing it gently.
Phhhiiuuuu!
He attempted another shot toward the 400-feet range target, and managed to hit the mark
"Two points!" The aide in charge of marking the squires' results announced.
The audience started whispering again, but this ti, it was gossip about where his sudden skills ca from. So seed to think the feat he pulled was just a result of incredible luck.
Thanks to his spirit force, Ery could feel the minute changes in wind direction and how it affected the arrow, enabling him to make small adjustnts to account for that. The higher he shot, the stronger the wind would be, that ant the disruption would be stronger.
Ery took a deep breath and spread out his spirit force once more. Now, he had full control over his body and the elents around him.
Just like before, he pulled the string and gently released the arrow.
Phiuuuu!
Again, he manages to hit the mark on the 400-feet range target but this ti he hit the perfect center.
The squire standing next to Ery was unable to hide his shock. His mouth kept on opening and closing like a fish. anwhile, the audience did a complete turn-around, as they started standing up and cheering. It was like the insults they shouted at him before never existed.
A dead center on a 400-feet range target rarely happened and hitting it was a testant of one's archery skills.
"Yes!" Ery smiled and raised his fist high in the air. Sohow, even if this achievent was sothing in a much smaller scale than winning the Magus Gas and defeating elite acolytes, he still felt a trendous happiness from it.
Ery repeated what he did with his remaining arrows all to the 400 feet target. Out of those, he managed to get four more dead center shots.
Finally, he ran out of arrows and his turn ended. From his efforts, he managed to score 2 misses, 2 one-point shots, and 6 double-point shots, netting him a total of 14 points.
Thanks to this, he was now allowed to join the next archery round and compete amongst the 10 best squires in archery.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,
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