27 – Archery exercises
The air carried weight, clinging gently to the skin and hair, cool enough to refresh and warm enough to promise heat later. Elanil closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It felt like drinking from a spring: clean, carrying the freshness of fir resin, touched with the loamy scent of wet straw. Each inhale steadied the pulse. Each exhalation released her inner tension and dissolved it into the fog.
The edge of the forest, the surrounding hills, even the nearest houses were slightly obscured by the milky veil of dense mist. The light was diffuse and spread evenly around, so that it was not possible to tell what hour it was, only that it was indeed a blissful hour.
Somewhere around her, she could hear the sounds of a waking village: dogs barking, doors creaking open, footsteps. But it was both nearby and hidden enough from Elanil that she felt comfortably alone, shielded from everyone by the fog. But even without it, people here were respectful enough to mind their own business without prying into hers.
She inhaled deeply, her ribs expanding. A slow exhalation—her breath steamed in the humidity.
Her hand moved back as the arrow’s fletching tickled her fingers. Her shoulders stretched pleasantly, like upon waking up from a restorative sleep. Her shoulder blades came together, almost touching. Her fingers, a moment ago concentrated on the nock, relaxed. The bowstring sang like a lyre and released the arrow in a wobbling flight. A moment later a muffled thud reached her ears as the arrow struck the target. Elanil closed her eyes and reached for the next arrow.
Since she came into this world, she never took a moment to appreciate how her body behaved during battles: attacked, dodged, was hit sometimes. It seemed so obvious, like walking, and thus unnoticeable, she supposed. Though come to think of it, Elanil had never held a bow in her life; all she’d done in this world before was simply let the shooting process take its course. So, now Elanil concentrated and at the same time blissfully listened to every sensation of the body, its motor skills.
Biwa village was the perfect place for such exercises. The spirit of introspection seemed to permeate the air. The time was also ideal—early morning, when the world around was fresh and relatively quiet, and a break between quests while her friends recovered from the adventure of the previous day. That was why the night before, upon returning from the forest, Elanil had asked Emily’s father to set up targets at the edge of the village so she could practice shooting without disturbing anyone. She just hadn’t expected him to do it overnight. Probably, he was so eager because they respected her so much now. Or feared her.
“No, respected,” she thought with a grin.
Which wasn’t surprising. Their return yesterday was quite spectacular. After the elder dryad had given the younger one a good dressing down—Elanil still had no idea whether they were relatives or not—both forest spirits led her to a hidden cache. As promised, all its contents were handed over to her, and there was quite a bit of valuable stuff there. Afterwards, the elder dryad commanded the younger one to re-knit the teddy bear so that Rosie would look the same as when they had kidnapped her. It turned out very well, the only thing was that the young dryad made a mistake with the size and now the teddy bear was only slightly smaller than a real beast.
Gaspard and Nura were weak and unaware of what was going on, so Elanil had to lead them back to the village. They could barely move their legs like a couple of drunkards. The dryads escorted them only to the edge of the forest. As Elanil and others emerged from the woods, Emily spotted them, and her joyful cries caught the attention first of her parents, then the rest of the villagers. Not surprisingly, they looked awestruck by the sight before them: Elanil carrying her battered comrades on her shoulders, Rosie’s front paws wrapped around her neck, like the pelt of a lion she had just killed.
If she were in the villagers’ shoes, Elanil would probably have been wary at the sight of an elf, an orc, and a human who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, telling tall tales about dryads who had kidnapped a teddy bear and made it bigger in size. But first of all, the villagers were aware that the surrounding forests were inhabited by dryads, and that an encounter with them could not guarantee a happy outcome. Second, the fame of the Hamselton Champions and their good deeds had already reached this part of the Valley. Therefore, in the villagers’ eyes, they were not just some random guys, but those whose words could and should be heeded.
Elanil pulled an arrow from her quiver, drew the bowstring, and fired. Without hesitation, she drew a second arrow, aimed, fired, and drew a third... What if she tilted the quiver to save time drawing the arrows? Hmm, that worked, she noted after a rapid-fire series of three more arrows in a row.
[System Notification]
{Elanil: New Skill acquired} Rapid shooting: low
Description: The arrows seem to jump out of the quiver into your hands, the speed of shooting a series of arrows and the accuracy have increased.
Elanil glanced at the notification. Skills were another matter she needed to study. As far as she understood, they weren’t tied to the abilities unlocked and upgraded through runes. They could be mastered through regular repetition in battle and while training. But her menu didn’t have a single tab with hints about how many of them there were, which ones did what, and how they related to her main stats. For example, were rapid shooting and attack speed the same thing or different?
She sighed regretfully. If only she’d delved more into the details of game mechanics development, instead of being buried in tree textures... Elanil chuckled at the thought: the knowledge of tree textures had been a real help the day before. And yet, she barely survived her duel. What if the elder dryad had not showed up in time?
Two strongest members are temporarily removed from the party. She frowned as this phrase from her notifications during the battle popped up in her memory. It was both flattering that the mischievous dryad had sorely miscalculated by assuming she was the weakest member , and humiliating that she really was the weakest member of the team. All because she was so indecisive and hadn’t decided yet what build to go with. That’s why while Nura and Gaspard were honing their builds, she had a ton of unspent experience points at her disposal.
The problem was complicated by the fact that she’d fished out a whopping ten runes from the dryads’ cache. Indeed, the elder dryad was right; the young one really was quite the magpie. Elanil wondered where they found them. It didn’t matter now though. What mattered was that half of those ten were hers. And among them was the second one from her recently unlocked branch of abilities. It was summoning magic, the one connected to her Wood Elf origins.
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Elanil once again opened the list of runes intended for her and ran her eyes over their descriptions.
Item: Rune – Knockback Arrow (Archer-Mage)
Quality: Bronze
Description: Ability update
Item: Rune – Ice Arrow (Archer-Mage)
Quality: Bronze
Description: This arrow hits an enemy and freezes them or part of ??them if the enemy is large, dealing moderate Ice magic damage, anchoring them in place and making them exposed to other attacks. It does not freeze but slow the enemy down if they possess high magic resistance. Each upgrade increases magic damage and freezing or slowing duration.
Item: Rune – Mortar (Archer-Mage)
Quality: Bronze
Description: The arrow makes a high arc, turning into a cannonball at its highest point. When hitting the ground, it crushes everything around, dealing high physical AoE damage. Drawback: useless against fast-moving targets. Bonus damage points: at a siege. Each upgrade increases the area of effect and damage.
Item: Rune – Rain of Arrows (Archer-Mage)
Quality: Silver
Description: Each time the Archer-Mage fires, the arrows multiply, creating a rain of arrows covering a large AoE, dealing moderate physical damage. Can be combined with Explosive Arrow or Knockback Arrow, hence additional fire or electric magic damage. Each upgrade increases the duration and the area of effect.
Item: Rune – Unicorn (Archer-Mage)
Quality: Silver
Description: The Wood Elf conjures an astral unicorn, which fights alongside the summoner until its health depletes. It clears the party from all negative and mind control effects and inflicts strong physical damage with a chance of stun. Each upgrade increases damage, the unicorn’s health, and stun chance.
How could she settle on just one build? Although, frankly, Elanil was more drawn to her archery abilities. Maybe because they’d dominated the roster so far; she could vividly picture her freezing an enemy with an [Ice Arrow], shocking them with a [Knockback Arrow], throwing down a [Mortar], and finishing it off with a [Rain of Arrows]. It had to look impressive and effective.
It would seem Elanil should better developed herself as a ranged attacker. But another item from her recent harvest gave her pause.
Weapon: Static poignard
Quality: common
Damage type: Electric
Attack: 40
Description: Sharp and deadly like an electrified hornet’s sting.
As a mage, she could use poignards. It wouldn’t bother her if it had been simply a means of defense, in case the enemies managed to get close to her despite the barrage of arrows she unleashed upon them. But the poignard dealt five times more damage than her bow! Only why would they need three melee rogues in their party if she was good so far in covering them from afar? But still, it would never hurt to know how to handle a poignard. She definitely should ask Gaspard or Nura to practice melee fighting with her. Speaking of which…
“How long have you been standing here?” Elanil asked, turning back.
“Enough to catch a cold from this dampness around. How did you know I was here?” Nura pushed away from the wall she was leaning against, her arms crossed over her chest. “I was silent. And you were thinking loudly again. I thought you wouldn’t notice.”
“Don’t know, I just caught your stare at my back,” Elanil shrugged, tucking the half-drawn arrow back into her quiver. “Call it my elven instincts.”
“Nice shots, by the way,” Nura nodded towards the targets.
“I need to practice more.”
“What are you talking about? You were spectacular yesterday! You fought that green bastard alone and yet kicked their ass!”
“It was more luck than my skills,” Elanil shook her head and went to pull arrows out of the targets.
“I think you underestimate yourself. It was me and Gaspard who screwed up yesterday. If not you, I don’t know—”
“How’s Gaspard?”
“Still sleeping. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. People are simply less resilient than us, orcs and elves.” Nura smiled. The bard really did look awful the previous day. He’d vomited yarn several more times, and his face was almost orcish-green. “Better tell me how it all ended.” Nura’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “I vaguely remember what you told the human girl’s parents yesterday. It was all a blur.”
“Well, I had to mess around with that dryad for a bit. They learned to copy both our weapons and my abilities. Then I set fire to the bush and shoved it deep inside the bear. And then the elder dryad came and put that brat in their place. They also gave me the contents of their cache.”
“More details from here on, please! The reward is my favorite part of any story.”
“See for yourself,” Elanil again expanded the list of the rewards.
Nura’s reaction was predictably enthusiastic. “Ten damn runes! Five for you, well it’s absolutely deserved. Oh look, here’s two for me and even a new ability. My first silver ability!”
Item: Rune – Boomerangs (Dual-axe wielder)
Quality: Bronze
Description: Ability update
Item: Rune – Fly paper tiger (Dual-axe wielder)
Quality: Silver
Description: The rogue creates an immobile sticky copy of themself that taunts all enemies around to attack it. The copy neither deals nor takes damage, but causes enemies to become stuck to it, making them an easy target for attacks. A chance of dizziness upon disappearance. Each upgrade increases the copy’s duration, AoE and its stickiness, making it more difficult for enemies to tear limbs or weapons away from it.
“Damn, it’s a bummer me and Gaspard were too unconscious yesterday to take our XP!” Nura shook her head regretfully. “I would probably already be at level ten and could unlock it. I’m so looking forward to testing it in battle! Did you gather your experience yesterday?”
“Yes. And now I’m the same level as you—nine.”
“Cool! I’d also like to see the spirits of your ancestors in action. And unicorn too: I’m sure it’s cool. But especially the ancestors. I’d rather assume something like that would be for me, as a dreamwalker. Whatever.”
“We’ll see them all soon. We just need to farm some experience before the next big brawl.”
“What else did these dryads have in store?”
Item: Rune – Elusive Motives (Venomous Bard)
Quality: Silver
Description: Ability upgrade.
Item: Rune – Enchanting Chords (Venomous Bard)
Quality: Silver
Description: Ability upgrade.
Item: Rune – N/A (N/A)
Quality: N/A
Description: Incompatible
“At least Gaspard won’t whine about being left without gifts again,” Nura chuckled. “Although his runes aren’t as impressive. And look at that, shall we expect another party member soon? What do you think, could it be the next Amulet bearer?”
“Don’t rush things,” Elanil hastened to cool her friend’s ardor. “It might just be a random rune that won’t be of any use to anyone. But we can trade it for something with a runemaster. Look, I also retrieved a poignard.” Elanil unhooked her new weapon from her belt and handed it to Nura.
“I’ve never seen a design like this.” She turned it over carefully in her hands. “Well, it’s not surprising. All our orcish mages use staves.”
“I also wanted to ask you to practice—”
“Elanil, your amulet!” Nura suddenly interrupted her. “It’s shimmering!”
Elanil looked down. Indeed, the amulet was pulsating. She looked at Nura’s chest.
“Yours too!”
“What the hell is—”
This time Nura was the one who got interrupted: a frightened woman’s scream was heard from the other end of the village.
“Something wrong’s happening there.” She took out an axe and rushed from the spot.
