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Chapter 8: Expanding knowledge (2)

The archery club he had decided to try out was even farther away from downtown, but it was the closest one to his home, which would save him a few precious hours spent on getting there and coming back.

The club was just a few bus stations away.

"It should be here," Jake said. He entered the building that looked nothing special on the outside and could have been said to be some factory\'s hall.

The archery club\'s posters told him that he had arrived at the right place. Inside was a simple receptionist room and a woman behind the desk that seemed to have been bored for hours.

She had her blue eyes cast below, watching something on her phone. She hadn\'t noticed Jake yet as she wore headphones, and her entire attention had been stolen by whatever was playing on her screen.

The woman appeared in her late twenties, with blonde hair tied into a low ponytail resting on her shoulder. She supported her pretty face on her hand while lost in the show.

Just like Jake, she appeared pale, but that could have been because of the virtual reality game that had confined many people in their houses, regardless of age.

There was a chance she practiced the archery indoors, too.

Jake came close, and his presence finally got into the woman\'s view. She looked up and blinked a few times, not believing that someone had come to her club.

She asked, "You must be Jake, right?"

Jake nodded, "Yes. I think we talked yesterday. I\'ve come here to learn and become the best at archery."

She whispered, "It wasn\'t a prank?"

Jake heard her, "It must have sounded like a prank, but I\'m serious about it. I came here to study archery under Mrs. Ingrid."

Once he sincerely told her that, the lady stood up and looked into his eyes, matching his line of sight. She was quite tall for a woman, but not taller than Jake.

"If you\'re serious about it, then you\'re to call me Master, not Mrs. Ingrid," Ingrid said, surprising Jake.

Expecting her to be the receptionist and lacking in the proper honorifics for the archery club, Jake corrected himself with a smile.

It was also great that he could cut to the chase and speak about what interested him the most.

Since it didn\'t seem like he took any offense, Ingrid nodded and opened the door to her left.

Inside, Jake found a vast room. The floor was wooden and shiny, and shooting targets were already prepared at the end. Quite similarly to the wooden cabin in the game world, Jake had noticed various bows prepared on the side.

Bows of the past and modern times had been waiting for him to pick them up.

The practice room lacked windows, but it was perfectly lighted and aired out.

Jake\'s steps echoed as he followed Ingrid.

She said, "First timers often give up after handling the bow... we will not follow the tradition yet and just have a short practice in spare clothes. I hope you have brought them."

Shaking his backpack slung on his shoulder, Jake nodded, "I have."

A few minutes later, Jake left the changing room in his P.E. outfit and approached his master. It\'d take some time for people of the modern world to call others masters, but Jake was diligent enough to come to terms with it already.

He nodded at her and respectfully stood before Ingrid. She hadn\'t changed her clothes as her white shirt and short black pants had been on her since the beginning.

Ingrid asked, "Have you ever held a bow?"

"Yes... I did that in the game world," Jake replied.

"Are you an archer in the Legend Enigma Online?" Ingrid\'s tone seemed to have become sharper, but Jake hadn\'t picked it up and casually continued talking with her.

He replied, "Yes. I\'ve picked up the bow here because it\'s the weakest class there, and I like to go against the mainstream... then I found out that hitting targets with arrows feels really good and got hooked on it... though I also have a feeling like going for close combat when I\'m hunting in the tutorial island."

Ingrid flatly asked, "Legend Enigma Online has lots of masters of archery that you can learn from. It\'s the least popular class, so I can see them gladly taking you in to share many secrets with you and bring up answers to your thrill for close combat. Why would you come here?"

Though her questioning must have seemed as though Ingrid wanted Jake to lose interest in modern archery, her questions had a hidden agenda. It was exactly because of the virtual reality game that she lost many of her disciples.

The rest said that they\'d take a long break from the club activities.

It was much more enjoyable to practice archery on monsters... and some even had given up on it to take magic into their hands—an impossible on Earth concept.

Jake could be the same.

He could easily give up on the archery club, wasting her time.

His words, however, surprised her.

He said, "Legend Enigma Online seems to follow the medieval times with a touch of magic. For that reason, I take it that Master has modern knowledge of archery that masters of the game world lack... if I combine the teachings of both worlds, I\'ll be able to close the gap much faster and much easier carve my own style. I want to be the best, and I\'m serious about it. Please, give me a chance to prove myself."

Jake took the common longbow after Ingrid had given him a go.

He followed what he had learned in the game world and let the arrow go.

It hit the shooting target seamlessly.

Because of the vast room, the echo of the arrow\'s flight and hit rippled across it a few times. It drummed in Jake\'s heart and head, filling him with much more satisfaction.

He curved his lips and stared at his target for a few seconds before showering his master with his passion.

Ingrid seemed to have noticed her younger self in those green eyes as she broadly smiled, "You have won my respect."

Afterward, Ingrid took the old recurve bow and put one of her knees on the wooden floor, "This is the modern form used in archery contests."

She drew the arrow with her back straightened and her prominent chest puffed out.

Her little fingers let the arrow go.

BANG!

Waves of strength swept through the room, bobbing in Jake\'s heart.

What a strength!

What a form!

What a precision!

"Master, when do you think I\'d be able to pick up the recurve bow in the game world and real life?"

"Hmmm... what\'s your level in the game world?"

"I\'m level three now!"

"You just began the gaming?"

"I\'ve been up in the tutorial island for a month now."

"...I see. Keep building your muscle memory with the long bow for now, then."

"Got it!"