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Mary\'s reaction was pure bliss!

She told him that she was close and would soon visit him here. It meant that Mary would surely somehow pull her brother away from the capital, disturbing his plans…

\'Can\'t she wait for me… ugh, yeah, she waited seven months… rather ten…\' Jake thought and smiled faintly. She could only bother him for so long, and it wasn\'t like he didn\'t have time to lay out a blueprint for his baby steps in Last Night!

Since time was against him, Jake took a last glance at the capital during the day.

The buildings, houses, and institutions made of red brick had given him an image of the red coral reef, waiting for the red water to surge from the depths of the soil.

\'Looks good for the military country where strength matters the most… it\'s like the capital is ready to sponge the blood of any enemy in abundance. Maybe I\'m reading too much into it,\' Jake shrugged.

Of course, he knew this much because of his sister, who had told him about The Warmonger Empire and the guilds with good relationships with its royalties.

Those guilds paid less taxes and could start their own businesses here much easier, besides many more privileges that would tempt many newbie players to join them.

Joining the guild would mean paying them back for all those benefits, so Jake didn\'t consider it. He\'d rather focus just on himself for now.

\'Okay… I should find an auction house to sell the darkness skill book and get my hands on money. If what Lukas said is true, then monsters like on the tutorial island don\'t drop any coins upon their death. They drop what is known as the bill sphere, which can be exchanged for money in the cities or villages.

Selling carcasses and extracting resources is the second-best source of income when it comes to hunting monsters. The best source of income seems to be quests, I guess… I can take them from the statues, so I will have to deal with the human traitors… the roundabout way is to get a quest from other NPCs, but for that, I need connections.\'

Jake treasured his relationship with Richard so much that he intended to avoid the statues as much as possible.

That said, he was still a player and a selfish guy, so he would go to them when he reached the bottleneck on his path.

Jake asked the first-met player about the auction house and pin-pointed its location on his minimap. His minimap was entirely black, but the kind player matched it with his own and confirmed that this was where the auction house was.

On his way toward it, however, Jake stopped before the training grounds.

A significant chunk of it had been taken over by the guilds with a close relationship to the empire, but there was a place for everyone to train their skills. Everyone wielded close-combat weapons, such as spears, swords, and axes.

A variety of magical weapons also could be seen.

Jake saw long and short staves as well as magical orbs that rotated around players\' hands.

\'Everyone\'s using lightning?\' Jake noticed the first anomaly that piqued his interest. All the mages concentrated on the same skill, the only difference being their weapons. Staves released a pure lightning bolt from the tips while magical orbs shot forward, staying at the helm of the lightning bolt, using it as fuel.

When he looked to the side, Jake confirmed that swordsmen also used the same diagonal move. Players wielding spears also did the same thrust with the exact same movements as though copying each other.

\'Ah! Archers!\' Jake\'s eyes lit up with excitement as he noticed a group of archers tucked in the corner of the training ground. They only had one training effigy to shoot on and took turns on it while exchanging pointers.

It looked so nice that Jake wanted to become a part of this group!

He discarded his plans and ran toward them.

"Hi, guys!" Jake called them out! Their group had ten players, six men and four women. Everyone seemed to be around Jake\'s age, with one girl only one year before adulthood.

That said, Jake looked much more mature than them, so they had mistaken him for someone older.

A male player, his nickname hidden, stepped out of the group and approached Jake, "Hello! What do you need us for?"

"Could I join you?" Jake asked with palpable excitement.

"Oh! You\'re an archer, too?! Come in!" His voice seemed to have gotten infected by Jake\'s thrill, as he sounded the same as him. The man introduced himself with his real name, which was odd, but Jake didn\'t pay this mind. "I\'m Ethan. Nice to meet you, Archer!

I can\'t believe there\'s another one of us! Haha! Have you just left the tutorial island?"

"Yeah," Jake nodded. "What about you?"

"I left it around a week ago! I thought I\'d be able to hunt monsters right away, but I need more practice." Ethan awkwardly scratched his hair, "Archery is difficult."

"Nah," A male mage butted in, "Archery is just trash!" He wore a snicker on his face.

Ethan\'s face grew redder, "Again, you? Do you have nothing else to do but bother us?!"

"The more I bother you, the better for your future! You should have been grateful that I go out of my way to remind you that archery is crap in this game and without any future! No one bothers crafting high-level bows, arrows, or even skills for you! I saw enough of your archery as well! To say nothing of your pitiful damage, you can\'t even pierce through the effigy\'s skin!

There\'s no reward for your efforts in the training ground, too!" The male mage sporting the nickname—Welshy—chuckled, gathering the attention of surrounding players.

Jake attentively listened to his words, picking up useful information.

It seemed like there were rewards for practicing on the training grounds. Every week, the instructors specializing in the main classes would come to the training grounds to give quests to anyone wanting to participate in the weekly challenge.

The challenge was simple—practice a single skill chosen by the instructor for a week, then show the results of your training at the end! The instructor usually asked a player to strike five different points so as there was no way to cheat.

Because of the level differences, every instructor comes up with unique methods to make it fair for everyone.

For instance, mages use the same staff or magical orb with burdens plastered on it, so the player\'s talent and skill comprehension weigh more than their INT stat and level.

Jake was intrigued by it.

He wanted to compete with others and see their archery forms!

"Hey, how about we ignore this clown and just practice?" Jake patted Ethan\'s shoulder, hogging everyone\'s attention!

Welshy sneered at him, "Yeah, go and practice! Show us how archery is done!"

Ethan grew concerned about Jake as he didn\'t want him to get discouraged if he were to fail… the effigies here weren\'t normal to practice with! Their tough skin aside, they moved back and forth and even maneuvered in circles to make it even more difficult!

Jake smiled, "I guess it\'s my turn then!"

Taking out his bow, Jake went to the spot where every archer shot at the single effigy. He instantly struck his feet together and entered the Soldier Form. For a moment, he looked so rigid and tall that everyone\'s breath halted, and their eyes didn\'t dare to blink—this archer was a real deal! Even his bow was somewhat different!

But as Jake drew his bowstring and tightened his grasp on the bow\'s handle, everything changed. His riser cracked, and the bow\'s limbs burst open. The handle broke, and the bowstring snapped, sending his arm behind!

The pieces of his first crafted bow—The Harbinger Of The Archer—dropped alongside the hearts of every other archer at the scene.

Welshy burst out laughing! "Haha! That\'s it! The perfect picture of the archery! It just sucks! It so bad that it destroys the player\'s weapon!

That\'s how the archery is done! Haha!"

He applauded, compelling every other mage to clap their hands as well.

Their snickers grew louder, picking up even more attention.

In less than a few minutes, the group of archers, scorned by only a few, had the eyes of every other player on the training ground gathered on them, laughing about Jake and archery.

Not paying anyone attention, Jake hovered his eyes on his broken bow. He squatted and picked up the shattered pieces, stuffing them into his inventory.

Ethan tried to appease him, but the youngest of the group beat him to the punch and spoke aloud to Jake.

"C-Could you please leave already?! Leave us alone!"

She was the youngest, and her face was so red and ashamed that it seemed she had caused all of it. She had endured so much scorn and teasing here that she couldn\'t deal with so much outrage at once.

Jake smiled at her, "Yes. I don\'t have a bow, after all."

Ethan extended his hand toward him and tried to speak up, but Jake was already past the training grounds\' borders, his frame blending with the residents and players walking by.

He turned around and faced the girl, "Come on! Don\'t be like everyone else! We all are archers! We should support each other!"

"B-But he made fun of us by coming here with a bow with so few durability points! Everyone laughed at us! Everyone!"

Ethan bit his lips... how come being an archer was so difficult?