3 Chapter 3: More Training

In the blink of an eye, a week was already gone. The last two days of the week were given to these recruits as holidays. Within these two days, they visited the castle doctor who took care of their injuries. That night at the cafeteria everyone had bandages wrapped around their fingers, most of them found this funny while some silently cursed the instructors. After resting for two days, these recruits were ready to return to the normal daily task but to their surprise, they were given a new task.

"100 Laps around the castle, a thousand push-ups, and a thousand sit-ups… that is your daily task for the week" Master Stevens barked.

"NO!!! I won't do this anymore!!!" a yellow-haired boy screamed. It was obvious he was from a noble. He stood right in front of Stevens and barked

"If word about this gets to my father do you think you will be able to bear the consequences!!!" some other nobles who stood behind nodded in approval

PAAAH!!

PAAAH!!

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The yellow-haired boy staggered and almost fell. He spat out blood and placed his hands on his reddened cheeks. There were traces of anger and fear in his eyes as he stared at Master Stevens in complete disbelief, no one expected that this instructor would be bold enough to hit a noble. Master Stevens raised his hand once again and the noble instinctively retreated, returning to his original position. The other noble kids who initially supported were all shocked, they instinctively avoided Master Steven's eyes when he looked at them.

"Who else has a problem with my methods?" Master Steven's voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. Seeing that no one spoke, Master Stevens nodded.

Derik and other commoners fared better than the nobles in this training. They already experienced hardship, even though this could be regarded as a higher level of hardship but they still had an advantage. The nobles were better at archery training because of the basic training which they got when they were younger, but none of them were used to hard labor. The commoners were able to complete the daily task before 3 pm, but it took the nobles till 8 pm to finish.

Derik sat on his bed, reading a book when Mason walked in. He was exhausted and his well-combed golden hair was scattered. He stared at Derik who had a sinister smile on his face and cursed silently before walking into the bathroom to take his bath.

After seven days, the recruits were given two days to recover. The new week came with a new task, Stevens and a few other helpers practiced basic martial arts with the recruits and gave them a few close combat fighting tips. Most of their teachings were based on Defence and counter-attacks. Archers were prohibited from engaging a foe at close quarters unless when forced to, so naturally defensive and counter-attack lessons were best suited for them. With the close-combat lesson came the introduction of crossbows and daggers, these two tools were regarded as the guardian angels of archers when forced to defend against a melee combatant. The week was gone as quick as it came. The next week they resumed their normal archery training but luckily their injured fingers were already healed. The daily task was enhanced by 100 shots and a mandatory 20 shot target hit followed by an expulsion penalty if failed. At first, they cursed Stevens silently saying that the target was too high but to their surprise, every one of them could meet the set goal. Even the worst amongst them got at least 22 shots on the target. Derik made 55 shots on target and Mason and other nobles made over 70 successful shots. In the end, 16 out of 24 recruits were moved to the advanced training room. There they learned special archery skills like consecutive shot, scattering shot, and fast arrow. These 16 recruits were selected as the archery class representatives for Inter-class competition which was meant to take place in the sixth month of the year.

…

…

In the blink of an eye, it was already three months since they joined the adventurers association. Even though three months seemed like a short time, the recruit's physique had completely changed. Even they were not as muscular and robust as recruits of the guardian knight class but they were still fit and could contest against them in strength-based activities. Even the nobles amongst them looked more matured and were no way inferior to the commoners in the class. Anyone could tell that these people are not the same kids who got admitted a few months ago.

…

…

…Area 10, outside the giant wall…

About three small green monsters ran through the forest with wooden clubs in their hands. They occasionally made sharp turns to avoid the arrows that flew at them.

Wooosh!!

Another arrow flew towards one of the goblins but before it hit the goblin suddenly changed direction evading it

"Damn it, these beasts are fast and cunning" a golden-haired youth cursed. It was the same noble who tried to stand up to Stevens. Just months ago, he had pale skin and was lanky but now this kid was well built but his skin color still remained the same.

"Brian of the Ryan family cannot kill a little goblin… let me show you how it's done" Mason sneered. He was amongst the team of 16 archers sent outside the wall to practice. Area 10 was one of the three areas owned by the Archery class. It was relatively peaceful and had only a few caves that harbored a handful of goblins. This place was set as the training ground for advanced archers who needed to practice on moving targets. That's what made these goblins the perfect targets, the small size and movement speed made them extremely difficult to hit.

Mason and the rest of the team encountered a team of six goblins hunting for food. These goblins tried to fight at first but quickly retreated as soon as they lost 3 of their comrades. Mason jumped to the side, stepping on a nearby tree and using it as leverage he jumped a second time and attained even greater height. He quickly pulled out an arrow from the quiver tied to his back and aimed

"Fast Arrow" he screamed

Swooooosh!!!

The targeted goblin's big ears twitched when the arrow was released. It slightly turned its head to check the distance between it and the arrow

Puff!!!

The arrow pierced through its skull and dug deep into its brain. The goblin died with traces of disbelief in its eyes, how can an arrow move so fast. Mason laughed and pulled out another arrow and was about to repeat the same action but then he heard a shout from behind.

"Step aside Blondy!!!... Scattering shots … Consecutive shots!!!" Derik growled. Six arrows were shot at the same time covering a wide area, the expressions of the remaining two goblins crumbled when they saw this

"#*&#$%#" one of them growled,both of them stopped running and welcomed the arrows with their wooden clubs in their hands.

Peng!

Peng!!

Peng!!!

They blocked the incoming arrows with their clubs successfully. They were about to celebrate but they noticed something at the last moment. The consecutive shot could be regarded as a basic archery skill but it was very effective. It simply involves masking the presence of an arrow with another, hiding the second shot in the shadow of the first. Both goblins were struck by the arrows which sent them flying, pinning them to a nearby tree. They struggled viciously for a short while and then died.

"My third kill today" Derik laughed while he used his dagger to cut off some body parts of these goblins which can be sold at a high price. Mason hissed at him and looked away

"I guess we should call it a day," one of the recruits said indifferently. He glared at the sack containing the goblin's body parts tied around Derik's waist in envy. But then he realized that Derik and the rest of the team were focused on something else. He looked forward and noticed the cave well concealed by vegetation around it. If Derik didn't kill the other two goblins at the spot, they would've run past it without even noticing. This was probably the reason the two goblins stopped running. They were already at the entrance of their home, all sixteen of them stared at each other silently, they knew they were all thinking about the same thing. A goblin cave contained at least 20 goblins and at the end of the cave was a goblin chieftain. These chieftains were just bigger and stronger than normal goblins, there were cases where teams encountered goblin warlords or goblin shamans but the probability of meeting such is really low. Normally adventure parties consisted of four members and some six. Currently, their team was made up of sixteen archers, four times the normal team number. If they could successfully raid this goblin stronghold and win, with the body parts they would acquire, they could easily make a small fortune.

"Do we go in?" Brian finally broke the silence. The others were silent for a while and thought about it. If they succeeded, they could easily become famous. Known as the only trainees capable of raiding a goblin stronghold and they will also earn a few silver coins which they could use to improve their equipment. The inter-class competition was just around the corner, they need this. But if they should fail not only will they lose a few members, they will be penalized for acting without orders. If care is not taken, the surviving members may be expelled from the association. After considering all this, they decided to vote!!! 16 out of 16 agreed to raid the stronghold

"No guts no glory" Mason said with a smile on his face

"F##k consequences," A black-haired member of the team said