Chapter 349 - Another one

Of course Wendy wanted to get stronger. In a world where one could die for fighting on the frontlines, it was hard to find anyone who wouldn't. The only problem was, how Ray was meant to make her stronger. Ray was a stranger to her and although he had shown great strength, it didn't mean he had great skill. Did he plan to teach her? If so he would need to at least be a better archer then her, or even Martha. 

However, Ray knew that Wendy would have all these questions which is why he suggested a game. He wanted to demonstrate to her the difference between the two of them. 

"Why don't we do something you're good at, from inside here, we will go over to the balcony and try to hit one of the targets as far away as possible. Whoever hits a further target is the winner." Ray explained. 

"How many chances do we get?" She asked... 

Ray then lifted up a single finger. With these conditions, Wendy was quite happy. She was sure of how far she would be able to hit a target and it was the highest of the class. Even Martha could only hit it as far as her before she turned into a half-beast. If she hit this target then for Ray to beat her, he would have to go even further. 

If he was allowed multiple shots then she would worry, if he was a good archer with his strength, he could adjust his shot to the wind and predict where to shoot from where the last shot had landed. However, he had said they would each only get one chance.

"Okay let's see what you got, but you owe me something if I win." She said. 

"Whatever I can get you within my power you will be granted, how about that," Ray replied. 

Although Ray had said those words, she didn't know how much power Ray held. He could be a wealthy merchant or an adventurer, if that was the case at least she could ask for coin, that would be able to feed her and her brother for a very long time.

Wendy was first to go, she leant over the balcony and before firing, she grabbed a pile of sand from the pouch around her waist. All the red targets around the model village had been lifted, each one at a different distance.

She looked at them all carefully and picked one that was placed in the centre, which would be around the 100-meter mark. Using her Ki she would be able to accurately hit it that far. Before firing she let the pile of sand go and she could see it blow off in a certain direction. Not only did this tell her the direction of the wind but how strong it was as well. 

Then when everything was ready, she pulled back on the string and fired the arrow out. Powered by her Ki it travelled fast and was hardly affected by the wind. As everyone saw it go close to the target they noticed that it was a little too far to the left and if it continued to go forward it would miss.

"Oh no, did she try to go for a target too far!" A student said. Nearly all the students there were rooting for Wendy. She was their star pupil and pride. Before the arrow met it's target the energy that was infused with the arrow started to go away and it allowed the wind to move it slightly over at the last second hitting the target spot on. 

The group of students cheered as they saw this, they ran up and gave her a big hug. 

"Hey, if you win this you need to ask him for money okay?"

"Do you see that sword around his waist, he must have a lot of money, and then you can treat us all to a meal!" Another said excitedly.

"She's good isn't she?" Martha said. "I wonder how you expect to beat that even though you can't use a bow." 

Ray then walked over to Badger and asked him to hand over one of his small daggers. After Ray walked up to the balcony and looked out at all the Targets. It didn't take him long as he chucked the dagger as hard he could, only a second went by and a loud bang could be heard as if an explosion had happened. 

The students were still too busy praising and had surrounded Wendy so she wasn't able to see. The only ones that had seen what Ray had done, were Van, Flynn, Martha, Badger and Sloth. 

After hearing the noise and seeing Ray walk back with a smile on his face she quickly went over to the balcony to have a look. 

"I don't see anything?" she said. 

"You're not looking far enough," Martha replied. 

She never even thought that Ray would have attempted to go for the targets ahead of hers, she looked slightly upward but still couldn't see anything, and she thought maybe Martha was now playing a trick on her but as she continued to look up, she finally saw one of the targets of in the distance knocked over. 

In fact, the target had been completely destroyed by the dagger and was left in pieces. What surprised her the most though, was just how far the shot was, it was nearly double the distance of hers, at around two hundred meters.

She walked back from the balcony. "I lose. "She said, "I can see how strong you are" 

"But, that's not fair!" another student shouted. "He used a dagger, I thought this was about archery skills."

Wendy lifted her hand silencing her friend. "It's okay, we never said he had to use an arrow and to be honest, it's a lot harder to do what he just did with a dagger compared to an arrow. It was my complete loss."

Although Wendy had spoken these words, she didn't feel like it was a complete loss at all. Ray had just shown her he was the real deal, if he could keep true to his promise and make her stronger, this was better than anything she could have wished for.

"Martha will tell you the details later. Wait until then and I promise you, you can get stronger." Ray said. 

With those words, she put a smile on her face. "Thank you." She replied.