Chapter 54: Debut (2)

Jake logged into the game and cracked his neck before sighing.

He told his sister his starting point was The Warmonger Empire's capital.

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.

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?