"We must convince The Emperor that archery has the future," Jake said.
He meaningfully glanced at Viktor, then.
It was a stare that even Aaron understood.
The old man chuckled.
Viktor had given up on archery and relegated himself outside the empire's capital. If the head of the Asta Bow wanted nothing to do with the royal matters, what about the rest?
The entire family was like an empty vessel because of him.
Viktor's grandpa kept relations between her house and The Emperor tight because of her relationship with Minerva, but the old lady couldn't do anything else, as she was past her prime.
Viktor clicked his tongue.
Although he couldn't be entirely blamed for his house's fall, he was a part of the problem nonetheless.
That said, what could Viktor have done?
He did all he could have thought of.
He even worked with the best archer player, only to be shoved aside by her. He believed in archery until that crucial moment.
There was nothing he could have done more.
Gazing at Viktor, the old master read those feelings and thoughts, as he was part of them.
Aaron weakly smiled, "Jake. I want yer to know that Viktor hadn't truly given up until this year. He tried."
Jake nodded.
He didn't need Aaron to tell him that Viktor had to be convinced in the archery first before The Emperor. Jake could read that from him and his lack of ideas and confidence—that silence must have hurt Viktor the most.
On the other hand, Jake believed in the archery the most!
With his view of it and the desire to be a pioneer of his archery, it only made sense for him to take the crown of the matters and guide everyone.
He usually wouldn't speak to Wukong or even interact with him in any way, as Wukong was just a monkey in Aaron's eyes. It was already bizarre for him to have seen Wukong learn about artisan class.
That said, Aaron had nothing to do at Viktor's place.
Jake was busy with Medusa as he had promised to play with her. He was shooting dead mice around Viktor's place. It had pissed Viktor so much that he forgot about everything Jake had promised and shouted at him as though he were an unruly child misbehaving.
Jake and Viktor argued for a while before Medusa chimed in and hissed at the latter. She was so relentless that Viktor clicked his tongue twice and turned around.
He was defeated by the baby snake.
While it was great that Jake could bond with Medusa and so could Wukong with Aaron, Jake and his companions needed the relaxing time after the dungeon. There was absolutely no threat in Viktor's workplace, meaning everyone could forget about the dangerous world outside.
It was also fun and calm.
Jake spent an hour with Medusa before she had eaten all the mice and the reserves of food Jake had bought for her. He even thought Medusa was forcing herself to eat more than she could to play with him.
He became like a father and told her to rest.
Medusa curled up in Jake's pocket on his chest.
She soon wouldn't be able to easily nest there as she was growing up with each level.
Jake sat down at the edge of Viktor's workplace and opened his game system.
'I'll check everyone's assimilation soon. First, I need to see what exactly Blood Wine does,' Jake thought. Since his drunk self didn't stop him from assimilating with Wukong, Jake decided it'd be better to see what benefits he'd receive from others with this skill.
That said, he needed to know precisely what Blood Wine did to him.
He was forcing himself not to look at this legendary skill until now.
[Blood Wine(Legendary)(Passive Skill)—the user's blood has been replaced with Dionysus' blood, a wine. Blood and any other fluids produced by the user's body turn into wine. Any foreign fluid intake is also turned into a wine, and its effects are appropriately balanced and enhanced. The more drunk the user is, the stronger the effects. The natural stats also increase based on the drunk level.
Blood Wine naturally strengthens the user's endurance by 30%.]
Jake stared at the screen with fish eyes.
'Because of Ender and Odin, I perspired a lot... and smelled a pleasant and sweet fragrance. Was that alcohol? So it wasn't my imagination...'
Jake's lips went straight.