Chapter 243 - Not The Same

A few days passed, and Zaos received some visitors while he was training in the afternoon. They were, Drannor and Ameria. They seemed a bit cautious when they entered the mansion, but after a while, they relaxed a little.

"It has been a while," Zaos said. "Not so much, I guess."

"We wanted to give you some space," Ameria said while looking at the grave nearby.

"That was very thoughtful, but I am fine now," Zaos said. "Anyway, I can see that you are using your free time while you can since things will be hectic in a few months."

"You heard of it, huh," Ameria said. "Sorry, father said that he invited you to the tournament, and I am sure you are not the type who fights to entertain others."

"Well, I guess it is better than fighting while thinking of killing the adversary in front of you," Zaos shrugged. "Come to think of it, I don't know much about tournaments. Is there anything that I should learn now?"

"Well, accidents happen, but killing the adversary is forbidden," Drannor replied. "In order to decrease the chances of someone dying, we will fight on our feet and with the sword given by the kingdom."

"Swords, huh," Zaos said. "I guess that I can beat you with those even without magic."

"Don't count on it. I have been doing some special training to get used to ordinary swords," Drannor said. "Besides, your type of sword isn't exactly normal."

Zaos nodded, the Guardian's Heart had the size of an average sword, but he couldn't train with it since the scabbard sealed the weapon with magic. The weapon was in his room, collecting dust since Zaos couldn't unseal it.

"I wonder what the prize will be," Ameria said.

"Prize?" Zaos frowned.

"You know, for the tournament," Ameria said. "Usually, those would have a prize given by the kingdom. I just hope father won't offer something weird since my birthday will be soon afterward."

Maybe the winner will have the chance to marry Ameria, but that was very unlikely. Zaos knew that the king wouldn't find Ameria's husband like that. Someone strong might be able to protect her in certain situations, but she wasn't someone who needed protection anymore.

"Anyway, I will be waiting for a suitable present," Ameria said before leaving.

"All right then, a book you will have," Zaos said.

That was one of the most boring types of gifts, but Ameria just shrugged since that was just like Zaos. Once those two left, Zaos resumed his training. Considering the tournament, it would be a good idea to train with a new sword, but since he couldn't care less about winning, Zaos didn't feel the need to do it. Drannor, on the other hand, wanted to train and make a good impression since he was going to join the royal guard soon.

The next day, Zaos appeared at the shop where he bought his armor, and there he found the bolts that he asked for already ready to be taken. Zaos touched them in order to check their piercing power and measures, but it seemed all of them looked sharp as they could be. Not to mention, their sizes were perfect, and they weren't much heavier than wooden bolts.

"Thanks for your work," Zaos said.

"Not a problem," The tanned blacksmith said. "If you have any other requests, I will be glad to forge other types of things for you, for the right price, of course. Still, if you are planning to use them in your training, you should try to put some hay around your targets. Otherwise, you will have to sharpen the bolts pretty much every week. The hay will decrease the piercing power a little bit."

"Thanks for the tip. I will do that," Zaos said.

With that many bolts to use, Zaos would be able to train his archery for longer periods of time. That would be extremely necessary now that he didn't know what to do with his free time.

Once returned home, he grabbed several old targets of the warehouse and also some hay of the stables where the horses that Zaos's father and his men used when they had to move around the capital or even when they had to leave the capital. After following the blacksmith's instructions and setting up ten or so targets around the garden, Zaos began to slowly fire the bolts toward them. He was kind of rusty, but since the garden wasn't massive, Zaos didn't miss them. That being said, he didn't hit the bull's eye more than once.

"It seems the crossbow and the box can work well, even if they aren't made of wood," Zaos nodded to himself in satisfaction. "The balance also seemed right… probably because the interior of the crossbow has some metallic parts that propel the projectile."

Usually, since the projectile is heavier, it would fly slower and have a shorter range, but in exchange, it would cause more damage at short range. That wasn't really a problem, though. Zaos could improve that with magic.

Zaos had to recover his archery instincts, but then he stopped training before he could increase the speed and the intensity of the training. Once he recovered the bolts, Zaos began to train with the throwing knives, and soon enough, he had a pleasant surprise. 

Your Throwing Technique has reached level 01.

"As I suspected…" Zaos nodded to himself satisfaction. "Now, I just need to make the blade hit the target instead of the cable of the weapon.

Zaos started to make progress little by little, and since that kind of training wasn't taking too much of his stamina, he stayed there during the whole afternoon. Still, something was off… Zaos couldn't feel as much excitement as before while he trains. That was another problem Zaos had to deal with because the training was just too boring without the excitement.

"Well, now…" Zaos said and then sighed. "It seems I still have a long way ahead of me before I can fully deal with mom's death."