abcnovels
Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Archer’s Sanctuary.
Michael entered the sanctuary following the map.
‘There aren’t many people here?’
The Archer’s Sanctuary was marked quite large on the map.
So he thought there would be many archers gathered, but there were only a little over 10 archers in the sanctuary.
Michael passed them and went to find Litton.
Litton was known as the devil NPC even in this Archer’s Sanctuary.
The reason was that each and every quest was so arduous that it drained your energy.
Unaware of this, Michael stood in front of Litton with an innocent face.
“Hmm? Who are you?”
Litton glanced at Michael and then nodded.
Level 201 Dual Archer.
For a foreigner, he could be considered quite high level.
“I… I came to do a quest.”
“A quest? Hmm, you seem a bit strange.”
Litton narrowed his eyes.
Receiving his gaze, Michael made an awkward smile with a hesitant expression.
“How could I be strange? Haha…”
“Well, I guess it’s fine. So, what kind of quest do you want to do?”
Litton showed three quests.
The first was bow making.
Go under the bowyer and make 20 bows.
‘Too much trouble. Let’s pass on this.’
Michael skipped the first quest without even thinking about it.
The second was city repair work.
The buildings were aging, and they needed manpower, so he had to help them with the work.
‘Ah, I don’t think I should do this either…’
This was real manual labor.
As a noble necromancer, he couldn’t do things like building repairs.
‘Next!’
The last one was cleaning.
Similarly, he had to follow the cleaner and help with the purification work.
At least the last one seemed the easiest, but the range was the entire City of Archers.
It meant it would take at least a few days to see the end of the work.
“Don’t you have anything else?”
“Hey, if you’re going to be picky, just go back.”
Litton narrowed his eyes.
He thought that since he was a level 201 Dual Archer, his character would also be decent, but he was just a lazybones looking for easy work.
“W-wait a minute! I’m not confident in these tasks.”
“Not confident? You just start recklessly and learn slowly.”
“…”
Ah, I want to go back. Why is Master making me do this…?
He felt wronged, but he had come too far.
There was no way to undo it now.
“Anyway, I can’t give you a quest, so just go back.”
Litton turned around.
Seeing this, Michael clenched his fists tightly.
He wanted to punch him, but if he did, he wouldn’t be able to carry out his master’s orders.
“I’ll make the bows!”
In the end, he decided to do the quest that seemed the most bearable.
20 bows.
Let’s make them quickly and go back to Master.
As soon as he made up his mind, a familiar voice echoed in his head.
‘Can you hear me?’
It was Master’s voice!
Because he was bound to him, they could communicate even from a distance.
‘Yes, I can hear you.’
‘Good. He’ll probably show you three quests at first, right?’
‘Huh? How did you know?’
He got goosebumps.
How did he know that he would be given three quests?
Did he have eyes on me or something?
‘Clear all three of them. Then he’ll acknowledge you and give you a new quest. Complete that one too.’
‘…All three?’
‘Yes.’
‘…’
This is crazy.
Each quest is a gem, and he wants me to do all of them…
‘Why? Is there a problem?’
‘No.’
‘Then hurry up. If it gets tough, let me know. I’ll send you back periodically.’
‘Is it over when I go back?’
‘What do you mean it’s over? You rest a bit and then do the quests again.’
‘Yes…’
Michael said to Litton with a dumbfounded expression.
“I’ll do all the other quests too.”
“…Are you okay? You don’t have to do them if you don’t want to.”
“…I want to do them so badly I’m going crazy.”
“Really…? Then first, go make the bows. I’ll give you the other quests then.”
“Yes…”
***
After communicating with Michael, Jeong-Hoon approached the NPC who was diligently cleaning.
===
[NPC Information]
– Nickname: Kyle
– Level: 275
– Class: Advanced Training Instructor
===
The training hall had three levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
Kyle was an advanced training instructor.
“I’m here to train.”
When Jeong-Hoon said that, Kyle’s hand stopped abruptly, and he turned his head.
“Train?”
“Yes.”
“…How absurd. Go and complete the beginner and intermediate levels first.”
“The beginner and intermediate levels are of no help. Can’t I start with the advanced level right away?”
At that arrogant remark, veins bulged on Kyle’s forehead.
“Is that so?”
Kyle smirked and put away his cleaning tools.
He had met countless types of people during his time as an instructor.
If any of them showed arrogance, he would give them an impossible task so they would never set foot in the training hall again.
And now, after a long time, an arrogant foreigner had appeared.
‘He needs a lesson.’
Kyle inwardly pondered how to handle this guy.
A question mark blinked above Kyle’s head.
[Normal Quest: Advanced Training (Archer)]
– Restriction: –
– Reward: ??
– Description: Successfully complete Kyle’s training. Failure will result in being unable to use the training hall.
Originally, one should complete the beginner and intermediate levels in order, but he recklessly sought out Kyle, the advanced training instructor.
In that case, he would judge the user as arrogant and offer training with a difficulty level beyond the normal advanced course.
And only by perfectly clearing it and gaining recognition could he achieve his original plan.
Jeong-Hoon accepted the quest.
“What should I do?”
“My training course has a total of 5 stages. It’s not too late even now, so you can obediently go to the beginner training instructor.”
“No. I’d like to go straight to the 1st stage.”
“Haha, really? Is that so?”
Kyle opened the door to the advanced training ground in the training hall.
“Huh… to just recklessly approach Kyle like that.”
“…That foreigner is pitiful. He doesn’t know his place and is about to get blacklisted.”
“Tsk tsk, he should have just come to me.”
“Hey, you’re going to teach that arrogant foreigner?”
He could hear the instructors whispering behind him.
Jeong-Hoon laughed inwardly.
Whether he was arrogant or not, they would see soon enough.
“Can I enter here?”
“Yes.”
Kyle answered curtly.
‘It seems he really doesn’t like me.’
Jeong-Hoon smirked slightly and entered the training ground.
As befitting an archery training ground, the interior was quite spacious.
“1st stage. 10 targets will move in front of you. Hit them all without missing a single shot.”
“Without missing a single shot?”
He had to shoot 10 arrows and not miss a single one.
Moreover, the targets were moving at high speed.
To hit the targets at that distance, he had to calculate everything: the speed of the arrow, the direction the targets were moving.
It was a high-difficulty task.
“Can’t do it?”
Kyle grinned.
If he was scared, he could give up here.
Of course, once he entered the training ground, giving up would put the foreigner on a blacklist, preventing him from ever entering the training hall again.
‘Well, if he kneels and begs earnestly, I might forgive him.’
However, Jeong-Hoon nonchalantly took out Anima.
“I’ll start right away.”
“Wait! You have to use this bow.”
Kyle had brought a practice bow and 10 arrows before entering the training ground.
It was the bow to be used for the 1st stage.
“Can’t I use the weapon I want?”
“Of course not. If the weapon has any stat boosts, that’s not your true skill, is it?”
“Hmm.”
“Well, if you can’t do it, you can give up here.”
“Alright. Give it to me.”
Jeong-Hoon received the practice bow.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve held a practice bow.’
A bow with similar performance to a beginner’s bow.
Before his regression, Jeong-Hoon had obtained a practice bow and used it to practice archery.
Was it because of that?
The familiar sensation brought back old memories.
“You have 10 minutes.”
Kyle left those words and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.
Let’s see if you can hit it.
If you miss even one shot, I’ll kick you out immediately.
“Yes.”
Jeong-Hoon slowly nocked an arrow onto the practice bow and drew the string.
His posture was so stable that Kyle’s eyes twitched.
And as the drawn string was released, the arrow shot out with a sonic boom.
Whoosh!
The arrow, flying in a parabolic arc, accurately hit the center of the moving target 60 meters away.
“What the…”
Kyle was greatly surprised.
Even for a level 201 Ranger, it wasn’t easy to hit a small target at a long distance with a practice bow.
But the foreigner in front of him had done it so effortlessly.
‘Not yet… he’s only succeeded with one shot.’
And that was the closest target at 60 meters.
The 1st stage required hitting targets up to 200 meters away, so it wouldn’t be easy to succeed.
Whoosh!
And the second arrow was shot.
The arrow accurately hit the center of the target 75 meters away.
‘What is this guy…?’
3rd shot, 4th shot, 5th shot…
100m, 120m, 130m.
Whoosh!
The final 10th arrow hit the center of the 200-meter target at the very back.
All 10 arrows hit the 10 targets, successfully completing the 1st stage.
“I’m done.”
Jeong-Hoon stepped down from his position and looked at Kyle.
Only then did Kyle take his eyes off the target and clear his throat.
“…You’re a lucky bastard.”
“All 10 arrows hit the center of the target. Do you really think it’s luck?”
Jeong-Hoon smirked.
Kyle grimaced at his confident attitude.
“…Let’s see how far that arrogance takes you.”
The next 2nd stage involved targets with slightly more complex movements.
While the 1st stage targets only moved left and right, these targets would move and disappear repeatedly in a very irregular pattern.
Also, the number increased from 10 to 15, and the maximum distance increased to 430 meters.
“I just need to hit all 15 arrows?”
“Of course. You can’t miss a single one.”
“Alright. What about the time limit?”
“Time limit? I’ll give you 30 minutes.”
“Okay.”
Jeong-Hoon took out one of the 15 newly received arrows and drew the bowstring.
The targets started moving erratically.
‘He’s a bit better than I thought. But he’ll never pass the 2nd stage.’
He didn’t like that confident attitude at all.
Kyle was convinced that this foreigner would fail.
The last 15th target was standing at a whopping 430 meters.
It was a distance impossible to hit with a practice bow, no matter what he did.
And the first arrow shot accurately hit the center of the target that disappeared and reappeared.
The distance to the target was 210 meters.
Kyle’s face hardened at the incredibly stable archery skill.
***
The last arrow hit the center of the target.
The distance was a whopping 430 meters.
Kyle couldn’t hide his shocked expression.
‘No way…’
No matter how good the foreigner’s archery skills were, this 2nd stage was impossible to pass.
It was because exceeding 400 meters with a practice bow was fundamentally impossible.
Even the most skilled archer needed the help of equipment to showcase long range and destructive power. If the equipment wasn’t good, the range and power would be significantly lower.
What kind of trick did he use to hit the 430-meter target with that crude equipment?
‘He looks clearly flustered.’
Jeong-Hoon barely managed to suppress his laughter.
As he thought, it was impossible to achieve a distance of over 400 meters with a practice bow.
There were limitations to the equipment.
However, Jeong-Hoon possessed a Unique-grade skill called Extreme Archer: Soul.
An option that secured vision up to 700 meters when holding a bow.
That option didn’t just secure vision.
It also provided some level of correction to allow the arrow to fly that distance, which is why he was able to hit the target at 430 meters.
“You passed the 2nd stage, but the 3rd stage will be impossible!”
Kyle shouted urgently.
He foretold an even harsher 3rd stage than the 2nd.
However, his heart was gradually acknowledging Jeong-Hoon.
———