Chapter Four: Till One Day They Call Your Name
Fourth Tower Year 4765, 3.2.5
The Republic of Mevitra, Forest of Breen
Marc aimed carefully. Remembering what the instructor taught him, he calmed his heart, focused on his target, and kept his breathing even and smooth. His target was not moving, but Marc could not tell if that was because it was being cautious or just resting.
Sweat dripped into Marc’s eye and he struggled not to wipe it clear. Instead, just as he had been taught he relaxed his muscles, then blinked a few times to clear his sight. Any movement or sound could alert his target. A cloud moved to cover the moon and it started to get darker.
Marc took this moment to strike. He timed his shot for his exhale and then relaxed his fingers, letting the bowstring pull free. The arrow flew straight, soundless, and hidden in the shadow of the cloud, the target did not react.
At least it did not react until the arrow struck the ground a meter short of its position. The Vorpal Rabbit immediately raised its head in alert and in an instant was gone. Soon from a bush nearby a cry was heard warning other prey in the area of danger. Or perhaps it was just mocking him.
《Nice shot!》
“Shut up.” Marc thought silently to his invisible companion.
He stood up. No sense in hiding anymore. The prey was long gone, along with any of its friends in the area.
Sure enough, When Marc checked his map, he could see several green dots quickly moving away from his location.
He looked down at the bow. It was beyond frustrating that he was so bad at this. He had finally gained the WEAPON PROFICIENCY/BOW skill and thought that he might finally be able to use one effectively. In fact, things had turned out very different from his hopes.
At first, he was happy when he had gained some weapon proficiency skills. He thought it might be like it in the movies when you suddenly can fight like a martial arts master after having the information dumped into your brain. The reality turned out to be quite disappointing, to say the least.
Kira had explained that while the knowledge of technique and strategy can easily be provided by the interface, there was no way to give him the experience and understanding that comes from actually training. That was why he could instantly pick up new skills but never surpass those who spent their lives working hard to master a craft or an ability. Something that Enpii would constantly point out to him.
When he picked up the bow and activated his skill he knew how to hold the bow properly. He could see where to aim and how far back to pull back. He even had a glowing marker telling him where his aim was targeting, accounting for distance and wind. That much assistance was able to get him close. But close was not good enough in hunting.
It also hurt that he could barely pull back on the bowstring to begin with. This bow was made for children who were just learning how to hunt, but it was still too much for him to control. He could gain knowledge and understanding of many topics just by being near people using a craft, but he couldn’t increase his strength or dexterity no matter how much he exercised or practiced.
His entire body was a fixed point. Light injuries healed in minutes, serious ones now healed in hours. Be he was stuck at level one. Even Enpii, who was crippled by a damaged Mana Core, had developed some in the three years they had been friends. A bit of a late bloomer, Enpii who had initially been a bit shorter than Marc, now had several centimeters on him. While Marc could buff many of his stats temporarily to get considerably stronger than Enpii, without any of his boosts, Marc now had to admit the other man was the better in pretty much every metric. He even managed to get a girlfriend. A thorn in Marc’s ego that still stung.
《Are you already giving up?》
“Might as well. Prey has gone for the night.” He said aloud.
“Oh, don’t be like that. ” Kira appeared beside him.
“The only way you will ever improve is by using magic. I’ll never have the proper strength or coordination.” He complained.
“Stop whining. You’re so touchy about that lately. Is it perhaps because your bestie is getting action and you are stuck out here with the bunnies?” She mocked.
Kira pointed over to where the arrow hit. Another rabbit was there, staring back at them.
“There, see you still have arrows. Keep at it. You may not be able to raise your strength, but you can improve your technique. The old-fashioned way. Practice.”
Marc glared at his interface. He was tempted to float an arrow straight through that smug face.
“Go ahead, but if you do that no one is going to help you find the arrow to recover it later. Just try finding it without my help.”
He glowered, then notched another arrow and took another shot at the stationary rabbit.
A split second before the arrow entered its head, the rabbit ducked, rolled, and hopped up. It did a little dance, blew him a raspberry, and jumped into a circular hole in the ground. A voice echoed out of the hole before it vanished.
“What a maroon!”
Kira gave him an innocent look, a glowing halo floated over her head.
Marc closed his eyes, then smiled. It was funny.
“Fine. Load em up. We’re hunting wabbits!”
Kira smiled as she summoned several new targets.
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“So, how did it go?” Grenn asked at the dinner table.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Leave him alone. Let him at least get some food in him. He must be starved. Right, Marc?” Keri scolded her husband as she dropped a giant plate of roasted potatoes into the center of the table.
“Look at him. No matter how much I feed him he hasn’t grown an inch. You need proper nourishment, Marc!”
Marc winced at the reminder. Of course, Keri knew that he would not grow beyond his current 19-year-old Earth normal figure, but knowing it and understanding it was not the same thing as her mother hen instincts.
Grenn grimaced, but they both held their tongues. Instead, they both piled some of the potatoes onto their plates.
“Well, if you include broken arrows, I killed four.” Marc quipped.
“And how many of those were rabbits?” Grenn asked.
“Why do you think we are eating potatoes?” Marc replied glumly.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get better.” Grenn said cheerfully.
“Honestly, it’s not really possible to get worse.”
Marc gave the big man a pouty face, then broke out in a laugh.
“Yeah. I’m ok if I use my skills, but I can’t expect beasts to wait for my cooldown. I just want to join some real parties.” He said as he crammed his mouth with the delicious food.
“Hey! Don’t look down on patrol duty. You more than pul your weight there.” Grenn countered, potatoes spilling from his mouth as he spoke.
Keri smacked Grenn on the back of his head with a large wooden spoon then pointed at the crumbs covering the table in front of the man.
“Yeah, that’s just because of my mapping skill. I can be useful on hunts too.”
“Yes, but you know the politics. Party leaders are loath to increase the support slots on a team.” Grenn reminded him.
“I know. The equal share rule totally screws me there.”
Grenn brought his hand down on the table firmly making a loud thunk.
“Don’t mock the rules. This system evolved over hundreds of years to prevent abuse and keep harmony within the Guild. It’s inconvenient, but it also protects the weak and the strong equally.”
“Don’t get him started. You know how he gets when you buck the rules of the almighty Guild.” Keri said while rolling her eyes. She placed another large plate on the table, this one full of thick slices of meat.
“Ork? What’s the occasion?” Grenn asked.
“Nothing, it’s just cheap in the market. Seems like the hunters have been bringing in more beast meat than usual.” Keri said.
“That’s never a good sign.” Grenn frowned. Then he speared a slab of meat and plopped the whole piece in his giant mouth. That earned him another spoon to the back of the head.
Rubbing his head he warned Marc. “Maybe you should stick to the city for the next week or so. More of the larger beasts come down from the mountain before the spring thaw looking for food. Probably why there is more beast activity.”
Marc nodded. He could avoid beasts using his map, but if he got cut off from the city, there was no way he could outrun most of the bigger predators for long.
Just then, Safan and Sateem came in the front door.
“Marc!” Safan screamed and ran over to Marc to give him a big hug. He had obviously been outside playing and was covered head to toe in dirt and mud.
Marc laughed and accepted the hug from his adopted little brother. Safan in turn squealed in happiness.
“I wanna hear rockinroll!” He demanded.
“Sure, sure, after dinner.” Marc tried to head off the incoming attack.
“What the! Safan! You are filthy! What happened to you? How can you possibly…? Sateem?”
The young woman fidgeted under her mother’s glare.
“I don’t know how he gets like that so fast.” She defended weakly.
“Safan! How did you get so dirty?” Keri demanded.
“I dunno.” The boy answered with a smile.
“It’s ok. I got this.” Marc intervened.
He grasped the young boy by both elbows and through the application of a washing, cleaning, and drying magic he speed-washed the dirtball until he was presentable.
“Oh, Marc, you shouldn’t. we’re just going to be going out to the baths soon anyway.” Keri said as. She examined her youngest.
“Well, I’m sure he’ll need a bath after dinner anyway,” Marc said scruffing up Safan’s hair.
Safan laughed, then climbed onto Marc’s lap. Something that was starting to get more difficult each day.
Watching Grenn’s children grow up for the past few years had given Marc some understanding of development in this world.
Safan was now six but could have easily passed as nine or ten back on Earth. Sateem was 15 and looked more like 20.
It seems that the ambient Mana in the environment accelerated and enhanced the developmental cycle of humans. Children would reach adolescence shockingly quickly, and reach full adult development in their early teens. On top of that, once reaching adulthood, the energy and vitality would help improve overall health and increase longevity.
Grenn and Keri were now in their early fifties, but could easily pass for five to ten years younger, and most people in this world lived quite a few years past one hundred. Keri had even detected benefits to Enpii, who suffered from a defective Mana Core. While he lacked a lot of the obvious health benefits of Mana, such as faster development and increased physical development, he did show signs of at least some enhancement due to exposure, including faster mental development.
Sateem still stood awkwardly at the door and Keri motioned her to join them at the table.
While physical development in this world was noticeably faster, mental development was if anything slightly slower, at least from Marc’s uneducated opinion. Sateem was every bit the awkward teenager, despite her adult appearance.
“Uncle Marc, when are you going to teach me 【WASH?】” She pouted.
Marc smiled. To everyone’s surprise, Sateem awakened to an Affinity to Water Mana. For her Fire Mana-wielding parents, it was unexpected, but not rare or problematic. Both Fire and Water affinities were common among humans. If anything Keri was happy to have a water user in the family as she would be able to help out with many things around the kitchen.
“You know that 【WASH】is a Journeyman level ability.” He reminded the girl. “Just keep working at it and have patience.”
Grenn looked at him and mocked a look of astonishment.
Marc again realized how much he loved being here and with his adopted family. They never pushed him, but always were there to give him unlimited support and kindness. Not just Grenn’s family, but people in Clearwater were so unlike people from his old life. There was just a strong sense of decency.
Sure, all the bad traits of people seemed to be present. There was crime, greed, jealousy, and anger. Fear drove people to make poor decisions and fights were not at all uncommon, especially amongst the hunters in the Guild who seemed to sweat testosterone.
The difference was that decisions driven by those negative feelings tended to be temporary and regrettable. People were healthier so there was less desperation. There was plenty to eat and lots of work and jobs. So few people were unable to work due to illness or infirmity that the society had no problem taking care of them. Meanwhile, external threats like beasts, weather, or other disasters bound people together and instilled a strong sense of social responsibility.
This was in large part due to the influence of the Guild, Marc learned. Pushing these ideals had helped the Guild gain strength after the wars and calamities in this world’s past, and there was no country in the world where the Guild’s influence was as strong as in the Mevitra Republic.
Marc again thanked his luck at being sent to this particular place. Not just in this country, but also where he was found by Grenn. This man had saved his life, introduced him to his teacher, and protected and mentored him. He acted as his adopted father when it brought him no benefit at all. His family had accepted him with no question, despite his questionable and troublesome background.
Someday he knew he would leave Clearwater. He wanted to see the world He wanted to join his teacher on her travels and visit the icy fields of Sobric, or the deserts of the destroyed continent of Sett. He even wanted to see if he could somehow see the impenetrable forests of the Elves and visit his old friend Meservi in Krrt Anatra.
But for now, he was glad he stayed here in Clearwater. To enjoy what it is like to have a family and a home. To grow at his own pace and take his time.
《Marc?》
“What is it?” The tone of Kira’s address bothered Marc. She usually just chimed in to poke and prob his ego.
《Something is happening. You need to talk to Grenn.》
“Huh? He’s right here. We are talking to him now.” Marc looked over at the big man slurping down more roast orc cutlets.
《No, get him out of the house. There is something wrong with the beasts. It might be signs of a beast surge.》