[edit] I have the next two chapters done. It might be a week or two before I finish chapter seven. I was wondering if you all want either of them now or in a week? Also it seems I'm having a bit of trouble naming this chapter so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.
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After I got back to the training hall I decided to work with the war hammer again using the original routine of swinging it repeatedly overhead. I planned on doing this until I needed to refill my canteen. After a little over seven hours (IGT) I received a message.
+1 Strength
I had been in a zoned out state repeatedly swinging the hammer overhead. So when I heard the sound of a message I was forcibly dragged back to reality, well virtual reality. I looked to see how much time it took to just increase one of my stats by one. After realizing how long it took I felt a bit depressed. I remember how much of a pain this was and thought I had the determination to complete it but my will was wavering.
I decided that I would force myself to keep going. I felt it would be a bit easier if I did something else. So I put up the war hammer and move on to my next task. This time I picked up two light maces and like I did before. I ran along the scarecrows hitting them as I passed. After resting I forced myself up and went for another go. About half way through the run I received a message.
+1 Vitality
And when I made it all the way to the end I received yet another message.
New Stat: Fighting Spirit
~Hells to the yeah!~ I was overjoyed. I got my second increase in almost no time at all. Truthfully I didn’t care much for the new stat. I never considered it useful and I knew I would receive it sooner or later. After gaining my second increase I decided to take a much needed break.
I logged back in after eating and using the restroom. This time I wanted to mix it up some. I decided to practice with a ranged weapon. So I grabbed one of the practice bows. I had never used a ranged weapon before. I was caught off guard while inspecting the bow. The bow did just pitiful damage. It only did as much damage as a wooden dagger, 1-2 damage. Looking at the damage it made me feel bad for anyone that chose to use bows as there main weapon. I had no clue bows did so little damage. Bows also only get two thirds the damage bonus from the Strength stat than that of a two handed melee weapon. Not only that but for most players that specialize in bows Strength isn’t even their main stat.
I picked a platform and got into position. Next to each platform stood a container filled with arrows. When I inspected one I noticed that arrows also have their own damage, 0-1. The damage from arrows was small but it must help even if only a bit. But even the extra damage from the arrows wouldn’t be able to fill the damage gap between two handed melee weapons and bows.
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I put the arrow on the bow string, aimed at a close target, pulled back the bow string, and steadied my body as well as my breathing. After I did all that, I released the bow string. With a "Twang" sound the arrow went flying... about two feet in front of me, I shouldn't really call it flying it was more like it jumped and fell. I tried a few more times, each time wasn't much better than the last. I tried for almost two hours (IGT) before I decided to ask for help. I thought about asking the instructor for help, but then I remembered how useless he was the last time. I decided to instead log out and watch some tutorials on how to do it.
After about an hour and a half (RLT) I decided to try it again. ~I think this is how I was supposed to stand. Okay now place my left hand on the bow right about here and set the arrow right about there. Now I just pull back on the string and... Oh wait, almost forgot to make sure my right elbow is level.~ After I did all the things I could remember. I let it lose, and to my surprise it flew, it flew far. I wasn't really aiming at anything I just wanted it to go forward. But the sensation I felt as I watched the arrow leave my hands and whiz threw the air was exciting, no exhilarating. So I did it again and again, this time aiming at the closest target. I did it until my stamina was almost at the critical point. Then I would go collect the arrows and rest. I practiced for another eight or so hours (IGT) before I received a message.
+1 Dexterity
After gaining another stat I decided to reward myself with an apple. The apple was delicious it tasted better than real applies. It's hard to explain, it tasted more like apples than an apple. Kind of like an apple flavored Snapple. After finishing my apple I decided to try to hit the mid range target. I decided if I could hit it near the bulls eye eight out of ten shots I would move on to a harder target.
After about six hours (IGT) I was finally able to hit the target reliably. So I decided to move on to the next one. Each target had a diameter of about a meter and the diameter of the bull’s-eye was about six inches. The closest target was about five meters away med range one was about fifteen meters away, the one that I was aiming at now was about thirty meters away. At the moment I was only getting about two out of ten shoots into the target.
After about four hours (IGT) of shooting at it, I was hitting about six out of ten. Almost another three hours (IGT) later I get a two messages one right after the other.
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vitality
At this point I decided to take a nice long break from the game. So I logged out for the day.
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