Watt reached his chosen field which swarmed with rabbits.
Placing his bag down, he started doing his exercises.
This was a regular routine for him, and the habit carried over into the game.
The game also gave him a bonus for this as he gained a temporary percentage increase in his stats.
Finished limbering up, Ronald grabbed his bow, and strung a arrow.
A rabbit hopped by passively, unfearing of him. Watt felt somewhat reluctant to kill it. But it was a game.
Pulling back the string, then releasing, the arrow slammed into the rabbits head. Instantly killing it.
Watt nodded. It looked like rabbits would present no trouble towards him.
Mentally marking the locations of the rabbits he could see, he took a deep breath and held it.
His hands suddenly blurred as he strung arrow after arrow and fired them as fast as he was able.
Arrows flew like rain, but not a single arrow missed its mark.
After a minute, the field was still with the bodies of 17 rabbits.
Watt released his breath and smiled. It looked like rabbits would present no problems at all.
His view flashed with a message indicating he gained a level. He discarded it as he gathered the meat and fur the rabbits had left behind.
Watt then looked around for a better target. A short distance away, a fox was sneaking up on a rabbit which seemed unaware.
He strung his arrow again and released it. The fox sensing the danger leaped to the side, but still caught the arrow in its flanks.
Watt impassively fired a second arrow and killed the animal. Another arrow, and the rabbit was pinned against the ground from where it had tried to bolt.
The time passed as Watt trained with his bow on the unwilling creatures. His arrows often broke and he was forced to craft more. He commonly used wooden arrows, though when he could, he preferred to use arrows with tips of stone.
He began to gather a reputation as when he visited a area of monsters. He left the area less than 30 minutes later with the area devoid of life.
As time passed, he grew tired of killing rabbits. So he started hanging around the areas close to the forest. Occasionally a wolf was seen, but he never had the chance to fight it before another group was engaged.
Watt was clearing another area of monsters, and just after his customary hail of arrows he saw a wolf step out from the forest looking directly at him and growling.
Carefully, as not to startle the wolf Watt took out a new quiver of arrows to replace the used arrows.
The wolf suddenly snarled and bolted towards him with its belly low against the ground. Watt quickly strung a arrow and released it. The wolf easily dodged to the side as it ran.
Watt kept firing arrows, second guessing the wolf as it dodged. But it was only down to half health by the time it had reached him. None of his arrows had hit the wolf solidly.
As the wolf pounced, Watt sidestepped and kicked. The wolf stumbled in surprise from the unexpected move and looked at him with new respect.
Watt stood still, knowing the instant he moved, the fight would resume.
Carefully, he started stringing another arrow. But the wolf seeing the motion instantly leaped at him.
Watt danced to the side and ducked down low as the wolf snapped at him. He shot the arrow deep into the wolf's side and the wolf skidded to a stop, breathing heavily from the unexpected shot.
It was almost dead, but Watt was still wary.
The wolf gave a last ditch effort before Watt could ready another arrow, but this time. Watt was ready for it and slammed his elbow down into the wolf's face as his knee rose under its jaw.
The wolf moaned as the jaw was shattered and the last of its health disappeared.
Watt skipped to the side as the wolf's body collapsed and slid to a stop.
Breathing heavily, Watt relished the fight. He hadn't suffered a single blow, but this was the closest to a real battle he had been in.
The rabbits and foxes did not present a challenge as they preferred to run, and he had never fought a opponent who fought back.
The wolf dropped meat and a pelt. But being a cook, Watt knew wolf's meat is both tough and stringy, the taste is also inferior to rabbit.
Watt wanted to go inside the city to sell his goods, but he heeded what Ronald told him. So he decided it was time to move on.
Watt picked the road that avoided the forest, and started walking.
Occasionally, he saw a rabbit or fox. And quickly killed and looted it.
Thankfully, due to his training he had no issues with carrying a lot of things and could carry more than he knew he could in real life.
Days passed with no issue, with the occasional break from the game, he started a fire and cooked rabbit meat at night as he worked on more arrows, and walked during the day.
Rabbits started to grow sparse, farms were also less common as he entered deeper into the wildlands. Watt made better time thanks to this as he no longer had to stop as often to loot anything he killed.
As he approached the summit of another hill, he saw in the distance a small group of small green ugly, humans?
Watt warily took out his bow and held it loosely as he watched them. Upon spotting him, they yelled and brandished weapons.
Watt still didn't threaten them, though when the group of 3 started running at him threateningly waving their knives and a half axe in the air. He took action.
Quickly stringing 3 arrows, he fired them before they noticed what was going on. To his surprise, they didn't even seem to notice the arrows.
They thumped to the ground, the arrows sticking from their skulls.
Watt was surprised. They were easier to deal with than the wolf was.
Coming closer, he carefully approached wary of a trap. But much to his relief, they were definitely dead.
Looking closer, he realised they were not human and the floating boxes which appeared told him they were level 7-8 goblin scouts.
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Watt grimaced at the thought of touching their dirty bodies, so with a squelch he removed the arrows and looked at what the goblins were huddled around previously.
He grimaced again at the mutilated body of the rabbit, and left the grisly scene behind.
Goblins began to become a regular occurrence, and he had to fight them more and more often.
Some nights, he had to go without a fire for fear of attracting them.
Ahead of him, the road split into two.
One of the roads were more travelled, but the other branch led towards a rundown broken castle.
He saw more goblins that way, but until now he hadn't encountered anything beyond goblin scouts, rabbits, foxes and the lone wolf.
He wanted a real fight, so he started towards the castle.
Goblins began popping up, with their levels increasing steadily. However none of them presented the same level of challenge he had with the wolf.
Days away from the castle he finally encountered a goblin which looked as if it may present a real challenge.
It was bigger than the scouts he had been killing until now, and what's more he saw a red name floating above it. Gnlark the Scout.
The other creatures all had white names. This monster was obviously special.
Surrounded by a dozen smaller goblins, the two parties eyed each other. Watt thought he would be able to take out the smaller goblins with a single shot.
But Gnlark looked as if he may present a problem.
Gnlark wielded a thick wooden club studded with iron, he wore a heavy leather vest and thick pants. He also wore a thick leather helmet. His arms and shoulders were exposed as were his face.
The goblins without warning suddenly rushed at him. Watt unerringly released a hail of arrows. One goblin managed to dodge the rain, but the rest of the scouts were killed.
Gnlark grunted as a arrow bit into his raised arm. But he leered at Watt as he ran closer and raised his club.
Watt dodged to the side as the club thudded into the ground, creating a small tremor from the impact. Aiming a arrow, Watt barely had time to move before Gnlark's fist unexpectedly caught him in the side of his head.
Watt flew 4 feet and was dazed. Looking blearily at Gnlark, he struggled to move as Gnlark raised his club.
Barely a second before the club slammed the ground where his head was, he rolled and was got on his feet, standing unsteadily.
The smaller goblin that escaped his earlier shower of arrows then rushed in. Its knife going for his side.
Watt easily sidestepped it and pushed the goblin as it rushed past to trip it over.
He kept a close eye on Gnlark during this.
Gnlark rushed in again, swinging his club to slam into his ribs.
Watt hurriedly backed away, but tripped over the goblin. Falling on the ground, he looked up in fright as Gnlark swung his club down.
Certain doom..
Then with a whoosh, Gnlark was suddenly evolved in flames. Howling, he battered at his body as he frantically tried to escape the flames.
From the side of his eyes he saw someone in black robes preparing to cast another spell.
Groaning with the pain, he climbed off from the stunned goblin and grabbed its knife.
Quickly finishing the goblin off, he stumbled away from Gnlark.
"Are you aright?" the black robed magician called.
Watt nodded. His life was down to half, but aside from the pain and the splitting headache. He thought he would live.
He had grossly under-estimated Gnlark.
He saw Gnlark finally escape the flames and turn rage filled eyes towards the magician.
Watt's arms trembled from weariness, but he quickly strung a bow and hit Gnlark in the shoulder while he was distracted.
As Gnlark turned his head back towards him. The magician took the opportunity to fire another fireball.
This time, Gnlark was unable to resist the flames and was killed.
Watt relieved at the end of the fight, sat down heavily and groaned with the weariness and pain.
The magician approached Watt and offered him a bottle with a red drink.
Watt waved it off. "I'm not thirsty"
"Its a health potion" the magician offered.
Turning to look at the magician, Watt noticed that he looked to be 15.
Watt nodded and accepted the offer. He downed the potion and noticed that his pain disappeared.
His body was still a bit tired, but that was to be expected after his fight.
Standing up, he introduced himself. "I'm Watt"
The magician nodded. "Cool. I'm Jorge"
Jorge nodded at Watt's bow as he asked "Ranger?"
Watt nodded. "Fighting in close range tends to get you hit often"
Jorge laughed. "I agree. I would have gone with the bow, but magic sounds so cool"
Watt nodded respectfully.
Watt turned to look at the killed monsters. Gnlark had dropped his club, while the rest of the goblins had the typical things.
Collecting the items, he offered half of it to Jorge who waved his hand.
"Na man. Its all good. You did most of the work here."
Watt shrugged and packed the loot away in his bag.
Jorge then said "Though I saw earlier, when you took down those scouts all at once.. That was amazing! What's the name of that skill?"
Watt turned to him. "Skill?"
"You know.." Jorge waved his arms, at a loss for words. "When you made all those arrows appear"
Watt shrugged. "I just fire them really fast"
Jorge gave him a wry look. "Right"
Watt nodded his thanks towards Jorge, then started towards the castle.
"Say" Jorge called, "Don't suppose I can join you?"
Watt was tempted to decline. But his last fight would have gone badly without Jorge's help.
Watt nodded. "It would be helpful"
*Tring*
> Party has been formed
Jorge grinned as he fell into step besides Watt.
"This is going to be fun"
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Longest chapter so far.