Chapter 9: Chapter 6: Corrective Action

I tucked Anna into the wagon next to Lydia after she finally fell into a troubled sleep. I watched both girls curl into each other and then shut the wagon cover to keep the night wind from disturbing them. I was too physically and mentally charged to sleep, and someone had to keep watch, so I focused on my own inadequacies during the battle. I needed to do better, and the only way to do so was to evaluate my own performance. There was only one conclusion I could come up with:

I was ill-suited to medieval warfare.

I spent thousands of hours on a shooting range, but I never fired an arrow until tonight. My Attributes and Aspects carried me hard, and unless I was willing to only rely on the semi-automatic function of Select Fire to guarantee hits, I would have to master new forms of ranged combat.

After reviewing the results, the full-auto function of my Skill was gamebreaking. I've never heard of anyone firing 30 arrows in under three seconds. The problem was that it drained almost all of my Mana in under two seconds. If I wanted to use it extensively, I would need to somehow increase my MP.

I picked up a partially filled quiver from one of the corpses and salvaged what arrows I could manage from the two I shot up, bringing me to a grand total of 68 arrows.

Then came the grind. I identified my most obvious weakness and it was time to correct my deficiencies.

Because I didn't need to sleep as much nor could I let the girls take a watch shift while they were mentally recovered, I opted to practice archery. I stripped one body of its clothing and pinned it to the trunk of a nearby tree. I made sure not to drift too far away from camp and kept both girls on the Map.

Marksmanship provided me an instinctive understanding of the proper shooting form and it even gave me some physical guidance, but it was more like watching a recording of someone shooting and trying to mimic their movements. While it was possible, there was no replacement for true practice.

I trained all night. The rhythmic thump of an arrow piercing through clothing and wood filled the camp. For the first few hours, my shots rarely landed on target. But I became increasingly aware of my flaws and mistakes. Each subsequent shot improved in both precision and accuracy. By the fifth hour, I was consistently landing 3 inch margin groups into my target's chest area at 250 meters, the maximum distance this longbow could handle.

So, all the Attributes contribute to a person's combat standard. Strength helps me draw my bow. Dexterity affects my fine motor skills for aiming. Constitution boosts my stamina and overall endurance. Wisdom improves my perception and kinetic vision. Intelligence makes me learn and adapt faster.

Lydia was wrong; I needed all of my Attributes to be an effective combatant.

I can see why starting off with at least 12 in every stat qualifies as a divine blessing. If a normal person only ever earned seven Attribute Points, then they would inevitably have to hyper-specialize, which leads to the misconception that dumping all your points into one Attribute would be the best way to progress.

I mulled over how the second attacker managed to defend against my superior stat block for as long as he did. Though I still sleeved him full of arrows, he lasted longer than any opponent I came across thus far.

If leveling up could only be achieved through combat and Quests and Attribute Points were sparse, then my opponent must have improved in some other way.

That left Skills and Aspects.

Skill Upgrades existed and those could be gained by leveling, but I had no idea if constantly using a Skill also allowed you to upgrade it at some point. My Map was always active, so I would find out at some point.

That left Aspects. All of mine were E-rank and based on any common sense letter system, it meant they were at their lowest.

I can improve them.

This had to be why that bandit was able to keep up with me. He had a high-ranked Aspect. It was probably related to spears or general combat. I needed to keep grinding, I couldn't just rely on my levels. Strengthening my character sheet required a comprehensive approach. So I continued shooting. Even after Lydia and Anna awoke, I never stopped.

Sleep? Food? Water? Rest? They were unnecessary.

My Constitution was grotesquely high and so was my Intelligence. It was time I abused the system like a true min-maxer. If elbow-grease was what I needed in order to improve my Aspects and Skills, then I was overdue for a training montage. The only thing I lacked was epic background music.

"Levin, you have been practicing since morning," Lydia finally approached after I finished my latest set of arrows and had to pull all 68 of them out of the tree. At this point, the clothing I used as a target was torn to shreds.

“You missed breakfast and lunch.” She pressed, her tone sounded hurt and concerned.

"I haven't even broken a sweat, don't worry about it."

"There will be many more encounters for us to harden our hearts. Don't force yourself to protect us."

"I have 16 Constitution and 16 Intelligence."

Lydia's jaw dropped.

"Give me about a week, Princess. I have to make up for lost time."

"You're going to condense a lifetime of archery training in a single week?"

"I'm going to fucking try, yeah."

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"Let me train with you."

I really wasn't in the mood to slow down for anything, but denying her desire for self-improvement was not a positive response to give, especially after last night.

"How? I don't think you have any comparable Aspects or Skills."

"I have a Skill that lets me change the flames of any Spell» I cast into dragonfire. But I have a hard time controlling it. With practice, I can reduce how much Mana it drains. You need not stop or even help me. I would just like to share your atmosphere."

"That sounds good to me." She just wanted some company while she practiced. I had no idea how to help her train and she had nothing to offer, either. Emotional support was all we could provide for each other.

Lydia was able to sustain her magical training for about one hour before she slumped her back against a tree trunk and slid to the forest floor. Beads of sweat covered her whole body, so I took a cloth and wiped her face and neck. She gave me a strained smile and craned her neck so I could go lower. I stopped just short of her cleavage and stepped back before anything inappropriate happened.

Lydia seemed to notice I wasn’t going to continue and slowly pulled herself off the ground.

"I can't keep up." She sounded dejected.

"You're just limited by your Mana consumption. How is Anna?"

"I think she's getting better." Her tone didn't inspire confidence.

"You should go speak to her, Lydia. There's not much I can do."

"Yes, of course. Anna’s wellbeing is my responsibility. Thank you for letting me join you, Levin." She stood up and left me to my training.

Over the course of the next three days, I honed my Marksmanship. Not only did I limit my idle time to the bare minimum, I felt my proficiency improve daily thanks to my high Intelligence. Every hour I spent training was amplified in effectiveness several times over. Any flaw in my archery was identified and rectified instantly. This prevented me from developing bad habits and potentially shaved off years of corrective training.

I knew my time was well spent once I could consistently split arrow shafts. My Menu flashed for the first time in days and I eagerly opened it.

«Your Marksmanship has reached D-Rank.»

«You may choose one Marksmanship Skill Upgrade, gain a new Skill, or Synthesize a Skill.»

I lowered my bow and set it aside. This was the moment I was waiting for. I returned to the camp and stared at the fire. Lydia and Anna didn’t disturb me. They must have grown accustomed to the distant look I had when I was focusing on my Menu.

Synthesizing a Skill seemed to generate a result that was based on two or more chosen Aspects. Judging by my only other hybrid Skill, the output wouldn’t necessarily be weak. However I couldn’t plan around randomness, so I ignored that option.

There were quite a few Skill Upgrades for Select Fire that sounded appealing. The primary one I wanted was the ability to choose different ammunition types. But that would just force me to ration my MP. Until I figured out how to greatly increase my Mana, I would have to pick those sorts of abilities sparsely. I was lucky the Movement and Tracking System only required MP to activate but didn’t take any to maintain.

So that left me with choosing a new Marksmanship Skill. There were three for me to select:

«Combined Arms»

«Designated Marksman»

«Grenadier»

I almost chose Grenadier out of sheer reflex. Focusing on ranged combat was fine, but what I really lacked was an Area of Effect option. Combined Arms probably required a Squad or a Party to properly utilize. I wasn’t willing to drag Lydia or Anna into another battle anytime soon, so that was a hard-pass. Unfortunately, only the title of each Skill was provided. That left Designated Marksman. Based on my experience, that meant my engagement range would double. There were key differences between snipers and designated marksmen, and I assumed the reason why it wasn’t listed solely under Marksmanship was because snipers were also trained in fieldcraft. If the Skill existed, I would probably have to Synthesize Survival and Marksmanship to get it. But I wasn’t willing to take that gamble.

Grenadier or Designated Marksman? Damnit. If I had more MP, I would pick Grenadier in a heartbeat. I have no idea how much MP it’ll cost to fire a single grenade.

In the end, I chose Designated Marksman.

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