Supreme Archer: Taking The Game's Weakest Class To The Top

Chapter 157: Turtle Forest (10)

"Archer!" Elizabeth shouted at the skies where Jake had been chucked.

The beast she wanted to tame was a level forty monster, so its strength was enough to toss a few humans up there. Of course, Elizabeth's companions were around the same level, so her chances of taming this beast weren't low.

That said, it was not an easy task!

Jake listened to the wind bouncing off his eardrums.

'It will take some time until I adapt to the movement skill,' he thought. He was so far up that he could no longer make up Elizabeth's presence. The forest and its canopy were the only things Jake could look at.

It was a perfect time to test one of his ideas regarding The Archer's Flow!

Jake used his Death's Lock without wielding his bow.

His perception bubble stretched toward his target—the arrow perched at the beast's feet.

So long as the arrow remained intact, Jake could teleport to it. Another prerequisite, other than mana points, was that it had to be in Jake's perception bubble.

Since he had been thrown far away from the arrow, it was no longer in his perception zone.

Jake, however, extended his perception bubble into a straight line that wrapped around the arrow at the end.

Luck was on his side since no tree or branch stood in his view. Otherwise, like Jake's shooting angle, the perception bubble wouldn't have stretched toward the arrow.

He locked his perception on the arrow and teleported to it.

'My range of Death's Lock is the same as my shooting range… which makes my movement skill more advanced than others as I combine those two elements… at least on the lower levels. I have my own weaknesses that can be exploited, though,' Jake thought as he landed next to Elizabeth again.

The little girl cheered as she applauded.

"You can use teleportation now!" she exclaimed.

Jake nodded. "I learned it thanks to Clara, meaning I wouldn't have learned that without you! Thanks."

Elizabeth happily swayed left and right as she accepted Jake's thanks.

Their interaction made the beast towering above them odd, even though the forest was his home! He stared at the duo of humans before growling at them.

Jake put on a guard, "Taming beasts wasn't in my schedule."

"Hehe! I'm here because you left me alone!" Elizabeth explained.

Jake smiled. "I expected you to run away. How can I help?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I can't tame him yet! The big squirrel has unfinished business! I will return here later!"

The assassins noted this area upon hearing those words. Their mental notes had many more areas like that, as Elizabeth had run away from her responsibilities numerous times.

Jake was surprised to hear that. He thought she would be persistent like most kids would have been, but Elizabeth truly understood beasts better than humans.

He smiled at her.

He asked, "Should we return to the turtle forest?"

"Aye!" Elizabeth nodded.

-

It had been a month since Jake entered The Turtle Forest.

"How's Elizabeth?" Minerva asked Alice.

Because of her duties as The Imperial Grand Mage, Minerva couldn't have seen Elizabeth and Jake's progress on a daily basis. She left valuable notes to her descendant and left her with Alice and the assassins.

Elizabeth's unusual training had hit a month mark, so Minerva was compelled to visit her again.

Though she may have appeared officially, Minerva was brimming with anticipation and interest.

Alice smiled at her best friend. "She really wanted to cut you down size. I believe Little Elizabeth has mastered everything you've left to her. She'll be the bridge The Emperor's searching for."

"You noticed," Minerva said.

Alice nodded. "Her innate magic to speak with the beasts and understand them is like a gift from the heavens to connect with demi-humans."

Minerva sighed. "I fear players will be the first to make that connection and trouble us in more than a few ways. Time will tell. How about Archer?"

"Archer!" Alice's face lit up as though sunshine draped her. "There were days where I couldn't have taken my eyes off him! He's been getting inspired so much by the tree soldiers! His archery and bond with beasts have been evolving at an extraordinary pace, too! I'm thrilled for the coming days as his archery is utterly opposite of mine!"

Alice and Jake talked about their archery.

While Jake respected Alice's noble and royal view of archery, he couldn't help but tell her this…

[I devour what's yours.]

Minerva's years of experience helped her understand the meaning of those words as Alice told her about her conversation with Jake. She couldn't make up the entire picture of Jake's archery, but she was sure she understood the gist of it.

Later that day, Jake and Elizabeth defeated all the tree soldiers in their way.

Minerva was impressed.

"His movement skill has evolved," she said.

Alice smiled. "Yes."

Jake had combined his Archer's Flow with Medusa's Slick Scales.

It evolved from an epic-grade skill into a legendary skill. It was such an advanced skill now that Jake needed more than three weeks to become good at it.

He focused so much on it that Medusa had most of his attention from him in recent days.

It wasn't the end of Jake's inspiration, however.

The tree soldiers inspired Jake, too, and he leveraged one of them to enhance his archery more. Wukong's Assimilation helped him polish that style and turn it into a real weapon.

At last, Jake was satisfied with his training.

It could have been said that his baby steps were done!

All he needed was a self-crafted bow to match his inspiration.

-

"You can't leave me! We're friends of the same feather!" Elizabeth cried as she was held back by Minerva. She learned that Jake would return to The Warmonger Empire's Capital tomorrow. It meant that their time was over!

She didn't want it!

It had been so much fun with Jake around! He even taught her about skipping a stone!

Jake weakly smiled at Elizabeth, "We'll meet again, Elizabeth. I'll be stronger, and so will you. With more strength and knowledge, more fun places will be available to us. Our second adventure will be much more fun! So you'd better train and practice a lot with Mrs. Minerva!"

Elizabeth rubbed her nose.

Everyone thought that she'd agree with Jake…

…alas…

"No!" Elizabeth screamed. "I'm wild! I will run around the forests and tame all beasts! I will have a big team and force you to adventure with me!"

Jake glanced at Minerva.

His expression said—I tried.

Minerva curtly nodded at him with a thankful countenance.

Alice was grinning in the background.

That was when Elizabeth had somehow extricated herself from Minerva's grasp. She ran away from the group.

"I'm serious!" Elizabeth shouted before disappearing into the forest.

Minerva sighed again, "This naughty girl…"

Jake chuckled, "She's a strong and smart girl."

"You also developed a weak spot to her, I see," Minerva faintly smiled. "It's time for us to part. I've prepared a carriage for you to return to The Last Night. There's a reward inside for taking care of Elizabeth. I wish you success in your endeavors, Archer."

Jake bowed. "Thank you, Mrs. Minerva, Mrs. Alice. I'll be going now!"

He was so eager to craft his bow that it was seen on him.

Alice and Minerva didn't keep Jake to themselves.

Alice said as Jake boarded the carriage. "Pressure Viktor more, Archer. Take skills from him. He should have been the first person to teach you a lot. Don't hold back!"

Jake grinned, "Understood!"

The horses howled before driving Jake away from The Turtle Forest.

Inside the carriage, Jake found a high-quality wood developed with Minerva's magic and mana. It matched Jake's inspiration and the ideas he wanted to implement into his second bow.

He couldn't have received the better reward!

"I'll get a high strength and dexterity equipment from the store and shape it into my style. That much should be enough for the second stage of my plan," Jake said.

He clenched his hands and waited.

He also visited The Auction House to get new equipment. This went against Master Aaron's rules, but Jake was sure the old man would understand.

At last, Jake was in Master Aaron's workplace.

Aaron caressed his beard, "Yer look too zealous. I see fire in yer eyes!"

Jake's heart beat crazily against his chest, but he sounded calm, "I need your utmost help with this project, Master Aaron. I want to show others my archery."

Aaron gazed at him seriously before letting his beard go. "Let's craft a masterpiece, then."

-

It was afternoon Sunday.

Players didn't have many responsibilities on this day.

However, it wasn't for this reason that the training grounds of The Warmonger Empire were crowded.

Today, players compete against each other on the effigies and earn rewards based on their week of practice! The best players get valuable rewards from their respective instructors!

Mages, swordsmen, spearmen, and more classes had gathered at the scene.

There were around a thousand players!

It was a mini-event that every serious player looked for.

Of course, a group of archers were huddled in the corner of the training grounds.

They didn't have any instructors.

They only had one effigy out of pity to train on.

They were so abandoned and weak.

They were laughed upon by a group of mages and even pressured by a gangster woman and her gang day after day.

But their persistence and curiosity in archery prevailed.

That was when a heavy step resounded in the training grounds.

The guards raised their weapons and saluted.

Asta Bow Viktor had appeared on the scene.

Following him was a man with short black hair and shining green eyes. He stood abreast of a black-haired woman whose aloof expression contrasted with his broad smile.

Archer had entered the scene.

"I hope you're a good camerawoman, Master," Jake said.

"I'm not getting paid for this, so expect a few bad shots," Ingrid replied.

"…do your best, please," Jake said with straight lips.

Jake deeply inhaled.

He locked his eyes on his first target.

The man who had laughed at him the most on his debut.

The parasite of the training grounds.

Welshy.