Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

Chapter 75 – 74: Turning a Passive Situation into an Active One

If he was able to spar with Rein before, this time after watching the demonstration between Instructor Humbert and Rein, the determination in his thick-browed heart to compete with Rein was completely extinguished.

“Is this what a swordsmanship prodigy looks like?!”

It’s truly despair-inducing!

At this moment, his heart was filled with deep disappointment!

During the following sparring session, Rein, however, found it completely uninteresting.

Clearly, none of the attendants could bring him any experience in basic swordsmanship anymore.

If he wanted to earn experience points in basic swordsmanship more quickly, only Instructor Humbert’s personal sparring would suffice, but recalling the instructor’s dodgy gaze from earlier, Rein knew better than to ask too much of him.

For the first time, Rein felt that the attendant training which had greatly improved his strength was slowly failing to keep pace with his progress, becoming something of a ‘chicken rib.’

So, seizing a break in practice, Rein approached Instructor Humbert and asked softly, “Instructor, may I go practice archery?”

Since Humbert was both the swordsmanship and archery instructor, he hardly hesitated and nodded immediately, “You may! Rein, go to the practice range over there by yourself.”

After all, he knew that apart from himself, there was nobody else among the attendants who could adequately spar with Rein in swordsmanship.

But he couldn’t very well spar with him personally, for if he were to…

Would he still have a face to show?

At the end of the day, for Rein to continue attending such basic swordsmanship training was meaningless.

Archery, on the other hand, remained Rein’s ‘shortcoming.’

Humbert fully supported this.

Rein was immediately delighted and said, “Thank you, Instructor Humbert.”

Rein himself had only intended to try his luck, not expecting Instructor Humbert to agree so readily.

Thus, under the astonished gazes of the other attendants, Rein concluded his basic swordsmanship training early and went alone to the nearby target range for archery practice.

The Night Watchman’s elite archery had left a profound impression on Rein.

Dense and precise arrow volleys efficiently killed the murloc invaders.

Because Rein was reluctant to spend his precious skill points on basic archery, he now had to devote some time and energy to earnestly practicing archery himself.

Picking up a war bow with roughly a hundred pounds draw weight, Rein began practicing at the wooden targets.

Following his increase in various attributes, obviously, even archery training was beneficial to him.

With such a draw weight, a normal guard might experience severe fatigue in their arm after drawing the bow twenty or thirty consecutive times, making it difficult to draw again, but the enhancements to Rein’s constitution and strength made it seem as effortless as eating and drinking, requiring only a short rest after over a hundred draws.

The further improvement of his spirit led to a heightened sensitivity in perception, and Rein found himself hitting the bullseye much more frequently during archery practice than before.

Especially the continuous stream of system prompts, which served as a great source of motivation for Rein.

“[You have practiced basic archery, and your comprehension has improved!]”

“[Your skill ‘Basic Archery’ has improved, experience points +1]”

….

Fortunately, although the target range was also outside the fortress, it was at the northwest corner, some two to three hundred meters away from the central area where the attendants were, and not clearly visible.

Otherwise, Rein’s archery might have been enough to drop the jaws of Instructor Humbert and all the attendants in shock.

By midday, his basic archery skill had improved significantly, reaching lv2 (18/300).

Indeed, physical fitness is the foundation of mastering all combat skills.

With good physical fitness, learning anything would be much faster.

When his physical attributes improved by one or two points before, the change was imperceptible, but after an all-around increase, Rein felt the difference quite clearly.

That afternoon, Rein, George, and the rest of the attendants made their way to the manor’s servants’ dining hall.

“`

But when Rein faced the servant’s lunch before him again, he couldn’t help but sigh. A large plate of mashed potatoes, two thin slices of pickled pork, and a large bowl of vegetable soup were far from enough to meet his body’s nutritional needs.

Previously, the intensity of the training couldn’t keep up.

Now, even the nutrition couldn’t keep up.

“The current servant training is really of little use to me now!”

As for archery, Rein believed the Night Watchman should have the corresponding training facilities.

If it was only the daily forging of iron tools, then the Blacksmith Boris should have been able to teach everything, it would just cost a bit more in tuition, but the freedom was worth it.

“Rein, why aren’t you eating?” George, who was sitting nearby, asked as he saw Rein staring blankly.

“It’s nothing.” Rein shook his head and after nibbling on a few bites, he stopped eating.

In the afternoon, Rein still trained in archery by himself. After the servant training ended, he first informed Humbert and George that he had some family matters and would not participate in the servant training for the time being.

Then he found a maid to help him contact Chief Maid Shadia.

Soon, Rein saw Shadia once again.

She was still in her unchanging black maid’s attire and her expression was serious, but when she saw the noticeably taller and sturdier Rein, her face softened somewhat as she slightly smiled and nodded:

“Rein, you’ve grown taller and stronger. It seems you have been earnestly practicing the breathing technique left by Lady Cleya, very good.”

“By the way, are you here because you’ve run out of the black pine oil?”

Rein shook his head, “Thank you for your affirmation, Chief Maid. I came to say that I don’t plan to attend the servant training anymore.”

“I’d like to practice the Giant Bear Breathing Technique and the Giant Bear Sword Technique at home, which might be a bit more freeing.”

Chief Maid Shadia, after a brief moment of thought, understood Rein’s concerns and nodded:

“Indeed, since Lady Cleya left, training at home might indeed be more convenient for you.”

….

After informing Chief Maid Shadia, Rein quickly headed to the kennels; he planned to pick up a greyhound puppy to take home.

Without much thought, Rein paid three silver coins and picked up the greyhound puppy he had played with before.

Of course, there are differences between greyhounds, such as lineage and physique.

But the physical robustness of a common dog didn’t seem very significant to Rein.

The main purpose of adopting the dog was to try out some of the recipes and potions recorded in the “Beast Taming Diary,” and to see if a new professional panel could be triggered.

Since that was the case, there was no need to go through the trouble of careful selection. The familiar greyhound puppy he knew was just fine.

So, under the sunset, Rein left the manor with the puppy in his arms, heading towards Flashgold Town.

…

Meanwhile, since ‘Poison Blade’ hadn’t returned or submitted a mission report within the designated deadline, the Wilderness Brotherhood soon realized that the mission had likely failed.

As this was a mission handed down by a significant figure from County Town, the Wilderness Brotherhood urgently assigned someone to gather new information on their target, Rein.

They quickly came across a surprising piece of news.

The once seemingly unremarkable farmboy had actually obtained a junior Bounty Hunter license, and from the look of the dates, even before ‘Poison Blade’ had taken on the mission.

Those who can obtain a Bounty Hunter license are likely to be well above the militia level in strength, possibly reaching the level of a first-tier Knight Attendant, or even a little higher—at the level of a second-tier Knight Attendant.

If that was the case, it wouldn’t have been surprising if ‘Poison Blade’ had been caught off guard and capsized in the gutter.

So, the problem was identified.

It wasn’t that the Wilderness Brotherhood was too incompetent, but rather that the inaccurate information had cost them a carefully trained assassin!

Suddenly, the Wilderness Brotherhood shifted from a passive to an active stance.

“`