It was important for a knight to know certain skills set in order to stay on top in a battlefield and archery was one of them. Although it was considered one of the least needed talents for a knight, this still a requirement to be part of the Knights of Divine Order. 8 was the minimum archery score a squire needed to achieve to pass. That meant 8 out of 10 arrows needed to hit the mark.
Unfortunately, Emery had missed one and that meant he lost one point. It was quite an embarrassing mistake as well – he was sure that right now, not only the participants were mocking him, but the audience too, as well.
"Is that a Lioness squire? What a joke!"
"That squire is an embarrassment to the Tournament…"
"Why do they even let Lioness participate in this?"
At literally any other time, Emery would be grateful for his enhanced senses, but not this time. He was surprised to feel a little affected by the audience's comments about him. He never really cared what the audience said in the much bigger arena of? Magus Academy., but when it's closer to home though, it seemed to matter to him.
"Let's see if I can win this," Emery muttered and gave himself a wry smile.
[Battle power: 49 (34)]
The name 'battle power' was a bit misleading, considering how it was never only just about muscle strength or body endurance. With each point increase in it, Emery also gained an increased control of his physical body. Control, in this case, included body balance and perception, a quality sorely needed in disciplines like archery.
He just needed to practice for a bit to get used to the arrow weight and bow strength.
He eyed the target, pulled the string and gently released the arrow. This action took him back to when his father taught him archery in the Ambrose Estate courtyard.
This time, indeed, the arrow hit the target, but it was outside the red mark, which meant another zero.
"Hahahaha, do you guys even see this kid? He was so serious, but the result… Kid, just go home before you embarrass yourself!"
Emery did not answer, he merely smiled at the guy's direction.
After practicing twice, he finally got used to the bow and arrow he held tight in his hands, becoming more confident to pull this off.
This time, he hit the red mark. It was not a perfect center, but it was his first point.
"Finally! Keep it up, Lioness kid, and you may actually have a shot here! Don't even think about missing one or you'll be out of the tournament on your first day, hahaha!"
Emery closed his eyes and let himself feel his surroundings. In this tranquil state, he was able to feel the minuscule movements of each blade of grass, each leaf on the trees and the gentle breeze of the wind.
He took a deep breath and held the bow and arrow tight, connecting what he felt with the bow and arrow in his hand.
The audience instantly went quiet, the whispers of insults dispersing like dust in the wind, to be replaced with gasps of awe and disbelief.
The jeers were replaced with admiring woos, as the Lioness kid they considered inferior and undeserving to compete in this tournament managed to hit dead center of the target this time.
The squire standing next to Emery looked at him in silent bewilderment. He himself was rarely able to hit dead center, but Emery accomplished it, either by sheer luck or by his hidden skills.
Now that Emery managed to get his bearings, this time he raised the bow higher, pulled the string taut, releasing it gently.
He attempted another shot toward the 400-feet range target, and managed to hit the mark
"Two points!" The aide in charge of marking the squires' results announced.
The audience started whispering again, but this time, it was gossip about where his sudden skills came from. Some seemed to think the feat he pulled was just a result of incredible luck.
Thanks to his spirit force, Emery could feel the minute changes in wind direction and how it affected the arrow, enabling him to make small adjustments to account for that. The higher he shot, the stronger the wind would be, that meant the disruption would be stronger.
Emery took a deep breath and spread out his spirit force once more. Now, he had full control over his body and the elements around him.
Just like before, he pulled the string and gently released the arrow.
Again, he manages to hit the mark on the 400-feet range target but this time he hit the perfect center.
The squire standing next to Emery was unable to hide his shock. His mouth kept on opening and closing like a fish. Meanwhile, the audience did a complete turn-around, as they started standing up and cheering. It was like the insults they shouted at him before never existed.
A dead center on a 400-feet range target rarely happened and hitting it was a testament of one's archery skills.
"Yes!" Emery smiled and raised his fist high in the air. Somehow, even if this achievement was something in a much smaller scale than winning the Magus Games and defeating elite acolytes, he still felt a tremendous happiness from it.
Emery repeated what he did with his remaining arrows all to the 400 feet target. Out of those, he managed to get four more dead center shots.
Finally, he ran out of arrows and his turn ended. From his efforts, he managed to score 2 misses, 2 one-point shots, and 6 double-point shots, netting him a total of 14 points.
Thanks to this, he was now allowed to join the next archery round and compete amongst the 10 best squires in archery.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,