I swiped my smartwatch against the screen next to the door and heard a satisfying click as my dorm was unlocked. Laying my new bow and its quiver on the floor next to the entrance, I turned on the lights and eyed the dorm. It looked pretty good. It wasn't overly large — looked to be around the same size as the apartment Hope had procured somehow — but it was more than enough for one person to live in. There was a hallway leading from the entrance leading into the living room, which had a small kitchen at one end. A door at the other end of the living room led to what I assumed was the bedroom, and there was another door in the hallway which probably was the bathroom.

Leaving the door to the dorm slightly ajar, I proceeded to cautiously explore every cranny of the apartment to learn its layout. I was dead tired, but this took priority. Only after twenty minutes of searching the place did I feel satisfied. It would have been easier if I could have used [The Watching Eye] to search around, but unfortunately, I used most of my daily use earlier. That was an annoying lesson about waste to learn. Locking the dorm door, I entered the bedroom and lay down on the bed, finally letting myself relax.

This afternoon had been tiring.

I wasn't used to using a bow without any kind of attachments. I'd also forgotten a lot more of my archery skills than I thought. This led to me wasting a lot of time just trying to get used to having a bow in my hands again. In the end, I just managed to remember how to get into the correct pose before the hour was up, and we had to sign out of the Armory with our new weapons. I barely managed to get any real practice done.

The others of the class that I observed were very clearly more used to the weapons than me, but not many of them paid me any attention. I did hear that blonde girl snicker a bit when I failed one time, but that was all.

I did find out that, except for the blondie, there was one other of the archers that could create those magic arrows, which did imply that it wasn't thanks to a Talent. I and the other two people who used bows had to make to with ordinary arrows, but it seemed like one of them could somehow infuse magic into his arrows because sometimes I noticed a faint glow following them. In the end, I did decide to choose the bow, so I'd have to look all of that up later.

After we’d signed out with our weapons, Mr. Basara had gathered our class and once again explained that, even though we had no classes during these first few days, that did not mean that we could slack off. He said that we were now allowed to use the training facilities for as much as we wanted and recommended that we did so. And that’s exactly what I did.

Immediately after he dismissed class 1 for the day, I looked up the location of the shooting range on my watch and hurried there. I hadn't had enough time to remember my old training before, so I spent the rest of the day at the shooting range. I'd underestimated how tired my body got from merely using the bow so I had to take a lot of breaks, but I did succeed in scraping away some of the rust that had developed on my archer skills. But when I finally finished for the day all my muscles were very worn out. The soreness wasn't that bad and honestly barely registered, but there was nothing I could do about the fatigue. Because of it, it'd taken me a while to find my dorm.

Now that I was lying there on the bed I could feel how the muscles would stiff tomorrow. It'd been a good training pass. I suspect my heightened senses helped make it a lot easier too. The real thing holding me back was my body. But if I really wanted to grow, I'd have to pace myself in the future. It's annoying, but pushing too hard won't always have good effects. I'm not living in the apocalypse anymore. Here I won't lose my life if I don't press my body to its limits.

“Hope, could you show me my stats again?” I said while I looked at the ceiling.

[Kim Hooper]

[Strength: 1.94]

[Stamina: 2.06]

[Speed: 2.18]

[Endurance: 1.92]

[Perception: 3.27]

[Magic Force: 0.39]

[Talent: The Watching Eye]

The same text that I’d started getting so used to appeared before my eyes. I looked over the numbers a few times as I went over what I knew.

"From today's practice, I learned that perception is important if I want to become a good archer. In fact, I think it might be the most important attribute when it comes down to straight accuracy. But that doesn't mean that I can ignore my bodies' other attributes."

I let out a tired breath.

“Both speed and strength are important factors, and so is stamina to a certain extent. Magic Force will also be important if I ever want to create magic arrows as that girl did. But looking at these numbers, I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon. Out of six attributes, the only one that doesn’t sound too necessary is endurance. And that's only if I've understood it right in that it covers how tough my body is, and how much it can handle a beating. Is that right, Hope?”

[Endurance is a general condensation of several different factors which include; the hardness of the Kim Hooper's skin, the thickness and durability of the bones and Kim Hooper's body's frame, the rate of recovery of Kim Hooper's blood cells, the plasticity and resilience of Kim Hooper's organs, the brain—]

"Right, I got it. A simple yes would have been enough."

I covered my face with my hands and started rubbing my temples.

“Hope, can’t you just create a Talent that increases all of my attributes faster?”

[Impossible. A Talent focusing on increasing all of Kim Hooper attributes would put a heavy strain on Kim Hooper’s body and lead to severe injuries]

“Of course it would... Couldn’t you at least create a Talent that made me better at using the bow then? That would at least solve some of my problems.”

[Kim Hooper’s body currently can not handle the strain of another Talent]

I took my hands off of my face and stared into the air.

“You’re saying that you can create a Talent like that in the future?”

[Correct]

“When?”

[Several variables influence Kim Hooper’s growth]

[An appraisal of when Kim Hooper can handle such a Talent is difficult to provide]

“Just a rough estimate then. How long? One month? Two?”

[A Talent pertaining only to increasing Kim Hooper’s skill as a sharpshooter, with minimum effort focused on the growth of the relevant attributes]

[It is estimated that most of Kim Hooper’s relevant attributes must have at least reached 2.2 before Kim Hooper can handle another Talent without risk]

“2.2… So probably around one or two months then?”

[If Kim Hooper’s growth follow the same rate as previously, correct]

“Then, is there any way to increase my growth rate?”

[There is]

My eyes shot open. It hadn’t mentioned this before.

“How?”

[Disregarding the creation of new Talents which Kim Hooper can not handle currently, there are several herbs and relics that can help increase Kim Hooper’s growth]

“Do you know where I can get any of those?”

[It is very likely that some can be bought from other humans]

“But I don’t have any money.”

[These items can be found in dungeons and towers]

“...That's not happening any time soon.”

Silence ensued. If this had been a normal conversation, this is the part where at least one of the parties would have felt awkward.

"Anyway, I'm curious. Exactly how many Talens can you create?"

[The number of Talents that can be created depends on Kim Hooper’s growth]

"…Right. Of course it does. But does that mean that in theory, as long as I grow strong enough, you can just keep creating new Talents?”

[Correct. The only thing limiting Kim Hooper’s acquisition of new Talents is Kim Hooper’s growth]

[However, Talents put a heavy strain on the owner. It is improbable that the amount of Talents Kim Hooper can acquire will be exceptionally numerous]

"Still, that's useful to know. From what I've seen, just having two talents is considered amazing in this world." I mumbled. I had nothing else I wanted to ask at the Authority at the moment, so I merely lay there and tried to relax as much as I could.

I must have fallen asleep like that because when I sat up again after some time my body was already feeling stiff. I hit myself in the head because of my mistake. I'm already starting to make mistakes like these? One sweep of the apartment and I'm suddenly feeling safe enough to sleep here without any further precautions? This world was already starting to affect me more than I thought. It didn't matter how safe a place seemed. One must always have measures in place.

Sadly I didn't have too much to work with right now, but after forcing myself off the bed I searched through the closet in the bedroom and managed to find some thin rope that I could make use of. I then went out into the kitchen and took out some glasses from the cupboard. I then tied the rope to the front door's handle and to one of the glasses which I placed on a chair in the hallway. After that, I brought the bow and arrows with me into the bedroom and placed them next to the bed, before proceeding to tie some more rope around the living room and entrance to the bedroom. I also made sure to cover all of the windows temporarily, but not before making sure I knew how to open them fast if needed.

When I finally felt satisfied I sat down on the bed again and looked around in the room. I honestly still didn't like being stuck in an enclosed space like this for a longer amount of time, but now it was unlikely that an intruder could sneak in without me at least waking up. I'm not a deep sleeper, so usually, even the slightest sounds are enough for me to wake up.

As I glanced around the room, my eyes stopped at the closet that I'd looked through earlier. Mr. Basara had said that our student uniforms would already be in our dorms and be the correct size. I didn't look it over that much previously, but now I walked over to the wardrobe to take a closer look.

There were four sets of identical clothing there. The top consisted of a fine red vest with three silver towers embroidered on the left chest and a tight-fitting white shirt with a black tie. The bottom was neat black pants and a pair of low-cut brown shoes that looked fairly comfortable. This was the Lemorth Academy's official student uniform. It didn't look too bad.

Pulling one of them out, I tried it on and went to the bathroom — making sure not to trip on any ropes — and checked myself out. It looked good. And it fits well. They must have taken the measurements during the entrance exam.

Still wearing the uniform, I went out to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There were some basic foods in there. Enough to last for a few days, at least. The academy provided the students with food every week for free, but there was also a cafeteria and a restaurant for those who had the money to buy something fancier. I wasn’t one of those, but I didn’t mind. I’d eat anything as long as it filled my belly.

Picking some easy to cook, I warmed it up and had a quick meal before I started getting ready to sleep. It was dark out and I was going to need a lot of sleep to get ready for the coming days.

After brushing my teeth — which is something that I had sorely missed — I left most of the lights on and entered the bedroom. Taking the uniform off, I put on my normal clothes and laid down on the bed with both the arrows and the bow lying next to me. And like that, I went to sleep for the first night in this place.