I arrived in front of the Archer’s Guild. As the other building in this town, the archer’s guild is made up of wood but the roof was similar to the old Japanese building or should I say it look like a dojo from Battle Realms.

Inside, there is an archery range ranging from 10 meters, 15 meters, 20 meters, up to 50 meters.

There are also archers trying their best to hit the part of the scarecrow.

Most of their shot hit but some of them fell short and other misses its target.

Each meter has 5 scarecrows as a target and most of the archers inside used the 25 meters range some of them tried the 50 meters but they seldom hit their target.

I went to the 10 meters range since I have a short bow that is suitable for short range archery.

I nocked one arrow and the crosshair appeared. It is too big that it almost covered my sight but it was transparent so I can see what’s in front of me. I pulled the string as far as it can go and the crosshair begun to shrink until it became small like in CS. I aimed it at the head of the scarecrow just for fun.

‘Maybe the arrow would hit randomly inside the circle.’

As I think about it myself, I released my hold and the arrow flew straight to the center of the head of the scarecrow.

‘There is almost no difference on FPS game and here.’

I nocked another arrow and aimed at the chest. Like before, the arrow hit where I wanted it to hit.

10 meters seems to be easy for me. Since I don’t know how far the range of the short bow is, I tried on the 15 meters range, and the result was the same.

I moved at the 20 meters range and nocked the arrow on the bow.

“Hey hey, Short bow can’t hit here. Better go to the 15 meter range.”

A man suddenly said to me. He is wearing a white shirt and on his right hand, he carries a bow longer than mine. Maybe he’s right since I didn’t see anyone carrying a short bow before in this range. Most of the short bow user uses the 15 meter range and some of them still miss their mark. But it is different for me. I came here to see how far my short bow can hit and to learn how to effectively use the bow.

Ignoring the man, I nocked an arrow on my bow and pulled it as hard as I can my aim is the head. The crosshair shrunk and I release my grip on the string. The arrow flew but it landed on the feet area.

‘I see, the maximum range I can hit the target while aiming straight through it is 15 meters. Then how about if I aim a little higher?’

“See I told you. Short bow range maximum range is just 15 meters.”

The man said something again but I ignored it. I nocked another arrow and aim higher than before. I pulled the string and when the crosshair shrunk I released it. The arrow flew in air and landed on the head of the scarecrow.

The man’s mouth opened and his eyes almost pop out.

“This isn’t something to be surprised. If you aim carefully, you can hit your target even though they are far away from your maximum range.”

I said to the man. Wait, it sounds as if I am boasting about it. Well, it can’t be help since I got pissed on this noisy man. I learned this technique from another game called Rakion and Gunbound. You must estimate the trajectory of your projectile so that it will hit your target.

* * *

You have learned a new skill!

Archery Lv1 (Beginner)

Passive

Gives bonus damage when using bows or skills related to bows. It also increases the hit rating of the bow.

+ 1% damage when using bows.

+ 5 Dexterity.

* * *

I gained another passive skill. It gives a little bonus damage and dexterity. It can’t be help since it’s still level 1. Based on the information I gathered on the tavern, except for the level of the skills, there are also 4 tiers of skill which are Beginner, Intermediate, Advance, and Master. Beginner is the lowest and Master is the highest. They say that most of the people in the village are in the beginner tier and when you went to the town, the lowest tier would be intermediate. There was only less than 50 people achieved the advanced tier and only a handful of people achieved the master tier of their skills.

Anyway I moved to the 25 meters range and tried hitting the scarecrow there but my arrow fall to the ground. Even though I adjusted the angle the result was the same.

“So the maximum range is 20 meters huh…”

I muttered to myself go out of the Archer’s Guild. My business there is already done so it is time to hunt.

I only have 41 wooden arrows left so I need to use it sparingly. If I run out of arrow while in the middle of battle then I think I will manage using the dismantling knife.

I went to the village square and looked for a party since it will be dangerous to hunt alone. The wolves are level 5 and I am still level 2 so I can’t solo them for now. When hunting solo, the safest method is to hunt monster that is higher to you by 2 levels, the higher the level of the monster the greater the risk.

I arrived at the village square and I heard the recruitment of different parties and the advertisement of merchants. I asked some parties if they would like to take me, a level 2, for hunting but they all rejected me. They said that I would just be a food for the wolves and they can’t guarantee my safety. Of course I said that I use bow for my own safety but they still declined.

*Sigh*

I sat at the fountain and let out a big sigh feeling dejected.

“I won’t be able to gain a level if this continues.”

I muttered to myself. If this continues, I will level up. If I don’t level up, I will be stuck on this frontier village. Well, it is not bad to be stuck on this village. I can earn money if I work at the tavern and if I save enough money, I could build my own house here but the problem is I would not be able to explore this world. Although it is a dream, I wanted it to be at least an adventure.

“Jasper?”

A familiar voice of a girl called me. When I looked up, I saw a girl wearing a skirt and shirt carrying a basket. Her chestnut hair fell down to his hips and she is wearing a glasses. It is Kaezar.

“What are you doing here? I thought you are working at the tavern.”

Kaezar asked me as she sat beside me.

“Well… I wanted to become an adventurer but nobody is willing to invite me to a party. I can’t hunt alone since I am level 2.”

“Are you perhaps, trying to join a party that would hunt wolves?”

“Yeah. Isn’t that the weakest monster here?”

I asked at her obvious question. Based on the information from the tavern, wolves are the weakest monster to hunt in here. So for me to gain a level, I need to join to a party since I you can’t expect a level 2 hunting a level 5 monster.

“Yes it is the weakest monster but there are also creatures that you can hunt to raise your level. Since it isn’t the first time that you will be getting out of the village, you noticed some rabbits outside right? Their level range from 1 to 3 so it is recommended for an adventurer wannabe to hunt those rabbit first, then in the forest, they are some wild boars that is level 4 or 5. Normally, hunting wolves that are level 5 takes a party of 5 people with an average level of 10. Even though it is level 5, wolves are quick and usually hunt on pack.”

Kaezar explained to me.

So it was like that, of course I won’t hear about it at the tavern since most of the adventurer there are level 10 above. And yes, I saw some rabbits hoping outside the village but I thought they were just a critter so I didn’t bother at them. In some games that I played, critter didn’t give EXP and they were there just for the sake of appearance, they didn’t attack nor defend.

“Thank you Kaezar, I never thought that rabbits gave EXP.”

I thanked Kaezar for the information she gave me and she just smiled and said ‘You’re welcome’.

‘Ahhh.. Her smiling face is the best!’

I felt my face become hotter and I quickly diverted my gaze at her.

‘This is bad, she has the same name of someone I knew from the real world.’

I quickly got up and told her that I will be going now.

After we parted I quickly ran outside the village and found rabbits hoping freely. They were some that are eating grass on the side and some are being hunted by others.

“I only have a few arrows so let’s try not missing any target.”

The first rabbit that I will be hunting was 12 meters away from me and it was enjoying eating the grass in front of it. It look cute but I need to hunt it to earn some money. I nocked an arrow on the bow and aimed it at the rabbit. The arrow flew forward and hit the rabbit’s butt. The rabbit turned around and saw me aiming another shot at it and it tried to flee but it is too late since I already released another arrow and preparing the other one in case that it misses. If it missed then there’s nothing I can do because it would be the first time I will be shooting at a moving creature. The second arrow hit the rabbit’s head and the rabbit fell down sideward.

* * *

You’ve gained 20 EXP for hunting a rabbit.

Current EXP: 23/200

* * *

20 EXP per rabbit huh? So it means that I need to hunt 9 more rabbit to raise my level.

I went to the rabbit corpse and pulled out my dismantling knife. Now that I think about it, I didn’t know how to skin it. I scratched my head trying to figure out how should I skin it. Getting its meat is easy since I know how to cut it since I successfully butchered a pig before but I didn’t know how to separate the skin to the meat. Maybe I should ask someone who know how to separate the skin to the meat.

I plucked out the arrow at the corpse and it seemed to be usable even though I used it once. Instead cutting down the rabbit here, I put it at my bag and hunted another rabbit. If I cut here, the meat might become dirty and I will be making a mess here. Furthermore, the hunting time will decrease since I will stop each time I killed a rabbit to get its meat.

The hunt continued and I finally gained a level. My bag is already full with rabbit’s corpses so decided to go back to the town and sell the meat at the meat shop.

The shop is the same with the meat shop in the market or rather it look like a stall. There are meat hanging on the hooks and some are displayed according to the meat type. Behind the stall was a butcher house.

“Excuse me, do you buy a freshly hunt rabbit?”

I don’t know if they are raising some animals for their meat or they are hunting it but I need to sell these rabbit although selling them as a whole seems to be a waste since I saw some equipment made from rabbit’s fur and I am considering on selling the fur separately at the armor shop but it can’t be help since I don’t know how to separate the skin from it.

“Yes. 25 kwarts per rabbit is the price. How many rabbit do you have?”

Hearing the price from the shop keeper I pulled out all the ten rabbit I am carrying on my bag.

“I will be selling 10 rabbits.”

“Okay. Wait a minute, I will calculate the total price for them.”

He will calculate? I think it is pretty obvious that 25 times 10 is 250 kwarts but maybe the education on this dream world isn’t available to everyone.

“That would be 225 kwarts all in all.”

The shop keeper told me the total price based on what he calculated. I don’t know how to react at all since I didn’t expect that this will be the total of his “calculation”.

“Wait a minute here, isn’t it supposed to be 250 kwarts not 225 kwarts? 225 kwarts was for 9 rabbits only. Would you please show me how did you arrive on that number?”

I asked the shop keeper since I will not agree on this kind of calculation. No matter where you look at it, it is wrong! Or this guy is trying to trick me? I am not an idiot!

“That is the result of my calculation! I learned how to add numbers at the school! Seriously, how a mere adventurer who didn’t go to school could told me that my calculation is wrong!”

So this means that the adventurer didn’t even go to school? Are you kidding me?! They only agreed on the price that the shop keeper would tell them without doubting it?

“Look here.. I might be an adventurer but I am different from others you see. I went to school so you can’t fool me.”

“Oh really? Then can you tell me how did you ended up with a 250 kwarts as the total price of 10 rabbits!”

“Okay here. 25 times 10 is 250.”

I answered him with a simplest way but the shop keeper giggled and said.

“What the hell is ‘times’? Are you trying to make up an excuse so that you can earn even a little more kwarts? Well sorry but I never heard of the word ‘times’ even in the school there are no term such as times.”

Don’t tell me that the only thing that the school teaches was addition and subtraction? They didn’t know multiplication or division? Wow.. The education of this world is really outdated.

“Okay if you really don’t understand the word times then I will tell you in the term you will understand. 25+25 is 50 right?”

“Well yes 25+25 is 50. So what of it?”

The shop keeper raised on of his eyebrow and smirked. I separated two rabbit from the other to represent them as the first two 25.

“50 + 25 is 75, 75+25 is 100, 100+25 is 125, 125+25 is 150, 150+25 is 175, 175+25 is 200, 200 +25 is 225. Now there was only one rabbit left but the answer is the same with the result of you ‘calculation’”

As I add the numbers, I separate on rabbit on the group until I reached the result of his ‘calculation’.

Seeing that there was still a rabbit left, the shop keeper face become red. I don’t know if due to embarrassment or because his attempt to trick me didn’t work.

“Okay, now if I add this rabbit to other which already cost 225 then it will become 250 right?”

The man nodded at my explanation as I put the last rabbit to the group.

“Well… Sometimes I make mistakes… Here is you 250 kwarts.”

He took the rabbit and gave me 2 silvers and 50 copper coins. I happily put the coins on my purse and whisper something at the shop keeper.

“If you are trying to trick someone, please make sure that he is dumb enough to be tricked and also, the term ‘times’ is used at multiplication. I suspect that you only knew addition since you didn’t know the word ‘times’.”

Tapping his shoulder I left the meat shop leaving the shop keeper with his mouth open. As I leave the store I think I heard him said something ‘advance arithmetic’ or something.