Morning soon arrived, rays of bright colour dancing upon Damon’s closed eyes. He sleepily marvelled at the simple beauty shown by the shapes. He lay there for a long time, listening to the outside world. The vague conversations of people outside, preparing for the tasks they needed to complete that day. He caught the sounds of birds chirping in the trees and a vague sense of serenity passed over him. He focused on the individual sounds he could hear and began to imagine the world outside his hut. He had done this exercise many times before in the real world, but now he had actual colour experience to work with and the shapes he conjured up became much more detailed and precise.

He concentrated on the birds and how they perched themselves on top of the low hanging branches, looking out over the small village as the villagers began to emerge from their homes to start their days. The children had already begun playing, as mothers performed tasks such as collecting water and preparing breakfast.

New Skill!

Focus Listening (Beginner 1 - 23%)

Your obsessive attention to the noises around you has granted you the ability to pick out the most relavant sounds to you.

5% bonus to mental resistance

25% increase in efficiency of targeting on singular sounds

New Skill!

Focus Mind (Beginner 1 - 16%)

Your body is a temple, your mind the alter from which all is revealed.

5% bonus to mental resistance

25% increase in efficiency of mental tasks

What’s with this focus theme? Damon wondered. Humming to himself softly, he dismissed the notifications and swung himself out of bed. His feet hit the cold, hard wood of the floor and he quickly put his clothes and boots on before he froze to the floor.

Stepping outside, he had to put his hand over his eyes as an onslaught of light hit him when he passed through the door. He still wasn’t used to sudden light changes and had to squint heavily before he could open his eyes fully again.

“Ah he rises.” A voice announced to Damon’s right. He instantly recognised it as Benjy and wondered towards the sound. He made out a figure sitting in a chair, seeming to be relaxing in some bulky looking clothes. A small fire crackled softly in front of him, fruitlessly trying to combat the still cold air.

“Morning Benjy, how are you feeling this morning?” Damon replied sitting on a what he thought was a fur mat laid next to Benjy’s chair.

“Rested.” Came Benjy’s rough reply. “My leg’s barely noticeable now, I think Diana’s giving me more grief than it is at the moment.”

“I heard that!” Came a cry from inside the hut that the two men were sat in front of.

Benjy chuckled. “So, what are your plans for today adventurer? Do you fancy going hunting? I’ve got a spare bow and a bundle of arrows you could use. You don’t seem to have much in the way of anything by the looks of it, in terms of possessions anyway. There are few animals here but there’s a good hunting area about an hour north-east of here.”

Damon sighed. “As much as I’d like to take you up on the offer of using your bow, I promise you I wouldn’t be a very good shot.”

“Why do you say that?” A frown clear in his voice. “You seem strong enough to pull a bowstring.”

“Perhaps,” Damon replied. “Unfortunately though, I’m blind.”

“What!?” Came Benjy’s astonished reply. “But you took down those three wolves with just a dagger and an axe!”

It was Damon’s turn to chuckle. Diana chose that moment to walk out of the hut and busy herself putting what sounded like a pot of liquid on top of the fire. “It’s true! I can only see vague shapes and colours so it would be useless trying to shoot a bow. It was more luck and a bit of listening skills that let me know where the wolves were.”

“Huh” Breathed Benjy. “Well I guess that explains why you never really meet my eye at all, and that strange faraway look you always seem to have.”

Damon cringed slightly at that. “Is that really what I look like?”

“Yep… Well that and half crazed with all that blood over you.” Remarked Benjy, laughing lightly.

Damon remembered how Diana had quietly asked him to wash before he did anything else last night, saying he smelt like something that’d started decaying and looked even worse.

“So, as I said, I won’t be able to use your bow, thanks for the offer though.”

“Hmmm.” Benjy seemed to be thinking for a moment. “Well, you not being able to see might not actually be that much of a hindrance. You mentioned a listening skill, what did you mean?”

“Well, it wasn’t a skill until I got a notification this morning. I’ve always had good hearing due to not having my eyesight and it seems the system thinks it’s actually a skill now.”

“I see. Well does it let you locate where things are if they’re making noise?” asked Benjy.

“I’m not really sure... Kind of I guess. I hear whatever it is and I automatically imagine what and where it should be.” Answered Damon, sounding very sceptical.

“Well in that case I think we could work something out.” Benjy confidently announced. “A little thing of note about using a bow: the aiming isn’t really sight induced, it’s more experience based.”

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean?” Said Damon, confused. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure what shooting a bow actually looked like. He’d heard it described plenty of times in books before but he had no visual cue for what the action looked like.

“Learning to use a bow is easy, being able to hit a target accurately, now that’s the hard part.” Benjy chuckled again. “If you tried to aim down the arrow shaft using your eye, your body position would be all wrong and you’d probably be aiming at the floor anyway. I’ve seen maybe one person get away with it, but usually it doesn’t work.”

“Ok so how do you aim then?” Damon asked slightly intrigued.

“Well I’ll show you... Or more instruct and get you to perform I guess, considering I can’t stand and you wouldn’t be able see me properly anyway. Diana could you grab the spare bow and a couple of arrows for me?”

“Sure.” Diana replied quickly going back into the hut and returning a moment later with the objects in hand. Damon stood up and accepted the gifts from Diana, feeling the bow and how the wood curved in a sort of stretched out shape with a leather grip below centre if he held it vertically. The arrows were bundled up and wrapped in a piece of string, held slightly apart to prevent the feathers from damaging each other.

Old Ash Recurve Bow

An ancient heirloom, this bow is barely useful for tapping tent pegs in, let alone hunting or killing.

Damage: 9 - 13 physical

Durability: 9/30

“Now that’s a recurve bow, it’s not difficult to draw and can pack a decent punch so is perfect for hunting animals out here in the north.” Announced Benjy, who was watching Damon examine the bow. “Diana could you grab that metal sheet I’ve been working on for the well please? That’s it, it’s not too heavy so you should be able to carry it over there and prop it against Damon’s hut.” Diana did as instructed and stood there, now almost completely invisible to Damon’s poor vision.

“Now, Damon, Diana’s going to strike the sheet and hopefully it’ll make enough noise for you to focus on it and try and hit it with an arrow. Understand?” Benjy asked.

“Ugh I guess?” Damon answered, having untied the string around the arrows and dropped all but one on the ground.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk you through the motions, you just have to follow them and shoot. I’m sure Diana will move in time to not get hit!” That last part was said a little louder and a sarcastic laugh came from the waiting woman.

“Now, hold the bow with your left hand, using the leather as a grip, that’s it. Stand with your feet apart, square your body more, good. Knock an arrow to the string and keep it pointed to the ground just in front of you, letting it rest on top of your hand. Don’t do it yet, but when Diana hits the metal, focus on the noise and block everything else out. Imagine where you want to hit and when you’re ready, bring the bow up in a straight horizontal line and shoot. Simple really.” Benjy waited until Damon was ready, then nodded towards Diana.

The waiting woman nodded back, before banging three times on the metal sheet that reverberated several times and emitted a loud, echoing CLANG!

Damon focused hard on the loud noise and could easily tell where the metal sheet was located. Breathing carefully to calm himself, he focused entirely on the noise and blocked out all the chatter that the sudden disturbance had caused within the spectating villagers. He brought the bow up and pulled back the string, pausing to imagine the target he was aiming for and let out a final breath before releasing his two fingers and letting the arrow fly.

“Hit!” Cried Benjy as the sound of the metal sheet echoed once more. “Well done my boy! Very impressive!”

Damon just stood there, two new blue windows floating in front of him.

New Skill!

Bow Mastery (Beginner 1 - 18%)

Well, you might have hit a target, but you've still got a long way to go before you'll be considered a true master of this fine art.

15% Increase in physical damage while using any type of bow

5% Increased attack speed while using any type of bow

New Skill!

Instinctive Aim (Beginner 1 - 26%)

The trick to hitting a target consistently is practice, but a little bit of natural instinct never hurt either.

15% higher chance of hitting your target when this skill is used

5% chance of a critical hit, despite target area

Stamina cost: 5 SP

Not even in his wildest dreams would Damon have thought it possible that he’d ever shoot a bow, let alone actually hit a target. A large, very loud target granted, but still, he’d hit it! A huge grin began to form on Damon’s face and he turned back to Benjy.

“Can I do that again?”