The Dark King – Chapter 208
I would like to thank MrMartinke for doing an awesome job by editing the chapter!
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Dudian focused on his practice from the next day on.
He would get up before the dawn and go to the training field to practice archery. As there was no guidance from the instructor, he would practice scattered archery that he had previously learned. He had to improve his arrow pulling speed and aim because of this. His range also had increased to two hundred meters. His rate of successful shots was high. About sixty percent of the shots would hit the target’s heart.
The shots would deviate as he practiced for long hours, but there was no off-target shot.
There was ‘luck’ charasteric of archery. Even an ordinary person would be able to hit the bull’s eye two or three times if they made hundred or so shots. But a hunter who would be walking by the edge of death couldn’t rely on this ‘luck’ component. He had to control the unstable factors and make his shots as precise as possible. After 10 days of practice his single shots has stabilized at two hundred meters distance. However, when it came to scattered arrow shooting there would be some which will deviate from the target.
“Scattered shots are more suitable for hunting undead. I have to rely on normal archery if I hunt after large beasts. I can’t have errors at important moments!” Dudian was practicing, but at the same time evaluating the options: “The beasts have better hearing and perception in comparison to normal undead. I can fully pull open this intermediate knight’s bow with my current arm strength. Moreover my highest range is 320 meters. It’s unfortunate that I can’t afford to buy a better bow. Even if I don’t pull that bow to its maximum capacity, it would still be better than the one at hand.”
“I have to increase my accuracy rate before working on improving my range. If I can’t hit all the shots made from 200 meters, then there is no point working on 300-meter shots. Moreover, even if I can make a proper shot at 200 meters, I have to work on making the second and third shot accurately too.”
He knew that a good archer had to be accurate. At a long distance, even a centimeter of deviation may change the result. Every point has to be included in the calculation.
“However, achieving such results in a short six months is very difficult.” Dudian was very clear about his capabilities, and he knew that he lacked nothing but time.
“I have to increase my successful shot rate to ninety percent before considering to increase my range.”
Increasing the rate of successful shots to more than 90 percent is an excellent result. It has to be noted that since the ancient times an archer with 100 percent shots was called strikers. A few people would be a striker even in a large country. Although he was a hunter with better physical strength than an ordinary person, it didn’t mean that his perception and talent in archery was better than ordinary people.He was able to achieve excellent results in 100 meters range, but two hundred meters was a different matter. The difficulty didn’t just double.
Whoosh!
Another arrow hit the target.
Dudian repeatedly pulled an arrow from the quiver put it in the bow and made the shot. The squire standing next to him handed out another bucket of arrows. At first, a normal servant was helping him out. However, as Dudian’s speed was too fast and increased as the time passed, so an ordinary servant wasn’t able to keep up with him. A knight’s squire from the Ryan family was attending him.
The squires were trained and fit. They were more capable than an ordinary person, but even their arms would get sore after helping out Dudian.
“Two arrows to shot a beast in about two seconds. My speed is too slow as the beast wouldn’t be sitting around and… …” as he practiced more, the archery skills were being carved into Dudian’s bones. He would visualize beast in target’s location and try to shoot accordingly.
Soon he finished shooting the target. The servant standing by stepped out to replace the target.
“At first I was thinking about using the gunpowder in arrows to enhance the lethality but not it seems that this approach is impracticable. The gunpowder will seriously impede the accuracy of shots. Although if gunpowder is tied to the arrow, then there is no need for a precise and accurate shot. But the gunpowder will affect the speed of the arrow. Moreover the destructive power of the arrow will decrease by many folds. It wouldn’t be as practical as a normal arrow.”
“What could I use in addition to gunpowder to enhance the destructive power of arrows?”
“I’m temporarily unable to use spiral arrow shots. Should I replace the material used to forge the arrows?”
He was constantly pondering about solutions as he shot the arrows.
In the blink of an eye half, a month passed.
He would start accurately at 6:00 in the morning to practice. He would train for half an hour and go to eat breakfast for exactly 10 minutes. Afterward, he would come back to the training ground to continue his archery practice. In addition to eating and rest, he wouldn’t do anything else until 6 o’clock in the evening.
After the archery training Dudian would practice and improve his close combat skills. It was to protect himself from the beasts which could close on him without him being able to perceive their existence. He had to be able to avoid such situations. However, he spent his time on archery the most.
On this day Dudian was practicing archery as usual in the training ground. It hasn’t been long that he was practicing when a servant came over: “Mr. Dean, the master is asking for you.”
“Ah?” Dudian didn’t stop, but asked while practicing: “What’s the matter?”
The servant said in a respectful tone: “It seems guests from the Scott consortium have arrived.”
Dudian put away the bow and quiver. He went to the castle.
The servants were cleaning the hall as they wiped the dust. The children and grandchildren of Old Fulin haven’t woken up yet. He came to the conference room. Old Fulin, the family butler, and three other figures were present in the room. There was a middle-aged man wearing a suit, a knight and a beautiful woman whose identity wasn’t known to him. The knight had a badge from Knight Hall on his chest. It seems he was an intermediate level knight.
“We have guests.”Old Fulin waved over to Dudian and smiled. Dudian came over to sit next to the table. Old Fulin introduced him: “This is Mr. Dean.”
The three turned over to check Dudian. They were a bit surprised as they looked up and down at him.