Chapter 84: Meis Teachings (2/2)

”No need to tense your muscles too much. Calm your mind, and the more relaxed you are during your shot, the more successful you will be in landing your shot. And this goes even when you are up against Dreadlings. Never panic when fighting even the worst of them and keep your mind steady since a trembling hand is no different than having no weapon at all,” Mei said in a soft voice as her words melted into Arion's mind, taking in each and every word of hers seriously as he perfectly understood them.

He never thought that she could be this good of a teacher by telling him all the important pointers that could already make him an archer with some skills.

He already started feeling that he had a better grasp of using the bow and arrow, including better control over his weapon and posture.

Mei backed up a bit, seeing that his posture and positioning of the bow and arrow was good, and said, ”Now let go of the string. Let it slide out as you pull your hand back.”

Arion nodded as he let go of the string, letting the arrow shoot forward and…

*Whizzz*

The air streaked through the air, and within a few moments, it found its mark…

*Sstpk!*

The deer immediately went down as the arrow punctured through its neck, killing it within a few moments.

Arion's eyes lit up, seeing that he landed his first perfect shot at such a distance, and ran over to the deer to see his kill.

He took out the arrow and inspected the carcass of the deer, keenly observing how this animal looked different from the ones he knew.

Mei followed him and stood behind him as she said, ”Nice shot. Now each and every time you fire an arrow, you have to keep the points I told you in mind. And the tricky and difficult part is, in a fight, be it Dreadlings or anyone else, you have to learn to constantly fire arrows without a break while making sure you make use of the pointers I told you. Before you had enough time to draw your bow, correct your posture and aim. But in a tense situation where time is a luxury, you can't afford to take even more than one second to prepare yourself to fire an arrow.”

Arion turned around and realized that he still had a long way to go since he knew how much time he took to land this perfect shot.

Mei continued seeing his thoughtful expression, ”And this is not the end. You have yet to try your hand at shooting moving targets, especially ones moving at a ridiculous speed. Once you master that as well, then you would even be able to down a horde of Dreadlings who specializes in attacking in mass numbers and has powerful limbs to run fast as well. But of course, this is considering that you master rapid-firing as well.”

Arion sighed as he looked at his bow, ”Whew, I guess nothing comes easy. It seems like I have a lot to learn. But how do I practice shooting moving targets?”

Mei smiled and said, ”How about we practice for real by killing Dreadlings?”

Arion raised his brows, ”Dreadlings? In these hills? Like the Baneteeths?”

Mei nodded and said, ”Yes. I can stand beside you and kill if any one of them gets too close to you. We can also let Aunt Yaro tag along, and I am sure powerful Dreadlings like the Hell Wraith won't show up again since Old Zi has taken extra precautions to warn us in case he gets a whiff of Dreadlings like Hell Wraith making their way over here.”

Arion remembered how scary and terrifying the Hell Wraith was, especially how useless his bow and arrow were and the fact that it took all three of them to take it down.

However, he didn't forget about the blunder he made by trying to attack it by coming out forward. He couldn't understand why he did something so stupid and suicidal. It was only because of Mei he avoided an agonizing death.

But hearing that they would get a warning the next time a Dreadling like that appears, Arion felt at ease and said, ”Of course. I can't wait to kill more of those ugly creatures.”

Mei nodded and gestured to Arion to follow her, ”Very well. Then, for now, let's practice rapid firing. Do you see those fruits on the trees? I want you to take down five fruits within ten seconds and…”

Mei continued to instruct Arion as he enthusiastically continued to train for the rest of the day.