Jack lowered the bow and wiped his brow with his sleeve, surprised to find himself grinning. “Hmm… sixty-fifth percentile. Above average. I guess a few months of training helped.” He was thinking back to the time he’d trained with a bow before his archery improvements plateaued due to his burn injuries from the fire. He gave up archery in favour of a poisoned dagger.
He looked at the clock. He’d already used up eleven minutes of his training hour. “I should train with moving targets.”
“System. Increase difficulty.”
The soft voice acknowledged his command:
Training Scenario: Novice Archer level zero. Beginner level one activated.
The breeze in the room increased a small amount, and the still targets began to move in slow, predictable patterns.
Jack stretched out his shoulders before collecting a second quiver of training arrows and repeated the exercise on the harder setting. He again fell into a rhythm: draw, aim, loose. Thwack. Reset. Draw, aim, loose. Thwack…
After the quiver was empty of its thirty-six arrows, the female voice reported.
Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level one.
Arrows released: 36.
Accuracy: 58%.
Wind compensation: 1.
Reaction time: 57th percentile.
Recommendation: Maintain difficulty level at Beginner level one.
Jack grinned. “Not bad, considering.” He glanced at the time. “Hmm, that took me almost fifteen minutes.”
Even though the targets were slow-moving, he had to take a little more time to aim before release.
He stretched out his arms and shoulders. “Already getting tired.” He shook his head. “I have to get fitter.”
“System… Increase difficulty.”
The soft voice acknowledged his command.
Training Scenario: Novice Archer level zero. Beginner level two activated.
The breeze increased in the room, and the targets still moved in predictable patterns, just faster.
After another stretch and a drink of water from his pack, he repeated the exercise.
The soft female voice reported.
Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level two.
Arrows released: 36.
Accuracy: 42%.
Wind compensation: 2.
Reaction time: 53rd percentile.
Recommendation: Decrease difficulty level to Beginner level one.
Jack frowned. “That’s not great.” Although his results fell near the fiftieth percentile, making him average at this test. If this were a real-life battle, 42% accuracy wasn’t good enough.
He looked at the time. Another eighteen minutes had passed, and there were fewer than fifteen minutes left to train. Jack grinned. “Let’s have some fun. System. Increase difficulty to beginner level ten.”
The soft voice acknowledged his command.
Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten activated.
The soft breeze turned into random gusts of wind, and the lights in the training area dimmed to mimic dusk. Random shouts, screams, and other noises could be heard from various speakers hidden around the training room. None of it activated his passive assassin skill, [Assassin’s Intuition]; there was no danger here.
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As parts of the training room fell into shadow, Jack felt [Shadow Veil] draw on the shadows. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”
The current targets at the end of the range shuffled aside and disappeared into the walls. New ones emerged: clockwork mannequins with shifting panels, some holding shields, others springing into sudden, darting movement. Lights overhead flickered as runes activated. One target launched sideways across the room.
Jack laughed. “Alright then.” He collected another quiver of training arrows and raised his bow.
This was no longer a practice session. It was a trial. A fun trial.
He shot at a moving target, adjusting mid-draw. The arrow curved just enough to clip the mannequin’s shoulder, releasing a hiss of aether-steam. A second target popped up behind a faux barricade. He turned, loosed, and struck it clean in the chest.
A third sprang forward on rail-mounted legs.
Jack darted to the left, rolling behind a metal column, just as the target fired a light-blast of aether energy; a harmless simulated attack that crackled against the wall where he’d just been.
He laughed despite the roll, making his side ache. He leaned out, nocked an arrow, and released from the hip and… missed. He practised until his time ran out as he shot his final arrow.
Another hit. Another ‘ding’. Another puff of aether-steam.
The advanced targets disappeared into the wall with a hiss, and the lights steadied. The room went quiet, save for the faint ticking of machinery winding down and the skittering sounds of small automatons searching the room to collect spent arrows.
As Jack gulped down water and stretched his sore shoulders, the soft female voice reported.
Novice Archer, Level zero.
Training Scenario: Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten.
Accuracy: 21%.
Wind compensation: 10.
Reaction time: 65th percentile.
Recommendation: Decrease difficulty level to Beginner level one.
Jack grimaced. “That was fun,” he panted, the exertion catching up with him. His arms trembled from the constant draw tension, but his heart pounded with exhilaration. He’d enjoyed himself.
“Ow.” Now that he’d stopped, he noticed his side was aching more. “Maybe rolling on the floor wasn’t such a good idea.” He smiled. “Worth it.”
The female voice continued.
Archery training session complete.
Archery training session results.
Arrows released: 112.
Overall accuracy: 40%.
Trajectory arc suggests modest foundational training.
Recommendation: strengthen shoulder and core muscles for improved stability.
Do you require a printout of your training sessions?
“Yes, please,” Jack panted.
The soft female voice spoke again.
Printout in progress.
Please collect all your belongings and exit the training area within the next ninety seconds.
Thank you for using the Adventurers Guild’s training area.
We recommend visiting the Guild’s spa after a heavy training session.
For only 3 silver, experience half an hour of bliss as trained attendants cater to your every need.
Have a nice day.
Jack was tempted by the spa advertisement. The training rooms were subsidised by the Adventurers Guild, but the spa experience was full price. “A massage sounds great,” he said. “But 3 silver. Pfft.” He shook his head. A hot bath works just as well as a massage therapist, and it doesn’t cost me 3 silver for the pleasure.
He didn’t say it aloud, in case the walls had ears. There was one rule all adventurers followed. Never piss off the Adventurers Guild.
The central console set into the right wall, clicked as gears engaged, and after a few moments, a paper printout scrolled from the bottom of the console.
He pulled the printout from the wall and gave it a quick scan, planning to memorise it later. “Not bad for a dead scribe,” he muttered to himself, chuckling.
The soft female voice spoke again.
Printout complete.
Please collect all your belongings and exit the training area within the next sixty seconds.
Thank you for using the Adventurers Guild’s training area.
The Guild bar is open twenty-four-seven, where there is currently a special on dwarven ale.
Have a nice day.
“Urgh, that stuff tastes like paint stripper!” Dwarven ale was an… acquired taste. He slung his bow back over his shoulder, grabbed his pack, pushed open the door, and stepped back into the corridor, the faint hiss of blue spent aether-steam trailing behind him.
Two middle-aged men were waiting with bows slung over their shoulders.
“Finally,” one of the men said as Jack exited the training room.
“Have a good session, kid?” the other man asked with a smile.
Jack grinned. “Not too bad, thanks. Beginner level ten is a lot of fun.”
The two men laughed. “You got that right, kid. Took me years to get above 50% accuracy. How’d you do?”
Jack saw no reason not to say. “21%. My first time.”
“Not bad.” He looked at his friend. “Didn’t you score only 5% your first try?” He laughed.
The other archer rolled his eyes. “It was 9%, and I had a bad cold that week.”
“Sure, you did. Sure, you did.” The other archer entered the training room. “See ya around, kid.”
Jack chuckled at the banter. “Have fun in there.”
“We will,” one of them replied as the door closed with a whirr of gears and a puff of spent aether-steam.
