“Everyone take a bow.”

  She shouted at the candidates standing in a semicircle around her, their hands tied behind their backs.

  Atlas scanned the bows lined up in the center of the training area. They were all nearly identical: light walnut-colored bodies polished with a matte varnish, their strings taut but worn. Atlas chose one that was slightly less warped than the others. His face crinkled slightly as the coldness of the wood spread through his palm.

  [[Marksman Class Features are activated…]

  [Please level up to access abilities.]

  Atlas was startled by the muffled voice he heard. He looked around. Seeing no one react, he assumed it came from the system.

  [Check the Mission Board!]

  Atlas woke up before dawn. The faint light seeping through the tent window didn't illuminate the room sufficiently, but it was enough for him. He blinked a few times to shake off his sleepiness and got out of bed. He checked the clock hanging on the pole.

  [05:03]

  Perfect. Sunrise was still a while away. He had almost an hour until the morning roll call.

  He had already packed his bag: water bottle, protein bars, bandage roll, and a spare pair of gloves. As he headed to the training ground, the air still held the coolness of the morning. He breathed in the clean air filling his lungs. His cheeks and nose were slightly red from the cold.

  When he arrived at the training area, the first rays of the sun were beginning to appear on the horizon. As Atlas picked up the bow he had chosen to use, he now felt a connection between them. The light walnut-colored wood now felt more familiar in his hand.

  [Morning Routine task began: Shoot 20 arrows at sunrise - focus on correct stance and breath control.]

  Ignoring the window that appeared before him, he drew an arrow from his quiver. He placed the arrow and drew the bow. Although his muscles strained, his hands trembled less than the day before. He straightened his shoulders, fully arching his back. As the instructor had said, the power had to come from the back, not the arms.

  “Breathe in,” he murmured to himself. “Breathe out halfway. Hold. Release.”

  The arrow stuck into the edge of the target. It wasn't in the center, but at least it was on target. Just hitting the target a few days ago had been a miracle.

  The next five arrows found the target similarly, but hitting the center was much harder than he thought. This seemingly simple movement required all the muscles in his body to work in coordination. Arm muscles, back muscles, abdominal muscles... They all had to be at the right tension at the right time.

  With the tenth arrow, he felt his arms start to burn. His muscle fibers were rebelling. His stamina bar began to drop quite rapidly. But he didn't give up. He refocused on his breathing rhythm.

  “Breathe in. Breathe out halfway. Hold. Release.”

  After the fifteenth arrow, beads of sweat began to roll down his forehead.

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  Although the air temperature seemed to have risen, it was his own body that was heating up.

  He placed the twentieth and final arrow. His shoulders were now aching. It was surprising that such a seemingly simple movement could be so demanding. Being strong really wasn't enough. The most important thing was endurance. Technique and patience were also important factors, of course.

  When he released the last arrow, it stuck near the center of the target.

  All the arrows were on the target.

  Even though they were scattered around.

  [The first task of the Morning Routine is complete!]

  [You gained +50 EXP!]

  [+10 Stamina Regenerated!]

  Atlas took a deep breath. He had completed the first task, but he could already feel his body straining. He rested for a while, drank some water, and gathered his arrows.

  [Hit 3 different targets with 5 arrows each from a distance of 10 meters.]

  Atlas examined the targets 10 meters away. These circular targets of different colors were lined up side by side. This task would improve his quick thinking and adaptability, as he would have to focus on a different target each time.

  He shot the first five arrows at the red target. Then he moved on to the blue target. Each time, he had to reposition himself, finding the same stance again and again. Finally, he aimed at the yellow target. When he released the last arrow, his upper body was trembling with fatigue. However, when he saw all the arrows in their targets, a slight smile spread across his face. It wasn't easy. At most, one arrow was close to the center of each target.

  [Target Practice completed!]

  [+75 EXP earned!]

  [15 Stamina restored!]

  After a short break, Atlas moved on to his most challenging daily task.

  [Hold taut for 2 minutes, rest for 30 seconds, repeat 5 times.]

  He drew the bowstring and waited. The first ten seconds were easy. After thirty seconds, his muscles began to burn. A minute later, his arms were shaking. The bowstring felt like it was cutting into his fingers. After a minute and a half, his breathing became irregular. The last thirty seconds were hell.

  “One, two, three...” he began to count.

  The numbers grew increasingly blurry in his mind.

  The first two minutes were up, and he released the bowstring. His arms throbbed with pain. The thirty-second rest period passed in the blink of an eye.

  “Fuck.”

  Would he be able to do the marching today because of his back pain? Captain Heissen was very cruel. She severely punished those who slowed down during marching and ceremonies. Yesterday, during the march, she had made a young man who had made a synchronization error count the leaves on a dozen trees. A girl who had accidentally bumped into a tree had apologized to it for hours.

  On the second attempt, Atlas could only hold the bow for a minute and a half before his fingers relaxed. The bow lost its tension.

  [Warning: Stamina Exercise Failed! Try Again.]

  Atlas took a deep breath, rubbed his hands together, and tried again. This time, he gathered his willpower and cleared his mind. He tried not to focus on the pain.

  The second attempt also ended in failure. By the third attempt, Atlas was starting to get angry. On the fourth attempt, he clenched his lips and summoned all his willpower. This time, he managed to complete the entire set.

  After five repetitions, his arms were completely exhausted. He collapsed to the ground, his legs trembling.

  [Stamina Training completed!]

  [+100 EXP gained!]

  [+30 Stamina restored!]

  He needed some time to recover. He drank some water, ate a protein bar, and rested for about fifteen minutes before moving on to the next task.

  [Shoot as many arrows as possible within 30 seconds (minimum 10).]

  “Time!” he commanded himself.

  He reached for the arrows in his quiver, quickly loaded the first one, and shot it. Then another, then another... He had to move fast, but because of this, he couldn't load the arrows properly. While loading the seventh arrow, it slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Without wasting time bending down to pick it up, he drew the next arrow.

  His hands were sweaty, his fingers numb.

  But when he fired the fifteenth arrow, the time was up.

  [Rapid Fire completed!]

  [+80 EXP gained!]

  [30 Stamina restored!]

  Atlas took a short break before moving on to his final task. The sun had fully risen, and the air was getting warmer. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took deep breaths.

  [Maintenance Time quest started: Maintain your bow and arrows, check the bowstring tension.]

  Atlas threw himself on the ground. He sat cross-legged and wiped his bow with a soft cloth, checking for scratches and damage. He measured the string tension and noticed a slight looseness that needed adjusting. He then inspected his arrows one by one, checking if the feathers were straight and the tips were damaged.

  This was the least physically demanding training, but it was still tiring because it required attention. Finally, after five minutes, Atlas received a notification that the tasks were complete.

  [Maintenance Time complete!]

  [+30 EXP earned!]

  [Daily tasks complete!]

  [Stamina fully restored!]

  Atlas watched in amazement as his physical fatigue slowly subsided. Within a few minutes, there was no trace left of muscle pain or backache. Of course, the calluses on his hands remained. His mental fatigue was still at its peak.

  He was making slow progress.

  It had only been a few days, but he could now hit every arrow he shot at a target ten meters away. At twenty meters, it was 7/10, and at thirty meters, it was 3/10. What he really wondered was how much this would change when he unlocked the skills of the Marksman Class.

  He looked at the clock on his phone.

  [05:58]

  The alarms would go off in two minutes. The morning roll call would be in three minutes.

  NAME: Atlas Sinclair

  AGE: 18

  TITLE: 4th Heir, Apprentice Dimension Assassin

  LEVEL: 1

  CLASS: Marksman (Beginner)

  EXPERIENCE: 950/1000 EXP (50 more EXP needed to reach Level 2)

  MAIN STATS:

  STRENGTH: 12/100

  STAMINA: 15/100

  SPEED: 17/100

  INTELLIGENCE: 20/100

  INTUITION: 18/100

  LUCK: 13/100