Chapter Five – Slayers, Dragons and Animal Cruelty

Cooking Skill Learned

"That's the basis of it." He was angry from explaining to Jon cooking basics.

"You want to get better, you need to start cooking."

They haven't opened yet, but Jon was already sweating from the kitchen heat. He arrived early like Burka told him and

was taken through a cooking boot course.

He used to help Gorge with preparing meals when he was a kid, so cooking wasn't new to him.

However what he thought he knew wasn't good enough for Burka.

Jon was yelled at for not holding the knife right, for not moving fast enough, for cutting things too big or too small. Whether he used too much herbs or not enough of them he was yelled at.

Even praise was yelled at him.

"Finally!", "That’s right!" or, "Good!" was always said with an angry tone, and loud enough for the whole kitchen to hear.

He might have been taught the Cooking skill, but it would be long until he would get a chance to actually prepare a dish.

For now, his cooking consisted of following Burka's orders and trying to anticipate what ingredient or seasoning he will need next.

Jon worked the whole day and when the time came for him to finish, instead of heading to the library he stayed and continued to help Burka, leaving only when the kitchen was closed for the night.

Cooking Skill Levels Up

"You've made it through a week with Burka, I'm genuinely amazed." Dragon stopped Jon as he logged back online.

"I've hired many adventurers like you, they all quit!" he smiled, "Most didn't even last a day with him. Couldn't handle his screaming and bossing around." He laughed.

"…"

"Still keeping to yourself? Your choice. As long as you keep helping Burka you can be a serial killer for all I care."

A corner of Jon's lips curved up just a tiny bit.

"Here, fifty silvers. Your cut of my winnings."

-'No wonder he’s in such a good mood.'-

They bet on him again. It seems this time Dragon was wiser.

"Listen, I respect you not talking and all, but if you're going to continue working here I need to know your name at least."

"Jon."

"Nice to meet you Jon." He extended his hand, "Dragon. Dragon the Mighty."

They shook.

"Good. Now, I understand Burka is showing you how to cook." He crossed his hands. "In that case I can't keep you as a kitchen hand anymore…"

"How about you become an apprentice cook? I’ve always wanted to have one in our kitchen but Burka always scares them away. How about it? You up for it?

Job Notice

You have been offered work as an apprentice cook.

Work schedule: 12 hours a day.

Time it takes for opening and closing the kitchen is not paid for.

Pay: 80 silvers a day.

Do you accept?

Yes? No?

"I am."

-'I like Burka.'-

Burka may seem angry all the time, but Jon understood that that was just who he was. He wasn't angry at all, that was just the way he talked.

Jon tried using the cooking skill to cook. All he had to do was invoke the skill and the system moved his body for him. Unfortunately his skill level was so low that all it got him were more angry screams from Burka.

As a result, he ended up cooking by himself, trying hard to keep up with Burka.

The cooking skill would kick in from time to time to adjust his hands position or show to him where and how to prepare an ingredient.

Cooking Skill Levels Up

As the skill rose there were even times it would show him a message suggesting what seasoning to use.

One day Burka told Jon to go through the whole seasoning rack, smelling and tasting each of them.

"You need to know their taste and how to recognize them. You waste time reading each label and it's slowing you down!"

Jon did as he was told.

He started from the usual ones like salt, sugar and pepper but soon got to the things found only in Royal Road. From different ground monster parts to things like fairy dust, elemental essence and things that looked, smelled and tasted more like something a witch would use than a seasoning for cooking.

Alchemy Skill Levels Up

Tasting unusual ingredients slowly increased his alchemy skill. For some ingredients there was even a popup window, showing its effects.

Blood Tree Sap

Sap collected from a Blood Tree. Incredibly sweet and with the beautiful color of red rubies. A blood tree sucks the blood of its victims and uses the blood to grow. A fully grown tree will be as hard as iron and with dark red leaves. The sap is high in calories and iron but getting it requires a lot of force.

Effects: Vitality +5

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

The alchemy skill seemed to supplement the cooking skill.

After he, in a way, identified the ingredients and seasoning with the alchemy skill the things he prepared for Burka became higher quality.

Understanding what he was working with made it easier to work with Gorge.

Cooking took over Jon's life, both in the game and outside of it.

He worked all day long with Burka, and at night when the kitchen closed down instead of heading to the library to read he logged out and cooked together with Jon.

"It is hard to believe that a week has not even passed yet since you started playing." Gorge spoke to Jon as they were making dinner together.

"…"

Jon still kept to himself most of the time, but while cooking he did talk to Gorge when he needed something passed or done.

"And Joshua tried to convince me that this was a bad idea." He was enjoying himself, lost in the nostalgia of the moment.

To Gorge, this was just like the time before Jon's father died. Less than a week ago he believed it was all gone forever, and now he was standing in the kitchen again, working together with Jon.

"Have you decided what to do once you can leave the citadel, Jon?"

"No."

"You should travel the land. I have read about so many interesting places in Royal Road... Maybe I will join you there one day." He was smiling to himself as he added the meat Jon cut into a frying pan.

They ate together as usual with Gorge explaining Jon as much of the game mechanics as he could. Once done eating, Jon jumped back into the capsule to get back to work.

"Give me your knife!" Burka snatched Jon's knife away from him.

"No wonder your work took a step backwards, this knife is dull!" He brought a grinding stone and attached it to the table.

"Look here."

Burka showed him how he attached it to the table. He began turning the handle and the round stone began to spin. Carefully he connected the knife with the stone.

Sparks flew out as the stone ground the metal of the knife's edge.

"Never work with a dull knife!" He spat, "It will ruin the ingredients!"

"You try!"

Sharpening Skill Learned

By the use of a grinding stone, wet stone, sharpening belt and a variety of other tools, you can return the edge of a weapon back to its original sharpness.

With good knowledge of sharpening, a weapon can even exceed its original attack power.

WARNING: Sharpening may result in durability loss.

A few minutes later he went back to work. It surprised him how easily the knife cut now.

-'I should sharpen my knife daily from now on.'-

He asked for a small break and visited the blacksmith shop. There he acquired a sharpening kit for a gold coin. An inflated price thanks to his high negative fame, but he decided it was something worth having.

"Listen up, listen up." Dragon came in the kitchen in a happy mood. "I have good news! A dragon was slain!"

The whole kitchen roared.

Jon didn't understand what was happening.

"An old friend of mine was part of the party that slew it." He shushed them.

"As thanks for having taught him how to hunt, he is sending me some dragon meat."

The kitchen staff roared again.

"You all know what that means, so start getting ready. It will arrive in two weeks." He went back to the dining hall leaving the kitchen in an uproar.

"Lucky."

"It's been so long!"

"I can't wait."

"Dragon meat?" Jon asked Burka.

"I know, I'm already drooling." It was the first time Jon didn't hear anger in his voice.

"…"

"You don't know about dragon meat?"

"No."

"Well, lucky you then." He sat down and closed his eyes for a moment. A rare smile appeared on his face.

"You see, Jon. Me and Dragon… well, they didn't call him Dragon at that time. Me and Dragon were dragon slayers, still are in fact, we just didn't kill any dragons lately."

"As in fifteen years, lately." One of the kitchen staff laughed, silenced by a knife thrown by Burka.

"Interrupt me again and you'll be cooking the meat with one hand."

The man went back to work still laughing.

Like I said, we were dragon slayers, the two of us. The best out there! And Dragon, he used to teach the young ones how to hunt them down. So every now and then we get dragon meat sent to us from them."

"…"

"Not impressed, are you?" he was surprised, "Do you even know how hard of an ingredient it is to get?"

"No."

"Ha. In all of Rozenheim kingdom, we're probably the only place to ever sell it. The only other place you'll find it, is on the tables of royalty." He was exited, talking loudly and waving his hands around.

"Not only is it the best quality meat out there, eating it makes you stronger."

"…" Jon was starting to get interested.

"The catch is, no matter how much of it you eat, as long as the meat came from the same dragon, it will affect you only once. Every dragon gives different bonuses and only once."

"That's one of the reasons there are hardly any dragons left now. Dragon slayers hunted them down almost to extinction, all in the pursuit of power." He sighed. "And money!"

"One bite from dragon meat can cost from a hundred and up to a thousand gold and more. Depending on the dragon the meat came from. Of course when prepared by someone like me the price gets even higher."

"Dragon meat is my specialty. I've cooked more dragon meat than anyone alive. People come from all over the land to get a taste of it. Don't be surprised if you see royalty in two weeks."

Jon looked around the kitchen. Everyone was excited.

"You're wondering what it has to do with you?"

"Yes."

"Dragon gives each of the staff a piece of meat. They can do whatever they want with it. Last time I sold most of mine, got me a small fortune. Most cook it for themselves. You'll get some as well, but you better get better at cooking if you want to get a better effect out of it."

"…"

"Didn't you hear me? Start cooking!" the angry Burka returned again.

And so Jon did, now with even more zeal than before.

Fame rises by 20 (+20 Fame)

Health points rise by 100 (+100 Hp)

His four weeks were over. To his annoyance that came with a small fame bonus.

Although he didn't care much for it right now, what attracted him to the game in the first place was seeing the players on the T.V fight monsters. From goblins to wyverns, the fights he saw on that program mesmerized and intrigued him.

Whenever he fought in the underground battles, in his mind he could do things that when he tried to do in reality, the laws of physics wouldn't allow him.

When he saw things like blocking a tree trunk swung by a troll with a small round shield and man defeat a giant by slashing his way inside the giant’s leg and hacking his way through the body only to come out from the mouth, he knew he could finally fight the way he imagined he could.

So, presented with the chance of monster fighting at last, as soon as he finished work he took it.

There were two gates to the citadel, an eastern and a western one. Jon exited through the west gate.

The guards standing on each side of the gate kept their eyes on him as he walked by them. As he stood on the other side of the gate, a pastoral scene came in to view.

Lit by the dim light of the moon, Jon gazed upon a big stretch of grass, stretching far and disappearing between smaller trees of the forest. From what he could see the forest looked like it had encircled the whole citadel.

While the environment was beautiful, what he saw happening in front of his eyes was horrendous. It froze him in place and he just stood there looking at the massacre happening next to him. Dozens of players were running around, some alone others in parties, and killing everything they were fast enough to catch.

If not for the cover of the night, what Jon knew was supposed to be a green grassland would have surly been colored red.

Wherever he looked cute and fluffy bunnies were butchered. Raccoons and foxes were ganged up on and killed ruthlessly. Jon thought he would be fighting monsters but instead the game wanted him to kill innocent animals to level up.

A wolf ran out of the forest. It was chasing a group of players who kept hitting him and running away. Once it was out of the forest the five of them surrounded it and began beating him ruthlessly. It tried to fight back but against five, it was a lost battle. Jon could hear its whines as is breathed its last breath.

-Disgusting!-

He went back into the citadel with a new goal.

A sign hung over the wooden door, on it were carved an arrow and a knife with their tips touching. The entrance to the rogue's guild looked simple and unimpressive.

On the other side of the street was the entrance to the warriors' guild. Unlike the first one, this entrance was spectacular. Clean and freshly painted, it had marvel steps and even an outrageous fountain with a statue of a barbarian in the middle.

There was a good reason for the difference. Guild depended on funds from its members for money. And in Royal Road, the vast majority of players preferred warriors to rogues. Not because warriors were better but only because they were easier to play.

Unlike rogues who had to rely on their own prowess, warriors could rely completely on the game's skill system.

While all a warrior had to do to kill a monster was swing the sword and the system took care of the rest, a rogue, especially one who relies on bows had to aim by himself.

Since most people didn't have good aim, and didn't want to train hard until their skills were high enough to compensate for it, they would simply denounce the idea and become a warrior instead. And so the warrior's guild flourished.

However for what Jon wanted to do he needed the rogues' guild, no matter how run down it looked.

A man exited the guild. He was wearing mages robes and was incredibly tall.

"You're in luck," he spoke to Jon.

"I just finished recasting the lights in the shooting range, they've been out for a week. You came in the right time."

He didn't wait for a response and went on his way. Jon entered the building and was surprised at how empty it was.

"Hello," a man said to him. "You're here to join us?"

Jon could tell he was an Npc by the way he was looking at him. His fame was working against him again.

"Yes."

"Bows or knives?"

"Bow."

"Do you have the bow mastery skill?"

"No."

"You can't join until you have one. But for five gold we will supply you with a practice bow and an unlimited amount of arrows for you to use in our shooting range. Once you acquire the skill come to me and I'll change your class to a bowman."

"Four gold."

"This is not up for negotiation. Five gold is the fee. Come back when you have it." The Npc started walked away.

"I'll cover the price."

"Kino, why waste money on this guy?" the Npc sounded annoyed.

"We hardly get new people and when one finally comes, you refuse to accept him?"

The Npc brought Jon a short bow and a quiver of dull arrows and left for a different room.

"Sorry for him."

"Name's Kino," he extended his hand. "It's good to see a new player take up the bow."

Jon put four gold coins in his hand.

"Wha? It's fine, don't worry about the money. Five gold is nothing at my level." He returned the money to Jon.

"Here, see," He showed Jon a paper with a quest notice on it. "Reward: One hundred and fifty gold coins."

"A couple of harpies attacked a small village in the north and unfortunately a party of idiot warriors decided to take up the quest. All the harpies had to do was fly over their heads and drop rocks. Now the warriors are hiding together with the villagers and I need to come and save the day."

"All of them are the same. Put a sword in their hands and they think they’re invincible." He was smiling. "So much gold for shooting down a few harpies, aren't I lucky?"

He hit Jon over the shoulder laughing.

"Anyway I got to get going. I've got a three day walk ahead of me. I hope I'll see ya again here."

He left waving goodbye to the few people who were there.

"The shooting range is that way." He popped his head back through the door.

Jon looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a thick metal door.

"Thank you." He said but Kino was already gone.

Jon looked around for the first time. The room looked like a bar, more than a guild. The only indication of it being a rogues guild was the numerous bows, knives and arrows everywhere. Hung on the walls were the better quality bows and in display cases lay special arrows. Some of those arrows even had a colored glow emitted by them.

No one paid any more attention to him so he went through an iron door and entered a shooting range.

It was big. Very big.

Lit by magic to simulate day light, Jon couldn't even see the farthest target. Three more players were there. One of them stood out thanks to his bow, if you can call it a bow.

-'It's as big as him.'-

He was using arrows the size of rockets, and he was shooting at a target so far away that to Jon, it looked no bigger than a tennis ball.

"You're a newbie too?" A teenage boy asked Jon.

"…"

"I can tell by your bow." He showed his and it was the same as Jon's. "You know what to do?"

"No."

The boy jumped at the opportunity to show off his knowledge.

"You see the closest target to us." He pointed at the fifteen meter target. "All you have to do to get the bow mastery skill is hit that one and the two after it, dead center."

The next two targets were positioned at the thirty and fifty meter marks.

"Sounds easy, right?" a sad laugh escaped him.

"It's not, believe me, I've been stuck on the last target since morning." He strung an arrow and let it fly.

"See? This bow can't shoot that far! And when I complained about it to the others they just laughed at me and said I need to practice until I become stronger." He shot another arrow. Like the other one it landed a couple of meters shy of the target. A bunch of arrows were stuck in the ground around it already.

Jon took out an arrow as well. It was a simple wooden arrow with a metal tip. The edge was completely dull though.

His lack of response made the boy give up the conversation and concentrate on the shooting. Jon sat at one of the benches sticking out of the wall behind him. He took out his sharpening kit. In it was a small device for sharpening arrow tips. He picked the one that fit the arrow he was using out of five different arrow designs and went through the whole quiver.

One of the arrows broke, as it's durability reached zero but the rest were now shiny and sharp.

Sharpening Skill Levels Up

He chose an empty place and stood in front of his first target. The target was a straw scarecrow with red circles marked on the head and torso areas. It was approximately human sized and hard to miss at such a close range.

He checked his bow and like he thought it was a simple short bow, about eighty centimeters long and with a 33 kilo maximum draw strength.

He trained with long bows when he was younger, where to draw a string to its optimal shooting position, a force of 71 kilograms was needed.

This was the reason the kid couldn't hit his last target. When Jon logged in for his first time, a part of the scan the capsule took of him was a measurement of his strength and speed. By measuring the electrical pulses from his muscles the capsule calculated his physical parameters and transferred them into the game. Thanks to that, when Jon entered the game his body felt like his real body. The same scan was done on the kid, and since he wouldn't be able to shoot a bow that far in real life, inside the game it wasn't different.

If he wanted to succeed in hitting the last target he needed to raise his strength stat. Ten points were simply the games way of showing each player’s real life power. If a player could bench-press one hundred kilo weights his starting out strength stat would be ten, same as a player who can only bench-press twenty kilo weights.

When these two players raise their strength stat the stronger player will have a much higher effect then the weaker one even if they both add the same amount of stats.

That is why players needed to choose the class that suited them best. While a very weak player could become a strong warrior, he would need to put a lot more stat points in strength than a strong player who can already easily wield a heavy weapon even without putting any points into strength.

For the scrawny kid who was trying to shoot a bow next to Jon, the mage class would have been better, or maybe a knife wielding class that relied on speed. That is not to say he couldn't play as whatever class he wanted, it just meant he would have a harder time playing it.

Jon fitted an arrow, lifted the bow over his head with a straightened arm. Slowly he lowered his arm in an arc, pulling back the string as it lowered. When he got into firing position the bow was strung back as far at it could go and the targets head was where he was aiming. He let go of the back of the arrow, letting the bow straighten and sending the arrow flying straight into the colored mark in the center of the straw circle. It hit with enough force to penetrate the straw and poke out on the other side, almost falling completely.

His next arrow hit the thirty meter target and after a few more tries the third target had an arrow stuck in the red colored mark.

Archery Mastery Acquired

Archery mastery affects the ability to use short bows, long bows and crossbows with efficiency.

The higher the mastery the better the accuracy of the shoots are.

The archery mastery also affects shooting speed and attack power.

Level 1 Bonus:

Accuracy increased by 5%

Attack speed increased by 5

"How did you do that?" The boy yelled.

"Practice." He said and left to find the Npc from before.

Jon left the boy dumbfounded at the shooting range and entered the tavern looking room.

He quickly located the Npc and came up to him.

"What do you want?" he said, annoyed.

"Done."

"You're what?"

"…"

The Npc's eyes opened wide and he struggled for words.

"Well… hmm… that was pretty fast." He looked puzzled. "This isn't your first time shooting is it?"

"No."

"I thought as much." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Show me you've learned the archery skill and you'll be officially part of our guild."

Jon spoke out the command in his mind and the skill window opened, he turned it and faced it towards the Npc.

"Let’s see now." A smile appeared on his face at last as he finished reading.

Magic Mastery level 3

Archery Mastery level 1

Knife/Dagger Mastery level 2

Cooking Mastery level 4

Alchemy Mastery level 2

Sneak Mastery level 2

Sharpening level 2

Silent Strike level 2

"You're really stupid," he laughed. "You could've joined using your dagger mastery, and then the bow and arrows would've been free…"

"…"

"No wonder you and Kino got along." He took out a paper page, a quill and an ink well.

"Sign here and you part of us."

You Have Joined the Rogue's Guild

The guild is a place for forming friendship and hunting parties.

Some guilds have their own blacksmiths and merchants where guild members can trade for cheap.

The message board in each guild has many quests and jobs to choose from.

As a member of the guild you can get free food and lodging in every city that has a branch of it.

Notice: All rogue guild related Npcs now like you.

As soon as the paper was signed, the Npc's demeanor changed.

Moving the things away, he put his hand on Jon's shoulder and motioned him to follow.

"I'm the caretaker of this guild building, if you ever need help with anything come to me." The y walked into a different room.

"If you're interested in bows, first thing you should do is visit an artillator."

"Artillator?"

"Yeah, he's specializes in bows, crossbows and everything related to archery in general. From arrows to finger guards, he'll have everything you need." He slapped Jon's back a couple of times as he said that.

"And since you’re an official member he'll give you a special price."

"Here he is."

They stopped next to a bald man with squinting eyes. He was short but the muscles on his arms stood out sharply compared to his thin legs.

"I've brought you a new guy to equip." He moved Jon forward, and even though he was shorter than him he kept both of his hands on his shoulders.

"Promising young fellow, this one." He pushed Jon forward. "Haven't seen anyone get archer mastery this fast in quite some time now."

The bald man stepped forward. He was holding a large crossbow that he had just finished winding.

"Ballard's the name," he said in a very low voice. The voice didn't match his looks. Small and unimpressive, his voice sounded like something a giant would speak with.

"Jon."

"So, Jon, what's your weapon of choice?" He spread his hands to indicate the many bows and crossbows around him.

Jon looked around from where he was standing.

"You're very tall… long arms..." he mumbled to himself, "getting archery fast means you either have an inborn talent or, and this is more likely, you have experience with sharp shooting!"

"…"

"So what weapon are you experienced with?"

"Longbow."

"Yes… I guessed correctly." He put a crossbow down and took two bows of their hooks.

"Shorter or longer?" He held a bow in each hand.

While both were generic longbows, thin and made out of sturdy yet flexible wood, the left one was shorter than the other.

At six feet long (180cm) the left bow was the shortest possible length for a bow to be considered a longbow. The right bow, a standard longbow, was seven feet long (210cm) when not strung.

"Longer."

Ballard was silent for a moment. He looked at Jon from head to toe and put both bows back to where he had taken them from.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you’re not looking for a strong attack bow, are you?"

He was correct.

"Need distance." Jon acknowledged that Ballard was a professional in his trade.

"Ahah! Very well." He began taking off bows one by one, trying to get to something far in the back. He was excited.

"I've made this one a long time ago." He took out a simple looking longbow. "If it is distance you need, nothing will compare to this! I just hope it's not rotten inside." He took a string from a pile and started bending the bow.

"I made it from wood of a floating tree. That’s the reason for the color." He gave the strung bow to Jon. Although the same size as the other seven foot bow, its color was teal in the middle turning cyan towards the endings with the tips of the bow an almost transparent with a faint sky blue tint.

But it wasn't the color that surprised Jon, it was the weight. It was as light as a feather and just like one, when he let go of the bow, it didn't fall. It floated down and he just lazily picked it up right before it hit the ground.

"One of my favorite works." Ballard said, his eyes becoming wet and shiny, "Too bad it's as good as useless."

Jon looked at him questioningly.

"No attack power," he stated.

"It will kill a rabbit or a fox, but anything bigger and unless you hit a vital spot you'll need to wait for it to bleed to death." He sighed. "You're better off just running up to the monster and hitting it with the bow."

"Why?" Jon asked.

"Why am I showing it to you? If you want to hit far away targets, nothing I have here can compare to it. A good long bow can shoot an arrow at a target more than two hundred meters away… this beauty can send an arrow flying three hundred meters without you even breaking out a sweat."

Jon looked at the bow in his hands. He had to look at it or else he didn't even feel it was there.

"Come on now, give it here, I was just bragging a little. It is a useless bow and it's been left to rot for it."

"I'll take it."

"You're serious?" he grabbed Jon's arm with incredible strength. "You better not be kidding. A novice like you won't even have the skill to shoot the far, no point of you taking it just to make me feel better."

"…"

They looked each other in the eyes, Jon with his perfect poker face and Ballard with his half closed eyes.

"I think the caretaker was right, you really are a promising one." He let go of Jon's arm.

"Okay, let's get you fitted for shooting." He began throwing things at Jon for him to try on.

He didn't need much but Ballard insisted on equipping him from head to toe. Jon put on a matching set of leather armor.

Thick and sturdy, it may now stop a sword but a knife or an arrow won't pass through easily, while teeth and talons would only get stuck.

The only thing he kept from his original attire was the simple brown hood he got from one of the killed players in the library. It didn't offer any protection like the leather helmet Ballard insisted on, but it could hide a red PKer mark if there was ever a need for it.

"Come on; let's go give my beauty at test run." He hurried Jon towards the shooting range.

"Where are you taking him?" yelled the caretaker from behind the bars counter.

"To shoot of course!" He kept hurrying.

"Take him to the instructor first."

It was clear Ballard was eager to see his bow in action. He debated with himself and decided the instructor came first.

"He will help you shoot better. After me."

The instructor offered to change Jon's class to a Longbow Man.

Class Change Notice

You have been offered to switch to a Longbow Man from an Assassin.

Skills gained by becoming an assassin will be deleted, unless you have reached level two or higher in them.

Both the sneak and the silent strike skills were level two, so he will keep them. And even if he didn't Jon wouldn't have hesitated, he wanted to use bows and the Longbow Man class suited him at the moment.

He accepted without a second thought.

You have changed your profession to a Longbow Man.

With a longbow being considered a commoners weapon, this class is one of the most played classes.

This is the class to choose if you want to kill your opponent from afar. Precise and deadly, an arrow fired from a longbow will come down whistling from the sky, penetrating both armor and flesh.

+20 Dexterity

+5 Strength

A longbow man can choose between an Archer and Hunter class when he reaches level 30. To initiate the class change quest you will need to visit an instructor specific to your class.

Perception Stat Added

A stat that affects a player's power of vision.

As the stat rises so will a player's ability to perceive moving objects and notice details in his surroundings.

The higher the stat the farther a player can see.

It is said that a player with very high perception can even count the number of locusts in a moving swarm.

Power Shot Skill Learned.

By temporarily surrounding the bow with mana, the longbow man can draw the arrow farther than the bows maximum breaking point.

This allows the longbow man to fire an arrow that deals more damage and has a higher chance of penetrating the target.

Level 1: Maximum firing distance 30m

Attack power increased by 10%

Cost: 20 MP

Owl's Instincts Skill Learned

An owl, the shadow of the night. It hunt's under the moonlight managing to catch and kill pray with ease even in the darkest of nights.

With instincts so honed he manages to REPLACE his talons into his targets vital spots at amazing speed and with incredible precision even under the most difficult conditions.

Users of bows have strive to achieve their astounding feats throughout the ages.

Level 1: Critical Hit Chance +5%

They entered the shooting range. The boy was still there trying hard.

He looked at Jon when he came in and jealousy overwhelmed him. Here he was, on his third day of shooting and still without the archery mastery, looking at a guy dressed like a real rogue. A guy that only an hour ago entered the guilds shooting range for the first time.

"You ready?" Ballard was having trouble hiding his excitement.

"Shot it as far as you can, don't worry about the place, it's a magical room. The ceiling is as high as the sky and it will take you days of walking to reach the other side."

"…" Jon took out an arrow from the quiver safely attached to his waist.

Ballard bit his lip as he looked at Jon fit the arrow between his finger-guards and placed the shaft between his finger and the wood of the bow. It fell comfortably into a small cervix in the center of the bow.

He drew it back hard.

He had to use more strength than he was used too, to make it bend, but he managed to draw the arrow back until he felt the feathers on the back tickle his ear.

Raising the bow to a forty-five degree angle, took aim at nothing in particular and let go of the arrow.

The arrow disappeared from sight, leaving behind it a whistling sound. After a few moments it appeared as a small dot falling down to earth in the far distance. Where it landed was too far for Jon to see, but Ballard next to him whistled while up to the point it hit the ground.

"Five hundred meters, easy." He clapped his hands a couple of times.

"Didn't I tell you? Nothing can compare to it!"

Jon was amazed, so much in fact it almost showed on his face. Almost.

-'Weapon stat'- he spoke in his mind.

Star Piercer

Attack: 1 Durability: 50/50 Multiple Shot Speed: 9

A bow made out vines of a floating tree. These trees spin their vines at incredible speed, which allows them to ride wind currents from one place to the other in the search of nutrients.

The vine is very strong, light and elastic making it fine building material but poor basis for weapons. The vines characteristics make it incredibly weak and most of the time you are better of using a stone.

Just like the description said, the bow had the same attack power as a stone. Normal arrows had one attack power and buying stronger arrows was out of the question.

However the shooting distance it allowed for was extraordinary, and this was more important to Jon than attack power.

-'This is perfect.'-

He felt good.