Shock, Terror, Amazement
The morning air carried a slight chill.
The sun hadn't fully risen yet, so shadows still stretched across the streets, which were packed with people heading to work.
I'd been trying to live a more wholesome life lately, but waking up at seven in the morning still felt brutal.
Ever since I ended up in this body, I'd definitely been sleeping a lot more. The old me—who could stay up until four in the morning doomscrolling forums—had surrendered to sleep around eleven last night.
Early to bed and early to rise is supposed to be good for you, I guess.
Right now, though, I'd dragged myself out of bed at this ungodly hour to head to the hunter training facility.
Two days ago, I'd met the archer hunter Kang Arin inside that C-grade gate. After saving her life and helping her party, I'd agreed to receive private archery lessons from her in return.
And yesterday, she'd finally sent the appointment time through Yoo Sumi. On top of that, the money she'd promised to send had arrived too...
"Hehe."
The personal fee I was receiving from Kang Arin, plus my redistributed share of the total party compensation, had added up to a whopping fourteen million won...!!
My bank account was so ridiculously flush that just looking at the numbers made happy hormones gush through me.
At this rate, upgrading from a gaming PC to moving out of this one-room apartment entirely was only a matter of time.
But!!
Just because my income had suddenly jumped didn't mean I was going to get lazy. That's why I'd hauled myself out of bed so early for archery training.
Vroooom—
A little while later, the familiar rumble of an engine approached from the left.
"Good morning, Jiyun~"
"Morning, Sumi. And Seohwa's here too, I see."
"I couldn't let myself be the only one left out. Figured I'd come watch at least."
With that, I climbed into the pickup truck that Yoo Sumi and Kim Seohwa had arrived in.
Since Kim Seohwa had taken the passenger seat, this was my first time riding in the back. The space was insanely roomy. I could probably lie down sideways and stretch my legs out completely.
"Sumi."
"What?"
"Can I move to the back too? I want to sit with Jiyun."
"You want to get scolded?"
"Next time I'll drive. Then you can sit in the back with Jiyun."
"Whoa, really?"
"...Excuse me?"
And just like that, Kim Seohwa climbed into the back seat and plopped down right next to me.
"There we go, Jiyun. You had to wake up so early—aren't you sleepy? If you are, your big sis can give you a lap pillow."
Kim Seohwa patted her jean-clad thighs invitingly.
"Uh... um...?"
A lap pillow? I'd only ever seen that in manga and anime.
Was she seriously telling me to rest my head on someone else's legs in real life...?
"What lap pillow? Ignore her, Jiyun. Put your seatbelt on."
"I'll just hold her nice and safe."
"Ugh, look at her. She's just trying to satisfy her own desires."
"I'll... I'll wear the seatbelt, thanks..."
After all that back and forth, we finally set off for the hunter training facility.
In Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, there was Nest—Korea's largest state-run professional hunter training facility. Since the government operated and managed it, any hunter in Korea could use it at a cheap price. The facilities were excellent, and civilians were even allowed to observe freely.
That meant even an unregistered awakened like me could use it.
By the way, registering as an awakened was a "strongly recommended" matter, not a legal requirement. That said, if an unregistered awakened sold mana stones, the transaction fee was quadrupled. If they committed a crime, every possible law would be thrown at them to multiply the punishment. If they caused any violent incident, hunter police were given on-site lethal force authorization. Equipment ownership above a certain level was also restricted. All of it was designed to encourage registration.
On top of that, if an unregistered awakened entered a gate, got injured, or died, there was no insurance. And if they clashed with civilians, the unregistered side would be at a massive disadvantage. In short, don't even think about expecting legal protection.
There were quite a few benefits to registering, too—discounts on various facilities and shopping based on hunter rank, tax reductions, activity support funds, and so on.
You get it, right? Don't make it annoying—just read the room and register already. That was the general vibe.
Apparently about ten percent of awakened people were still unregistered like me. Some guilds deliberately delayed registration to hide promising new talents.
Anyway, I didn't need to be nervous about being unregistered when I went to Nest.
After about forty minutes in the car, we arrived at Nest. The whole way there, Kim Seohwa had been stroking my hair and squishing my cheeks from the seat beside me, so by the time we arrived I was already exhausted.
That was the difference between Kim Seohwa and Yoo Sumi. If there was a cute rabbit, Yoo Sumi was the type to pick a clover and feed it to the bunny, while Kim Seohwa was the type to grab it and start kneading it mercilessly.
When we got out of the car, I made sure to put about three meters of distance between myself and Kim Seohwa. Even then she couldn't suppress her desires and started creeping closer, so I bolted.
As a mage, Kim Seohwa couldn't keep up with my sprint and quickly ran out of breath.
"Ugh... why is Jiyun so fast..."
"Jiyun runs three kilometers in the five-minute range. You're in the ten-minute range, right?"
"Wait, seriously? How is her physical ability already that high?"
Anyway, we crossed the parking lot and headed toward the grand Nest building. There were tons of hunters and management staff everywhere. Every time someone made eye contact with me as they passed, I heard endless comments like "Whoa, look at that kid, she's so cute."
When we entered the training area inside the building, Kang Arin was already waiting.
"Oh, Jiyun! You made it! Do you remember your big sis?"
"Yes! You're B+ archer Kang Arin!"
"Good memory. I've been waiting since thirty minutes ago because I was so excited to see you today."
"Whoa... you really didn't have to do that..."
The moment Kang Arin and I started chatting so warmly, both Yoo Sumi and Kim Seohwa made slightly sour faces.
"Hey, Arin. Are we invisible? At least say hello."
"Only if you two were as cute and pretty as Jiyun."
"We literally just met a few days ago—what's with all the fuss? I shouldn't have sent those photos."
Apparently Yoo Sumi had sent Kang Arin a few pictures of me. The second Kang Arin saw them, she'd gone wild saying she wanted to meet me as soon as possible. She'd even ditched all the usual post-gate cleanup work to rush over.
"Shall we head to the training area? Have you been to Nest before, Jiyun?"
"No, this is my first time."
"That's fine. Big sis will show you everything."
The place we entered was the long-range hunter training facility. It was a state-of-the-art system where you could set up targets and dummies however you wanted with just a few button presses.
"But where's your bow, Jiyun? Is Sumi holding it?"
"No. My bow works like this."
I stretched out my arm and summoned the Bow of the Great Tree.
Paang—
A cluster of light gathered and formed the massive bow in my hand.
Kang Arin's eyes widened.
"What? Is that some kind of storage magic?"
"It's more like a skill that summons the bow. Pretty cool, right?"
I was still wearing my hood pulled low, just like always. Aside from Yoo Sumi and Kim Seohwa, no one knew about my class or my elf ears.
Thankfully, Kang Arin didn't pry any further into my abilities.
"Okay. Let's start with aiming posture, then."
Following her instructions, I took my stance and channeled mana into the bow.
A bowstring and arrow instantly materialized in the air and settled into my grip.
"Oh. I had a feeling, but those really are mana arrows. Did you know mana arrows are better than regular ones?"
"Yes. Sumi told me."
"The real advantage of mana arrows is their much higher controllability. They work great with magic-type skills and are easy to empower. Like this."
Kang Arin drew her own bowstring back.
What looked like an ordinary mana arrow appeared, but in an instant its size and length tripled.
Thwoong—
With a heavy thud, the giant arrow blasted forward and punched straight through seven targets in a row.
"Whoa..."
"Those targets are made of 10mm armor plating. You'll be able to do that someday too."
"Really?"
"Since your bow was given as a skill, you should be able to grow in that direction. Being born with mana arrows is already an incredible talent. For now, I'll start with the most basic stuff."
Kang Arin's private lesson continued.
The very first thing was aiming posture.
"Have you shot a bow much before, Jiyun?"
"Not really. I only started messing around with it in the gate where we first met."
"But you already look like someone with experience. Want to just shoot comfortably?"
I stared at the target and began aiming carefully. Then I fired.
Without stopping, I quickly loosed four more arrows in succession.
Since I didn't think my arrows could pierce the armor plating, we'd switched to thinner alloy targets.
"...Ohhh."
The arrows had clustered beautifully near the center of the target.
Was I... this good?
"Nice shot, Jiyun."
"You look like a professional archer. What are we even doing here?"
From behind us, Yoo Sumi and Kim Seohwa let out various exclamations of amazement.
But when I glanced sideways and noticed Kang Arin was strangely quiet, I saw her just staring blankly at the target.
"Arin?"
"Ah? Um, sorry. I was a bit shocked. You really only started using a bow in that gate last time?"
"Yes."
"...You have a feel for it. You shoot with a lot of confidence, and your accuracy is already excellent."
"Hehe. It wasn't that hard."
Kang Arin nodded.
"Okay. Then we'll skip the basic posture stuff and jump straight into practical application. I'll teach you about archer-class skills."
"Ooh...!!"
Kang Arin manipulated the controls, calling up several moving targets that darted around irregularly like flies. She then proceeded to shoot them down one by one. Not only that, but every single arrow landed dead center in the targets—an impressive display of skill.
"How do you think I did that?"
"Just... by being really good at shooting...?"
"That's part of it, but it's mostly because I'm using a skill. It's the essential skill for all ranged dealers—Focus. It pushes your concentration to the absolute limit, making it feel like time slows down, letting you accurately hit fast-moving targets."
"Ah, I see...?"
Time slows down?
I felt like I'd already experienced that once before. When I took down that boss-level mountain bear, I'd done something similar to hit it right in the eye.
"It's an essential skill, but it's not that easy to learn. Pushing your concentration that high is vague and doesn't come naturally. You'll need to repeat it for a long time to get a feel for it."
I pressed the button to summon one of those fast-moving targets from earlier. Then I raised the Bow of the Great Tree and took aim.
I poured every ounce of my nerves and mental energy into the moving target. As I slowly exhaled and raised my focus, everything except the target seemed to narrow in my vision.
Then, time slowed.
The target's movement dropped to less than half speed, and only its exact center filled my sight. At that moment, I released the arrow.
"Huh?"
A puzzled voice came from right beside me.
Ding—
You have learned the skill Focus.
The arrow struck the exact center of the target.