Chapter 176: Viktor's skills (2)
As he stood across the effigy, Viktor casually warmed up. He stretched his arms, rolled his head around his neck, and extended his legs to be genuinely warmed up.
After working on his muscles, he raised his hand to signal to Jake that the first lesson had begun.
"I'll supplement your movement skill first," Viktor said as he kicked a small pebble up. He caught it with his hand and hurled it above himself. It flatly dropped onto the ground beside him, leaving a small hole.
He kicked the same pebble up and repeated the move.
This time, however, the pebble flew up higher.
Its drop was heavier as it nestled in a small crater.
Jake narrowed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Master Aaron was laughing under his nose as he sucked on his pipe.
Viktor said, "It's a part of The Feather Step. This movement skill allows us to briefly control gravity around us. It began with us being as light as feathers to change positions more easily and be silent. Over time, the concept broadened and evolved to use gravity as a weapon."
With that said, Viktor zoomed forward. He suddenly stopped in the middle of his open space, took out a common bow from his inventory, and somersaulted, taking over the high altitude in a slow, seemingly slowed-down movement.
He was like a swirling dust.
When his body finished the rotation, he abruptly plummeted like a heavy stone.
Upon landing, however, there was not even a single crack beneath his soles.
And before Jake could notice, Viktor had entered his shooting form. His body exuded so much force that Jake felt his hair raked behind. It was like a pure physical aura billowed from Viktor!
Many cables ran across Viktor's arms as his muscles tensed. His chest puffed out like a giant pillow or perhaps Elizabeth's bear's belly.
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That said, he looked intimidating and impressive.
Nothing was wider than his smile, however.
The second Viktor released his arrow, he exhaled.
The arrow tore through the wind with a domineering howl.
BANG!
Upon connecting with the tree, the arrow deeply fixed itself within its bark. The cracks that should have appeared beneath Viktor's soles had instead popped around the arrow's point, nearly splitting the tree in half.
"This tsundere," Aaron said as he stared at Viktor's back. "You never stopped loving your archery."
He puffed out a cloud of dancing smoke.
On the other hand, Jake abruptly stood up. He inadvertently pushed the chair behind and didn't care about it as it clanked.
He gawked at Viktor.
Smiling, Viktor looked over his shoulder.
His widened lips were hidden, but it could have been seen that he was smiling from ear to ear.
He asked, "You understand what I had done?"
"I think I do…" Jake replied. "You shifted the weight of your drop to your arrow!"
"Yeah," Viktor nodded. "That's pretty much all you need from The Feather Step. Your movement skill suits you better, but it can be much stronger with that concept… imagine how much damage you could have done to Last Coin if you were to drop from the skies and shift the weight of your fall to the thunder arrow."
Just hearing about this concept turned Jake hotter.
It sounded so damn cool!
"Onto the next, then," Viktor coolly said as though he wanted to impress Jake more. He turned around and stared at the effigy again.
He'd changed his trajectory at the last moment because he didn't want to break this useful tool. But for the second skill, he could easily aim for it.
He sneered.
Drawing his short anchor, Viktor released a fast arrow. In less than a second, another one appeared nocked on his bowstring as though he had two additional and invisible hands doing work for him! He let the second, the third, and even the fourth arrow fly, each faster than the other.
Jake thought, 'He's so fast! He uses the trick Master mentioned to me, doesn't he? But I think it must be a skill since he said he'd teach me skills! I want it! I want it so much!'
Unbeknownst to Jake's thoughts, Viktor had entered the zone. After releasing arrows from the standing position, he ran to the side while shooting another series of arrows.
He added acrobatics, using The Feather Step to take over the tree's branches or even stick to their vertical barks like a spider.
Each move was accompanied by a rapid release.
Viktor landed before Jake, facing him.
He said, "It's a rapid-release skill. It forcefully takes an arrow from your inventory. Newbies like you can barely control this skill, but there's a trick to it. Hand sings. Since you're using a thumb ring, you can position it to signal the skill which arrow type you want to be nocked by the skill. Once you get in that zone, a rapid release will supplement your nocking faster."
Jake nodded without saying a word.
Viktor continued, "You're learning skills raw, so it'll take time before your muscle memory gets used to the rapid release and The Feather Step's gravity concept."
He'd learned that from Ingrid since she could tell Viktor wouldn't waste time and begin training Jake as soon as possible. Of course, Viktor wouldn't tell Jake that Ingrid helped him plan for Jake's growth and that he listened to her advice.
Nonetheless, he was impressed by Jake as he didn't rely on his game system to learn skills and use them to adapt to them faster.
"The third skill will take more than these two skills combined," Viktor suddenly said, shocking Jake. The young man stared at him like a good disciple, not daring to say a word.
Viktor glanced at the effigy.
He faced it with his side now.
He shifted his head to Jake. His bow went from the common one to Viktor's favorite. It was a well-crafted bow matching the colors of The Imperial Royalty. Every minuscule detail spelled royalty.
In two words, it was a beautiful and mighty bow.
The main difference between this weapon and the previous one was the limbs.
The royal bow was much bigger, and so were its limbs.
Viktor extended his hand toward the bowstring… and surprisingly summoned three arrows!
He abruptly balanced his weight in the effigy's direction, releasing all three of them at once!
The arrows met their mark, hitting the same target—between the effigy's eyes.
Another set of three arrows was then set free.
This time, two arrows struck either shoulder, while the third lodged itself in the effigy's forehead.
To say the least, Viktor's control was perfect.
'Can I repeat this? No,… too early for me. Even if I try, I will only make a fool of myself,' Jake thought as he was raring to begin training what Viktor had just shown him.
He listened to him and shoved aside the desire to learn the third skill, whose name he had yet to learn.
He'd master the first two skills—The Feather Step's Gravity Enchantment and The Rapid Release—first!
Viktor smiled. "It will take more than a month to learn Triple Hydra. I can release up to Seven Hydras."
Master Aaron laughed. "Stop boasting, kid! Haha!"
Jake chuckled. "My goal is to overcome you and all your predecessors!"