Chapter 8: Recovery training

Conversing with Sena Astralsong, Lireesa, for the first time in this world, had a true friend. While having a meal together, they discussed detailed steps supposed to be taken in order to achieve the current goal. It was to have an allowance, increasing the number of troops without having a handle left behind to damage oneself. Sena might not know, why she was anxious to possess large number of troops. Actually, Lireesa was preparing for the major war which was going to occur in the next 200 years. She could have acted after reporting to the King and the council, to prepare for the oncoming crisis indirectly. But she rather chose not to.

One was because she made a promise to the original Lireesa, to protect Windrunner families not Quel'Thalas. She knew she couldn't believe what had happened in the game to take place in reality. Windrunner families gave everything they could for Quel'Thalas survival, but they got belittlement and distrust. Especially when she died, they didn't bother to hide their mask anymore. Her daughters were bullied.

Second, anything that could potentially upgrade the army would only benefit the high-level parties themselves. Because they would never foresee nor believe what she told them. Therefore, until she wasn't absolutely sure and had a say in the high council, it's better to keep it to oneself and developed quietly. In addition to having a plan, the most major steps she must proceed was to surround herself with confidants, who she could put her trust and together strived for one main goal. Now, it was better to start with the closest friends. Regardless of the possibilities of Sena being a spy sent by royal families, she was convinced of her own judgement and the news she'd convey to put Sena completely on her side.

Lireesa decided to foretell the future catastrophe, Windrunner family had to encounter. However, no one would believe this incidence without sufficient evidence. Sena might choose to believe her but not with all her heart. To appear more convincing, it appeared Lireesa had to narrate the history of the high elves and combined with her coma incident. At the same moment, she must show why all her actions seemed urgent. But first, Lireesa decided to train herself in the courtyard.

"Sena, follow me to practice," Lireesa said walking toward the dressing room to change into combat outfit. "Maybe you might have the first chance to abuse me, my sister."

"Hmph, I would not fall for it," snorted Sena. "You're still scheming. I'm old enough to see through you." Lireesa was dumbfounded at why Sena's emotion was gloomy. She realized later, the old Lireesa used this excuse several times to bully Sena and seemed to enjoy the process. She fancied watching Sena having tears in her eyes but not flowing outward. Lireesa could only shake her head.

She raised her hand and swore in the name of her ancestor. Only then was Sena now ecstatic and remembered Lireesa having lost her combat power. Now it's her turn, but she was a little worried of her swift revenge. After the two changed their dress, they walked for another 10 minutes before reaching the training courtyard. Lireesa was very much surprised because the practice range for archery was similar to the past life gun firing range. It was huge around 1 square kilometer although only half the area was for archery and the other to practice exercises required for ranger profession.

Lireesa shouldn't really underestimate this medieval world where you couldn't fathom what the talents here could achieve through magic and other supernatural power. For example, a ranger from high elves was able to shoot a target bull's eye from 300 meters away, which compared with soldiers on Earth, could be regarded as special forces. This was in theory though. Although elves might have this ability, materials needed to be sufficiently supplemented in order to achieve this shot, from the arrowhead to the bow materials including the strings.

Clearly, in this fantasy world, bow manufacturing were likely to be absolutely in different process with different materials. Provided that a ranger elf was well equipped, and had a strength ranking at least mid-level, he or she could shoot perfectly. Only the elven race could achieve this through their innate archery talent and their hawk-like eyesight. The higher the levels, the further the arrow could reach. Lireesa didn't know the ceilings of the ranger talent, and it was early for her to think about. Based on her quasi-legend strength, she could indeed make a shoot for a target 500 meters very easily. The most was around 600 meters as her eyes could only see this far while still been accurate. More than 700 meters was still included in the equations, except the arrow lost momentum and could be effortlessly protected by armor. The whole equation would alter if the arrow material became stronger and heavier.

Lireesa decided to practice from the beginning despite her complete inheritance and memory fusion. Although every action was embedded in her instinct, she wasn't fitting into the role yet. So, it meant she wasn't able to control her strength and could be deadly to herself during battles. She first drew an arc on a bow without any arrow just to have a feeling first. She repeated the same one ten times over and over again but with her eyes closed. She rested for a moment gathering the feelings and fixing some minor mistakes, based on her old memory. She took one arrow from the quiver, drew the bowstring and aimed just for a second. The arrow was loosened and flew fast.

Whoosh! Boom!

It stroked hard into the target she intended to. She let out a breath after gaining her confidence. She might not have experienced any forms of archery not to mention the spectacular elven archery, where mastery meant even during rolls and dance juggling movement, she could hit the target without slightest error. Of course, she couldn't step into this realm yet until reaching mid-level advance stage. She proceeded the next stage of firing consecutive single shot. From one second per arrow to all three arrows shot within 1.5 seconds, she was improving rapidly. It wasn't about her talent; it showed she had now digested part of her real strength.

After endeavoring for over one hour shooting continuously, her arm had started to ache. She wondered if she could do 3 consecutive shots in less than a second. She drew three arrows between each finger and fired each one as if her hand turned into afterimage and every arrow was bullseye. Now, she really had no energy to continue training and respite was essential for her. She looked toward Sena who had finished her own training, lying down on the grass making a butterfly posture. Too bad, there wasn't any sand or snow to bring out her drawing.

When Sena noticed Lireesa, standing beside her she cried, "Oh my boss Lireesa, it really seems like you lose your previous strength. You're definitely not pretending. Hey, hey." The final sneer gave her a gloomy vibe and goosebump emerged.

Lireesa's both hands scrubbed her skin vigorously as if to brush off her friend's curse. She didn't believe, someone who was always bullied wouldn't retaliate when she had a chance. Now she just wanted to curse the previous owner of this body to leave her this trouble. She sternly spoke, "I warn you Sena. Don't think I'm weak now; when I'm completely restored, watch for my wrath. Never bully the young."

"Bully the young!"Sena was extremely surprised and got up from the soil. "I like this phrase, my dear sister. When you've always rubbed my face to the ground many times, didn't you feel any pleasure? Fear not, I will show you my love for you all those years, to repay your kindness." Sena like a devil smirked evilly and walked slowly toward her cute sister. A big bad wolf now preyed on the little silver riding hood.

Lireesa shrank her head, after hearing Sena pronouncing the word 'sister' coquettishly. She foresaw what fate awaited in front of her, when Sena behaved in such a way. Lireesa quickly said, "No need, my sister. I've known your love for many years. No need for proof. As long as you have me in your heart, I'm very satisfied."

"My love is unstoppable." Sena hugged Lireesa across the shoulders tightly as if fearful of her escape. Her struggles were in vain. "Come, let's also practice our melee combat. Practice makes perfect."

Sena brought Lireesa to a close combat training where the other guards were also training. Sweating more to bleed less had always been the motto for any armies. Lireesa was mesmerized by these guards sparring back and forth. Blades clanked as they used real equipment not training one, to bring a fight as close as possible to real life and death battle. These sparring guards were all elite high-level ranger. Typically requirements to be eligible for Windrunner guards were to be a woman, at least mid-level advance stage, and willing to train very hard and strive for the responsibilities of Windrunner family.

Sena brought her to a private chamber and tossed two long daggers to her from a weapon stash. She also took out similar daggers twirling it around and said, "Warm up and drilled your form first to get used to it. Otherwise, don't say I bully you."

Lireesa complained inwardly, you a quasi-legend is fighting with mid-level early stage. True, Lireesa had found her current strength to be capable of mid-tier entry stage, just after training herself for more than 2 hours. It wouldn't be long before she could recover her strength. She said to herself in her heart, what goes around will come around. Of course, she didn't dare to say it out aloud, not wanting to antagonize and increase her sister's love.

For now, she must prepare to survive the most dangerous trials. Luckily, she was a swordsmen martial artist in her previous life, specializing in longswords and was familiar with close combat compared to her novice archery just relying solely on predecessor's method. Her fighting ability recovery was definitely going to excel archery but not so much. Two daggers rotated on her hand, changing her grip from reverse icepick to a normal. She had one on the normal, other reverse, at the same time adopting the method from her inheritance. She sprang into action.