Chapter 26

- Xenon -

I finished my squirrel much faster than last time, with less yelling from Daryl. He did yell at me, alright, but I feel I've done a better job this time around. And since there was no Merle around this time, I got to do two squirrel, which brought my skill in skinning to level 2.

"Hey Daryl?"

"What?" Daryl always looked annoyed without trying to, a natural talent that made him quite the loner, even in the show.

"Can you teach me how to throw knives?" I asked.

"Why the fuck would you ask me that?" He intoned coldly. "Assuming I know that kind of stuff, I look like a ex-con or somethin' to you?"

"Quick question: Do you know how to throw knives?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but that's not the point." He answered, annoyed even more, though he smirked in the end. Phew, turns out he was joking. Don't scare me like that man. "Why do you wanna learn?"

"It gets boring around here, might as well learn something useful." I shrugged.

"And it's my fucking job to amuse you, right?" He glared at me. "Fuck off, kid. I ain't got the time."

"Come on, man, don't be like that! I'll even pay you back." He looked at me up and down, sending shivers down my spine.

"Nah, you're not my type." He waved his hand dismissively. DID HE JUST DO WHAT I THINK HE DID?!

"Oi, asshole, that's not what I meant. And I AM underage, so..."

"Yeah, and?" He frowned at me, 'puzzled' at why I brought age into this… then he chuckled and shook his head, before walking away.

'Ok, this is getting weirder and weirder…' I was thinking about how to convince him, when he stopped and looked at me, annoyed for some reason (more than usual): "you coming or not?"

Daryl explained to me the two ways he knew of throwing knives, though he said he's not even decent at them, and has horrible success rate, especially with varying distances, and that's the most difficult part apparently. He told me it's mostly because he never invested time in the skill, as he never had any use for it.

The first one was called 'Military Half-Spin', when you had to hold the knife from the blade, placing your thumb on top. The closer you are to the target, the lower your thumb should be, as it would control the rotation of the blade. I was glad my knife was one edges, otherwise this technique would be unusable for me right now.

The second one was called 'No Spin', and it's a technique where you launch the blade without spinning it to the target, unsurprisingly. It was apparently harder, and the rotation is still controlled by the thumb. He said there are a lot of techniques, but these were the ones he bothered to learn a bit about.

I did a few tries in front of him, on both techniques, where he did his best to correct my posture, before leaving me to my own devices. I won't complain, it's more than enough for me, and I'm sure with enough time, I'll learn how to do it.

I started practicing right away, but had to stop because it was time for lunch. I wolfed down my food, and went back to practice without wasting a second.

- Xenon -

After five hours of practice and hundreds of throws, picking up the only knife I had to practice with, even when I completely missed the tree and sent it farther away… I've finally succeeded.

< Skill Gained! >

[Proficiency: Knife Throwing. (Passive)] LVL 1

Increase the speed and damage of your throws.

< Quest Complete : Knife Throwing.

Description: Learn how to throw knives properly.

*Requirements:

-> [Proficiency: Knife Throwing (Passive)]

*Rewards:

-> 10 EXP

-> Set of Throwing Knives x 20.

<>

( Image Here )