2

Tristan arrived in the practice arena and he could see why young people spent their lives in there. He could see them in groups talking, practicing and talking even more. It was more of a social gathering place than it was a practicing arena. But, that did not concern him. What he was here to do is to prove whether he had the mettle to leave everyone else in the dust or will he be cabbage for the cosmic slaughter! The first place he went to was the archery section thanks to the signs. He found some girls fan girling over a quite handsome man who was shooting at a target. Tristan looked at him, seeing how to hold a bow, how to equip an arrow and how to shoot. After ten minutes of staring, he picked up a bow from the reserves, some arrows and went to his side in order not to disrupt the boy and his fan base.

Recalling how the boy was holding his bow, he got hold of it the same way and strangely, he found himself already familiar with it. He smiled to himself before he equiped an arrow, aimed at the target and let lose. Due to his low strength, the arrow fell short. He was not discouraged as he notched another arrow and pulled back the bow string before he felt the absolute maximum his body could draw back before releasing. Once again, it was too weak as it hit the target and fell.

"It appears I need to be stronger in order to use the bow," he told himself then took the bow and the remaining arrows back.

"Hey!" The boy from before called out to him. "I don't know which hole you crawled out from but when you are here, you pick up after yourself!" Tristan looked back and saw the boy glaring at him and behind him were the angry eyes of his fan base. Tristan was not here to offend anyone so he went and took the two arrows before putting them back then walked out.

"This place is not somewhere you can desecrate with you stink and trash level talent!" the boy said behind his back. Tristan stopped for a moment, contemplating what to do before he continued on. The boy was not weak for he himself could not drawback the bow yet the boy did it with much ease! He went to the body building section and was surprised that there so few people here. With a threat of obesity in his previous world, people were embracing the body building culture and gyms were almost always full. But, this was a bonus for him for he didn't want people to start noticing him.

He decided to start his training right there and then. He first started with some stretches and jumping jacks. Once his body was limber enough, he started with some presses. He decided to do the Saitama training after a few thoughts and did 100 presses. When he was done, he could feel just how exhausted his body was that he could barely stand. But he dragged his body up and started doing squats, one hundred of them. When he finished, his legs were swore and aching he could barely stand without them shaking like he was a newborn. He then did the one hundred sit-ups. He had no energy to eve get up after that so he just closed his eyes and decided to take a small nap. He suddenly felt his body heat up and after a few minutes, he woke up feeling slightly better. He then started running but he did not know how to measure in kilometers so he ran until he felt he would die so he jogged to his house and fell unconscious on his bed.

The following day, he warmed the food for Kyle who ate with much gusto then went to play with the other kids. Tristan then took back the pot discreetly and snatched himself bowl full of rice and stew, ate to his slight fill then returned to the practice arena. He once again did the same exercise as the previous day and he was so exhausted he just fell unconscious next to his house. But he woke up after three hours so he went and found food for them both. He had to steal food from a household now with his lock picking skill and his sneaking. Day after day, this was the new norm for him. After the third day, he felt that the workouts were not effective so he increased the exercises with weights. He also saw the increase in food intake from his side which was quite worrisome because with their poverty it would be suicide to have a big belly and he decided it was time to start searching for an alternative. But first, the archery. He went there after ten days since he determined that he was not strong enough to properly draw a bow. He picked up a bow and drew the bowstring which almost broke due to how strong he was, he was surprised too.

With the new strength, he took a arrow, notched it then pulled back the string and let loose. The arrow whizzed past the target and he smiled to himself. He notched another arrow and it did hit the target, scarily close to the dead center. He shot another arrow and it really did hit the center. He tried with three more and each one of them was the same. He was overjoyed when he saw this for it confirmed with iron clad evidence that his golden finger was overwhelming talent! People could take months just to learn ow to hold a bow properly, he learnt by watching. His strength sky rocketed since he started his practice ten day ago and he didn't know how many kilometers he ran but it was more than twenty! Tristan guessed it was time to start looking for his and Kyle's opportunity. Just as he was about to walk out of the archery section, the boy from before came in, this time with peers. When he saw him, his face turned dark.

"What are you doing in here! This is no place for your kind," the boy growled hostilely.

"Dude, this is Tristan the mad teenager! How is he able to pick up an arrow without poking himself with it!" another boy said.

"I heard from the vendors that he might have faked his condition in order to trick them into giving him and his brother food," another boy jumped in.

"Is that so! So him and his brother are thieves. We should teach him what happens to thieves," a large boy that had a personal bow said then started approaching him with a dark smile. Tristan wondered whether his talent worked with fighting too and smiled back. The boy was provoked by that smile so he charged forward with his right fist smashing down towards Tristan who suddenly dodged and punched him right on the kisser, making the boy fly backwards in pain and bleeding. When the others saw this they ran away in fright. Tristan shook his head in disappointment before walking next to the crying teenager and proceeded to rob him. He had three gold coins on him, three! One gold coin was 1000 silver coins and one silver coin was 1000 bronze coins and 1 bronze coin was 1000 copper coins. Food for him and Kyle would take him 1 bronze coin!

"I didn't know you bastards were rich! If I knew I would have milked you all sons of bitches dry!" he said with hatred before kicking the teenager then went to call Kyle to eat lunch. The teenager was left crying due to all his life's savings been taken away.

Kyle was very happy for it would be the first time since he could remember that he would eat lunch, at an inn nonetheless. Tristan was happy to see the little guy eating happily which the inn keeper kept eyeing him incase he ran off with the bill. Kyle disappointed him when he paid the full amount and got strange looks from the other customers. He then told the little guy to go back and play with the other kids as he went back to the practice arena. He had come up with an idea of getting more money but he needed to be sure first. So, he continued training till he was sure no hidden dragon would suddenly appear and fluster him.