Stupid is what stupid does

Harrison was still contemplating in his makeshift new home not knowing he was a guinea pig for an epic conspiracy of multidimensional proportions. This was as far as he was concerned no concern of his. His main concern was raising his stats as fast as he can and staying alive.

He was in this world for less than a day and he has already seen 8 dead corpses which gave him a feeling was more than he ever saw in person.

After deliberating his options he decided on archery as the next skill. He had a bow and plenty of arrows and since if he had to stay here for a long time he would run out of food he better learn how to hunt. Archery was the only reasonably safe way to hunt besides trapping the prey.

He left his cave and went into the woods where he found a tree the width of his torso. Using trusty dagger he carved tree circles on it which looked more like rectangles with a center point. The circles were at different heights so he could practice on targets at different angles. One was above his head, one where his torso was located and the last one was at the base of the tree.

As he walked approximately 20 meters away from the targets, he checked the two bows in his inventory and they were the same.

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Item name: Common wooden short bow

Quality: Low

Durability: 9/10

Damage: undetermined (depends on speed, shape and mass of the projectile)

Special effects: none

Description: A wooden bow product of a novice bowyer.

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'How come all the gear I picked up was made by novices and of low quality. Either the system is really strict with its assessment or this world is full of quack craftsmen.', he mumbled as he transferred it out of his inventory.

He checked the arrows next.

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Item name: Common wooden arrow with iron head

Quality: Low

Durability: 9/10

Damage: 0-4

Special effects: none

Description: A wooden arrow with an iron head product of a novice fletcher.

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In his left hand he held the bow and while he took a quiver and 20 arrows out of his inventory and before he fastened it on his back, it was already sinking under the weight of the bow. He could not hold it straight for more than 5 seconds before his arm started shaking and gravity pulled it down.

He gritted his teeth and somehow managed to pull the string back and let loose an arrow which unceremoniously fell down at half the distance to the target.

Sighing, he walked and picked it up and repeated the action missing the tree by half a meter 10 meters away from it.

'If I was hunting barns, this would be acceptable. Those I could probably hit.', he mused in his thoughts.

He repeated shooting a couple of more times and his arms were getting sore. Finally, after the third time he hit the tree, he received a pop-up message.

Archery skill unlocked.

Archery skill LVL. 1 acquired.

Bonus Strength +1

Bonus Perception +1

"Wow. I received a new stat and bonus strength.", he exclaimed with joy.

The bow string was a bit easier to draw and he could hold it steady a bit longer but his accuracy was still abysmal as he shot 7 more arrows.

Archery skill LVL. 2 acquired.

He picked up the arrows which were everywhere around the tree just not embedded in it. The speed they were moving with was too slow to penetrate the bark. Some even bounced back 2 meters from the tree.

He decided to stand 3 meters away from the tree next and just shoot and shoot until his muscles give in. He shot ten arrows had a pause then shot another ten. He kept repeating this cycle and soon.

Archery skill LVL. 3 acquired.

and

Archery skill LVL. 4 acquired.

Popped up.

Out of nowhere even an extra pop-up came.

Bonus strength +1

He repeated his routine for two more times as darkness started to surround him. The sun was going down. He looked at the arrows and decided this will be the last round. He picked them up and put them in his quiver and started to fire away. After half of his third repetition he finally got the pop-up he was waiting for,

Archery skill LVL. 5 acquired.

Bonus Strength +1

Bonus Perception +1

He smiled and took another arrow and pulled it with all his might. He let it go, and it made a whoosh sound as it hit the dead center of the middle circle and bounced from the wood and hit him in the knee. It hurt like hell but the arrow did not manage to penetrate the leather pants he luckily wore.

'Damn I was lucky I am so weak. I almost got an arrow to my knee due to my stupidity. The would stop my adventuring days.', somehow this sentence popped up in his mind as he experienced the tingling of his knee and after he made sure he was ok.

He decided to call it quits for tonight and picked up the arrows and put them in the quiver. He returned to the cave and ate some bread with dried beefy meat lied down. His arms hurt so much he was not even remotely contemplating raising his masturbation level that evening.

As he covered himself up with the clothes, the wind picked up bringing icy cold into the cave. Luckily the effect was not so pronounced as deep as his sleeping corner was. It was still chilly though, and he decided he would make a wall tomorrow to cover part of the opening. As he contemplated the task, his eyelids slowly dropped, and he returned to the land of death.

'Ah crap I am here again,' he thought as he heard the by now familiar and sounds and smells of the ICU.

'Inventory', he decided to read the BOOK again immediately. It's not like he had any better things to do.

The inventory opened.

'Show books only.'

The number of boxes went from one hundred to four, and in them were four books. He looked at the second one, and it had a sword, and some rune text on it. The third one had a flower and the fourth one had just text.

He opened up the second one. He figured he might as well save the fun stuff for later.

There were some illustrations of sword moves and exercises with accompanying text. He clicked analyze and waited until it finished. He wanted to click on the read button but noticed there was a learn button below it.

He clicked it.

There was suddenly a simulation in his head of a mannequin doing the moves with the sword. It repeated a few moves a couple of times. He could hear pop-up notifications in the background while it was still performing the moves. Once it was done it closed by itself and he got a flood of information that caused a slight pain in his head.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Followed by:

Swordmanship skill unlocked.

Swordmanship skill LVL. 1 acquired.

Bonus Strength +1

Bonus Agility +1

Swordmanship skill LVL. 2 acquired.

Swordmanship skill LVL. 3 acquired.

Swordmanship skill LVL. 4 acquired.

He tried reading the book and saw that some of it had an overlay of translation over where the runic text was but most of it was still untranslated.

As he opened the other two and analyzed them both there was no learn button. As he pressed read he saw rows and rows of untranslated text with some words popping up here and there.

He went to the sword manual and noticed the analyze button was present again. He waited for another couple of minutes before the indicator finished. The learn button was back again.

The mannequin was dancing with the sword again and pop-ups were heard.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Insufficient data.

Swordmanship skill LVL. 5 acquired.

Bonus Strength +1

Bonus Agility +1

He checked the contents of the book and noticed some more words were translated.

'I guess it's learning the language by analyzing and comparing different books. I should get picture books for children with text somewhere since they seem to work best. Luckily I had the porn book and the sword manual to get me started.'

He analyzed and started reading the goat man's adventures again and soon the nurse came again and sent him into the oblivion.