Chapter 23: Archery, Carly's Talent

Lucien sighed lightly and quickened his pace to remove the beak of the half-roasted Crow from its bloodied state and placed it into his own satchel.

He realized that he might have been taking things for granted.

Perhaps the Crow was a weaker kind of monster, but it was not suitable for Carly at this stage, who had mastered only a single Zero-level Witchcraft spell. The opponent he had chosen for Carly was akin to, in a game, forcing a player who had just entered the game and had not yet fully understood the controls to face the boss of the newbie village directly.

Failure was to be expected.

With this thought, Lucien couldn't help but glance at Carly, who was hanging her head as if waiting for his criticism.

After some hesitation, Lucien reached out to rub her head. "It's okay, the opponent I chose for you was somewhat challenging. Failing the first time is normal."

"No!" What Lucien hadn't expected was that Carly, this time, mustered her courage and dodged away from Lucien's hand by crouching down slightly. Then, she slightly raised her head, looking at Lucien with a stubborn look in her eyes.

"Wizard Lucien... I, I want to try again!" Carly's eyes were resolute, understanding that Lucien's words just now were meant to comfort her, since he himself had effortlessly killed a Crow earlier, while she had encountered an accident.

Moreover, the accident was entirely due to her own mistake!

Carly's hand clenched slightly.

If Wizard Lucien could do it so easily, as a student, she should also strive to catch up to Wizard Lucien's footsteps!

In that moment, Carly felt her body brimming with strength.

As Lucien watched Carly, who seemed to be ignited with passion, he was tempted to admit that he had "cheated" for impact earlier, but when he saw Carly's resolute eyes, he chose to remain silent.

After all, if Carly could really complete the Crow hunting task with the usage of Blazing Technique alone, her understanding of the Blazing Technique would definitely be proficient enough to graduate.

This would also be a valuable promotion for Carly.

With this in mind, Lucien looked at Carly, who was also looking at him very seriously.

"Alright," Lucien nodded slowly.

"Thank you, Wizard!" Carly beamed, her smile pure.

Lucien silently glanced at the panel, only to discover that Carly's panel had a new tutorial hint awaiting unlocking, which required a full ten points of reverence to unlock.

"To think that even practical lessons could drop tutorial hints." Lucien felt a stirring of interest, but without any hesitation, he unlocked the tutorial hint.

[Tutorial Hint]: Get a bow and arrow and have Carly try to combine it with witchcraft.

A bow and arrow?

Lucien was taken aback; he had not expected the tutorial hint to be this.

But on second thought, it made some sense.

After all, Carly's spiritual power was quite weak, and it would be difficult for her to perform attacks using spiritual power alone as a propelling force like he could. However, if they provided Carly with an external object to assist her, perhaps it could have an unexpectedly effective result.

Thinking this, Lucien looked at Carly, ready to move forward, extended his hand to press down on her head, and then forcefully turned her in a new direction.

"Wizard Lucien?" Carly was somewhat bewildered and a bit anxious, fearing that Wizard Lucien had changed his mind.

"Training this intensely won't have much effect," Lucien smiled as he gently rearranged a few stray hairs beside Carly's ear. "Come on, let's head back to the academy for a bit. I've thought of a method that might be of great help to you."

Carly was initially startled, but a brilliant smile quickly spread across her face. "Mhm, thank you, Mentor!"

...

"Try this," Lucien handed a lightweight wooden hunting bow to Carly on the training ground.

"Mentor?" Carly looked at the bow and arrows handed to her, somewhat at a loss.

"Your spiritual power is naturally weaker, so when you use it for precise operations, it's more likely to slip up," Lucien explained, looking at Carly. "The method I thought of is to let something else take over some of the work of the spiritual power, like a bow and arrow."

"Think about it. If you can imbue the Blazing Technique onto the arrow, and then use the force of the bow and arrow to replace the boost and aim of spiritual power, it should have the same effect..." Lucien patiently explained his idea, but Carly's face showed a troubled expression.

"But, but I've never used a bow and arrow before..." Carly said in a small voice.

"Just give it a try, and if it doesn't work, we'll think of something else," Lucien was startled, but he felt the game's prompts shouldn't be wrong.

"Let me teach you the basics of archery." Lucien pulled back the lightweight hunting bow, took a brief aim, and the arrow flew out, missing the target perfectly.

"It's roughly like this," Lucien said, rubbing his nose with a hint of embarrassment, as he handed the bow and arrows to Carly.

Carly gently drew the bow and instinctively let an arrow fly.

"Not bad..." Lucien started to offer praise, but the next moment, he opened his mouth in surprise.

Because the arrow Carly had casually shot hit the bullseye of a target twenty meters away with unerring accuracy.

Lucien blinked.

"Try a few more times," he handed a bunch of arrows to Carly.

Carly also seemed a bit bewildered at this time. She didn't aim as Lucien did, just drew the bow and shot, firing five or six arrows successively. Except for two that missed due to mishandling, the rest of the arrows, even the worst, hit around the six or seven rings on the target.

Lucien took a deep breath.

Talent!

He looked at Carly, and at this moment, only this word could explain her talent in archery.

"Amazing!" Lucien gave a thumbs-up, looking at Carly who still seemed a little lost. "You're definitely a genius when it comes to archery!"

Hearing Lucien's compliment, Carly's face turned crimson. She bowed her head, looking exceptionally shy. "No... I, I just feel it's like..."

"No." Lucien, however, looked at Carly, "I think you should fully utilize your strengths. But to combine the Blazing Technique with archery, I feel we need to readjust the structure of the Blazing Technique to better match the bow. Carly, trust me, once you combine archery with witchcraft, you'll be no weaker than other wizards, maybe even stronger."

After a pause, Lucien said with a smile, "Even in this aspect, you might be better than me."

Carly nodded emphatically, her face still flushed.

[Your student Carly's admiration for you has increased, Admiration Points +20]