Today I'm going to teach Natasha a thing or two. So I brought her with me in a mission to kill wolves. And now we're in a forest.
Natasha is wearing better equipment compared to before when I found her in the dungeon. Now that she has returned to her family, she has a lot of money. Or maybe she doesn't spend any money at all.
"Wait. You only have a bow and dozens of arrows? What about knives or daggers?" I ask.
"Why would I need them? I only have a talent in archery," she says.
"How did you get proofs of subjugation whenever you take missions in the past? Cutting the parts using the tip of the arrow? Just because you have a talent in one thing doesn't mean you can ignore everything else. At least don't be stupid. Of course if you have a teammate you can trust it will be fine. But remember what your old teammate wanted of you? If he wasn't poisoned he would have assaulted you already over there," I remind her of the man who targeted her body.
We're already in a forest so I just lend her one of my knives. It's good for dismantling monsters and good enough for self-defense.
"I'll lure the wolves and you will shoot them. One arrow one kill. And reload as fast as possible," I say.
As I said, I lure some wolves. And while avoiding the wolves, Natasha will shoot arrows and kill the wolves. But it's not at a satisfying level.
Some wolves needed to be killed with two or even three arrows. She was too slow to reload the next arrow to her bow. And it took her a while to aim and shoot.
"Are you sure you have archery talent? Because you're too slow," I ask.
"Of course I do! I just… never trained at all before," she says shyly.
"Now that's just stupid! Talent is nothing without effort and skills! Instead of improving yourself you just hoped that you can become good by practicing in the real life situation because you have a talent? That's enough of wolves. You're going to shoot at a target practice the whole day today. Now that I'm your teacher you will do as I say."
And so, no matter how much she complained, I made her shoot her arrows until she can hit bullseye from far away. Now she should be able to kill a wolf in a single shot as long as she knows where to shoot.
I didn't teach her every day. I left for my own journey to get rare items using knowledge from the game. But I didn't go to faraway places. Only nearby so I can still teach Natasha because his father is relying on me to train her.
Once she can shoot at a target from distance, I increased the difficulty.
"Now, there are three targets. Nock three arrows to the bow and shoot them all at once," I say.
"Shooting three arrows at the same time? That's impossible!" Natasha complains.
"Why? You have a talent in archery. Why do you stick with common sense? Just believe that your talent will help you gain the skills you put so much effort in. Look at me? I only have one talent but that's enough for me to move fast and stick myself to a vertical wall. Weird, right? But I can do it because I have the talent, the imagination, the creativity, and I put a lot of effort to make it happen," I explain.
"By the way, what's your talent?"
"Slip magic talent."
After I answer that question, she was silent for a few seconds. Her expression makes it clear that she doesn't believe me.
"…You're lying. Slip magic doesn't make you stick yourself to the wall," she says.
"It's because of my imagination and my knowledge that I can even think of using it that way. Slip magic is simply a magic to manipulate friction. You lower the level of friction on someone or something and make them slip. Or slide to be exact. So if I use it in reverse, I should be able to increase the level of friction on myself and the wall to make myself stick to the wall. So, I lower friction to increase my speed and I increase friction to stick myself to the wall. This is why you shouldn't stick with common sense especially on things you have a talent in. All I'm teaching you is not skills you should learn as an archer. But it's a mindset for you to think of a new way to exploit your talent even more. It's just for now though. So, do as I say!"
She knows what I can do so she trusts me. It only took her a few hours to hit all three targets at once. That's talent.
"There are many ways to use your talent and you need imagination. But it's just for ranged attack. For close combat, we will spar whenever I teach you from now. As an idea, I suggest you put on some really small and hidden bow on your wrist so you can shoot a small arrow to your opponent if they're too close for you to use your normal bow. And you can also add some things related or maybe even unrelated to archery. Like making a special arrow attached to a rope, an arrow that will explode, or whatever kind of arrow it is. Maybe you can learn earth magic to create arrow out of rock in case you're out of arrows. You can train shooting while moving and try other things. That will be up to you. From now I'll just spar with you to see how you will react in combat," I say.
Now that she should have the right mindset so she can think of what else she can improve, it's time for close combat.
Although that's what I said, right when we start our first sparring session, I shoot a light Wind Bullet at her using the slingshot from a distance before getting close to her and put my sword on her neck.
"I thought it's going to be a close combat! You shoot at me from distance!" she complains.
"Treat this as a real battle. The first thing you need to do is to put yourself at an advantage. If you're good with ranged attacks, you should get some distance and shoot at your opponent. You lose the first round. Let's go to the second round!"
Although I told her to have a knife at least, she got herself a nice short sword instead. She also has a knife but for close combat she's going to use short sword.
Again, I didn't teach her every day. But whenever I return to teach her something, she used something new. Like the small bow she attached on her wrist for a surprise attack. She's good.
Well, all I know is just self-taught anyway. So I told her to get a real veteran to teach her a thing or two before I finish my training with her.
It's also good for me because I have a sparring partner to see how much I have improved in other areas.
It has been a year since I met Natasha and she has improved a lot. Maybe if I make a party in the future I will ask her to join.
"There's nothing else I can teach you. You should train by yourself a lot. I think that's all. I'm going to another country," I say.
"…Miro, thank you very much for everything. I even reached B-Rank as an adventurer. Though you're still a D-rank I know that I'm still nowhere at the level of beating you. Slip magic is so much of a cheat. Anyway, what did you do for you to leave many times without increasing your rank?" she asks.
"Many things," I reply simply.
All I did was to see as many things as possible in this world that is similar or the exact same thing to the game. I did grab some rare items I found but that's not important. Though I have smoked a lot and I even bought and given mana increasing elixir from Gunnar as a reward for teaching Natasha so I have a lot of mana. But I still smoke.
Now, I have more than enough mana for me to use slip magic to travel for a whole day. I think that's about the same capacity as those experts at magic. Maybe I'm at that level. But that's just for slip magic.
"Once again, thank you very much. Natasha has grown stronger and she has helped the company a lot with her skills. It's all because of you. As promised, I will prepare fifty packs of red grass cigarette for you only. You can get them at any company related to me as long as you show them that you're a VIP member. My business has grown so much thanks to you but I think this is too little of a reward for you," Gunnar says.
I'm now in his place receiving three packs of cigarette. I told him about the effect of red grass and he said that it's too little for anyone to notice the effect instantly and it won't sell well but he said he will make some exclusively for me. That's nice.
"Thank you. Being a VIP member will be helpful for me in the future. Anyway, it's time for me to leave. I'll see you again someday."
And that's the day I left Emerald City. Getting connection with one of the biggest merchant in the world is great. I can get things I need more easily now as long as I get in contact with Gunnar.
My Storage Ring now has a lot of items inside. But there are still a lot of spaces left. I won't fill them with cigarettes so I told Gunnar to not make too many of them. And now I have stopped smoking as much as before. Fifty was too much after all. But I limit myself to at least five a day. That means one extra basic slip magic every ten days at minimum.
Well, let's go to the next journey. One year has passed since I became an adventurer and it's two more years until the main story starts. I still need to get stronger.