Chương 7

The forest was quiet, until with a twang it wasn't. The arrow whistled and the rabbit couldn't react before it was speared through. I held the bow out, finishing the motion of the shot before I relaxed.

"I did it." The words escaped me as I noticed a new noise in my head. [10 XP] I'd gained XP. I'd never seen that before. My stat sheet even showed something new. Level 1 [10/100 XP]"You did." Mama said, proudly, dropping a hand over my shoulder and pulling me into a hug.

"Very nice shot."

"Thanks." We both walked up, staying quiet, using the tricks Mama had taught me, I stalked through the forest… Well I still made a ton of noise and wasn't perfect, but my efforts had been rewarded. With the Rabbit dead, I gained level ups for some skills. [Stealth Lv. 2 1/20] [Bows Lv. 2 1/20] Stalking and shooting a bow. The stealth was cool, but I really didn't have much interest in Bows. But still, this was a family tradition, so I learned. Could come in handy some day.

I shouldered the bow as I reached the Rabbit, and Mama knelt down, softly explaining what I had to do. Okay… Deep breath, and knife out. Skinning an animal was… Not something I was used to. But I could handle it. It was already dead, not doing it would mean that I wasted it's life. At least I got something from it. [Profession Learned: Skinning] So you know, that was nice. —-- I finished roasting the rabbit and pulled it off the fire.

The stick I'd jammed through it was a bit messy, but this was a learning experience for me. Mama had told me how to do it, and then just left me to try. The first bite was… I pouted and Mama started laughing at me, as I reached over and put it back on the fire. Yep. Gonna need to get a cooking skill at this rate, I don't think I was very good at it.

"Leave it on for a while longer, a camp fire always takes longer than you'd think." Mama told me, as she ate her own meal for the night.

"How long are we going to stay out here?" I asked, and Mama sent me a look as she chewed on her own rabbit, which was much crispier looking than mine. Dangit, I should have just followed what she had done with the scoring lines.

"Does my little Ranger not want to be out here with her Mama?"

"I didn't say that. It's fun." I denied, and it was. I wanted to go explore the world. While I had no interest in being a Ranger, these were all skills I needed to have. Sure I could make food and water, but knowing how to find it or hunt it was still an excellent backup skill.

"A while longer." Was all she said after taking another bite and chewing it slowly. So I just huffed at her, whatever. I stared at my own food and grinned.

"Does that mean I can practice some spells?" I asked, and Mama rolled her eyes. My spell habit had become a bit of a thing in the household. While both of my parents loved that I was so active in practicing something so important…

"Yes, you can, as long as it won't start a fire, or an explosion, or make a huge amount of noise, or-""Nope!" I countered, and reached into my bag. The piece of paper I had earned for weeding an entire yard. It was a secret spell known only to Miss Kal'Etor. I suspected she had either made it herself, or learned it in the capital. I read through the instructions, to refresh myself. I'd checked them out when I first finished the quest, but hadn't had time to learn it since then.

Hiking through the woods wasn't a good time to learn new spells after all. I grabbed my waterskin, something Mama had made sure I had filled up all the time, and popped the top. Closing my eyes I drew on the mana, even so far from the Sunwell, it was still flooding over the entire area. Then as I waved my fingers, letting the mana flow a certain way, a twist, and a draw, and… The water spilled out over the floor.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Mama asked, curiously, but I noticed doing her best to not sound mean about it.

"Nope! I flubbed it. I'll try again." I offered, and did just that, getting back to work. A few more fumbles, and finally with a twist, the water that pulled from the waterskin flowed out, and suddenly shifted, changed, and then with a soft little crack of ice. The water hardened.

"Instant Icecube!" I declared showing off the little circular ice cube, then with a shrug I pushed it into the wineskin.

"Isn't that… What's her name?"

"Kal'Etor."

"Her. That's her spell. She uses it at her little bar."

"Yep! I completed a quest to finally get it! Took forever for me to wear her down. She didn't want to share." Mama's lips twitched.

"My little Rogue, haggling down even the famous Kal'Etor." She replied and I grinned at her, until I noticed it.

"Oh no! My Rabbit!" I squeaked, reaching for it and pulling it from the fire and blowing it out as it had caught a bit aflame.

"Mhmm. Gotta watch that."

"You didn't warn me?"

"Can't. You have to learn not to ignore cooking food or you don't eat." She replied gently, and I pouted as I looked at the very burnt Rabbit. Oh well. —-- Mama pointed and I nodded, a much harder target, but that was what she told me she expected from me. We'd spent two weeks out here now, and every day was training and hunting. The animals I was expected to hunt changed, although I could and should still hunt for food, after the first week I was given targets. The first few I had managed without much trouble but…

I nocked the arrow and drew it back. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. My Bow skill had increased a lot over the last two weeks. Daily target practice, and actually using it on animals, along with Mama offering me real instruction had helped, but still… Shooting small birds was hard. I let my instincts guide me, and released.

The arrow cried out as it shot through the air, and my target reacted, but I had aimed not for where it was, but where it would be. The puff of feathers as the arrow finally struck true had me breath out a sigh of relief. [10 XP] That was my sixth attempt. Mama's warm hand landed on my shoulder as she was suddenly beside me.

"You did it." She said simply, pride practically exuding from every pore.

"Birds are hard."

"They are, but important. Messenger birds are common among some races, removing them and getting the message is a very important job of the Rangers."

"Gotcha." I nodded, although I pouted at her, and she just grinned all the more. Mama often mentioned how I should become a Ranger. No thanks!

"Make sure you get your target. Try to collect the feathers, I'll show you how to use them to fletch them to make arrows." She said happily and I stalled out because, so far I'd been using arrows she had made for me…

"You're going to make me make my own arrows now until they are good enough I can hunt with them… Aren't you?"

"My daughter is so cute, and so smart!" Mama crowed out happily and I watched her walk towards the downed bird… Noooooooo! —--- I loosed, and the 'arrow' if you could call it that went nearly sideways. I felt my face puff up as I just felt all the irritation.

"Aww, don't look so irritated." Mama said kneeling down and cuddling up to me, rubbing her cheek to mine.

"It's okay. You are still learning."

"That took forever, and it doesn't shoot straight!" I yelled, actually losing my temper a bit! I hadn't even earned an actual Fletching skill or anything, so I was doing this free hand, and it sucked! I'd had to find a straight stick, carve it, and make both the fletching and the arrow head. After all that work, and multiple straight up failures, I thought that one was okay.

"The fletching was a little off, and you made the arrowhead unbalanced. It's okay. I'll show you." She assured me, rubbing my hair a little as I was obviously upset. I just breathed in, and then let out a ragged breath.

"I should just make magic arrows. It'd be easier." I grumbled, and Mama chuffed out a laugh.

"That would be useful, a few Rangers can do it, but it's very difficult. Either way you should still know how to make arrows, in case you ever need to."

"I know." I said with a sigh. I took a moment to close my eyes and look at my character sheet. Sometimes when shit was going bad, I just needed to remind myself what I had done, and what I still needed to do. I'd gained an Agility Point with all the running around, putting me at 12, which was nice. My Bows were at Level 4, my highest combat skill. It was still tedious to train especially for a skill I didn't really care about, but that was fine.

Learning new things just meant more chances to raise stats, and max skills and get more out of it. It was just super annoying to work on something only for it to fail. I was probably a little too trained towards being rewarded for my efforts instantly. I took a breath and let it out.

"Okay, let's do the next one."

"That's my girl." —-- I breathed out, and loosed. The arrow flew… Mostly straight, and hit the archery target.

"Better." Mama said, and then I was scooped up earning a startled yelp as she spun me around.

"You're so amazing!" She cheered and I just couldn't stop the delighted giggles as she swung me around.

"Mama!"

"You are growing up so fast. Slow down for me okay? Stay this small forever."

"But I can't go on adventures if I stay this small!" I argued, and Mama just grinned and hugged me tighter.

"Arrows are hard." I finally admitted as she put me down and she seemed utterly amused at my words.

"They are, but you are picking it up so fast."

"Yeah well." I demurred, as I looked at the mess of broken arrows that I'd been working on. It didn't feel like I was picking it up quickly. But with this last arrow, I had finally gotten the Fletching Profession. [Profession Learned: Fletching] So at least this one was good enough to shoot, and I could start really improving from here.

"Well, you still have to do some hunting tonight, want to try that arrow, or want to try and make an even better one?" Mama asked, teasing me, and I groaned.

"I'll try to make a better one." I whispered, the arrow flew straight-ish, but not straight, and I didn't like my odds of missing my dinner if it flubbed. —-- We were hunting something more dangerous this time, and Mama was very serious about the dangers. Boar. For once she had an arrow in her hands in case something went wrong, but she was still following behind me, expecting me to handle it. I followed the tracks in the dirt.

Boars at least were easy to track, they left a mess in their path digging and ripping up the ground where they went. We stalked along, and I couldn't help but notice that my movement through the forest was quieter. My feet more sure. While I hadn't really been interested in the archery aspects of the little trip we'd done, I couldn't deny that it had paid dividends to some of my skills. The experience alone meant I was just that much closer to really going on an adventure and seeing the world.

Shaking my head for a moment to get rid of the distracting thoughts I focused on the goal. If we took out this pack of boars, then Mama said we'd go home after a feast. I very much liked both ideas. I wanted to go home and sleep in my bed, and take a bath, and also, a bunch of food sounded awesome. My ears twitched, they often just got in the way, but they were good for some things. I stopped, then started again moving even slower. Carefully watching every step as I approached the sound of ruffling.

Peering through some bushes I saw my quarry, a small family of hogs. One big guy, a smaller female, and three smaller hogs, but they were all big to me. I glanced to Mama and she nodded. This was my show. Rangers were often hired to clear out wildlife that was causing trouble. So she wanted to see if I could do this. This could be trouble, for one, I only had a child sized bow, and these Boars were pretty big. Could I put enough Arrows into them to finish them faster than they would attack?

I made to pull my arrow back, if I took out the big one first that would be best, but then stopped. There was no chance I was going to be able to take out this many boars like this, I just wasn't that good with a bow, so why was I trying it? I had magic. I should use it. Reaching down I picked up a rock. I felt Mama leaning in wondering what I was doing, so I sent her a smile and a finger to my lips, before I got started. Timer, timer, timer, timer, timer, timer, timer, timer, timer, timer.

That should do that, and now. Just tie a few more spells to the same rock. Tying the Timer to another spell was a bit tricky, but I had mastered both spell formula. Timer, light, timer, light, timer, light, timer, light, timer, light. Hold the rock very carefully, as something as mundane as a rock did not like having so many spells concentrated on it. I looked at Mama who was watching me curiously.

"Cover your ears, try not to look straight at it." I whispered to Mama as quietly as I could as I tossed the rock. As it was in the air I pulled my bow back. Aim the biggest one… Fire. I wasn't sure if I hit where I wanted. I wasn't sure of much because about half a second later the entire clearing exploded in light and sound, but my eyes were shut. The noise of the timer exploded, and the light went off, a strobing effect making the bright white light even worse.

It flickered across my eyelids as I resisted looking. I kept my eyes closed, and just did my best to ignore the noise as I grabbed another arrow and only when the noise stopped did I open them. Bow raised. The boars were freaking out dazed and confused, some of them were on their side twitching.

The arrow flew, the biggest boar was still up, but the arrow had definitely pissed him off, the second, and then third arrow struck true, and he slumped, unable to fight against that level of damage along with just how confusing everything had just been for him. The others fell in sequence, arrow after arrow going out, until I was out of arrows and they were hopefully either dead or dying. I waited breathing heavily from the motion of firing so much and things just went quiet for a time.

The twang of another arrow startled me as Mama had stood up and fired, her arrow puncturing straight through the skull of the large female.

"It was still alive, best to put it out of its misery… My daughter, my little Light… I'm so proud of you." Mama said then, and to my surprise, she didn't hug me, or anything like that. She offered me a salute, the ranger salute, that we often gave to each other, which was mostly just me being cute. I returned it, and Mama broke into one of the proudest smiles I've ever seen on her face.

"Come Alah'Dorah, let's clean your kills, and prepare for a feast tonight." Mama demanded, and I followed at her heels, to my surprise she didn't just make me do all the work, but instead we worked together cleaning the kills and skinning and butchering the boar family. While I felt into that I couldn't help but keep glancing at my character sheet. Each Boar had been worth 20 XP, instead of 10 like normal animals. Level 2 [80/200 XP] Stats Gained! Strength +1. Agility +1. Stamina +1. Intellect +1. Spirit +1.

Strength 11 Agility 13 Stamina 14 +1 Intellect 9 +30 Spirit 10 +6 My level up spread for stats was one for everything! And it wasn't even that much experience extra per level. At least for now. I hope that wasn't an exponential increase. If the next level took 400 XP, that would start to suck very quickly. I shook it off and focused on skinning and butchering. Gonna have lots of food tonight! —--- I got used to the new rhythm of things.

Wake up, prepare arrows, eat whatever I had left from the hunt the night before if possible. Do some target practice to warm up, and then wander into the woods with Mama shadowing me, although she had taken a different role as we went.

"See these?"

"Deer?"

"Mhmm." She agreed, but didn't move on, so I looked again at the tracks. Something I was missing, something I was missing…

"Dog, I mean wolf tracks."

"We aren't the only ones tracking something, yes. Wolves are needed but can be dangerous, we will let both of these go." She explained, and I nodded as we moved off the tracks. Right, don't just kill every animal I come across. The ecosystem still needed to be kept stable. I glanced into the trees, eyes narrowed. You get to live this time squirrel. It looked back at me, no doubt plotting my downfall. What a small creature yet infinitely evil. Probably an agent of the Burning Legion!

In the end we bagged another Rabbit, for each of us, and headed back to camp. A smile on my face as this honestly was pretty fun. It had been rough at first needing to learn all the new skills, but now that I could make an arrow that actually worked, could shoot a bow, could hunt and track, could skin and prepare? It wasn't so bad. The moment we settled into camp and started cooking Mama spoke.

"We'll head back in the morning."

"What? Really? I thought we would be out here for even longer.'

"You've already finished the training. You still have more to learn, but you always will. I'm proud of you daughter. You are a Ranger of the Woods. Your training is complete." I blinked… Wait…

"What?"

"Haven't figured it out? This is our family tradition for training. You passed. As of now, you have all the skills of a Novice Ranger. Congratulations, my Daughter. I didn't expect you to succeed so quickly." Mama said, smiling like a proud Mama… What? But I didn't want to be a Ranger. I wanted to be a Paladin, Knight, Mage! This was terrible!