<strong>Third training ground, World Training Center;</strong>
"Ha"
A collective sound was heard at a section in the training ground. There were like thirty-odd people around here.
"Don't swing half-heartedly. Do it with full force." Neal was walking back and forth while keeping an eye on the cadets. Contrary to his gentle appearance, his voice sounds like a tough military instructor. His face was also devoid of expression like Azzy's except that the latter's a natural one while the former is a well-trained one.
Because of Lt. Commander Hailey's recommendation, Azzy and Claire got a promotion directly to fourth-tier without going for any test and now joined this group as the new members.
With Captain Myron refusing to stay as instructor anymore, Neal stepped forward. While he was looking forward to mentoring Azzy and Claire, his primary intention is to take a break from continuous missions.
And so, Azzy was ended up in the same space as Neal.
Meanwhile, Claire went into depression as she found out that the schedule for the Fourth tier cadets is even tighter than at the academy.
Their daily training starts at 5 o'clock in the morning with trekking on a hill while wearing 500 kg of weights, then, 30 min breakfast time, after that, two hours of sword training, two hours of Archery training, then, a 60 min lunch break, after that, two hours of Spear training, two hours of hand to hand combat, a 30-minute break to relax, then, four hours of modern weapons training, a 60-minute dinner break, and finally, the day ends with an hour of meditating in the gravity chambers.
Well, this is Azzy and Claire's timetable as they chose Sword, Bow, and Spear as their weapon choices. But, still, the training time is the same for every cadet in the third stage.
In all, the cadets get only 6 hours of sleep. If that wasn't enough, they can only rest during break time. Most of them, who are swinging the sword along with Azzy and Claire, were stuck as cadets for at least a year by now. So, they were used to it.
Claire also doesn't have an issue following it but it was just out of her expectations. She thought she would get to spend enough time with her boyfriend but it seems it unlikely to happen.
The only good thing that came out of this training phase apart from getting her stronger is that there are no potential love rivals in this organization who will give her stress. It's majorly because Azzy is the youngest person to be recruited as a cadet in Special Forces.
The others are mature adults who will see Azzy as a talented person but won't attract him romantically unless they are pedophiles. Even someone becomes interested, no one here has the time to engage in a normal conversation much less flirt.
Back to the training grounds, Azzy and others swung a heavy wooden sword a little more than 1000 times in the two hours.
Once it was over, Neal blow the whistle, and said, "Everyone, attention."
All of the cadets stopped swinging and stood straight. Azzy and Claire followed the suit.
At the same time, in another section, not so far away from them, another twenty-odd people who were thrusting forward with wooden sabers also stopped their training.
Standing somewhere between the two groups, Neal spoke, "Proceed with your next training."
Leaving the weapons on the ground, over sixty cadets, still stuck on the third stage, split into two groups once again.
Except for sixteen cadets, everyone just followed to the section where different types of maces and hammers were placed.
Archery isn't that popular in WAMO considering it needs extreme concentration and too much of a hassle. On top of that, rifles are better than bows for a majority. So, cadets would usually change their weapon of choice in the midway. Only a few people who like archery would stick to it.
Azzy, Claire, and the remaining 14 followed to the Archery section.
"So, you two are those genius kids from Northern Qudour?" A blonde-haired man initiated the conversation with the two of them on the way. He, as the two of them, is an Arcana Master of Elite realm.
Azzy and Claire stopped in their tracks for a second and looked towards him.
The man introduced himself as Gerald and hails from the same country as them.
There are over 40 million people living in Northern Qudour. Is that big of a deal to meet a fellow countryman? Moreover, he was raised at Southern Qudour while his forefathers' place is at Freyles. Meanwhile, Claire was from Triastal. So, for both of them, the man holds no importance to have a chat.
As a result, Azzy simply listened to his introduction and nodded before continuing to walk forward.
Gerald, on the other hand, doesn't seem like he intended to leave them alone. It might only be a day but the rumors do spread very fast.
Before they even joined the third day, he had already heard about the two of them. And he doesn't want to waste such an opportunity to make friendship with Azzy and Claire, as for the age difference, it can go down the drain as long as gets to be acquainted.
In the archery section, everyone was ready with their respective bow and quiver full of arrows.
Gerald took the next spot to Azzy. On the other side, naturally, Claire was standing.
"Are you a beginner at Archery?" Gerald asked Azzy as the latter forgot to keep a finger above the arrow for stability. Right now, he was just grabbing the bow and the arrowhead was above his hand.
Without answering his question, he drags the string and released the arrow.
*Swoosh*
Without any surprises, the arrow hits a five-pointer.
"Woah, that was fast." Gerald was surprised by the speed of his arrow.
With a fraction of a second behind his, Claire also shoots the arrow, which lands on the 8 pointer circle.
"Hmm?" Azzy looked at her result and then, his. "Maybe, I don't have talent?"
"You forgot about the index figure." The Reaper's voice was heard in his head, right away.
It was then Azzy realized his mistake. This time, he grabbed the bow and placed the arrow in the correct position before releasing it.
*Swoosh*
The arrow cuts through the air and strikes on 9 pointer circle, almost near to the edge of the innermost circle.
"See, you can do it." The Reaper said to him.
"Seriously?" Gerald's eyes popped out in shock. The target was nearly 100 meters away. It isn't strange that a rank-5 expert like Azzy struck the target but hit a nine-pointer? He wondered whether it is luck or something.
*Swoosh*
Azzy's third arrow flew towards the target and struck the 9 pointer circle, again.
"You are also skilled at Archery, aren't you?" Gerald asked him in surprise. To now, he has yet to shoot an arrow. "No wonder you choose this weapon."
This time, Azzy responded to him. He turned his head and said, "This is the first time I touched a bow."
"Huh! It's your first time?" The guy just stared at Azzy. He clearly didn't believe it.
Azzy continued to shoot the arrows. Claire is also doing the same.
After a while, the quiver was empty. Azzy walked forward towards the target and started to pick up the arrows from the target. A few moments later, Claire was also done emptying her quiver.
When she reached the target, Azzy was still picking up the arrows. An idea popped into her mind.
"Rael, how about making this practice more fun?" She said to him.
"Hmm?" Azzy looked at her.
Claire proposed a match of thirty arrows. The one who loses must listen to the three demands of the winner.
"You are on." Azzy accepted it.
One after another, the arrows were hitting around 8 and 9 pointers, earning a nod from the Reaper, followed by a piece of advice.
"Good job, Azrael. You are getting hang of it. All you need is to improve your concentration. Don't think of the arrow as simply an arrow. Think of the bow as your extension and the arrows as your energy spears. And your aim should be the center of the target. Think of the target like a bird or a fish and the center is its eye."
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦