Kapitel 36: I Want It Because It Almost Killed Me

It was truly a sight to behold as the rest began laughing. Just as the laughter died down Nyasha spoke. "I know of a way that you can meet General Maka."

Taku's eyes immediately lit up when he heard this. "There is a mission that was posted. You know that apart from invaders we also face the threat of demonic beasts. Some of our cities are built right in the middle of demonic beast wastelands, and they are victims of beast hordes. There is a small city not far from here and they have been fending off a beast horde for the last week or so. The mission is to go give supplies to this city.

There are going to be three supply teams. One is going to leave a week from now, the other is going to leave a week after that one as well, and the last one will be in the third week. According to analysts three weeks from now is when the horde is going to issue a full-force attack on the City and the amount of tier 2 and tier 3 will number in thousands. No red or bronze-ranked team is willing to take this risk since the first two slots have already been filled.

This mission was specifically posted for teams in this town since it is only 4 days away from the city. There are mostly red-ranked teams in this city and none of them is willing to risk their lives and take the last supply mission. The city is called Bindura, it's a tiny city and the person who put up this mission was none other than the person you are looking for."

Taku knew that this was a great opportunity to meet up with Maka, but he could not disregard the danger that the mission brought. "How are we going to get into the city if they are being attacked by the beasts? Won't we get killed before we even reach the city?"

"No, we won't," Nyasha replied. "The other reason why this mission is specifically for teams in this town is that there are underground tunnels that lead straight to Bindura. The tunnels are filled with mutated rats, but it is a lot safer than using the main road to get there. Even though this mission is a bit dangerous since we will be going there when the situation reaches its climax, it's still a good opportunity not just to temper ourselves but also this mission is worth eight thousand contribution points and an additional ten thousand gold coins. So I suggest that we take it."

Taku obviously wanted to take up the mission but he was not sure that his teammates would agree. Since Nyasha was willing he looked towards the other two for confirmation. Tadi just nodded her head in approval, whilst Ranga opened his mouth. "This King will only help you this one time. I am afraid that if I let you children go alone then you might actually die. Without this King, there would be no surviving."

No one paid any attention to him as they all looked towards Tino. He just shrugged his shoulders and mumbled "Whatever." before continuing to eat. The rest just smiled and Taku used his token and accepted the mission. The full details of the mission were then provided to them. Their mission was to take the food supplies to Bindura. The first two supply teams were carrying either medicine or weapons. After a period of silence, Tadi spoke. "You guys did not go through the two years of training after you graduated from the Foot Guard, so I am guessing that you don't have a specialized weapon that you use. I suggest that the both of you guys take this time to go to a training hall and learn something in the next three weeks."

Both Taku and Tino nodded. Even though they had used spears before, it was just them swinging them around. After Tino finished eating, the group travelled to the nearest base, then they went to take a bath, and afterwards, they set out to search for a training hall. Taku had told Shumba to stay behind because he really did not want anyone to cause trouble with him because of this Beast. The team agreed that after they learned a bit about their respective weapons the two should buy spirit weapons to use afterward.

Spirit weapons were also ranked by tier. The lowest was a tier-one spirit weapon and the strongest was a tier 8 spirit weapon. Spirit weapons were weapons that developed a spirit in the process of it being created. The weapons that the rest of the team had were all tier 1 spirit weapons and were nothing really remarkable. The thing that irritated the most was that using gold coins to buy spirit weapons would cost them five thousand gold coins for one tier-one spirit weapon. So they had no choice but to use contribution points, which would cost them fifty contribution points for one.

What surprised everyone else was that Taku completely declined for them to buy him a weapon. The quartet were startled by this and all looked at Taku in shock. They could not wrap their minds around why he did not want a weapon, but they chose not to ask anymore after he reassured them that he had a good reason why he did not want a weapon.

The team found a training hall nearby and paid for two private teachers to attend Taku and Tino. Tino had chosen to use a spear, Taku on the other hand hesitated for a bit before choosing archery. He had seen how powerful archers were from his previous fight with the invaders. If it was not for the gauntlets that he had gotten from Tino he knew that his hands would have been crippled by that woman's fierce attack.

Tino went towards a room that was to their right as Taku was led to the back of the hall. When Taku entered the door he realized that it led into a garden that was riddled with a variety of flowers and trees. It was truly a sight to behold as he suddenly relaxed and entered a trance-like state as he looked around.

"Why do you want to learn archery?"

A deep voice sounded out as Taku snapped out of his trance-like state. He looked around and he saw that there was a middle-aged man with white hair sitting underneath a tree. The man seemed to perfectly blend in with nature, which shocked Taku. If it wasn't for the fact that the man spoke, Taku knew that he would not be able to notice. Taku regained his composure as he stared intently at the man. "I almost got killed by an archer."

The man Froze for a minute, clearly stunned by Taku's reply. He had been teaching archery at this hall for the last ten years after he retired from the army. He had heard a myriad of answers to his question, but this was the first time he heard such an answer. He was only shocked for a breath before regaining his wits. He turned his head and solemnly sized up Taku for a period of time before sighing to himself.

He quickly retrieved his bow and threw it towards Taku. He turned away and said, "Without using Zesa to supplement your power, you should freely pull the bowstring to its maximum length. Tell me when you are able to do that, that is when I will begin teaching you real archery."

Taku was a bit shocked by this. Wasn't it just pulling the string? How hard could it be? After trying to pull the string the first time he realized how naïve he was before. He calmed himself down and tried again, and again, and again, and again. By the time he had tried for the fiftieth time, he was still not able to pull the string at all.

He was shocked by beyond reason. What is this string made of? Every time he tried pulling the string he felt as if he was attempting to pull a giant boulder. Just as he was about to try again, the man suddenly spoke. "Not so easy now is it? You probably thought that it was easy and looked down upon the test right? I won't help you out on how to try to pull this string, in fact. "

The man suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of Taku. This suddenly caused Taku's eyes to go wide. The speed that the man possessed greatly shocked him, he did not imagine that people could be so fast. Seeing Taku's reaction the man smiled and spoke. "Don't be shocked by my speed. There are so many people who are way faster than I am. Although I will admit that seeing your expression makes me feel pleased."

Taku was flabbergasted by the man's words. What happened next shocked him even more. The man stood before him and looked as if he was just standing there doing nothing. But during that time Taku felt like his fingers were getting heavy. He quickly looked down and realized that there were rings on all of his fingers.

The rings were gold and thin, very thin, but at the moment he felt like the rings weighed a ton. He had no idea how the man managed to place the rings on his fingers. He felt a chill down his spine when he thought about the realm that the man had reached to have such speed. Taku was about to say something but was cut off by the man's words.

"Hey kid, would you like to be my disciple? If you agree I will impart all my archery skills to you. I am also a swordsman, what do you think?"

Taku froze when he heard this. "This old man is moving too fast!"

He could barely even pull the string after trying over fifty times. He could not help but think of what could've made this man want to take him as a disciple. Taku hesitated for a long time and just as he was about to reply the man spoke again.

"You don't need to make a decision now. Think about it for the next couple of days, or at least give me an answer after you have managed to pull the string of the bow."

Taku nodded and then the man disappeared from in front of him and reappeared again under the tree. "Those rings are weights I specifically made for training. I'm sure you know how heavy they are right now, they will make your training ten times harder, and also you are not allowed to take them off even after you leave, well you actually won't be able to take them off even if you tried. Continue your pulling for the next three hours, after that you can leave but be here tomorrow as early as possible."

Taku just nodded and continued to pull on the string. He wasn't surprised at all by the difficulty this time around. He was aware that it took all his strength to lift his fingers, so pulling the string was out of the question. His fingers were miserable for the next three hours and then he walked towards the man and handed the bow back to the middle-aged man.

"Don't tell anyone about me asking you to be my disciple." The man started. "But do think about it seriously."

Taku nodded and left. After he left the man's expression turned solemn as he sunk deep into thought. He sighed to himself and his lazy expression returned to his face, it was at this time that a voice rang out. "You are actually considering taking him as a disciple? What's so special about him anyway? He is weaker than most kids his age in terms of physical strength. Even though it is remarkable that he managed to sense zesa at his age, there are still one or two people like that who are better than him. So why him?"

The middle-aged man just smiled and spoke whilst looking down at his bow. "You don't understand..."