NOVEL WEB How Did He Figure It Out?
He adjusts the stance, explaining how to shoot for the last ten minutes, and it doesn't work.
He repeats his demonstration too, and nothing.
What's odd is that he doesn't get pissed, rather, he can't believe he's unable to teach it.
"Noob, by any chance, aren't you left-handed?"
He runs his fingers through his beard.
How did he figure it out?
During the melee training, I insisted on holding the sword in my right which was a real struggle.
Yet, if most players will be right-handed, it's easier to mirror them.
"Could be, but I'm up for the challenge."
The response has him slap his forehead and look at the sky as if praying for a higher being.
These reactions convince me this guy's a real human posing as a trainer NPC, there's no way an AI can mimic these.
"For the love of all that's holy, why didn't you start with this?!"
Even the way he gets upset.
An artificial character couldn't do that, and Tank fumes and tears the bow out of my hands. He grabs my right.
"You have such an advantage and turn it into a handicap?"
"W-what do you mean, advantage?"
Regardless of all the ambidextrous tools, it was always hard to be a lefty.
At least people would give those looks, after seeing a page full of my writing, the letters smeared all over.
Things they would only experience while drawing.
"Most people are right-handed."
Tank states the obvious.
"They also train right-handed, against other right-handed people. When they see a lefty it confuses them, giving you a huge advantage. Sure, if you can use both hands, that's better, but you can't."
"Wait, wouldn't fighting with the left be a handicap?"
It's not that I have experience, and he shakes his head and pushes the bow into my right.
Was all that struggle for nothing?
It's obvious how the weapon sits better with the right leg forward.
"No, and if you didn't know that, why not ask me?"
Tank adjusts the mirrored stance, twisting the hips and raising the arm.
"You might be less hopeless this way. While holding a sword in your right as a lefty has merits, it makes no sense with the bow."
"Fine, tho it won't make much difference."
The left stretches the string, and it already feels easier.
Is it that much stronger?
The bow is still right-handed, but the next attempt hits the target without an issue. It's not a bullseye, yet this is the best shot.
"Oh!"
"Oh, my ass! This is how you should've started with."
The trainer fumes, and holds out a few more arrows.
The game highlights the other targets too, from ten meters to fifty.
"That one in the back next, and we can finally begin your archery training."
"Begin? What were we doing until now?"
The high-pitched question makes him laugh, and he slaps my back.
With muscles like those, it's surprising how the HP didn't go down, even if he means no harm.
"Hitting a stationary target this close should be easy enough with eyes closed. This will never happen in real combat. The trick is to lead your target and fire on the move. You don't have a horse by any chance?"
It makes sense, though he expects too much. And the clock's ticking.
He teaches valuable skills, and skipping the tutorial would have been a mistake.
Still, it's been over two hours, and there is the main quest too.
It sucks that it's not possible to come back here after the tenth level, so let's try to speedrun this thing.
[Government Issued Quest: Reach Level 10 within 3 days. Importance: Utmost. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 1/10, Exp to next level: 63/100. (49/72 hours left).]
A little over two days left, and no surprise Exp gain this time.
He's still waiting for the answer, so I shake my head and aim for the target fifty meters away.
The arrow only hits the bottom, which is still a surprise.
The next attempt is the first bullseye after adjusting for the drop.
"Great, let's introduce some movement to the mix."
Tank grabs two ends of a rope and the targets dance around as he pulls it.
He's slow at first, then yanks the ropes harder every time an arrow hits them.
"See, when you use your left, things go better."
His next instruction is to shoot on the move, and things get difficult.
Not firing while sprinting, simple slow-paced walking can throw the aim all over.
One hit is enough to tick this category though, and the tutorial skips the third step about crafting.
[Tutorial: Follow Tank's instructions. Importance: N/A. Difficulty: Easyest. Progress: 3/5, Reward: 500 Exp. Part One: Fencing. Part Two: Archery. Part Three: Crafting (Skipped, Premium only). Part Four: Health. Part Five: Taking Quests and Exploration.]
"All right, let's take a break, have you eaten something today?"
The trainer asks, keeping things more immersive than checking boxes.
The system isn't bombarding me with messages either, it might mean I'm doing well, or spoken too soon.
[Your character needs to eat, drink, and sleep like you do in real life. Don't let the faster-than-real-life days confuse you. The avatar needs five hours of sleep each real day. It's automated to happen when you're offline, and you can also choose to play out your sleep time.]
"Wha-, why would you do that?"
Baldie mentioned how players logged in with three alts and slept with the headset on.
That made sense because they did it for the money.
Why would you want to log in, and look at your character sleep, while you're awake though?
Tank looks with furrowed eyebrows.
He doesn't see the system messages, or at least pretends they don't exist, and his trainee talks to himself.
The next message pops up regardless, giving a decent, although weird explanation.
[CineMraft and the Deep Dive controller can render dream sequences for Premium users. You can set a theme and adjust the length too. You can order Premium for 9.99 on a beginner discount in your first three days. Otherwise, 30 days of Premium subscription costs 24.99.]
Yep, they got me to walk straight into that one.
Does Tank know he's in a game with system messages, or is it fine if he thinks I'm a lunatic?
Who am I kidding, this must be a real dude roleplaying as an NPC.
The Aspirant said her character was in NPC mode too.
She didn't explain what it meant so it might be something like this.
Let's ask next time when we meet...
Which reminds me there was that slip of the tongue and no apology so far.
Still, Tank pulls out some bacon and a loaf of bread, and the next message explains.
[Your character needs to eat, and the food has a filling, realistic taste. Make sure to stay hydrated and eat well in the real world too!]
A different message pops up right on cue.
[Incoming message: From Delivery Drone. Subject: Your government-sponsored food rations arrived. Text: The Delivery Drone hovers near your GPS location and can't see you. Let the facial recognition confirm the place of delivery, and take your food.]
Oh boy, it's here.