25 Luck (2)

Chapter 25: Luck (2)

Another battle between the soldier and the wolf boss began.

'I'll get you this time! Soldier will!' Jake shouted inwardly as he pulled the bowstring to the highest anchor point, drawing his strongest strength and loading it into his bone arrow.

He released the arrow and delivered a high critical strike that even surprised him!

[You have done a critical strike!]

[-251 HP!]

Jake fell into the deepest focus he could muster. His vision stretched so much that many more trajectories than ever before extended in his archery vision, giving him a glimpse of new angles and possibilities!

That was it.

Jake felt it in his bones.

He'd win against this wolf boss as the soldier!

Even if his other critical strikes were weaker, Jake would still be able to deal a lot of damage! What's more, in his foolish attempts to defeat the boss with the soldier form, Jake had learned how to take and endure damage.

It was the silver lining in this absurdity that no one would be able to agree with, including Richard!

Therefore, Jake only had to shoot arrows and wait for the monster to charge at him. 

If the boss loomed over him, Jake would enter a defensive stance by joining his arms and twisting his torso to avoid any lethal damage, protect himself well, and even decrease the strength of the impact, meaning he'd roll less and quickly return to his form.

Once back onto his two feet, he'd defeat the boss!

The wolf, however, stood petrified. Jake could tell because he had once seen that frightened expression.

'Why is he like that?' Jake questioned while shooting another arrow.

He left another critical strike that would have made many newbie players widen their eyes from shock. The boss's defenses and joints seemed to have rusted, as he didn't budge after receiving the blow.

Jake grew suspicious and lowered his bow.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked him from the shadows. "Kill him."

"Richard?" Jake asked. His countenance twisted, and he shouted, "What's the meaning of this?! You helped me?!"

Coming from the shadows, Richard revealed himself. He wore a faint smile and appeared like an older brother about to scold his younger brother for doing something foolish.

Jake was often subject to this smile, care, and friendship, but he hated everything about it now.

Richard noticed that yet his smile hadn't crumbled.

He said, "See, Archer. You can't control your luck."

"Are you saying you are my luck?" Jake asked, pissed.

Richard chuckled, "I don't. Luck comes in many forms. I can count on my hands the times I've revealed myself to the monsters of the tutorial forest to help a player. Isn't their luck to have me, the newbie helper, help them so far? Isn't that your luck that I've exposed myself like that?"

"The hell you mean…" Jake looked down, disappointed. He believed he'd be able to defeat the wolf boss in the soldier form and significantly improve. He really wanted to use the wolf boss as much as possible to improve himself, and his personality trait came with quite a dangerous method that not many would approve of.

Richard, however, believed in his friend.

But even he had his limits.

Richard understood Jake so well that he shared what he meant and what he could have done, "If I didn't expose myself to you and only lowered the wolf boss' resistance, you would believe you defeated him on your own. Am I right?"

Jake's eyes widened as he instantly realized where Richard was coming from.

Richard contentedly nodded, "I could have lied to you. And you would live thinking you've progressed. Done once, I'd continue so as to you wouldn't waste your potential. I'd not have any self-restraint. That would turn our friendship in the wrong direction, which I hate."

Having his secrets and troubles, Richard couldn't bring himself to lie to his friend in this case. It was because Jake truly had given up on his schedule and efficient progress just to continuously fight the boss in one form.

He only relied on luck here, which was wrong.

Jake put his bow and quiver into his inventory. The warm and heavy wolf equipment was also thrown there before Jake lost strength in his legs.

Sprawled on the ground, he hovered his eyes on the dense canopy.

Richard approached him and sat down beside him, "Wanna some water?"

"Yeah, thanks," Jake slightly raised his head and accepted the wooden cup of water.

He chugged it in one go.

A few minutes later, Jake began another conversation. "I kinda was in a similar position in the past, so I can tell you're genuinely worried about me. Where's exactly the problem?"

"If all you can do is rely on luck, that's where the problem starts," Richard explained. "It's okay to take risks in battles and try something new to catch your opponents off-guard. But if your entire plan is based on luck, then you're sentenced to lose. That's what I believe. To be honest with you, the moment you stopped working hard and innovating to help your soldier form, I felt terrible. It just felt wrong."

Jake absentmindedly stared ahead…

Later, he sighed, "I guess I wanted too much. Oh, but I learned how to take a blow, you know?"

"You would have learned that anyway," Richard brightly smiled.

Jake reciprocated his smile before picking himself up.

He checked the clock and curved his lips wider, "Enough time to fix my bow and equipment. I'll also try crafting bone arrows, not just bone arrowheads. It'd best to have a steel knife, though."

Richard grinned, "Sounds like a request for a quest. Fine."

[You have received a quest — Back to schedule #1]

[Richard wants you to return to your schedule to compensate for the lost time on the wolf boss. Cut down five trees, craft one hundred wooden arrows, repair your equipment, and make a new modification to your bow!]

[Reward: Steel Knife(Rare)]

"With pleasure," Jake smiled.

[You have accepted the quest.]

Jake's luck smiled upon him.