The elven archer was going to go first. The crowd went dead silent as he stared at the target before holding his bow out in front of him, pulling out an arrow from his quiver and notching it with a practiced hand. He took in a deep breath before drawing his bow, holding it in. The light emanating from the bow intensified, followed by a small gust of wind that circulated at the nock of the arrow. In one swift movement, he let go of the string, sending out a powerful gust of wind that rocketed the arrow straight towards the center of the target, blowing it to smithereens.

{I have to get that bow,} thought Gray greedily. Though he had expected to come across magic items more frequently in this new world, he was still surprised by their power. Based on the force that was let out of that shot, it was probably a few levels more powerful than the anti-tank rifle. For a moment, this made him wonder what kinds of weapons were out there, perhaps the nuclear weapons that humans were so fond of would be nothing but a slightly impressive sight when compared to some of them.

“Impressive,” was all that Gray said, keeping an outwardly composed demeanor. Though that was enough for the soldiers to look at him with smug expressions.

Tesse seemed eager to go next, preparing her shot even before the other archer had fully moved out of the way. The crowd stopped their snide comments and focused their attention on her, though from the look on their faces they weren’t expecting much.

She took a prone position on the floor, using the ground as a platform for the [T1 anti-tank rifle]’s tripod. After placing the butt of the gun on her shoulder, she put her eyes on the scope, adjusting the gun until she had the target in her sights.

“You do not get to look down on my master,” she growled, before pulling the trigger, completely dislocating her shoulder as the bullet rocketed out of the barrel. Though the force from the shot was substantially less than that of the bow, the sound that emanated from it was ghastly. A few of the soldiers reflexively pulled out their weapons afraid that a demon was attacking.

The shot hit the target dead center, eating away at it in an instant. The soldiers looked at the weapon with a sort of fear in their eyes. Though it lacked the power of their bow, they knew that the bullets it shot out didn’t require power to kill you. If that thing so much as scraped you, you’d probably be sludge within the next minute.

“A-A decay rune. A-are those legal in the vampire nation?” asked a few of the soldiers.

“Shall we proceed?” said Gray, as Tesse healed her shoulder.

The target was moved to 1500 meters away, once again the elven archer went first. Like before he looked at the target first before notching his arrow. As he drew the string of his bow, an extra glow emanated from it, and this time a gust of wind circulated at the tip of the arrow as well. The instant he released the string, the arrow traveled with explosive force, twisting and slithering through the air almost as if it were a snake before hitting the target dead center.

{Tracking?} wondered Gray, as the archer moved from the shooting stand.

Though her shoulders still hurt a little from earlier, Tesse prepared herself like before. Letting out an ear-piercing shot once she had placed the target within her sights. The bullet hit the target slightly off the bullseye, eating away at it a split second later.

The soldiers who seemed to have been holding in their breaths finally exhaled, some of them shouting and patting each other on the back as if they themselves had been competing in the competition.

Tesse looked at where the target had been standing a second ago in disbelief. She had failed, even after her master had trusted her with his pride. After taking that in for a few seconds, she stood up, her head downcast as she shuffled her feet towards her master.

“F-Forg-“

“Don’t ask for forgiveness, just make sure it never happens again. I don’t have use for things that don’t work the way I want them to,” said Gray, though not a hint of anger lingered within those words.

{T-The master isn’t angry, h-he’s just disappointed. He really did place all his trust in me. I-I’ll have to practice harder, I’ll ask him if I could hold onto the rifle to get more practice with it. I won't let him throw me away,} thought Tesse, her eyes blazing with determination.

*Neow?* Moewed the cub, sensing his mother’s fevor.

{Besides, I didn’t expect you to win. You only just started using snipers, that archer has probably undergone years of training. This was just for educational purposes,} thought Gray.

“Next will be the sword battle. I take it this time you’ll be the one competing?” asked Monty, the soldiers behind him still making noise over their win.

“Indeed, however, my weapons were confiscated at the gates,” replied Gray.

“Don’t worry we’ll provide the weapons,” said Monty. Gray gave him a bored look as he motioned for some of the soldiers to prepare the weapons.

“Don't worry, neither side will have enchantments. This will be a fair match based purely off skill, well of course as fair as fair can be,” said Monty, a sort of laugh hidden in his words.

“Did the old man agree?” shouted Monty, looking around the crowd for someone.

“He said he would come after he was done with his meditation,” replied one of the soldiers.

“Very well then, I hope you don’t mind waiting,” said Monty as a soldier came back holding two steel swords.

“Don’t worry they aren’t silver,” he commented, earning a few chuckles from the other soldiers.

{You know, I’ll have to make sure this Monty guy goes ‘missing’ before I leave. I’ll take my time with him too,} thought Gray, taking a few practice swings with the sword.

{I haven’t tested out my upgraded stats yet, this should prove somewhat useful at least.}