Chapter 51.NET {10}:- Archery.


    "Miss Ira, is something wrong?" Orion asked, bending his head cutely to his left with a worried look on his face.


    Ira instantly covered her lips after seeing how cute the little prince was.


    She wanted to scream and hug him but Ira knew this couldn''t be done so she cleared up all the naughty thoughts she had in her mind and replied with a smile on her face. "I''m fine your Highness,"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I am. Thank you, Your Highness,"


    "You''re wee Miss Ira,"


    "Um, Your Highness, you do not need to act so formal to me,"


    "But aren''t you one of the officials, so I thought -----"


    "It''s fine, Your Highness, you can just call me Ira,"


    "Okay,"


    "Oh, that reminds me, please, have a seat,"


    "Thank you,"


    "Would you like to begin with the final phase of the tournament?"


    "Yes, please,"


    "Okay, we''ll start with a magical endurance test,"


    "What do I have to do?"


    "It''s simple Your Highness. During the hunting task, I noticed you used a fireball spell,"


    "Yes, I did,"


    "Good, so I''ll need to see how long you can sustain a fireball spell. I''ll be assessing your magical endurance, control and mana management. Do you understand,".


    "Yes, but for how long will I have to maintain the spell?"


    "It''s just for a maximum period of one hour. Do you have any other questions?"


    "No, ma''am,"


    "Okay, then if you''re ready. Let us begin,"


    Orion nodded his head in understanding and walked out of the gazebo, stretching his arms wide and aiming it straight to the sky.


    Seeing this, Ira began to time Orion by flipping over an hourss which would be used to time him.


    Orion imagined the magic circle for a tier one fire magic spell and a small magic circle appeared in front of his hands.


    A few secondster, a huge fireball materialized out of thin air, hovering in front of him.


    Orion continued to apply mana into the magic circle so as to sustain the fire ball floating in front of him


    Things went smoothly and he was able to easily maintain the spell without any worries, thanks to his [Exhaustion resistance] skill which prevented Orion from feeling tired and exhausted.


    With the help of his Auto-MP recovery skill, Orion barely even noticed the amount of mana he had used for the past hour. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You can stop now, Prince Galdur," Ira informed Orion and he cancelled the spell immediately.


    Ira noted everything she had noticed so far and she asked Orion if he was feeling alright, just to be sure if he was feeling okay or not before making any final remark on her report.


    "I''m fine," Orion replied and Ira used this chance to look closely into Orion''s eyes.


    She couldn''t see or notice any signs of fatigue on him, so this means he was able to sessfully maintain the spell for an hour while managing the amount of mana he had.


    For other races of elves, they would be asked to cast the spell for a period of half an hour but because High elves naturally had a higher mana capacity than other elves, Orion was asked to do his for a period of one hour, to see how he will be able to manage his mana reserve, and to Ira''s surprise, Orion was able to sessfully manage his mana in preparation for the final activity of the day.


    "Well done, Your Highness. Please, follow me," Ira left the gazebo and lead Orion to where he would be carrying out the final activity of the day.


    Orion trailed behind her but noticed they were walking towards two young tournament officials, who were standing not too far away from a magic circl.


    Upon approaching the two officials, both of the officials, bowed before Orion and Ira instructed Orion on what to do.


    "Please, step on the magic circle,"


    Orion stepped on the magic circle, along with Ira and the two other tournament officials.


    The magic circle underneath their feet glowed and teleported everyone into an open field.


    Orion nced around and noticed therge, open field surrounded by dense forests. The field was approximately three hundred meters long and two hundred meters wide, providing enough space for what they wanted to do.


    The tall trees swayed gently in the breeze and a small stream runs along the edge of the field.


    Orion could also hear the rustling of leaves and some birds chirping in the distance.


    At the far end, opposite to where Orion was currently standing, Orion could see a pendulum target suspended from a sturdy, 10-meter-tall wooden beam, anchored to the ground with ropes and stakes.


    The beam was positioned at the far end of the field, 200 meters away from Prince Orion''s shooting position.


    "You will be using these for this part of the tournament," Ira handed Orion the bow and arrows he will be using for this archery contest.


    Orion received the bow and arrows and noticed that they weren''t in optimal condition.


    The bowstring was slightly worn and the arrows were not perfectly straight.


    ''Are the officials doing this intentionally?'' Orion wondered.


    ''If anyone uses this type of bows and arrows, it will surely affect the flight trajectory,'' Orion''s face turned into a frown.


    He wasn''t pleased with to see this.


    Elena had taught him a lot about archery, and Orion took great pride in what he had learned from Elena because he believed that with what he had learned, he could easily be ranked among the best archers in the kingdom.


    However, with the bow and arrows in his hands, Orion doubted he would be able to use the arrow to its full potential.


    Ira noticed the look on his face and she smiled before saying. "Everyone before you were given a simr bow and arrow. Every tournament official, including me, knows how talented everyone is in terms of archery.


    However, this isn''t what we will be grading you on. Our aim is to push everyone to their limits by testing their archery skills, focus and adaptability under challenging conditions. These are what you will be graded on, so please rx and try to focus on doing your best,"


    Orion nodded his head in understanding before returning his gaze back to his target.


    The pendulum target was a wooden circr target, approximately four feet in diameter and was attached to a sturdy pendulum arm.


    Standing behind the pendulum target were the two tournament officials who had teleported themselves to this position so that they''ll be able to see if Orion hits the target when he shoots an arrow.


    "The pendulum target is divided into four concentric scoring zones, with each zones earning you different point values if your arrowsnds on one of the zones," Ira exined.


    "How many arrows am I allowed to use?"


    "You will be allowed to use three arrows to hit your mark. Your aim is any of the four concentric scoring zone which are divided into the center zone (the Bulls-eye), the inner ring, the middle ring and the outer ring,"


    "Do I receive points for each ring?"


    "Yes, Your Highness, you will. For the outer ring, you will receive a hundred points. For the middle ring, you''ll receive three hundred points. For the inner ring, you''ll receive five hundred points and for the center zone, you''ll receive a thousand points. Is there anything else you would like to know?"


    "Yes, there is,"


    "What would you like to know?"


    "Um, previously, you mentioned earlier about testing our adaptability under challenging conditions. Aside from the bow and arrows, is there anything else I need to know about?"


    "The only challenge that might prevent you from hitting the target will be the wind spell cast by the two officials standing behind the pendulum target. Your goal is to make sure your arrow hits the target even with the officials trying their best to stop you,"


    "Can we begin?" Orion asked, eager to get started.


    "Yes, we can. Please, step on the wooden tform in front of you and position yourself,"


    Orion walked over to the small wooden tform. He positioned himself with a clear line of sight to the pendulum target before taking a deep breath as he ced his arrow on his bowstring.


    He activated his Omnivision skill to have a better view of his target and this made him to notice a few things more clearly.


    Each scoring zones had a different color with the center zone painted red.


    ''This is the only zone I am interested in,''


    ''I do not care about the other zones,''


    ''I have no interest in obtaining any points lower than a thousand points,'' Orion uttered in his thoughts with a determined look on his face.


    He wanted to make sure he remained in the top three by the end of the first day of the tournament and the only way to make this happen is by hitting the target.


    Orion calmed his mind and noticed the pendulum arm of the target which swings in a consistent, smooth arc, moving the target back and forth continuously.