Chapter 128

〈 Chapter 129 〉 Relic Allocation (4)

*

The tournament came to an end.

The heroes, gathered from all corners of the world, mostly dispersed again, while some of the candidates who had been decided upon for inheritance also began their graduation procedures to join them.

Thus, those who remained in the academy were either those whose inheritance procedure hadn’t ended or candidates who hadn’t received inheritance.

‘Once the inheritance period ends, the allocation of relics from the church will begin.’

Perhaps Elsie, who hadn’t inherited a relic this time, might receive one from the church.

And if I couldn’t handle this bow properly, I would be in the same boat.

“Your bow grip is still slow.”

Ludmilla’s sharp critique flew in.

It was true that in comparison to Wilhelm, I was sluggish, leaving me no room to argue.

For reference, Wilhelm hadn’t been seen since the graduation tournament.

‘He must have returned to the Rosemond Mansion with Father.’

So what I needed to focus on now was my bow.

More specifically, it was still Ludmilla’s bow.

‘4-star relic Resonance.’

That was the name of the bow in my hands.

It had a surprisingly delicate feel, which didn’t fit with its 4-star rating. I could easily draw it back to the end, even with my weak strength.

But the more peculiar part was elsewhere.

‘It has multiple strings.’

While most bows have only one string, Resonance had a whopping 13 strings attached to it.

It looked less like a bow and more like a kind of instrument.

And the reason for that was revealed in the item description of the bow.

Category: Weapon

Type: Bow

Relic Rating: 4-Star

Description: A harp used by a legendary bard, said to be a subordinate of the God of Music. However, the bard lost their life in a struggle against endless chaos, and in an age where music became trivial, the harp became a weapon to fight chaos.

It was originally an instrument.

But due to some external force, it now had the form of a proper bow with 13 strings.

Still, I had no clue how to utilize it, given it had 13 strings.

“By the way, why do you think this would suit my abilities?”

No matter how I thought about it, the connection between this weapon and the Wind’s Power was elusive.

In that case, it might be something only its original owner, Ludmilla, would know.

And as expected, Ludmilla answered my question.

“There’s a story that the God of Music, who had the bard as a subordinate, was also a subordinate of the God of Wind.”

The God of Music was a subordinate of the God of Wind…

If her story was correct, it was likely that the external force that transformed the harp into this shape was indeed the God of Wind.

The God of Wind had been involved in various weapons, such as creating the “Breeze Bringer.”

“Even so, how should I use the wind…”

Then Ludmilla suddenly asked.

“What do you think is the difference between a bow and a harp?”

That was quite an unexpected question.

But there had to be some hidden meaning in it.

‘The difference between a bow and a harp…’

Nothing struck me immediately.

But if I had to think about it, it differed in purpose as a weapon and an instrument, but that seemed too simple of an answer.

So, a somewhat plausible answer began to form.

“The fact that the harp has multiple strings?”

“Well, that too,” she said, pretending to pull the bowstring with her arm.

“Want to give it a shot? That might be quicker.”

I raised the bow as she said.

And just when I was about to pull an arrow from the quiver, she suddenly handed me one of her arrows.

“Shoot this one.”

I accepted the arrow.

It looked rugged, seemingly made from bamboo.

Nothing remarkable about it.

“This is…”

“It’s not a special relic; it’s an arrow I custom-made. I still have a ton stacked up in my storage.”

“But which string do I put this on?”

“Obviously the backmost one.”

I nocked the arrow on the string.

And swallowed hard.

‘Can I really use this bow?’

I felt a bit tense.

I still didn’t fully understand the true nature of this bow, and Ludmilla was only giving me cryptic responses.

So for now, the most important thing was whether I could pull this string.

“Alright then…”

I calmly began to pull the bowstring.

This was the first time handling a 4-star relic.

Moreover, I didn’t have any information on how Allen Pleuk handled this bow.

‘Please, let me be able to use it.’

As I pulled the string, surprisingly, I felt no resistance at all.

In fact, maybe because the bow was slender, it felt easier to pull compared to the bow I used before.

‘Is this right?’

I never tried a relic above 4 stars, so I had no idea how resistance would feel.

But right now, I could certainly sense no resistance.

Thus, I released the fully drawn string.

Whoosh!

The arrow flew swiftly through the air and hit the target precisely.

“That was slightly off.”

Not precisely, huh.

Anyway, the launch was successful without a hitch.

I wasn’t entirely sure, though.

“Did I just succeed?”

Ludmilla shook her head and handed me another arrow.

“Success? More like try again. Shoot again.”

I accepted the arrow from her.

This one looked just like the previous arrow.

I nocked it and released it.

I felt no resistance.

“Success this time…”

“Another one.”

Every time I shot, she handed me a new arrow.

After shooting about nine arrows, it finally dawned on me.

‘The arrows…’

They were gradually getting shorter.

I hadn’t noticed because she had handed them one by one, but after repeating the process, I realized the tenth arrow was definitively shorter than the one I had received initially.

However, I still didn’t grasp her intent, so I silently shot that arrow as well.

I fired two more arrows.

‘This is the thirteenth.’

Just as I shot the thirteenth arrow, she stopped handing me new ones.

Then she spoke.

This probably wasn’t a statement declaring success.

“So, do you understand the difference now?”

This related back to the question she posed earlier.

The difference between a bow and a harp.

But due to my lack of acquaintance with instruments, I still couldn’t come up with a solid answer.

“Could you give me another hint?”

She shook her head resignedly and then raised her palm.

“Here, a hint. For an archer, this should be enough hint.”

But I still didn’t understand.

Her hand didn’t have any writings on it.

It was just her bare hand.

With more calluses than the average person…

‘Calluses?

Of course, it’s natural for an archer to have calluses.

Even I, who don’t have that much experience with bows, had some calluses.

But the calluses she had were somehow different.

‘The position is strange.’

At first glance, it might look similar, but they were distinctly in different places.

In addition to the usual calluses an archer had, she had an extra thick callus in a different spot.

‘That…’

I think I finally understood.

What that callus was.

And what the difference between a bow and a harp was.

“A bow primarily bends the bow, while a harp’s strings vibrate to produce sound.”

Some people mistakenly think that arrows are shot by the string’s elasticity.

I too had that misconception until I saw someone using a bow with my own eyes.

But a bow was indeed a weapon that utilized the elasticity of the bow.

‘Meanwhile, a harp structurally only lets the strings move.’

Ludmilla finally nodded and said, “That’s correct. I would have been disappointed if you couldn’t get it with that hint.”

She extended her hand to me.

“Now hand over the Resonance. I’ll show you the real way to use it.”

The real way to use it.

It seemed that what I had been doing until now was nothing at all.

I willingly handed her the Resonance.

“Watch closely.”

Receiving the Resonance back, she hooked her finger on the longest string.

But the way she grabbed it was completely different from pulling the string.

With fingers poised as if plucking the strings of a harp, she wore a serious expression.

‘What’s this?’

This was the most serious look I had ever seen from Ludmilla.

Then again, I had never seen her properly using a bow, so it might be natural.

Right now, she was no longer the temporary professor Ludmilla but Ludmilla, a high-ranking hero and an archer.

Her fingers plucked the bowstring.

The bow itself didn’t bend at all, and the bowstring was plucked like a harp.

But instead of a harp-like sound, the noise came unexpectedly from somewhere else.

Twang!

At that noise, I turned my head.

Then I saw the longest arrow rolling on the ground.

And the target it had been embedded in was now utterly shattered.

‘What the…’

She simply plucked the bowstring, and yet the spot where the arrow had struck was smashed to bits.

Moreover, among the 13 arrows that had been shot, only one reacted to her plucking.

‘Does she have some kind of remote mine ability?’

She proceeded to pluck the second and third longest strings.

Likewise, the second and third longest arrows also created shockwaves that shattered the target.

Only then did I realize.

‘The arrows are…’

Each one resonated at different lengths.

It was finally beginning to make sense why the bow was named ‘Resonance.’

This bow fundamentally operated on the principle of ‘resonance.’

The arrows having differing lengths was likely due to this.

‘Did different lengths of strings resonate with varying lengths of arrows?’

In terms of controlling the timing of the arrows’ explosions, it was certainly superior to regular explosive arrows.

However, there remained some areas for improvement.

‘But this seems a bit weak…’

For certain weak chaos beasts, it could pierce their hides without issue.

Yet, as a 4-star relic, its power was somewhat lacking.

It probably wouldn’t work on stronger chaos beasts.

‘Moreover, testing it this way with just this much is…’

In that moment, she grimaced and pulled on a string.

Though it was the same string again, this time the result differed.

As if there were three arrows of the same length, three arrows shuddered simultaneously.

And…

With an incredible vibration, they exploded.

The vibrations starting from the three arrows amplified each other, generating a tremendous shockwave that burst around.

If this hadn’t been a trial, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the building collapsed.

“Whew…”

Ludmilla, who created such a spectacle, breathed heavily as she released the string.

Blood dripped from her fingertips like rain.

“Ludmilla, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Just a bit of collateral damage. But after not using it for so long, pulling three strings at once has taken its toll…”

She casually handed the bow to me, and I accepted it.

As she handed over the bow, she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood away and said, “The fifth and sixth strings. There’s an arrow connected to each, right? Give them a shot.”

“With my bare hands?”

“No way, why use your bare hands when you’ve got an easier ability?”

Well, that made sense.

I carefully placed my finger on the string.

Even if I were to use the Wind’s Power, I figured I’d need to feel the plucking sensation to some extent.

‘But this…’

It felt completely different from when I was pulling the string to shoot an arrow earlier.

Even though my finger rested on it, the string didn’t budge at all.

It felt as if I were placing my finger on a solid iron rod.

‘It seems I have no choice but to use the Wind’s Power.’

I enveloped my fingertip with the Wind’s Power.

And concentrated all my nerves on the Wind’s Power.

I became conscious of the string with the Wind’s Power and pulled it.

Twang.

It worked.

One arrow smashed the target.

I used the Wind’s Power to pluck the sixth string as Ludmilla said.

Twng!

That worked too.

Perhaps it truly was the right combination of Wind’s Power and Resonance after all.

My hand naturally moved to the seventh string.

“Be careful, there are three on that one.”

That was what Ludmilla said.

The meaning was simple.

It indicated that, like the fourth string Ludmilla had pulled earlier, three interconnected arrows were lined there.

“Give it a shot, then.”

I was already intending to try it out.

Having seen how tough Ludmilla was, I wasn’t feeling entirely confident, though.

I focused the Wind’s Power on the seventh string… and pulled.

“Ugh!”

That turned out to be impossible.

Instead, the accumulated strength I poured out ricocheted back, leaving me with a severe headache.

I barely managed to steady my spinning vision.

‘Damn it.’

It was the first time experiencing the resistance of a relic.

Luckily, it was a 4-star relic that had decent compatibility with the Wind’s Power, or else I might have been too scared to even touch it.

‘But…’

The string had slightly trembled just now.

I wasn’t imagining it because my vision was blurry.

The three arrows were now subtly quaking, proving my point.

“Hmm.”

Ludmilla, who watched me while wrapping her fingertip with a handkerchief, made a peculiar sound.

It seemed she too had noticed.

‘Just as I thought, it seems my Wind’s Power alone isn’t cutting it.’

Right now, the skill display for Wind’s Power only showed the proficiency level, but back when I first obtained it, it had a mark of ‘(small)’ attached to it.

There might be limitations right there.

In that case, I had only one option left.

‘I’ll have to use what the God of Connection gave me.’

After the third trial, the reward given to me by the God of Connection.

If I used that, it might be possible.

And it was already under my jurisdiction.

‘It’s been a while since I gained a skill.’

I activated the skill.

Suddenly, I tasted blood in my mouth.

But the risk was worth it enough to obtain this bow.

‘Wind’s Power.’

The Wind’s Power had undoubtedly changed.

While I still felt some resistance, I could now pluck the string.

In that moment, the three arrows embedded far away resonated and exploded.

In the raging shockwave, I felt fatigue creeping in.

Yet I tried my best to hide it and asked her, “…So, did I do it?”

*