Chapter 11 - Fangbreaker
Rushing back to the loom, they both excitedly looked down at the crystal ball. Reaching out, they bumped into each other.
“Oops, sorry!” They both said, reflexively pulling back.
“Oh, umm. Why don’t you go first?” Harvey said, embarrassed.
“Are you sure?” Hannah asked, but before he could reply, she stepped up and placed her hands on the orb. “Thanks, Harvey!”
Light once again radiated out from the orb, and he was happy to see an elated smile on her face. Getting your first taste of magic after all the monsters was exhilarating, and he couldn’t blame her for wanting to go first.
Backing away to give her some space, he waited and watched as her wicked grin softened. Nothing appeared for a long time, concern on her face. Images of her fights so far began appearing in the air between her and the loom, along with memories of working on the farm and spending time with her family. Each came and went as she struggled to find a combination she was happy with.
Eventually, she settled on a combo that surprised him. He saw her shaking violently, trying to knock a second arrow after missing a Bloodrunn, only able to send a half-drawn shot that barely sank into its shoulder before turning to run away. He saw their group fighting the horde of living dead in the city, where her fear of accidentally hitting Julian made her miss more and more shots as the zombies swarmed him.
He couldn’t understand why she was choosing memories where she missed until he realized each miss was followed by a deep breath and Hannah waiting patiently for the perfect shot.
Black, Brown, and Blue thread began weaving the image of a bow pulled taut, an arrow waiting to be released. The hand holding the string back had thin strands of blue stretching from the fingers, down the arrow, and gathering at the arrowhead.
The weapon looked simple, but everywhere the colored strands touched glowed brighter than the rest. Without a sound, the pattern lifted itself from the loom and floated toward Hannah, penetrating the sleeve covering her right bicep. She yelped in pain as light poured out of her arm, and swore as she stumbled away from the loom.
“Wow, that hurt way worse than Julian made it seem!” Hannah griped as she placed her hand over the spot before rolling up her sleeve, exposing the new tattoo. She shared the screen so they could read together.
Skills | |||
| Steady Draw | G Grade | Common: Effect: It’s not about the shots you take, but the shots you make. Every arrow is an opportunity to move the world toward your destination, so make them count. Each successful shot allows you to infuse more essence into your next arrow. Channeling essence allows them to fly faster, hit harder, and penetrate deeper. Essence infusion limit and efficiency scale with Dexterity and Endurance, with missed shots resetting the infusion limit to zero.
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