Chronicles Of The Crafting Hero [REMASTERED]

Rebecca sat on top of a large log, her arms resting against it as she leaned back, kicking her little feet while watching her father with bright silver eyes and an anticipatory smile. They were in the back of their home, where the yard stretched out into a quiet patch of grass. A few meters away from her stood a man with short silver hair and matching silver eyes, dressed in a cream-white, short-sleeved tunic with a quiver strapped to his back.

Many meters in front of him stood a thick wooden pole. Two concentric circles had been drawn onto its surface, and the man had already drawn his bow, calmly aiming at the center without activating any kind of skill.

Rebecca watched with anticipation. She never got tired of seeing her father do this. No matter how many times she watched, it still amazed her.

He drew the arrow back until the bowstring was taut, then released it.

In the blink of an eye, the arrow shot across the yard and struck the exact center of the concentric circles.

Rebecca's smile widened in awe. "Wow."

But she knew it wasn't over.

Her father reached back and pulled another arrow from his quiver. He nocked it onto the bow, drew the string, and released.

The second arrow tore through the air at blinding speed, striking the back of the first arrow and splitting it cleanly in two before continuing into the target, hitting the exact same spot his first arrow had struck only a moment before.

Rebecca jumped down from the log, her small feet landing in the grass. Her father smiled as he rested a hand on his hip and turned toward her.

"How was that?" he asked.

"That's amazing!" Rebecca exclaimed as she ran toward him, already expecting him to pick her up the moment she reached him.

But before she could, her foot caught on a small rock.

She stumbled and fell flat onto her chest.

"Oh, Rebecca!" her father cried, rushing toward her.

Pain spread through her chest, and her small eyes began to water as she squeezed them shut.

"Rebecca! Rebecca!"

The voice called again.

"Hey!"

Rebecca's eyes snapped open.

Green leaves rustled overhead, swaying in the branches as the wind passed through them. For a moment, she simply stared upward before turning her head and finding Tyler looking down at her.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't wake up," he said.

Rebecca groaned as she pushed herself upright, her body stiff and aching. "What happened?" she asked, her voice raspy.

"You passed out as soon as you reached the tree. You've been out for some time now. I thought you'd wake up on your own, but you were taking so long that I decided to wake you myself."

Rebecca swallowed, but her throat was painfully dry.

"How long was I out?"

"A few hours, probably."

"Hours?" she repeated, her eyes widening in shock.

"Yeah. I could see you were pretty tired, so I didn't want to wake you. I figured you could use the rest."

"We need to go," she said.

She tried to push herself to her feet, but the moment she shifted her weight onto her legs, pain shot through them. She winced and immediately lowered herself back down.

"Don't do that," Tyler said.

He held out his hand.

A faint light gathered in his open palm before a vial filled with water materialized into existence. Rebecca stared at it for a moment before taking it from him. She immediately tipped it back and gulped down the water, emptying the vial in a few quick swallows.

She wiped the remaining drops from her mouth and handed it back.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Tyler said as he took the vial from her.

But as he looked at her, he noticed something in her expression. She looked sad, though he couldn't tell whether it was sadness or simply exhaustion.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked.

"What?" Rebecca said, looking at him.

"You just look like something's bothering you."

"Isn't that obvious?" she sighed. "The Black Cloud Guild members could show up at any moment. I need to fix my bow and raise my level so I can stand a better chance of winning against them. But here I am, I can barely stand."

"Right," Tyler said, his gaze shifting forward.

The wind passed through the branches above them, making the leaves rustle softly. Rebecca leaned back on her hands, letting her silver hair sway behind her as she stared up at the sky. Her brow remained furrowed, her expression still troubled as she thought about what lay ahead.

"I could give you another one," Tyler said.

"Another one?" Rebecca turned toward him, confused.

"Yeah. I could give you another bow."

He knew that the moment she touched it, she would recognize the skill embedded within it. For some reason, though, he didn't really mind her knowing. He suspected that by now, there were already rumors spreading around Veridia about weapons capable of granting skills. As long as he could keep the system itself hidden from her, he figured it was fine.

Tyler held out his hand.

A blue shimmer gathered around his palm, and a silver bow slowly materialized within it.

Rebecca's eyes widened.

"So you had another bow this whole time?" Rebecca asked, looking down at the silver weapon in Tyler's hand. Her confusion quickly turned into irritation. "Why didn't you give it to me back there? I could've fought for myself."

Tyler's expression tightened. He was already tired from everything that had happened, and her words only made his patience thinner.

"I was getting attacked by two people at once," he said, his voice carrying a clear edge of annoyance. "If I'd lost focus even for a moment, I could've died." He held the bow out toward her, his arm beginning to drop. "Now, do you want the bow or not?"

Rebecca immediately reached for it.

She snatched the bow from his hand before he could say anything else, her fingers wrapping firmly around its smooth surface. But the moment her entire hand closed around it, her body froze.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Her head jerked backward, silver hair shifting with the sudden movement as her eyes widened. A strange sensation rushed through her mind, so sudden that she didn't even have time to react to it. Information flooded into her thoughts all at once, giving her knowledge of something she had never possessed before.

A skill.

It felt strangely familiar. She had experienced something similar whenever she gained a new skill from ranking up, that brief sensation of something new becoming a part of her. But this was different. There had been no gradual realization, no understanding that came with time. The knowledge had appeared almost instantly, as though it had been forced into her mind the very moment she touched the bow.

"What...?" Rebecca whispered.

She stared at the weapon, her fingers tightening around it.

"How is this possible?" she breathed.

Tyler watched her reaction for a moment before a knowing look crossed his face.

"You just got a skill, didn't you?"

Rebecca's eyes snapped toward him.

"How did you know?"

"This bow has a skill called Flashing Arrow," Tyler explained. "Once an archer holds it, they'll be able to use the skill."

Rebecca looked back at the bow.

Her brows drew together as she turned it slightly in her hands, examining it as though there might be some explanation hidden within the silver surface.

"But that doesn't make any sense," she said, shaking her head. "How can a weapon have a skill?"

Tyler didn't answer immediately. Instead, he held out his hand.

"Gimme the bow."

Rebecca looked at his open palm, then back at the bow. Her grip loosened, but she hesitated, almost reluctant to give it back now that she knew what it could do. Eventually, she slowly extended it toward him.

As soon as Tyler's fingers closed around the bow, the strange sensation inside Rebecca disappeared.

Her breath slipped out in a quiet exhale, and her shoulders dropped slightly. She stared at her hands, blinking as she tried to understand what had just happened.

"It's gone..." she murmured.

Tyler gave her a small grin.

"See?"

Rebecca flexed her fingers, almost instinctively, expecting to feel something there.

"I can't feel it anymore," she said, staring at her palms. Her confusion only deepened as she looked back at him. "How is this even possible? And how do you know about this?"

"It's because I made it."

Tyler said it so casually that Rebecca simply stared at him.

*He made it?*

Her mind immediately went back to what he had told her about the healing potions. She had already found it hard to believe that Tyler could create something like those, but now he had created a weapon that could give someone a skill.

She leaned slightly toward him, her eyes fixed on the bow.

"You can craft?"

"Yeah."

"How did you do that?" she asked.

Tyler shrugged, apparently unwilling to make much of it.

"I can craft weapons like these, but you don't need to know how. All you need to do is take the bow and make use of it."

He held the bow out to her again.

Rebecca reached for it, though this time she did so more carefully. Her fingers wrapped around the weapon, and once again she felt the skill return to her. The sensation was immediate, and she couldn't help but glance down at the bow before looking at Tyler.

Her expression had changed. There was still confusion in her eyes, but now there was something else mixed in with it, curiosity.

"Is this how you found out that the bow I had was made from Pherium?" she asked. "Because you're also a craftsman?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Tyler glanced at the bow. "And that bow wasn't made entirely of Pherium. There was only a little of it."

Rebecca's eyes widened slightly.

*Wow... he even knows about that.*

It was becoming harder to figure out just what Tyler knew and what he didn't. Every time she thought she had some idea of his abilities, he revealed something else.

She looked at him for a few seconds before another question came to mind.

"Aren't you an assassin?" she asked. "How are you even able to do all of these things?"

Tyler's expression changed slightly.

The casual look he'd worn while explaining the bow disappeared, replaced by something more guarded. He straightened and turned his attention away from her.

"I can't tell you that."

He pushed himself to his feet.

Rebecca watched him rise, her eyes following him as she remained seated beneath the tree with the silver bow still in her hands.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I don't want to," Tyler said bluntly.

The simplicity of his answer only made Rebecca more frustrated. Her brows pulled together, and irritation flared across her face as she clenched her teeth. She pushed one hand against the ground and forced herself upright, moving so quickly that she barely had time to remember how exhausted her body still was.

The moment she got both feet underneath her, her legs nearly gave out.

Rebecca's eyes widened as her balance disappeared. The tension that had been running through her muscles came rushing back into her awareness all at once, and she stumbled backward, her arms instinctively moving to catch herself.

Tyler reacted before she could fall.

His hand shot forward and closed around her forearm. He steadied her with a firm pull, bringing her back upright before she could hit the ground.

"I told you not to get up," Tyler said.

Rebecca steadied herself for a moment, breathing through the weakness in her legs before pulling her arm away from his grasp.

"You still haven't answered my question."

There was more than anger in her voice now. Curiosity and confusion had been eating at her ever since she had touched the bow. What Tyler had just shown her was something she could barely comprehend. If she had ever imagined the possibility of a weapon granting someone a skill, she would have dismissed the idea as completely ridiculous.

Yet Tyler had done exactly that.

She looked at him, searching his face for some kind of explanation.

Tyler turned fully toward her. His expression had become serious, the casualness from moments earlier gone.

"I told you. I don't have to tell you anything unnecessary. Are you forgetting why I'm here in the first place?"

Rebecca held his gaze for a few seconds. She could tell from his expression that he wasn't going to budge.

"Fine," she muttered.

Her eyes dropped back to the silver bow in her hands.

She examined it for a moment before glancing toward Tyler again. "How do I even know if this works?"

Before she could finish the thought, a faint shimmer appeared in Tyler's hand. An arrow materialized between his fingers, and he held it out to her.

Rebecca stared at the arrow, then at him.

"You even have that?"

"I have a lot of things," Tyler replied casually.

Rebecca gave him a skeptical look before taking the arrow from him. She positioned it against the bowstring and drew it back, the motion smooth and practiced.

Tyler stepped aside to give her room.

The moment Rebecca settled into her stance, his eyebrows rose slightly. Despite the exhaustion weighing down her body, her posture was remarkably steady. Her feet were positioned naturally, her shoulders relaxed, and the way she held the bow looked almost perfect. There was no wasted movement.

But it wasn't just her technique. Something about her seemed different with the bow in her hands.

The uncertainty and frustration that had been weighing on her moments ago seemed to recede. Her gaze sharpened as she focused on the target, and the tired girl who had struggled to stand now looked composed and confident. There was an edge to her expression that Tyler hadn't seen before, something that made her seem almost dangerous.

Rebecca drew the string back farther. She focused on the skill she had just received, and the knowledge of how to use it came naturally to her.

The arrow began to give off a faint glow before she released it.

The arrow shot from the bow with incredible speed, tearing through the air toward the area where they had originally intended to train. Rebecca watched it fly, her eyes following its path.

It hadn't even reached the target when a brilliant flash erupted through the air.

Rebecca instinctively narrowed her eyes against the sudden burst of light.

For a moment, the area around them was illuminated by the detonation before the light faded away.

"It works."

She stared at the bow in her hands, genuine amazement filling her expression.

Her fingers tightened slightly around it as she considered what she had just witnessed.

*It doesn't even cost that much mana. I don't even think any archer out there has a skill like this.*

"You said this is a Shattered Monster Zone, right?" Tyler asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Um... yeah," Rebecca answered.

"Well, I think you were definitely right about us getting stronger. If those people are going to send more, they're probably going to be stronger than the last ones. We need to increase our levels."

Tyler turned to face her fully.

"So we should go in there. I also want to get some ingredients to craft those potions. That'll definitely help you get better."

Rebecca looked down at her legs, shifting her weight slightly as she felt the lingering soreness in them.

"Yeah, but I can barely stand right now."

"Don't worry," Tyler said.

A small smile appeared on his face, and some of the seriousness that had been in his expression earlier disappeared.

"I'm unfamiliar with the place, so you'll just show me around. I'll protect you. I've done it before, right?"

Rebecca's eyebrows rose.

For a moment, she didn't know what to say.

Just seconds ago, Tyler had looked so serious that she had wondered if he was simply going to leave her to deal with everything herself. Now he was standing there with a small smile, casually telling her that he would protect her, just like he had in the forest.

The thought left her feeling strangely embarrassed, though she wasn't entirely sure why.

"Okay..." she said hesitantly, still unsure how she was supposed to respond.