Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Since the first day of the special program was completely free for the students to explore every nook and cranny of the National Institute of Standards and Technology facilities, there was no reason for the four members of room 25 in the men's dormitory A-3 to delay the little argument among themselves about who would be room leader.

All four boys wanted the title, not only because they wanted perks, but also because they wanted to prove to themselves that they were worthy of being there because they were really good at something that few people did.

Since each of the students accepted into the special program was different from the others, each of them would also follow a different structure to improve their talents while also finding out what areas they were best at and what they could do to improve. Obviously, this would be very stressful for all of them, and with this in mind, NIST created a system similar to the club system in schools and universities and called it "Departments".

NIST staff analyzed each student's profile and assigned them to the department where they could best use their skills. Since there was not enough room for everyone in the more common departments, they segmented the most important points to be considered well and assigned only the truly best to the more competitive departments.

For example, Klaus scored very high on the Physical Strength, Speed, and Impulsion test, and his score would have been enough to place him in the track and field department, or volleyball, and even soccer, but his archery score was in the top ten, so he was assigned to the archery department.

In the end, this program was not just about developing the skills of all the students, but about making each of them a true monster in their respective areas, thus forcing them to develop in the area in which they are already talented.

As they say, effort beats natural talent, but if the talented person puts in the effort, there is nothing that can stop them.

When Klaus and the others arrived at the building that was supposed to be the archery department, they did not find a sturdy stone building like most of the other departments, but a huge airplane hangar.

"Hey, Nathan, did you see this map right? I'm sure we're in the wrong place." David said, crossing his arms.

The blond, socially dressed young man was looking at the copy of the facility map he had received via email, and it did seem a little off, just not enough to get lost.

"No, this is our department building right here." Nathan explained.

"Are you sure?" asked Klaus.

"Positive. This place is big, but there's no mistaking it. It's written here on the map. The words 'Department of Archery' are just above the first of the three hangars, and that's exactly where we are."

Everyone looked at the gray hangar again and wished that Nathan was wrong, because they didn't think it was fair that everyone had clean places to get stronger and they were given a dirty hangar. However, since Nathan was the only one who remembered to bring his cell phone with the map, no one wanted to question his sense of direction.

Andrew shrugged and said after a short sigh:

"If this really is the right place, let's go in and finish this silly contest. I don't want to miss my lunch hour."

So they approached the pedestrian door of the hangar, the large doors were closed, and the first one to swipe the access card to enter was Andrew himself. Everyone else followed him inside.

The hangar was as large on the inside as it was on the outside. The lights throughout the place were already on when they entered, and they were greeted with a completely different place than they had expected. The whole hangar environment seemed to be clean, there was a single bright light that illuminated everything, several and many shelves with different kinds of bows and arrows, places to rest, digital stands whose holographic targets could move, training fields that simulated different kinds of real-life scenarios, and many other things.

Also, to the surprise of the guys in room 25, the lights were not a mistake of some employee who was in there and forgot to turn them on. There were already three people using the range.

They were doing target practice and heard the beep of the front door, but they were too focused on the targets to care.

The group in room 25 approached the stand quietly so as not to disturb those practicing.

The people with bows in their hands and quivers on their backs in the training booth were two men and a woman.

In Klaus' opinion, the two men seemed to have much worse archery skills than him, considering them to be average at best, but the woman was definitely superior to him in all aspects of archery. Since she only shot at targets that were in front of her, her peripheral vision was not tested, but in return, her reflexes, arm strength, reaction speed, and stance were practically flawless. Targets barely appeared and were shattered within seconds by one of her arrows.

The two boys next to her were clearly surprised by her performance as well, sometimes forgetting their own targets just to watch another one of this woman's arrows hit its mark.

When the holograms stopped appearing in the booth, the screens outside and inside showed the score.

[Clifford - 18/30

Benito - 15/30

Carrie - 30/30]

Reading the expressions on each of the boys' faces, Klaus knew immediately who was who.

The boy with the black hair and eyes who went to greet the woman right after the results were announced had a smile of relief on his face as cold sweat ran down his forehead, so he was obviously Clifford. He was probably relieved not to have come in last on the first day.

The second boy seemed a bit frustrated with his poor performance, perhaps because he was distracted during the game, so he was logically Benedict, the one who came last. His brown hair was slicked to the left, though he had long strands, and his skin was so smooth that he looked as if he had never seen the sun.

As soon as these other three members of the archery department left the booth, they went to greet the four boys who were watching part of the exercise.

Carrie, the girl who was skilled with a bow, approached them, her brown hair waving as she sweated a little to not miss any of the targets. She had a simple and natural beauty, and although she was small and thin, she was pretty enough to lock every muscle in Nathan's body, that genius of 170 qi, and David's too, who was supposed to be the wisest of them all because he was older.

"Hi, guys. Are you also from the archery department?" The girl asked, curious about the strangers who also entered the hangar.

"Yes, we are. We decided to come here and check out the place." Andrew replied normally before Nathan or David could say anything.

"Oh, I was thinking the same thing a few minutes ago and when I got here you were both here. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Carrie."

After that, they all introduced themselves to each other and exchanged a few words, but none of the members of Room 25 dared to tell the real reason why they were there. A few minutes later, each of them was already armed with a bow and quiver, ready to begin another small target practice session in the booth.

This time Clifford and Benito were determined to focus on the targets instead of Carrie's arrows, but the same could not be said for Nathan and David, who could not take their eyes off her.

Klaus stood next to Carrie and was also interested in the little girl. However, the reason Klaus was focused on her was completely different from his roommates.

"Hey, Klaus Park, aren't you ashamed to use such a light bow with such big arms? If you're not careful, you'll break the bow. Get one with thicker strings." Andrew suggested, mocking Klaus. He was still haunted by the shiver he had felt under Klaus' gaze a few minutes ago.

But Klaus didn't pay any attention to his words.

The young Mr. Park knew that he was not an expert in archery like his colleagues in the department seemed to be, and he knew more than anyone else that all his experience with this weapon only happened within a virtual game where he had the power to control where his arrows would hit. Still, Klaus was confident in everything he did, and confidence is the first step to always moving forward. Besides, it was not for nothing that he managed to make it into the top ten in archery out of all ten thousand candidates in the selection process.

Klaus has always had an above-average ability to observe and adapt, not only in games, but in all aspects of his life. Using others as a basis to improve and evolve was a fundamental part of his life, and that was exactly why he was so interested in Carrie. She didn't have anything special that he didn't have, except for her refined technique, which was perfect for him to try to copy and learn.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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