Even though there had already been speculation that he had gained archery skills from Laura Smith, he hadn’t expected such a massive improvement. Besides the surprise, he realized one thing: it seemed his original talent for archery wasn’t that great—there was still a huge gap between himself and those masters who could wipe out an entire organization with a bow.

“I used to think I could become a hunter, so I must have had some archery talent!”

But then he thought, even if his talent was lacking, with people like Laura Smith and Franklin Baker constantly appearing to help him level up, his future looked quite bright.

After retrieving his arrows and hanging the wild chicken on his left hip, David Clark prepared to continue foraging for food. Besides meat, he also wanted to find more wild vegetables, mushrooms, and berries to ensure a diverse diet for a healthier life.

“Meat is delicious, but no one can stand eating only meat.”

He was in luck and managed to gather some mushrooms and berries. Even though picking berries required him to squat down and pick them one by one, he didn’t feel the least bit impatient—he was simply full of joy.

Just as he was happily picking berries, he suddenly sensed something was wrong and reacted instantly—he dropped the handful of berries and dove to the side, grabbing his hunting bow as he rolled and sprang to his feet.

Although he was now covered in dirt and grass, looking rather disheveled, he had perfectly dodged the wild animal’s attack—it was a large, muscular gray wolf.

“……” Once he saw what kind of beast it was, David Clark immediately scanned his surroundings and, sure enough, spotted more gray wolves hiding in the grass and behind trees.

Moving slowly, David Clark edged toward the riverbank to avoid being attacked from both sides.

The gray wolves seemed to sense his intentions. While David Clark was still moving, one of them lunged at him again, only to be met by several arrows shot almost simultaneously.

After so many years as a hunter, David Clark did have a few tricks up his sleeve: he was skilled at rapid shooting, able to grab three to five arrows at once and fire them all in the shortest time, ensuring they all hit within a circle about the size of a human head.

Now, with the archery skill reward from Laura Smith, he could even shrink that circle to the size of a fist. When he focused, it was as if everything around him moved in slow motion, allowing David Clark to better lock onto and shoot his targets—even if they were moving at high speed.

He easily took down the first enemy, but now was not the time to relax. David Clark quickly drew two more arrows from his quiver, this time targeting wolves coming from two different directions.

With his mind highly focused and the world seeming to move in slow motion, his brain had “plenty” of time to make decisions: the wolf on the left had already leapt to attack, while the one on the right was still charging up, a bit farther away.

Although this state didn’t make David Clark’s body move faster, it allowed him to make the best split-second decisions for a kill: left first, then right!

He fired two arrows in quick succession. Although neither was a one-shot kill, both wolves were stopped in their tracks, buying David Clark a little time—just a second or two—before several more arrows flew in and finished them off.

David Clark moved extremely fast. Instead of retreating, he rushed to the first wolf he’d killed, pulled the arrow from its body, and immediately unleashed another round of rapid shots, taking down yet another gray wolf.

After these consecutive kills, David Clark reached for more arrows, but as he drew his bow again, the rest of the wolf pack had already turned and disappeared into the forest.

“They sure run fast!”

With his nerves finally relaxing a bit, David Clark cautiously scanned his surroundings, gathered up the spilled berries, tied the gray wolf carcasses together, slung them over his back, and carefully made his way back along the riverbank.

“Thank you, Laura Smith!”

Once he was sure the wolves weren’t following, David Clark let out a long breath and once again thanked Laura Smith for granting him such powerful archery skills.

At the same time, he became even more eager for the various miraculous rewards that Franklin Baker and others who might appear in the future could provide.

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Chapter 6: Holy Light

Carrying his haul back to the spot where he’d been chopping wood earlier, he saw Franklin Baker was still busy there, but several roughly processed logs had already been stacked nearby.

Franklin Baker had also gathered up the branches and leaves he’d trimmed off—these would make good firewood and needed to be brought back to the village.

“Back already?” Franklin Baker had taken off his shirt, revealing his powerful muscles. “Looks like you ran into some trouble?”

With several gray wolf carcasses on his back and dirt and grass stains all over him, it was obvious David Clark had encountered a wolf pack and fought a fierce battle.

Resting his axe on his shoulder, Franklin Baker looked David Clark over carefully. “Are you hurt?”

“I was pretty lucky—not a scratch.” If he hadn’t been lucky enough to get a golden finger and then acquire Laura Smith’s archery talent, with his original skills, he definitely would have been injured, maybe even killed.