The Master Of Archery

"..."

"Haha, that sounds rough." Max spotted a goblin in the distance and took it down. "Was it too many enemies, or were they just too strong?"

"It was- huh?"

Jasmine and Rafael simultaneously stopped to look at the distant hobgoblin, which was now turning into particles, before turning to face Max.

"Hey, did you just shoot that goblin?" Jasmine pointed to the now-empty area in the distance.

"Hm? Yeah."

"That was like forty metres away."

"It was 36." Max tilted his head, "Is something wrong?"

"...?" Jasmine stared at him wordlessly. Moving over to Lemonade, she tugged his sleeve and pointed at Max while whispering, "What is he? Explain!"

"I told you, he's good with the bow." Lemonade smiled knowingly.

"No, but like, he didn't even stop walking. Aren't you meant to stay still when you try to shoot with a bow?"

"Uh... I dunno."

"Why are you guys making a big deal over this? He just shot something that was slightly far away." Rafael looked annoyed. "Not being as bad as you guys doesn't make him hot sh*t and all, you do realise?"

"Says the person losing." Lemonade shrugged.

"Huh? Losing?"

"Yeah, he has more kills than you right now."

"..."

Max was amused. He didn't expect his offhand shot to elicit this much attention at all. He noticed that Rafael was acting a bit combative toward him, but it was probably just to entertain the viewers, so he would play along. "Well, I don't think a 1-kill lead will faze him much."

"Oh yeah? Look at his face."

Max looked just in time to catch a glimpse of Rafael's eye twitching slightly.

"Rafael hates losing. Whenever he encounters someone better than him at something, it's like an itch he can't scratch, and he gets really irritated. One time when he was playing a ranked game, he got so frustrated that he brought out a chainsaw and-"

"That was years ago." Rafael interrupted. "I'm more mature than that now."

"Well, that remains to be seen." Lemonade said puckishly. "I think that- Mm?"

Max unexpectedly started drawing his bow, prompting Lemonade to pause.

Woosh!

An arrow flew down the corridor in a long arc, narrowly avoiding the ceiling before striking a goblin far away. The goblin fell over flat on the ground and disappeared.

"..." Lemonade, Jasmine and Rafael stopped walking and stared at Max wordlessly.

Max also stopped, "...What?" he played dumb, "Is something on my face?"

"Yes, a very handso-"

"What the f*ck was that?" Rafael asked interrogatively. "That was a skill, right?" Rafael's eyes bore into him.

"No?" Max responded with rising inflection. "I don't have any of those yet... Why do you ask?"

Lemonade barely controlled his expression but roared with laughter on the inside. Not only did Gun vastly overshadow Rafael with his ability; but he also acted like he knew nothing about it, forcing Rafael to spell out exactly how great he was.

"There's no way that's possible without a skill... no, is that a homing bow or something? How did you do it?"

"This is just the starter bow... Why are you freaking out over this? I just shot normally."

Lemonade made a noise and hunched over his knees, trembling.

"Normally?!" Rafael was incredulous. "Don't f*ck with me! ...Show me your stat panel, I want to see proof!"

Max shrugged and brought up his stats for Rafael to see.

"...That's- You're really not using any skills... Wait, what the hell is a Deadshot?"

'Oh, oops.' Max belatedly realised Rafael could see everything. 'Well, it's not like I was really trying to hide it, anyways.'

"Hm?" Jasmine and Lemonade approached. "You have a special class?"

"Wait, I've heard that word before..." Rafael clicked his fingers impatiently, like he was trying to retrieve an old memory. "Deadshot... Deadshot..." He raised his hand, "Aha! That's it! Deadshot Daiquiri!"

"Daiquiri?" Jessica interjected. "Like the cocktail?"

"No, it's a perk machine in Call of Duty; the one that gives aim-assist!" Rafael thrust his finger at Max, "That's it, isn't it! Your class is giving you aim-assistance!"

"Eh?" Max was taken aback at the sudden accusation. He'd never played Call of Duty.

'Aim assist...' Lemonade massaged his chin and thought, 'That would explain a lot, actually.'

"No... it doesn't give any sort of aim assist; the Deadshot class just boosts damage."

"Prove it!" Rafael challenged.

"Sure," Max easily agreed. "...Uh, how though?"

"Show the class description."

"Oh right, there was that." Max brought it up.

Class: Deadshot

Grade: Unique

Effects: When using a bow, all final base damage is increased by 100%. Additionally, all final weak-point and lethal damage is increased by a further 50%.

Description: 'Masterful' is not sufficient to describe the owner of this class. To the player incapable of missing: Your actions will be watched closely by the powers of this world. Good luck.

"WHAT?!" Jasmine's eyes bulged. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! UNIQUE???"

Rafael and Lemonade read through the text with shock.

"Is that good?" Max scratched his neck and asked innocently.

"Good?!" She stared at Max with horror. "It doesn't even exist! We thought there were only 'rare' classes!"

"Oh... nice!" Max did a fist pump. "It must be fairly good then!"

"Jasmine, does your chat know about any other unique classes?" Lemonade broke out of his stupor. "I can't read mine."

Jasmine made some swiping movements with her finger. "No, I can't read either. The chat have lost their minds."

—???????

—*Holding infinity gauntlet* - "Is it good?"

—HUH

—WHAT

—How?! Ask him how he got it!

—I was here!

—Damn that's a huge damage bonus

—Mom, can I have a unique class for Christmas?

The stream chat was scrolling past at a speed so fast that the messages were completely illegible to the streamers. Jasmine tried for a while before she got dizzy and decided to just look it up later.

Max's chat could still be read, but his viewers didn't know about any unique classes.

'Maybe I should stop playing blindly...' Max regretted not ever checking the forums. Unless people thought he was pretending not to know anything, they would think he was an ignorant fool who lived under a rock. 'Well, they wouldn't be wrong thinking that, but like...'

Interrupting Max's thoughts, Rafael walked in front of him and did a 45-degree bow. "Gun, right? I baselessly accused you of lying and even forced you to reveal your class. Though it might not mean much now, I sincerely apologise..."

"Ah, it's fine, you can relax." Max's eyes widened at the sudden attitude change, and he waved his hands. "I showed the class because I wanted to, so you don't need to worry."

Revealing his class hadn't been a thoughtless decision. In his mind, displaying the special class in front of three popular streamers would be a surefire way to give himself exposure. If anything, it could be said that he was shamelessly stealing the limelight from them.

"Bahaha!" Lemonade walked between them and patted their shoulders. "Then are you convinced now, Rafael? Archers aren't so weak, after all!" Lemonade puffed out his chest, as though the skilled display of bowmanship had been his own doing. "As for that meal you so generously offered to shout, I'm craving seafood, so I think we'll go to-"

"What are you talking about?" Rafael interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Why would I do that?" He glanced at Lemonade with disdain. "I only lose the bet if Gun finishes the dungeon with more kills than me."

"You mean..."

"Duh." Rafael cracked his neck and took a long spear from his inventory. "All we've established so far is that Gun has the qualifications to challenge me. As for the rest..." He theatrically span the spear in his hands. "We're only just getting started."