Conflict of Culture

Conflict of Culture - Chapter One Scene Six

“Come back here!” Fyle shook the firmly grasped bow in the fleeing deer’s direction, having reached his frustration limit. It was the twentieth time he’d had it in his sights, only to have it wiggle its ears, look around for a second, and then scatter in a random direction, but always away from him.

He couldn’t get within 20 meters - the limit of his short bow’s range. It was as if it knew, as if the AI was purposely screwing with him. With his bow out, at 20 meters, the weapon’s range finder would appear if he left its SSW up. The display wasn’t so advanced as to provide trajectory lines, but he understood how even this minor assistance was immeasurably useful to beginners. Still, in the case of deer, it felt more like the AI was trolling him than providing a service, because just as he’d reach 20 meters and bring the bow to bear, the deer would scatter.

After a few failed attempts, he’d grown accustomed to what 20 meters looked like. He then tried hunting without the SSW. It didn’t matter. Sure, at 20 meters, he could stand and watch the animal without any spooking, but as soon as he raised his bow, poof, it’d run off. And, sure, at 21 meters, he could even shoot, but unlike in real life where there’d be a chance to break the so-called maximum distance barrier, not so in the virtual world. Twenty meters was the maximum range, given his current Stats and proficiency levels. He would watch as arrow after arrow flew true (fine, semi-true), and stuck into the ground exactly one meter from the deer (with a tailwind). The deer, of course, didn’t flinch.

He knew he should’ve moved on to hunting something else a long time ago, but the infuriating nature of it all had lit a fire under his ass. It became more than a training exercise. In his mind, the AI had issued a silent challenge, and there was no way he was going to let it win. More than his pride was at stake.

Why are these freaking deer so freaking hard? Fyle had figured that since they were so big, they’d be an easier target than rabbits. Not only were rabbits practically invisible beneath the ground cover, but they were so small that he thought he needed to improve his accuracy before trying for them. Birds would’ve been even worse with all the branches acting as protection.

“You’re mine this time!” Fyle declared and proceeded to catch up to it. As usual, it’d stopped a few hundred meters away. He’d been chasing the same deer the entire time. At first, he thought he’d been lucky and happened upon an area where the deer had replaced gobloks (or other monsters) as the primary encounter. He soon realized that was not the case. He’d still been lucky enough to avoid any monster encounters - a fact that was beginning to worry him; he knew it was only a matter of time - but it wasn’t some type of paradise. It was only the one deer, and it was kicking his ass, metaphorically.

He kept thinking he’d missed something and regularly used Identify on it. This time was no exception.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

-You have successfully used Observe!-

-Observe proficiency increased +5%-

-Level 0 (15%)-

-Through painstaking effort, you’ve determined Deer is extremely perceptive. Your mastery of this proficiency has increased.-

 

-System Help Menu Activated (Beginner Mode)-

-Occurrence Type: Uncommon-

-Action: Deer hunting-

-By consecutively failing 20 near-identical Deer hunting actions, the CoCAI has taken pity on you.-