Chapter 71: The Only Weapon I Can Use

After Eris rejected me, there wasn’t much point in staying at the training grounds.

To work off my frustration and the energy building up inside me, I ran around the estate for a while. Afterward, I found a quiet corner of the garden and did some push-ups and a few simple abdominal exercises.

About an hour later, I wiped away my sweat and returned to the mansion.

Alaric had already left. Judging by the suit he had worn at breakfast, he had an important meeting and had probably gone to one of the company buildings on the other side of the city.

Miranda, meanwhile, was doing yoga on a thin mat spread across the middle of the spacious living room. She had raised one leg behind her head and was focusing on her breathing with her eyes closed.

I couldn’t tell whether she had noticed me come in.

Not wanting to disturb her concentration, I made my footsteps as quiet as possible and headed for the stairs.

After returning to my room, I took a quick shower and changed into clean clothes. When I lay down on the bed, I checked the time on my phone.

It was still quite early.

I had no plans for today. We had bought most of the cosplay supplies, the alterations to the wedding dress would take a few days, and I couldn’t contact my angel until I got my old number back.

I couldn’t think of anything else to do besides return home and start a stream. However, since I usually streamed in the evening, going live now could completely disrupt my schedule.

I placed the phone on my chest and stared at the ceiling.

"I’m bored..."

In my old life, I had to make a special effort to find any free time. After my university classes, I would go to my part-time job. On days when I didn’t work, I attended training sessions with the archery club. Sometimes I met my friends, and other times I spent a few hours with one of the girls I was seeing.

Back when my life was that busy, I used to dream of having an entire day to myself so I could rest.

Now the whole day stretched out before me, and I had no idea what to do with it.

In this life, Eris and my angel were the only people I saw regularly. Even though I spoke to hundreds of people during my streams, they all disappeared the moment I turned off my computer.

I hadn’t started university yet. I didn’t have a job, and unless the System gave me a mission, I had no real purpose to keep me occupied.

"I never thought I’d miss the System."

After staring at the ceiling for a few more minutes, I ran out of patience.

I got off the bed and began wandering aimlessly around the room. When I reached the window, I could see the large grounds behind the mansion. The stone field where Eris trained was hidden among the trees, and only the tops of the barrier pillars were visible from here.

At that moment, a small fragment of Noctis’s memories surfaced in my mind.

There was another training area behind the mansion.

Since the estate belonged to Alaric’s family, it wasn’t limited to a single area dedicated to Nexus training. There should also be an outdoor section with targets and different weapons for shooting practice.

More importantly, there were bows.

The moment I remembered the archery club from my old life, some of my boredom faded. I might not have known how to fight professionally, but a bow was the only real weapon I knew how to use.

Even if Talia and Eris refused to train me, I could still regain my old skills. In the next Overlap, killing monsters from a distance without getting anywhere near their mouths would be much safer than trying to smash their heads with a bat.

A small smile appeared on my face as I left the room.

When I went downstairs, Miranda was still doing yoga. To avoid disturbing her, I approached one of the staff members standing at the other end of the hallway and asked where the shooting range was.

The young woman gave me directions that involved several turns, then pointed toward one of the rear doors.

After thanking her, I stepped out into the garden.

About five minutes later, I reached a wide clearing among the trees.

The shooting range was completely covered in green grass. A long wooden platform with a roof stood on the right, and the lines in front of it marked the distance to the targets. The nearest target was about twenty meters away, while the others had been placed at regular intervals. The farthest one stood in front of an earthen embankment at the end of the range.

Inside the sheltered section beside the wooden platform were bows of different sizes, quivers filled with arrows, and other ranged weapons. Every piece of equipment had been perfectly maintained and was ready for use.

I had never practiced archery anywhere this luxurious in my old life.

Our university club had a limited budget. Most of the bows were scratched from years of use, and the targets were sometimes so worn that they couldn’t even hold the arrows. A single bow here probably cost more than all the equipment in our club combined.

Unable to hide my excitement, I approached the weapons.

"Let’s see what you have..."

I selected a black and dark red bow from the middle rack. Although it resembled a modern Olympic recurve bow at first glance, the curved lines along its body glowed faintly, and a small crystal was embedded in the grip.

The moment I picked it up, its weight pulled my arms down more than I expected.

"Why is this so heavy?"

Its body didn’t look metallic, yet it was several times heavier than an ordinary composite bow. The dark material forming the grip felt cold to the touch and showed no give beneath the pressure of my fingers.

When I took an arrow from the rack, I noticed that it was also different from the arrows I was used to. Its dark shaft was quite thin, but it felt as dense as a metal rod. The matte black tip resembled a small armor-piercing spear more than an ordinary target point.

"What are these made of?"

I didn’t know enough about the materials in this world. Still, it was obvious that these weapons had been made with Nexus users in mind.

Taking the bow and several arrows, I moved to the line facing the nearest target. As I placed my feet shoulder-width apart and turned my body sideways to the target, my old habits slowly began returning.

I nocked an arrow and extended my left arm.

After taking a deep breath, I tried to draw the string.

But my arm didn’t move.

Frowning, I applied more force, but the string only moved back a few centimeters. The limbs of the bow barely bent at all.

"Huh?"

I checked the bow for some kind of lock. Other than the small crystal beside the grip, I couldn’t see anything that might be preventing it from moving.

I took my stance again and used all my strength this time.

As the string slowly moved back, the muscles in my arm began to ache. To reach full draw, I had to strain my back, shoulders, and arms at the same time.

"What is this thing?!"

I gritted my teeth and kept pulling until my right hand finally approached my face. However, by the time I brought the string to the anchor point beneath my chin, both my arms were trembling uncontrollably.

The sight moved from side to side across the target, and holding the arrow steady became harder with every passing second. I tried to make a clean release, but my muscles couldn’t hold on any longer.

My fingers released the string.

Instead of the powerful sound I had expected, the arrow shot forward with a weak vibration. It passed to the left of the target, fell onto the grass, and slid several meters before coming to a stop.

I stared blankly at the arrow for a while.

"Did I forget how to shoot?"

I hadn’t been a perfect archer in my old life, but I wasn’t bad enough to miss a target at this distance. I had trained longer than most people in the club and achieved acceptable results in competitions.

A heavy sense of disappointment settled in my chest as I looked at the bow in my hand.

My Strength had increased significantly after the Overlap. I might have chosen a heavy war bow that an ordinary person couldn’t use, but I should at least have been able to make a decent shot at a target twenty meters away.

After retrieving the arrow, I returned to the starting line.

I rested for a few seconds and steadied my breathing before trying again. I corrected my stance, relaxed my shoulders, and drew the string while using my back muscles as much as possible.

My draw was slightly more controlled this time.

Even so, holding the arrow steady required so much strength that I couldn’t focus on aiming. After a few seconds, my fingers grew tired, and the arrow slipped free before I wanted to release it.

The second arrow passed closer to the target than the first, but still landed in the grass.

"Damn it..."

I lowered the bow and flexed my aching fingers.

By now, I understood that the problem couldn’t be a simple lack of strength. Even after I released the string, the limbs of the bow didn’t snap forward at the speed they should have. It felt as though some invisible resistance was preventing the weapon from moving.

I raised my head and called out to the empty air.

"Oiii, System! Why is this fucking thing so hard to use?"

A translucent window appeared before my eyes a few seconds later.

[Analyzing...]

[The target equipment is a composite war bow designed to be enhanced with Nexus energy.]

"Get to the useful part."

The System’s text changed.

[The bow’s body and string are activated by Nexus energy transferred from the user. This energy transfer reduces draw resistance, increases the arrow’s launch speed, and improves the equipment’s durability.]

Another line appeared beneath it a few seconds later.

[As your body contains no Nexus energy, you are attempting to use the equipment through physical strength alone.]

My expression slowly fell.

"Great... So you’re telling me I can’t use the weapons in this world."

[Weapons that do not require Nexus energy can be used.]

"Extremely helpful."

After dismissing the System window with my hand, I collected the arrows from the grass. Then I carefully returned the bow and arrows to their original places.

Learning that not every weapon in this world required Nexus energy was slightly reassuring, but I suspected that most high-quality equipment would be designed around its use.

Living without a Nexus in this world didn’t simply mean being powerless. I also couldn’t make use of the weapons, training methods, and equipment available to everyone else.

After standing in front of the rack for a while, I looked at the black bracelet around my left wrist.

I did have a weapon I could use.

And it didn’t require Nexus energy.

I carefully checked my surroundings. There were no staff members on the nearby stone paths, and most of this area couldn’t be seen from the mansion’s windows. Eris and Talia should still have been training, while Miranda was doing yoga.

Once I was certain no one was watching, I raised my left wrist.

"Umbrella."

The black bracelet immediately unraveled and spread into my palm like a liquid. Transforming it into the bat or spear I had used inside the Overlap had become so easy that I barely needed to think about it anymore.

Creating a bow required more detail.

I pictured the Olympic recurve bow I had used in my old life. As I thought about the shape of the grip, the curve of the limbs, and the tension I used to feel while holding the string, Umbrella began taking shape between my hands.

The black substance first formed a thin, curved body. The limbs extending from both ends bent slightly backward, and a thin, dark string appeared between them.

The resulting bow looked simpler than the models I was used to. It had no sight, stabilizer, or mechanical parts, but the moment I held it, I could feel its weight distributed perfectly across my hand.

"Light and durable..."

I drew the empty string several times to test its flexibility. Umbrella responded to my thoughts by adjusting the resistance to the level I wanted. As I used the bow, it made small changes to fit my hand more comfortably.

A piece of black matter separated from the lower part of the bow and lengthened in my palm, forming a thin arrow. I made its tip blunt enough not to destroy the target and its shaft rigid enough not to bend during flight.

An involuntary smile appeared on my face as I nocked it.

"Good. Now we can try it."

I stepped up to the twenty-meter line and took my stance again. I turned my left foot slightly toward the target, relaxed my shoulders, and held the bow without gripping it too tightly.

Unlike the previous bow, the string offered no resistance when I drew it. As my right hand approached my face, I engaged my back muscles and anchored the arrow beneath my chin.

This body was slimmer than my old one. Since the length of my arms and the width of my shoulders were different, I had to adjust the anchor point I was used to.

After letting out half my breath, I focused on the target.

I relaxed my fingers.

The string snapped with a sharp sound as the black arrow vanished from my sight. A moment later, it struck the target and embedded itself slightly to the left of the center.

I remained in place for several seconds, watching the arrow vibrate.

I hadn’t hit the exact center, but it was close enough for a first shot.

The smile on my face quickly widened.

"Ahaha, that’s more like it!"

Just as I raised the bow into the air in celebration, a familiar voice came from behind me.

"Noc?"

My entire body suddenly tensed.

My eyes widened in panic, and I wanted to hide the black bow behind my back. However, trying to do that would only make what Eris had seen even more suspicious.

I slowly turned toward the voice.

Eris stood at the entrance to the shooting range, staring at me. She must have just finished her training. Several strands of her crimson hair were stuck to her face with sweat, and her dark athletic top fit closely against her body.

However, there was no trace of the anger she had shown only a short while ago.

One hand rested against one of the pillars as her eyes moved from the black bow in my hand to the arrow of the same color embedded in the target.

As her surprise slowly turned into concern, she raised her gaze back to my face.