Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage-Chapter 581: Reach For the Stars I

CH581 Reach For the Stars I

***

Silver’s eyes snapped open.

She looked around instinctively, her gaze eventually settling on Sugud.

Under Silver’s gaze, Sugud suddenly felt as though he had nowhere to hide.

It was as if her sight locked onto him completely.

If she chose to attack him at that moment, he felt there would be nothing he could do to escape.

’What the—?’

Sugud shivered with horror.

Fortunately, Silver quickly regained control of herself and withdrew her Intent.

She silently bowed in apology to both Sugud and the mysterious old man, who had been caught within the unconscious surge of her power.

The old man waved away her concern with a carefree flick of his hand.

Sugud hurriedly waved both hands as well, indicating he held no grievance.

Silver then turned back toward the Armament Stele, her mind heavy with contemplation.

Shooting at the starry skies had turned out to be far more symbolic than literal.

In hindsight, that fact should have been obvious.

After all, perhaps not even a Legendary-ranked being could fire an arrow capable of travelling light-years through the endless void of space to strike a distant star.

Much less an Intermediate like her.

’No...’ Silver paused.

That was no longer correct.

She looked down at her hands as the realisation dawned upon her.

She was no longer an Intermediate.

She had become an Elite ranker.

Passing the Armament trial had turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle she needed to break through to the next rank.

Thinking back to the trial, she realised that firing the arrow into the void of space had not been the most difficult part.

The true challenge had been believing that such a thing was even possible.

For a long time, Silver had been unable to release the arrow.

She simply could not bring herself to believe that she —merely an Intermediate Hunter— could fire such an impossible shot.

On top of that, the fear of failing the trial had constantly gnawed at her mind.

In truth, being a member of Fortuna had always been difficult for Silver, especially on a mental level.

In her own eyes, she was the most lacklustre direct follower Alex had ever recruited.

Her only real saving grace was her talent as a scout.

She had no doubt the others would succeed in their trials, and because of that, she feared becoming the only one who failed.

Her mind drifted back to a conversation she once had with Alex.

It was the time she had requested to be given a crossbow, after witnessing its might for herself. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

—

"Why are you so fixated on getting a crossbow?" Alex asked curiously. "From what I can see, you are doing quite well with a traditional bow."

He folded his arms thoughtfully.

"Besides, at the moment, the power of these crossbows depends entirely on their craftsmanship. You wouldn’t be able to empower it with your mana the way you do with your bows— at least, not as easily."

Silver hesitated for quite a while.

Alex remained silent, patiently waiting for her to answer.

However, the calm look in his eyes made it clear that he wasn’t going to let the matter drop without hearing the truth.

Eventually, Silver folded under the quiet pressure.

"Because... I don’t want to fall behind."

That was all she said.

Yet it was enough.

In that moment, Alex finally saw a side of the woman he had never truly considered before.

By most standards, Silver was simply an ordinary human.

She possessed no powerful bloodline nor exactly an extraordinary heritage.

Arguably, if she had any advantage at all, it was that she came from a family of archers and had received training from them since childhood.

Aside from that, she was ordinary.

And yet, this ordinary warrior —a woman no less— had survived the brutal trials of the Fury family Prime agoge and emerged as one of its best graduates.

Because of that brilliance, Alex had overlooked something important.

The sheer amount of effort she must have poured into reaching that level.

Compared to the others, her talents were modest at best. Yet she was still able to stand beside them— Train and compete with them every single day.

The mantle of ’Young Master Alex’s follower’ had become a silent collar around her neck.

One that slowly tightened, suffocating her under the weight of expectation— most of which were her own, in reality.

"You might not realise it," Alex suddenly said, looking straight at her.

"But in my view —and in the view of most people in our party— you are actually the most special person among us."

"Myself, my wives, and my other followers— we all possess bloodlines or innate traits tied to our birth," Alex continued.

"Most of us, in one way or another, relied on or took advantage of these traits to reach the level we currently stand at."

"But you are different."

"You reached where you are purely through hard work."

"That is something the rest of us cannot truly claim. Yes, we also work hard in our own ways... but we cannot deny that our innate traits have played a significant role in our progress."

"So because of that —because you are able to stand beside us at the same level without the same advantages— that makes you special among us."

"None of us will ever look down on you."

Alex paused and looked at her sincerely.

"To be clear, the reason we won’t look down on you isn’t because of your past achievements or your record."

"It’s because I –we— believe you have talent."

"True talent." He emphasised.

"And if you trust in that talent and continue pushing forward the way you always have — regardless of anyone around you — then one day..."

"You will reach for the stars."

—

Unfortunately, those words did not seem to truly reach Silver at that moment.

The woman simply nodded quietly.

It was only later, during the trial —when she had been paralysed by doubt and the sheer impossibility of the task before her— that those words resurfaced in her mind.

’Push forward like you always have... and you will reach for the stars.’

Silver murmured Alex’s words softly to herself.

In that moment, his words felt less like simple encouragement...

And more like a prophecy.

Silver chose to believe them as such.

While the people of Pangea —and those who lived on the plane long enough— were not particularly outwardly religious, they still believed in a Creator and higher power watching over the created universe.

Silver decided to believe Alex’s strangely coincidental words were a message from whatever higher power might be watching over her.

Watching over everyone.

And so, for that single moment, she set aside every doubt, fear and hesitation.

She shut herself away within the marksman’s zone— a mental state where nothing else existed except her bow... the arrow... and the target.

PHEWWW!!

Silver loosed her first arrow.

But it did not even travel beyond the verdant platform.

Her mind shook for a moment, but she forcibly calmed herself.

’Reach for the stars...’ she muttered, as though trying to hypnotise her own mind.

She reached for another arrow from the remaining ten, notched it onto her bow...

And released.

PHEWWW!!!

Once again— failure.

Then another.

And another.

One more.

She continued shooting until only five arrows remained in her quiver.

With every failed shot, doubt slowly crept into her mind.

’It is impossible for an Intermediate to shoot down a star!’

Her doubts disguised themselves as the voice of reason, gnawing at her thoughts and urging her to lower her bow.

[A.N: Inner Demons 😏😉]

But once again, Alex’s words echoed through her mind.

"Reach for the stars..."

She repeated the phrase like a mantra, over and over, until the doubts inside her mind were finally drowned out.

Then she nocked another arrow...

And fired.

PHEWWW!!!

Once again, the arrow failed to leave the platform.

However, this time, Silver did not dwell on the failure.

Instead, she focused on the success.

This arrow had travelled farther than all the others before it.

It had nearly reached the edge of the verdant platform.

At that moment, the first half of Alex’s words —the part she had ignored earlier— suddenly resurfaced in her mind.

"Push forward like you always have..."

Silver murmured the words softly.

Just as Alex had said, she did not possess the innate bloodline talents that many of the others had.

While she could not deny that she had some natural aptitude for the bow, the majority of her ability had come from relentless repetition.

Shooting arrow after arrow.

Day after day.

Until the countless arrows she had loosed shaped the skill she possessed today.

Along the way, she had encountered many individuals on her home world who possessed powerful bloodline talents.

Some of them had been far better archers than her at the beginning.

Yet today, they were nowhere to be seen.

Through repeated training and sheer perseverance, she had slowly refined her skills, shaving away her weaknesses one by one until she surpassed them all.

They had long since fallen beyond her sight.

’Keep pushing forward...’ Silver told herself.

’Even if it is only by a metre at a time... keep pushing forward.’

’Eventually... I will reach the stars.’

She nocked another arrow.

And fired.

PHEWWW!!!

***