The next morning, Ash entered the inn after a night of feeling a bit regretful for having argued with Maya. He knew Maya was probably worried about him.
After opening the door, he was greeted by Beth, the old woman who managed the inn and was also Gabriel's mother. She was sweeping the floor in the reception area.
"Good morning, Madam. How are you this morning?" Ash greeted her.
"Hello, Ash. I'm always well, as you can see. Are you going to meet Gabriel or Maya?" she asked with a smile, while continuing to sweep.
"Hehehe, I'm going to meet Maya for breakfast," said Ash while trying to help Beth sweep the floor, but she quickly pushed him away.
Beth laughed as she refused Ash's help and replied, "Maya left last night."
Ash was stunned. "She left?"
Seeing his shocked expression, Beth carefully said, "I thought you already knew..."
"No... I don't know..." Ash mumbled, then said goodbye to Beth and left the inn.
Beth looked at him with a mix of confusion and pity but then shrugged and continued sweeping.
"Who was that, Mom?" Gabriel asked, just waking up and coming down the stairs, rubbing his chest under his shirt.
"That was Ash, looking for Maya. But Maya left last night," Beth explained while continuing to sweep.
"Oh," Gabriel said. "So, Maya left without telling Ash."
"Maybe," Beth replied. "Maybe they had a fight. Just leave it. They'll probably make up soon. Now go wash your face, brush your teeth, and have breakfast."
Gabriel grinned, showing his neatly arranged teeth. "Okay, Mom."
***
Ash walked out of the inn with slightly unsteady steps.
'Maya left me. Just from a little argument like that, she left me?'
Unable to understand girl's thinking, he walked toward the Sassi Hunter headquarters, which was located not far from the Town Hall.
All the members of Sassi Hunter were now busy preparing for the attack from the Jiahao group. Ash decided to put aside his issues with Maya to help Sassi Hunter defend the group and everything in it, especially that his uncle was around.
He could not afford to lose another family member.
When he arrived at the Sassi Hunter headquarters, he was greeted by some members he had previously saved during the expedition at the Colosseum.
"Hi, Ash. Good to see you here," Albert greeted him while gathering arrows he would use for practice.
Some Sassi Hunter members who did not join the Colosseum expedition looked at Ash with scornful eyes. They thought it was impossible for a newcomer to the game world to have strong power.
Especially since they heard that Ash had an army of creatures.
However, they didn't dare to speak out openly, because Ash was the nephew of their leader, John, and supported by Gabriel, who was effectively John's deputy in Sassi Hunter.
Ash watched Albert, who was preparing his bow and arrows, with curiosity. "Hi, Albert. Can I ask you something about your arrows?"
Albert chuckled and replied, "Of course you can. What do you want to ask?"
He cleared his throat twice, then asked, "Ahem, ahem. First, will your arrows run out if you have to shoot at a large number of enemies? Second, can you beat shots from firearms?"
Being asked like that, Albert stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "Hahaha. You are an interesting kid. The answer to your first question is, yes, my arrows will never run out because I have an amulet for that."
He walked toward the training ground, followed by Ash, who watched Albert's back as he walked in front of him. Albert's height was only about ten centimeters taller than him, and of course, Ash was still growing, so he could become taller than him.
While taking an arrow from the quiver he had placed on his back, and setting the arrow on his bow, then taking his stance, he answered, "This is for the second answer."
Albert released his arrow toward the target circle, and the arrow flew very fast. Ash gaped in amazement as he watched.
The speed of the arrow was actually not inferior to that of a firearm shot, and it hit right in the center of the target!
Ash, in awe, murmured, "That was amazing!"
Albert chuckled. "I told you, right. But you better go practice as well, Ash. The Jiahoa group may arrive anytime soon," he said, indirectly telling Ash not to interrupt his training.
Ash nodded, then walked to the edge of the field and sat on a nearby bench.
His eyes caught sight of the other Sassi Hunter members practicing sword fighting, so he watched them with full of curiosity.
"Why are you just watching and not joining in?" Gabriel asked Ash, who was sitting on a chair at the edge of the training area.
Ash chuckled, "It's better if you all practice for the upcoming battle. I'm still a beginner."
Gabriel shook his head. "Tsk. Just because you're at a low level doesn't mean you can't train," he said, clicking his tongue.
"Let's go," Gabriel said, grabbing Ash's arm and pulling him toward the unused training dummies.
He tried to resist, but felt awkward and let Gabriel pull him along.
"Draw your sword," Gabriel said as they reached the dummy. "Let me see it first."
Ash then drew his sword and handed the hilt to Gabriel.
Gabriel examined the sword and tried swinging it. "This is a decent sword. Special item, huh?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah," Ash replied.
"Go slash one of those dummies," Gabriel said, pointing to the dummies.
Ash nodded and tried to activate his skill, imagining the dummies as his prey.
To his surprise, his skill activated. Previously, the skill wouldn't work if he didn't have a target to injure or kill.
'I still have a lot to learn about this game,' Ash thought, then focused on one of the dummies.
With a sideways movement, like the one Liliana taught him yesterday, he swung his sword, intending to cut the dummy in half.
Slashhh!
And the dummy was split into two, with a clean cut.
Seeing that, Gabriel laughed out loud. "You're talented. But now I want to try fighting you. Let's do it," he said, pointing to the empty space in the middle of the training ground.