For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Briggs finally broke the silence. "I—I'm not dreaming, right?"
"Doesn't seem like it," someone muttered, followed by the sound of a hard gulp. Several, actually.
The massive plains rabbit lay sprawled on the ground, a black-fletched arrow piercing clean through its skull. It was well and truly dead.
Grant's face was still frozen in disbelief. But unlike the others, he'd seen Leo's archery the night before—his shock quickly gave way to a quiet pride, his expression softening.
Someone trotted forward, picked up the rabbit with both hands, and puffed, "Almost as big as the one we got two days ago—easily forty pounds."
Everyone turned to Leo, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Kid… how the hell did you pull that off?" Briggs finally asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Only the Wells brothers could pull off a shot like that—or so he thought.
Leo scratched his head, a bit sheepish. "I didn't really think it'd land. Maybe I just got lucky?"
"Lucky?" someone scoffed.
They glanced at the arrow—it had gone right through the neck. A clean kill. Luck didn't explain that.
"You little liar," Briggs snorted. "You've been secretly practicing, haven't you?"
"I have been practicing, yeah—but not secretly," Leo muttered.
"For real?" The disbelief doubled.
The group instantly erupted.
"When the hell did you start practicing? We never saw a thing!"
"Yeah, Leo, be honest—you've been at this for what? Two, three years? A hit like that from this distance? Damn!"
"Kid's been hiding his cards! We wouldn't have known if he didn't show off today."
"Old Briggs nearly ruined the shot too! Good thing Leo didn't listen—rabbit would've bolted."
Briggs rubbed his bald head, grinning awkwardly. "Alright, alright. How was I supposed to know the kid was a damn marksman?"
Leo glanced at Grant, who gave him a slight shake of the head—don't say too much.
Taking the hint, Leo just smiled vaguely. "Yeah… I've been training for a while."
"Knew it!" someone said, slapping their thigh.
"Gotta admit, Leo, I underestimated you at the gate this morning."
The group chuckled and clapped him on the back, the energy noticeably lighter than before.
Even Grant, usually stone-faced, cracked a rare smile.
He hadn't wanted Leo to reveal too much. If the others found out the kid had only trained for two or three days… well, it might've caused more chaos than celebration.
In his heart, Grant was stunned. But maybe… maybe his son really was one of those freak talents. Like the Awakened. Unremarkable at first, then suddenly able to leap tall walls and tear through monsters.
Compared to that, a kid with crazy archery talent? Kinda tame.
"Alright. Let's keep moving," Grant said calmly.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go."
The others snapped out of it.
One rabbit was a good start—but nowhere near enough to feed the whole camp. Still, this was a hell of an opener. And now that they'd seen Leo in action… if they ran into a few more rabbits, well…
Hope returned.
Leo was once again kept in the center of the formation—only this time, the level of protection was absurd. He almost felt like some VIP sniper in a tactical escort mission.
As they walked, a line of text floated through Leo's mind.
----------------------
+3 EXP
----------------------
His brow furrowed. EXP? Experience points? Was that from killing the plains rabbit?
Probably.
He opened his Status Panel—and his eyes widened.
----------------------
Level: 3 (0/4)
Physique: 78
Strength: 57
Agility: 47
Clarity: 05
Stat Points: 0 (+1 per day)
Experience: 3
----------------------
Wait. Experience… was that new?
His eyes drifted to the bottom of his Basic Archery skill.
For the first time, a small [+] icon appeared beside it.
"…Is this what EXP is for? Upgrading skill proficiency?"
Then he noticed something else—Basic Archery, which had been at 0% after leveling up, was now at 3%.
"What the…" Leo blinked.
He hadn't done any training since it hit Level 4. So why the jump?
He remembered hitting a stationary target barely earned him 1%. But now? A single arrow just got him 3%?
He took a slow breath, organizing his thoughts:
Skill proficiency gains are much higher in real combat than in training.
Killing beasts awards Experience Points.
Experience doesn't strengthen the body, like Stat Points—but might help level up skills.
The first two? Confirmed.
The third? Time to test it.
Leo focused on the [+] next to Basic Archery and pressed it.
----------------------
Basic Archery – Lv.4 (4%)
— Trait: Reinforce Body Lv.4
— Trait: Iron Arm Lv.4
— Trait: Slowfire Lv.4
— Trait: Mounted Aim Lv.2
----------------------
His EXP dropped to 2. Proficiency jumped from 3% to 4%.
"So it's real…"
Leo's breathing quickened. This was huge.
Combat earned EXP. EXP improved skills. That meant even without time to train, he could still grow stronger—just by surviving.
Of course, the EXP gain was small—3 points from one rabbit? That wasn't much. But if he used those on new skills in the future? He'd save weeks of training time.
Human energy was limited. Manual grinding had its cap. But if EXP could bypass that?
That changed everything.
"And that was just a plains rabbit," Leo thought. "If I take down something stronger… maybe a mid-tier beast…"
His thoughts drifted to the Armored Rhino they saw earlier.
How much EXP would that thing give?
"Leo? Hey, Leo?"
A voice snapped him back.
He looked up—just in time to see Briggs holding a finger to his lips, signaling silence. Then he pointed.
Leo turned his gaze southeast—and spotted it.
A black-furred rodent, its greasy coat gleaming in the light. Its head was the size of a basin. It poked out from its burrow, sniffing the air.
A Black Rat—a low-tier beast. Not dangerous, but notoriously hard to catch. Burrows fast. Vanishes quicker.
"You got a shot?" Briggs whispered.
All eyes turned to Leo again.
Hopeful. Eager.
Waiting.