[Name: Born]
[Realm: Uninitiated]
[Constitution: None]
[Talent: SSS Talent — Blessing of the Moon Goddess]
[Talent Skills:]
Never Miss — Accuracy raised to the absolute limit.
Bow Mastery — Comprehension speed for any bow technique increased a hundredfold.
Divine Arrow — Infuse blood-essence or spirit energy to grant an arrow overwhelming penetration.
(Next talent skill will unlock at Tier Three.)
[Combat Arts: None]
[Cultivation Method: None]
[Weapon: None]
Born lay on his rickety wooden bed, staring at the silver screen shimmering before his eyes.
Line after line of text etched itself across the light. His heartbeat quickened despite himself.
SSS-rank Talent.
The peak of the continent.
A rarity spoken of only in legends.
The pitiful E-rank Archer mark that had shackled him was gone, wiped clean.
In its place burned a name no tome or elder had ever mentioned—
Blessing of the Moon Goddess.
On the continent of Tyria, a person's talent determined their ceiling.
From F to SSS, it was the ladder of destiny.
Cultivation itself was split into realms—
the First Tier, Martial Disciple;
the Second Tier, Martial Soldier;
the Third Tier, Martial Master;
the Fourth Tier, Martial General…
Each divided further into nine minor stages.
And beyond those heights, whispered of in hushed tones—
Saintly Warriors and even Demigods.
Had he remained an E-rank Archer, even burning a lifetime of effort, his end would have been mediocrity. A Martial Master at best—slow in cultivation, starved of resources, forever ordinary.
But SSS-rank…
That meant possibility.
That meant standing shoulder to shoulder with legends.
That meant brushing hands with the divine.
Born's fingers trembled as his eyes locked onto a single line glowing on the panel:
[Blessing of the Moon Goddess: Ancestor of the Longbow, drawing the bow to pierce the moon.]
Just ten words.
But they shook his soul to its core.
"Ancestor of the Longbow… draw the bow, shoot the moon…"
In the eyes of the world, an archer was nothing but a support role.
Able to strike from afar, but frail up close—
once cornered, their fate was always brutal.
Whether in hunting corps or on the battlefield, archers had never been the center.
But now—
With an SSS Talent, Born would overturn that fate.
He would redefine what it meant to be an archer.
…
That night, he barely closed his eyes.
When dawn broke, Born rose from his bed.
Today, he would finish his withdrawal from the academy—
and then, march straight to the Kingdom Legion's recruitment post.
In the small living room, Father Marsh, Mother Helen, and the younger siblings were already gathered.
When Born stepped out, four pairs of eyes immediately turned toward him.
"Brother!"
"Brother!"
His sister Eileen and his brother Teddy leapt to their feet, worry written plain across their young faces.
They had already heard the news from their father—that Born had dropped out.
Born was the eldest, eighteen this year.
Eileen and Teddy were still enrolled in the junior martial school, not yet of age to undergo their Awakening.
"Brother, you can't quit!" Teddy blurted, his tone stubborn, echoing their father's unyielding temper.
"We'll go to the Martial Bureau and file a petition. They can't force you like this!"
Born froze for a moment, then smiled faintly. He patted Teddy's shoulder, then gently pinched Eileen's cheek.
The smile on his lips carried only bitter helplessness.
"You two… if you're not careful, you won't even get into the Temple Academy later. Focus on your studies. Don't waste your energy worrying about me."
"Born… are you really leaving the academy?"
Eileen's eyes brimmed red. The moment she saw the forced smile on her brother's face, the tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks.
"I'm leaving because I never want to set foot in the Holy Bow Academy again," Born said softly, but his gaze was resolute.
"To enlist in the army—that is more honorable than any academy."
Those were not words of comfort, but the truth beating in his heart.
With the Blessing of the Moon Goddess—the supreme SSS Talent—he would never look back.
Only on the battlefield, only as part of the legion, could he truly awaken the mysterious power of his contract.
Father Marsh lifted his head, his eyes sweeping over his three children.
He was silent for a long while. Finally, he set down the cheap roll of tobacco he had been twisting in his fingers. His voice came low, heavy.
"Dropping out… I won't stop you. But the army? No. Absolutely not."
Born blinked, caught off guard. "Why?"
Mother Helen opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.
Marsh waved his hand instead, his gaze hard as he gestured.
"Eileen, Teddy. Off to school. I need to speak to your brother alone."
"Brother…"
Eileen hesitated, wanting to protest, but Born only reached out and stroked her hair.
"Be good. Go on."
Only when the younger two had left, the door closing behind them, did Marsh finally speak again.
"Born, you're grown now. You have the right to make your own choices. But of all things, the army… the army is the one path you cannot take."
"Why? What's so wrong with enlisting?" Born asked, frowning.
Marsh lit a crumpled cigarette, the flame briefly flickering against his weary face. He sat in silence for a long while before rasping out a single sentence:
"Because… your grandfather died in the army."
Born's entire body stiffened. The words rooted him in place.
"Before he died, he left me one final message."
His father's gaze drifted into the haze, his voice low, heavy, weighed down by shadows too deep to measure:
"—No one in our family must ever enlist again. Not a single one."
The words struck Born like thunder.
He had asked his father countless times about his grandfather's past. But Marsh had never once answered him directly.
And only now—only today—did Born learn that his bloodline carried the mark of a man who had fallen on the battlefield.
The room filled with smoke, blurring the look in his father's eyes.
"I don't know why your grandfather left such a dying wish," Marsh muttered, his voice trembling beneath the weight of memory. "But a man's last words carry meaning. He must have had his reasons. The legion is too dangerous… I can't let you go."
Born drew a long breath, his heart quivering.
He met his mother's tearful eyes, then stepped forward. His expression hardened into something his parents had never seen before—unyielding resolve.
"Dad, I don't know the reason behind Grandfather's words. But I do know this—
Enlisting is the only road left to justice."
"Hunting corps may temper me, but even the strongest hunters cannot fight the powers behind Miles."
The cigarette froze between Marsh's fingers.
He inhaled sharply, eyes storming with conflict, his hands trembling despite how tightly he clenched them.
Born pressed on, his voice steady as steel.
"Dad, Mom… they won't stop. Miles might come after you. He might target Eileen and Teddy."
"Only by enlisting, only by joining the Kingdom's Legion, can I gain the strength and protection to shield this family."
Helen broke then, clutching her husband's arm, her voice shaking with fear.
"Do they really… do they really want to destroy us all? He's already dropped out—why won't they let it go?"
Marsh's head snapped up, his eyes red, his voice a low, guttural roar:
"If they dare touch you—if they dare touch my children—I'll tear them apart with my bare hands, even if it costs me my life!"
Born only shook his head.
He reached out, grasping both his parents' hands, his words ringing firm, unshakable:
"That's why I have to enlist. To protect you. To protect all of us."
"This blood debt… I will repay with my own hands."
"One day, Miles—and everyone behind him—will pay the price in full."
His vow thundered through the small home, leaving silence in its wake.
For a long time, neither parent spoke.
At last, Marsh let out a deep, broken sigh. His eyes glimmered with unwillingness… but beneath it, helpless surrender.
"…Go then. Go, and join the army."