Chapter 49: Archery Instruction

Ever since the last discussion where they decided to wait for the Space Gate, Zhuge Tianxin and the others had waited for nearly another day. Some were becoming a bit impatient, and Zhuge Yu and Zhuge Quan even began to wonder if Zhuge Tianxin's deduction about the Space Gate was actually true.

"I want to go out hunting. Does anyone want to come along?" Suddenly, Zhuge Xun, who had grown impatient from waiting, was the first to propose going out to hunt. After all, since they were idle anyway, going out to hunt would allow them to prepare more food.

"I'll go with you." Zhuge Tianxin also wanted to go out and stretch his limbs.

"That's great! With Brother Tianxin participating, we'll be even safer. Does anyone else want to join?" Zhuge Xun said happily.

"Me, I'll join too." "Count me in." "If Brother Tianxin is going, then I'm going too."... After Zhuge Tianxin indicated he would participate, Zhuge Yu, Zhuge Quan, Zhuge Hua, Zhuge Song, and others all expressed their desire to join.

"Then everyone go prepare. Bring your own weapons. We'll gather here in a while and head out together." Seeing the high enthusiasm of Zhuge Yu and the others, Zhuge Xun was also very happy and told everyone to go prepare.

..., "Brother Tianxin, you're here. Everyone else has arrived, shall we set off? Alright, then let's go." After Zhuge Tianxin arrived, Zhuge Xun consulted his opinion before calling for the others to set off.

"Linglong, why are you here too?" Zhuge Tianxin saw Zhuge Linglong in the crowd.

"I also want to go out for a walk," Zhuge Linglong replied.

"Hmm, that's fine too. I only taught you half of my archery. Later, when we encountered the Blood-Thirsty Howling Moon Wolf attack, I didn't get to finish. Let's take this opportunity to teach you more," Zhuge Tianxin said.

"Alright! I actually have some questions I wanted to ask you, too." Zhuge Linglong was very happy to hear that Zhuge Tianxin was going to teach her archery.

Zhuge Tianxin and the others chatted along the way and gradually arrived at the hunting grounds. The grass here was sparser than in other places, but it was still fully capable of supporting many herbivores. Furthermore, the terrain here had many undulating small hills; this type of terrain was suitable for herbivores to hide from the pursuit of carnivores and to build nests. Most importantly, there was a small stream here, which was something other places lacked. Where there is water, it attracts many animals, and thus, there would be plenty of prey.

After arriving at the location, Zhuge Tianxin first released his senses to feel if there were any beasts on this grassland that they couldn't defeat. After confirming there were no such beasts, he gave some instructions to Zhuge Xun and the others, letting them go ahead to hunt, while he took Zhuge Linglong to a relatively higher area where the grass was thicker.

"Linglong, what do you think a good archer needs to do?" Zhuge Tianxin asked.

"I think one needs to observe the overall situation and assist teammates in striking the enemy more effectively," Zhuge Linglong replied.

"Hmm, what you said is correct, but it's not comprehensive." Upon hearing Zhuge Linglong's understanding of an archer, Zhuge Tianxin began to instruct her. "As an archer, there are two main things to do: the first is to protect yourself well, and the second is to act as the eyes." "The eyes?" Zhuge Linglong asked, very confused. "Yes, the eyes. Not just acting as eyes for yourself, but also acting as eyes for your teammates. We will talk about the 'eyes' part later. For now, let's talk about how to protect yourself. As a long-range attack profession, an archer is easily killed once an enemy gets close. Therefore, the first thing an archer must do after a battle starts is to put distance between themselves and the enemy; only then can you better exert an archer's role while also better protecting yourself. Of course, if you have teammates around you, then your teammates can also act as your guards, allowing you to output damage in a relatively safe situation. But the worst-case scenario is that you have no teammates to guard you, you haven't managed to put distance between you and the enemy in time, or you are ambushed. In this situation, you can no longer put distance between you and the enemy, so you must engage in close-quarters combat. At this point, your bow is no longer useful. So, what should you do then?" Having said this, Zhuge Tianxin asked Zhuge Linglong in return.

"I think I could improve my defense and counterattack ability in close combat by equipping myself with some short weapons," Zhuge Linglong replied.

"Hmm, not bad. You managed to do that when the Blood-Thirsty Howling Moon Wolf attacked, but you equipped yourself with a short staff. Although it can serve as a defense, the offensive and counterattack ability of a short staff is relatively poor, making it difficult to launch defensive counterattacks in close quarters. Therefore, I believe that when an archer equips themselves with close-range weapons, it is best to choose daggers, and preferably two—one for each hand. On the right hand, choose a longer, straight, single-edged dagger, used for blocking, defense, and counterattacking, while also increasing slashing ability. On the left hand, choose a double-edged short dagger, which can be used for sneak attacks. When the enemy blocks the slash of the single-edged dagger in your right hand, you can directly use it for a sneak attack. This makes it easier to injure the opponent, and it is harder for them to defend."

"Now, let's talk about the 'eyes.' What I mean by eyes is not just observing the battlefield situation through your eyes, but also the ability to analyze and predict the development of the battlefield. Of course, this requires a certain amount of combat accumulation. We won't talk about that for now; after you have more combat experience, it will gradually form. But you must have this awareness in your heart now so that you can cultivate this ability faster on the battlefield. What I want to teach you now is another ability—the ability to provide better help to your teammates through observation, and even to control or command the development of the battlefield. An archer belongs to a long-range attack profession; the attack range is relatively larger than that of melee professions, so you need to possess the ability to 'observe in all directions and listen to all sides.' This ability allows you to better understand the situation on the battlefield, and thus better judge what needs to be done next. This 'what to do' is not just about how to better injure the enemy, but also about how to better assist your teammates and control the enemy's attack rhythm. When the Blood-Thirsty Howling Moon Wolf attacked, you were able to shoot the wolf that wanted to pounce on Zhuge Yu, which shows you already have this awareness. However, your understanding of assisting teammates was limited to the level of injuring the enemy. In fact, assisting teammates can also involve pinning down the enemy, disrupting the enemy's attack rhythm, preventing the enemy's attack speed, and so on. These can play a very important role in battle, sometimes even more so than injuring the enemy. Moreover, you are prone to being distracted, which easily puts you in danger. Therefore, you must strengthen your training in multitasking—that is, doing two different things at the same time, such as drawing a circle with your left hand and a square with your right, performing a slash and a thrust simultaneously, etc. This way, you will gradually form the awareness of taking care of multiple sides at once. This is what I want to teach you. Do you have anything else you don't understand?" Zhuge Tianxin poured all his understanding of archers into Zhuge Linglong and finally asked if she had any questions. Zhuge Linglong also voiced the questions in her heart one by one to ask Zhuge Tianxin, and Zhuge Tianxin answered them one by one. Meanwhile, Zhuge Linglong also practiced archery under Zhuge Tianxin's guidance. Just like that, time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, nearly a day had gone by. During this period, Zhuge Xun and the others had returned from hunting, but in order not to disturb Zhuge Linglong's archery practice, they didn't interrupt Zhuge Tianxin and Zhuge Linglong, only calling them to eat together after the meat was roasted. Finally, they returned only after Zhuge Linglong encountered a bottleneck in her archery. ===== CHAPTER 50 =====