Chapter 112: Basic Footwork

"So that's how it is." In that small cabin, after Wang Liang finished listening to Lu Yu recount the sequence of events, his originally furrowed brows relaxed slightly.

"No wonder no one chased after you when you left yesterday. To think that person had such an intention; it is truly malicious."

"Indeed." Lu Yu was filled with emotion. "Logically speaking, resolving them on the spot would have been the safest method to avoid future trouble."

"But even if I had the ability to take on six people at once, I couldn't guarantee that none of them would seize the chance to slip away."

"If anyone had truly escaped, my situation would have become precarious, and whether I could have walked out of Zhou Family Fort safely would have been a huge question mark."

"Your decision at the time was very wise." Wang Liang nodded in affirmation. "The waters of Zhou Family Fort are far deeper than you imagine. Even at my best, I wouldn't dare claim I had absolute certainty in handling everything."

"The most urgent priority is to ensure our own safety. Besides, barring any accidents, those people will keep this secret for us."

"Mm." Lu Yu responded.

In his heart, he was actually worried about whether anyone else besides himself knew this secret.

But forced by the situation, he really had no way to consider every single detail.

For now, he could only solve the immediate problem and then gradually improve his own strength.

If he were strong enough, what would it matter if the whole world knew he possessed a batch of mounts?

"Uncle Wang, once it gets dark, I will go out and intercept those people. As for the safety of the Zhai..."

"Rest assured." Before Lu Yu could finish, Wang Liang nodded in response. "If they were to suddenly break in while we were completely unprepared, I truly wouldn't be able to take them down immediately. But now that we know what might happen, they certainly won't find it so easy to succeed."

The corners of Lu Yu's mouth lifted slightly; the two of them were so in sync that even if they encountered an unexpected situation, there was no need to worry too much.

"Uncle Wang, this time when I went to Zhou Family Fort, I bought two Long Bows with a Five Hundred Catty Draw Weight, which you saw when I arrived. If you practice later, use that Five Hundred Catty Draw Weight Bow."

"By the way, I also got thirty catties of Blood Rice; the nutrition in this Blood Rice is about the same as Intermediate Fierce Beast Meat. I wanted to buy more, but I was worried it would be hard to carry back, so I only got this much for now. I'll find a way to buy more in a while."

"Alright." Hearing this, Wang Liang was filled with emotion.

He did not say anything overly grateful or make grand promises; after all, actions were the most powerful proof, and besides, there was no need for such empty formalities between the two of them.

"Aren't you planning to practice Footwork? Come with me."

Having said that, the two walked one after the other to the back of the Warehouse.

They saw that a walkway was now densely packed with wooden stakes, which wound and extended from low to high.

"I assume I don't need to waste my breath on how exactly to practice this." Wang Liang turned to look at Lu Yu.

"No need, no need." Lu Yu responded with a smile and walked straight to the lowest dozen rows of stakes.

These stakes were only as high as his calves, with about six in each row; the interval between adjacent rows was less than a meter, and the spacing of the subsequent stakes was roughly the same.

When he reached the eleventh row, Lu Yu noticed that the height of the stakes had increased by about ten centimeters compared to before.

Lu Yu stepped onto them steadily and felt that the stakes were very firm and did not budge at all.

He took a deep breath, lifted his right foot, and landed it steadily on the second row of stakes.

At the same time, his gaze quickly shifted to the Skill bar, where it displayed: 【Basic Footwork: lv3 (0.01%)...】

"Could it be that for every step taken, the proficiency increases by one ten-thousandth?" Lu Yu pondered to himself.

Immediately after, he lifted his left foot from behind, took a step forward, and also landed it on the second row of stakes.

With this, the proficiency increased from one ten-thousandth to two ten-thousandths.

"Looking at it this way, to raise Basic Footwork from level 3 to level 4, I just need to walk 10,000 steps; it doesn't seem like such an insurmountable task after all."

Thinking this to himself, Lu Yu began to walk slowly along these rows of stakes.

"You just practice steadily here; if you run into any problems, come find me in the front at any time." Wang Liang gave a word of instruction and then turned to leave.

Just like that, Lu Yu walked steadily on the stakes, one step at a time.

As the proficiency rose from three ten-thousandths to one-thousandth, and then to one percent, Lu Yu felt he was reaching his limit.

Walking one hundred steps took nearly two minutes just to increase the proficiency by one percent.

Calculating it this way, to reach level 4 would take two hundred minutes, which was over three hours.

If he wanted to go from level 4 to level 5, wouldn't that take six or seven hours?

Lu Yu looked up at the higher stakes ahead and walked toward them step by step.

When his right foot landed on the eleventh row of stakes, Lu Yu hurriedly looked at the Skill bar and saw that the proficiency of 【Basic Footwork】 had suddenly jumped by about three ten-thousandths.

This discovery instantly filled Lu Yu with motivation.

Didn't this mean he could save two-thirds of the time? If he switched to stakes over a meter high, wouldn't the improvement speed be even faster?

Lu Yu walked up step by step with great caution, thinking that even if he accidentally fell, with his current muscle strength, he would at most just scrape some skin.

After arriving at the second gradient of the stake area, Lu Yu quickly noticed that the increase in proficiency did not reach three ten-thousandths, or even two ten-thousandths.

This situation made Lu Yu feel a bit strange; he looked back at the first rows of stakes and then at the rows under his feet, and a guess couldn't help but pop into his mind.

Could it be that moving from a low point to a high point increases proficiency more than moving at the same height?

What would happen if he moved from a high point to a low point?

Lu Yu, with a mind to test it out, walked back a few steps, then lifted his right foot and stepped onto the tenth row of stakes, while closely monitoring the Skill bar.

Sure enough, the proficiency increased by one ten-thousandth, but the growth rate was not as high as when moving within the second area.

"It seems that going from low to high is relatively strenuous, horizontal movement is second, and the most effortless should be going from high to low, just like the principle of going up and down a mountain."

Lu Yu looked up toward the higher ground, and an idea formed in his mind; since that was the case, he would just keep moving upward.

Facts proved his guess was correct.

As the height continued to climb, the growth rate of the proficiency gradually increased from the initial three ten-thousandths to seven ten-thousandths, two-thousandths, five-thousandths, and finally reached one percent.

At this time, Lu Yu stood on stakes nearly two meters high and easily saw Wang Ping and the others who were practicing martial arts.

"Look over there!"

Wang Ping also discovered Lu Yu, his eyes widening in surprise, and he couldn't help but exclaim aloud.

"What's wrong?" The person next to him followed Wang Ping's gaze but didn't see anything unusual.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Wang Ping scratched his head and responded awkwardly.

Lu Yu slowly moved downward from a high place, walked all the way to the ground, then turned around and continued to repeat the previous action, cycling back and forth up and down.

After less than half an hour, Lu Yu suddenly felt a lightness in his legs, as if the burden on his body had lessened significantly.

A joyful smile appeared on his face because his Basic Movement Technique had leveled up.

【Basic Movement Technique: lv4 (0%), Traits: Swift lv4, Steady lv1】

"Steady?" Lu Yu was slightly stunned; could it be a trait that improves body stability?

Immediately after, he saw the specific description of the trait: 【Steady: For every level the skill increases, body balance improves by 30%】

Lu Yu couldn't help but laugh; this was truly a timely help.

He understood in his heart that if he wanted to continue increasing his level, he would definitely have to keep moving up and down on the wooden stakes. If the speed could get faster and faster, the increase in proficiency would surely become greater as well.

But once the speed increased, it was very difficult for his body to maintain balance, and a slight carelessness would lead to a fall. Fortunately, this Steady trait appeared in time, resolving his worries.

Lu Yu looked up into the distance, stepped onto the wooden stakes again, and began to increase his speed, striving to take one step every second.

Sure enough, after the speed was increased, the proficiency rose instantly by more than two times. However, at the same time, Lu Yu clearly felt his body gradually becoming uncontrollable; if he continued like this, he would definitely miss his footing and fall.

"Haste makes waste; I still need to be steady."

Lu Yu slowed down, controlling the time of each step to about 1.5 seconds. In this way, he felt much more relaxed; although the speed of proficiency increase also slowed down, at least his body could maintain stability.

Fortunately, practice makes perfect. After a period of adaptation, Lu Yu was gradually able to shorten the time of each step to 1.3 seconds, then 1.2 seconds. Although he could only maintain it for a short while each time, his proficiency was steadily increasing.

After about another half an hour, that familiar feeling struck again.

【Basic Movement Technique: lv5 (0%), Traits: Swift lv5, Steady lv2】

Lu Yu smiled knowingly; in less than an hour, his Agility attribute had increased by another 2 points.

With the blessing of the lv2 Steady trait, his body balance had improved by 60%, which was a huge help for his subsequent training.

Lu Yu glanced at the skill bar; Basic Movement Technique had not yet been unlocked.

"I wonder if I can unlock Basic Movement Technique after raising Basic Movement Technique to level 6."

This thought flashed through Lu Yu's mind, and then he continued to devote himself to training.

This time, Lu Yu was already able to control the time of each step to within one second, walking on the wooden stakes as if flying.

During the training, people came over to watch from time to time. Seeing Lu Yu walking swiftly on the nearly two-meter-high wooden stakes, they all widened their eyes in surprise, their faces full of disbelief.

After all, let alone walking quickly like Lu Yu, even just asking them to walk down from a nearly two-meter-high wooden stake would scare them out of their wits.

"Brother Yu is too amazing!"

"Yeah, Brother Yu's talent is already the highest among us, and he is still so diligent and hardworking."

"No wonder he is so amazing."

The few people around talked one after another, all revealing expressions of envy.

Qin Hai also looked toward this side, a firm expression revealed in his eyes.

He had already made up his mind that whatever Lu Yu practiced, he would practice too, even if it meant putting in twice or three times the effort.

After another half an hour or so, Lu Yu made a beautiful leap from top to bottom, landing steadily on a wooden stake three rows away.

In an instant, the proficiency of 【Basic Movement Technique】 increased from 93.56% to 94.88%, an increase of about 1.2%.

A faint smile appeared on Lu Yu's face.

Just as he expected, training in this way indeed increased the speed of proficiency gain much faster.

Of course, for ordinary people, doing this is extremely dangerous; a slight lack of attention could result in a broken leg at the very least.

About two minutes later, Lu Yu felt the familiar sense of lightness in his legs again.

Basic Movement Technique had leveled up again.

【Basic Movement Technique: lv6 (0%), Traits: Swift lv6, Steady lv3】

Although no new trait appeared this time, a new skill was unlocked.

【Basic Movement Technique: lv0 (0%)】

Lu Yu let out a soft breath; he had finally successfully unlocked Basic Movement Technique.

This was truly something worth celebrating.

However, Lu Yu knew in his heart that compared to completing the threshold conditions for 【Water-Walking Lightness Skill】, the road ahead was still long, and the task remained arduous.

He recalled what Wang Liang had said before.

Basic Movement Technique mainly includes two training methods: one is maneuvering and dodging within a small range, and the other is practice for short, medium, and long-distance running and movement.

Regardless of which method is chosen for training, it can increase the level of Basic Movement Technique.

Lu Yu looked at the rows of wooden stakes in front of him; now he could move freely on these wooden stakes, as easily as walking on flat ground.

It was time to try training in maneuvering and dodging on the wooden stakes, striving to raise Basic Movement Technique to LV3 before dark.

Compared to the practice of Basic Movement Technique, the training of Basic Movement Technique was much more difficult and dangerous.

It requires the practitioner to continuously jump vigorously from one wooden stake to the surrounding ones; the further the jumping distance, the more times, and the shorter the time interval, the more significant the increase in proficiency.

During the practice process, Lu Yu lost his footing and fell from the wooden stakes several times due to a slight lack of attention.

Fortunately, apart from his posture being a bit disheveled, he didn't suffer any other injuries.

His practice movements were indeed a bit comical in the eyes of outsiders, especially when he fell, which made others unable to help but laugh.

When Wang Liang walked up and informed everyone that everyone would have to undergo such practice in the future, the smiles on those people's faces instantly froze, which in turn made Lu Yu secretly laugh in his heart.

Wang Liang turned and looked at this scene, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes, followed by a subtle, imperceptible disappointment that emerged quietly; he shook his head gently and turned to leave silently.

All of this was seen by Lu Yu. He couldn't help but ponder whether, with the current medical conditions, it would be possible to cure Wang Shu's disability?

Even if there were a way, it was likely that only Yongan City would have the corresponding equipment.

It was just that Wang Shu probably couldn't go there. Thinking of this, Lu Yu sighed helplessly, then concentrated his energy and continued to devote himself to the practice of movement techniques.

Not a few minutes later, a sense of lightness quietly rose from the soles of his feet.

Lu Yu was happy in his heart, thinking that his Basic Movement Technique had improved, so he hurriedly looked at the skill bar, only to find that it was actually his Basic Movement Technique that had leveled up.

【Basic Footwork: lv7, Traits: Swift lv7, Steady lv4, Evasive lv1】

This result truly surprised Lu Yu a little, but thinking about it carefully, he felt it was quite good.