Chapter 18: Killing Fierce Beasts to Gain Experience Value

Zhao Shan's voice trembled slightly as he was the first to break the silence: "I... I'm not seeing things, am I? This isn't a dream, right?"

"It's definitely not a dream, this big wild rabbit was really shot dead with one arrow!" Someone nearby swallowed hard, their voice full of shock.

The giant Wild Rabbit lay on the ground, a feathered arrow having pierced through its body; it was clearly no longer breathing.

Lu Guohao's face was also filled with shock, but having witnessed Lu Yu's Archery last night, he was the first among them to regain his composure.

Soon, the shock was replaced by pride and satisfaction; he looked at Lu Yu, his eyes full of gratification.

Someone couldn't wait to run over, laboriously carrying the Wild Rabbit back, and panted as they said: "Good fellow, it's almost as big as the last one, at least forty catties!"

Everyone cast their gazes toward Lu Yu, their eyes full of disbelief.

"Xiao Yu, how on earth did you do it?" Zhao Shan couldn't help but ask. In his impression, this kind of Archery that could pierce a willow leaf at a hundred paces was something only the Liu Jia Xiong Di could achieve.

Lu Yu felt a bit embarrassed being stared at by everyone and scratched his head, saying: "Zhao Shu, I didn't expect to hit it in one shot either. Maybe it was just good luck?"

"Luck?" Everyone looked at that arrow; it had passed through the rabbit's neck, hitting the vital spot perfectly. How could this possibly be just luck?

"You brat, you're not being honest, you're definitely not telling the truth." Zhao Shan looked suspicious. "Have you been practicing in secret for a long time?"

"I have practiced, but not in secret," Lu Yu explained helplessly.

"You really practiced?" Everyone was even more shocked now and began asking all at once.

"When did you practice Arrow Technique? How come we didn't know anything about it?"

"That's right, Xiao Yu, you must have been practicing this Arrow Technique for at least two or three years, right? To kill with one arrow from such a distance, it's too amazing!"

"You hid it well, kid. If you hadn't shown this hand today, we would still be kept in the dark."

"Lao Zhao wanted to shoot the arrow himself earlier; it's a good thing we didn't listen to him, otherwise this rabbit would have run off without a trace long ago."

Zhao Shan's face turned red to the roots of his ears, and he awkwardly rubbed his bald head. How was he to know Lu Yu's Arrow Technique was so formidable? Thinking about it now, what he said earlier was truly embarrassing.

Lu Yu glanced at Lu Guohao not far away, and Lu Guohao shook his head slightly, so he said vaguely: "I have indeed practiced for a period of time."

"I knew it!"

"Xiao Yu, you are truly amazing. Back at the Zhai entrance earlier, we underestimated you."

The few of them chatted and laughed, and it was clear they were genuinely happy for Lu Yu.

Lu Guohao, who was usually not one for many words, now also revealed a rare smile on his face. He had just shaken his head at Lu Yu to signal him not to reveal the truth.

If everyone knew that Lu Yu had only practiced archery for two or three days to reach this level, there was no telling what kind of sensation it would cause.

As for himself, besides the shock, he was also a bit curious. However, this world was never short of geniuses; perhaps his own son was a genius in terms of archery? Just like those Awakened, who were the same as ordinary people before they awakened.

Once they awakened, their strength would advance by leaps and bounds, and they could even possess abilities that surpassed ordinary people. Thinking of it this way, it wasn't so hard to accept that Lu Yu had this talent.

"Alright, let's keep moving forward," Lu Guohao said.

"Right, right, right." Only then did everyone snap out of it.

While catching one piece of prey was certainly worth being happy about, just one wasn't enough to be divided up in the Zhai. But regardless, this was a good start.

More importantly, having witnessed Lu Yu's Archery, if they encountered a few more Wild Rabbits, the harvest would be significant.

The atmosphere in the team became visibly more lively. Lu Yu was still surrounded by everyone in the middle, protected even more tightly, just like protecting a key marksman in a game.

Taking advantage of this moment, Lu Yu looked at a piece of information that had appeared in his mind earlier.

"Experience Value +3"

He looked at this line of text, muttering to himself. Experience Value? What was this? Could it be a reward given by the system when he killed the Wild Rabbit? It was very likely, but what was the use of this Experience Value?

He looked at his attribute panel, and his eyes widened suddenly.

He saw that below the Potential Point, there was an extra line of small text: Experience Value: 3

At the same time, there was an extra plus sign behind the original 【Basic Archery】, which hadn't been there before.

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck him: was this Experience Value used to add to Skill proficiency?

"That's not right, how did the proficiency of this Basic Archery go up too?" He was a bit stunned.

He remembered that he hadn't practiced 【Basic Archery】 since it reached level 4, so the proficiency should have been 0%, but now it had jumped to 3%.

One had to know that when 【Basic Archery】 was level 3, the proficiency gained from hitting a fixed target was less than 1%, but now it was 3%. This was a lot of information.

He took a deep breath, sorted out his thoughts, and reached the following conclusions: the increase in Skill proficiency in actual combat is greater than in normal practice; killing a Fierce Beast can gain Experience Value; Experience Value cannot replace Potential Points to strengthen the body, but it seems it can increase Skill proficiency.

The first two conclusions had already been verified, and as for the third, he would know after testing it.

His heart stirred, and he tried clicking the plus sign. Instantly, the Experience Value dropped from 3 points to 2, and the proficiency rose from 3% to 4%.

"It really is like this!" Lu Yu's breathing became rapid.

In this way, there was one more method to increase Skill proficiency: obtaining Experience Value by killing Fierce Beasts.

Judging from the situation just now, the effect of this Experience Value on increasing proficiency was a bit low, far less than the improvement brought to 【Basic Archery】 by hitting a shot, which he assumed was because the level of 【Basic Archery】 was relatively high.

If he used these few points of Experience Value on other skills he would learn in the future, it might save a lot of time.

A person's energy was limited, and there was ultimately an upper limit to the proficiency gained through daily practice; the further one went, the harder it became, otherwise there wouldn't be such a thing as a bottleneck.

But as long as there was Experience Value, these were not problems. If there was enough Experience Value, he could learn as many skills as he wanted.

"Moreover, the Wild Rabbit is a Low-level Fierce Beast with little threat. If it were something more ferocious, or if I killed an Intermediate-level Fierce Beast, the Experience Value should be more," Lu Yu thought to himself, unable to help but recall the Iron-backed Black Bull he had encountered before. If he could shoot and kill a Fierce Beast of that level, the Experience Value gained would certainly not be small.

"Xiao Yu? Xiao Yu?" Just then, a low call came to his ears.

Lu Yu regained his focus, and just as he was about to speak, Zhao Shan made a shushing gesture at him, then signaled for him to look toward the southeast.

Lu Yu looked closely and saw a mouse, pitch-black all over and the size of a washbasin, with its upper body poking out of a hole, seemingly cautiously checking the surrounding environment.

This was a type of Low-level Fierce Beast called a Black-spined Rat; it had no aggression and just loved to dig holes, making it very hard for people to catch.

"Are you confident?" Zhao Shan asked in a low voice. It wasn't just him; everyone else's eyes were also focused on Lu Yu, full of anticipation.