Chapter 4: Martial Artist

"Ahem."

A fit of coughing came, pulling Lu Yu back to reality from his excited thoughts.

Wang Liang looked at Lu Yu and said casually, "Kid, this bow in your hand is just the most basic toy. Beyond thirty meters, it has no lethality against a Low-level Fierce Beast. Besides, you've only pulled it once."

He tilted his chin toward the outside, "See those people with spears?"

Lu Yu glanced outside and nodded.

"They practiced archery at first too, some even started with the second bow, a sixty-pound draw weight. But so what? They didn't even last two or three days before giving up."

As Wang Liang spoke, he glanced at the bow in Lu Yu's hand, "I'll give you a piece of advice: you'd better go practice spear techniques like them. If you run into a Fierce Beast in the wild, you'll at least have the ability to fight back."

"Wang Shu, thank you for the reminder, but I still want to try archery."

Lu Yu looked at the progress bar behind Basic Archery in his mind, filled with the urge to improve.

"Suit yourself." Wang Liang was not surprised by this.

Young people are all like this; they won't turn back until they experience it for themselves.

Once he pulls the bow a few more times and his arms are too sore to lift, he'll know how tough it is.

"Wang Shu, can I try the other bows?" Lu Yu asked with a smile. He had a question in his heart: does the progress of Basic Archery increase faster the more powerful the bow used is?

"Sure." Wang Liang agreed without a second thought, "

The second bow has a sixty-pound draw, the third eighty, the fourth one hundred, the fifth two hundred, and the sixth three hundred. Which one do you want to try?"

"Th-three hundred pounds?"

Lu Yu's gaze fell on the black Long Bow on the far right, which was about as tall as he was.

A three-hundred-pound draw weight meant that one arm needed at least three hundred pounds of strength to pull the bowstring?

"Does this little thing scare you?"

The corners of Wang Liang's mouth rose slightly, "Never mind three hundred pounds; there are people who can pull a five-hundred-pound war bow and shoot a Tie Jia Bao Long dead from a thousand meters away."

"Tie Jia Bao Long..."

Lu Yu muttered under his breath.

In his memory, this was an extremely formidable existence among Intermediate-level Fierce Beasts, its body seemingly covered in a layer of hard armor, said to be able to withstand even small-caliber bullets.

"Wang Shu, those who can pull a five-hundred-pound war bow are Awakened, right?"

He asked subconsciously. After all, in this world, the Awakened were the group standing at the pinnacle of strength.

"No."

Contrary to Lu Yu's expectations, Wang Liang shook his head, "They are Martial Artists."

"Martial Artist?" Lu Yu widened his eyes in surprise.

"Those who can become Awakened are one in ten thousand. If ordinary people don't rely on thermal weapons, it's hard to fight against Fierce Beasts. But fortunately, with the changes in the world, the limits of the human body seem to have been broken."

Wang Liang said slowly, "These people obtain strength far beyond ordinary people by tempering their bodies and honing their sinews and bones; they are Martial Artists. In the Sun Jia Zhai a few kilometers away from our Zhai, there is a Martial Artist who can pull this three-hundred-pound war bow."

Lu Yu took a deep breath, feeling a brand-new door slowly opening before him.

He asked with some excitement: "Then are there any Martial Artists in our Zhai?"

"Not as powerful as the one in the Li family's Zhai. But there are some who are slightly weaker and can pull a one-hundred-pound hard bow, like the Liu Jia Xiong Di. Their Archery is quite good, and they are the main force of the Zhai's Hunting Team. But they probably won't stay here for long." Wang Liang sighed, his face full of worry.

"Then compared to the Awakened, who is more powerful?" Lu Yu continued to ask.

"There's a huge difference."

Wang Liang looked at him, "An Awakened who has just awakened their ability might easily be defeated by a Martial Artist. But once they master their ability, killing a Martial Artist is a breeze."

"Take that Martial Artist in the Li family's Zhai, for example—can he block bullets? But the Awakened can. Some powerful Awakened don't even fear weapons of mass destruction; with a wave of their hand, they can destroy a town. They aren't even on the same level."

Lu Yu opened his mouth wide, his face full of shock.

The Awakened are actually this terrifying? He vaguely felt that his system might be related to the Martial Dao.

According to Wang Liang, taking the path of the Martial Dao is a helpless choice for ordinary people, and the ceiling is very low. But is that really the case?

"Alright, why does a kid like you have so many questions?"

Wang Liang looked at Lu Yu with slight dissatisfaction, then took the sixty-pound draw bow off the wall and threw it over, "Try this one."

Lu Yu came back to his senses, put down the forty-pound draw bow in his hand, and reached out to pull the sixty-pound hard bow.

Just as he pulled it halfway, his face turned bright red, and his right arm couldn't stop trembling.

By the time he pulled it more than halfway, he really had no strength left and had to give up. This body was still too weak.

Wang Liang smiled meaningfully and asked, "Do you still want to try the eighty-pound bow?"

"No, no need."

Lu Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head, though his gaze lingered on the remaining bows.

Just because he can't do it now doesn't mean he won't be able to in the future. Once he saves up enough Potential Points in a few days, he will definitely be able to pull this sixty-pound bow, and the bows after that as well.

Then, Wang Liang had Lu Yu take a quiver of arrows and go outside.

Arriving at the open space at the entrance, Wang Liang drew his bow and nocked an arrow, Aiming at a target twenty meters away, briefly explained the basic posture, and then added: "When drawing the bow and shooting, remember the 'three levels': the front hand's wrist must be level, the back hand's elbow must be level, and the wrists and elbows of both hands must be level with the shoulders; these are the most basic movements."

After speaking, with a "swish," the arrow was firmly nailed into the Earth Wall nearby.

Wang Liang looked at Lu Yu as if nothing had happened and said, "You practice here today; if there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me."

"Okay, Wang Shu."

Lu Yu looked at the arrow on the wall and nodded.

"Hmm."

Wang Liang turned around, his face slightly flushed. To be honest, he wasn't very proficient in Archery, otherwise he wouldn't have been assigned to guard the Warehouse.

Lu Yu took the bow and arrows, spread his feet shoulder-width apart, held the bow in his left hand, and nocked the arrow with his right.

This was his first time practicing archery so formally, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

He took a deep breath, slowly pulled the bowstring, and at the same time squinted one eye, aligning his line of sight with the front sight and the aiming point on the target.

Gradually, the bowstring was pulled to its limit, emitting a "creak" sound, and his right shoulder felt a tremendous pulling force.

Just at this moment, the three fingers of his right hand holding the string released rapidly, and with a "swish" sound, the arrow flew out.

As expected, it missed the target.

However, Lu Yu had been mentally prepared for this; after all, someone who could hit the bullseye just after learning archery would have to be a genius. He still possessed that much self-awareness.

Moreover, what he truly cared about was not whether he had hit the target.

The next moment, he moved his mind, and the attribute panel in his consciousness emerged. After seeing the content on it clearly, a smile appeared on his face.

【Basic Archery, LV0 (3%)】

In other words, although that arrow just now did not hit the target, it increased the progress bar by 2% all at once. As long as he shoots 48 more times, he will be able to upgrade Basic Archery to level one!