Chapter 28 Zhao Gao, the Archer
After the first goose was shot down, another wild goose appeared in the sky.
Zhao Gao started shooting at the goose again, one arrow after another.
The first arrow forced the wild goose to fly towards his desired position, while the second arrow ended the goose’s life.
Time after time, he got more familiar with the movements; and each shoot was easier than the previous one.
Days passed. Time and again, Zhao Gao managed to shoot the goose.
One day, after Zhao Gao shot down another goose, a familiar pulling sensation that he had not felt in a long time, descended upon him again. His figure became a blur, and he disappeared from the mountain peak.
On the field, Zhao Gao opened his eyes and looked at the blue sky. He was in a daze for ten seconds before he regained his senses.
He turned around to look at his surroundings and the dusty memories appeared once more in his mind.
He stood quietly in the arena, trying to sort out the feeling of time passing.
It was only after a long while, that Zhao Gao finally regained his composure.
At this moment, Zhao Gao discovered a flaw in the upgrade process.
If one’s skill level was upgraded too quickly, it would cause one to fall into a trance as time passed too quickly. This flaw could dispel people’s desire to increase their skill level when they were engaged in a battle.
If anyone increased his skill level during battle, he might actually get pulled to the top of the mountain at that point, and could then be killed by the enemy.
This would then be an unjust death!
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After another rotation of people, everyone took turns to eat breakfast.
By the time more than 700 people had their turn at archery, it was almost noon.
“For those who have obtained the skill (of archery), stand on my left. And those who have not, stand on my right.” Chiliarch Ling stood in front of everyone and started shouting again.
Zhao Gao immediately stood to the left of Chiliarch Ling when he heard this.
Like Zhao Gao, more than 100 people stood on Chiliarch Ling’s left. Zhao Gao observed the people on the right.
Some of them did not have enough strength to pull the bowstring.
Some of them did manage to pull the bowstring, but they could not pull it to a full moon.
As for the rest, they could pull the bowstring to full moon, but they could not sustain it long enough.
Only those who had ample strength to satisfy the three criterias required would be able to obtain the Basic Archery skill in these 30 minutes.
When he saw that the people had been separated into two groups, Chiliarch Ling continued, “Those who have obtained the archery skill, go out with Adjutant Qian for training.” “As for those of you who have not attained the skill, there’s no need to learn it anymore. Let’s select pikemen.”
“Now, distribute the spears. I will teach you the Basic Spear Techniques.”
Zhao Gao and the others heard what Chiliarch Ling said as they followed Adjutant Qian out.
As soon as they exited Field No. 3, Adjutant Qian led everyone to Field No. 10. On the way, Zhao Gao realized that a large group of people had come out from every field. They, too, were going to Field No. 10.
As soon as he entered Field No. 10, Zhao Gao realized that this field was twice as large as Field No. 3.
There were many targets placed along the walls.
There were also white lines drawn on the ground, indicating the distances from the targets.
From what Zhao Gao could see, the minimum distance was 100 meters.
Before Zhao Gao could observe further, Adjutant Qian had already begun his handover to a woman.
“Chiliarch Yu, I have brought the people. I shall take my leave!”
“Thank you for taking the trouble, Adjutant Qian. You can go and carry on with your work!” the woman replied. This woman was carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows on her back. She was wearing armor. Even without makeup, her heroic spirit was evident. At first glance, she gave off a valiant and heroic aura.
This woman took over from 10 adjutants in a row. She was taking in close to a thousand people, including Zhao Gao and his group. “Gather!” The woman’s clear and serious voice sounded, after the adjutants left the field.
Zhao Gao and the rest quickly gathered and adjusted their positions.
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After ten minutes, Zhao Gao and the others stood in a neat formation.
When she saw that they had stood in position, the woman said, “My name is Shang Yu. You can call me Chiliarch Yu. I am the instructor in charge of training archers in Blackstone City.”
“What you need to do next, is to train in all skills related to archery.”
“Now, the people in the front row are to stand at the 100-meters mark in front of the target. There should be 300 people in a row. Divide yourselves into four rows.” “After the first row had shot, they were to retreat to the last row. Those behind will move up to the first row. After shooting, retreat to the last row, and so forth.”
“Begin!”
When they heard this, Zhao Gao and the others started moving hurriedly.
After they had stood in position, the soldiers began to distribute bows and arrows to them.
Everyone of them had a bow in their left hand and a quiver of arrows on their backs.
Each quiver was filled with numerous arrows.
“Load the arrow!”
Immediately, the people in the first row loaded their arrows and started aiming at the target.
“Shoot!”
“Swish! Swish!” A series of whistling sounds rang out.
Although there were only 300 arrows, they seemed to take the form of 10 000 arrows being shot out at once.
“Change shooting formation!”
The people who had just finished shooting retreated, and stood in the last row.
After standing in line, the people drew arrows from their quiver and strung them on their bowstrings, getting ready to shoot.
“Aim!”
“Shoot!”
“Change!”
After more than twenty rounds, the arrows in their quivers had run out. Everyone’s fingers had turned red, and they all felt pain. Only then did Chiliarch Yu allow them to stop.
This was the first day they tried archery, using a ‘One-shi Bow’. Their physique was not strong either.
With such an intense archery practice, no one could maintain the same peak as when they just started.
The exhaustion of physical strength, the soreness in their arms, and the pain in their fingers could not keep them training continuously.
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“Alright, now I know your standards. Let’s have lunch. Dismissed!” Chliarch Yu said. She then turned to leave.
After she left, everyone went forward one by one and started to queue up for food.
After getting his food, Zhao Gao sat by the wall alone and observed everyone, while eating. These people were gathered from other training arenas.
Those who knew each other were gathered in groups of two or three, whereas those who did not know anyone sat alone, like Zhao Gao.
Zhao Gao also saw that many people were unable to hold their chopsticks with their fingers. The intense pain made their hands tremble while eating.
Others just waited for the food to turn cold and ate with their left hands instead.
After so many days, as modern people, everyone was quick to accept new and interesting things. By now, they also knew where they were and had adjusted their mentality.
CW
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As long as it was not too dirty, they could easily overlook some small hygiene issues.
After lunch, Chiliarch Yu walked into the field, without giving them much time for rest. “Gather!”
After Chiliarch Yu gave the order, everyone quickly assembled. “We won’t be training archery this afternoon. We’ll only start tomorrow. The logistics department is preparing a new batch of equipment for you tonight. Now, you can start practicing the Black Stone Fist!”
“Yes!”
Everyone began to follow the order, and practiced the Black Stone Fist.