"You have crafted a barely passable longbow; your archery has improved."
"Basic Archery: 9/100."
Returning from the market and busy for a couple of hours, Zhao Xuan had finally managed to make a decent bow.
The fruit of his labor was another point added to his archery progress.
He tested the new bow with a bamboo arrow, pulling it to the full draw and loosing it from twenty meters away.
With a sharp hiss cutting through the air, the bamboo arrow slammed hard into a wooden board, its shaft vibrating incessantly.
Zhao Xuan reached out to pull it free, but it wouldn't budge on the first try. Stepping on the board and pulling with both hands, he finally wrenched the arrow out.
Inspection revealed that the arrowhead was already deformed, having penetrated about two centimeters into the wood.
With this kind of firepower, forget hunting—it was enough to kill a man.
He gradually increased the distance for test shots: thirty meters, forty meters, fifty meters...
Thirty meters was the optimal firing range, delivering maximum firepower with a penetration of three fractions of an inch.
At fifty meters—the maximum limit—the arrow failed to embed itself in the board and bounced off, but it still left a small hole half a centimeter deep.
Beyond that, the lethality dropped off steadily.
Good enough. Tomorrow, he would go hunt some rabbits.
Lying on his bed, Zhao Xuan felt a step closer to his dream.
……
Early the next morning, Zhao Xuan first whittled over a hundred bamboo arrows, which bumped his archery up by another point.
Then he cooked himself a fragrant pot of rice.
Eating the plain rice without any side dishes, he polished off two large bowls.
Strange to say, while gruel smelled good when drinking it, actual rice smelled even better when eating.
The two large bowls of white rice boosted his archery by yet another point.
Well-fed and fully energized, Zhao Xuan gathered his equipment and headed up the mountain.
Hardly had he crested the first ridge when he spotted two figures rummaging through the brush.
Looking closer, he saw that one of them was none other than his "good brother" Chen Ergou.
The other man was also from the village, named Chen She. He was Chen Ergou's distant paternal cousin, ten years older than Ergou, ranking fifth among his peers and commonly known as Fifth Brother.
Word had it that he had left home to make a living at a very young age, and he must have just returned recently.
Chen Ergou spotted Zhao Xuan as well. A flash of awkwardness crossed his face, and his lips twitched, but he lacked the nerve to speak up.
It was Chen She who took the initiative to greet him: "Zhao Er, are you up on the mountain to hunt too? Care to join us catching rabbits? We'll give you a share of whatever we catch."
Zhao Xuan gave Chen Ergou a meaningful look, preparing to politely decline.
Instead, Chen Ergou blurted out anxiously, "Fifth Brother, look at him! Is he any use for catching rabbits? Why bring him along?"
Fearing that Zhao Xuan would spill the beans about what happened the day before, he decided to strike first and cover up the incident.
He, Chen Ergou, still had his pride.
Even as fellow clansmen who might blindly side with their own kin over right and wrong, they still despised someone who went back on his word.
Chen She glanced sideways at him. "A cunning rabbit has three burrows. How can having one more person to watch a rabbit hole be useless?"
Unable to argue with Chen She, Chen Ergou could only glare at Zhao Xuan, hoping he would know what was good for him.
Zhao Xuan thought the man was delusional.
Just how brain-damaged did he take him for? Would he jump blindly back into a pit after being conned once?
If it were before, facing the threat of running out of food with no other options, he might have taken the risk of trusting him one last time.
Now that he could catch rabbits all by himself, why share them with others?
Cupping his fists, Zhao Xuan said, "Thanks for the kind offer, Fifth Brother. I really am not good at catching rabbits; I came up the mountain to shoot birds."
With that, he even showed off the hunting bow slung across his body.
Chen She insisted, "Never mind him. I have the final say. Join us, and you get a share."
Zhao Xuan looked at the two of them with surprise. Chen She's expression was sincere, while Chen Ergou's face was flushed red, looking far from fake.
Yet the more it seemed that way, the more Zhao Xuan suspected that Chen She and Chen Ergou were cut from the same cloth, harboring the intention to cross a river and burn the bridge behind them.
Even if they weren't, he had no reason to take the risk.
Placing one's hopes on others was foolish and laughable.
Without answering, Zhao Xuan smiled, cupped his fists, and walked away.
His actions spoke louder than words.
"You have realized that one can rely on nothing in this world; your state of mind has improved, and your archery has improved."
"Basic Archery: 12/100."
With this unexpected boost to his archery, Zhao Xuan had another epiphany.
Fragmentary murmurs drifted into his ears on the wind.
With his further enhanced hearing, he faintly caught the conversation between Chen She and Chen Ergou.
Chen She was lecturing Chen Ergou: "Ergou, you aren't a child anymore. How can you completely disregard fellow villagers' sentiments?"
"Do you know that when you go out into the world, only by banding together with fellow townsmen can you avoid being bullied by outsiders?"
"When I came back this time, I originally intended to take a few people to help me out. Uncle Eleven said you were quick-witted, but your performance has been a huge disappointment to me."
Zhao Xuan understood now.
So the man had seen the outside world and understood the importance of sticking together.
From these few words, it was clear that Chen She was doing quite well for himself outside and probably didn't care about a mere fifty catties of coarse grain.
Yet what did that have to do with him?
A person must always rely on themselves!
……
Zhao Xuan headed straight for the spot where he had found the rabbits and muntjacs yesterday.
Unless they encounter natural predators, rodents generally do not change their habitat range.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before he spotted a long-eared rabbit foraging in the grass.
The moment Zhao Xuan tried to close in, the hyper-vigilant rabbit caught wind of him, leaped a meter high, and darted away in a zigzag.
In his haste, he loosed an arrow prematurely and didn't even graze a single hair on the rabbit.
Lowering his bow, Zhao Xuan didn't feel discouraged.
He assessed the terrain, found a boulder with an open field of view, and crouched down in concealment.
The rabbit he had encountered yesterday clearly wasn't this same long-eared rabbit.
This proved that there was definitely more than one rabbit in this area.
Wait by the stump for the hare, and harvest is guaranteed.
This wait lasted a full half hour.
Off to his front left, a sneaky rabbit head poked out from the grass.
Zhao Xuan slowly nocked an arrow, in no rush to loose it.
Before long, another one popped up to his front right.
"Muffled squeaks!"
The two rabbits made strange noises, then scurried together.
After rubbing heads and nuzzling for a moment, one mounted the other.
Three breaths later, the one on top shivered a few times, collapsed to the side, and lay with its four paws in the air.
Prime opportunity!
Zhao Xuan, who had been waiting for this moment, loosened his grip. The bamboo arrow whizzed through the air, piercing the eye of the collapsed rabbit and exiting straight through the back of its head.
Startled, the other rabbit quickly dove into a burrow and vanished.
"You lay in wait for a long time and secured a kill with a single strike; you have grasped three parts of the true essence of archery, and your archery has greatly improved."
"Basic Archery: 15/100."
"Basic Archery has risen to 15, reaching the Novice rank. Arm strength has increased by twenty catties, and sensory perception has extended by twenty meters."
A warm current flowed through both of his arms. The surging strength made Zhao Xuan feel incomparably comfortable.
Rolling up his sleeves, he saw that his arms were visibly bulkier than they had been when he first time-traveled just days ago.
His originally skin-and-bones arms had gained a layer of muscle.
Looking around, the world appeared exceptionally bright; praying mantises hunting in the grass were clearly visible.
Very good.
Zhao Xuan picked up his prey and moved to another spot to continue hunting.
By noon, he had harvested a total of two rabbits and five collared doves.
On his way down the mountain, he ran into Chen She and Chen Ergou again.
Seeing that both men were empty-handed, it was obvious at a glance that they had returned with nothing.
Noticing the heavy burlap sack slung over Zhao Xuan's shoulder, the two exchanged glances.
Chen She looked at Chen Ergou with a trace of dissatisfaction mixed in his gaze.
Chen Ergou felt both awkward and resentful.
Without any desire to show off, Zhao Xuan gave a slight nod in acknowledgment and prepared to pass them on his way down.
Chen She suddenly called out, "Zhao Er, did you catch a rabbit?"
Deliberately taking a few extra steps to widen the distance, Zhao Xuan replied indifferently, "Got lucky. Caught one."
His actions provoked Chen Ergou, who snapped angrily, "Zhao Er, what do you mean by that? Do you think we'd rob you of your rabbit?"
Thieves were naturally prone to a guilty conscience.
Zhao Xuan smiled and said nothing.
Instead, Chen She scolded, "Ergou, speak properly. Why are you getting so worked up?"
"Zhao Er, to tell you the truth, I’ve been blessed by the favor of my master's household and granted a three-day leave to return home. I want to bring some game specialties back for my benefactor. How about selling that rabbit of yours to me?"
Zhao Xuan asked playfully, "Paying cash? Or running a tab?"
Hearing this, Chen Ergou nearly jumped in agitation, but restrained himself out of deference to Chen She and dared not act out.
Not understanding the underlying tension, Chen She said, "Cash, of course. The market price for pork is five cash a catily, and game is pricier. I'll give you five and a half cash per catty. How's that?"
Seeing that Chen She wasn't joking, Zhao Xuan pondered for a moment. "Deal."
Today wasn't market day, so game certainly wouldn't sell as easily as it did yesterday.
Besides, as long as he got paid, who wasn't he willing to sell to?