"Is this really your first time learning Archery?" Zhang Ning circled Chen Jue, looking him over in surprise.
From her perspective as a professional athlete, she couldn’t see a single trace of proper form in Chen Jue’s Archery stance.
But this very same sloppy-looking stance had somehow allowed Chen Jue to score a 9 with his first arrow.
No matter how she thought about it, something felt off!
"Probably just beginner’s luck. Like a newbie in a casino, your first few hands are always hot." Chen Jue shrugged and drew his bow again, aiming at the target 70 meters away.
THUD. The black practice arrow hit the 8th ring on the target.
"..."
This time, it wasn’t just Zhang Ning who was left speechless; even Chen Jue himself was surprised.
’I didn’t expect the feel and aim from my Perfection-Level [Hidden Weapon Throwing] would be useful for Archery too!’
’Getting the hang of this really feels like I’m applying knowledge from a related field.’ Chen Jue mused to himself and tried a few more shots.
THUD, THUD, THUD. His arrows hit either the 5th or 7th ring—not a single one missed the target!
Meanwhile, his [Archery] Skill Level on the panel was soaring, increasing by +4 and +5. Soon, a new notification popped up on the panel:
——————
[Ding!]
[Skill Level has reached 100%. Skill Level has increased.]
[Archery Lv0 → Lv1]
[Your understanding of the sport of Archery is deepening. Your body’s movements are becoming more aligned with a proper power stance. Your aiming range and Archery accuracy have slightly increased.]
——————
’It leveled up!’
’It really is an easy survival and hunting Skill to pick up.’ Chen Jue thought to himself.
Seizing the moment right after the Skill upgrade, he tried nocking an arrow and drawing the bowstring to its fullest extent.
TWANG! He released the arrow. It was as if his continuous shooting had finally gotten him into the zone; this arrow, after flying 70 meters, landed squarely in the dead center of the target!
"A 10???"
Zhang Ning was so shocked she felt like her brain was short-circuiting. She picked up her own Recurve Bow to try a shot.
Unexpectedly, her arrow landed in the 8th ring, a full ring away from Chen Jue’s final 10-point shot.
The sight made Zhang Ning’s face flush. She was starting to wonder who the real coach was here!
’What kind of beginner has such an insane feel for Archery?’
’It’s ridiculously strong!’
For a first-timer shooting at a 70-meter competition target, not missing was one thing, but scoring high on every shot was another.
The level of Archery Chen Jue had just displayed was good enough to compete on the provincial team.
Chen Jue, however, was quite calm about scoring a 10. With his master-level Hidden Weapon Technique and transformed vision, aiming at a target 70 meters away wasn’t particularly difficult.
However, after drawing the 55-pound Recurve Bow several dozen times, he felt a slight soreness in his arms. Clearly, the sustained explosive movements had stimulated the muscle groups in his upper body.
As the one-hour trial session was nearing its end, Chen Jue put down the Recurve Bow, took off his Arm Guard and Finger Guards, and turned to Zhang Ning to ask, "Coach Zhang, I noticed that after I shoot, the arrow seems to wobble in mid-air like a fish. What’s the principle behind that? Is it because the arrows I’m using aren’t stiff enough?"
Hearing this, Zhang Ning first breathed a secret sigh of relief. This ridiculously talented rookie finally had a question about something he didn’t understand in Archery.
Now she could finally salvage what little dignity she had left as a coach.
But the thought that Chen Jue could notice such a subtle phenomenon as arrow oscillation on his very first time practicing Archery still moved her. "I can’t believe your eyesight is that good. You can even see such a fine detail! No wonder you could hit a 70-meter competition target right from the start!"
Zhang Ning then went on to explain in detail the very interesting "archer’s paradox" in the sport of Archery.
The so-called archer’s paradox states that when shooting, aiming the nocked arrowhead directly at the target will often result in a miss. Only by aiming the arrowhead to the side of the target, making it look like the shot will go wide, will the arrow actually travel along the line of sight and hit the mark.
To put it simply, aiming directly is useless; you have to aim slightly off to hit the target. This is the archer’s paradox.
This bizarre phenomenon wasn’t understood until 1938, when Clarence Hickman, known as the father of scientific archery, used a 4000 FPS camera to capture slow-motion footage of an arrow in flight. Only then was the principle behind the arrow’s "snakelike" movement in the air understood.
It turns out that after being released, the arrow is affected by the friction of the fingers and the vibration of the bowstring, causing it to oscillate from left to right as it moves forward, effectively avoiding friction with the bow’s riser.
The flying arrow then follows two stationary nodes in its wave pattern, returning to the correct flight path and hitting the target.
After this paradox was understood, modern Recurve Bows and Compound Bows began to be equipped with special sights that could be quickly or finely adjusted to improve an archer’s Shooting accuracy.
"So that’s why the arrow moves like it has a mind of its own, snaking around the bow as soon as it’s shot! So that’s the reason!" Chen Jue was quite impressed after hearing the explanation.
It’s a detail that’s truly difficult to capture with the naked eye.
If Chen Jue’s vision hadn’t been transformed by the high-intensity red light therapy and Eye Health Exercises, he would have never been able to spot such an interesting phenomenon of arrow flexion so quickly.
...
He had spent 88 yuan to activate a new Skill and received a proper lesson from Coach Zhang Ning. Chen Jue felt that this trip off-campus had been very fruitful.
Most importantly, his theory about how panel Skills were formed had been preliminarily verified: any Skill related to human survival and environmental adaptation had a high probability of being recorded as a skill cube.
’I’ve only just unlocked the first hunting- and combat-related Skill: [Archery].’
’I need to keep experimenting.’
Satisfied, Chen Jue left the Kaiyu Archery Hall. Before he left, however, Coach Zhang Ning specifically asked for his WeChat.
She said that Chen Jue had a great talent for Archery and should come to the hall to practice more often when he had time, so such a great gift wouldn’t go to waste.
But he knew his own situation. As a former corporate drone, he barely had any athletic talent, let alone a talent for Archery.
Wasn’t it all thanks to the panel’s constant upgrades?
His body’s various Attributes had improved, his vision had transformed, and when combined with the feel and precision from his Perfection-Level Hidden Weapon Throwing, he was able to produce those stunning target scores.
’This one-hour Archery session was certainly an efficient workout.’
’It’s just that this place is a bit too expensive. 88 yuan for an hour... I might as well just buy a bow online and practice myself.’ Chen Jue grumbled inwardly.
Archery was indeed very fun and interesting. The sense of accomplishment from hitting the bullseye was no less than that from playing Darts or Stone Skimming, and the speed at which his Attributes increased wasn’t slow either.
However, for an unemployed person living on a tight budget, this commercial sports park in Hang City, developed for the middle and upper classes, had one single drawback: it was too expensive. Coming here too often would be murder on his wallet!