Skills Were Uncontrollable

They were all fine horses... What a pity. They were across the river, beyond his reach...

Li Ang gritted his teeth and drew his bow.

Another arrow landed in the head of a Gatu cavalryman roaming along the riverbank.

"Zabia! Bispa!"

The Gatu people across the river let out another flurry of startled cries, yet no one raised a bow in retaliation—their leader stood in front of Li Ang.

Besides, at such a distance, their nomad bows could hardly achieve that kind of accuracy.

Ansen clapped his hands in delight. "My lord, what incredible archery!"

Li Ang shook his head. "Ansen, my shooting hardly counts as incredible... This is only an effective way to practice archery..."

Ansen furrowed his brow in confusion and muttered, "Then... what would count? Shooting someone in the head with one arrow from eight hundred li away?"

"No. It means being able to hit any target at will without needing to aim at all."

Li Ang said nothing more. He needed to focus on feeling the rhythm of every arrow.

With a bow, even an improper breathing rhythm could make a shot go astray.

Proficiency provided the fundamentals and technique, allowing the body to coordinate and keeping the shoulders and elbows steady. But as proficiency gradually improved, the further one progressed, the greater the demands on one's temperament—and on one's targets.

To become a true master archer, one had to rely on instinct.

Targets could hone one's fundamentals to perfection, but that feeling could only be found in real combat.

There were rarely bow duels in the arena, so Li Ang's archery proficiency was far below his proficiency with melee weapons—despite the bow being his favorite weapon.

Li Ang had never truly wanted to charge at the front. It might have looked valiant, but it was far too easy to die young that way.

Only cowards lived long, especially lords.

Charging into battle... unless there was no other choice.

Lord Li Ang had no desire to become a boar rider.

Watching the Gatu people still lingering by the river, Li Ang loosed several more arrows. Each arrow took down a Gatu cavalryman galloping along the bank.

Every single one struck the head!

Li Ang was making his stance clear—don't even think about crossing the river. Get close to the bank, and you would die!

Yes, anyone who approached the riverbank would die.

After several cavalrymen fell one after another beside the river, the Gatu people realized this.

Cries of "Zabia!" and "Bispa!" grew increasingly frequent, and no Gatu cavalrymen dared approach the riverbank again.

Then, the three Gatu groups finally seemed to reach an agreement.

They appeared to have given up on rescuing their leader. They temporarily withdrew, though not very far—they began gathering in the forest across the river, presumably to fell trees.

"Awoo! Long live!"

Everyone in the camp stood and raised their hands, cheering for this bloodless victory.

But Li Ang did not cheer. If they had suffered casualties after preparing so thoroughly, he might as well quit while he was ahead.

Besides, this was only the beginning.

The bridgehead's first defense appeared successful, but it could not keep the Gatu people at bay for long. After all, Li Ang had only around twenty crossbowmen, and there was nowhere to replenish their bolts.

Li Ang himself had only a dozen or so arrows left in his quiver.

The Gatu cavalry across the river were felling trees, naturally in preparation to cross it.

Once they crossed, the wall facing the river would lose most of its usefulness. Perhaps the truly grueling battle for offense and defense would arrive tomorrow.

Originally, simply destroying the bridge could have blocked the Gatu people's advance. Li Ang's hastily constructed bridgehead had actually been intended to see whether he could inflict greater losses and gain some additional capital.

Now, it seemed he had indeed killed or wounded dozens of Gatu people and bought more time.

And thanks to that helmet, he had successfully captured a hostage—this little warlord was probably a vanguard commander.

But he did not know whether the hostage would be useful. After all, Li Ang could not understand Gatu.

Meanwhile, the wolf-smoke above Brave Shield Fortress continued to rise—this meant the Gatu army was still within a hundred li.

The enemies before them were merely an advance force.

After returning to the camp, Li Ang began reviewing his system.

There was a notification in the system that he had not had time to check—"Your companion's skills have improved. You may review your companion's skills."

Incidentally, the system's battlefield functions were only half-functional. There were no battlefield alerts, nor did it notify him of the experience gained from killing Gatu people.

Proficiency did improve in real combat, but there were no deliberate notifications for it.

This notification regarding companion skills was the first of its kind. It was not even a level-up, merely a skill improvement.

The wording was also rather unexpected—"review."

None of his soldiers had advanced. Though the crossbowmen had killed and wounded dozens of Gatu cavalrymen, there should theoretically have been people eligible for upgrades and advancement, but it would not show unless they changed equipment.

In the party list, only Ansen's name had lit up.

It was not the familiar plus sign, but a highlighted name—this meant it could only be reviewed, not enhanced.

This was also Li Ang's first time seeing a companion's attribute panel.

There were likewise no basic attributes such as strength or intelligence, nor were experience and levels explicitly listed.

In fact, Li Ang could not see experience or levels in his own attributes either... The skill points he had once obtained in the arena had come through continual training.

After all, this was not a game. There was no such thing as killing monsters to accumulate experience—only genuine practice and accumulated combat experience.

Troop advancement worked the same way. Only through improvements in combat experience, proficiency, equipment, and every other aspect would changes in a troop type's rank become apparent.

For example, from Meitengheim Adventurers to Meitengheim Infantry, then to Great Swordsmen, and finally to the Death Squad.

The various troop types of different nations all had similar ranks.

They were the ranks of warriors, or perhaps a kind of title.

But the system had no such thing as assigning levels to individuals, such as Level 1 or Level 2.

In truth, the advantage this system could offer Li Ang was merely the rapid improvement of proficiency and certain personal skills. It was not a complete system, and perhaps was not even a so-called player system...

Thus, when basic attributes such as strength and agility were invisible, proficiency was the most reliable measure of unarmed combat ability.

And Ansen's proficiencies... were all 60...

Oh, his one-handed weapon proficiency was 61. Perhaps getting beaten up for half an hour last night had produced some effect.

Overall, he was somewhat stronger than a farmer. After all, he was a noble and had likely received some training at home.

But considering the feeble strength he had displayed... with luck, he could probably fight a carpenter to a draw?

His personal skills, such as Iron Bones and Strong Strike, were unsurprisingly all at 0.

His Riding and Athletics were not bad, both at Level 2—knowing how to ride was a basic quality for a nobleman's son.

Wound Treatment: 4 (accelerates recovery from injuries and illness)

Surgery: 3 (reduces death rates from external injuries and lessens disability)

First Aid: 2 (improves emergency treatment effectiveness)

Although his personal combat ability was hardly worth mentioning, these medical skills were Ansen's greatest use within the party. Their effects were not entirely the same as the skills in the game, but their functions were broadly similar—they were all medically related skills.

But, but.

But the biggest problem was that Li Ang discovered he could not assign Ansen skill points—there was not even an "Available Skill Points" field!

A companion's skill improvements were actually uncontrollable!

Li Ang turned to look at Ansen in surprise, only to find him staring thoughtfully at the Eagle Strike Bow on Li Ang's back...

Li Ang immediately reviewed him again, only to discover that Ansen actually had Level 1 Strong Bow...

Could Ansen's skill improvement have been triggered by that "My lord, what incredible archery!" on the battlefield just now?

But... you were a doctor...