Uncontrollable Skills

What fine horses... Too bad they're on the other side of the river, out of reach...

Li Ang gritted his teeth as he drew his bow.

Another arrow landed squarely on the head of a Gatu cavalryman patrolling the riverbank.

"Zabia! Bispa!"

The Gatu people on the opposite bank let out another disorganized cry, but no one drew their bows to retaliate—Li Ang stood before their leader.

Moreover, their nomadic bows would find it difficult to achieve such accuracy at this distance.

Ansen excitedly patted his horse's neck. "Lord, your archery is divine!"

Li Ang shook his head. "Ansen, my marksmanship can hardly be called divine... This is just an effective way to practice archery..."

Ansen frowned in confusion and murmured, "Then... what would be considered divine? Shooting someone's head off from eight hundred paces away?"

"No, it's being able to hit any target at will, without even needing to aim."

Li Ang fell silent, needing to focus on feeling the rhythm of each shot.

With archery, even a slight irregularity in breathing could cause an arrow to miss.

Proficiency provided basic skill and technique, allowing for coordinated body movements and a stable shoulder and elbow. But as proficiency increased, the demands on one's state of mind grew, as did the requirements for the target.

To become a true archery master, one needed to rely on feeling.

A target could hone fundamental skills to perfection, but that feeling could only be found in actual combat.

Archery duels were rare in the arena, so Li Ang's proficiency with a bow was far lower than with melee weapons—even though the bow was his favorite weapon.

Li Ang actually disliked charging into the front lines. It might seem brave, but it was a quick way to an early grave.

Being a coward meant living longer, especially for a lord.

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

His Lordship had no desire to be a wild boar knight.

Watching the Gatu people still lingering by the river, Li Ang loosed several more arrows. Each one found its mark on a Gatu cavalryman galloping along the riverbank.

All of them hit the head!

Li Ang was making a statement—Don't even think about crossing the river. If you get close to the bank, you'll die!

Yes, get close to the bank and you'll die.

After several cavalrymen fell by the river, the Gatu people realized this.

Calls of 'Zabia' and 'Bispa' became more frequent, and no more Gatu cavalrymen approached the riverbank.

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

They appeared to have abandoned the idea of rescuing their leader and retreated temporarily, though not too far—they began gathering in the forest on the opposite bank, likely to chop wood.

"Awooo! Long live!"

Everyone in the camp stood up, cheering for this lossless victory.

But Li Ang did not cheer. With such thorough preparation, any casualties would have been a failure.

Moreover, this was only the beginning.

The first defense of the bridgehead seemed successful, but it wouldn't hold back the Gatu people for long. After all, Li Ang only had about twenty crossbowmen, and there was no way to resupply their bolts.

Li Ang's quiver also held only a dozen or so arrows.

The Gatu cavalry on the other side were chopping wood, naturally to cross the river.

Once they crossed, the wall facing the river would lose most of its effectiveness. Perhaps a truly arduous battle would commence tomorrow.

Originally, destroying the bridge directly would have halted the Gatu people's advance. Li Ang's temporary bridgehead was intended to see if he could increase the spoils of war and gain some extra capital.

Now, it seemed he had indeed achieved the spoils of dozens of Gatu casualties and delayed them for some time.

And thanks to his helmet, he had successfully acquired a hostage—this minor warlord was likely a vanguard officer.

But he wasn't sure if the hostage would be useful, as Li Ang couldn't understand the Gatu language.

The wolf smoke above Brave Shield Fortress continued to drift—indicating that the main Gatu army was still within a hundred miles.

The enemies before them were merely a vanguard.

Retreating to the camp, Li Ang began to examine his system.

There was a notification in the system he hadn't had time to check—'Your teammate's skill has improved. You can view your teammate's skills.'

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

Proficiency did increase in actual combat, but it wasn't explicitly announced.

This notification about a teammate's skill was the first of its kind, and it wasn't about a level-up, just a skill improvement.

The wording was also quite surprising: "view."

None of his soldiers had likely advanced. Although the crossbowmen had caused dozens of Gatu cavalry casualties, there should have been individuals ready to level up, but without changing equipment, it wouldn't be apparent.

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

Not the familiar 'plus sign', but the name was highlighted -- this meant it was just a lookup, not an 'enhancement'.

This was also the first time Li Ang saw a teammate's status panel.

Basic attributes like Strength and Intelligence were also absent, and experience and level were not explicitly listed.

In fact, Li Ang couldn't see his own experience and level in his status either... The skill points he had obtained in the arena were gained through constant training.

After all, this wasn't a game; there was no such thing as 'grinding monsters for experience points,' only the accumulation of solid practice and combat experience.

Advancement of troop types was the same; it relied on combat experience, proficiency, and improvements in various aspects of equipment to reflect changes in troop tiers.

For example, from Meitengheim Adventurer to Meitengheim Infantry, then to Great Swordsman, and finally to Death Squad.

Different troop types in various countries actually had similar tiers.

This was the rank of a warrior, or rather, a title.

However, the system did not have levels that distinguished characters themselves as Level 1, Level 2, etc.

In fact, the only advantage this system could truly bring to Li Ang was the rapid improvement of proficiency and some personal skills. This was not a complete system, and perhaps not even a so-called 'player system'...

Therefore, without being able to see basic Strength and Agility attributes, proficiency was the most reliable standard for judging raw combat power.

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

Oh, single-handed weapons were 61; perhaps being beaten for half an hour last night had some effect.

Overall, he was a bit stronger than a Farmer, and since he was a noble, he probably received some training at home.

However, considering the weakness he displayed... with good luck, he might be able to fight a carpenter to a draw?

Personal skills like Iron Bones and Strong Strike were, as expected, all 0.

Riding and Running were still decent, both at Level 2 -- being able to ride a horse was a basic quality for a noble's son.

Healing: 4 (Increases the speed of recovery from illness and injury)

Surgery: 3 (Reduces the mortality rate of external injuries and decreases disability)

First Aid: 2 (Improves the effectiveness of emergency treatment)

Although his personal combat ability was not worth mentioning, these medical skills were Ansen's greatest contribution to the team. Although the skill effects were not exactly the same as in a game, their functions were generally consistent, all being medical-related skills.

But, but.

The biggest problem was that Li Ang discovered he couldn't add skill points to Ansen -- there wasn't even a 'Available Skill Points' field!

Teammate skill improvement was actually uncontrollable!

Li Ang turned his head to look at Ansen in surprise, only to find Ansen looking thoughtfully at the Eagle Strike Bow on his back...

Li Ang immediately 'looked up' again, only to discover that Ansen actually had Level 1 Strong Bow...

Did Ansen's skill improvement take effect from the shout of 'Lord, what a sharpshooter!' on the battlefield just now?

But... you're a doctor