Skill Modifier

After comforting his younger sister, Luo Yi felt his stomach cramp and growl like thunder.

Having been invaded by an evil spirit, tumbled down a cliff, and gone three days without food, this body had reached its limit. If he didn't eat soon, he figured he'd be meeting the King of Hell just like his predecessor.

Hearing the sound from her brother's stomach and remembering he hadn't eaten anything in three days, Luo Xi hurried to the kitchen stove, dug through the ash, and pulled out a few pieces of the Black Dough she'd hidden there earlier.

She helped her brother sit up, broke the dough apart, and fed it to Luo Yi in small pieces.

As the food entered his stomach, the hunger-twisted organ finally relaxed.

He tried to lift his arms but found his whole body still limp and weak. He guessed it was a side effect of the evil spirit's possession—until his body recovered, he'd probably be stuck lying on the ground for a while.

Unable to move, he didn't stay idle. In his mind, he recalled what his predecessor's father had once said: "In this world, there aren't just evil spirits—there are also demons. Ordinary people who encounter them are as good as dead, with no chance of survival."

And for ordinary people to fight demons and evil spirits, the only path was martial arts.

A powerful martial artist could take an enemy's head from a thousand miles away, split mountains and part seas, tread on empty air—like the immortals of legend.

When his predecessor had heard his father tell stories of mighty warriors, he'd dismissed them entirely.

He thought martial artists were all brutes who spent their days fighting and killing.

Unlike scholars, who composed poetry and painted, indulging in refined pursuits.

So whenever his predecessor's father tried to teach him hunting, he'd just half-heartedly go through the motions.

Seeing his son had no interest in hunting, the father knew his heart wasn't in it and stopped pushing.

But Luo Yi, who had crossed over, was different. Thinking about the strength of the powerful martial artists his predecessor's father had described, he realized they weren't far off from the cultivators in the xianxia novels he used to read.

His past life had been too stifling. After graduation, he'd become a beast of burden, dying miserably from overwork in a late-night office.

In this life, having crossed into a world where martial arts flourished and the strong ruled, he wanted to pursue the highest peak of martial arts.

After several days of careful care from Luo Xi, Luo Yi's body gradually recovered, and he could move normally again.

Looking at Luo Xi, who had worn herself out taking care of him and fallen asleep on the ground, her frame noticeably thinner.

Since Xiao Xi rarely got a good rest, he didn't wake his sleeping sister.

Tiptoeing into the kitchen, he saw the empty cupboards and the nearly empty rice jar, and an uncontrollable rage surged in his chest.

Thanks to his predecessor's father hunting and gathering herbs, the family hadn't been wealthy, but they'd stored up a fair amount of food.

During these past few days, he'd only eaten the Black Dough Xiao Xi had hidden under the stove—never once the rice from the jar.

Seeing the rice jar nearly empty, Luo Yi didn't need to guess who was responsible.

Not only had the valuables in the house been sold off by Second Uncle, but even the food had been taken.

"Bastard. He must have thought I was dead and decided to 'Eat the Orphan' for sure."

Luo Yi, a civilized man of the twenty-first century, couldn't help cursing.

Staring at the empty rice jar, cooking was out of the question.

He walked to the stove, imitating Luo Xi's movements, and dug through the ash.

He was about to grab a few pieces of Black Dough to make do with a meal.

Then he saw, buried under the ash, the hunting bow his predecessor's father had carried up the mountain.

Taking out the Hunting Bow, Luo Yi thought: Second Uncle Luo Wei was a vengeful man. Now that he'd set his mind on "Eating the Orphan," he wouldn't change course just because Luo Yi was still alive.

Luo Wei had taken all of the original owner's family property. Since he'd inherited the original body, he wanted to take back what was his.

Thinking of the burly Luo Wei and the thugs who always hung around him, if it ever came to a direct confrontation, there was no way he, weak and helpless as he was, could face them head-on.

He picked up the bow and arrows and walked into the yard, looking at the spare Hunting Bow his predecessor's father had left at home.

A standard "Five Dou Bow."

Pulling the string required fifteen jin of strength.

He sighed inwardly: "Good thing it's not a multi-shi heavy bow, or with this weak body right now, even drawing the string would be a challenge."

After inspecting the Hunting Bow, he saw there were only fifteen arrows left in the quiver. Worried that practicing by shooting at the wall would damage them, and since he and his sister were penniless, he couldn't replace them if they broke.

He started looking around the yard for something to substitute. Spotting the pile of straw stacked in the corner, Luo Xi got an idea.

He pulled a few bundles of straw from the stack and tied them into several scarecrows about the size of an average adult, lining them up against the corner of the wall.

With the prep work done, he recalled the archery techniques his predecessor's father had taught him:

"Body straight and steady, strength even and calm, grip the bow with proper form, nock the arrow with ease, push forward and pull back, bow full and stance complete."

He planted his feet, set the arrow between his index and middle fingers, pulled the bowstring with his arm strength, and aimed at the scarecrow standing in the middle of the row against the wall.

With a "whoosh!"

The arrow on the string shot out, flying straight toward the scarecrow on the far edge.

The arrow he loosed struck about a meter away from where he had aimed.

Luo Yi wasn't discouraged. He pulled another arrow from his quiver and was about to resume practice when a panel of light suddenly materialized in the void before him:

Host: Luo Yi

Age: 16

Realm: Mortal

Skills: Basic Archery (Uninitiated 1/100)

Traits: None

Staring at the panel before him, Luo Yi felt a growing sense of familiarity.

Wasn't this the modification software he'd casually developed a while back, when he was playing some single-player game and didn't have time to slowly grind skill proficiency?

Even the font displayed was identical.

Looking at the Attribute Panel, Luo Yi began to feel anticipation. Back then, to save time, he'd added many powerful features to the software. He just didn't know if, after crossing into this world and the software becoming a system, those features still existed.

After studying it for a while, he found that the panel could only display his current status; all other functions were locked.

He wasted no more time. He resumed his archery stance, drew the bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the scarecrow in the very center.

As he repeatedly drew and released, the courtyard echoed with the "swish, swish, swish" of arrows in flight.

He shot all fourteen remaining arrows in his quiver.

He looked at the scarecrows on either side, bristling with arrows like hedgehogs, while the scarecrow in the middle didn't have a single arrow stuck in it.

Rubbing his forehead, Luo Yi had to admit—his shooting talent was somewhat lacking.

But ancient bows were also genuinely hard to use. No optical aids, no compound bow's energy-saving pulleys. After just fifteen arrows, he already felt a slight ache in his arm muscles.

He retrieved the fifteen arrows stuck in the side scarecrows, put them back in his quiver, and shook his slightly numb arm.

Feeling his arm could still hold out for now.

He continued drawing and shooting, rapidly emptying the quiver again.

Suddenly, Luo Yi noticed that the middle scarecrow actually had an arrow lodged in its arm. His spirits lifted instantly.

He silently called up the panel and saw that Basic Archery (Uninitiated 1/100) had changed to Basic Archery (Uninitiated 34/100).

One notification indicated that the arrow hitting the scarecrow's arm had directly added 5 points of proficiency.

So hitting a target granted more proficiency.

Luo Yi wondered if he could exploit a bug. He walked right up to the scarecrow, drew the bow lightly, and the arrow struck the scarecrow's head directly. He found that proficiency hadn't changed at all. His fantasy of rapidly increasing proficiency was shattered.

He walked back to his original position, drew the bow, and shot.

With the shortcut to rapid proficiency gains useless, Luo Yi now recorded each arrow's flight trajectory and landing point after every shot, adjusting before the next. He continuously learned and refined his shooting form.

This time, the fifteen arrows took nearly half an hour to finish.

Seeing five arrows stuck in the center scarecrow, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

He silently called up the system panel. It showed Basic Archery (Uninitiated 69/100). Feeling that his arm had reached its limit—if he kept training, he might injure it—he gathered all the arrows and put them back in the quiver.