"March forward!!"
At the general's command, soldiers bearing shields and spears began to advance.
Their footsteps shook the ground as they moved.
At the rear, rows of archers stood ready, bows in hand, awaiting the next order.
Before them stretched a vast open plain.
On the opposite side stood the enemy army, imposing and terrifying.
Each man among them was far taller and more robust than the soldiers of the well-equipped Yan army.
The barbarians rode massive warhorses, their bodies wrapped in crude armor, and each one of them emitted a thick bloodlust.
Seeing the enemy begin to stir, General Han Lie raised his hand and gave a cold order.
"Fire the arrows!"
In an instant, rows of arrows shot into the sky, blotting out the light as they rained down upon the opposing army.
A deafening roar erupted from the frontline, where spear-wielding soldiers shouted in excitement and fury.
At the rear, Gu Shen stood stiffly, his mind completely blank, unsure how to react to the scene unfolding before him.
"Hey! You foolish brat! What the hell are you standing there for? Fire your arrows, NOW!!"
Captain Liu Shiming's furious roar snapped Gu Shen out of his daze.
His body moved instinctively as he released an arrow, but his face was filled with terror as he witnessed the massacre happening before his eyes.
What the hell is this place?!
Where am I?!
Gu Shen had no idea how he had come here.
He didn't belong to this era or this world at all.
He was from Earth, from the modern age.
War and such brutality were things he had only ever seen in movies or on the news.
After finishing his office work and heading home, he had been caught in an accident.
He thought he had died.
Yet now, he stood here as an archer at the rear of an army, participating in a real battlefield.
His entire body trembled with fear and confusion.
Nothing made sense.
Seeing the surrounding archers draw another round, Gu Shen followed suit.
He pulled an arrow from his quiver, raised his bow at the same angle as the others, and released the string.
Whoosh!
The arrow tore through the air as it flew forward.
He didn't know how he ended up here, but one thing was clear, judging from the expression of the man beside him, riding atop a black horse, he would be killed without hesitation if he dared to hesitate or disobey his orders.
As Gu Shen reached for his third arrow, a flood of memories that didn't belong to him suddenly surged into his mind, leaving him momentarily stunned.
They were memories of this body, of the boy whose body he had taken over.
This world was completely different from the one he came from.
There were no modern facilities, no familiar conveniences, none of the things he had once used to existed here.
The original owner of this body was the third son of a hunter from a rural village known as Luopo Village, within the Yan Empire.
A few months ago, his father and two elder brothers had gone hunting for food but never returned by sunset.
The next day, their bodies were found, they had been killed and devoured by the very beast they sought to hunt.
That tragedy left fifteen-year-old Gu Shen as the only man in the household.
He had no choice but to take over the role of hunter.
Barely earning enough to keep his family alive, he struggled on for a few months before an imperial order arrived at the village, demanding two taels of silver from each household.
Unable to pay, Gu Shen enlisted in the army in exchange for tax exemption.
A month later, he was transported to the border town, Qingshan Outpost, which was currently under fierce assault by the barbarians.
And now, at this very moment, he was releasing arrows at those barbarians on the battlefield.
As his third arrow left the bowstring, it soared through the sky and, by sheer luck, pierced straight through a barbarian's forehead.
A lucky shot.
Not something Gu Shen had consciously aimed for.
At that exact moment, as the barbarian fell lifelessly from his horse, a translucent panel suddenly appeared before Gu Shen's eyes.
[You have claimed the life of a barbarian soldier. Life Points +1.]
[Skill Mastery System detected the host is performing Archery.]
[Would you like to spend 1 Life Point to accelerate mastery?]
"…Huh?!"
Gu Shen had not even managed to stabilize his emotions after realizing that he had truly killed someone.
Everything had happened far too fast.
Not only had he possessed the body of a young boy from another world, he had also ended up killing a man on the battlefield, simply by releasing an arrow at random.
What was even more insane was the sudden appearance of a translucent panel out of nowhere.
A classic cliché straight out of fantasy novels.
With the previous round of arrow rain, most of the barbarians at the frontline had already fallen.
Yet the remaining barbarians did not even spare a glance at the corpses beneath their feet.
Instead, they charged forward even more fiercely.
At the same time, archers on the barbarian side unleashed a dense barrage of arrows toward the frontline.
Many spear-wielding soldiers on Gu Shen's side were struck down as well.
The scene was drenched in blood, so brutal that Gu Shen stood frozen, unable to even let out a sound.
"Fire again…"
General Han Lie's cold voice rang out once more, ordering another volley at the advancing enemies.
Gu Shen noticed that every archer around him moved in perfect unison, drawing arrows, raising bows, and aiming toward the sky with practiced precision.
Gritting his teeth, Gu Shen followed their movements.
At the same time, he shouted inwardly, "Yes" to the system panel.
He didn't know what the system panel was about or what its function was, but he knew that by hesitating, he would put himself in danger.
He didn't even have time to look at the panel clearly, he could only hope that whatever it was would help him survive this hell.
The instant he agreed, it felt as if an explosion detonated inside his head.
The world lost its usual sense of clarity.
Everything slowed.
It was as though time itself had come to a halt.
Each and every second began to feel like minutes, then hours, then a day.
A single second stretched into an entire day.
Countless insights suddenly poured into his mind.
[A small amount of archery talent detected…]
[First three days: You aimed arrows into the sky without a target. Through sheer luck, you killed 7 enemies after firing more than 600 arrows.]
[Next two days: You identified flaws in your form and made adjustments. Kill efficiency increased, 1 enemy per 20 arrows.]
[After fifteen days: You perfected the basic aiming form and minimized unnecessary movements. Kill efficiency increased,1 enemy per 10 arrows.]
[After one month: You began to sense a connection between yourself and the bow. Kill efficiency increased, 1 enemy per 5 arrows.]
[After three months of continuous combat: You discovered the optimal angle and timing for aiming and release. Kill efficiency increased, 1 enemy per 3 arrows.]
[After six months: You sensed changes within your body. Arm strength and balance increased significantly. Kill efficiency increased, 1 enemy per 2 arrows.]
[After one year: Basic Archery has reached the Initiation Level.]
[Perfect grasp of fundamental forms and postures.]
[Slight enhancement to body strength.]
[Improved balance and eyesight.]
[Foundation of archery control established.]
In reality, Gu Shen slowly took an arrow from his quiver and assumed a posture he had never known before, one that did not even exist in the original Gu Shen's memories.
He placed his front foot slightly forward while the other leg remained firmly planted, evenly distributing his weight for stability.
His shoulders relaxed unnaturally, different from before.
As he looked at the advancing enemy, he calculated the angle in his mind and aimed the arrow fifty-two degrees toward the sky.
His wrist remained straight as he released the arrow.
The arrow left the bow a moment after the rest of the archers fired, yet it landed perfectly, striking the head of a horse ridden by a barbarian.
It pierced through the horse's skull under the force of gravity and the arrow's sharp edge.
[You have claimed the life of a war horse. Life Points +1]
Gu Shen felt as though he were dreaming.
The entire surrounding world became surreal.
He took another arrow, nocked it onto the bowstring, pulled it to its limit, and released it again.
Gu Shen couldn't stop his motion at all, his body moved on its own.
[You have claimed the life of a barbarian warrior. Life Points +1]
Another arrow followed.
[You have claimed the life of a barbarian warrior. Life Points +1]
Another arrow.
[You have claimed the life of a war horse. Life Points +1]
Arrow after arrow was fired by Gu Shen.
His mind entered a near-trance state as the repeated motion of firing continued.
His entire body began to change within a very short span of time.
The soreness and exhaustion that once plagued him were completely replaced by an overwhelming sense of hunger.
Gu Shen now drew the bowstring with far greater ease than before.
His vision sharpened, allowing him to clearly see his targets even within the dense crowd.
In total, he fired twenty-two arrows and successfully claimed nineteen lives in an extremely short period of time.
This entire process took six minutes and five seconds.
A full year of experience had been completely assimilated into his body.
All of it only cost him 1 Life Point.
***
Author's Note:
First of all, thank you all for taking the time to read this chapter.
I am a new author who is still struggling to secure a contract.
I have written more than three stories in hopes of getting one, but all of them were rejected for being "not suitable for the market."
This novel is something I am writing as an experiment, drawing from my experience with fanfictions, along with the criticism and even hateful comments I have received in the past.
Despite that, I decided to give it another shot.
I would truly appreciate it if you could share your feedback and thoughts on this work.