Chapter 19: The Super Archer
Chapter 19: The Super Archer
After waiting a few more minutes, those five people had already shot three rounds of arrows and finally started to feel tired.
Four of them stepped down from their spots and sat on chairs to rest.
Seeing this, the staff member guarding the training area brought over some prepared drinks. The four who had rested and the newcomer all got one, but Lan Mu did not.
“Tsk…”
Lan Mu was about to say something but suddenly closed his mouth again.
Yet even though he hadn’t asked, the staff member specifically reminded him, “I’m sorry, because you are not a member, you do not get the special drink. Please understand.”
Seriously! I knew it! I didn’t even ask, and you still had to say it out loud. Obviously trying to get me to sign up for a membership! I won’t do it!
Lan Mu pretended not to hear, but he was actually extremely embarrassed.
Seeing this, the newcomer smiled slightly, pushed his own drink next to Lan Mu’s hand, and said, “Please bring me another one.”
The staff member was stunned but had to go prepare another one because this person was a high-level VIP with unlimited supply of drinks and snacks.
Lan Mu glanced at him sideways through his sunglasses. This person looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing brand-name casual clothes. Judging by his demeanor, he was either a cultured rich guy or a high-paid white-collar worker like a lawyer or professional manager.
“Thanks, but I don’t need it.” After saying that, Lan Mu picked up the recurve bow, Shark, that he had chosen earlier and walked directly to the shooting platform.
“Haha.” The young man laughed and followed, standing next to Lan Mu. As he took out his own bow, he said, “This is a special drink made by the Forest Club. Not only is it delicious, but it also quickly restores stamina. It’s exclusively for members. Practicing archery uses a lot of energy, so this drink is very practical.”
Lan Mu also smiled. He drew the bow, nocked an arrow, and released it in one smooth motion. A whooshing sound was heard as the arrow hit the bullseye of the high-hanging target fifty meters away.
He found that this bow was really good. With the Elf’s talent, he instantly found the feel.
Then Lan Mu said, “Holding the bow for a long time without shooting, dawdling around, of course that uses up energy.”
The young man was taken aback, then clapped and laughed. “So you’re the practical combat type…”
“Practical combat type?” Lan Mu was puzzled.
The young man explained, “Because competitions are divided into exhibition matches and competitive matches, most members who come here learn exhibition-style archery. They pursue archery postures perfected to the extreme, aiming for beauty and atmosphere. These friends here are practicing stamina. With a compound bow on a close-range fixed target like this, hitting the bullseye is very easy. So in this small training area, no one really chases scores or anything. After all, if everyone is serious, getting a high score is simple.”
“I see, they’re practicing stamina!” Lan Mu understood, realizing he had misunderstood earlier.
Then he asked, “What about competitive matches?”
“Competitive matches are much stricter. There’s a time limit for shooting; one arrow cannot exceed twenty seconds. Also, the distances are fifty meters and seventy meters. I have a friend who is a professional athlete at the club; he competes in seventy-meter ranking matches. That type of archer pursues accuracy. Their targets are very far, so aiming within the twenty-second limit is very difficult. Plus, they have to factor in outdoor wind conditions. So to shoot accurately requires a long time of practice.”
After hearing this explanation, Lan Mu was stunned. Was seventy meters very far?
He mentally assessed it. The fixed target at fifty meters was hanging high from the ceiling, about sixty meters away from him. Earlier, he had performed the whole motion in one go and instantly hit the bullseye. It didn’t feel that hard.
“Wait, you mentioned the practical combat type. Is that not a competition category?”
The young man said, “After all, bows and arrows were originally created for hunting and war. The so-called practical combat type naturally pursues practicality, not performing for others to see, nor for people to give scores. They pursue results, they pursue lethality. So fast, accurate, and fierce are the goals of the practical combat type.”
“The club doesn’t have formal competitions in this area. It’s when outdoor hunting activities are organized that a lot of practical combat archers participate. Usually, practical combat archers practice by shooting at moving targets, balloons, frisbees, and the like.”
Lan Mu nodded. He understood. Most people practice archery by practicing various different shooting techniques and postures, playing with elegance.
Competitive archers practice accuracy, shooting at fifty and seventy meters.
The practical combat type is for hunting. They don’t necessarily need standard, beautiful postures, but they must be fast, accurate, and fierce. They don’t bother with these fixed targets at all.
“That’s right, I am the practical combat type!”
After saying this, Lan Mu pulled out another arrow, drew it to full draw, and shot. Once again, it hit the bullseye.
Others watched as Lan Mu hit the fifty-meter bullseye again and applauded.
The first time could be called luck or overperformance, but hitting the bullseye twice in a row was skill.
The young man also said, “Impressive! You could totally go compete in the fifty-meter elimination matches.”
Lan Mu smiled. “Not done yet.”
As he spoke, his hands didn’t stop. He grabbed another arrow and shot it extremely fast-still the bullseye! Also fifty meters.
The young man was stunned and fell silent.
Everyone watched Lan Mu. His hands didn’t stop; arrow after arrow, each one was a 10.
And he got faster and faster. At first, drawing the arrow took some time. By the fifth arrow, he was already very familiar with the quiver.
From drawing the arrow to nocking it, then drawing to full draw, aiming, and releasing, to the arrow hitting the bullseye-all in a fluid motion, it only took two seconds!
The people who were slowly drinking their drinks and resting all stood up to watch him. The person at position number one, who was still dawdling and building up his aura, put down his bow and stared at him.
The young man was right beside him, watching Lan Mu’s right hand move swiftly, and the speed was still increasing!
“So fast! Too fast!”
“Yeah! There’s no rest at all; each arrow is faster than the last!”
“Is this the legendary rapid-fire shooting?”
“Of course not. Rapid-fire is when the first arrow is still in flight and the next is already shot.”
“Oh, but this is almost there!”
“Right! Fast and accurate! A high target at fifty meters! Is this guy a top-tier club athlete?”
“No, the server didn’t give him a drink earlier. He’s not even a member!”
The others stopped playing and all watched him. This person’s archery didn’t follow professional postures at all; instead, he became more and more relaxed.
Lan Mu started by just swaying while shooting, but later, he started shooting while walking!
Shooting sideways! Shooting while moving sideways! Even shooting while walking backwards!
Lan Mu walked all the way to the resting chairs, then deliberately backed up three meters, creating extra difficulty for himself.
He didn’t just shoot at his own target; he shot at other people’s targets too, completely ignoring the rules.
But without any surprise, all he shot were the fifty-meter targets!
Because for Lan Mu, fifty meters was somewhat interesting. Anything closer was completely child’s play; he didn’t even have the desire to aim.
Several exhibition-style members felt ashamed because in front of this practical combat archer, with his near-rapid-fire fast shooting, that smooth motion of drawing and nocking had a unique beauty to it, much more beautiful than their method of setting up a stance and shooting slowly.
However, soon this smooth shooting stopped because Lan Mu’s quiver ran out of arrows.
The young man was the first to applaud, his eyes shining as he looked at Lan Mu.
Twenty arrows, shot in half a minute, all hitting the bullseye.
He had never seen anyone at the entire club achieve this. This could be called a master archer.
“Another quiver!” Lan Mu was not satisfied yet. Having shot all arrows from one quiver forced him to stop, and he felt he hadn’t had enough fun.
The young man and those exhibition archers all came forward and gave him their quivers.
Lan Mu hung quivers on his waist and back, took a deep breath, and started super-speed rapid-fire again!
This time his speed was constant, maintaining one arrow every two seconds, and he kept changing his standard direction.
Each arrow hit an arrow shaft, breaking all the arrows he had previously shot into the target.
This move left the onlookers dumbfounded. Even the staff members were stunned. Not caring about the many arrows being broken, they all watched with shining eyes at Lan Mu’s incredible performance.
And so, they saw a group of people standing beside him, holding quivers and feeding arrows to Lan Mu.
Lan Mu rapidly shot at the arrow shafts. They heard “Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!”
“Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack…”
A continuous series of arrow shaft cracking sounds at a constant rhythm rang out. Each sound represented Lan Mu breaking an arrow.
After breaking all the arrows on the target, Lan Mu started playing with variations.
The more he practiced, the more excited he became. Anyway, he had hundreds of arrows to play with as he pleased. He could test many arrow techniques he had imagined.
“Let’s try… Nature’s Power!”
Suddenly, Lan Mu shot out an arrow. From the moment it left his hand, this arrow felt different from the others.
It was as if this arrow pierced through air resistance, its speed surpassing Lan Mu’s previous arrows.
Before the previous arrow reached the target, this one caught up and hit the rear fletching.
“Bang!” With a cracking sound, the front arrow was directly shot and exploded.
The following arrow passed through the shower of wood splinters and struck the bullseye.
It penetrated into the bullseye over a foot deep, clearly piercing through the target!
“Gasp!”
The onlookers looked at Lan Mu as if watching a myth. This was now complete and utter rapid-fire shooting!
And it was one arrow catching up to another and exploding it… explosive rapid-fire!
Was this really archery?
These members had played with arrows for so long and had never seen such a monstrous archer!
That young man was even more shocked because he was already a high-level VIP and had participated in many outdoor activities organized by the club with its athletes.
He had seen real practical combat archers. They were indeed skilled, but when shooting moving targets or hunting prey, they weren’t this incredible!
He had seen fast ones! But their accuracy wasn’t good, and they weren’t as fast as Lan Mu, with one arrow catching up to another. How was that done, also drawing to full draw?
He had also seen accurate ones! But their speed wasn’t good; they usually needed to aim for a while and also consider wind and such.
But they couldn’t possibly be as accurate as Lan Mu. And Lan Mu had been moving and shooting earlier. Moving oneself is much harder than a target moving, because moving oneself requires calculating the effects of arm tremors and body sway.
“Super archer! If this guy went to the Olympics, he’d definitely win all the gold medals!”
The young man’s emotions couldn’t calm down for a long time. He never thought that while idly coming to this small training area, he would encounter such a prodigy.
Seeing this, Lan Mu knew he had been somewhat shockingly extraordinary, accidentally displaying legendary archery skills.
“No, gotta leave quickly!”
While they were still in shock, Lan Mu quickly grabbed his bow, ran out of the training area, and walked to the front desk.
“Finished trying it out, sir? How was it?”
The front desk wasn’t busy. The clerk was playing on his phone. Seeing Lan Mu come out, he hurriedly put away his phone and spoke.
Lan Mu directly took out his bank card and said, “I’ll buy it. The set. Also, I want three quivers, sixty arrows total.”
“Oh! Okay!” The clerk happily prepared the Shark set for him.
But by then, the young man had already reacted, rushed out of the training area, and chased after him, followed by the other five people.
“Hey, wanna get acquainted?”
“My name is Du Yu. You’re amazing. Can we be friends?”
Du Yu was enthusiastic, completely failing to notice Lan Mu’s gloomy face and the clerk’s strange expression.
He continued on his own.
“This is my phone number: 133…”