Chapter 32: Rapid Progress

Chapter 32: Rapid Progress

An intense, joyful emotion seemed to fill Chen Shouyi's entire chest.

Zhang Xiaoyue's small hands were damp, covered in sweat—both his and hers.

The conversation suddenly lapsed, and a quiet atmosphere settled between them. Neither spoke, yet everything seemed to be communicated without words.

Zhang Xiaoyue felt dizzy, as if her entire body was burning up. She floated lightly, as though stepping through mist, her feet barely touching the ground. She had no idea how long they had been walking or where they were headed. At a time like this, who cared about such things? She only wished this moment would never end.

It wasn’t until Chen Shouyi’s voice brought her back from her daze: "By the way, I haven’t asked how I did on the monthly exam?"

"You still care about the exam? Aren’t you planning to take a leave from school?" Zhang Xiaoyue’s racing heartbeat gradually steadied.

"Well, I still took it. It’s the result of a month’s effort."

"Not bad—you ranked 28th!" Zhang Xiaoyue suppressed a giggle. "I checked last semester’s grades with the homeroom teacher. You moved up one spot in class and eight in the whole grade."

Chen Shouyi felt a pang of embarrassment. He had genuinely worked harder than before, yet he’d only improved by one rank.

But then again, while he had been putting in effort, so had everyone else. Especially now that they were in their final year of high school, a sense of urgency was inevitable.

He decisively changed the subject.

"I just remembered your earlier question."

"What question?" Zhang Xiaoyue tilted her head.

Chen Shouyi’s heart pounded violently as he replied, "Didn’t you ask on the phone, ‘How do you want to be close?’"

"Isn’t this enough? What more do you want?" She pinched him lightly, feigning displeasure.

Chen Shouyi stopped walking and turned to face her. Sensing what was coming, her heart fluttered like a startled deer. She lowered her head shyly, then raised it again, her large, glistening eyes meeting his—both bashful and bold.

"Not enough," he said before leaning in.

...

"You bit me!" Zhang Xiaoyue exclaimed, her face burning with embarrassment.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Chen Shouyi was so giddy he could hardly think straight, his usual composure completely gone.

After all, he was just a seventeen-year-old boy. Facing his first kiss, it was only natural he’d be a little clumsy.

"Are you satisfied now?" Zhang Xiaoyue huffed playfully.

Chen Shouyi nodded eagerly, his heart practically bursting with joy.

"Then... will you bully me in the future?" Zhang Xiaoyue looked up at him hopefully.

"Never! How could I?" Chen Shouyi quickly assured her.

...

The young couple lost themselves in the bliss of first love, completely unaware of time passing.

It wasn’t until a call from Zhang Xiaoyue’s mother, urging her to come home, that they were snapped back to reality.

Chen Shouyi walked her to the entrance of her neighborhood.

On his way back, his steps were light, his heart burning with excitement. He nearly shouted aloud, wanting to announce it to the whole world.

When Chen Shouyi returned to the hotel and opened his briefcase to release the Shell Woman, he found her already fast asleep.

She seemed to be dreaming, her little face beaming as she murmured something unintelligible.

He quickly and carefully took her out and placed her on the bed. However, the moment he untied the bindings, she woke up. Her drowsy eyes fluttered open, and upon seeing the familiar surroundings, she immediately tore off the tape from her mouth, sat up, and energetically patted the blanket, demanding to watch cartoons:

"Bei Qi! Bei Qi! Bei Qi!"

Chen Shouyi, in a good mood, didn’t bother arguing with her. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. Meanwhile, he replied to Zhang Xiaoyue’s text messages while continuing to study the universal language.

...

The next morning, he habitually opened his Attribute Panel.

None of his other attributes had changed, but his Willpower had increased by 0.2 points, reaching 11.6.

This was clearly related to yesterday’s killing of the barbarians.

He felt little emotion about it—no particular joy. Willpower seemed the least useful of all his attributes. Aside from improving his mental resilience and helping him cope with extreme situations, it had no other noticeable effects.

In contrast, he valued his other attributes far more, as their enhancements were visibly tangible.

Unfortunately, ever since his body had been transformed by the Book of Knowledge, none of his physical attributes—aside from Perception—had improved. Even the effects of the "Thirty-Six Refinements" technique had grown increasingly negligible.

...

The Otherworld had days lasting forty hours, and at this moment, it was still in the dangerous darkness of night. He had no intention of venturing there recklessly.

Carrying the briefcase containing the Shell Woman, he returned to the Archery Hall.

As usual, he first observed the experts inside, studying and learning from them in his Memory Space for a while.

Then, he took up the war bow and resumed archery practice.

The moment he began, he immediately noticed the difference from last time. His arrows didn’t feel clumsy—instead, they flew even more accurately. Each time he was about to release an arrow, he had a faint intuition, a premonition of whether it would hit the mark.

He recalled some online posts by skilled archers, who claimed they didn’t deliberately aim at the bullseye. Instead, they relied entirely on feeling and instinct, releasing the arrow as soon as they drew the bow.

He pondered this.

This so-called "feeling" was probably "Perception," right?

It matched his current experience almost perfectly.

He immediately adjusted his shooting style. Perhaps because he was overthinking it at first, this sensation was hard to grasp.

Out of ten arrows, six or seven missed entirely—worse than before.

But gradually, he found the trick.

He slowly cleared his mind of distractions, growing calmer, thoughtless, and focused.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The arrows shot out like lightning, embedding themselves into the target with dull thuds.

"Thud!"

Finally, one arrow struck the bullseye.

Then a second, a third...

His shooting speed grew faster and faster—drawing the arrow, nocking it, pulling the bow, and releasing—all in one fluid, exhilarating motion.

When he reached for the quiver at his waist again, he realized all three quivers were empty.

He looked at the target ahead. The bullseye was densely packed with arrows, like a porcupine’s spines. Nearly half had hit dead center, most of them from his later shots.

"Not bad, kid. Impressive archery."

Hearing the voice, Chen Shouyi turned around and realized a crowd had gathered behind him.

This was the kind of attention only experts received—and now, he had earned it too.

Although there were only three people, far from comparing to the true experts, it still meant some level of recognition.

Chen Shouyi felt a surge of joy but remained humble, offering only a brief response before refocusing. He retrieved his arrows, switched the 30-meter target to a 50-meter one, and resumed practice.

The doubled distance immediately caused his accuracy to plummet. At first, only one or two out of ten arrows hit the bullseye. But as he continued, the familiar sensation gradually returned. After two hours of practice, he was once again landing nearly every shot with pinpoint precision.

Meanwhile, the crowd watching him grew from three to five, then quickly swelled to ten. Chen Shouyi paid no mind to the onlookers—this was part of the atmosphere here. The more spectators, the greater the honor.

...

At noon, he ate lunch at the Archery Hall’s cafeteria, rested for a while, and then began practicing with moving targets for the first time.

He had expected it to be far more difficult than stationary targets, given the unpredictability of movement. Yet once he started, he found it surprisingly manageable. There was no need to consciously calculate the target’s trajectory—he simply drew and released the arrow instinctively, guided by his high Perception, and each shot struck true. The advantage of his heightened Perception was vividly displayed in his archery.

By the time he left the Archery Hall in the evening, over twenty people had gathered to watch him.

...

Sitting in the taxi, he opened his Attribute Panel and saw that his Archery skill had jumped from "Beginner (10)" to "Proficient (3)."

Chen Shouyi clenched his fist in quiet triumph. He finally felt confident enough to take on the Martial Arts Apprentice Assessment.