Wang He secretly memorized the name Lingyun and replied with thanks, "Okay, thank you."
The coach shook his head, took out his phone, and swiped to the WeChat QR code interface. "You're welcome. Let's add each other on WeChat. It'll be easier to contact me if you have any questions in the future."
After exchanging QR codes and becoming friends, the coach went on to attend to his own business.
Wang He sat on a nearby chair and searched for Lingyun on his phone at Lao Hei's flagship store, where he spent 378 yuan to order a 45-pound bow.
After the order was placed, the merchant's customer service even called to ask if I was sure I wanted 45 pounds, because 45 pounds is the weight level used by professional athletes. Lingyun bows are usually used by beginners, so very few people would buy a weight higher than 35 pounds.
Wang He naturally answered yes. Although he might not be able to handle that weight yet, his goal was to pierce the skull of the monster in the mirror world. If the power was too low, he might not even be able to pierce the skull of the ghoul, let alone the terrifying armor of the Crimson Armor. Anyway, he could already kill enemies to improve his physical fitness, and he would soon be able to close the gap in strength.
Furthermore, according to online tests, a 45-pound American hunting rifle can only penetrate some medium-sized wild animals, such as wolves and antelopes. It's only possible to penetrate a thick-skinned wild boar if it's over 60 pounds. The weight he bought is at best a transitional piece of equipment and cannot be used long-term.
After purchasing the hunting rifle, Wang He didn't rush back to his dormitory but stayed at the archery base, waiting for nightfall. Since the archery base was about ten kilometers from his dormitory, beyond the boundaries of the mirror world, he was curious and wanted to test whether he could enter the mirror world from outside the real world.
After all, in the mirror world, once you leave the domain, it becomes a completely white expanse, and the further you go, the stronger the resistance and pressure become. So the question is, if he enters from the mirror outside the domain in reality, will he be teleported into the domain, or will he be unable to enter the mirror world at all?
Based on Wang He's experience over the past few days, the mirror world would open around 7 PM. At that time, he could enter the mirror world simply by passing through it. Touching the mirror would not force him to be sucked in; he could freely choose whether to enter or not. Therefore, the test was not dangerous.
While waiting, Wang He stopped shooting arrows. He needed to conserve his energy so that he would have enough strength to fight the monsters he encountered in the mirror world later.
He's been training all afternoon, and his shoulders, back, and arms are a bit sore. But it's still within a manageable range; if he continues training, things might get complicated.
He scrolled through his phone while observing the other customers training at the training base. Most of them brought their own bows to the base for training, and they seemed to know the owner well, so they probably got a discount and their expenses weren't too high. That made sense; otherwise, spending two hundred yuan per training session would be unbearable even for someone earning over ten thousand yuan a month.
Moreover, according to Wang He's observation, the bows those people were using were noticeably superior in quality to the standard bows, with a smoother draw and visibly higher arrow speeds. Some even brought composite bows, whose arrows had far greater penetrating power, penetrating the target by more than ten centimeters.
Compared to the professional bows they brought, the training bow that Wang He had just used was noticeably noisier, the bow handle vibrated more when shooting, and the energy loss was naturally greater.
A typical standard bow costs around two to three hundred yuan and is only suitable for beginners to try out, not for long-term training. Although the Lingyun bow he bought cost only a little over three hundred yuan, it should feel much better than this standard bow, as expected.
However, there is a problem: American hunting bows, especially beginner-level ones, seem to be at the lowest level of the archery hierarchy...
This is because entry-level American hunting bows are generally much cheaper than entry-level models of other bow types, so most beginners start with an American hunting bow. And the more newcomers there are, the more infamous the bow tends to be…
··············
··············
Time passed quickly, and the sky outside the window grew completely dark. Looking at the hour hand on his wristwatch pointing to seven o'clock, Wang He got up and went to the restroom.
After confirming that no one was in any of the restrooms, he looked at the mirror in front of the sink, a look of surprise in his eyes.
Logically, a mirror that can enter the mirror world should become extremely cloudy, as if covered with a layer of frost.
The mirror before him, however, remained clear and bright, reflecting his somewhat gaunt face.
Wang He continued to reach out and touch the mirror, but only touched a cold, hard surface.
As expected, it was impossible to enter the mirror world from outside the domain unless he could expand the domain; otherwise, he could only enter from the area near the school.
Wang He quickly left the archery base, grabbed a shared bicycle by the roadside, and rode back to school after half an hour. After finishing his meal and returning to his dormitory, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening.
Just as he was about to take out his backpack, which was full of equipment, and go downstairs, Lü Wuyi suddenly called out to him.
"Wait a minute, He, I asked around the archery club this afternoon. They said there are a few bows left by the senior students in the club room that you can borrow. It's in Siqi Building A312. You can look in their lockers; you should be able to find them."
He paused, then continued:
"However, I estimate that the bows they can keep won't be worth much. Two hundred yuan is the maximum for an entry-level bow, and after so many years of being left unstrung, they must have lost weight. They should be about the same as the standard bows at the base. But the advantage is that you can use them for free. These old bows are usually given to new members in their club to try out. You can use them for now."
"Thanks, you've been a great help." Wang He wasn't just being polite; providing him with a usable bow at this crucial moment was indeed a huge help.
The Lingyun sword he bought that afternoon would take two or three days to arrive, even with the fastest logistics.
He thought he would have to fight the ghouls hand-to-hand with an axe for the next two or three days, but unexpectedly, Old Lu suddenly gave him a helping hand and provided him with a free bow.
Lu Wuyi smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's okay. I'm quite happy to have someone in the dorm who plays with archery. At least we have something in common to talk about, right? I'm also planning to pick up archery again. Once you've mastered it, we can even participate in competitions together."
.....---....
Wang He nodded his thanks again, then slung his bag over his shoulder and left the dormitory.
Because there were many people and distractions at the dormitory entrance around nine o'clock, disappearing there rashly would be risky, so he chose to enter the mirror world from another place.
According to his tests, any mirrored surface can serve as an entrance, including glass that reflects light, water surfaces, and even television screens.
In other words, as long as he can find a piece of glass that is large enough, he can enter the mirror world.
Since he also needed to go to the teaching building to get his bow and arrows, he decided to go directly to the teaching building to see if there was a suitable entrance.
When Wang He arrived at Siqi Building, which Lü Wuyi had mentioned, there were very few people in the teaching building after nine o'clock. Apart from a few students who stayed in the classrooms to study, there were almost no other people.
He walked up the stairs to classroom A312, a very spacious club room with specially drawn distance lines on the floor and three straw targets at the back of the room.
The new members of the archery club should usually practice archery here, but even though this classroom is spacious, it is only about fifteen to twenty meters long. If you want to improve your skills, you definitely can't train here.
Wang He went to the storage cabinet, rummaged around for about two minutes, and finally found three bows and several arrows from a pile of miscellaneous items.
Among them were one traditional bow and two recurve bows. He tried drawing them all and shot a few arrows at the straw target in the classroom, discovering that one of the recurve bows seemed to weigh over thirty pounds, while the other two weighed in the teens or twenties.
He flicked the slingshot shrapnel with his index finger and found no obvious cracks or twists, so it shouldn't cause any problems in actual combat.
He then began to inspect the arrows. There were about twenty or thirty arrows left in the clubroom, all of them made of fiberglass.
The biggest problem with fiberglass arrows is their softness, making them more prone to wobbling during launch and resulting in poor accuracy.
Moreover, the explosion can easily cause injury, as the shattered glass fibers can pierce the skin and flesh and cannot be removed.
However, its advantages are also clear: it's cheap, costing about one-tenth the price of a normal mixed carbon or pure carbon rocket.
In short, this type of fiberglass arrow should be sufficient for Wang He's current needs, but he will no longer be able to use fiberglass arrows when he uses a bow with a higher draw weight in the future.
Because a high-poundage bow might explode on the spot before it even launches the fiberglass arrow, causing countless tiny fiberglass fibers to pierce the arm.
After slinging the thirty-pound recurve bow diagonally over his body and filling a quiver with more than twenty fiberglass arrows with a tool sack he found in the locker, Wang He left the clubroom directly.
We went up to the fourth floor and found a classroom with a multimedia electronic display screen. There was a mini fire station equipped with a fire axe in the stairwell at the entrance.
The classroom was empty at the moment, and the black electronic display screen was unusually murky, as if covered with a thick layer of moisture.
Wang He tightened his equipment and then stepped directly into the electronic display screen.
Buzz—
A cool breeze instantly swept over his body, and he entered the mirror world again. The scene before him reappeared, and this time it was a classroom turned upside down.
He quickly put on riot gear and an arm shield, leaving his backpack behind.
Just as he was about to go to the stairwell to cancel the axe protection, he suddenly noticed that countless invisible spider webs seemed to have appeared in front of him.
The spider silk had a sticky surface and stuck to his face; it took some force to tear it off, indicating that it was extremely resilient.
How come there's spider silk here?
Wang He's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition surged within him.
He had never been to this teaching building during his previous two explorations.
Therefore, there is likely any monster here that he is unaware of.
Since the classroom is covered in spider silk, it's highly likely that a spider-like monster exists there.
In both movies and real life, spiders are often depicted as agile and mostly carry venom, which is what worries him most.
Without hesitation, Wang He rushed to the stairwell, grabbed the fire axe, and knew that his primary attack method was thrusting, so having a weapon in hand was the safest option when facing unknown dangers. The bow and arrow had too long a wind-up, making it only suitable for use when he knew the enemy's location.
He gripped the axe handle with both hands, cutting the spider silk in front of him as he explored the corridor, trying to locate the spider.
Logically, spiders possess highly sensitive sensory organs; the slightest vibration of their silk can instantly detect the presence of prey.
You can even judge the size of the prey by the amplitude of the vibration, and now that he has cut the spider silk, the spider will likely come to attack him soon.
Sure enough, it didn't take long.
Snap... snap snap...
A faint rustling sound came from behind him.
Wang He quickly turned around and looked at the source of the sound.
This sight, however, left him instantly stunned.
In the dark corridor, eight round eyes, gleaming with a scarlet light, floated silently in the darkness, looking extremely eerie.
A barely perceptible hissing sound continued to emanate, causing the spiderwebs swirling in the corridor to vibrate slightly.
Wang He's hair stood on end instantly; a strong sense of crisis welled up from the depths of his heart.
At the same time, several lines of writing appeared before his eyes.
Blood Spider
[Level: Tier 2]
[Skill: True Sight (Fake)]
[Description: This venomous spider, evolved after being contaminated by source blood, spews venom carrying deadly neurotoxins. It has also developed eight compound eyes containing trace amounts of source blood energy, granting it exceptionally keen senses, allowing it to detect prey's movements in the dark. Agile and posing a certain threat.]
After quickly scanning through the text descriptions, Wang He gritted his teeth and calmed his fear.
It's no use running away now. The monster is right in front of us, and this blood spider is obviously much more agile than the ghoul. Running away is pointless.
He quickly analyzed the current situation.
Spiders, before hunting, usually stop to observe their prey and judge when to strike. In human terms, this would be described as timidity.
They will not launch an attack without being absolutely certain of success.
He can seize this opportunity to strike first.
Wang He slowly took the recurve bow from his body, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the eight bloodshot eyes in the darkness.
The distance between him and the Blood Spider was estimated to be around thirty meters, which was very similar to the distance he had been at the archery range that afternoon.
In a windless, enclosed environment, the vertical parabola and the angle of adjustment to the left and right should not differ too much.
Now it's time to verify the training results.
Wang He held his breath and aimed at the center of the bloodshot eye, thirty meters away, using the extension of the arrow shaft.
....
The bowstring is drawn taut.
aim.
Release.
BOOM!!!
The arrow tore through the air, shooting out like a bolt of lightning.
However, just as the arrow was about to pierce the blood spider's head, it seemed to have foreseen this and moved to the left.
But the arrow still pierced through some tissue in its body, emitting a painful hiss, and at the same time the fine netting throughout the corridor began to tremble wildly, clearly enraged.
Wang He quickly put down the bow, picked up the fire axe, and held the handle diagonally in front of him, while a deep sense of apprehension appeared in his eyes.
It can even dodge arrows, which shows that this blood spider has very sharp reflexes and can predict the trajectory of movement.
But the arrow wasn't entirely without merit; it still pierced through a part of the blood spider, likely causing it considerable damage.
If you can deliver another heavy blow with the axe, you'll most likely kill it on the spot.
But after witnessing its speed, Wang He was certain that its reaction speed was much faster than his own.
If his thrust, which cost him 200 milliliters of blood, is also dodged, then his situation will be extremely dangerous.
Therefore, we must be extremely cautious when making any moves.
But just as he was pondering a countermeasure, the blood spider's eight blood-red eyes vanished into the darkness in an instant, followed by a series of fine "scratching" sounds from all directions.
He could see terrifying, dark afterimages rapidly climbing the surrounding walls, but his naked eye could not capture the shape or exact location of the target.
Losing his target, Wang He felt a strong sense of unease and retreated step by step in a panic.
He kept hacking at the surroundings with the fire axe, but he didn't hit anything. Instead, the noise around him got closer and closer, interfering with his judgment.
laugh!!
A whooshing sound suddenly came from his right side, followed by a sharp pain in his right abdomen. His riot suit was ripped open, and blood soaked through his inner T-shirt, as if it had been forcibly cut open by something sharp.
Fortunately, the riot gear cushioned the wound, so it wasn't deep.
But a tingling sensation gradually spread from the wound, and he immediately realized that he had been poisoned.
"Damn it, that attack just now carried poison..."
[Health -23]
As the message "health depletion" kept appearing before his eyes, Wang He frowned deeply. The darkness was extremely disadvantageous for him.
Although the opponent's individual combat strength is not high, he has the advantage of being able to see his position clearly in the dark, and he is extremely fast.
"We must calm down...otherwise we'll just become lambs to the slaughter."
After a moment's thought, he closed his eyes and used his ears to sense the sounds around him. In such situations, blocking his vision would make his other senses more acute.
He could hear the hissing sound of the silk threads twisting together.
You can hear the sound of countless thin legs skimming across the ground.
You can hear the sound of an object tearing through the air at high speed.
And these sounds were getting closer and closer to him, from far away to right in front of him...
It seems that in a certain instant, everything was concentrated into one point.
laugh!!
Wang He suddenly sprang up and slashed with all his might to the left.
With a "ding," a crisp sound like metal clashing was heard.
Another painful scream rang out.
Wang He quickly opened his eyes. He was quite certain that he had struck a hard object. The resistance was very obvious, and although it was very hard, he still managed to break it in two.
He looked down at his feet.
Sure enough, at his feet lay a severed limb, from which a dark green, foul-smelling liquid was constantly oozing.
He kicked the leg away.
They re-adopted a fighting stance, ready to respond to any attacks from the blood spiders.
He's figured it out now.
Moreover, with its legs severed, the blood spider's speed must be significantly reduced.
The problem is that his abdominal wound is bleeding continuously, and he has already lost more than 100 milliliters of blood in a short time. He can feel his senses becoming increasingly dulled as he bleeds, and the toxins are gradually eroding his body. The area around the wound has completely lost sensation, and even the intense pain from before has been numbed by the toxins. It seems that the next thing he will be able to completely lose sensation in half of his body.
Therefore, continuing to drag this out would definitely be disadvantageous for him, and he had to use his skills to finish the battle quickly.
Wang He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the sounds around him.
He must retaliate in the next attack.
The surrounding sounds became noisy again.
But he could clearly hear that after the blood spider lost a leg, its speed had slowed down considerably, and the sound of its walking had become irregular.
Snap snap... snap snap snap...
After waiting for about ten seconds, a sharp whooshing sound rang out again, slicing horizontally towards him.
Wang He suddenly activated his thrusting skill, instantly burning away all 200 milliliters of blood in his body.
Counterattack and strike!
laugh!!!!
With a loud shattering sound, his axe blade instantly pierced into the blood spider's body.
Countless foul-smelling blood and fluids splattered directly all over Wang He's body.
He opened his eyes, wiped the tears from them with the back of his hand, and looked at the giant spider twitching and writhing in front of him.
This giant spider is about the size of a large dog, with a shoulder height of about 1.3 meters when fully standing, but a width of more than 3 meters, enough to fill the entire corridor.
Its body was covered in ferocious bristles, like a hedgehog, and its eight blood-red eyes seemed to be flowing with scarlet liquid, making it look extremely eerie.
Even more terrifying are its legs; the last segment of its leg is as sharp as a knife, capable of leaving a mark up to one centimeter deep on a tile with a light stroke. This is probably why it can climb walls with impunity.
Wang He exhausted his last strength and raised the fire axe to completely sever its head, chest, and abdomen.
laugh!
After finishing off the enemy, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
His mental and physical exhaustion had made him oblivious to the sticky, dark green, foul-smelling liquid beneath his buttocks.
"Finally...we won!"
If it weren't for the experience of slaying three ghouls, which made his mental fortitude far superior to that of ordinary people, he would probably have been brutally killed by this blood spider long ago.
Moreover, during the battle, he could clearly feel that his five senses were sharper than those of an ordinary person, and he was actually able to sense the timing of the blood spider's attack by hearing.
Perhaps it was the effect of adrenaline, or perhaps the improvement in physical fitness led to an enhancement of the five senses.
In short, even without using his skills, his combat power is now quite formidable.
Suddenly, a pale red spiritual essence floated out of the Blood Spider's eye and merged into Wang He's body.
The next moment, his injuries were instantly healed, the blood he had lost was replenished, and the numbness caused by the toxins disappeared.
....
Wang He felt that his physical fitness had improved significantly.
This improvement was much more significant than the improvement he had gained from killing the ghouls before, and even greater than the combined improvement from killing three ghouls!
He clenched his fist, and an unprecedented sense of fulfillment welled up within him. He felt stronger than those who had a long-term fitness routine.
But before he could be happy for long, he suddenly felt a strong stinging sensation in his eyes.
He instinctively covered his eyes, and a large amount of black blood seeped from between his fingers, dripping down his arm.
After a short while, the pain gradually subsided.
After he lowered his hands again, he suddenly realized that the scenery around him was completely different from before.
The once pitch-black corridor now appeared as bright as day in his eyes.
Moreover, he can see every detail clearly in any place.
Just now, when he was fighting the Blood Spider, he couldn't see anything at all, but now he can see in the dark, and his vision seems clearer than during the day.
In addition, Wang He discovered that he seemed to have the ability to predict the trajectory of objects.
The feeling was very strange. Wang He tried picking up a shard of glass and throwing it away.
He discovered that he could easily predict the landing point and angle of the glass shards before they hit the ground.
Although ordinary people can make vague predictions, none of them are as clear as his current feelings.
It was as if everything around them had suddenly become clear.
He even felt he could predict the trajectory of anything three seconds from now.
This reminded him of a type of insect in nature, the dragonfly.
According to statistics, dragonflies have a hunting success rate of up to 95%, making them almost the most successful hunters in nature.
This hunting ability mainly comes from the dragonfly's compound eyes, which a single dragonfly possesses at least 20,000, and sometimes as many as 28,000.
These compound eyes are closely connected to photoreceptor cells and nerve centers, acting like independent cameras that capture images in real time.
When a dragonfly's compound eyes detect a moving object, especially prey, they simultaneously transmit their field of vision.
Through rapid analysis and processing by the brain, combined with the object's shape, size, and the timing of the synthesized image, the object's speed and direction of movement are accurately calculated.
This allows us to predict the trajectory of the object within the next few seconds.
It has about 70-80% similarity to the abilities he currently possesses.
If he had had that skill earlier, killing that blood spider would have been much easier, instead of ending up in such a sorry state.
Wang He subconsciously looked at the glass window beside him, only to find a faint red light flickering deep within his eyeballs.
At the same time, he also noticed that his body was feeling a bit strained, as if maintaining this visual state required physical exertion.
What's wrong with my eyes?
Just as this question popped into his mind, two lines of writing appeared before his eyes.
[HP: 4556/4556]
[Skills: Thrust (Tier 1), True Sight (Pseudo)]
Wang He keenly noticed that the word "false" was added after "Eye of True Sight."
This means that his current True Sight is probably not the complete version.
It doesn't even reach the first tier; it's just a flawed skill.
This surprised him somewhat; such a powerful support skill, yet it wasn't the complete version?
How powerful would the full version be?
Does glaring at someone really make them pregnant?
Wang He also discovered that after maintaining True Sight for a period of time, the amount of health on his character panel did not decrease, indicating that using True Sight should not cause health loss. However, it would put slight stress on the body, and prolonged use could potentially cause harm.
In other words, he can use this skill freely in his daily life.
Wang He's eyes lit up slightly. He quickly picked up the recurve bow he had brought in, intending to test whether True Sight would help with archery. But he suddenly realized that during the battle, the recurve bow had been broken by some external force at some point.
This bow is now completely unusable; we'll have to wait until we return to the real world tomorrow to refresh its status.
Wang He sighed and left Siqi Tower along the stairs. Since defeating the Blood Spider had exhausted his strength and energy, he did not plan to continue exploring today.
After killing the ghouls in the school's passageway, he went straight back to his dormitory, washed off the foul-smelling liquid from his body, and went back to bed to rest.
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·················
The next day.
10:00 AM.
After getting up, Wang He went to the archery base with Lü Wuyi.
After paying, he put on his protective gear, went to the ten-meter target lane, picked up the twenty-five-pound bow, and drew the string.
Using the extension of the arrow shaft, aim at the target ten meters away, while subtly activating True Sight.
A flash of red light appeared deep in his eyes.
Buzz—
In an instant, a smooth, illusory auxiliary line extended from the arrow in front of him to the very center of the target.
Wang He was slightly surprised; the Eye of True Sight could actually assist in archery!
He adjusted his movements, aligning the guide line with the center of the target.
An arrow was then shot.
But at the moment of release, his fingers slightly plucked the bowstring.
This caused the arrow to be shot at a slightly different angle.
Although it ultimately hit the bullseye, it veered about one centimeter to the left.
This slight deviation made Wang He suddenly realize the importance of standard movements.
True Sight does help him with archery, but his posture is not stable enough, and even with the guide line, it is difficult for him to hit the bullseye every time.
It's important to understand that at a distance of over thirty meters, even the slightest tremor in the arm can cause an arrow to deviate significantly from its target.
The assistance provided by True Sight is essentially the same concept as using a compound bow. Top-tier sights for compound bows result in arrows with virtually no drop in trajectory.
Even a complete beginner to archery can achieve much higher accuracy with a compound bow than a traditional bow enthusiast who has trained for several years.
However, even with such powerful equipment, compound bows still have accuracy shooting competitions.
Because expensive equipment cannot solve all problems, at distances exceeding thirty meters, highly consistent standard movements remain an important determining factor.
If the basic aiming skill for a traditional bow is to hit the target at 30 meters without missing, then...
Therefore, the entry-level standard for compound bows is hitting the bullseye at 30 meters.
Compound bow competitions are about achieving even greater precision on top of already very high accuracy.
Wang He's True Sight Eye is like giving him a cheat code.
It has no sights, yet it's better than having a sight.
It's even better than a sight.