Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

The senior student, dressed in a white shirt, black blouse, and belt, bowed respectfully to everyone before slowly walking to the left with a longbow in his hand.

"The ranks in archery are divided into five levels and ten dan."

In sync with Qingyou Jinghe's voice, the senior walked to the left corner of the shooting position in the dojo.

"The most important aspect of archery is the spirit of 'respect,' which is embodied in every aspect of the archer's movements."

The senior student held an arrow in his right hand and a bow in his left, with both hands braced against the black belt around his waist. He looked straight ahead and walked with even steps toward the central shooting position.

When he reached the rear of the firing position, he turned left at a right angle, facing the firing range.

The movements were natural and solemn.

"The archer's rank is assessed by the National Archery Federation. Level 5 is the beginner level of archery training."

The senior student kept his posture upright and inhaled.

"Level four is for those who have received systematic instruction and have made progress in the use of bows and arrows."

While keeping his upper body straight, he took a half step back, extended his neck upwards, and lowered his waist.

"Level three: those who understand the basic movements of archery and have made slight adjustments to the methods of using a bow and arrow; they have been trained under orderly guidance."

Look straight ahead, lower your right knee and touch the ground first, keeping your breathing steady.

"Level 2: A person who has made significant progress compared to Level 3."

Exhale, slide your right knee forward along with your foot until it meets your left knee, and place the bow and arrow in your hands at your waist belt.

"Level 1, the body shape and body type of the person being shot, generally considered to be correct."

Raise your knee, keeping seated, and slightly lift the knee on the side holding the bow, separating it from the floor by about the thickness of a book.

"The first stage (first stage) is the realization of a certain form of shooting, where the arrow is accurately aimed and executed."

The senior student kept his body upright, stood up, took three steps forward, and arrived at the shooting position in the middle.

"Second stage: get into position and be neat, use your strength fully, and your arrows will not be scattered."

Take your seat, sit down, and remain seated.

"At the third stage, get into position, maintain a stable posture, breathe evenly, and follow the rules in archery. The arrow should fly straight and hit the target with some accuracy."

Inhale, straighten your upper body, keep your wrists on your waist, and tilt your head to eye level, keeping them parallel.

"Four stages, plus the elements of the first three stages, with the correct demeanor, have reached the precise realm of the practitioner."

He inhaled again, turned his waist to bring his right knee in front of his left knee, then brought them together, returning to a natural sitting posture, and turned back to the direction he had started from when he sat down.

"The five levels of archery skills, including shooting form, shooting technique, and body coordination, represent highly regarded and meticulous achievements."

He lowered the bow to the ground, then spun it so the longbow fell beside him. He placed arrow A on the bowstring, while simultaneously holding arrow B between his ring and little fingers, keeping it parallel to the ground.

"Sixth Dan, the skill is excellent and refined, and even more remarkable."

Keeping his body straight, the senior student stood up with his bow and arrow, looking straight ahead, and executed the seven-section shooting technique in one smooth motion: stepping, bending, preparing the bow, raising, drawing the bow, and shooting.

With a single bowbeat, the string twanged, and the arrow shot forth like a dragon leaping across the sea.

With a thud, the arrow struck the bullseye on the target more than 20 meters away.

Canxin.

Thus, a basic set of archery etiquette was completed.

Quiet.

The arena fell silent. Before anyone knew it, the other practitioners had also turned to look in their direction. There was no way around it; the steady posture of drawing the bow and shooting an arrow was enough to impress everyone present.

The visible quality outlines that creates a highly aesthetically pleasing silhouette.

If I had to describe him in one word, he would be—handsome.

The crowd spontaneously burst into applause.

After nodding his thanks, Senior Qingyou led the Yue people to other places.

"Since you are a beginner, Yue Ren, you cannot touch the bow and arrow right now. You must first complete the physical training, and then you will need to practice stretching with rubber bands as an introductory exercise."

The senior student seemed a little cautious when he said this, because many newcomers get stuck at this step. They originally had dozens of people when they were recruiting at the beginning of the month, but they chose to drop out one after another during the subsequent training. This step is the hardest hit.

Now that there's a newcomer, he undoubtedly hopes that the other person will stay.

The Yue man nodded.

"I understand. It's a basic skill; every skill has it, so it's nothing to worry about."

Senior Qingyou was slightly taken aback, then remembered the information he had seen about the junior in front of him, and immediately understood. Although he didn't know why the junior didn't continue his studies, his swordsmanship was probably no worse than theirs. The junior's ability to gain some fame must be due to his willingness to put in hard work.

They then became even more enthusiastic.

"Okay, then I'll take you to see other places..."

"This is troublesome!"

......

——18:07

On his way home, Yue Ren was still thinking about the archery club.

There were a lot of rules, but that didn't matter. They were all talking about real things, and after visiting the basic training area under the guidance of his senior, he felt that he should be able to touch a bow and arrow within a week, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

Alternatively, if we can find an old bow with sufficient "experience" later in the future, using its techniques should save a lot of time.

In the days before starting school, he traveled between the forging workshop and various corners of the city, but unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

The Yue people didn't know if it was because the environment was too comfortable or...

Back at the workshop, after he forged the third cursed katana, the number of quests stopped increasing, which Yue Ren guessed was because he needed to make a further breakthrough.

To be honest, if he had followed the methods in that book of magical artifacts and used some more advanced special materials and methods for forging, he should have been able to continue, but he hesitated, which caused his professional quest to get stuck.

On the other hand, he used his home and their school as the center, and searched for cursed spirits by going through any possible corner via the subway, both to protect the safety of himself and his sister's residence and to eliminate cursed spirits to increase his experience.

Unfortunately, aside from a few cursed spirits that no human could easily kill, or those with red or black warning signs, he didn't find many suitable ones. There were also some that he couldn't enter due to their special locations. In the end, he only managed to defeat four in six days, which gave him a total of 48 attribute points and 27 skill points.

So he increased the speed to 6 (0/200) points, and also upgraded "Tracing the Origin" and "Test Item" to level 3.

His attributes at this time are:

Name: Kawasaki Etsuto (Li Xunhang)

Age: 16

Height: 171 cm

Intelligence: 7

Strength: 6

Speed: 6

"Charm: 5"

Constitution: 6

「技能：阅读lv4（2/50），锻造lv4（26/50），剑术lv4（0/50）」

「特殊技能：生得术式（溯源）lv3（0/30），试刀物lv3（0/30）」

"Energy: Spell Power (60/60)"

Current status: Normal

(Note: The average attribute of a normal human being is 5.)

Even setting aside his physical attributes, which have already far surpassed those of ordinary people, the improvement of his two skills has brought him new enhancements and changes.

First is "Tracing the Source". Just like Yue Ren thought, his ability, after reaching level 3, has the added characteristic of being able to influence the target of the spell through the power of the spell. For example, after understanding the internal structure of the sword, he can use the spell spirit to influence the already formed internal structure to a certain extent, straighten it out, or break it, so as to do something on a microscopic level.

This was terrifying. Only then did he realize that this technique was transforming from understanding to control.

His current limit is to easily destroy the internal structure of the cursed artifact he forged, shattering it into dust on the spot, even when using half of his cursed power.

He had also tested the cursed spirits. He could easily kill or control the smallest, unfinished ones with a few points of cursed power, which in a sense was a cosplay of cursed power manipulation.

Those who can exchange a few blows with him can inflict fatal wounds from the inside out by expending a great deal of magical power and enduring the pressure of filthy mental energy, but they cannot completely control him.

Although the result was not entirely satisfactory, it made Yue Ren's eyes light up. He saw the future and understood the terrifying nature of this ability. Could the targets be more special, such as directly affecting the spell? Perhaps when his level increases, he will become the absolute master of everything that his spell touches.

His other skill, "Test Item," also became stronger after upgrading. It was as if he had a vague feeling that he could always see the "good or bad" of something.

Take a piece of steel as an example. When he is fully focused, he can see which part of the steel is the hardest and which part is the weakest.

In gaming terms, this skill adds the ability to spot weaknesses, allowing him to subconsciously find the right spot each time he attacks.

So at this stage, his attack power is still quite high, giving him a squishy sword saint vibe. He still needs to develop slowly.

In a world where life is only once, a well-rounded warrior is the ultimate way out. Right now, he's still too inexperienced. He might even be defeated if he encounters someone who doesn't fight him hand-to-hand. So, he needs to focus on developing his abilities and avoid being reckless.

After giving myself another pep talk, I continued home with light steps.

On the street, one could vaguely see beautiful girls dressed in black and white sailor uniforms, their black pleated skirts complementing their fair legs, which made me feel even better.

When he got home, he was greeted with a delicious dinner from his sister and more frequent greetings. Ever since he made his stance clear during the last property dispute, his sister had become increasingly close to him. Without the old man's constraints, Yue Ren had even been able to see his sister smile these past few days.

This can be considered another achievement during this period.

A week later, as he expected, his exceptional comprehension skills, coupled with his steady and reliable personality, earned him the opportunity to use a bow, thanks to the affirmation of his seniors.

Wearing a white top, black blouse, and a belt, he stands upright with his legs slightly apart, left hand in front and right hand behind, drawing the bow, looking straight ahead, maintaining stability, and performing the entire movement in one smooth motion.

Finally, in that instant when their breaths, eyes, and physical states were perfectly aligned, a bowstring twanged, and the arrow in the Yue man's hand flew forward carelessly, hitting the center circle of the wooden target thirty meters away.

"Archery Lv1 (0/10)"

An involuntary smile curled up at the corners of his mouth.

The senior Qingyou, who was observing from behind him, also nodded slightly.

This junior from Yue is indeed exceptionally talented. His movements are fluid, and he didn't miss the target on his first try. The archery club hasn't had such an outstanding junior in a long time.

Despite being a high-ranking general, when he first tried it, although he didn't miss the target, his movements were simply unbearable to watch.

Seeing how outstanding the boy was, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the minister's guarantee should be fine.

To get the Yue people to use the bows sooner, he had boasted that they would achieve decent results within a week. Now it seems all he has to do is help correct their mistakes.

However, as he continued reading with this thought in mind, he was unconsciously stunned.

The theory was proven true, but Yue Ren was not overjoyed, as it was something he had expected. He simply continued to draw his bow and arrow and gradually adjusted his shortcomings.

Slightly adjust your body's posture to ensure smoother breathing and the flow of energy throughout your body, ultimately converging at a single point...

Remove the unnecessary parts from the previous process and unconsciously search for the most suitable actions and states.

Finally, after nearly a minute of drawing the bow—

whoosh-

Another arrow, this time landing precisely in the center of the wooden target.

A notification sound also came from my ear, indicating that my skill experience had increased.

No followers yet, continue—

And so, with the senior behind him gradually opening his mouth wide, arrow after arrow hit the nine or ten rings, and the aiming speed became faster and faster.

Finally, after he perfectly completed the entire action and hit the ten-ring critical hit in one second, the skill prompt changed.

"Archery Lv2 (0/15)"

From the very first time to the very last time, he drew the bow a total of 23 times.

When he finally snapped out of his trance and realized that everyone around him was staring at him with blank stares and expressions as if he were a monster.

Yue Ren thought to himself, "Oh no, I'm too focused on this. I've forgotten there are people around me."

After school—

Yue Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the school. He had almost been surrounded by those guys and treated like a gorilla.

If it weren't for the president's intervention in the end... well, was that really intervention?

What does it mean to say, "Yue Ren, let's train together for the next period of time. I will personally guide you, and let's strive towards today's 'National Higher Education Archery Selection Tournament'?"

Can this be called getting out of a tight spot?

In order to get away as soon as possible, he had no choice but to agree to this seemingly absurd request.

Hmm, for some reason I have a feeling that I've sold myself out.

He was somewhat annoyed by his own arrogance, but it seemed he couldn't really blame himself, because his state of absolute focus at the time was something he couldn't actively control. It was roughly similar to the state of enlightenment in martial arts. He felt like it had only been a short while, and when he came to his senses, it had already been more than half an hour since he leveled up.

What can you do to him?

"Should I try leaving the club? I've already gotten what I wanted, so there's no point in staying..."

But recalling the minister's burning gaze, it seems unlikely that this will be accomplished.

With these worries in mind, he gradually approached his home.

However, quite unexpectedly, I saw an unfamiliar figure in front of my own door—