Chapter 8

After a good night's sleep at the inn, he didn’t cause any trouble this time but slept soundly all night, completely shaking off his previous fatigue.

With a refreshed spirit, he headed to the recruitment office early in the morning.

The city gates had just opened, and the recruitment office had just set up its stall. A few soldiers in bright armor, who looked like "elite soldiers," were preparing there.

Wang Qi looked around and found that no one had come at this time, so he was early.

After all, they had been recruiting for three days, and even if there were any outstanding recruits in Jiqiu County, they would have been screened by now.

Wang Qi was now the first one on the last day.

He walked over to the recruitment registration area, stood there without speaking, and just stared at the "elite soldier" who was still tidying up the paper money... This was a man who looked like a scholar, possibly a scribe.

In this era, how many real mountain hunters had any knowledge? So he had to act a bit clumsy and timid.

The scribe, who had finished tidying up his things, looked at Wang Qi curiously and asked, "Here to enlist?"

Wang Qi nodded stiffly but didn’t say a word.

The scribe didn’t seem surprised and just asked, "Name?"

"Wang Qi."

"Can you read and write?"

Wang Qi hesitated for a moment and then said, "I know a little."

The scribe also said with a sigh, "Knowing a little is already quite an achievement. Who taught you?"

In this era, commoners certainly didn’t have the right to knowledge, and being able to read and write was already a significant accomplishment.

Wang Qi replied, "My father taught me some, and the old village chief taught me some."

The scribe seemed a bit pleased: "So you’re someone who’s willing to improve... That’s good. Remember my words, learning more characters in our camp will be beneficial for you."

"Um." Wang Qi hurriedly agreed, feeling that he was being treated differently because he could read and write.

"Since you can read and write, can you write your own name? Come, write it yourself." The scribe directly placed the paper and pen in front of him.

Wang Qi didn’t hesitate, picked up the brush, and wrote his name in a wobbly manner.

His handwriting was a bit ugly because he had never practiced calligraphy before.

But the scribe was very satisfied. For a mountain villager, being able to recognize a few characters was already quite impressive, and having ugly handwriting was to be expected.

He then became interested, or perhaps began the first test.

The scribe didn’t take back the paper and pen but said, "Write down your place of origin, background, and address."

Wang Qi showed a troubled expression... This expression was just right.

But he was really troubled.

He added, "I don’t know some of the characters..."

"Leave them blank." The scribe waved his hand.

Since no one had come yet, he was also using Wang Qi to pass the time.

Wang Qi then bowed his head and wrote a line: "Jiqiu County, Wang Family Village, hunter, father Wang Dashan, mother Wu."

He wrote with some difficulty because he almost added a comma by habit.

The scribe was a bit dizzy but finally recognized that it read: "Jiqiu County, Wang Family Village, hunter, father Wang Dashan, mother Wu."

Wang Qi’s ability to recognize these characters was already quite satisfactory, so he quickly copied this information into another small book and added a note: "Can read and write basic characters."

Wang Qi’s eyes were sharp. He quickly glanced at the book and knew it was the recruitment roster for this session.

On the page he saw, there were nearly thirty people, but only he had such a note.

Just this made him feel more confident.

The only word he deliberately wrote as "cun" (inch) instead of "cun" (village) was because he didn’t know how to write the traditional character... because he didn’t know traditional characters.

The scribe was now satisfied with Wang Qi’s cultural level and then asked, "Seeing that you brought your own bow and are a hunter, you want to join the archer unit, right?"

Wang Qi hurriedly nodded.

But the scribe added, "Your bow is probably a hunting bow from the mountains, which is softer and has less power. If you are selected, you will be given a standard military bow."

Wang Qi continued to nod, perfectly portraying a wooden and timid image.

The scribe then wrote down the archer classification and said, "Go to the training ground. Someone there will test you. I’ll be busy with more people soon, so I don’t have time to chat."

Saying this, he threw Wang Qi a wooden plaque with his name written on it.

Wang Qi hurriedly bowed in thanks and headed to the simple training ground behind the registration officer.

He just glanced and naturally went to the place with the archery targets.

The "elite soldier" at the target range was clearly a low-ranking officer skilled in archery. Wang Qi could tell from his posture and the calluses on his fingertips.

The officer looked at Wang Qi and then said with a slightly relieved expression, "You have a pair of strong arms, which is good. With this, even if you have no foundation, you can quickly develop decent archery skills."

"Tell me what you’re good at."

Wang Qi had already prepared for this round of testing and said, "I shoot fast..."

The officer was a bit surprised because new recruits usually said they were accurate, and this was the first time someone said they were fast.

So he directly picked up a war bow from the rack and threw it to Wang Qi, saying, "Use this bow, shoot twenty arrows in quick succession."

Wang Qi hurriedly complied... He was a bit disappointed to put down his own short bow, realizing that such homemade bows were not favored in the military.

He picked up the bow and arrows and tried to draw the string for the first time... Indeed, the standard military bow was already half as powerful as his short bow, with a corresponding increase in lethality and range.

But this didn’t faze him. With the warm internal energy flowing through his body, he easily drew the bow to full string, aimed slightly, and released an arrow.

"Thud!"

The arrow hit the target thirty paces away, but it landed on the upper edge, almost missing.

This was because he hadn’t gotten used to the power, and he hadn’t focused his mind.

On his second shot, he paused slightly, and the arrow hit the red center of the target thirty paces away.

At this point, he was getting used to the war bow, and his shooting speed increased, with the targets getting farther away.

The farthest target in this training ground was 120 paces away, but Wang Qi noticed that there were no marks on those targets.

This meant that the farthest anyone in this training ground had hit was 100 paces.

Hmm, he felt he didn’t need to stand out too much, so he mostly aimed at the 80-paces targets, ensuring they all hit the target.

Of course, he didn’t aim for the bullseye, as he was demonstrating a shooting speed of about two arrows per breath.

Even if he used his familiar short bow, he could double this speed, but even so, it left the recruiting officer speechless...

Shooting two arrows per breath and hitting the 80-paces target every time, how to describe this... The accuracy wasn’t outstanding, but the speed was truly impressive, and more importantly, it was consistent.

Rapid fire could achieve this, and even full rapid fire could shoot five arrows per breath.

But that required the archer to hold the arrows in a special grip beforehand, whereas Wang Qi picked up each arrow, drew the bow, and shot it one by one...

With just this demonstration, Wang Qi had already become the officer’s top pick, a world-class talent that needed only a little polishing to soar.

And one thing the officer didn’t mention was that the 80-paces and 100-paces targets were for his own practice, while the recruits here mostly used 60-paces targets.

Wang Qi remembered Wang Dashan’s instructions not to stand out too much... But even by halving his abilities, he still stood out.