Why are all your skill bars full of weird moves?

Gauss moved to the side of the platform, which was the best shooting position.

Heat source sensing activated.

In the field of vision, the rock walls and cliffs are filtered into a dark blue background, while the airflow surging up from the bottom of the fissures turns into orange-red bands.

Suddenly, the wind stopped.

Gauss had just silently counted to one in his mind when the heat surged up again.

There was only a one-second gap.

With my basic archery skills maxed out, hitting the rope on the other side at a distance of thirty meters shouldn't be a problem.

The problem is that for an arrow to travel a straight distance of thirty meters in one second, the initial velocity of the launch must be at least 38 meters per second.

Gauss drew an ordinary arrow from his quiver and weighed it in his hand.

Stand firmly on your feet, hold your breath, draw the bow and nock the arrow, raise your arm, and aim the arrow at the thick rope suspending the bridge.

The wind stopped.

whoosh-

The arrow flew from the bowstring, stopping just twenty-five meters away—

A wind is rising.

The arrow was blown by the wind and tumbled into the abyss.

"Sigh...we were so close. Are we really not going to make it today?" Balk clicked his tongue.

Ula sighed and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Perhaps a longbow would work, but a short bow can't draw that much force. Let's think of another way."

Gauss did not respond, inwardly reflecting on his earlier failure.

The accuracy is not the problem; the problem lies in the mechanics.

Gauss walked to a sandy area, squatted down, drew an arrow from his waist, and drew the formula on the ground.

F is the draw weight of the bow, d is the effective travel of the bowstring, and m is the mass of the arrow.

Seeing this, Ula curiously came over and tilted his head to look at the symbols on the ground.

"What is this?"

"The kinetic energy formula." Gauss didn't even look up. "Assuming the arrow weighs 60 grams, to achieve an initial velocity of over 38 meters per second, the pull needs to reach approximately 166 kilograms, which is equivalent to lifting an adult man off the ground with three fingers."

Ula frowned, completely unable to understand what Gauss meant by "k" and "jin".

After all, on this continent, the units of measurement commonly used are ounces, wrists, and pounds.

Gauss stood up and looked down at the Whisper in his hand.

The fact that it is designed to never wear out means that no matter how much force is applied, the bow arm and bowstring will not break.

Whether or not a bow can be drawn with 166 pounds of force depends entirely on the user.

If you used any ordinary bow, it would break in two before the tension was fully applied.

Gauss turned around and looked at the priest.

"Mia, if I break my finger, can you put it back?"

Mia's cat ears perked up, her expression shifting from confusion to unease, and her lips moved slightly.

"Why...why are you suddenly asking this?"

"Just answer me."

Mia bit her lower lip and nodded.

"If there's a bone fracture, a second-circle healing spell can repair it. However, it requires about ten minutes of continuous casting, and during the process... it will be very painful."

Without another word, Gauss began to remove the excess equipment from his body, leaving only his pants and gloves with attribute bonuses.

Balk was stunned.

"Hey bro, what are you doing?"

Gauss did not answer, but simply took an arrow from his quiver and nocked it on his bowstring.

Hold the bow forward with your left hand, and hook the bowstring and arrow with three fingers of your right hand.

The bowstring is taut, and the bow arm is bent.

"Squeak squeak squeak—"

The limit of normal tension was quickly reached. Gauss's right arm muscles bulged, the tendons in his back were clearly visible, and the bowstring was pulled behind his ear.

It's not even close.

Gauss clenched his teeth, the veins on his neck bulging from under his skin, spreading down his collarbone to his jaw, and continued to pull backward with his right hand.

"Gauss!" Balk cried out anxiously, trying to stop him. "Don't pull it any further! If you pull it any harder, your bow will..."

At this moment, Gauss has stretched the arc of the bow arm into almost a semicircle.

Gauss's body was trembling.

The index, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand, hooked around the arrow, were deeply embedded in the bowstring, leaving deep grooves of blood. Blood trickled down between his fingers, dripping onto the rocks at Gauss's feet.

But not enough.

Gauss let out a muffled groan, as if he had been driven to the brink of despair.

His entire right arm trembled noticeably, and cold sweat poured from his forehead, sliding down his nose to his chin.

not enough!

The humming sound of the bowstring grew increasingly sharp.

Ula instinctively took a half step back, using her arm to shield Mia. Tilia's crimson pupils narrowed slightly, and her mouth gaped open to its widest extent.

"This is insane..." Balk muttered, "The bow is stretched like that, and it hasn't exploded yet... What material is it made of?"

Gauss ignored the sounds around him, focusing all his attention on exerting force and the thick rope opposite him.

The wind stopped.

It's now!

Whoosh!!

The air swirled backward, and the arrow shot straight toward the opposite bank at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

In an instant, the force of the bowstring snapped back, striking Gauss's left thumb as he held the bow.

creak-

The thumb bone was broken in the middle.

The bow fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust. Gauss's hands fell limply to his sides, his ten fingers trembling slightly.

Mia rushed over with a look of heartache, covering Gauss's hands with her palms, and a silvery-white healing light overflowed from between her fingers.

boom--

The bridge deck fell from a height and crashed into the slot between the two platforms, raising a cloud of dust.

"That's so cool!" Balk was the first to shout, rushing to the edge of the platform and looking across. When he turned back, his face was flushed.

"I knew it! I told you only Gauss could do it! Did you see that? One arrow! Just one arrow!"

Tilia walked over to Gauss's side, glanced down at the short bow, and then looked up at Gauss's still bleeding fingers.

"You never know how to take care of yourself."

Ten minutes later, the silvery-white light dissipated.

Gauss curled his left hand's fingers, straightened them, then bent them again; the sensation in his fingertips had returned to normal.

He bent down to pick up the short bow and began to put the equipment he had taken off back on, one piece at a time.

"Let's go." He fastened the last buckle on his armor and gestured with his chin towards the bridge. "Let's get across while the bridge is still stable."

The team stepped onto the bridge. The wooden planks were still swaying in the wind, so they had to turn sideways to reduce resistance, grab the ropes along the edge of the bridge with both hands, and move forward step by step.

When Gauss reached the center of the bridge, he suddenly wondered what the effect would be if the wind were applied to elemental arrows.

He freed one hand, drew an arrow from his quiver, chanted a familiar incantation, and aimed the arrowhead at the howling wind.

In an instant, the arrowhead surface shimmered with a pale blue luster, and a fine stream of air swirled around the tip.

Gauss then put the arrows back into the quiver, and because everyone else's eyes were on the front, no one noticed Gauss's action.

In a hurry, everyone stepped onto the solid rock platform, and several people breathed a sigh of relief.

Gauss looked at the opening in front of him.

The structure of this passageway is similar to the previous one, except that the candles on both sides are burning with a dark yellow flame.

Gauss looked up and saw a huge sun symbol carved on the stone wall above the cave entrance.

Could this symbol appear out of nowhere and be related to later levels?

Gauss looked away and turned to face the team.

"Cheer up, something's not right in this passageway."