It was getting darker.
Dudian was still drawing the bow and shooting arrows. Every time he drew the bow, it was extremely laborious and even painful, but he still shot arrow after arrow. The two servants stood by the side, looking at each other in dismay. They had replaced fifty-seven quivers of arrows for Dudian, with twenty arrows in each quiver, which had long exceeded the quantity of a thousand arrows.
"Sir, your task of shooting a thousand arrows has been completed." One of the servants hesitated for a moment, but still summoned up the courage to interrupt Dudian's training and said.
Dudian took a breath and said in a deep voice, "I know. Keep changing the arrows."
After saying that, he continued to draw the bow and shoot with great effort.
When he was too tired to draw the bow, he would take a short rest. After recovering a bit, he would continue shooting arrows.
It was around eight or nine o'clock in the evening when Dudian was so exhausted that his arms were trembling and he couldn't draw the bow anymore. Only then did he have to stop. He asked a young servant beside him, "How many arrows have I shot?"
"One thousand two hundred and ninety arrows." The servant quickly replied.
Dudian thought to himself, "It's still ten arrows short of a round number." Due to his obsessive-compulsive disorder, although he had planned to go back and rest, he became serious about it at this moment.
Soon, during the intermittent breaks and shooting, Dudian spent a quarter of an hour and finally shot the ten arrows to make it a round number. Only then was he satisfied and prepared to leave.
At this time, the young instructor came over from a distance. Seeing Dudian beside the rack, he said in surprise, "Haven't you finished yet?"
"I've finished." Dudian wiped the sweat from his face and said.
The young instructor glanced at the two servants beside him. Seeing them nod slightly, he knew that Dudian hadn't deceived him. He smiled and said, "Go back and rest if you've finished. This task of shooting a thousand arrows was set according to your physical constitution. When others first came here, they would collapse after shooting three hundred arrows a day. Now they can only manage a task volume of eight hundred arrows a day. After all, your physical ability is much higher than theirs. A thousand arrows is your starting point, and your training volume will continue to be gradually increased in the future. Don't neglect it or be lazy. Do you understand?"
Dudian nodded.
"Go back and have a good rest." The young instructor waved his hand.
Dudian handed the bow and arrows to the servant and turned to leave the grassland. His arms were still trembling slightly from the exhaustion.
The place where he slept at night was in an ancient castle for trainee Hunters nearby. It was inhabited by trainee Hunters privately cultivated by the consortium. Dudian went to the front hall to have a meal. It had to be said that the life of a Hunter's special training was completely different from that of a scavenger. Scavengers underwent extremely harsh training. They lived in poor conditions and ate poorly. Since the special training, they had been made to adapt to the living conditions outside the Wall.
However, it was different for Hunters. As long as they completed their daily task volume, they could enjoy superior material comforts in other aspects.
There were specially hired chefs on standby at any time, and they could order whatever food they wanted. As long as they completed their tasks before nine o'clock in the evening, they could eat as much as they liked.
Dudian arrived in a timely manner. He came at a quarter to nine and ordered a plate of pan-fried blood steak and a serving of foie gras from a sharp-beaked goose. These two were both poultry raised inside the Wall. The influence of nuclear radiation on them was relatively slight, and the degree of mutation wasn't obvious. After generations of reproduction, their definition had long been changed from "mutated" to "evolved". They belonged to pollution-free poultry and were the favorite food of nobles.
After eating his fill, Dudian returned to the room arranged by the young instructor and went to sleep.
The room was independent and very spacious. For Dudian, who was used to living a hard life, it was a rare enjoyment.
The night passed quickly. He got up on time the next day and came to the hall below the ancient castle. Immediately, he saw many figures around his age, among whom was one of the trainee Hunters who had trained with him yesterday.
"Good morning." When the teenager saw Dudian, he immediately greeted him calmly and smiled, saying, "My name is Terson. I heard that you came back very late last night. It must have been very hard on the first day. You were actually given a training volume of a thousand arrows. You really live up to the name of someone who has obtained the Marks of the Demon. You can even complete such a terrifying requirement."
Dudian said politely, "When you obtain the Marks of the Demon in the future, you will be the same."
The teenager smiled slightly, the corners of his mouth turning up. He didn't say anything more. He said goodbye to Dudian and went to the side to get his breakfast.
Dudian also went to queue up, got his own breakfast, and after eating, he moved his arms. After a night's rest, there was still a feeling of soreness. He knew that today's practice would be even more strenuous.
He quickly finished his breakfast and then went to the grassland. At this moment, the other five people hadn't come yet, and the servants hadn't arrived either. Dudian ignored them and took the arrows by himself and started practicing.
After shooting a hundred arrows, he gradually saw the other five people arrive. The young instructor's training was very flexible. As long as they completed the task volume for the day, they could train whenever they wanted, and they could arrange the time themselves.
After the five people arrived, they greeted each other and then started their respective trainings.
The monotonous training courses and the day-to-day life were extremely boring for a child of Dudian's age. But Dudian had been very patient since he was a child. Moreover, having witnessed the destruction of the world and the harshness outside the Wall, he had an even stronger desire for power.
This desire exceeded all his other interests in having fun.
In the blink of an eye, another day passed.
The young instructor came to check on everyone several times during this period, gave some guidance on the basic archery posture and the functions of parts such as the shoulders and arms, and then left again.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Dudian's arms cramped from exhaustion again, and he had to stop. Today's task volume was only barely reaching one thousand two hundred arrows, a hundred arrows less than yesterday. The main reason was that he had overdrawn his strength too much yesterday, and the aftereffect of the soreness in his arms had affected today's performance.
Dudian dragged his body back to the ancient castle, had dinner, and then went back to his room and fell asleep.
On the third day and the fourth day that followed, Dudian still didn't go back until eight o'clock in the evening.
On the third day, the number of arrows he shot soared to one thousand five hundred. After a night's rest, he had gradually adapted to the soreness in his arms. On the fourth day, the number of arrows he shot reached one thousand six hundred.
In the high-intensity training, Dudian's body was also adjusting and quickly adapting.
The five people who trained with Dudian all felt the progress of Dudian's archery skills. His hit rate was almost twice as high as before. Almost for every ten arrows, there would be only one or two arrows that missed the target, and the rest all hit! Of course, this was only the probability that would occur in the first few hundred arrows. The later he shot, the lower the hit rate would be, and it could be ignored.
Even so, such rapid progress in just a few days amazed the five people.
However, thinking that Dudian was after all a Hunter who had mastered the Marks of the Demon and his physical constitution was several times higher than theirs, such astonishing progress was understandable.
Even so, the five people were still a bit unconvinced. Even when facing a Hunter who had mastered the Marks of the Demon, they didn't want their long-term training to be quickly caught up with by a newcomer. So in the following days, the few of them became more serious about their attitude when shooting arrows, instead of shooting casually as before and just hoping that the arrows could fly past the archery target.
In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.
Dudian had increased the number of arrows he shot every day to one thousand eight hundred!
"Now that you've adapted, starting from today, the number of arrows you shoot every day will be increased to one thousand five hundred!" The young instructor said coldly and strictly, "Moreover, the number of arrows hitting the target must reach three hundred!"
Dudian nodded and didn't say anything. In fact, the number of arrows he hit the target now had reached about five hundred, almost double the task volume set by the young instructor! However, he didn't care about the task volume given by the young instructor. His goal was to surpass himself and push himself to the limit!
As for whether he could complete the task set by the young instructor, it was completely beyond his consideration.