Navigator: I have a double six-story house

Selena's gaze shifted back and forth twice between Su Qing and the old shield on the wall.

She remembered that when the rewards were first announced, her senior said he wanted to exchange them for shields, and even the captain said that he would have a chance to get one in the future.

How did you manage to pull out a B-grade shield so quickly?

And this is neither in a dungeon nor on Midway.

"Captain, this shield..."

"Have a meal."

Su Qing pulled up a chair, sat down, picked up the grilled fish from the plate, tore off a piece, and put it in her mouth.

Selena stood there, her lips moved, but she swallowed the rest of her words.

She had known Su Qing for some time, and there was no point in asking him about things he didn't want to talk about.

Moreover, those legendary captains all had secrets that even their crew members didn't know.

Having secrets is actually a good thing.

The worst kind of captain is one who has no secrets and can be seen through at a glance.

Such captains often have very low skill ceilings.

If Su Qing is that kind of captain, then it can only be said that Mr. Zloty and she misjudged each other.

"Then I'll go and deliver one to my senior too." Selena turned and left, her skirt disappearing behind the door frame.

Su Qing took a bite of bread, her gaze falling on the ring on the ring finger of her right hand.

A gambler's blessing, once a day. Two throws remain in the Double Six house.

Use it again tomorrow, and again the day after tomorrow, and you can accurately get two items within three days.

But don't rush, let's focus on making sure we can walk the path ahead steadily.

After finishing her meal, Su Qing leaned back in her chair when a system notification appeared in her field of vision.

Your level has been increased to Lv.5.

Level 5.

Su Qing did some mental calculations. Since boarding the ship, they had gone through two dungeons, and with such lavish food, their level had only reached five.

The world's upgrade speed is outrageously slow.

Wang Yao started the game by eating experience food produced by the Double Six House, so he should be level six now.

He couldn't see Selena's level, but he estimated it was far above the two of them.

I wish I could reach level 10 sooner.

Su Qing remembered clearly that the school had said that the complete attribute panel could only be unlocked at level 10.

Strength, agility, constitution, perception—all these stats are shrouded in mystery before level ten.

In other words, before level ten, everyone is groping in the dark, not even knowing how strong they are.

Only at level ten can one truly step into the threshold of the Age of Exploration.

And I'm only at level five now, there's still a long way to go.

Su Qing pushed the plate aside, stood up, and walked out of the captain's cabin.

On the deck, Wang Yao was sitting under the mast, clutching his new shield and eating wildly, like a wild boar.

Selena stood beside the helm, the sea breeze ruffling her long pink hair.

"The next steps." Su Qing stood in the center of the deck, her voice not loud, but both of them looked over at the same time.

"Wang Yao and I take turns on guard duty at Crow's Nest, rotating every four hours. Selena is at the helm, full speed ahead."

Selena nodded and placed her hands on the steering wheel.

The moment her fingers touched the wooden rudder, the sail seemed to be adjusted by an invisible hand, precisely catching the perfect tip of the wind.

The navigator's passive skill provides a steady increase in ship speed when she is at the helm.

"I'll go first." Su Qing grabbed the rope ladder and climbed up the crow's nest in a few quick movements.

The sea was calm, and the only visible horizon was the blue sky and the sea horizon.

Four hours passed quickly.

The entire day was calm and uneventful, without even a single extra cloud. Su Qing stared from the crow's nest for four hours, but nothing happened.

As evening fell, Wang Yao climbed up to relieve him.

"Su-zai, go and rest. Leave this to me."

Su Qing climbed down from the crow's nest, but did not return to the captain's cabin.

He crossed the deck, entered the cabin, and came to a door at the end of the corridor that he had never opened before.

A wooden sign hangs on the door: [Shooting Training Range].

Pushing open the door, the room wasn't large, about twenty meters deep. At the far end of the wall hung several straw targets, each with a red circle drawn around its center.

Su Qing looked around but couldn't find any muskets or other ranged weapons, only a longbow.

There were only three longbows and a quiver of arrows hanging on the weapon rack by the wall.

"..."

He glanced at the flintlock musket tucked at his waist, then at the bow on the wall.

Didn't they say that the shooting range could provide reloading speed?

All we have is a bow and arrow, how can we practice?

Well, this is the Age of Exploration, let's give it a try.

Su Qing took down a longbow, drew an arrow from the quiver, tightened the bowstring, and aimed the arrow at the bullseye twenty meters away.

His shooting experience came entirely from muskets; the action of drawing a bow was completely foreign to him.

The moment the fingers loosened, the arrow flew off crookedly, landing on the edge of the target, a far cry from the bullseye.

But then a system notification appeared.

Congratulations on learning a new skill: Shooting Mastery Lv.0 (1/200)

[Skill Effect: Improves shooting accuracy, reload speed, and critical hit rate. Each effective shooting training session grants +1 proficiency; levels up at 200 proficiency.]

Su Qing rubbed her chin with her fingers and stared at the notification for a while.

Shooting specialization.

Practicing archery improves shooting accuracy, reload speed, and critical hit rate.

Reloading speed: Bows and arrows don't have the concept of reloading, but muskets do.

In other words, if he shoots a hundred arrows here, he can reload his musket faster when he turns back to retrieve it.

Su Qing remained silent for a while.

Using a bow and arrow to practice reloading speed is like using running to practice swimming – it doesn't make any logical sense.

But this was the Age of Exploration.

The authentication process at the appraisal center relies on smashing the items; the harder they are smashed, the higher the success rate of the authentication.

In comparison, practicing archery to improve the reloading speed of muskets seems quite reasonable.

Su Qing didn't dwell on the issue any further.

He drew another arrow from the quiver, nocked it, pulled it taut, and released it.

The arrow flew out and this time struck the outer ring of the target.

[Shooting Specialization Lv.0 (2/200)]

The third one.

The fourth branch.

The tenth branch.

Su Qing found her rhythm: the frequency of the bowstring's vibration, the timing of releasing her grip, and the coordination of her breathing. Each arrow was closer to the bullseye than the last.

[Shooting Specialization Lv.0 (47/200)]

His right arm began to ache. The longbow had a high draw weight, and the repeated drawing of the string was putting far more strain on his muscles than he had expected.

But Su Qing did not stop.

The sixtieth branch, and the eightieth branch to the one hundredth branch.

[Shooting Specialization Lv.0 (103/200)]

The arrows were now consistently hitting the inner ring of the target. Su Qing's right arm went from numbness to throbbing pain, and her fingers began to turn red from repeatedly drawing the bowstring.

He put down the bow and stretched his wrists.

I was thinking that I would practice twenty more moves and then rest. I would practice a little more tomorrow and I would be able to advance to level 1.

Su Qing had just drawn an arrow from the quiver.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!!"

The training room door was being pounded on from the outside, and the entire wooden door was shaking.

Wang Yao's voice came from outside the door, carrying an barely suppressed urgency.

"Su-zai!! Come up here quickly!!"

"There's a boat!!"

Su Qing frowned. They'd only just arrived; how could there possibly be other ships?

He threw down his bow and arrows, pushed open the door, and ran out.