“How is it? Do you think you can manage?”

Frederic, with his arms crossed, was sitting at the back and watching Zeke half-kneeling on the ground while squinting.

“The recoil is manageable, but my accuracy is bad.”

“That’s to be expected. Instead of baby steps, you’ve jumped to a sniper rifle. Of course it’s going to be hard. Still, don’t worry about the accuracy.”

Zeke nodded and resumed training. He was taken to the shooting range, in which Frederic taught him the basics and then let him ‘play’ with a sniper rifle.

After a couple of hours, as Frederic had assured him, the Shooter Main Path had become available.

Right after unlocking it, Zeke was no longer troubled by the recoil and his control over all guns had become significantly better. It was at the level of a soldier.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy to use a sniper rifle and he had hit the target only five times in the last hour.

Fortunately, his sturdy body was able to handle the recoil and not be subjected to pain or fatigue.

For the whole day, all Zeke did was practice while listening to Frederic’s random remarks and incessant grumbling about the bad state of his friend’s gun range.

By the time night has fallen, Zeke was physically and mentally exhausted, but he was pleased with his progress, however, he still didn’t know how he would kill the Ambassador, and whenever he asked Frederic, the vagabond would just shrug and order him to continue shooting.

To not waste a single second, Frederic took Zeke to his hotel room.

“What? You thought you’ll be able to sleep? Nice one!”

He made Zeke sit on the ground then continued,

“With the use of your voltage-imbued circuit within your body, you would be able to overcome the most difficult hurdle in this whole operation. What you’re going to use is not a normal bullet but one made using voltage. A significantly, ridiculously… insanely large amount of it. So, for the next 10 hours, all you’ll be doing is injecting voltage into this.”

Frederic put a small black orb in front of Zeke and pointed at it,

“What are you looking at me for? Start!”

While inwardly grumbling, Zeke put his hands on the orb and began. Lightning currents crackled around him before going into the orb, which had no reaction whatsoever.

Half an hour later, Zeke was sweating profusely and swaying left and right, almost on the brink of collapse.

“Drink this.”

Frederic handed him an elixir and urged him to continue, so he did.

The elixir had removed some of the exhaustion and even restored some Aether. At the same time, Zeke used ‘Aether Control’ to calibrate his absorption-consumption rate as well as charge the Voltage Rune, which kept glowing resplendently.

Four more passed, in which tiny and innumerable electric currents danced inside the black orb. Zeke’s face was dangerously pale and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

Yet, even despite of that, Frederic showed no pity. He pressed his hand on the youth’s back and, with a serious tone, stated,

“This is nothing. Bear through this and continue. This is the only way, Zeke.”

“...”

Zeke slowly nodded and channeled his Aether, causing a burst of voltage to come out and enter the black orb.

His consciousness was fading and his vision was blurry, however, he didn’t stop. Frederic supplied him with Aether every time he got tired, and thanks to [Fatigue Abstinence] and [Surge of Pain], Zeke was able to barely hold on.

[Countdown: 12 hours 35 minutes 9 seconds.]

Zeke’s body fell to the side only to be caught by Frederic. The vagabond lifted the student’s body and put him on the bed while praising him.

“You did it. You can rest for one hour. There’s much more to do.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

After saying that, he took the orb and left the hotel room.

…

“Ugh…”

Zeke sat up with a groan, but his left arm was numb, and refused to obey him.

“I know of a way to cure that, but not now.” Commented Frederic, who barged into the room with a large box under his armpit.

He put it on the ground and opened it, revealing a specially-crafted sniper rifle.

“This is a magical artifact made by an acquaintance of mine. It’s good quality, but it will disintegrate with one use because of the high concentration of voltage in here!”

He retrieved a glistening azure bullet from his pocket. It was long with a pointy end and many lines around it.

“This was made by another acquaintance and it cost me a lot of damn Alc. I hope this is enough to make you trust me.”

“I told you my paths and everything I know. If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have said that.” Retorted Zeke while eyeing the bullet curiously.

“Mhm… you do have a point. I still have other stuff to tell you, but now is not the time. First, how many PE do you have left?”

“I haven’t done my Daily Tasks yesterday, but I do have 9 left. It’s not enough to max the Shooter Path. I need 6 more.”

“It’s fine. The gained proficiency in using firearms is enough for now. For all the remaining time, I want you to absorb as much Aether as possible. I want you to be like a sponge, okay? I need to prepare a suitable spot and etc…”

Frederic waved his hand and swiftly left the room, leaving a perplexed Zeke behind.

Ten hours later, Zeke was sitting on the same spot, but his body looked a bit different.

Starting from the Voltage Rune, there were the familiar blue veins spreading across his body like a massive spiderweb.

The veins were shining with a blue light and the rune was buzzing with voltage.

Zeke felt suffocated, but what was cumbersome was his body, which felt incredibly heavy. He wasn’t able to walk properly, much less move.

He felt as if he was about to burst from all the Aether he forced himself to absorb.

“You just need to focus on the task of firing the bullet. Everything else is for me to take care of, okay?”

“Alright.”

*****

At the Central Square of the Sunken Metropolis.

The place was crowded with curious and excited civilians, which, in awe, stared at the massive spaceship looming in the distant sky.

Dusk was approaching but the number of people attending the event was increasing. Nevertheless, the Department of Defense was strict in its security.

The side roads were barricaded and the civilians were segmented into small groups to avoid any complications.

Close to 100 Special Agents were on the artificial plateau that oversaw Central Square.

They were dressed in black military uniforms and stood next to each other with their hands behind their backs and half of their faces hidden by a mask.

There were even renowned individuals attending this celebratory event. One such person was Michael Lopmore, one of the famed heroes of the Stellar War.

The old man was wearing casual clothes as he stood amongst the crowd. Holding his hand was the cheerful Julia, eager to see an earthling for the first time.

“Papi, is it true they wear weird costumes?”

“It’s not a costume.” Replied Michael while chuckling and caressing his bushy grey beard.

“Their bodies cannot handle Aether, so they must rely on highly-advanced equipment to breathe. If you ask me, it looks a bit disturbing.”

“Ah! Are those?”

Soon, the crowd quietened as dozens of figures got down from a relatively small airship.

They were dressed in metallic black outfits while wearing a semy-transparent helmet that covered their entire heads. The glass on the helmets was pure black, making it impossible to clearly see their faces.

In addition, they held large rifles as they orderly walked toward the plateau and stood at the opposite end of the Special Officers.

“Those are called ‘Space Soldiers’. Their bodies are empowered by nano-technology, which grants them special abilities. As for their weapons, they are strong enough to pulverize anyone into shreds.”

Julia didn’t seem that impressed as she sulkily said, “They’re a bit lame.”

“Don’t let their goofy appearances fool you. They’re no different than killing machines.”

“Are they stronger than you, Papi?”

Michael softly laughed and shook his head, “I wouldn’t go that far. Earthlings' real strength comes from their massive spaceships and nuclear weapons.”

“Hmpf! So what if they have weapons? Don’t we have the divinities to protect us?!”

Seeing his granddaughter pout, Michael caressed her head dotingly.

After waiting for close to an hour, the crowd finally got to see the special guest; the Ambassador.

Unlike the so-called Space Soldiers, he wore the same ‘armor’ but the helmet was transparent. He looked no different than a normal human; He was a middle-aged man with plump cheeks and short dark brown hair.

He was welcomed to the stage by the three leading people of the Nezulian Republic.

First, it was General Zhang, the man in charge of the Department of Defense. The second was Madam Jevani, an elderly woman close to 80 years of age, the head of the Department of Finance.

Last and not least was a short man wearing a flashy yellow Taoist robe. His arching eyebrows and dull eyes made him look unremarkable, but he was still the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Minister Bhak Djinn.

There were also five other influential figures, but they weren’t as famous or authoritative as the other three.

Just as the two parties greeted each other and the ambassador shook hands with General Zhang, the whole plateau shook before there was a loud noise of shattering glass.