Body - 100XP
Body - 100XP
Body - 100XP
Body Level up
I slumped down on the floor, feeling tired and unable to move. I looked at my Body stat with a grin.
Body - 2
I had leveled up after grinding push-ups for the whole day. I could feel my whole body changing. Every part of my body became stronger and nimbler. I felt faster, stronger, and healthier. So, the Body stat increases everything related to physical attributes.
I loved seeing numbers rise. But I needed to know how to raise other stats. For Mind, I thought reading would increase it. As for other stats such as Interface, Essence, and Grit, I didn't even know what they were, let alone how to level them up.
I jumped up from the floor to my feet and looked around the room. It was still as barebones as ever, but at my request, Nova gave me a spare laptop. In this world, laptops weren't called laptops. Hell, even phones weren't called phones. Instead, all electronic devices that could connect to the net were called Nodes. That included my eyes. I sat down in front of the 'node' and clicked on the button in the middle of it. Suddenly, a holographic screen appeared in front of me in neon blue. It even responded to my touch. I didn't know what kind of technology was used to create it, but it was truly magical.
Shaking myself out of amazement, I focused on my task. A holographic keyboard appeared as I searched for information. "How to open the map on your optics?" Yes, that was what I searched for. Give me a break here. I don't know how any of these technologies work. I wanted a map to plan out my workout route. I planned to go jogging when I had the time. Honestly, it didn't matter what time I went out because danger lurked everywhere, and I didn't plan on staying inside all the time.
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The scenery was beautiful. The neon-lighted city contrasted greatly with the darkness that seemed to fill the sky, creating a scene worthy of a screensaver. As I ran through the biggest park in the city, Amaterasu Industrial Park, I noticed that the amount of greenery here was more than what I would expect from a cyberpunk city. The Amaterasu Industrial Park was between Amaterasu Road and Porter Road, taking up the whole block. I also noticed that most people were armed, and about 30% of them had their limbs decked out.
Athleticism Skill XP gained.
Athleticism Skill not unlocked.
Athleticism Skill unlocked.
I stopped for a moment to check out my new skill. It was my first skill, so I was quite interested. I accessed the System interface from the corner of my eyes and navigated through it with ease. I looked curiously at the skill. Turns out that Athleticism included endurance, coordination, speed, and agility. Well, it did not increase my strength, but it was supposed to increase my knowledge of how to increase endurance, coordination, speed, and agility with technique. I guessed that I didn't gain any knowledge because it was only at level 1.
I shrugged and continued jogging.
Body - 100XP
Body - 100XP
I found out that jogging, or rather, doing athleticism increased my Body stat faster. How? I didn't know. I, too, thought that athleticism only refers to the body's condition like speed, strength, and stuff like that. Shrugging, I started to jog back to the apartment. It was getting dark, and I didn't want to get shot.
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As I got home, I found Nova on the sofa in the living room, watching a show on her node. She looked at me for a second and asked, "Finally back? What were you doing out?"
"Working out. Why?"
"Don't you understand how dangerous it is? You don't even know how to properly shoot a gun."
I tilted my head. Why does she care? I know I saved her and all that, but I feel like caring about a stranger you met just a day ago is kinda strange.
She sighed as she closed the show. "Come with me. I'll teach you how to shoot a gun."
Despite not having anything to do with guns before, I was strangely excited. I've never fired a gun before, even though I was taught the basics. I've always felt that guns were very boring, but now, I wasn't able to get rid of my excitement. I followed her outside the apartment again. She was armed to the teeth. She had an electric handgun with a silencer. I guessed it was mainly for stealth. Then, she had a big ass shotgun on her back. She also had a katana on her belt and several throwing knives hidden in her clothes. I wouldn't be surprised if she had even more hidden weapons on her.
After walking for a minute in silence, she started to ask me, “You brought your gun with you?”
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I nodded and tapped my belt, “Right here.”
She nodded approvingly, “Good, never go anywhere without it.”
We continued walking in silence. I wasn't gonna break it. Hell no. I wasn't gonna talk. As a gamer, I was an extreme introvert. Even in online games, I didn't open the mic to talk though I had one.
After walking for two more minutes, Nova suddenly stopped. "We're here."
I looked up at the sign. It was a gun store named Little Betty's. How cute.
We walked in. The store was lit by neon lights, just like the rest of the entire fucking city. Honestly, even though the bright purple neon lights didn't hurt my eyes, it still annoyed me. Nevermind that. As I walked in, I found a girl with spiky green hair sitting behind the counter, seemingly lost in her own world. On the counters were guns, all kinds of guns. HMGs, LMGs, handguns, hand cannons, snipers, you name it. Hell, they even got railguns here.
Nova went and hugged her, "Lil' Betty! How are you doing?"
Lil' Betty tried to escape her hug but surrendered after a second, "I'm fine, amica. Who's this bella ragazza?"
Nova looked at me, "Her? Well, she's a bella alright. Unfortunately, that won't do anything in Darkhaven. I'm teaching her how to shoot a gun."
"Ma dai?! She doesn't know how to shoot a gun? How did she survive until now? It's a miracolo."
"She's not from around here. She's from the northeast."
"That makes more sense. It's calmer there for sure." After saying that, Lil' Betty jumped down from her chair and extended her hand towards me. "Hi. I'm Betty."
I looked down at her, literally. She was around 4'7" or 4'8", making her shorter than me by about 6 inches. Still, I accepted her handshake. "I'm Raven. Nice to meet you too."
She turned around and looked at Nova, who was smiling. A rare smile. "You're here for the gun range, right? Come with me. I'll show you."
Betty skipped ahead and gestured for us to follow her. I looked at Nova. She shrugged and followed behind her. Naturally, I also followed.
Her basement was huge. It was not as neon-lighted as the floor above, but that wasn't saying much. Her wall had blue and red neon lights running across it, making it look more futuristic. The upper part of the walls, segmented by the neon light running across it, was black, and the lower part was white. There were, of course, the occasional flower pots, as well as guns on the back wall. They looked like the guns I knew. Desert Eagles, M4s, and AKs were all displayed like some sort of antique guns. In front of us was a long shooting range. It could fit about 20 people firing at the same time, and it wouldn't be considered crowded.
"Welcome to Betty's Range. You can try all kinds of guns here. Well, not explosives though," Lil' Betty said as she grabbed one of the electric handguns. "Bella Raven, come here and try this one out. It's quiet, small, and packs quite a punch. Perfect for you." She handed it to me. She sounded Italian. I wonder what Bella means. I cocked the gun to check if there was any bullet in there. The gun had a sleek design, with buttons to change the mode of the gun on the side. It had three modes: Low consumption, mid consumption, and high consumption.
I held it in my hand and aimed forward with it. It felt comfortable in my hand as if it was made just for me. "Focus," I said to myself before taking a deep breath. Then I shot.
I missed. Of course, I missed. It was my first time firing a gun, let alone firing it at a target 10 feet away. Still, I didn't give up. I continued shooting. All 12 shots missed. Damn it. "I'm such a bad shot."
Nova nodded, "You are." I stared at her with dead eyes. "What? I was telling the truth. You had a bad posture, a bad aim, and it was the first time you were shooting a gun. I can tell. Of course, you're gonna miss."
Lil' Betty came to my side, "Here, take this. This should make it a little easier for you." She handed me a USB stick. Or at least, something that looked like a USB stick. It was slimmer and smaller.
I took it, "What is this?"
She looked at me strangely, "What? You have never taken a plug before? There should be a port on the back of your head. Just plug the crystal into the port."
I looked at the USB stick in my hand, So this thing is called a crystal. And it goes into my head? I slowly reached out. And yes, there was a hole in my head. That's terrifying. I shivered for a second before plugging the crystal in. I thought I would gain information on how to fire a gun. But the expected information rush didn't come. Instead, a new option became available on my optics written in neon blue: Assisted Aiming. I opened it. Still, nothing changed. I looked at the gun and reached for it. Then, a message appeared on my optics as soon as I touched the gun.
Would you like to link with the Whisperer?
1. Permanently
2. Temporarily
3. No
I chose the second option. Then my optics changed again. I saw a moving blue circle on the wall. I moved the gun and the circle moved with it.
Nova interrupted, "Stop messing around and shoot already."
I nodded and shot again. This time, it wasn't as bad as before. Even with the Assisted Aiming, I didn't hit the bullseye, but I hit the side.
Handgun skill XP gained.
Handgun Skill not unlocked.
Handgun Skill unlocked.
I grinned. Even more skill to grind.
I continued shooting. With each successful hit on the target, even if it barely scraped the target, I would gain 100 XP. With just 10 successful shots, I successfully leveled up my first skill.
Handgun - 2
Information rushed into my head. I now knew the correct posture on how to shoot a gun. It was not perfect, but it was something. I felt that with this level up, even without Assisted Aiming, I could probably still hit the target like before. With it, maybe I could even hit some bullseye. I immediately put that theory to the test. I shot at the target again, but this time, my back was straightened, my arms weren't as shaky as before, and even how I stood as I shot the gun changed. The recoil wasn't as bad as before. I grinned. I could get used to it.
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Nova
Nova stared at Raven as she shot the Whisperer. She whispered to Lil' Betty, "Did you mess with the crystal?"
She looked confused. "What? No. Why?"
"She's either suddenly gotten a lot better at shooting a gun or someone's helping her."
"That's not possible. This place is jammed. Even high-end Tsukuyomi radars wouldn't be able to do it."
Nova leaned against the back wall. "Look at her posture. Before she didn't stand straight, she couldn't even position her hand to absorb the recoil properly. Now, her back is straight. Even her breathing changed."
"Che! How?"
Nova snorted, "She might be a genius." Nova continued after looking at Raven for a second, "But she still has a long way to go if she wants to survive."
Lil' Betty nodded. This was something both of them agreed on. Everything in Darkhaven can be solved with guns. What? You can't solve it? Just bring a fucking bigger gun. If it still can't solve it, just bring an RPG. That would probably solve it.