Chapter 14: A Short-Term Goal
“You, how are you improving so fast?” Avern asks me.
Well, I’m not holding back anymore, but I can’t exactly say that. In fact, I was completing most of his training perfectly, but he hasn’t bothered to notice until now. I think of a way to reply to him, and decided to give an excuse that was commonly used in my previous life. I point at myself, and say;
“…special.” The wooden stick in his hand snaps, and a look of irritation appears on his face.
“Oh really now? Well Ms. Special can go run another three laps around the school!” For now, I listen to him, because I was in a good mood.
It has been a whole month since the events in the [Forest of Fire]. I went there three more times afterwards, training myself to regain my combat instincts. Although it was basic training, following Avern’s instructions did help somewhat to improve my senses. I’m now able to fight while blind folded, using sound, touch and smell to detect enemy attacks and location.
The Student Council elections were starting today, and Ash was one of the nominees to become Student Council President. The assembly was to take place during the last period of the day, so [Basic Magic] class was cancelled for today. Not that I care for it, nor for the elections. Today, my mom said she would pick me up after school and take me to the castle in the center of the city, which is a place where she works.
Her job was a military instructor, training recruits to become proficient in gun combat, and I was able to finally see these weapons in action. I’ve seen many pictures of them, and heard the sounds they make upon firing a projectile, but I haven’t actually seen one being used. It was something that excited me very much. And today, my mother was going to bring me to watch a mock battle between the recruits.
As I jog around the school, day dreaming about seeing these weapons in use, I suddenly felt a killing aura behind me. I dodge to the left, and a figure flies right by where I’m standing. Someone just tried to dive kick me while I was off guard. How dangerous of him, can I report him to the authorities and have him expelled?
While I have these silly thoughts in my mind, the figure rolled forward after landing, and turns around immediately, facing me. It was a boy I recognized, but didn’t know personally. He was from [Homeroom], and if I remember correctly, he was a loner in the corner of the classroom. A young boy around 11 years old, he had short, black hair like Thoth’s, but his eyes were silver. I don’t know why he suddenly tried to ambush me, and I don’t remember incurring his wrath in any way, but I get my answer immediately from him.
“As I thought, from the way you move, you’re a martial artist as well, aren’t you?” He says. I don’t respond to him, and instead, I just stand there looking at him.
“Normally, I’d recognize a martial artist at sight, but those bandages didn’t allow me to see your appearance, so I couldn’t tell. Please, give me the honor to duel you.” I got bored of him talking, so by the time he finished this sentence, I was already behind him, jogging again.
“Wait!” The boy immediately caught up from behind, running besides me. “Why did you decline my challenge?”
“…boring.” I say with a quiet voice, but he heard me. An expression of shock appeared on his face.
“Are you trying to say that I’m not worthy of your time?” I nod at this, and he freezes immediately, falling behind as I continue jogging. I feel the air behind me shift, and I turn around immediately to block an incoming high kick. Grabbing his leg with one arm, I began swinging him in a circle around me. This was quite fun, actually.
After a few revolutions, I pull his body towards me, and grabbed him by the chest. One arm holding his left thigh, the other holding his chest, I begin spinning him above my body, before placing him down back on his feet and jogged off again. I hear his body fall onto the ground, but I don’t turn back to look.
That’s it? I won’t harm him or warn him not to mess with me again? I think I gave enough harm toying around with his body like that. If any fighter got their body played around like that without a sweat, their self-confidence will definitely drop. Most likely, this will make him think twice about challenging me again.
By the time I finished my third lap, the bell rang, and class ended. Thank god it did, because upon finishing my third lap, the teacher looked even more irritated upon seeing me complete it at a fairly quick pace without catching my breath. He probably would’ve added more laps if it wasn’t the end of class.
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“Today, we’ll be learning about [Monster Invasions].” Ms. Avin states. Upon hearing this, my interest becomes piqued, because I’ve never heard of these sieges before.
“A [Monster Invasion] is a random event that occurs when a [Dungeon World] sends monsters to take over another world, the target usually being a [Living World]. Sykerion has not experienced any of these yet, but several other worlds have had this event happen, some worlds even falling and transforming into a dungeon world.”
“When a [Monster Invasion] occurs, all Adventurers originating from that world will be given an order to be recalled forcefully, or else their [Adventurer’s Card] will be disabled. During the invasion, monsters will enter via the [World Gates], and come in waves.”
“With each wave, there is a boss monster equivalent to a [Dungeon Master], known as the [Wave Boss]. In order to stop a wave, the [Wave Boss] must be killed, and the wave will end. Of course, any monsters that remain after killing the [Wave Boss] must be hunted, and the next wave will start randomly.”
“When the final wave comes, it will be a wave like no other. A random amount of [Generals] will be summoned to lead different legions of monsters, while the [Commander] of the wave will be the last one to enter through the [World Gate]. The [Commander] must be slain along with the [Generals] in order to successfully repel an invasion, and the world will be given an increase in level and stat limits.”
After that, the lecture turned into a discussion of how difficult these invasions were, which worlds fell to these invasions, and will the Humans actually be able to repel any of their [Monster Invasions] without outside help. The answer the teacher gave was ‘no,’ but I don’t think we’re going to need help. Honestly, I want an invasion to happen just to see how far I can get without unsealing more than 10% of my power.
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After the lessons ended, everyone was to head towards the arena for the Student Council elections. The arena building was a giant colosseum, that took up one fourth of the [Generalized Zone]. Under it, there was several floors that contained rooms for preparation, practice, and sparring. With that, each floor had a different environment created and maintained by magic to help train Adventurers in different terrain.
Right now, everyone was gathered at the arena above ground, sitting on the spectator’s seat encircling the arena grounds. Upon entering, everyone was given a small device that allowed us to vote for whoever we wanted to. There was a large, white platform at the center of the arena where the nominees would take turns reciting their speech.
Honestly, this event bores me. I practically ignore every nominee up there, including Ash, and began to play with magic in my hands, creating little pretty elemental balls before dispersing it into the air. I was able to formlessly manipulate magic, but I wasn’t able actually do anything with it. It was a skill that helped me learn and master magic, but I can’t create any original magic with it.
When all the speeches were over, everyone was allowed to vote for who they thought should be the president. Obviously, I selected Ash, and after choosing who we vote, we were allowed to leave, returning the devices to the teachers on the way out.
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What a boring event? Of course it was. I mean, it’s not really that exciting to watch and listen to people talk about improving the school. I only wanted to get this over with so I can go to the castle with my mom and learn about [Magic Guns]. I began skipping towards the entrance of the school, and I see my mother waiting there for me. Upon seeing me, a smile appears on my face, and she catches me as I dive into her arms. She knows how excited I am about this, so of course, she’d be excited as well. Any parent would be happy if their child was interested in their occupation. At least, if it’s a job they like, and I’m pretty sure my mom enjoys her job.
“Hey Aria, how was school today?” She asks as we leave the school. I give her a thumbs up, indicating that I had a good day. For the entire way to the castle, she asks me about what I’ve been learning and how well I’ve been doing in my studies. My responses were mostly vague, but she seemed satisfied with my answers anyway.
When we reach the castle, I was fairly astonished by its size. Back then, the castle of Krystalis was the largest in the world, but this castle was at least 1.5 times bigger. As we approached the entrance, a couple of guards walked up to stop us, but upon seeing my mother, we were given clearance to enter immediately. Apparently my mother is an important figure here, to the point where she’s allowed to casually walk around the castle grounds.
We enter a large building near the training grounds, and the inside was similar to an archery range. Instead of bows and arrows though, people were using guns and bullets. There were several people in the range, who were all firing at practice targets with several different kinds of weapons. If I didn’t have these bandages covering my face, my eyes would probably be sparkling for everyone to see right now. A woman walked up to my mother, and immediately saluted her.
“Welcome back, ma’am. As ordered, the recruits have separated into two groups and are prepared for the mock battle.” She reports to my mother.
“Good, have them start immediately. I will be watching with my daughter from the observer’s tower.” After saluting her again, the woman left the range to give out the orders.
“Let’s go Aria, we’re going to be watching the mock battle now. You’ll get to see how dangerous guns can be in war.” She exits the firing range and I follow behind.
We leave the training grounds, and head towards the other side of the castle before entering a large tower which I assume is the [Observer’s Tower] that she mentioned earlier. After climbing to the top of the tower, through a large, glass window, I was able to see a huge, empty field made of stone in front of the tower.
“Just wait a bit, you’re going to see something amazing.” My mother says, and I keep my eyes on the field.
Suddenly, large cracks began running through the empty field, and they continued until they covered the entirety of the field. Right after, the field begins shaking heavily, and the earth begins to shift greatly, changing the flat field drastically into several hills. Grass starts to grow on the field, along with plants and trees. Soon enough, the entire field was transformed into a jungle, with no traces of the empty, stone land that was there earlier. Several people entered the field, lining up on the opposite sides of the field. I assume these are the recruits participating in the mock battle.
My mother pulls out some sort of device I didn’t recognize and spoke into it, saying; “Begin the mock battle.”
Immediately after saying that, a loud siren was sounded, and the soldiers immediately ran into the jungle. My mother explained each soldier’s position and weapon as the battle started.
“You see that man in the front? He’s a frontline, infantry soldier, and he’s holding a INF70, a magic flamethrower that can fire flames up to 1500˚ Celsius.”
“That woman at the back, she’s a sniper. The weapon she’s holding is a MDR-320, a magic rifle that has the ability to pierce through some of the heaviest magic barriers. Unfortunately, its weakness is that it can’t actually penetrate heavy, metal armor.”
“You see that person carrying that large, cylindrical cannon on his back? He’s a heavy infantry soldier, and he can actually fire that thing on his shoulder. It’s called a MCC, a weapon that fires a large burst of magic energy that can easily raze through enemy troops. It takes a while to charge though, and it can easily be stopped because it’s a stationary target.”
As the battle goes on, my mother continues explaining each soldier type and weapon, and I listened earnestly, trying to remember what I can. According to my mother, none of these weapons had actual ammunition in them, and they were all bullets made of paint so that it wouldn’t kill when it hit their target.
I watched how the battle play out, seeing soldiers set up ambushed by using the trees as a height advantage, while the flamethrowers burn down portions of the jungle to force the enemy to a different position. Apparently these flames were cursed to not do any actual damage to living beings. How convenient.
The most interesting thing I saw though, was when two soldiers confront each other in close range combat. Unlike the other soldiers, these ones held pistols and fought each other like martial artists. Whenever they were mid-distance from each other, they would fire at their opponent, but the bullet would be deflected by the other's projectile. Even when they began close combat, they would try to fire their pistol at close range at each other while striking each other with their fists and weapon. The shots were often missed because the weapon would be redirected last second. I pull my mother’s sleeves, and point at those two men, signaling that I wanted to know who they are.
“Those two are just like mommy. They’re [Gun Knights], and they’re soldiers who are able to fight in close combat by using their guns as a melee weapon, and firing it when the enemy is vulnerable. These people are rare, and often become a high ranking soldier or adventurer due to their prowess in guns and martial arts.” There it is, my goal from studying 3-6 years in Krystalis Academy. This kind of class interested me heavily, and in a modernized world like this, having this kind of ability will become invaluable.
At the end of the battle, the jungle was completely ravaged, and soldiers that were defeated stood up from the ground. They were pretending to be dead after being shot, I was kind of surprised that they were able to stay like so for so long. When all the soldiers leave the field, the grass, trees and plants begin to return into the stone ground, while the field itself begins to flatten itself. After flattening itself again, the cracks merge together, mending itself back to normal, and the field returns to it’s original state. It really was an amazing thing to see.
After descending the tower, my mother went to talk with the recruits, discussing mistakes and improvements they should be making, while praising some of the people who did their jobs right. Afterwards, we left the castle and returned home.
“…thank you.” I mutter to my mother on the way back. A smile of glee appears on her face, and she crouches down and hug me.
“Anything for you, sweetie. I’m happy that you enjoyed your time here. Makes me feel like it was worth it to bring you here.” She replies.
Later that night, after eating dinner, I went to my room immediately. I lock the door after entering, and hurriedly opened my bag. Although I was thankful to my mother for bringing me to watch the battle, this is the main reason why I went in the first place. I pull out a small, metallic object that I ‘borrowed’ from the castle. In my hands, was a small device, known as a [Magic Gun].
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Author’s Note:
Obviously, the gun names are made up. If they resemble the names of real guns in any way, then it’s a coincidence and I’m too lazy to change it, lol.