Volume 1: Chapter 4 – Progress, night time ambush
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Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sounds of projectiles hitting wooden practice targets echoed around the range. Getting up from the spot she was meditating, Eve took her mana pistol out of it's holster and carefully aimed it at her target.
...Bang!
Compressed mana flew out of the barrel, not making a sound. Only to explode slightly upon reaching it's target.
Eve shot 9 more times, before she sighed and put the gun down. Right now she was focusing on increasing her accuracy – which means that she had to tone down the amount put into making mana bullets.
By now her control allowed her to shoot as much as 10 bullets before resting. Even though it was still an improvement from initial 4 times, it was still far away from what Victoria showed her.
Instructor's bullets didn't make a sound upon impact, however they still marked where they hit by leaving slight burns on the wood. Compared to Victoria, Eve was really far behind.
At least that's how Eve felt.
- 'That girl... she caught up quick. It took me three weeks before figuring out how to manipulate my mana... It must be because she's Outsider. Yeah.' - Thought Victoria, as she kept an eye for Eve's progress.
Right now it was fifth day of the second part of hell camp.
Eve was meditating once again. While wearing long-sleeved shirt, full-length trousers and knee-high boots in dark red and black colours she looked like a trainee or army recruit.
However in reality she was struggling with every movement.
Morning after her new training course started she had have the displeasure of being woken up by multiple kching! sounds and sensation of a cold metal enveloping the body.
That's right, she was forced to wear something Marco called 'training suit'.
- This thing isn't made for a woman to wear you bastard! - Eve shouted once she came to her senses after being suddenly woken up by a feeling of being cuffed. However to her doom the person who did it only smiled lightly and left her room.
Finally after a minute of fighting against the laws of gravity, Eve managed to stand up.
Later on she couldn't find the person responsible for her current state. The only reason she stopped searching were notices of increased statistics – something she didn't see for some time now.
She also remembered man's final words: 'Just remember that it's for your well-being, okay?'. That calmed her down, but she didn't hesitate to swear that she'll get her revenge... someday.
So far she started getting used to the constant added weight. Still, being under constant pressure made her resent all those wannabe knights and the like who were forced to wear this kind of armour all the time.
But all in all, she was somehow satisfied in her progress. She didn't know, but currently she was going through the hardest training session which could be offered to people not belonging to the army... and even that with the big stretch of Marco's contacts. As well as owing some to certain people.
But Eve didn't know any of that. Guessing, sure. There was no other person going through the same thing. However no matter how much she could suspect, there was no certainty.
* * *
Day eight of training.
Right now Eve could shoot as much as 20 bullets before emptying her mana pool. She had finally reached the level of control where she could lower power output by five times.
Victoria secretly admired her talent, however she tried to convince herself that it was only because she was Outsider.
Right now Eve had 35% and 25% chance of hitting a bull's eye with her right and left hand respectively. Also she very rarely missed her target – with about 96% probability of hitting what she wanted. Of course such accuracy, as well as power output's control was possible thanks to two skills she acquired during the first week.
Skill Name:Skill Type:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Mana ControlPassive484%A passive skill for adept magic users. Allows them to manipulate the flow of mana in their bodies, as well as the amount used for spells.
Skill Name:Skill Type:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Steady AimPassive861%A passive skill enabling a gunner to steady their aim. Significantly reduces hand's shaking.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Eve could consider herself lucky. Because Mana Manipulation skill is gained only when person is either a genius magic user or has a good teacher, and Steady Aim is learned and improved when the person uses guns while his hands are weighted down. Both of which are relatively unknown by the player population, and those who learned of how to acquire them keep it for themselves. Or trade the knowledge for money.
Anyway Eve further focused on her training. If there is one thing about games she knew, then it was that the work invested in the early days improve one's overall gaming experience by making the further progress easier. Actually that's the matter for everything.
Every time she was about to give up, she repeated that the 'Investment for the future' is a necessity. It was only by understanding that she became who she is now.
. . .
Right now Eve was barely walking through the corridors to her room. She just finished her late melee practice, further improving herself.
However she wasn't there alone. She was 'guided' by some instructor whose name she didn't know to do horrendous exercises until he was satisfied and told her she's free.
And there was no running away, as on the first meeting he told her that he won't let her. As he hit her with a whip.
Today was the worst, as he keeps on making her do more and more.
- 'It's all right Evelyn, you withstood it for nine days, then five more is nothing. Hang in there little missy' – she told herself, as she walked heavily while looking down.
And of course, as the luck has it, she bumped into someone head-first.
Eve looked up as she was about to apologize, when she saw a group of men blocking her way. She recognized them as player trainees who signed up for training on the same day she did. And she felt a little chill going down her spine, as she saw the way they were looking at her.
She didn't feel like that for a long time. Like animals, those men considered her only as an object of sexual desire.
Memories of her beginnings as a prostitute started coming back to her, but she quickly discarded them, focusing on the situation before her eyes.
- ...'a comin' with us or we take'a with us? Your choice – Eve caught the end of man's monologue, as she once again looked at the men before her.
They were typical players, with either beautified or made intimidating avatars and dressed in casual trainee's clothes. And all were looking at her expectantly.
- I don't know... it's going to be all of you guys? - she finally asked, trying to gain some time. Meanwhile she was thinking hard on how to get out of this situation.
- What're ya thinking of? Eh? If ya don't want then we'll just take'ya with us! Get...
- Wait a damn second, you hot-head – Eve said with chilling voice. - I didn't say that I'm not going. It's just that I was wondering if you lot will be allowed to have some 'fun' with me. - After those words men started to have doubts. The guy who did the talking, and a mastermind behind the idea, went pale as he saw his minions having second thoughts.
- H-h-h-hey, g-g-guys! I-i wou-wouldn't d-do that to you! - he said, stuttering. With a high-pitched voice.
- 'Bull's eye!' - thought Eve as she watched the beginning of a brawl. The guy really wanted to cheat out on the other guys!
She waited for a few seconds, making sure that the fire doesn't go out. When the brawl started, she made her exit.
Next morning she heard rumours of the night brawl between trainees. And harsh repercussions they had to go through.
- 'Serves them right' – was how Eve commented on it, as she kept on shooting her targets on the range.
Hey there dear readers, it's been some time, hasn't it?
Finally a new chapter! It's quite short, as school started and I wasn't really motivated on writing (lol, again!). But I'm not rushing it, and I've done some brainstorming on how the story will go on, and how should I introduce MC to the main plot I thought of.
Expect some action in 2-3 chapters from now on.
With that said, I'm going off.
EDIT()
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I'd like to hear your opinions and critique: what you like and what not, so that I can improve somehow. And point out my grammatical errors pretty please? I believe there aren't many, but since I split writing of chapters onto some days, there are bound to be some.
As well as loose loops.
I'd like you to point those things out, as creators often miss errors in their works which are clearly visible to others because of their attachment to what they made.
} // end EDIT();