Ellowyn was astonished, not at the sheer size of the underground facility which could easily amount to a football stadium, not at the vast arrays of training equipments shelved on the walls, but at the training robots.

Their pillow paddled limbs did nothing to slow them down, for even the trainees seemed to have great difficulties catching up to their swift movement speed.  Their forms ranged from humanoids to bears and wolves, with the behavior almost completely identical to that of the invading bots and animals in the raid she saw.

A dawning realization came, Will I have to fight those things?

"I'll only have you get used to wielding the firearms, there's no need to go for live combat right now since you're still injured." Alice ensured.

"I'll have the equipments prepared, go and change." She gave Ellowyn a white workout shirt and shorts.

She came out of the changing room and saw various tools from training firearms to accessories laid out on a white table, next to which stood Alice.

"Except for the training guns, these will be yours to use. Please keep them on you at all times."

She nodded.

"This is a resistance vest." Alice pointed to the workout shirt. "Pull the pad there and it'll stop tearing on bullets and blade impact. It'll still hurt alot and provides almost no protection against blunt impacts so becareful."

As Ellowyn pulled the soft pad, she felt as if a current ran through the surface of her skin.

"The vest only has enough energy for around ten minutes. Make sure to get to safety by then."

She nodded again.

Alice held up a blue bracelet made of blue crystal bars connected to a diamond shaped crystal. "There is a cap here, if you open it and press this button, it'll deploy a force field that also last for 2 minutes. You should try it now."

There were no visual changes when Ellowyn pressed the button, but the system assured her that the field was up. She felt a little uncomfortable as the bracelet heated up.

"I'll demonstrate with this training gun." Alice held up a training handgun and fired at Ellowyn. The bullet bounced off an invisible wall right before it came into contact with her leg.

"Is it supposed to give off so much heat?" Ellowyn started rubbing her overly warm wrist.

"When it gets too hot, pull the trigger next to that button to release a heat sink. It'll be very hot so make sure not to let it touch your feet!"

Ellowyn pulled it and felt as the heat from the crystal transferred themselves over to one of the blue bars shortly before it detached and started falling towards the ground.

"I know it gets uncomfortable, but in emergency, please wait at least ten seconds before you release the heat sink, it'll maximize the operation time."

"I'll try." Ellowyn nodded grimly. If worst comes, I'll have the system distribute the heat over my body and wait two minutes or more before release. She shivered at the thought.

"This is a force dagger." Alice gave her a black handle, but did not let it go when Ellowyn held it. "Please, please be careful with it. The power level on this thing is high enough to cut through armor like paper." Alice gave her a stern look.

Ellowyn slided the activation switch and saw a soft blue outline of the blade appeared, it was only slightly longer than a fruit knife. She had to turn it off shortly after as the blade heated up even quicker than her bracelet.

"It should only last about one to two minutes, you should only use it when you absolutely have to. Also the heat will be forcefully transferred to whatever you stab so don't worry about getting burned."

"Next is firearms handling. While I'll teach you to hold most weapons, you should always go for the lightest and easiest to handle when in emergency." Alice took a training hand gun and gave it to Ellowyn.

She inspected the black firearm, it looked similar to a handgun back on Earth, with the same grip handle and a sleek smooth barrel. There were no sliding mechanism or cartridge ejector because it used the laws electromagnetic to propel the bullet.

Her eyes froze as they came upon the Lyon Corp logo. Thats right, they really do produce the world's top firearms afterall. Perhaps she then had a reason to look into her family's background without being suspicious.

Alice hold up another handgun that had several cube like attachments to its barrel. "This is a coil handgun and the one you're holding is a rail handgun."

"What is the difference?" Ellowyn tilted her head.

"Coil guns use less energy and emit little heat per bullet. However due to having many parts, it is more likely to malfunction" Bang. Bang. Alice walked towards a shooting range and started firing at the cardboard targets. Two out of three shots hit the red center.

"Rail guns on the other hand, uses at least two times as much energy and heats up very quickly because of that. However, they are known to produce more bullet force and also stay quieter. Their fire rate are among the highest." Pang. The gun emitted a noise louder and longer than that of the coil gun. In the few seconds that Alice fired, Ellowyn counted at least fifteen bullets, more than half of which landed in the red zone.

"Now you try. " Alice cupped both of Ellowyn's hands onto the gun and aimed them towards a cardboard target.

“Wait.” She took it back and adjusted a few buttons, “I’ve turned on recoil assist mode. Please do not move your fingers into the gun’s back blast zone.”

"Thats it, now relax your shoulders and arms, its fine if you miss. I just need you to get used to the feeling of wielding it."

Ellowyn lined her aim sight with the system's assist cursor and fired, only to miss the center area entirely.

Gun model mismatched, recalibrating

The second shot landed inside the area, but still far from complete center. Out of curiosity, she looked closely at the gun's model number and found it to be different from what the system showed. So it can't recognize training gun models huh.

The third, fourth and fifth shot all landed near dead center. Ellowyn found it incredibly easy for she could keep firing with no fear of having the gun's non existent recoil ruin her aim.

"Your aim is nearly perfect! Have you ever held a handgun before?" Alice couldn't hide her open gape.

Ellowyn shook her head. "Its my first time." She switched the gun on auto mode and to her surprise, the recoil was still only barely noticeable. The handgun fired at least ten bullets per second. She had to release the trigger after three seconds, however, as the heat was getting too uncomfortable.

The fact that there were so little recoil had also troubled her, I’m pretty sure this goes against Newton’s Third law. But it became clear when she looked at the gun during fire. Two bright flashes appeared at its side, similar to those of thrusters, only brighter.

“May I turn off the recoil assist?” She wanted to feel the real thing.

“Sorry, the recoil will probably make the gun fly out of your hand and you can injure yourself. Only trained personnel are allowed to have it off.”

She also tried the coil handgun and found slightly more difficulty in handling it the fire rate is almost twice as slow at five rounds per second, however the gun produced much less heat while firing.

"I'm giving you both of the guns later. Though in a desperate situation, it is necessary that you know how to use the standard issued weapons too."  Alice pointed to the rest of the armaments consisting of assault rifles and shields.

Ellowyn picked up a light coil rifle, it was heavier than she expected and the back handle was slightly off compared to the rifles she had seen back on Earth. As she fired at the target, the recoil was quite considerable and she had to micro adjust her aim every time.

"All medium sized and larger guns always come with a forceblade of some kind."  Alice flipped a switch beneath the rifle and a force bayonet materialized below the front barrel.

She took a coil shotgun from the table and placed it in Ellowyn's hands. "Remember what I said about grabbing the lightest and easiest to handle weapon? Well, if you are really, really desperate or the opponent can't be attacked from range, use this. It packs a punch when you fire up close." She flipped a switch and two long force blades appeared on its sides. "The shotgun is the most effective close quarter combat tool there is. Though because no rail shotguns are developed yet, you need to be careful of the very high recoil."

They came toward a different training area where sand bags dummies were used for melee testing. Instead of aiming the shotgun at shoulder level like other guns, Alice told her to keep the gun at the hip for easier parrying of melee attacks from the sides.

"Wah!" Despite having prepared herself from Alice's warning, the gun jerked back too hard upon firing that she lost her balance and fell on her butt.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Are you alright?" Alice asked hurriedly.

"I'm fine. Let me retry."

"Looks like the gun’s recoil assist malfunctioned.”Alice concluded,  ”I think thats enough for today, you must have been tired still."

"Its alright, I've already said that I'm fine." Ellowyn shrugged.

“If you say so.” Alice took gave her small handheld shield. "You're usually given one of these when a team is escorting you."

The shield itself was slightly smaller than a washboard with two arm straps. After she put it on, Alice flipped the starting switch and a blue transparent rectangular forcefield materialized in front of her , its outline was much more noticeable compared to the shield bracelet.

"These things can take a punch, from explosive to shield warding rounds. It can even resist force blades, but only to some the degree. Becareful of the heat though." Alice proceeded to show her how to change the heatsink and battery pack.

Ellowyn grimaced, it was rather heavy for its size.

"Here." Tiny unseen thrusters on the shield surface came to life at Alice's press.

It was as if the shield itself became weightless, only when Ellowyn moved her arm that she felt the thrusters adjusting themselves to her movement.

"Be careful though, during battle, the thrusters may malfunction from impact and you could loose balance and fall." Alice warned sternly.

"I'm glad to see that you're fine, Ellowyn."

"I'm glad you too, are alright." She turned around to greet Bob.

"I'd like to give you my long thought out apology speech, but time isn't on my side. I still need to patch up our outdated security." He gave her a hug, his hand caressed her head.

"You should know that I hate long apology speeches." She grinned.

"Alice, I know you really want to help Ellowyn gain confident in her self defense, but you of all people should know the girl needs to rest."

"I'm sorry, I just thought I could show her around for a bit. We were about to wrap it up too." Alice looked down.

"Did you at least get to watch Alice doing her practice session?" Bob raised his eyebrow.

"No?" Ellowyn tilted her head.

"Its, its nothing special, really." Alice's face turned beet red.

"It might be some good experience for Ellowyn to join too." Bob put his hand on his chin.

"But you've just agreed that she needs some rest!" Alice was flabbergasted.

"Its just a small exercise with the non-lethal drones, what do you think, Ellowyn?"

She observed Bob, he had a contemplating look on his face, as if he was somehow judging her, if only by just a little. Is he giving me a test of some kind?

"Its alright if you don't want to, I'm sorry for giving such ridiculous a suggestion." He chuckled.

"Actually, I might give it a try." Who knows when I'll have to face these things for real.

"Are you really sure Ellowyn? While the bots are designed not to hurt you, you could still injure yourself since your body hasn't healed yet. We can always do this later." Alice sounded truly worried.

"For all we know, there may not be a later." She shrugged.

Alice made a long sigh and nodded. "We'll do it. but you need to always be careful and stay close to me. Got it?"

"Roger that."

They came to a different section of the facility.

"Rearranging rooms, please stay clear." Said an electronic voice.

Ellowyn gasped, what was empty space before her was transformed as sections of metallic white walls seemingly rose from the ground, forming different enclosed rooms.

"Setting up drone spawns. Simulation ready."

"Remember, always stay close to me and only attack if you have to, keep your shield up at all times."

She nodded twice.

The first room was but empty, except for a simple monitor on the wall with a countdown of ten seconds.

Ellowyn looked over to Alice, she was still wearing her shirt and short with two shotguns, one in her hand and the other strapped on her back and a forceblade strapped on her side.

"Why aren't we wearing armor?"

"This is an impromptu combat training, do you think we are to wear armor all the time?" Alice chuckled.

She shook her head and checked her equipment, a shield and a handgun.

"2...1. Simulation starting now." The electronic voice declared.

The section of wall in front of her sunk to the ground, revealing a tight passage just wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side.

Right after they entered, the wall behind them rose up once again.

"Incoming!" Alice yelled and raised her shotgun.

The approaching drones were spherical shaped with thrusters dispersed evenly on their surface. Just like the newbie orb.

Ellowyn trained her gun on them and fired, only to watch as the bullets helplessly missed when the drones shifted to the side, predicting her aim.

She quickly hid behind her shield at the system's attack warning. The drones fired shortly after.

She open fired again immediately after the attack warning disappeared, this time two hit landed on the closest drone

Because they all used training bullets, there were no visible signs of damage on the drone but half of its surface still flashed red and it thrusters stopped working, indicating damage.

She decided to check on Alice only to be stunned by the scene before her.

Alice deployed a shield on each arm, but they were much smaller than the shield strapped to Ellowyn's own arm.

She aimed her shotgun forward and shot the closer drone while leaning to her left to avoid the second drone's fire from the right.

She then brought the gun to her side and blocked the second's charge head on. The drone open fired again, only to find its gun barrel blocked by Alice's gun.

She then quickly moved the gun out with her right arm and put her left arm with the shield in its place. The drone tried to back away but not before she placed the gun on top of her left arm, right above her shield and fired.

Alice ignored the falling disabled drone and looked over at Ellowyn, only to widen her eyes. "Watch out!"

Only then did Ellowyn realized she had been entranced for too long. The system didn't warn her either because it needed visual confirmation of her targets. I'm screwed.

She immediately turned around and brought up her gun, but the drone was faster and knocked it out of her hand.

To her horror, the drone didn't stop its charge. The drone did try to change projectory to not hurt her, but it did so too late.

"Wah!" The drone crashed into Ellowyn's shoulder, sending her flying backward and rolling on the ground.

"Stop the simulation!" Alice screamed.

"I'm alright." Ellowyn said as Alice helped her up. She resisted the urge to wobble from the dizziness.

Alice still performed medical check ups to make sure she really was well.

"Ellowyn, I know that you really want to train, but you need some serious rest for now." Alice turned to Bob, her eyes flashed a trace of anger. "Please be more considerate. You of all people should know that Ellowyn needs a rest."

"Sorry Ellowyn." He rubbed the back of his head. "I over reacted from your enthusiasm. But did you have fun at least?" He gave a playful smirk.

"Bob!" Alice yelled.

"I'm sorry alright. Anyway, I have to go." He gave Ellowyn another hug and left, but not before she heard him whispering in her ear, "Thanks for saving my life."

"You're welcome." She mumbled.

Back in her room, she changed into her pajamas and immediately dived onto bed. Access soul room.

She set the environment to a white practice room, similar to the training facility. She then opened the assets window and looked at the list of available weapons.

The system didn't have the latest models, but that was fixed easily by entering data using Lyon Corp's online weapon catalogue.

"Let the real training begins." She fiddled with the control panel.

Spawning live practice targets

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Weapon illustrations will come in next chapter!

Gdoc link, please comment edit suggestions if you spot any grammar errors or have questions.